You find cool things when you wander.

Okay so I’m sitting here at good ‘ole Micky D’s reading my bible, haven’t in a while gunna be honest, and I’m reading the book a proverbs. And I come across this verse that i think we all need to hear and that i know i needed to hear. Proverbs 18:2 says “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion”.

Now thinking back over the last few months, I saw a lot of expressing and not a listening. And I am definitely at fault for doing this as well. I’m not trying to blame anyone. But all I really remember hearing is so much hate on both sides. And even now with the election called there is still so much hate on both sides. A lot of people who voted for trump are rubbing it in everybody’s face and a lot of people who voted for Hillary, and even third parties, are protesting and saying the Donald Trump will never be there president. I personally think it just sad.

For those of you that don’t know me and my family, they are hardcore Trump supporters. I’m saying that’s bad I’m just giving background here. They are hardcore Trump. Now most of my other friends were pretty hardcore against all of the candidates, which is kind of where I fall. I honestly had no idea who i was going to vote for until I was in the box thingy. If voted trump and he treated fixed healthcare and taxes but deported millions of people who are here legally and even illegally without giving them a chance to even try to become citizens and I don’t know how I could feel good about my vote then. But I really didn’t want Hillary in office with how shady she is and corrupt she is, not to say Trump is perfect, but yeah. And i would say that wasn’t a huge fan of many trump supporters and their actions, but I was much less a fan of Hillary supporters. And I had a very closed mind as to why someone would vote for her. And even though I didn’t really support him yet I would still argue for trump mostly because I just really hated Hillary. And I think that’s the problem, I hated her. Ive never even met her. Yeah shes done some outrageously shady things and even has allowed US troops to die, but she still is no worse than me. We are all sinners in need of Jesus. Doesn’t matter what we’ve done, doesn’t matter how “good” we are. Without Jesus I am nothing.

On my way to Micky D’s i was thinking about the thought process of voting, reasons we vote for someone and shizz. And remembering how many people i know would say things like “How can they vote for her(Hillary)? Don’t they know what she’s done?” And the funny thing is that people are also saying that about Trump supporters. No one understands why the other would vote for the other. And I know its because we don’t to hear why they are voting for the other candidate. We want to stew in our anger and frustration towards the other person. Cause, frankly, sometimes its kinda fun. But its no way a christian should act. We need to listen and understand people. Honestly, if you ask someone who voted the other way from you I guarantee they voted that way because they believe that its whats best for the country, not because they want to destroy it. We need to not fight or be angry at people with different opinions. We need to love people no matter who they voted for.

And I just want to say from the bottom of my heart, if i said or did anything to offend because your political views or anything else, I am sorry and hope you can forgive me.

I hope this all made sense and I didn’t take anything out of context.

God bless

Hey everyone!

      First off, I would just like to thank all of you, whether you have supported me financially or through prayer or both. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey God has put me on this summer! I am excited to see what He will do in and through my team and I this summer.  And also to let all of you know that I have safely made it to Slovakia after intern training, which is held in The Czech Republic.

      For those of you that don’t know, before intern training every JV intern, not just the Czech ones, fly to a specific airport where we all participate in what is called the Amazing Race. For 3 or so days we travel with our summer intern teams and race across Europe. This year we all met at the Budapest airport and from there we raced across Slovakia to our training facility in the Czech Republic, which is where I am now.  It’s a great way to build community with your team and rid yourself of jetlag.

       We finished intern training about two weeks ago and afterward  all the intern teams headed to their countries to get started with camp prep.  My team is stationed in the Slovakian city of Kosice but we first went to the city to of  Ruzomberok to help with the last day of Exit Tour in that city with the band Twelve24, who is a Hip Hop, Pop duo out of Manchester, England.  That day we had to get up at 5:30am to be at the school by 6 so we could set up the stage and sound. The rest of the day consisted of hour blocks where some students would gather and play games in the gym while others went to seminars and then rotating. It was such an amazing time, Twelve24 makes awesome music Ryan and Josh, the guys from Twelve24, are amazing people that really love Jesus and love to share His love with other people. That afternoon we set up for their last show that night, which was in a synagogue.  I’ll post some photos from the show. It was such an amazing time with at least 200 students that showed up and around 20 or so that gave their life to Christ that night. I had such a great time helping and cant wait for camps to start.

      After all that fun my team left Ruzomberok and headed to Kosice. Sorry, I don’t know where they are compered to each other geographically. But I can they Ruzomberok is a couple of hours away from Kosice by car. Anyway, we are safely in Kosice and are practicing like crazy for camps. We are going to be the main band at two English camps and one Fusion camp, which like a choir, music, multi-media camp. I’ll post more about that when we get closer to it.

       Some prayer requests are for safe travels, good health. Our bassist Luke and I got sick just 2 days after arriving in Kosice. We are better now but would like to not get sick again. Haha Unity with our team and that we would stay focused on reaching students for the gospel and connecting them to the local church, which is why we’re in the first place. If you are still wanting to support me financial and join me on the journey God has put me on you can go to https://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places/interns/ and then click on my name. And prayers are always appreciated.

Hey Y’all!

I’m sorry it has taken so long for me to write another post but I wanted to make sure of some things before I involved all of you.

      But before we get to that I would like to thank all of you for joining me in the journey God placed me on this last summer. It was seriously the greatest summer of my life. So whether you supported me financially, through prayer, or you just followed me through FaceBook or my blog, thank you! I couldn’t have done it without you and God’s guiding hand.

(For those of you who haven’t read my blog before, go read my earlier posts to see what I’m talking about J)

      So as most of you know I was an Intern with the organization Josiah Venture this last summer, working with short-term American teams and churches in the Czech Republic to put in English camps for the summer. It was such and amazing experience and God showed me and brought to mind many things that He wants me to be doing in my life, one of them being to use my gifts of music and personal connection for His greater plan and not mine.

      This is something that has been on my mind and in my thought process since before last summer’s internship. I wasn’t quite sure how to go about doing that, but this summer I was presented with the idea of doing this thing called Exit Tour. As a part of Exit Tour I would be in a band made up of other JV applicants that is then placed in a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Our role in this country is to, essentially, write, record and play music. We will go into the public schools of these ex communist countries, playing music and presenting the gospel to students. Connecting with them on a level that I think many missions organizations overlooks, music. Not only will we reach unbelievers but we will also work closely with the local youth groups, getting students connected to them as well.

    All of this really excited me. So over the summer I continued to talk with the main leader of Exit Tour and I continued to pray and ask God to show me what he wants me to do. Then a couple of months after I got back from my internship I really felt like it was something God wanted me to pursue.

    With that I am happy to announce that I have applied for, been asked and accepted a 2 year position with Josiah Venture as a part of Exit Tour in the country of Slovakia starting March of 2017. My position is called a “Two Year Band Placement”, which means for a minimum of two years I will be placed in Slovakia with three other people and as a band we will reach students through music and friendships. And as a part of this position I will be going back to Europe this summer as an Exit Tour Intern, which means me and my band-mates will be the main band at a few JV camps in Slovakia. Connecting with students and churches before we move along with connecting with each other as band-mates.

      I am seriously so excited about this. Being able to write and play music in another country along with working with students in and out of the church is pretty much everything I’ve wanted to do for many years. I believe missions work is something God has been preparing me for since I first went to the Czech Republic in the summer of 2010 and then really solidified it in my heart this last summer, and I don’t know if I could work for a better organization than Josiah Venture. The people there are just amazing and so Spirit led. JVs vision statement is to see “a movement of God among the youth of central and eastern Europe that finds its home in the local church and transforms society.” And their mission statement is to “equip young leaders to fulfill Christ’s commission through the local church.” And that really does drive what they do and are doing in Europe. 

If you would like join me on this journey God has put me on, there are couple of ways you can. First and foremost is through prayer. Prayer for safe travels, good health and open hearts for us as interns and the students. That we will all be open to the Holy Spirits leading in our life over this summer and after as well. And then also though financial support. I am needing to raise $6,600 for my internship this summer, which includes all meals, lodging, travels and supplies needed for the summer, along with a stipend to help with bills when i get back. I am also in need of support for my two year placement. There are two amounts I need to raise for this. The first being a one time expense of $7,500 which covers moving, visas, and many other things I may need. The other is monthly living expenses food, rent, utilities, etc, and this will be approximately $1,900. If you'd like to support me financially just follow the link below and click on my name. All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible

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https://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places/interns/

    Sorry for how long this post is but I had a lot to say. I will be sending out support letters so if you would like one, if you have any questions or are confused about anything feel free to send me a FaceBook message or email me. I would love to get coffee or something and talk to anyone about this new life journey God has put me on.

More posts coming soon!

-Colson Wabshaw

Second camp is done! 

Last week we finished the second term of English camps here in Czech. It was such an awesome time! We did it with an american team from Ohio and a tech team from Podebrady, CZ. We had about 30 some people there altogether. So it wasn't a huge camp, but it was still super awesome. My English class was awesome. As you can see, all my students were guys, which was really awesome and I nice change from the first camp where all my students were girls. 

It was really awesome talking with the students at camp. God really opened up opportunities to talk with students both in discussion groups and throughout the day. 

 It was so great and i am so excited to see what God will do at the next camp. 

Speaking of which, as I am writing this post, I’m sitting in the hotel we are using for our next camp with a church from Strakonice, CZ and Denver, CO. 

We have almost 50 students coming to this camp and we will have around 70 some people at the camp altogether. And most of the students are girls. So one prayer request is that everyone on the team can connect well with all the students. Another prayer request is that camp runs smoothly and no one will get sick at camp. And that God will move in this camp and in everyone at camp. That God will work in the team and through the team this week as we share the Gospel and share Jesus’ love with the students. 

If you would like to give and support what God is doing here in Czech, you can go to 

http://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places/interns 

and then click on  my name. 

Thank you all again for the prayer and support! 

Thank you again for all your pryers and support. 

If you still would like to donate or if you'd like to donate again to the work God is doing through me and JV here in Czech you can go to http://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places/interns 

and then just find and click on my name. Thank you all again!

In Christ,

This is Bekah(Left) and Petra(Right). 

Bekah is from Alaska... Yep, people actually live there. I joke, Alaska is pretty dope. And she has been a really big help on our team. This is herm fifth year doing English camps in a row! Its been nice having her on our team helping us out since I'm a couple years out of the game. 

Petra is one of two Czech national interns we have on our team. She is from a town called  Havlickuv Brod, but she goes to church in Chotebor and this is also her fifth year doing english camps. Both her and our other national intern, who i will get to in my next post, have been a huge help when it comes to translation in schools and just with getting around in the different cities, when they knew the cities that is. 

 Thank you all for your prayer and support! If anyone would like to still donate to what God is doing over here in the Czech Republic. Feel free to go to http://www.josiahventure.com/people-and-places then click on Interns and then find my name. 

Thank you all again for all the support and prayers! I’ll try to update again soon.

Leaders first! 

So, like I said before I am an intern with Josiah Venture this summer in the Czech Republic. This year JV has over one hundred interns in fourteen different countries in central and eastern Europe. Because of how many interns there are they split us up into different intern teams. In Czech there are four different english camp teams... I am apart of one of those teams. I’ll talk about the other teams later, but first off, my team. 

Hey everyone! So I am from Minnesota, but right now I am in the Czech Republic doing an internship through an organization called Josiah Venture for the entire summer. JV does Christ centered English, Sports and Music camps all over central and eastern Europe. So as I wander across the country this summer(I won't actually be wandering, I have a schedule and places to be) I will be teaching english at three different english camps and telling the students about Jesus and sharing the love He has shared with me, with them. I’m going to try and keep these post shortish and post more pictures then blog things. but We’ll see. 

Keep wandering