I’d always wanted to go to the United States. Everyone told me how great it is, how many incredible things there are to see, and how many friends I could hope to find there.
When I found out that it was possible to go to a summer camp focused on Christian Ministry in the USA, I did not hesitate a second but wrote my Letter of Interest immediately. I had so hoped I would be chosen. When I received the message from Pastor Scott that I had been chosen for this adventure, I just had to sit down! I had such an incredible feeling of happiness—such a rush of euphoria—it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before.
A little Slovak language before it all got started 
I departed on May 25, 2013, and flew back home on August 12, 2013. It was three months of summer like I’d never experienced before. Maybe I should start from the beginning! When I flew to Chicago, Pastor Scott Geister-Jones was supposed to be waiting for me at the airport. However–”oops!” my plane didn’t arrive at 6:30 in the evening, but in the early afternoon! While I waited for Scott (almost 5 hours) I read an entire book that I had taken from my house, in case I got bored. 
(BTW, I never got bored in America!)
Three unbelievable summer months
When we arrived at Camp Sugar Creek we started by “training the leaders”. We spent time learning practical things that taught us how we could solve potential problems during the camp and how to be good leaders and servants. I learned more about working with children, how to study the Bible with them, and how we could help them when they fell homesick. This last thing was very helpful also in my case! My family was a couple thousand miles away from me…
After we finished our training, the children arrived. I worked in a little candy shop the first week of camp. It was an excellent place for me to start—I was able to look around and see what was going on around me, and was able to understood everything pretty quickly. In the following weeks, I worked in different kinds of ministry. I was in camps in different states (Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota) which added to the variety and was so interesting!
More experience – More service – More responsibility
My experiences and confidence grew day by day and I was very happy because I got to care for “my” camp children. They were eleven-year-old girls and I called them simply “my girls.” We had an amazing program together every day. We studied the Bible every day after breakfast, and then we played games. We ‘powered-up’ during the lunch break then went swimming or spent time in the art barn or singing gospel songs in the afternoon. It was an incredible time full of adventures!
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Andy Jesenská was a student in the Mission Work with Children and Youth program, which is operating at the University of Žilina or, in its weekend form, at the Center for Christian Education in Martin. She graduated and now works with children.
…read also the second part of Little Servant in a Large City…
