February Happenings February 28, 2009

After our trip, we jumped headfirst back into ministry in Kosice and Presov.  The exam schedule here is much different than America.  Basically, students are studying and taking exams in December and January.  They can also retake exams up to three times (I think) if they don’t pass the first time.  Crazy!  Classes finally began around the second week in February.  

To kick off the semester we went to Presov armed with Valentine’s Day lollipops and surveys.  We gave out lollipops to students, which works as a pretty good icebreaker.  There isn’t much you can get for free in Slovakia (sometimes you even have to pay to go to the bathroom!) so standing around on campus handing out free candy comes as a surprise to most students.  We asked students to fill out a short survey on love, asking questions about what love looks like and if anyone is capable of giving perfect, unconditional love.  We had many great opportunities to share the love of Christ with these students who are hungering for this perfect love relationship.

We had another outreach the following week at the medical campus in Kosice.  We threw a palacinky, or pancake party, for students and had a great turnout–about 120 students.  We served the palacinky and had a Slovak student, Peter, share his testimony while students ate.  After the palacinky was gone, some students hung out for a while longer and we played “Move If”–a get to know you game where everyone sits in a circle with one person standing in the middle.  The person in the middle will say, for example, “Move if you have ridden on an airplane,” and everyone who’s been on an airplane will stand up and run to find a new seat.  It’s a fun way to learn more about people!

I’m enjoying meeting one on one with students I’ve met through these two outreaches.  We’ve really seen the Lord working in the lives of students we’ve been meeting to draw them to Himself.  I’m excited to see what the rest of the semester holds!

Next week we’ll begin Talk the Talk (english club) and Bible study in Presov.  Bible study will be mainly geared toward the believers we know (though anyone will be welcome to come)–giving them a place to fellowship with one another each week while learning how to study the Bible and share their faith with others.  Be praying that this will be a time of encouragement and refreshment each week for students, and that it will meet the need we have of cultivating a community of believers here.

I have no pictures from the past two weeks, but here’s a picture of the beautiful country I live in!  This was on the way to our winter conference in December.  And then, a picture of what I’m wishing for.  Color and sun and warm weather!

 

Talk the Talk October 6, 2008

This week we are starting an english club called Talk the Talk for students at Presov.  (More about that here.)  We did a lot of promotion last week–hanging up signs, handing out flyers, and chalking the sidewalks–and are praying for 50 students to come to the first meeting tomorrow night.  Please pray with us that we’d have a great turnout and that relationships with these students would begin being built tomorrow night!

weekly update, for lack of a catchy title September 29, 2008

I cannot seem to stay caught up on the blog.  Here’s a little bit about what I’ve been doing the past few weeks.

My team spent the weekend before last in the capital city of Slovakia at a planning/training conference with the CCC team in Bratislava.  It was so good to unite with the team there and hear a little about how their ministry is going.  We talked a lot about discipleship and the importance of building relationships as the starting point of sharing the gospel with Slovak students.  Viktor, on staff in Bratislava, shared his testimony on how he came to be a believer through his relationship with a STINTer several years ago.  One thing he said really hit me:  A lot of times people won’t trust Christ until they trust you.  Sharing the gospel here is really going to take sharing my whole life with students:  not just what I say, what I do.

Students finally started school last week so things really got busy for our team.  I am working at Presov, a university about 45 minutes (by train) from where I live (Kosice).  We continued doing surveys about students’ interests, and for filling out a survey, students were entered to win a free iPod.  We also did Soularium surveys, an awesome new tool for getting into spiritual conversations with students.  It consists of 50 pictures, and students pick pictures to describe their lives, what they wish were true of their lives, what they feel describes God, what they’ve experienced spiritually, and what they wish were true of their spiritual journey.  It is especially effective here in Slovakia, as English speakers trying to communicate with Slovak speakers, as pictures have no language barrier.

Last weekend I enjoyed some much needed downtime.  The next few weeks are going to be crazy.  You can be praying for the English Club starting in Presov on October 7th.  We will be promoting it this week, so pray we’ll be able to meet a lot of people interested in practicing their english, and that all our plans will come together well.  Going through the surveys from Presov, we found lots of students were interested in discussion groups and practicing their english.  We’ll have topics such as culture and values, university life, American and pop culture, art, and food.  While topics aren’t necessarily gospel focused (though we will have some spiritually focused questions during discussion), the purpose of this club is to begin building relationships with students through things they are interested in, to create an avenue for sharing our faith with them.

I’ll end the post with a picture.

This is Dara, Amber, Stephanie, me, and Biba.  Biba and Dara are on staff with Crusade in Slovakia.  They have been a huge help in getting us settled and helping us figure out the city.  I’m so thankful for them!