I've finally gained residency...

Snow in Kamnik where
I collected my residency card

Today has been a momentous day for me. I officially picked up my residency card and so completed the process for this year. Yes I will have to redo the arduous task again next year but it should not be as complicated as this time. The results of this are that firstly I'm legally allowed to live and work in Slovenia until November next year so this is a massive answer to prayer. It also means that I'm legally allowed to leave the country which I hadn't been able to do for the last 2 months. This is important because obviously I'd like to get back to the UK for Christmas. Despite the raft of new restrictions the UK has brought in, everything is booked and planned. I'm praying that I will get the results of my Day 2 PCR test before Christmas Day. For those of you in Swindon, I'm planning to be at church in both the morning and the evening on 2nd January before I fly back to Slovenia on 3rd.

Apart from today's excitement, the last 3 weeks have been quite interesting. I was due to write last week but put it off because I was waiting for some news. 2 weeks ago I fell off my bike during very wet weather and badly bruised my leg. It was so bad that on Tuesday I had to go for an X-Ray just to double check that I hadn't broken it. Technically I haven't had the results but having seen the pictures myself and after asking the technician what he thought, I'm pretty sure it's not broken. I was starting to get visions of a cast and travelling through an airport in a wheelchair but although it's still painful, it is a lot better than it was even 2 days ago.

Language school has still been going well but the subjects and demands are getting harder. Yesterday I had to write a blog post about the importance of bees and what we should do to protect them. Today I had to write a 5 minute talk about Emmeline Pankhurst. Both these subjects took a lot of thought and effort but I think it's good that I'm being stretched in this way.

Cornhill is also going well. Last week I gave my second talk of the year. I also found this a demanding talk to write as it was on a passage about divorce. This is obviously a difficult topic and I wanted to make sure that I spoke about the passage faithfully but also to deal with it sensitively.

Christmas decorations in my flat - I think I need some more!

So here I am sat in my Christmas decorated flat, listening to Christmas music, looking at the mounds of snow outside and planning my Christmas holidays, thankful to God that I have survived this first term back in Slovenia.

This will be my last post before Christmas and the New Year so I wish you all joy and blessing as we remember our Saviour who came into this world for our sake!

I will be writing my 2 monthly prayer letter next week. If there is anyone who doesn't receive it but who would like to, please email me at s.re.deacon@gmail.com