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!