You Know You're In Europe When... #6

#6 Kids over the age of 7 change in front of their peers (in this case, fellow English campers).

Camp is Almost Here!

After a lot of preparation time and training, the first week of English camps is about to begin. We're all super excited to be working with students, planting seeds, and prayerfully watching God move. This week I'll be at the day camp with Calvary Chapel church here in Celje. (Kari and Heather are at Ljubljana's junior high camp and Mallory and Nate are at Ljubljana's high school camp.) I'm teaching the advanced English class with Polona (she's an awesome Slovene with great English). We're expecting around 4 or 5 kids in our class, 15 at the camp altogether. Should be fun! The camp is from Monday to Wednesday and goes from 8am to around 2:30pm each day. Then on Thursday, I'm going to orientation for the second week of camps; I'm looking forward to meeting the church team coming over to help. Then Saturday starts the next week of camp. I'll be heading to a castle in Austria with around 40 Slovene high schoolers. I can't wait! Plus, Nate and Kari will be there as well. So after a week and a half without them, that will be exciting too.

So, that's the basic plan for me the next two weeks. Here's more specifically what you can be praying for:

- Strength and energy: The interns, church teams, and missionaries are going to need it as two weeks of camp back-to-back will for sure be tiring! Mallory has been sick the past few days, so pray that she'll be feeling good again soon and that no one else will get sick.

- Communication and unity: Pray that we will all be able to work well together, that communication (especially between the Slovene Christians and us) will be strong, and that we will be clear examples of love to the students as they watch us interact and serve along side one another. Also pray that any problems that could arise between members of the team will be noticed and taken care of now before camp starts.

- God-honoring excellence: One of JV's core values is God-honoring excellence. We want to pursue excellence that pleases God as we begin camps. So, pray that God will give us as leaders wisdom, that we'll be able to teach English well, and that we will put on camps that students want to come back to next year because they are planned out and professional, while also being fun.

- Trust in the Spirit: And this one might be the most important of all, but please pray that we'll be filled with the Holy Spirit, that we'll trust Him in our lives, and that we'll follow His leading at camp. Pray that we will be flexible and courageous, stepping out of our comfort zones when He asks us to do something. Pray that God will very clearly be at work through us and that we will be able to plant seeds that grow and produce lasting fruit in people's lives.

Thanks for partnering with me through prayer : )
I'm always so encouraged by all of you.

I Can't Believe That Just Happened!

Okay, so since arriving in Europe I have collected many stories, funny or just interesting, of things that I can't believe happened (most of which Kari and I laughed about a ton or at least gave us reason for a shared, wide-eyed look). For your enjoyment and so that I don't forget, here are my top ten:

1) On one of the trains we took during the Amazing Race, I sat in a compartment and listened to Hondo (a full-time missionary) talk to a chem student about evolution and morals. Hondo had just talked to us about the power of asking good questions in order to keep people talking and leading them to think about what they believe. Then, I got to see this in action. Hondo asked great questions and the conversation went super deep really quickly! I was impressed and am confident that the guy on the train went home that day questioning his values a little more. I trust that God will continue to make that seed grow.

2) The day Kari and I arrived in Celje, pretty much all of JV's connections in the area (the missionaries, Americans, and host family) were all at a wedding for a couple in the church we're working with here. So, we were told we'd be chilling by ourselves for most of the day. However, half-way through the afternoon, our hosts (who we didn't know at all yet) came home to tell us we were invited to the reception. Less than 12 hours after settling in, we were dressed up, at the church, and meeting all the Calvary Chapel church-goers. Not to mention, we were sitting right across the table from the parents of the bride! : )

3) The second night we were in Celje, Whitney (our hostess) asked us if we'd want to go on a walk with her down to a lake by her house. To get to know her better (she's a super open person) she told us her testimony. It ended up taking a good couple of hours as we walked and listened to her really intense story of childhood abuse, rape, suicidal thoughts, and drugs and how the Holy Spirit completely turned her life around. The climax of the story and the walk was when we neared the bottom of a hill where a forest surrounded the lake and noticed a huge bear-like dog just sitting there -guarding his territory. Whitney turned to us and said something like, "I have an enemy here. We should probably go to the lake some other time." It was starting to get dark out and there was a forest road we had to go down to get home. Long story short, we ended up running for 10 minutes, while Whitney continued to tell her story. Crazy times! (In case you were wondering, we did get to go to the lake a couple days later. As you can see from the picture, it was worth the wait!)

4) Teaching English in the schools and trying to promote camp gets tiring after a while. A few classes in and you find the jokes you've been telling a little less funny and the vocab you're teaching a bit less interesting. Let's just say the classes tended to run together! But there is one class session that was definitely more memorable -we were well into the period and everything was going according to plan. But all of a sudden a pigeon flew through an open window into the classroom and everyone was silent. The stupid bird was startled, I'm sure, and trying to get back out through a closed window, which obviously didn't work well. Nate went open the window, but was having trouble getting the bird to fly through it. Thank goodness a random kid in the class knew what to do! He just walked calmly up to the bird, grabbed it, and threw it out the open window. Everyone clapped, the student bowed, and we went back to teaching English.

5) Passing out fliers about English camp can be awkward. I mean, if you were approached on the street by a person speaking a foreign language would you stop to chat or just ignore him? Well, we've observed a lot of good and bad tactics to use when promoting camp, but my favorite is when Johnny (missionary) goes up to someone, asks "Do you speak English?" and when the person says no mutters, "Well, do you want to?"

6) Another thing we did one night with Whitney and her husband was go to a jazz club. They go quite a lot with other friends to pray for the people there and listen to really good music. I must say, it was pretty impressive.
7) Kari and I have tried out a lot of restaurants here in the city. However, we think we've already found our favorite. This Italian place has great pizza and pasta and classy waiters who speak English. Gotta love that! But the most memorable meal there was a pizza we split that looked like this. A salad on our pizza -yummy!

8) One thing I love about going to different countries is seeing and being a part of worship and the church body around the world. The coolest worship experience I've had the pleasure to be a part of here so far was at the house of Nina, a woman from the countryside who goes to the church we are working with. Whitney invited Kari and me along for the ride one afternoon to hang out at Nina's and worship. We sang in English while they played piano and guitar and sang in Slovene. It's awesome to think that our God hears us no matter what language we're singing in or how many of us there are gathered together in His name.

9) Public transportation is not always my favorite. However, I was super proud of myself the day I took the train by myself from Ljubljana to Celje. The problem with the trip this time was not the train itself. Instead, it was the walking 20 minutes in the rain after getting off the train. I had an umbrella, but my pants got soaked from cars driving by and splashing me. Another train story, while I'm at it, is that on one of the trips that Kari and I took an annoying beeping alarm started going off in our car and after a few minutes we were wondering if we could fix it somehow. We asked two teens sitting behind us if they knew what was happening. The girl just looked at us seriously, while the guy with her turned and said in English, "We're all going to die!" The beeping eventually stopped, but it was worth enduring for a bit just for that line.

10) Two nights ago, I found myself sitting in a small art gallery with Johnny, Kari, and Maja (the Slovene teenager who we've been hanging out with) listening to a lecture by an artist from Iran talking about her photographs and drawings. A lot of the artwork was her way of taking a stand against religion in her country is, as she explained that she used a lot of black space and shadows to portray the darkness of the mosques. She also talked about the "monster inside all of us." I couldn't help but smile at this very mixed cultural experience and the thought-provoking truths stated by the artist.

You Know You're In Europe When... #5

#5 People are shooting off fireworks in their backyards just because of the World Cup.

Another One of Those Updates

This week, Kari and I have spent most of our time in Ljubljana, the capital city where a lot of the JV full-time missionaries are based. From Monday to Wednesday we spent time going to high school classes at a catholic school here to teach English. David Bordner (one of the missionaries) teaches there a couple times a year and wanted the interns' help. With the first year students we talked about vacations and with the older students we taught on friendships. Basically, David led from the front and we each helped lead a small group of 5ish students. We played games, answered questions, and tried to get the students talking as much as possible in English. Overall, we had a great time!

Also, on Monday, two more interns got added to our team! Mallory and Heather, both 20, arrived from the States after their school years finished. It has already been awesome getting to know them! And with the jet-lag and excitement at the moment, there's been a lot of laughter.

There was a meeting yesterday afternoon about the day camp I'll be helping with the first week of camps (starting in a week and a half). After the meeting, I'm getting even more pumped for what's ahead. I'll be teaching the advanced English class (so probably mostly 11-14 year olds I'm guessing) with Polona, a sweet 26 year old Slovene who I'm excited to get to know better. She's great and super willing to help me with anything and everything!

And, today was my birthday :) Yippee, I'm 22! Can't believe how old I am already. We had a Slovenia staff meeting, which was sweet because everyone was together. Lots of fun, productive, and we had cake to celebrate. I really feel like I belong to the family here, which is fun.

Pictures are coming soon and also prayer requests. Love you all!

You Know You're In Europe When... #4

#4 "Air conditioning" means turning on a fan, opening a window, and taking off as many clothes as possible.

Highlights So Far -Part 2

Here goes part 2!

- Besides getting to know our host family and the church we're working with (Calvary Chapel Celje) Kari and I have had time to explore the area and get to know the cool teen hangout spots. We've spent time in the park, at the mall, at the library, and at a bunch of cafes. This is all in preparation for after camps when we'll be planning follow-up events for students and continuing to build relationships and connect them with each other and the church.

- We've gone to a few bible studies in the surrounding area put on by various missionaries here. They've been interesting and fun to be a part of and I definitely feel like God has been speaking to me through Scripture a lot recently. Kari and I have also been reading Acts together. The topic of the Holy Spirit keeps coming up in discussions I'm having and, though I still have many questions, I'm becoming more aware of the Spirit's work in my life and how to listen to Him. My biggest prayer request for the summer (especially at camp) is that I will be led by the Holy Spirit in my discussions with students and my actions as I teach English, play crazy games, and serve in any way I can.

- As we prepare for camp, promotion is a huge part of our role as interns at the moment. We are handing out fliers, putting up posters, and got to be in a high school for two days talking about camp in 7 English classes. That was awesome because it put faces to what we are doing and gave us a lot of motivation. We're all looking forward to starting the camps in a few weeks. And it seemed like students were pretty interested in coming, which is exactly what we want.

- Besides all of this, we've been spending some time with a 16 year old girl named Maja (pronounced Mya) who went to camp last year and is planning to come again. She's a bit on the quiet side, but super sweet and although she doesn't understand the Gospel completely, she is very open to the idea of God and Christianity. Be praying that we'll be able to have some deeper discussions with her throughout the summer.

To sum things up, a lot is happening, but it's mostly all preparation for the camps to come later on in the summer. At the end of June the first week of camp will be starting. There are three camps going on at the same time that the interns will be split up between. I am going to a day camp that the church in Celje is putting on for 8-14 year olds. Then, the next week of camp, right after this (from July 4-10), I will be going with Kari and Nate to a camp for high schoolers from Celje and Maribor at a castle in Austria. The other two interns (who arrive tomorrow!) will be at a different camp during that time.

So, that's about it at this point. I'd love to hear more from any of you! Thanks to all of you who are reading this, praying for us, and those of you who have already left me comments or facebook messages. (Also, sorry for the lack of pictures this time. Hopefully, this is interesting enough without them.)

Highlights So Far -Part 1

Okay, so I promised I would write a longer post and here it is finally! I have so much I could say since I really haven't told you yet about anything we've done in Slovenia, but there's too much to tell. So, feel free to write me an email, drop me a comment, or talk to me on facebook and I'd love to tell you more. Otherwise, here are the highlights.

- Before heading to Celje where we (me and Kari) are based for the summer, we hung out for a few days with Hondo, Trisha, and their adorable son Caleb (aka the Dude). They are JV missionaries living in Ljublijana, the country's capital. Time at their house was relaxing, fun, and really encouraging!

Here's Caleb! (Kari took the picture.) We spent time walking around the city, chilling at the house, visiting a castle, and getting to know each other better. We're excited to continue hanging out throughout the summer.

- Last Friday (our last day in Ljublijana) we cleaned out the warehouse (Terry Jackson's garage). There were a whole bunch of camp supplies that needed to be organized and sorted into different camp boxes. I spent the day counting t-shirts, labeling boxes, and putting pens and markers into bags. But it was a ton of fun because most of the Slovenian JV team (interns and full-timers) was there to help and spending time visiting and eating good food was great. Here's a picture of part of the team.

- On Saturday (a week from today!) we got to Celje. Me and Kari are staying with a family from the church we're working with here -Whitney is an American, Ales (pronounced Alish) is Slovene, their two kids; Lanea (age 3) and Daniel (almost 2), and their 9 toy and tea cup poodles. It's a crazy house, but I love it for the most part! Whitney, especially, has a super interesting story of how she became a Christian, and it's been cool hearing her perspective on things as she is really open about her faith. We've gone on walks, watched movies together, and spent time at a lake. We've also spent time with some of their church friends. It's been great!

- Part 2 coming soon!

A Quick One

Hey everyone!

I really want to blog more in depth about what's going on here soon, since I really haven't for a while and a ton is happening. Sadly, though, because I'm tired and busy now is not the time for blogging. Tomorrow, I hopefully will have more time and can write a long post.

But for now I wanted to let you know that we are going into high school classes in the area to advertise for english camp now. We (Me, Kari, Johnny a JV missionary here, and the pastor from the church we are going to) went to two classes this morning that went well, but tomorrow we are going to at least four more.

So, please pray that tomorrow will go well, that the teens who we talk to will listen and enjoy the presentation, and that those who are interested will be able to check out the details and make it to camp if God wants them there.

Thanks again for all of your encouragement and prayers. I love getting your comments and facebook messages and love you all tons!

You Know You're In Europe When... #3

#3 You order lemonade at a cafe and have to add your own sugar to it once it comes.

So You Know the Facts

Since many North Americans (including myself) are pretty clueless when it comes to Slovenia, I wanted to make sure I give you the important facts about the country so that you can understand more fully what's going on while I'm here. So, here's what I've learned so far:

Here's a quick look at a map:

As you can see, Slovenia borders Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Croatia. It's small and only takes 2-3 hours by car to cross from one side to the other. It became a part of the European Union in 2004 and is now on the Euro, has a strong economy, and a stable democratic government. It has been independent from the Serbs since 1991.

Land: The area has mountains, rivers, and a small coastline. The countryside is super green and the cities are hilly and beautiful.

Religion: Most of the country (around 60%) is Roman Catholic, meaning that people hold onto the tradition but many, especially young people, don't even attend church regularly (much like in Poland).

Language: Slovene. Normally the words are pronounced pretty much as they look like written which is nice! And some words sound similar to Polish ones, which is also helping me. The language uses a lot of j's in words that make a y sound. The word most helpful for me to know so far has been "hvala," meaning "thank you."

Food: Much like the rest of Europe, Slovenia has the largest meal in the middle of the day. Soup and tea are often included in meals. The country takes most of its food from other countries around the area (like pizza from Italy), but is known to use a lot of meat in dishes (including horse) and make desserts with poppyseeds, cottage cheese, and wine (like traditional Europeans do).

Capital: Ljubljana (Kari and I stayed here with JV missionaries Hondo and Trisha when we first arrived) It's the largest city in Slovenia, has a river that runs through the center of it, and has a really cool castle that we visited. It also has great pizza ;)

Celje: This is the city where Kari and I will be living for most of the summer now. It is the third largest city (around 50,000 people), but is small enough to get around mostly by bike or on foot. It has a total of 2 evangelical churches, including the one we went to this morning. The city is really pretty, totally European looking but with a lot of modern stores and stuff as well, and I can't wait to explore it more. It's known for having a lot of high school students who live here to go to school during the week (we'll hopefully be meeting and hanging out with a bunch of them). I'll put up pictures soon!

That's all for now. I hope this gives you a bigger picture of where I'm at and what things are like here. Please continue praying for Slovenia, specifically the youth here. God is already at work and will continue doing great things!

We're Here!

We are now in Slovenia! After 7 hours in the van with these guys yesterday, we arrived in Ljublijana, the capital of the country. Me and Kari are staying with the Wynn family (Hondo, Trisha, and their cute, two year old, Caleb "The Dude") for two days before heading to our home base for the summer in Celje, the third largest city in Slovenia. As you can see from Hondo's big thumbs up in the picture, we're excited to be here : )

You Know You're In Europe When... #2

#2 You've eaten more soup in a week than you normally eat in a month.

A Random Mix of Thoughts

I've been here at Malenovice now for 4 whole days and will be leaving tomorrow to head to Slovenia. It'll be fun to actually get to the country I'll be serving in this summer, but it'll be sad to go. While here, I've been able to interact with over 50 interns serving in a bunch of Eastern European countries this summer, a lot of JV full-time missionaries, and some great friends of mine who I haven't seen in forever (Hannah Ellenwood, Tyler Patty, and Connor McSheffery are all JVkids I grew up with and are pictured bellow)!

I know I'm already going to miss it. But it has been a great start of my trip to be here at training and I've learned a ton already. Here are some of my thoughts on the past few days:

- I have to start out with this awesome video that my friend Tyler posted on his blog the other day. It's not specifically of my team during the Amazing Race, but does give a good glimpse into what it was like for all of us. Thanks, Tyler for capturing it!

The Amazing Race (JV) from Tyler Patty on Vimeo.

- I'm still processing through what has been said throughout this week in sessions we've had, but they've been great. A few things that have stood out to me that you can be praying for is that I, as well as the other interns, will seek to be servants this summer (not merely people who sometimes serve), will listen to but also act on the Holy Spirit's promptings, and will be learners with humble attitudes as we step into other cultures and interact with people.

- I've also been thinking about the importance of asking good questions. Hopefully I'll be able to practice this skill throughout the summer.

- Some other prayer requests: Protection as we travel tomorrow and throughout the summer, strength and energy for the long days ahead, good health and healing for me as I have a bad cough at the moment and am not feeling well, unity for the Slovenian team (I think we're doing great in this category so far, but we've only known each other a week), and the ability to find out what our individual roles will be and fit those well without comparison or thoughts of inadequacy.

- Also, of course, be praying that God will go before us, preparing the way even now. Thanks again for your prayers! I'm confidant that God is good and that He's already at work in big ways. I'm so grateful to be a part of what He's doing.