Sneh! (Snow!)

Saturday and Sunday we got our first little bit of snow, and yesterday it snowed most of the day, although it never really stuck to the ground. But this morning we woke up to our first big snow! It's beautiful! It was crazy, though, that we still had to go to language class- life just goes on as normal here, even with so much snow to be played in!

Pictures

Medieval Murder Mystery

English Club

Jenna came to visit!

Our First Kosice Snow!

I love STINT!

This post is a shameless plug for STINT for my friends still in school and a little glimpse into what we actually do here. I love life here, and this past week has been one of the greatest yet!

Sunday- Going to church in another culture has really been a learning and growing experience for me. I'd been to services here before, but I've found that going weekly is very different. Hearing worship and prayer in another language has opened my eyes in a very real way to the greatness of God and has even humbled me as an American coming from a culture that is often so self-consumed. And even though we have headsets for translation during the sermon, I usually still have a hard time following. I feel like God is teaching me to be a "self-feeder" and about the sufficiency of the Holy Spirit as my heart's teacher. He's given me a new hunger for good teaching of his Word, and I have found so much great teaching from great pastors online. Lately I've been listening to sermons online at the rate of about one every day. I'm learning so much!

Monday- Day with the Lord. Once a month everyone on the team takes a whole day just to be with the Lord. It's Crusade policy, and it's so great. I get an unrushed day to read God's word, talk with him, listen to him, listen to sermons, listen to music, etc.

Tuesday- Usually we have language class from 8-11:30 but we got out early this week. We have 2 great teachers, and I love the language and am motivated to learn it, but it's so hard. For only being in class for 2 months, though, I am excited about how much I've learned to read. I still can't do much in terms of speaking and listening, but I know it takes time.
That afternoon I had a meeting with some fun friends from English club- Iveta, Nina, and Adriana. We went to a little cafe near campus for tea. It's been fun getting to know them through English club, and I hope we can hang out a lot more!

Wednesday- Every Wed morning is team Bible study and prayer. We are studying 1 Thessalonians together, but this week prayer went so long that we didn't have time for Bible study. That afternoon I met with my friend/language partner Petra. I met Petra knocking on doors in Medicka. She was translating some article into English for homework, and I mentioned that I am studying Slovak and would love help with the language. I was surprised at how excited she was to help me. The first time we met we just sat in a cafe and talked for 3 hours, and now we're meeting every week.
That night was Sports night at English club. I think the American football lesson went right over the Slovaks' heads but the discussion question time was great. We have a solid group of students coming consistently so that's very exciting.
After English club Pet'o brought his friend Radka over to my apartment and Bronny and I sat and talked with them about Slovak politics and whatever else til way too late. Long, fun day.

Thursday- Morning off so I went running with Mikey and Aaron. I've loved running with them this year. Keeps me accountable- if I say I'm going then I have to go. They also make me run longer than I would by myself. I love being able to just follow them and not have to think about where I'm going.
That afternoon I met with one of our leadership students, Zuzka. I met Zuzka during my first summer project here while she was still in high school. I love her! Then I met with my STINT coach, Julie Jones. Hugh and Julie are here for the week coaching and encouraging our team, and I think I've known them since I was born. They took the whole team out to dinner that night to Camelot, a restaurant that's decorated all medieval-ish.

Friday- Staff meeting all morning, language class all afternoon, and team social that night. It was my turn to plan the social, and I did a murder mystery dinner. It was so fun having the power to make a whole group of adults dress up and play make-believe! I'll add pictures later.

Today we hung around the apartment all day then took the train to Spisska Nova Ves for dinner at Nostalgia, an American-style restaurant. I can't believe I just wrote a whole novel about my week. I think it's really more for myself- I don't want to forget anything about this year. The past 3 months I have felt more cared for by the Lord, more overwhelmed by his goodness than I can ever remember before in my life. I am so grateful that he has brought me here!

My Mom's Visit!

My mom came to visit! It was so fun to see her and show her my life here. It was a busy week, and I think we wore her out, but she was such an encouragement and a servant to my team.

My mom had been traveling for over 24 hours, found out her bags didn't make it, got in the car with Peter and me at the airport, and we had a wreck maybe a mile away from my apartment. Everyone was fine, although I didn't have my seatbelt on and still have a bruise on my leg 2 weeks later! Somehow in all the confusion, though, we still managed to get a picture sitting in the car in the traffic jam we caused!

Her luggage made it later that night, and it was like Christmas! Chick-fil-A, Jan Sherard's bread, and Mexican food!

Halloween party- with roommates, with Mala Danka, and with Mom

(Stephanie, Lindsey, and I were the states of matter- nerds, I know. Bronny is a cute Australian- not really a stretch.)

Rome! SkyEurope had a great deal on flights to Rome during their Happy Hour one day and my mom got us free rooms at a great hotel right in the middle of Rome. Fun trip!

Trevi Fountain

In the Vatican museum

Colosseum

Crazy Slovakia Adventures

As far as I know right now, I've only got one year here. So I don't want to miss out on a single opportunity for a crazy Slovak adventure. This has gotten me into a few situations where I had to ask myself what I was thinking, but they've all turned into fun stories in the end. Here's a few of them-

A private school here was having "English Week" a few weeks ago so I volunteered to teach an American history lesson for the 2nd and 4th grades. I went prepared with a cute little lesson on the Pilgrims and Indians, but all my plans went out the window when the teacher left me with a classroom full of kids who didn't speak a lick of English. So for an hour and a half with each class (a really long time for little kids!) I made up games and gave them pictures to color and "Indian beads" to make jewelry. The one little 2nd grader who spoke English asked me out for coffee. I agreed (how do you say no to a 2nd grader?), but fortunately he said he had to go home and ask his mom.

The 2nd graders wouldn't stop eating my "Indians beads" (macaroni noodles) long enough to make anything.

Survival Camp- a high and a low for me since being here! We spent a weekend in Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise), a beautiful part of the country, staying out in the woods and playing games and doing a ropes course and "surviving". People brought friends who aren't believers and we played a crazy game Saturday night that led into a presentation of the gospel. There were only 3 Americans so I stayed pretty confused most of the weekend. I hit a low for sure on Friday night when we got dropped off in the dark in the middle of nowhere and were being yelled at in Slovak with a bullhorn and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English. And then again as we pushed the cars up the mountain to the camp, still being yelled at in Slovak with a bullhorn. But once we got to the camp, the weekend turned out to be so fun!

The ropes course
Freezing to death in our cabins that weren't heated

The Half-Marathon- I ran the Kosice Peace (Half)Marathon, Europe's oldest marathon, with a few of my teammates. I definitely don't know what I was thinking. I mean I like to run, but not that much, not that far. I finished though. My time was terrible, but I've made up lots of excuses to make myself feel better and I think it's motivated me to try it again and maybe try training for it. Other than the running part, though, it was a really fun day.

I was ready to punch people in the face for taking so many pictures but now I'm so glad they did!

A picture of Club Clemson after I recovered a little

My victory shot

Stara Lubovna- Peter, Lubica, Aaron, and I went on a Saturday adventure to a castle near the Polish border to celebrate our 23rd birthdays. Any trip with Peter and Lubica is crazy!

There was a random medieval amusement park (that's what I'm calling it) and a random little flock of sheep wandering around it. One of them tried to eat Lubica's belt.

The castle- built in the 1300's, before Christopher Columbus discovered America, as Peter had to point out.

Peter and Lubica dancing outside the castle to medieval music

1985- a very good year

P.S. I don't think there is anything in the world more beautiful than Slovakia in the fall!

Our New International Ministry in Slovakia

Last night was for sure my craziest night in Slovakia so far! We found out through surveys that there were students at the medical school here interested in joining a Bible study. So we planned it for last night and started contacting the students. Almost all of them said they were busy this week, but maybe next week. So we prayed that God would bring people and left it in his hands, and He brought the craziest international mix of people! Instead of a quiet group of sweet Slovaks sitting around the room we got a guy from Angola, a girl from Ireland, an Iranian Swedish guy, and 2 guys from the Ukraine. Then, since we still don't have a room to meet in (please pray for that, by the way!), we walked to the mall and had our international Bible study in the middle of the food court. All the materials and Bibles we brought were in Slovak, but we worked with what we had and Cindy did a great job teaching and answering crazy questions. Then we walked back to a dorm and had American brownies and Russian (?) tea and talked about world politics.
As I walked home and talked with my teammates, it was so neat to see God's wisdom. Actually, we're still trying to figure out what happened last night, but He knew and knows exactly what He is doing. Imagine if each of those 5 students come to know the Lord (if they don't already know Him, we're not sure yet), have a ministry with their classmates for their 6 years here, and then take the gospel back to Angola and Ireland and the Ukraine and Sweden (or Iran!). It is one of my greatest prayers that God would use Slovakia like that!

So please pray:
For Bible study at Medicka on Wednesday nights- and for wisdom to know if we need a Slovak study and an international one
That we would be able to meet more of the 100 English-speaking int'l freshmen at Medicka
For the ministry at the Vet school- we haven't seen as much spiritual interest there yet
For the ministry at Jedlikova- the biggest block of dorms and a spiritually dead place

Thank you so much for praying!

The First Month

I can't believe it's been a month! Trying to write about all that has happened in the past month would take days, so I'll try to accomplish with pictures what I don't have the energy to type!

Meet the American part of my team! We spent a week in Copper Mountain, Colorado, for briefing before leaving for Slovakia.

Back row: Stephanie Godfrey (from my Bible study at Clemson), Mikey Taylor (on staff with CCC and married to Cindy), Justin Gibbons (on staff and our team leader)

Front row: Me, Cindy Taylor (on staff, married to Mikey, and expecting a baby in April!), Lindsey Walton (also from my Bible study at Clemson), Aaron Hassell (from Clemson and a 2nd year STINTer)

We loved Copper Mountain, but that Alpine Height Disease really got to us! And it snowed! In August!

Welcome to our apartment! This is our front door, and I'm not kidding.

The view out my window. I feel like I have a glimpse into the lives of these people. They don't realize that people can see them out on their balconies in their underwear.

One side of my room.

And the other.

St. Elizabeth's cathedral. This city is absolutely beautiful.

The dancing fountain and the cathedral from the other side.

This is us trying to stay up all night to watch the Clemson vs. Alabama game. We finally gave up after the 3rd quarter- at 5 a.m.

The whole team after surveys at the university in Presov. The 7 Americans plus Biba (to the left of me, co-leading the team) and Dara (on the far right). Don't know where we would be without Biba and Dara!

Clemson girls need some time in the woods after living in the city for a month!

Spis castle. This country is cool.

The team hanging out through our windows during a trip to Bratislava.

That's it for now, but I promise to write more soon about how God is already working here in Slovakia this year! Thanks for praying!

I'm Moving to Slovakia!

I've been saying for years that I'm moving to Slovakia, and I can't believe that it's days away from happening- at least for a year! I fly out Thursday for Copper Mountain, Colorado, and then on to Slovakia on the 20th! I hope to update this blog often with news and pictures from my life, my team, and the ministry in Kosice!