sLOVEnia 2013

Slovenia. Wow. What a trip. It was physically exhausting, but spiritually revitalizing. God was so in the trip, even from the beginning. We lost our directions while driving from Hungary to Slovenia and Cody was starting to get worried, but then he noticed that the truck in front of us not only had a Slovenia sticker, but also a Celje license plate (which is the city we were going to). So God sent us a little angel to guide us the way! And God taught us faith such as this many times throughout the trip. So, once we got there we were put right to work on practical things. We spent hours laboring over tiles, and paint, and shelving, and cleaning and all these things I have never done before in my life. It was definitely a new experience. At some points it got so exhausting, but it was so great to see how the work could bless the church and the people serving the church. 
The ministry team there are such a hard workers. The country of Slovenia has about 2,000,000 people and less than 1% of the people in the whole country are true believers. So there is much work to be done in this country. Many people there need to be shown Jesus and the good news of the gospel!
But the biggest encouragement was the handful of youth there that just got saved recently. The church invests so much time in them and loves them and it's so great to see 13/14 year olds want to hang out at church rather than go out drinking on Friday night. And they are such wonderful kids. They are the next generation of pastors, missionaries, etc...
We got to do an all-nighter with them, just playing games, and music, and making smores and it was such a sweet time. And they were all so open to the weird Americans ;)
We also got to go twice to an old folks home and do a bible study. I forget often that those older and closer to the end need Jesus SO MUCH! The people there were so sweet, and one man was such a grandfather to us. I even got to pull out as much German as I could remember from high school in order to communicate with him. It was awesome!!!!!!!!
Then one of the ten days we got to take a trip to the coast and it was a sweet time of sight seeing and going into the Mediterranean.
Seriously though, if anyone out there is praying about mission work, pray about coming to Celje, Slovenia!!!! The harvest is ripe and great, but the laborers are few!!!!!!
And speaking of mission work...I've got the bug, or the call...or whatever you want to name it. I love the blessing we get here to share the gospel to many people and countries. I can't turn back now. Thanks Lord!

I feel like I can't possibly write enough about this trip and so I'm just going to leave this here....
But pray for:
-The youth in Celje
-A revival of belief in Slovenia
-The pastor and his wife in Celje
-Finances for me to stay for an internship in Hungary (Support letter and details coming soon!)

Spring has sprung.

The flowers' scents have been filling my nose and the sun has been kissing my face as Spring begins to be sprung here in Vajta. As I walk outside and breathe in the fresh air I begin to think that it's not fair that I get to live here in Hungary and do what I do. But (as a popular Relient K song we all know says) "the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." I am so undeserving of this life I've been given in Christ. My weeks are filled with bible classes, fellowship, ministering to some special people in the village, and my weekends are filled with outreach mission trips, volleyball, and laughter. The Lord is gracious.
This Friday is the first day of our ten day mission trips. My team of 6 is going to Celje, Slovenia. We will be pouring out love and time on the teenagers and young adults there, serving at a wedding, evangelizing praying a ton, cleaning the church, and encouraging the church in anyway we can. I'm so excited for this opportunity to share Jesus' light in this dark country :)
English lessons with Noemi are going so great. We really are building up such a friendship. She even dyed parts of my hair pink this week! I love that she is so open and curious about the school here. I just want her to know Jesus!
The coolest thing happened this past weekend. As I was sitting on the lawn, I noticed some Deaf people touring the campus! Turns out, every July there is a Deaf camp that comes here (half American sign and half Hungarian sign). I got so excited that I just went right up to them and asked if I could join them for the couple hours they were there. I missed signing so much! They were so friendly to let me hang out with them and soak in the signs. They even said that if I can extend my plane ticket to leave in July rather than June then  I can help out with the Deaf camp! That would be such an awesome opportunity to use this seemingly random gift of ASL in HUNGARY for unsaved Deaf teens. So neat.
I've been praying about becoming an intern here at the school. The opportunity seems to have been presented to me and my heart is very inclined toward it. I want to be a missionary so bad and why leave a missionary hub right now? I am going to apply this week and see what happens. It would certainly help prepare me for ministry outside of this school (it is a very intensive program). My heart certainly seems to be desiring it. We'll see. I would need to raise at least $5,000 for the whole 13 months...which really isn't much. Where else can you live off of that little amount for over a year?? And the cherry on top is that my mom supports this option...which was completely unexpected! Like I said...we shall see!
Life is good.