First Steps...

A lake near my flat in Ljubljana

Wow, I can't believe I've been here for two weeks already! It seems to have gone quite quickly and slowly at the same time. Everyone has been very welcoming and bearing with me as I work out how to live here and what is expected of me. I am very grateful for the people God has placed in my life here, especially my flatmate who has been really helpful in a lot of the practical things.

A massive answer to prayer since I've been here is that I have found somewhere to live for the rest of my time here. Where I am at the moment was only ever temporary. To be honest I've not even bothered to unpack my suitcases - there isn't really the storage space for that anyway. It really feels like God has provided this new flat for us at just the right time. I will be living with my current flatmate and a Slovene girl. The flat is owned by a Christian and he wanted Christians/ missionaries to live there. It's a lovely place and is at a really reasonable rate. Overall we're very grateful for it!

Maribor

So apart from finding somewhere new to live, I've been spending my time trying to work out what my role is here. It's been a bit of a mind shift realising that what I used to do in my spare time around my job is actually what my work here is. Last week the only thing I was told I needed to do was to attend the youth group on Friday evening and a women's group on Saturday. I therefore took the opportunity to visit Maribor (in the north east of Slovenia) on Wednesday and Koper (on the Mediterranean coast) on Thursday. It was great to see more of the country and to meet people living and working in those places. I've been slowly learning that spending time to know more about the culture and the country of Slovenia is actually part of my role here. In order to develop relationships with people, I need to know all I can about the country and its history. The trip to Maribor in particular was a good opportunity to meet with the Zveš team (the equivalent of UCCF in the UK).

Whilst they were in a meeting I wandered around Maribor and visited the regional museum. That was an experience! I've never been in a museum like it and I've been in a lot. Sufficed to say I was the only person visiting and so I went around with a lady who opened up all of the galleries for me. Each one held completely different items from archaeology to tin soldiers - it was interesting but all a bit bizarre! Afterwards I met the Zveš people for lunch. This included a couple I had stayed with on a previous visit to Slovenia so it was a good time to catch up with them. It seems like everyone knows everyone in the Christian community in Slovenia as it's so small but I still find it funny when I meet new people and we have friends in common. Overall it was an encouraging trip and a good time seeing more of the country and the work that is being done in different places.

Me in Koper

These past couple of weeks have been a good time for settling in and I feel like I've been quite busy in different ways but at times I've felt a bit frustrated. In the UK we like to have a plan, or at least I do. I'm used to working to a timetable, being places on time and being given jobs to do. Here it's a lot more laid back. It's all about the development of relationships which take a really long time. This means that part of my job is to spend time with people, getting to know them etc. It's difficult to think of that as work though.

My last few weeks in the UK were actually very good preparation. Even though I was unemployed I tried to use my time wisely (I wrote about it in a previous blog post http://doberdanslovenia.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/dealing-with-wait.html). Now I'm here at times it's felt very similar. I've been waiting for a meeting with Peter (the pastor of the church REC) to work out what I'm supposed to be doing. I had that meeting yesterday and it was very helpful. I now feel like I can at least plan my time knowing what is expected of me. I will be going to the youth group once a week, the women's Bible study once a fortnight, ministry/ theological training sessions run by Peter probably once a fortnight and obviously church every week. The rest of my time is to be spent in language learning and once I get to know people more meeting up with them and developing relationships. In Slovenia things take time and it is only through the slow building of friendships that people will hear the gospel and hopefully be changed.

Going back to my childhood with Fireman Sam

In terms of the language I'm hoping to get a tutor over the summer and then I will join in with classes at the university in the Autumn. At church I'm grateful that there are people who are willing and able to interpret for me. I'm trying to listen to the Slovene and I know that immersion in the language is the best thing for me. In the meantime I'm still using an app on my phone. I've bought a children's book and yesterday I spent the afternoon watching Fireman Sam in Slovene...

So, please keep praying for me as I get to grips with the reality of living here and I pray that God would use me to reach people and to encourage those who already know him. Please keep praying for this spiritually needy country and thank God for the faithful people He is using here to reach Slovenes.

Having Landed...

Finally I'm here! I've landed in Ljubljana and I seem to have brought the English rain with me!

This was the view from my bedroom window earlier today, there are mountains behind there somewhere!

I was picked up from the airport yesterday by Peter Novak, the pastor of the church I am working for, and he took me over to his house for some tea and to say hello to his family. It was great to catch up with them all again. After that I was taken to my new flat. I am temporarily in a spare bedroom but will move in a few days into a bigger room.

The people I've met here so far have been lovely and very welcoming. I've been taken to the police station and I've been grocery shopping and I've managed to get a Slovene phone number. All in all I feel I've been quite productive! My room currently looks like a bomb site as I've started (and given up) trying to put my belongings in some kind of order. In all the excitement of moving, I did manage to forget one vital piece of equipment - my laptop charger! I'm doing this blog now, earlier than I thought, so that I've given you all an update if I run out of battery! Later we're going to see if we can replace it, if not it'll be posted on from England! I can't believe that out of all of the things I might have left behind, I managed to leave something so important! Please be praying that I can get it sorted soon.

It did clear up a bit very briefly!

All is not lost though, I have a tablet and now plural phones so I'm still contactable and I'm still able to do most things.

The big question now is what will I be doing? To be honest I'm still not sure on the details yet. Peter dropped me off yesterday and said "See you Sunday." I think I'm being given space to settle in and get used to the country etc. It is nice to have the time to get used to my surroundings and it has been very helpful living with people who know what they're doing in terms of life organisation.


So the plan for the next couple of days, unless I'm told otherwise, is to get to know some Christians from the area. Tonight there is a birthday/ leaving party being held in my flat. This will be a good opportunity to get to know people my age. Tomorrow I'll be going on a walk around part of Ljubljana. I would have liked to have able to get out and wander around the local area just to get my bearings but that will have to wait until the weather clears up.

Sunday is obviously church and this will be I guess my first official time going there. I'm really looking forward to getting to know people and being able to build relationships with them. Slovenia is a very relational country and so if my time is best spent served chatting over coffee, who am I to complain? Now if only this rain would go back to England...

On the Brink...

I've been accused again of neglecting my blog so I'm sorry I haven't posted recently. This past few weeks has been spent preparing myself both spiritually and physically for the move to Slovenia. I'm almost there and I'm ready to be on my way.

I'm very grateful that God seems to have been paving the way and making things relatively smooth. I have accommodation sorted out for at least the first month which I am incredibly thankful for. I will be living with another British missionary already based in Ljubljana. My address for the first month will be: Kunavarjeva Ulica 12, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. This will change as it is not a long term solution but I will update this when I know more.

In the meantime I have been making good use of the recent lovely weather to sit outside and work on my first prayer letter. If you haven't received a copy of this and would like to, please email me at s.re.deacon@gmail.com.

As ever I am incredibly grateful for all your support, financially, spiritually, physically and emotionally. I know that I could not do this on my own and it's only through your support and God's strength that I am on my way now. If you would like to support me financially please email me at s.re.deacon@gmail.com.

This is only a short quick blog post but I am looking forward to flying out on 3rd May. Only a week and a half to go eek!

Ready, Steady Go...

It feels like it has taken a very long time to get to this point! It's been over 2 years since I first visited and fell in love with the country of Slovenia, a year since I was last there but now I can officially say that I am finally on my way!

After all the waiting things came together very quickly! I got the go ahead from ECM and the church to start liaising with Slovenia last Thursday and since then I have been able to organise accommodation and when I will arrive. My flight has been booked for 3rd May! I am also very excited that I will be living with another British missionary who works with students at the local university. I am very grateful that she has made it possible for me to live with her and that she has been willing to answer all and any of my questions.

It's all starting to feel very real. Before I could talk about it all and what will happen but now I need to start organising it all. There seems like a lot to do and it's a bit overwhelming. I am ever so slightly terrified about it all!

God has been so good to me in this period. It's been a long wait but I can see how He has been going ahead of me and making the timing perfect. I am very grateful that things seem to be coming together well.

The next month is looking like it will be fairly hectic. This week I am prepping for my church's Holiday Bible Club which I will be helping with next week. I will be working with the stream for 11-14 year olds so I've spent this morning wandering around Swindon trying to write a treasure hunt. Tomorrow will be spent writing a Bible study. Being unemployed has allowed me to help out with this for the first time and I'm looking forward to it all. It's also good practice for things I may be doing in Slovenia. This essentially means that I won't have much time to sort things out for a couple of weeks! There is much to do and I'm praying that I won't forget anything.

My church in Swindon is organising a commissioning service for me on 29th April - the last Sunday before I go. I will leave Swindon for St. Albans on 1st May and will be on my way at lunch time on 3rd May.

Please continue to pray for me now that the wait is over. Please pray that I will be able to organise everything I need to and that I feel prepared to go. I would also appreciate prayers for strengthening in faith and that I will continue to trust in God for all things. I know that I will face many trials and battles in the weeks and months ahead but I know that God will be with me wherever I go.

For now I am rejoicing - I am finally off to the country that is to be my new home for at least the next year!

Dealing with the Wait...

It's been some time since I last posted so thought I would put something up to show I haven't forgotten about regular posting. Last week was my first week of unemployment. To be honest I thought I would miss my work more. My colleagues were very supportive in my last week and it was sad to go and to say goodbye to everyone. I think one of the things I have started missing most is the ability to say I am an archaeologist. I've not yet been in the situation where I've met someone new and been asked what I do but in my mind I don't know 'what' I am anymore. I've been defined by being an archaeologist for about ten years and so it is a big mind shift to realise that's not what I am anymore. I know in the grand scheme of things I am not defined by my job, I am defined by Christ and my relationship with him but it has been a major part of my life for many years.

In this light I'm surprised that I don't miss work more, I know it hasn't been long but for the moment I am enjoying the freedom to spend my time in different ways. It's how I'm spending my time that I really wanted to focus this post on. For those of you wondering if I'm looking for work the answer is currently no. I'm in the fortunate financial position that I don't need one for the moment and I'm hoping that I will be in Slovenia before I would need one. Of course getting a job is complicated by the fact that I'm hoping to be leaving the country very shortly...

I'm no stranger to unemployment, it's a reality many archaeologists face. I was unemployed for about 6 months between 2013 and 2014 before I got the job that led me to Swindon. That was a very difficult time for me. I was living at home and I was prone to bouts of depression - not in the medical sense - where I would wonder what I was doing with my life and if I would ever get a job in the industry I thought God was leading me to. Many of you will be aware that I had an issue with my elbow that meant that I was unable to dig and therefore prolonged my unemployment as non digging archaeology jobs are not very common. Looking back I can see God's hand on the whole situation. He led me to Swindon at just the right time and to the right job. In turn this led me to go to Slovenia for the first time as it was a very cheap destination and I couldn't afford anything more. Even my unemployment then has given me wisdom as to how to deal with it this time.

I'm in a very different situation now, I have something I'm working towards and I know where God is leading me, it's just a matter of waiting. For this reason I've tried to fix very specific tasks for each day so that I can feel like I'm accomplishing something. First thing in the morning I'm trying to spend an hour in Bible study, prayer and reading Christian books. In the afternoons I'm spending an hour learning Slovene and then listening to a sermon or Christian talk I have saved. Amongst all this I'm trying to put all my digital photos in some sort of order (don't ask) and I'm working on finishing a quilt before I go. In the evenings I often have a church activity to go to. I'm not trying to be proud or sound super spiritual but I have the time I can spend with God and I feel it is the most important time of my day. When I was working I have been guilty too often of putting time with God to one side but now I have no excuses and I feel like my day is set up when I spend the first part of it with God. I know for most people this isn't feasible but I think it is important to remember that it is vital that we spend time with God in personal study. For example this morning I was reading part of Daniel 10 and it talks about the spiritual dimension of the battle we are in. Ephesians 6 talks about the sword of the Spirit being the word of God. Never forget the battle we face is not just against the visible things in this world.

That being said it's very easy to say yes I'm spending an hour with God but what does this look like? I'm not trying to say that my way is necessarily best or would work for everyone but it is helpful for me. The first part is spent reading my passage for the day and then writing out my Psalm passage in English and Slovene (yes I'm still continuing with my resolutions). In the background I have Christian music playing. The rest of the time is spent in prayer or reading a Christian book. I find it difficult to spend extended time in prayer, my mind wanders and I find it difficult to focus. To combat this I have started a Word document on my computer and I type out my prayers. It's amazing how much this has helped me focus my prayers into specific topics and the time goes incredibly quickly!

I want to finish this blog post with a book recommendation. Glory Days by Julian Hardyman. This is a book I gained as a student - I don't really remember why - but I picked up again a few weeks ago. It's not a long book and he writes in a very easily accessible style. I think it's an important book as he tackles the topic of living our whole lives for Jesus. To quote the blurb: "Many believers subconsciously divide their lives into Christian activities (church, prayer, Bible study and evangelism) and everything else - the glory bits and the rest. Julian Hardyman shows that God is just as interested in our work and family, our hobbies and skills, our politics and sporting prowess, as the things we think of as spiritual."

For me it has been important to remind myself that going abroad to serve God is not more spiritual than it would have been to remain in England as an archaeologist. It is only because God intervened in my life to lead me to Slovenia that it is right for me to go. It would be wrong for me to go if I only went because I thought it made me super spiritual or better in God's sight. God is interested in the whole of our lives not just the things we do at church or on a Sunday.

So in conclusion, I am still waiting on God's timings and in the meantime I am trying to live my life in a way that honours him and I am cultivating habits that I hope will stand me in good stead when I move to Slovenia.

Advice to my Past Self...

Me looking out over Venice which really is the past!

It was mentioned to me lately that I had not posted anything recently. To be perfectly honest it's because I don't really have any new news. My redundancy has been confirmed and I will officially finish on 12th March (although since this is a Monday I have taken it off as annual leave so I actually finish on Friday 9th March).

As I was planning what to write in this post (apart from the fact there is no news) I started thinking about the journey I have been on to get to this point. I look out to my past self and wonder how I would have encouraged myself and whether I would have listened any way. My aim is that this post may be of some use to those who are possibly thinking of taking the same sorts of steps I have been and are looking to God to guide them in where He wants them to be.

• Encouragements come from unexpected places

Encouragement is so important when looking to take a big step like moving to a new country to serve God. I have been blessed by the reactions I have received and how many people are willing to support me, even people I don't know. What has amazed me most over this journey is how continually God has brought me encouragement just when I needed it. It's difficult to point to specific events but God has provided for me at exactly the right times. Even when things have seemed to be completely out of my control, God has not let me go. My work is probably the best example of this. I have had my contract extended time and again, I had my first redundancy cancelled, I was made permanent and I have had promotions. Yes I am being made redundant now but it couldn't come at a better time. Yes I have been worried and stressed over the years as I have gone through my fair share of hardships but God has kept me safe to this point and that is the greatest encouragement I could have.

• Disappointments also come from unexpected places

This isn't exactly a fun topic to dwell on but I need to be honest about what has happened to me. I will not talk about specific people or events but things have not always panned out the way I thought they would. A combination of people and events have left me disappointed and upset. Some of my insecurities have been picked over, I have not always received the support I thought I might and of course disappointment is not easy to bear. Through this whole process I have been continually praying about whether this is really God's will for my life. I am convinced that it is and although these things are not easy, they are good if they make me turn to God and depend on him more.

• Challenges come from surprisingly expected places

Many people gave me advice or wisdom on what I might expect through this time of waiting. I knew in my head what my daily struggles are and I knew that I may well face new attacks from Satan as I prepared. It's one thing to know about it, it's another to actually face them. For some reason I seemed to think that these attacks may come from unknown areas. In reality and as a slight surprise to me, it's the same old things that I'm facing. The most obvious and constant one is my lack of patience. My prayer for the past 2 years is that I would be patient and trust in God's timing. It almost comes out of my mouth glibly now: "I don't know what's going on but I'm trusting in God and in his timing." Don't get me wrong, I am but it is a daily battle to stop feeling frustrated when things don't happen when I think they should. I am fallible but God's grace is sufficient for me and I know that even when I face difficulties and I struggle God is right there with me.

• Fundraising takes a really long time!

Ok so here's where I show my naivete. I was told and I accepted that people knew what they were talking about but I thought that I would be different, that the money would come flowing in and I would be out in a couple of months. I had wanted to be out in Slovenia by now but again this goes back to trusting in God's timings. Fundraising is hard and as a proper British girl, embarrassing! Who of us really wants to talk about money let alone try and persuade people to give it to you. Many people I know have been very gracious with me as I have tried to muddle through asking for support and I am almost there (I think!) Let me just take this opportunity to say that if you would like to support me then please email me so I can send you a form. I am very grateful for those who have already committed to supporting me and thank God for his provision.

So, past Sarah, or those who may be thinking about serving abroad, these are my 4 pieces of advice and I hope I will take them to heart as I continue to face whatever comes ahead!

Preparing for the Unknown Whilst Facing the Unknown...

This week has been quite an interesting one for me. On Wednesday I found out that I was being made redundant. Before I get showered with sympathy and concern (which I do appreciate) I am fine. It was not unexpected and I had already had the conversation that if someone needed to go I would be willing to go first due to the whole Slovenia situation. I am very grateful that God has give me peace about the whole situation. I am sad to leave because I will miss the work and the people but I know that God has a different plan for my future.

Cleaning Roman pottery

For those who have wondered what an indoor archaeologist does, this is my office! I have been working here for 3 and a half years and although I have experienced many ups and downs, good times and bad, it will be strange not to go back.

I know I was leaving already and I know that this change was always going to come but it feels and is more definite now. I don't yet have an end date but knowing me there will be tears!

So what does this mean for Slovenia? Well as I say this was expected although I had hoped to be able to stay on until I left. That being said I am hopeful that things will speed up a bit. I am totally dependent on God's timing and I know that He is in control. I am still fundraising and it is now more essential than ever that the finances come through so that I can go!

Lidija and I in Slovenia

On a happier note, yesterday I got to spend the day with Lidija Novak who has been in England at a conference in Leicestershire. I was able to show her and her friend Sharon around St. Albans and catch up with the latest news from the church in Ljubljana. It was a lovely day and I feel blessed knowing that I will be spending more time with her and her family when I move to Slovenia. The ladies group from the church had sent me a card with blessings, encouragements and prayers as I prepare to be with them. It is such an encouragement to feel part of the church there before I have even arrived!

Please keep praying for me especially in light of my latest news. I don't know the future but God does and I know that this is all happening for a reason.

24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— 25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.