A Challenging but Encouraging Week...

 

Lake Bohinj

As the title says, this last 2 weeks have both been challenging and encouraging. I'll start with the good news. This week I was helping with a short term team from Alabama, USA. They were from the sending church of some friends of mine. My friends will be moving from Ljubljana to help serve in a church plant in a nearby town called Domžale. This team came from America for a week to help reach people there. They did a great job handing out fliers and speaking to people on the street. Each evening on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we had an English conversation class for whoever wanted to turn up. My main role was to help facilitate conversation since I speak both languages. The first night, a woman, U, came in to say that she wasn't coming but ended up staying the whole 2 hours. The second night she came again only to drop off some biscuits but again stayed the whole 2 hours. The third night she came again but this time didn't stay the whole time but she said that her mind had been changed by some of the conversations she had had. On Monday she was calling herself an atheist. On Wednesday she said that she could no longer call herself that. This may sound small but in a country like Slovenia this is huge. It shows that God is working here in people's hearts. It may be small, it may take time but God is working. Wednesday night was also encouraging as we had several people turn up after only U and her family came on Monday and Tuesday. Please pray for the church plant and the work in Domžale that God would continue to work there and that my friends would be able to make good contacts and relationships with the people who came.

It was also encouraging to me to see a team from America come over with a heart to serve the people here. It was great to get to know them a bit and to spend time with them on some day trips to Ljubljana and Lakes Bled and Bohinj.

I now get to the challenging part of my fortnight. Many of you will know that I've had issues with my knee since 2008 (including 2 dislocations and 3 stints on crutches!) 2 weeks ago my knee started hurting for no discernable reason. I was able to see an orthopaedic specialist yesterday and was told that I need to have an MRI scan. I'm praying I will be able to organise that within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime I'm left limping around which is obviously having an impact on what I'm able to do. Please pray that I will be able to navigate both the Slovene medical system and the health insurance red tape, that the doctors would be able to find out what's wrong and that I would be able to cope with the pain and to be able to do all that I need to do. Fortunately as it's summer I can take things a bit more easily but obviously it's making life that little bit more challenging!

These next few weeks should be a bit quieter now as I start to plan and prepare for the new school year. Please pray for me as I prep and as I transition into this new role in the church.