Thanksgiving, Christmas Events and a Wait for Residency...

Games at the Ladies'
Christmas Event

I know, I know. I really will get better at posting on time! The last few weeks have been quite eventful and we're now officially fully into the swing of the Christmas season. This year I joined some American friends for Thanksgiving for the first time. It was a really lovely time spent together but I really do have to address one big question - the food! Pop culture and the media has told me for a long time that Americans love their Thanksgiving meal and that they look forward to it in much the same way we Brits look forward to our Christmas Dinner. Whilst I have to say that each of the foods was delicious, I'm still not convinced that sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows and green fluff (lime jelly combined with cream cheese and marshmallows) really belong on the same plate as turkey, green beans, dressing (something like stuffing) and meat sauce... Yep, Christmas Dinner still wins!

Talking of Christmas, yesterday our Ladies Bible Study Group had our annual craft evening. It was a chance to invite friends and neighbours to come along, eat good food, make crafts, sing carols together and of course hear a short Christmas message. It went really well and several guests came along. I also took the chance to teach them all the carol Once in Royal David's City (in Slovene). It surprised me that it was new to almost everyone but I was reminded recently that until independence in 1991, Christmas was not celebrated and it was just another working day. This means that many people in Slovenia just don't have long lasting Christmas traditions in the same way we do in the UK. It was a joy though to see these ladies learning and appreciating a carol I have known basically my whole life. They liked it so much that they took the music home and are now planning to practice after church each week so that we can sing it at Christmas!

All good events have amazing food!

The next couple of weeks are looking quite busy for me as I have a lot of prep that I would like to get done before I take a break for Christmas. This Wednesday (7th) I am giving my next talk for the ladies on 1 Timothy 1: 12-20. Whilst by no means is it the most controversial passage in the book of 1 Timothy, it does have some hard things in there. Please be praying that I will be sensitive to my audience but without watering down the truths of the Bible. I am also preparing 2 sessions for the youth group on Christmas. I am using the book The Weirdest Nativity by Andrew Sach and Jon Gemmell as the basis for these sessions which looks at the Christmas story through the lens of Revelation 12. I have just about finished preparing the first session for this Friday but I still need to start on the second one. Finally, I am also writing the material we are using for youth group which is looking at big Bible words. There is a great song by Colin Buchanen called Big Words That End in Shun that gives the definitions of some of these words (eg Substitution, Jesus takes our place). We have already had the first 2 sessions and whilst I have written the 3rd, I really need to get more done before Christmas. This is partly so I can have a break over Christmas but also because I have a friend checking them for me and she's going to the UK in a week...Sufficed to say, I have plenty to be getting on with!

I know that many of you are praying for me and for my residency application. I'm sad to say that it's looking increasingly unlikely that I will receive my residency in time to come back to the UK for Christmas so I'm starting to plan for what I'll do in Slovenia. I had an appointment at the government offices last week and whilst they took my fingerprints and signature, all they could say was that my application was on a big pile, that it had not yet been processed and that all I can do is wait. Whilst I am obviously sad about this, I know that I just have to keep trusting God. I know that I am here for a reason, that I can only do all these things in his strength and that my residency will be awarded at the right time for his plan. Please be praying that I will keep trusting in and depending upon God!

An American Team and Exploration...

 I realise that it's been a while since I last wrote so I apologise for that. For those of you who get my prayer letter, you will have hopefully realised that I sent out a new one yesterday. The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy but good. Last week was a holiday here. Usually the school calendar lines up with the British one for the Autumn half term but because Slovenia has national holidays on both 31st October and 1st November, the school holidays were a week later than usual. The week before the holidays some of my American friends had another team come over from Alabama. When the last team came over in the summer I had a lot more free time to help out. This time I obviously had my own work to focus on. I still managed to spend a bit of time with them. I'm not sure how much I did but I think it was an encouragement to have another person around who knew the language, the country and the church situation here. On the Friday, 4 of the group came to Ljubljana to lead the youth group for me. I tried to make it an American themed social and so we had hot dogs and brownies and played games together. I think it was a good opportunity for the Americans to meet some of our teenagers and learn a bit more about what life is like here. It was also a good chance for the teenagers to get to meet the team and maybe learn a little bit more about them.

Last week was also busy but in a completely different way. As it was the holidays, my parents came out for a visit. It was lovely to see them and spend time with them. Due to my residency application, I'm not expecting to be allowed to leave the country at Christmas (although you can be praying that I receive it before then so I can go back) and so this was a lovely chance to be with them when I don't think I'll be able to see them again in person until April. Whenever people come to visit me, it's a great chance to explore new parts of the country or at least to revisit my favourite parts. This time I had to do all the driving so it was more tiring than I'd expected it to be. We also went to see some caves which were a bit more strenuous than I'd been expecting (500 steps down into the cave, a walk of a few km and then 500 steps back up out). We were very fortunate with the weather, only one day was rainy and so we worked around that. I think my favourite place we found was Divje Jezero (picture at the top) which was truly beautiful.

It's taken a few days since they left on Monday to get back into my routine which has been difficult for me, especially since I've had quite a busy week with lots of meetings. Please be praying for me and the work I'm doing here as we start to think about Christmas and the activities and teachings we'll be doing for that.

Please do also pray for my residency situation as I am a little bit anxious about it! 

Starting New Ministries...

This week has been quite full but also quite rewarding. Today was the start of a new childrens' group called Explorers. I saw the need in our church for a group for younger children, especially in the English language. Thankfully, I think I can speak English quite well... We advertised the group on Facebook and made contact with a couple of other families that way and so we had a total of 6 children (with a couple who were either too young or too old, who stayed with their parents). Most of the children came from Christian homes but there was one little girl who came  where I'm not entirely sure what the parents believe. I felt the group went quite well and hopefully they will all come back next week. I am thankful that children came along and they seemed to enjoy themselves. Please be praying for this new ministry and for the children who come along. Please also be praying that we would be able to make good contacts with the parents. 

This week was also the first time I'd given a talk to the Ladies' Bible Study that hadn't been written as part of my studies. I have started a series on 1 Timothy and we had a good discussion afterwards. It's really encouraging to be able to engage with these ladies and to talk about issues that they are thinking through and struggling with. This group are an encouragement to me and I love being able to spend time with them.

Other than that, I have fallen into a good routine with my one-to-ones, my language learning and the youth work I am doing. So far everything seems to be going well and all that I'm doing is well received. Please be praying for all the people I'm meeting with and for the ministries that I'm involved with. Please pray that I would keep depending on God alone and remember that it is only in his strength that I can do these things.

There are still a couple of other people that I would like to meet up with reasonably regularly but for various reasons these have not worked out. Please be praying for these girls and women, that I would be able to keep encouraging them even if we can't meet regularly.

Officially Starting...

I worked out this week that it has been 5 years since I was accepted as a candidate with ECM. As most of you probably know, I applied to come to Slovenia initially for 1 year with a possible extension to 2. Despite that, I actually went through the process for a long term applicant rather than short term. 5 years later I can now say that I am officially working full time, long term in ministry here in Ljubljana. Of course much has changed over the past 5 years and I'm not sure I really knew what I was getting myself into. That being said, God has led and guided me through the whole process and I have been so blessed by it all. Of course there have been challenges but He has upheld me through it all.

I felt like I started my ministry at the beginning of summer when all my studies ended. Of course I managed to get many things done in that time but it's only in the last 2 weeks that I have actually been able to get into any kind of new routine. When I tell people all that I'm doing, it sounds like a lot but I actually find that I have quite a good work/ rest balance. So what does my ministry look like at the moment? 

I currently have 2 one-to-ones each week with some of the teenage girls in the church. One is new and one I used to meet with before. There are a couple of other people I might be meeting with regularly but this hasn't been organised yet. 

Every week we have our youth group. I have made a few slight changes to this including splitting the group into 2 each week, which means that both leaders need to prepare for the Bible study. I'm there every week whilst all the other teachers are on a rota (I've always gone every week so that's nothing new for me). 

Every other week we have a Ladies' Bible Study which I host at my flat. We're now on a rota as to who leads the study each week so I will take my turn in that. I'm also going to be putting my studies into practice and giving a talk (in Slovene) on 1 Timothy every 2 months. 

I haven't completely stopped my language studies either. I'm having lessons once a week with the private teacher I used to meet with a couple of years ago.

I'm in the process of trying to start a new group for children in English each week. We have a venue, I just need to confirm some leaders and then start to advertise. I hope that this will be an outreach opportunity both for expats who want something in English for their kids but also possibly for Slovenes who want their children to improve their English. Please be praying for this that the final things will fall into place and that we actually have children who want to come along each week.

Finally, I'm also getting slightly more involved in ECM and their work in Slovenia as a whole as well as more generally.

I'm really enjoying the varied work and the chance to get to spend time with people in all my different roles. Please keep praying that God would be working in me and through me and that his name would be glorified here in Slovenia.

5 years ago I was only dreaming of what my life would look like in Slovenia. I'm so grateful for all God has done to lead me here now.

 

God saved the Queen, God save the King...

Yesterday afternoon the world once again changed irrevocably. The Queen, ruler of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, beloved by the world, entered her final rest and has now been welcomed home by her Heavenly Father. Like many other people yesterday I had the BBC news channel on in the background listening and waiting for the latest news. I had literally just started an online game of Settlers of Catan when Huw Edwards made the announcement. This meant that I was left to share my initial reaction with 3 online strangers but somehow it brought us together for that short time. As I was listening to Huw Edwards and Nicholas Witchell discuss their initial thoughts, two words kept coming up again and again - humble servant. In a world where we are beset with over the top, loud, charismatic leaders who tell us that they alone have the answers and can solve all the questions, the Queen was humble. The death of this humble servant has brought an outcrying of grief from across the world. As the President of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, said "(She) ruled the United Kingdom, but belonged to the world." It's hard to imagine this level of grief for any other world leader, and yet, she was a humble servant. She humbly served her God, her people and the world.

My life is very different to that of Elizabeth Regina but we have one main thing in common. We serve a great God. I may not rule millions of people, but God has placed me in my role in this place, to serve him as a humble servant. I don't expect outpourings of grief from around the world when I finally die, but it is my prayer that I will be welcomed home by my Heavenly Father saying "Well done, good and faithful servant."

My induction at church

I am just starting in my role - my induction at church was on Sunday. I am now officially in charge of the youth work at the church here. I pray that God will use me in my work here, that he will be glorified and that the young people will grow in their relationships with him.

This morning as I woke up and once again realised that it is unlikely that there will be another Queen in my lifetime, the hymn Lord for the Years played around in my head. The words of the third and fourth verses seemed most poignant: 

Lord, for our land in this our generation,
spirits oppressed by pleasure, wealth and care:
for young and old, for commonwealth and nation,
Lord of our land, be pleased to hear our prayer.

Lord, for our world where men disown and doubt you,
loveless in strength, and comfortless in pain,
hungry and helpless, lost indeed without you:
Lord of the world, we pray that Christ may reign.

We now have a King. God alone knows what sort of ruler he will be. God alone knows if King Charles III serves Him. The Bible calls for us to pray for our leaders. I pray for King Charles and for all the Royal Family at this time of grief. Most of all I pray that God would be glorified and that people would turn to him at this uncertain time.

Again, things just seem to happen to me...

My friends often joke that if something strange or out of the ordinary is going to happen, it will happen to me! I mean my track record speaks for itself - the time I fell in the sea complete with my bag which held my dry clothes, my purse, phone and passport; the time I was stuck on a plane on a runway in America for four hours in 40 degrees heat; the time I left my phone on the bus and managed to get it back by waiting at a bus stop for the correct bus to come after tracking it online; dislocating my knee by walking in a car park... The list does go on! This last few weeks I've managed to add another couple of things. Yesterday was by far the windiest day I've ever seen in Ljubljana. The city is surrounded by hills so we're usually well protected. Yesterday, there were claims that a funnel cloud had been spotted. Yep, that's right, we had a tornado! You can see the damage to my balcony in the picture. My sunshade was attached to a slab of marble a couple of centimetres thick. The wind caught the sunshade and the force of it broke the marble in half! I had already brought all my plants indoors but when I heard a loud noise I went outside to see the sunshade flapping very dangerously in the high winds. I managed to get out and roll up the sunshade so it didn't sustain any damage but obviously my balcony itself bore the brunt of the attack. There is another balcony directly below me and the owners were away. Their sunshade was ripped clean off! Having seen pictures of fallen trees and roofs been ripped off (including from the maternity hospital) and knowing that winds reached 102 km/h in my area of the city, I'm thankful it wasn't worse!

I also had an interesting journey last week. I'd borrowed a friend's car to have a short break away. I had to leave reasonably early to get back to Ljubljana as I had an MRI scan on my knee (the story of that is ongoing - please keep praying!) The journey itself was uneventful until I went to fill the car with petrol once I got back to Ljubljana. It wouldn't start again! My friend is currently in Wales! There I was blocking 2 pumps at a petrol station with a broken car that didn't belong to me. I was also on a fairly tight deadline as I couldn't just miss going for an MRI scan! Firstly I'm thankful my friend had roadside assistance that actually came quickly, secondly I'm thankful that my neighbour came and collected me from the garage and took me to the doctor, thirdly I'm thankful that it happened so close to home in Ljubljana rather than the place I had been staying. The car had a totally dead battery. So after a drive home, dealing with Slovene bureaucracy and garages and an MRI scan I finally made it home! Of course it had to happen to me - my friend even said so on the phone when I was explaining the situation to her! So much could have gone wrong - more so than it did.

Both of these situations had the potential to be dangerous and in one case I could have been stranded in the wrong part of the country. I'm grateful to God that he kept me safe and helped me navigate it all. Sometimes things like this happen and it's so much harder to deal with it in another country but God is faithful and I know that he was with me through it all!

Summer is now drawing to a close and the countdown to schools starting is on. One of the last activities of the summer is our church camp which will happen next weekend. Please be praying for it and for all of us who will be going. I will be teaching the young people for one of the sessions (in Slovene!) so please be praying for that. The theme of the camp is the church. Please be praying that we will have a good time together, encouraging one another and learning more about our great God!

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.