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.

Keep Trusting God...

The last month and a half have been very difficult ones for me and my family. The end result was that the day after the last youth group of the term, I had to fly back to the UK for two funerals. I then returned to Slovenia the Friday before camp started.

To be honest it's all been a bit of a whirlwind. I am so thankful to all the people who have been praying during this time. God has answered so many prayers during this time and I'm so grateful to Him for all He has done.

Camp this year seemed to have so many more challenges than usual. We had to find a new location, it was more expensive than previous years, we didn't have enough people apply, I obviously was not able to prepare in the way I had hoped, and to cap it all off, the car I was travelling in broke down 15 minutes away from the site. It's times like this when all you can do is to trust God! Despite all these difficulties, camp went really well! We had 12 young people aged between 12 and 21. The new location was so nice and just worked really well for us. It was a luxury compared to previous years - we had proper beds and food was prepared for us! This meant that we had more time to be able to hang out and build relationships with the young people. The staff at the site also seemed to be really happy with us as a group, which is obviously a great witness.

This year, the theme of the camp was living by faith from Hebrews 11. I had chosen this theme a year ago, actually the day before the previous camp started (I already have a plan for next year now as well!). I had no idea how much thinking about these things would help me as I have been dealing with the difficulties facing me and my family. It has been a great reminder that despite challenges, despite difficulties and sadness, God is still faithful and he always keeps his promises!

We had a great time, the young people seemed to enjoy it and most of all, God was glorified. Finally, the car was miraculously fixed in time for us to travel home yesterday. Such an answer to prayer!

For now, I need to settle back into life in Slovenia after the whirlwind of sadness, travel and camp. I think I need to sleep...

Remembering to Live By Faith...

Many of you will know that it has not been an easy time recently for my family. Sadly, things have only got worse over the past couple of weeks. Please be praying for me and my family, that we would be trusting in God and knowing that he has everything in his hands.

Despite these challenges, life and work continues here in Slovenia. The next big event for us is our summer camp in July. A few of us were able to go and visit the new site last week. This is a picture of the lake next to the centre we will be staying in (the water stays at a constant 8° so I'm not sure there will be much swimming!). I was so encouraged by this visit, and I'm so thankful to God that he answered our prayers to find a new suitable location. The staff were so friendly and welcoming and I have every confidence that it will be a great place for us.

The theme of the camp this year is "By Faith", looking at Hebrews 11 and how people through history have trusted God and how he has been faithful to them. If you know anything about this chapter, you'll remember that it mentions heros of the faith like Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel and many others. This week as part of my preparation I was listening to a talk by Rico Tice about the end of the chapter, the part that many people forget about because the list of people has ended. Through the chapter the author of Hebrews has shown how God miraculously saved and led people but Rico pointed out (quoting from J.I Packer), that if we stop reading at the end of verse 35, then our theology is hopelessly skewed. Verse 36 talks about others who faced hardships, who suffered, who were tortured and who died because of their faith. We often want to place ourselves in that great list of people, but often, we find ourselves included in with the "others". This might sound really depressing, but actually this was of great comfort to me this week. Life is not perfect, we all go through hard times, but this does not mean that we give up hope or faith. It doesn't mean that God has lost control, it just means that we need to keep turning to him. We need to keep living by faith and running the race that God has set before us, because we have a great hope and future waiting for us.

Some of our friends and family may reach it before us, but in the meantime, I will continue to look to God, to trust him despite the hardships, because I know that he has it all under control.

Refreshment in Serbia...

On Wednesday I travelled for about 6 hours to Serbia for a gathering of gospel workers from across the whole region. I've never been to Serbia before so it's been quite interesting seeing the differences with Slovenia. There are still signs of the war around, for example this communication tower is next to the hotel we're in. It was bombed by NATO in 1999 and it's estimated that 50 missiles hit it!

What's amazing to me is that this gathering is made up of people from Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia (plus a few from Northern Ireland and other countries). Not so long ago these people were on opposite sides of the war but they have been brought together by the gospel of Christ and the desire to make his name known in this part of the world. The world may try to divide us but the gospel unites us. 

It's been fascinating to me how much Serbian I'm able to understand. Yesterday I even found myself interpreting for a lady speaking Serbian in a small group conversation! It's been a good time of building relationships and hearing how God is working in many different contexts. 

Tomorrow I will be travelling back to Slovenia, another 6 hour journey plus a couple of border controls. Please pray for safe travels for us all. The next few weeks will be quite busy as I start to focus on preparing for our youth camp in the summer. Please be praying that God would be at work and would be giving me the words to say as I prepare talks and Bible studies. 

 

Nice Weather then Snow?!

Life in Ljubljana over the last couple of weeks has felt a little bit strange. This probably has a lot to do with the weather. Last week and weekend we had highs of 30 °C. It was so nice I was able to work outside and then suddenly on Tuesday it snowed! This has definitely been a bit unsettling. It has also been a strange and sad period as I've tried to be there for a friend who is going through a very difficult time. Despite all this, I have been reminded of the heavenly home that waits for us and the great hope we have in Christ.

Youth work has continued much as normal. It has been exciting to have a new teenager start to attend our weekly meetings, well, he's come twice. Please be praying that he continues to come and want to learn more about the gospel. Please be praying for these young people, that they would be speaking to their friends and inviting them to our youth events.

We have also started properly planning for our youth camp in the summer. Please be praying for those of us who are preparing talks and Bible studies. Please also be praying that lots of young people would want to come. As we are in a new location this year, and we're not camping, we've had to commit to pay for a certain number of people. Please pray that all of these spaces would get filled!

Thank you all for your prayers and your continued support!

Easter Hope and Spring...

The weather is slowly getting warmer and nicer here in Ljubljana.The night after I took this photo on my balcony we had a massive storm and many of the blossoms and flowers were sadly damaged and destroyed. I guess it's a good reminder of the frailty of our lives in this world.

The last couple of weeks have been quite quiet, although it was incredibly encouraging to see church full on Easter Sunday. Our lives may be fragile, but we have a great hope, we know that this life is not all there is and that one day we will be raised with Jesus into an incredible inheritance that will never perish, spoil, fade, or be destroyed by thunderstorms!

In this quieter time I've had the opportunity to spend time listening to sermons and talks from previous years of Word Alive. I know that many of you in the UK are disapponted that it was unable to happen this year and I completely sympathise. I have been so encouraged and enthused by listening to these talks again. One in particular really stood out for me. It was a talk on Psalm 96 by Lindsay Brown from 2010. If you don't know, Lindsay Brown has been involved with the work of IFES for many years, working with students from all over the world. In 2010 I was a student and I heard this talk live. Listening to it again 14 years later, I now recognise what an impact it had on me. At the time I was interested in short term mission but was not really considering long term service. This talk was such an encouragement for me to go and serve, in whatever capacity I could. It helped to shape my theology of mission and what it means to serve. One thing he said really stood out to me as I listened to it again this week. He said that the church is strengthened by sending people out into the world to serve. The church won't grow unless we are willing to send our best people out to serve. God works when we are willing to sacrificially send people.

I didn't realise until this week just how much of an impact this had had on me. I'm not trying to claim that I'm one of the "best people" but I am willing to serve in the situation in which God has placed me. As I'm now in the position of youth worker in a small church in a small nation, it's very easy to think that we need to keep all these young people just at our church, and not to encourage them to serve in other places.

Slovenia may be small, the church may be small, but I have been challenged to think once again how I can encourage these young people to serve, not just in Slovenia but across the world, in the places that God will send them. Please keep praying that these young people would be willing to go, if that's what God calls them to do, and pray that we would be encouraging them and supporting them to go where God calls.