We're Half Way There

My goodness, how the time flashes by before us! It has been 4 weeks since my last post, and 5 WEEKS since my last update on ministry here in Slovakia with Josiah Venture. There's a LOT to cover, but so many amazing things I am so excited to share with you! AND, today is my half-way mark in my 6 month internship.. Last year I was on a plane home already... I don't know how I could possibly do that again though... So much has changed in my heart since last year. 

I know this seems like a lot, but I don't know how I can cut down the work that God has been accomplishing in the last 5 weeks in any shorter way. 

Week 7: I celebrated Easter with my host family, helped lead worship, and then ended the day with the Chases back in Bratislava! It was great to be a part of such an important holiday in another country, another culture and family. That week was also busy while our Fusions did some final preparation for the Fusiondary Festival that we participated in that weekend in the Czech Republic.

Fusiondary: This event in the past started as a festival where the Fusions established in Czech got together to perform and to take workshops. Over the last two years, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine have joined the festival! This was Slovakia's first year being a part of Fusiondary and our students absolutely LOVED it. All 3 of our Fusions came together to perform and they absolutely ROCKED IT! It was so encouraging for all of us to be a part of something so much bigger than a little weekly meeting. I was especially proud to see a girl that I had begun to connect with conquer her nerves and sing her heart out on one of the solos. We needed a student to fill one of our solos 3 weeks before Fusiondary and I thought of her. We spent time practicing the song, her English, and just getting to know each other. This girl's personality is a firecracker, and I know that if she lets herself get hooked on Christ, He's going to do big things through her! 

                                            Fusion Senec Women at Fusiondary!

One of the coolest parts of Fusiondary though, wasn't the bands or the choirs, but that this festival was a tool to present the Gospel to Fusion students once again and to remind them that none of their leaders would be in their lives or a part of Fusion without Jesus Christ. It was incredibly encouraging and one of our Bratislava students accepted Christ several days after this festival because of the impact of this event and our Fusion! Praise God for bringing Him into His family! 

Week 8: This week was focused on getting things squared away at the Foreign Police office. Though we have done everything as quickly as we have been able to, we are still waiting for my visa to be in my hands. Please pray with me in this, as some big complications are coming up soon if I don't have my visa in the next FOUR days. I believe that God is way bigger than any of this and I know that He works all things together for my good. 

Week 9: Monday's are relaxing for me. They are my "day to breathe". Miriam, has also become a  part of my Monday's and I have so happy to know her. I've mentioned this girl several times before, but I have to say again that I am amazed at this girl's heart and how much she has opened herself up to God to let Him change her and stretch her into who He desires her to be! She brings me so much joy, not because she serves me well as a good friend or student I get to work with, but because I get the privilege of seeing God transform her every week!                                                                                        Miriam and I in Košice   

Fusion OBIŠOVCE!: This week we launched Slovakia's FIFTH Fusion! It was so exciting and an honor to be a part the beginning of this ministry. We did a launch concert on Friday with Fusion students from Banska Bystrica, Bratislava, Senec, and Kysak/Obišovce combined. Josh, fellow JV staff in Banska Bystrica, brought students with him, and I brought 3 students with me. This was a really great opportunity on several levels. One, these Fusion students got to be a part of a team as we served another Fusion. Two, they got to experience how different other Fusions can be. For me, it was really great to have this independent time with these three students. I brought with me two boys, Pali and Beni, and Miriam. After the Fusion launch, we spent some relaxing time visiting Slovakia's second largest city, Košice, which the kids had never been to before. That was a fun experience for them and for myself! 

                                                                                           


Prayer Requests: The new Fusion is doing really well! Please pray it keeps the momentum that it needs to make it to camp in July and to follow up with camp! 

Please also pray for the students I mentioned as they desperately need to see God's truth. Their beliefs are too complex to explain here, but they need the Holy Spirit to eliminate the false truths in their minds and hearts. 


                    
                

   Pali, Miriam, myself, and Beni in Košice.

Week 10: Surprisingly, this was a relatively calm week to the rest of the last couple months. Weekly Fusions continued... Regular Sunday morning church.. This was also filled with a lot of time spent on planning for the summer; for camps, for interns, for traveling, for ministries.  

Prayer Requests: Please be praying for the 5 interns from America that are arriving in 2 weeks to come join us in Slovakia and work with Fusion for 3 weeks! Please pray for their hearts, their emotional and spiritual preparation, and also their support raising. 

Week 11: Following the second week of Fusion Obišovce, I got to visit a dear friend of mine in Prešov for several days. I have been waiting to have one on one time with this woman for over a year (since I first spoke with her at KPM last year), and I will tell you- it was WELL worth the wait! My friend Maruška is an incredibly busy woman, but as most missionaries in Europe know already, this woman has been a miraculous servant of Christ at investing in the Father's lost sheep, caring for them, and training them to go and find other lost sheep. She makes disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples... She has SO much wisdom and so much love for every single person! I was incredibly spoiled by her and her husband during my stay with them, but I can not put a price or value on what it was like to observe Maruška in her normal life. To see her with her husband, with some of her closest friends, with her parents, with her siblings, with her small group girls, with strangers, with co-workers... 

                                  Myself, Maruška, and Daniel in the movie theater in Prešov

Walking through a little life with her, has revealed so much of what I want my life to look like. I want to be making disciples the way she does! I want to invest in the people around me like she does! Like Christ does!  She was an encouragement to me silently through her actions and life, but she was also a huge gift to talk with. I was blessed to be able to share my heart and story with her and hear more of her life and story, to share in her wisdom. I am so thankful for the work that Maruška is doing in the Lord's Kingdom, and I am so blessed to get to witness and be a part of the ministry that she is doing here.

Prayer Requests: Please pray for Maruška and Daniel's transition in the next year as they pack up and move to another city to start new ministries there. Please pray for peace and protection and for God's faithful provision for them both.  

Week 12: After leaving Maruška's house in Prešov I headed out to Malenovice, Czech for JV Spring Conference. Spring Conference went from last Wednesday to yesterday. I think it is incredible to be able to meet and share life with so many people around Eastern Europe that are so different, work in so many different ways, but all have the same vision and have been called to serve Jesus by investing in the youth in this part of the world. This was a great conference to feel so connected to a body of believers and honest servants of Christ.  This week I was especially blessed by a friend named Cory. Cory is a new missionary in the field here in Slovakia. This week was so special getting to know her, sharing our discomfort, sharing in our exhaustion, and just honestly enjoying each other's company. She is one of the most natural friends I have been blessed with in years. Even better, I have a good feeling that this friendship is going to last a while. 

                          

                   Myself, Cory, and Kecia (JV missionary in Hungary) at Spring Conference.

Don't you just love it when you can see and feel that God is at work in you, around you, and through you right now? There is so much to praise God for. So much joy and so much fruit. 

Please pray for these things if you get a chance!

1) My visa to arrive soon!

2) Our Fusion interns arriving in 2 weeks!

3) Our new Fusions in Slovakia

4) Baška, Pali, Beni

5) Summer camp preparations

6) Maruška and Daniel

I am so thankful for all of you who take the time to read this and pray with me. I feel your prayers and your support and I praise God for you and your heart to serve Him!