Good-bye TS, Slovenia and JV

It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year already since I arrived in Slovenia. It’s been a year full of fast times, slow times, hard times, good times, fun times, deep times, warm times, cold times, sunny times, foggy times, walking times, riding times, driving times, smiling times, crying times, laughing times, praying times, singing times, shouting times, whispering times, hugging times, reading times, watching times, eating times (way too much of this), fasting times (not enough of this), talking times, sharing times, baking times, hiking times, facebook times, skype times, email times, blogging times, TS times, church times, JV times, fellowship times, ice cream times, coffee times, lost times, found times, profound times, hilarious times, and so much more. Really my time in Slovenia cannot be explained with words but rather it is felt deep in my heart. Now I am sitting in the Munich airport on my way home. What I can say is that God is good and faithful and that I wouldn’t trade this year for anything. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 says: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.” Now is the time for me to head back home. Recently I learned that the word “good-bye” originated from the phrase “God be with you.” And so I say good-bye and God be with you to my TS friends, JV friends, and all of Slovenia. My deepest thanks go to all of you for the role you have played in my life and ministry during this past year. May all of the glory go to God!

Slovene Bible: Sveto Pismo = Holy Letter
From the rising of the sun

to the going down of the same, may the name of the Lord be praised (Psalm 113:3)!

Busy Days!

Phew! Life is busy these days as I am trying to spend as much time as possible with friends here in Slovenia before I return to the United States on January 12th. Here is an example of what my days look like:

Exhibit A = Saturday January 3rd. Spent Friday night at the home of the Patty's, enjoying precious time with this family that is so dear to me.

Kendra and I colored a sunset beach scene on Fri. night. Thanks Kendra for the art lesson! :-)

Then I woke up at 7am and was out the door at 9am on my way home to change and gather my gear to go snow hiking at the North Pole. Okay, it wasn't the North Pole but it looked and felt like it! I met my Slovene friends Matjaz and Mateja at 10:30am and we headed to the Great Mountain or Velika Planina with two of their other friends. We rode a cable car up the mountain and then took a chairlift up even higher. The temperature was 12 degrees Fahrenheit! We walked along paths in the snow for apx 1.5 hours, spent a couple hours in a tea house and then walked back.

Thomas, Suzanna, Me, and
Mateja on our Mt. Everest expedition. :-)

Doesn't this look like a shot straight out of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? I'm telling you, we were at the North Pole!
Beautiful sunset from the top of the mountain.

Once off of the mountain, I quickly drove home, jumped in the shower, changed and was at the bowling alley 30 minutes later at 6:30pm to treat the TS students to a round of bowling as one last fun activity to do together as a group.

We had a great time bowling even if most of us weren't any good! :-)

Then we got dessert and hung out for a couple of hours. At 10pm I took some students home then went home myself and crawled into bed exhausted but content at about 11:30pm. The Lord is filling me with His strength to run at this sort of pace for the last couple of weeks and I anticipate the same up until I leave. Thank you to all of you who are praying for me...please don't stop! :-)

Happy New Year!!!

We had a fantastic all-night celebration at TS to bring in the New Year over here in Kranj, Slovenia! Here are some pictures to give you a taste of all the fun we had! :-) I hope you all had fun New Year's celebrations too! May our love for and faith in God be ever-increasing throughout 2009 and for all of our years! :-)

Matic and Jernej set up our movie theater - I'm so thankful for these guys because we wouldn't have anything that requires electronics going if I had to do it! :-) And we had plenty of food as you can see in the background!
We had plenty of fun times around the game table with much laughter! =D

And some competitive but fun foosball matches!

People came and went throughout the evening and at one point we had about 22 people there. But as midnight approached, this was the group that remained. It was 19 degrees F out and we bundled up and headed to the center of Kranj to watch the fireworks and bring in the New Year.

They love fireworks here in Slovenia and aren't so safety conscious so fireworks were being launched all around. I saw one guy decide he would just hold the fireworks to launch it and burnt his hand pretty bad. I don't know why he was surprised. We kept ours a little more tame with sparklers. :-)

The main firework display was quite spectacular though my picture doesn't do it justice.

We were all thoroughly frozen from the 40 minutes or so that we were outside and ran back to TS to give a toast to the New Year!

I got home around 9:20am and slept until 3:30pm! Maybe I should just keep this sleep schedule so that I'll be on the right schedule when I return to Oregon on Jan. 12th. No, that won't work! I still have so many people that I want to connect with here before I leave!

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as you celebrated our Savior's birth! I had a very nice time with the Jackson's, Terry's visiting family and fellow staff members Johnny and Brooke. :-) Here are some pictures from the day...

I woke up to a white Christmas morning...what, fog doesn't count!?

It has often been foggy here this winter and sometimes it feels oppressive, not unlike the spiritual atmosphere at times.

We had fun playing numerous games of sequence

and singing Christmas carols in worship of our Savior! :-) I'm so glad He came!

And when I got home, it really had turned into a white Christmas with a bit of snow!

Oh, and for Christmas I got a dog from the Jackson's! ;-) I brought Aria home with me to dog sit for a couple of days while they took their family guests up to Vienna.

I learned that Aria knows how to perform mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She tried it on me once but I told her it wasn't necessary. :-)

We did have a lot of fun playing frisbee in the snow though!

This view the next morning was much better than the fog!

Have I mentioned how much I love the mountains that God placed around Kranj!?

Spreading Good Cheer...

Last week at TS we decided to spread some Christmas cheer by handing out free hot chocolate and instant cappuccinos just outside of Trdna Skala. TS is located on a well traveled thoroughfare in the city center and God blessed us with perfect weather for the evening...cold and dry! :-) We had fun making and giving away the hot beverages to surprised passersby!

Beverage preparations in process!

Beverages ready "to go" and warm up new friends.

New friends hanging out and sipping their warm beverages!

It's fun and magical to give and expect nothing in return. :-) I'm so glad that God gave His only Son for us and that there is nothing we can do to earn salvation but rather we simply just need to receive the free gift!

A Tour of My Apartment...

Many people have asked me what my apartment is like here in Slovenia and if I like it. So I thought I would give you all a virtual tour. I love the apartment that the Lord has provided for me! :-) It has a great floor plan and is in a great location that is within walking distance of the city center, church, grocery stores and the new mall that contains shopping, a movie theater, bowling, and billiards. What more could one ask for!? I'm also on the 11th floor and have a fantastic view from the edge of the city looking out towards farm land and rolling hills. So let's begin the tour...

As you step in the front door, this is the view straight ahead looking through the kitchen and into the dining room and my "office" area.

This is the entry way looking to the left as you step through the front door. The contraption near the back along the left wall is my indoor clothes drying rack. :-) The bathroom door is at the end of the hall on the right.

And obviously this is the bathroom. The washing machine is on the left and drains into the bathtub after the washing cycle.

This is my bedroom and you enter it directly to the right as you step through the front door.

Now we have walked straight ahead through the kitchen and are looking to the left at the dining room.

Now turn to the right a bit and you are looking at my "office" space.

Now turn around and you are looking back through the kitchen the other way and at the front door.

Okay now do a 180 and you are facing the front windows. Now put your right hand in, put your right hand out, put your right hand in and shake it all about...do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, that's what it's all about! Oh sorry, I got distracted there! :-) Now turn to the right and you are looking into my living room. The couch is also a hide-a-bed and guests are welcome so if anyone is looking to take a winter vacation to Slovenia this year, come on over! :-)

Now we have walked into the living room and are looking back towards the dining room, office and kitchen.

Now turn to the right and you are looking at my covered balcony, outdoor clothes drying lines and a lovely view.

This completes the tour of my apartment. At this time I would like to thank you for joining the tour and I hope you enjoyed it! This tour was given free of charge but donations are accepted and can be sent to...just kidding! Have a great day! :-)

Day of The Dead

Yesterday was a national holiday in Slovenia called the Day of the Dead. It's comparable to Memorial Day in America in that it is a day to remember those who have gone before us and are now dead. The difference is that Slovenes actually observe the holiday and don't just look at it as a day off from work. Okay, okay that's not a completely fair statement. I grew up in family where we always went and put flowers on the graves of our relatives and honored them but it seems to me that American culture in general doesn't really "get" this holiday. I think that there is something good and right about remembering and honoring those who have gone before us.

My apartment overlooks the cemetery here in Kranj so I have a bird's-eye view of the happenings in the cemetery and I have noticed that Slovenes visit the cemetery on a regular basis throughout the year. Most grave sites are well kept and the cemetery feels more like a park than just a cemetery because they actually plant flower gardens on the grave sites. They also light memory candles throughout the year and place them at the grave sites. All of the glowing candles look pretty cool out my window at night time. Some of you may think this is weird, but I actually like having the view of the cemetery out my windows. From the beginning of my time here in Slovenia it has served as a reminder to me that we are all going to die some day. Each night when I pull down my blinds and see all of the glowing candles I pray and ask God to help me to live in light of eternity and to take advantage of every opportunity that I have to share with people about God's love for them and Christ's sacrifice for them so that they have an opportunity to respond to Him and thus be able to go to heaven to spend eternity with God rather than be separated from Him forever in hell when they die.

Ahh, but I digress...what I really wanted to talk about is the holiday. Given that the cemetery has so much action throughout the year I wondered what the holiday would look like. Let me tell you that I have never seen anything like it. People flocked to the cemetery in droves yesterday afternoon. Police officers were directing traffic as people headed to the cemetery with arms full of flowers and candles. At 2:30pm there was a special mass in the middle of the cemetery and nearly every single grave site had people standing respectfully in memory of their loved ones. I walked down through the cemetery and was overtaken by this holy moment and the atmosphere of reverence. Maybe I'm more sensitive to this because it's only been three months since my dad died but I think Americans could learn something from Slovenes in regard to this. At any rate, I'm in Slovenia so I observed their holiday with them by lighting a candle on my balcony and placing some flowers there in memory of my dad. Following are some pictures of the day to help you see what I am talking about.

People buying flowers and candles to decorate grave sites.
Pilgrimage to the cemetery.
People beginning to gather in memory at the grave sites.
Mass service in the middle of the cemetery.
View from my balcony of the cemetery full of people remembering their loved ones.
My balcony memorial to my dad.
Candles glowing in the night.