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.

I'm an aunt!

Okay, not a real aunt but rather a surrogate aunt. Sorry sis, didn't mean to scare you there. :-) Right from the start of my time in Slovenia I have had the privilege and blessing of serving as an aunt for the Woodard's two kids, Abigail and Elijah. I think I had only been in country for five days when Joel and Amy skipped town with Elijah for a few days and left Abigail and I to hold down the fort. I survived my aunt initiation (and so did Abigail) and we've been having fun ever since!

This is what Abigail looked like after I fed her spaghetti the first day of aunt initiation! :-)

And this is when I showed Abigail how to look cool while she is coloring.
This is when Elijah helped me learn how to feed a baby cereal.
This picture says it all...I love this little girl!

Shortly after arriving in Slovenia I was also adopted as an aunt by one of our students from Trdna Skala. While walking around town with a few of the gals, one of them (who shall remain nameless, Ana) decided to get an additional ear piercing. No problem, she went into the jewelry store while another gal and I waited outside and talked. When we went in to check on her she acted a little nervous and the salesman asked me something in Slovene. I just looked at him blankly and said that I only speak English. Once we were back outside she informed me that she had told the salesman that I was her aunt and that I had given permission for the ear piercing. I quickly asked if her mom knew she was getting her ear pierced and she said yes. Phew! But still we had a little talk about truth-telling. :-) Also, right before I went to a choir concert at Ana's school I found out she had told her school principal that she has an American aunt, yours truly. Ana, I like being your aunt! Is there anyone else that I need to know about that you've given this information to? =)

Ana sporting an additional ear piercing!
Ana and I outside of her school after the choir concert.

Fall Festival!

Why am I always talking about things that happened a week ago? I would never make it as a newscaster - this just in...a week ago! :-) So last Friday we had a fall festival party at the Woodard's house. We carved apples instead of pumpkins and it was a lot of fun! Then some people played games and the rest of us watched Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe. We kind of had an apple/caramel theme going on for the evening and ate caramel apples, caramel corn, hot apple cider and spice cake. It was fun to be together and hang out for the evening!

Yummy caramel apples that Joel made.

Creative apple carving in action!

Nejc won for longest continuous apple peel strip!

LAN Party and Picnic

Last Friday night the boys at TS had an all-night LAN party. I don't even know what "LAN" stands for but I opened up TS for them and watched in awe as one by one they showed up with computers in hand and plugged in cables every which way to connect them. I think they had 13 computers networked together and played some war video game with and against each other. It was quite the sight to see! The girls and I hung out for awhile and observed and talked and then we left the boys to carry on with their mesmerized video game playing! :-)

Setting up!

Too many cables for me to keep track of!

Game on!

The weather has now turned cold and rainy but I'm still thinking about the beautiful weather we had last Saturday at Bled Lake for our all day TS picnic. Joel and I took our bbq grills and we had a bbq picnic right there on the lake shore. A bunch of students came and some parents and siblings too. We had a great time eating, playing, and hanging out together! We also had a guest speaker who led a great discussion time about sin, death, and resurrection.

JV 2x3 Campaign

Beginning October 26th, Josiah Venture is hosting vision nights in 11 different cities across the United States and you all are invited to attend the one nearest you! This will be a great evening of hearing what God is doing in Central and Eastern Europe through the JV ministry, catching a vision for the future, and seeing how you can be involved. We are asking God to double the fruitfulness of the ministry in the next 3 years so that is where the "2x3 Campaign" logo comes from. Trust me, this will be an encouraging evening for you so please attend if you are available! Delicious desserts will be served and the event is free of charge but you do need to rsvp within the next few days if you are able to attend. For more info or to rsvp online go to www.2x3campaign.com.

Tour Schedule

Date	City	Time	Venue
Oct 26	Bellevue, WA	7:30pm	Crossroads Bible Church
Oct 28	Portland, OR	7:00pm	Marriott Downtown Waterfront
Oct 30	Scottsdale, AZ	7:00pm	The Westin Kierland Resort
Nov 1	San Jose, CA	7:00pm	Marriott San Jose
Nov 3	Pasadena, CA	7:30pm	The Westin Pasadena
Nov 6	Atlanta, GA	7:00pm	Hyatt Regency Downtown
Nov 7	Hamilton, ONT	7:00pm	Crowne Plaza
Nov 8	Peoria, IL	7:00pm	The Waterhouse
Nov 10	Minneapolis, MN	7:00pm	Marriott City Center
Nov 11	Denver, CO	7:00pm	Hyatt Regency Downtown
Nov 13	Oak Brook, IL	7:00pm	Oak Brook Hills Marriott Resort

One Percent from Josiah Venture on Vimeo.

JV Fall Leadership Conference

Last week I was in the Czech Republic for the JV fall leadership conference. Our theme was the Radiant Bride of Christ...His Church. There were 170 JV staff and nationals there from 11 different countries and we had a great time learning together about four New Testament pictures of the church as the family of God, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the temple of God. I came home inspired to see the church (God's people) in Slovenia grow in all of those areas!

Amazing Hike on Krvavec Ski Slopes

On Monday I did an amazing hike up the slopes of the Krvavec ski area exploring more of God's creation. It was steep hiking up the ski slopes but the spectacular views were worth it! Take a look for yourself...



Makes me want to go skiing this winter just so I can see those mountain peaks when they are covered in snow! I see mountain peaks as big arrowheads pointing up to God as the glorious Creator and they do my soul so much good by pointing me to Him. :-)

"Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." -Psalm 90:2

TS and Paintball Wars!

We had a lot of fun the weekend before last...on Friday night we had a TS meeting and a group of students from the nearby town of Radovljica came to join us. We played shuffle your buns and wink 'em. For those of you who aren't familiar with youth ministry games you can try to guess how they work by looking at the pictures below! :-) Then Josh Patty led us in a discussion about the differences between men and women in how they communicate and what their strengths and weaknesses are. We had a great time!

Shuffle to the left...

shuffle to the right...and try to jump in!

You can wink at my gal...but I'm not gonna let her escape!

On Saturday morning a group of us got together to play paintball war games out in the woods. As you can see...some of them take this pretty seriously with full camo attire! This was my first time of participating in a real paintball war and I have to say that it can really get your adrenaline going. Being a rookie, I was a little cautious and too reserved with my ammo but look out next time everyone because I'll be out to get you! :-)

Attack of the paintballers!

Myself and Zan...ready, aim, fire!