we`ll see each other

WE ARE READY FOR YOUR ARRIVAL!

In just a few more weeks we will meet in Prague! After almost 3 years of intense work we are now ready to give you the best experience in a unique and spectacular Festival. 
 
The Steering Group, the Line Managers, hundreds of YMCA leaders and everyone involved in the planning of this huge event have dedicated themselves planning  LOVE 2 LIVE as the best YMCA Festival in history. And you will be part of it.  In fact, you are the reason why the Festival was planned.  Every moment and activity in LOVE 2 LIVE is planned with you the participant in mind, and  this is what makes our Festival a special YMCA event. A special festival for special people!
 
The performances on stages, the workshops, the leadership training, the cultural exchanges, the atmosphere of Prague … a perfect combination between fun, creativity and YMCA relevant initiatives will make your week a memorable one.
 
But, do not keep the festival for yourself. There is still space for your friends and YMCA colleagues. They can register (until August 1) and join you in this experience, making thousands of new friends from all over the world.
 
Encourage them to register at  http://reg.yefestival.com 
 
Payment of participation fees
 
Please, note that your registration is not complete until the payment of the participation fee is done. Did you already pay your participation fee to your national coordinator or directly to YMCA Europe Festival account? If not, please contact your National Coordinator as soon as possible. If you country is not on the list then you will find the level of participation fees here and the payment instructions here. Please, proceed with the payment according to the instructions as soon as possible.

Note that the beds will be allocated only to registered and paid participants and we can't guarantee at the later stage for bigger groups to stay together. Also the visa invitations will not be issued for participants which are not fully registered and paid.

If you have any doubts how to proceed, do not hesitate to contact the Festival office as soon as possible: info@yefestival.com

You can download practical information about the Festival here. This includes a variety of information on such items as: exact address of the festival site, what to bring, closest cash machine, check-in procedures, security and many other important items. 
 
Housing and Transportation:

The Housing Manager, Adam Rychlik, has already started sending out housing assignments to National Coordinators and group leaders.  If you have not already received this, you will do so within the next week.

The detailed transportation plan (including maps and detailed instructions) of how to travel to and from the hostel and festival site will be uploaded to http://www.yefestival.com/transport  shortly.  A separate email will also be sent to all participants to confirm that this information is now available.  
 
Festival volunteers urgently needed!

Though we already have a good number of volunteers for the festival, we are still urgently looking for about 30 more volunteers. We need these volunteers to help in the general working areas at the festival.

So please encourage yourself or others to apply to be a festival volunteer. Applicants should, preferably, have a YMCA background and some experiences in volunteering in the YMCA.red
 
Worship

Try Something NEW …………. 
 
At Love2Live you can have lots of new experiences – new food, new places, new people, new languages, new music new sports …………. Why not experience God in a new way too?
Worshipping God together with other people is one of the ways that we experience God.


On Thursday 8^th August there are lots of different ways that you can experience worship: Celtic Worship, Ice and Fire Worship, Catholic Worship, Orthodox Worship, Contemporary Worship ……. Watch the web site and app for details of time and place but plan to be there!!
 
BIG QUESTIONS ON THE WALL

Does God have a beard?!? – have you ever wondered?

We all have Big Questions we would like to ask God. The Love2Live Big Question Wall gives you the opportunity to ask those questions.  Come along to the Big Question Wall beside the Chapel anytime and write YOUR Big Question on the Wall.
 
Every day between 2.00 pm and 3.00pm there will be someone different beside the Wall who will talk about the answers God might give to these questions – come along and explore some Big Questions and Big Answers. Make God one of your Big new experiences at Love2Live!!


WRITE THE BIBLE ………. DRAW THE BIBLE

Christians believe that the Bible is “Alive and Active” – at Love2Live you can help make the Bible come alive in an exciting, personal way! Get together with your friends and come along to the HANDWRITTEN GOSPELS.

Every day at the Chapel from 12.00 noon you can come along and copy out some verses from the Bible in your own handwriting. There will be English Bibles for you to copy from or you can bring your own and write the verses in your own language! We will make an amazing Bible ………

You can illustrate it with the art materials, make the stories come alive with your own art work!!!!

The Bible that we write will go to the World Alliance of YMCAs Assembly in Estes Park, Colorado, USA 2014 as a gift from YMCA Europe. Make your mark in this amazing Bible!!
 
Make a Cross for the Garden …………..

There is still time for National movements or local YMCAs to make a Cross to bring to the Festival.

We want to have crosses from lots of different countries – just paint a cross on some card or wood and a message about why you painted it this way. We will put the crosses in the Garden of Eden around the Chapel on the Festival site and you can have your cross there.

You can get ideas from a web site at http://www.michael-odonnell.co.uk/gallery

City Day

Explore more about We Love 2 Live in Prague Day! See the map and description here.
 
Documentation and YMCA Festival Toolkit

YMCAs in Europe have so many good projects, best practices, and  innovative ideas. We want to use these examples to create an online ‘festival toolkit’ with all the valuable and creative material from the workshop sessions and other parts of program. This will be a way to share more ideas and best practice examples and make the impact of these more sustainable. We look forward to presenting  a diverse collection of  presentations, programmes,  handouts and  results from the expo and workshop sessions along with links, pictures, video-clips, etc. after the  festival to share it with our “YMCA family” . The Homepage will be www.yefestival.com/toolkit  (similar to www.cvjm-westbund.de/toolkit). Please bring  your presentation or best practice material to the Workshop-Desk (area 44.3 on site plan) or send it to: toolkit@yefestival.com.
 
We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks and to sharing an amazing week together!
 
Best wishes,
YMCA Europe Festival team