Is that a potato temple?

You may be wondering why I chose to use a picture of potatoes in my blog. Well, if you can't tell, this is a potato model of the temple! Over the last few weeks we've been looking at the book of Zechariah in youth group. Last week we were thinking about the idea of the temple being rebuilt and God crowning a priest as king. I can't claim credit for either the idea or the execution of the potato temple (and also potato priestly clothes), but it's been great to see the young people start to get to grips with an unfamiliar part of the Bible, how it points forward to Jesus and how it affects their lives.

The last few weeks have been reasonably busy, but thankfully a bit quieter than January! The major piece of news for me this week is that I received my residency permit. This is a massive answer to prayer and means that I am now able to live and work in Slovenia until February 2027. Thank you all of you who have been praying about this. It didn't quite take the 6 months that was predicted, but the wait was still reasonably long.

Life here has been continuing pretty much as normal. We have started seriously thinking about and planning both our youth away day and our summer camp. Unfortunately for a variety of reasons we are unable to go back to the location we were at last year. This is a real shame as I really liked that centre, and I'd hoped we wouldn't have to do the search all over again. Fortunately we seem to have several options and it looks like we'll be able to go to one of our other favourite options from last year. We're hoping to book this next week so please pray that it will still be available and that the process will go smoothly. Please be praying for all of our plans in general. After last year, when many things happened that were out of my control, I have learnt to hold things loosely, and to remember that God is the one who is in control, not me. Please pray that I would continue to remember this!

 Next week is half term and I am looking forward to the break and the chance to rest. This half term has definitely had its ups and downs, its joys and its challenges. I know that the next few months will be increasingly busy with the youth day in March, the ECM Biennial in April and camp in July, alongside all of my weekly ministry responsibilities. Please pray for energy and as I've already said, that I would remember who really has it all under control!

A Busy Start to the Year...

 

Happy New Year everyone! OK, I know I'm very late with that. The weather in Ljubljana continues to be grey and cold but we do have occasional glimpses of sun/ light, for which I'm very grateful.

By the late nature of this post, you may be able to tell that I've had an incredibly busy start to the year. Firstly, I was in the UK for a lot longer than usual. This was a real blessing to be able to spend more time with my family and friends. I then travelled to the Growing Young Disciples conference in Staffordshire. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it, but it was such a blessing and encouragement. I had had a few difficult weeks in the run up to Christmas (and then managed to get ill over the New Year!) and this was such a time of refreshment and preparation to go back to Slovenia. It was amazing how many people I bumped into that I knew, including my dorm leader from camp 20 years ago!

In a slightly crazy move, my journey back to Slovenia included a 6am flight and youth group the same evening. I was present in body, I'm not so sure how much I was in mind! It's hard to believe that I've only been back for two weeks. I have been so busy with meetings and extra responsibilities that I'm almost ready for another holiday. Lots of this work has been related to ECM and especially with planning for our Biennial conference which is now only a few months away. Please be praying for us as we prepare and help to lead and serve those in our organisation from across Europe and the world.

After all the extra meetings I've had in the last two weeks, things should start to calm down a bit now, for which I'm very grateful. My normal work keeps on going and soon we will be starting to prepare for our youth away day in March and for our youth camp in July, as well as a possible trip to England to help with an HBC again in August.

Finally, please pray for my health as I currently have a couple of little niggles. Some of you will know that I needed to have surgery on my elbow 7 years ago. Well I managed to reinjure it over Christmas and it is still sore. Please pray for wisdom as to know what to do with it.

I also had a minor bike crash last night. I was in the cycle lane and someone walked right in front of me without looking and it was too late for me to do anything about it. I am very grateful that neither of us were seriously injured, but I am a bit sore today after the fall. Praise God that it wasn't serious, but please pray that I would ache less very soon!

Thank you as always for all your support and your prayers!

December and Christmas Activities...

I know everyone always says it, but I can't believe that it is Christmas next week!  Ljubljana is always beautiful at this time of year with all the lights, but somehow this year it feels more magical than usual. This week some of the ladies from the Bible study group went for a walk to see the lights around the centre and it really was lovely - both the company and the lights.

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. With my choir we've had two concerts this month and in each one we were singing for an hour. I'm glad I still have a voice left! I've also been fairly busy preparing for the youth group Christmas party which we had last night (20th). We joined again with the church from Domžale and had 15 young people. They were split into groups and had a series of activities to complete in as short a time as possible. We then had food together whilst the pastor of the chuch in Domžale gave his testimony. It's a pretty incredible story and goes to show that God can reach anybody and work miracles in their lives. We then played White Elephant Secret Santa so that everyone was able to go home with a gift. Please pray for the teenagers who came and heard how God worked in Goran's life. Please pray that God would be working in their lives too.

After a busy term, I am looking forward to having a break before the work starts again next year. Please pray for me and the work here as we seek to glorify God and to help young Slovenes learn more about Him.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a good time celebrating the birth of our Lord!

Well into Autumn...

 

Ok, so that's a photo from last year, but we have had a little bit of snow this year... I just didn't get a photo of it.

Things here in Ljubljana seem to have settled down into some sort of regular rhythm. It's definitely getting colder and greyer so everyone is looking forward to the holiday season. For most of the young people, this is a very stressful time of year. They tend to start having tests in all their subjects on everything they've learnt since the beginning of the year. This has affected my one to ones a little bit since they need more time to revise and prepare. Please pray for these teenagers as they face all this stress! They also have to go to school everyday until Christmas Eve - it's so different from the UK and I always feel so sorry for them when I remember what the Christmas season was like for me when I was in school.

Since half term we have been looking at the Solas from the Reformation in our weekly youth group. This has been a good opportunity to cement in the ideas of Scripture alone, Christ alone, by grace and through faith alone. Last week we had our second meeting in Domžale. It was a bit stressful to prepare for since we didn't know how many young people would turn up since we'd had 20 last time. This time it was definitely advertised as a Bible study rather than a social which we'd had last time. In the end we only had one extra girl. It was a little bit disappointing but I know that a few people cancelled last minute and some were affected by the snow. We have another Bible study there next month. Please pray for us as we prepare since once again we will have no idea how many people will come. Please pray for the young people in Domžale, that they would want to hear the gospel and learn more about God.

I continue to be kept busy with my work for ECM. Thankfully this should quieten down until next year. As you may be aware, I am leading the group that is organising the seminars for our conference next year. I am very grateful that we have now finalised the seminars and the speakers. Please pray for the continued planning and preparation for next year, that it would be a blessing to the people who will come and that it would be a good chance for fellowship and rest.

Thank you so much, as always, for your continued prayers and support for my work here in Slovenia!

Working Together...

Last Friday, 25th October, we had a very exciting event. It was our first joint youth meeting with the church in Domžale. On a usual Friday evening we get about 6 or 7 teenagers regularly coming to our youth group in Ljubljana. I was expecting that maybe we would have 3 or maybe 4 young people from Domžale come join us for a social evening. Amazingly we had 20(!) young people turn up, plus leaders. It was more than any of us had expected. We quickly ordered more pizza, bought more drinks and just enjoyed the time together. It was just a social evening and by no means do I expect all 20 of these young people to start attending our youth group, but it does show the need for something for the young people in Domžale. We used it more as an opportunity to hang out with them and to tell them about our regular meetings. Please pray that some, if not all, would be interested in coming and learning more about the gospel. Many of the people who came were non-Christians and so it was a good opportunity for our youth to spend time with other teenagers. Thank God for this amazing answer to prayer and how the young people responded. Please continue to pray for this opportunity, and especially for the next meeting in Domžale on 22nd November. This time it will be a Bible study so we'll see what difference that makes to the numbers.

This last week has been half term here in Slovenia. My parents came to visit for the first time in a couple of years, so it was lovely to spend time with them and to explore more of the country. We especially enjoyed the good weather and a trip to the coast. It's hard to believe, sometimes, that this is still Slovenia!

My normal activities start again next week. Things have felt very busy for me over the past month or so, please pray that I would have the energy and the brain space to do everything that I need to. Please continue to pray for the work here and for all the young people I work with. Please pray that God would be working in their lives and that his name would be glorified here in Slovenia.

 

They're Finally Here...

L-R Me, Terence, Bethany, Josh

It's taken a couple of years but my new Australian team have finally all arrived in Slovenia. They have all come with ECM and will all be based at my church, REC, for at least the next two years as they settle into life here and learn the language and culture.

After so much time planning and preparing, it's great to see how God has answered prayers and led them all here safely. It will be a new experience for me, having other ECM workers around and helping them as the navigate life and beuracracy here. Please pray for them all as they settle in, and for me as I help them to transition and that we would all be able to work well together.

Speaking of beuracracy, yesterday (7th) I once again had to start the application process for my residency permit. I was quite proud of myself since it was the first time that I went and applied totally by myself. It's always daunting since most of the time the officials refuse to speak in English. Fortunately the appointment went fairly smoothly and my application is now in. Unfortunately I was told that it could take six months to approve. Despite this, I understand that I should still be able to leave the country during this time and so my Christmas plans are unaffected. Please pray for this whole process, that it would go smoothly and that it would be a lot quicker than the estimated 6 months!

My workload has definitely increased this term. I now have three regular one to ones each week as well as the usual weekly youth group. In exciting news, we have now made the decision to trial working alongside a church in the nearby town of Domžale. Once a month we will hold our youth group in their church building in the hopes of making it more accessible to more young people. Our first joint meeting will be on 25th October. Please pray for this initiative, for all the people involved and especially for the young people. Please pray that God would be glorified by this and that more young people would be able to hear about Him and the great things He has done.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support, praise God for new workers who want to serve Slovenes, but please continue to pray for the work and for the people here.

Coming to the End of Summer...

The last few months have been quite strange ones for a variety of reasons. I took the opportunity during the summer break to travel a bit and to rest before the start of what I know will be a very busy period of time. I enjoyed a week back in the UK after travelling there by train and by bus (it took 39 hours if you were wondering). It was definitely an adventure despite the fact that all the border controls were required in the middle of the night!

The end of summer brought two exciting events. Firstly we, as a church, celebrated the baptism of two ladies. After church one (very hot) Sunday we travelled to a nearby lake (pictured). One lady has been coming to the church for a couple of years but has been facing opposition from her family. Please pray for her as she continues to witness to them. The other young lady is someone I have had the privilege of seeing grow up in the church and in her faith. Please be praying for her as she is about to start working as an apprentice this year with the church and with the local IFES group.

The other exciting event was the church weekend away. We were joined this year by a group from a
church in the UK and spent time looking at some Psalms of lament. We were reminded that these Psalms call us to Turn, Complain, Ask and Trust God when we are in times of difficulty. Despite the fact I was a bit ill with a cold, it was a great time of fellowship and encouragement.

Summer has now started to come to an end and the weather has started to cool down - frankly that's a relief! The young people have started back to school and so my normal termly activities will start again next week. This year I will be meeting with three teenage girls one to one - two I've already been meeting with regularly, the third has just started high school so I will be starting with a Bible Overview with her. All three have grown up in the church, please pray for them and me as we meet regularly and that they would be growing in their faith.

Finally there is one more big change in my work life that is about to occur. The three Australian missionaries who have been planning to come to Slovenia for the past year are finally arriving in the next couple of weeks. This will obviously be a massaive change for them when they actually get here. They will all spend the next couple of years in language school. Please pray for them as they transition and for all the paperwork to be sorted out smoothly. Please pray for me as I seek to help them settle in well and support them over the coming weeks and months. Thank God though that there are people willing to come and serve here, who want to help the people of Slovenia hear about God and learn more about him. Please continue to pray for the country of Slovenia and for all the work that is being done here.