Getting Ready for Christmas...

 

My homemade nativity scene

As it's now officially December, it can mean only one thing - Christmas is coming! Last week we had a sprinkling of snow in Ljubljana and more is expected in the next week.

Life has started to get quite busy in the run up to the holiday season. Apart from anything else, I have two Christmas parties to plan and run within the next couple of weeks. Please be praying for these events. Next Saturday (9th) we have the Ladies' Christmas event where we will invite friends to come and make Christmas crafts, play a couple of games, sing songs, and hear about what Christmas is like in Moldova and why it is important. I am also planning a Christmas party for the youth on the last Friday before Christmas (22nd). Over the next two weeks we will be thinking about how the birth of Jesus fits into the whole Biblical narrative. Please be praying that these young people understand that Christmas isn't just a time of nice celebration, but actually represents God's victory over Satan, sin and death.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for the new youth group I have set up. We had our first meeting on 25th November and it went really well. We have started reading the book Dig Deeper together and had a good discussion about why it is important to understand exactly what the Bible is saying, rather than using it to say what we want it to say. We then had a chance to talk through some of their questions. They all said that they appreciated the relaxed nature of the group and the space to be able to ask their questions, think about them and discuss them. Please pray for this group, our next meeting is next Saturday (9th - yes the same day as the ladies' event).

Please also keep praying for me, that I would have the energy and time to prepare for all of these things well. I'll be travelling back to the UK for Christmas and of course I'm planning to visit Swindon so I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in person again. Thank you again for all your prayers and support for me in this work here in Slovenia.

Coming into Winter...

Autumn and winter in Ljubljana can be quite a depressing time. Every morning I wake up to thick fog - some days I can't even see the crane that is working on a new housing development only a street away. The weather is getting colder and the days are getting shorter. All in all, it can be a hard time of year. Despite this, it has been exciting to see how God has been working over the past few week and months. The young people have been getting engaged with the weekly youth meeting and it's been great to see them all wanting to see what the Bible says. We have finished a series looking at some of the parables from Luke's gospel and have now started a series entitled: "Why should I..." We started last week with "Why should I trust the Old Testament" and this week we're moving on to the New Testament. Please be praying that these young people would understand why we have such great confidence in what has been written down for us.

Last time I wrote about wanting to start a new group for some of the older teenagers. Our first meeting will be next Saturday (25th November). Please pray for me as I prepare, and for the young people as they start to think about hard questions and how they can understand the Bible for themselves.

Last Sunday (12th November) we took a group of young people to visit a church in a town called Slovene Gradec. Some of their young people attend our camp in the summer and so it was a good opportunity to encourage the church there and to keep building on the relationships that have been formed amongst the young people. Thank God that we had safe journeys there and back (I ended up having to borrow a car and drive a group) and that it was a time of real encouragement for all involved. There are so few Christians in Slovenia that it's a real joy to be able to meet with our fellow brothers and sisters in another part of the country. Please be praying that we would continue to support each other around the country and that, although small, the church would be strengthened and encouraged.

Finally, I mentioned last time that a group from Australia was coming to visit. They stayed in Ljubljana for a week before travelling to Maribor for a second week. Give thanks for these students who were willing to come and serve and to see what it's like to be a Christian in Slovenia. Please continue to pray for the 3 Australians who are planning to move to Slovenia next year and for me as I will be in charge of their induction and orientation. Please pray that all would go smoothly and that their preparations would go well.

Getting Busier...

At the end of September I seemed to have got into a good routine but I was a little bit concerned that I didn't have much work to fill my time. That concern has now gone! My time is very much getting filled up and that is a good thing.

Over the last couple of weeks my work with ECM has started to pick up with meetings with different groups and for different purposes. These have included, and will include, meetings for the Advisory Group, Biennial 2025 planning and Member Care Facilitator training. To top it all off, I also somehow survived a meeting with other ECM workers in Slovenia which lasted for an hour and a half totally in Slovene.

Please be praying for me and for the church especially this week. I have more ECM meetings but we are also hosting a team from Australia. As many of you will know, we are expecting 3 Australians to move to Ljubljana next year. As part of this process, one of them is coming to visit but is bringing a group of 4 students. They will be more focussed on student work and the work of IFES in Slovenia but they will also be coming to youth group next Friday and I am hosting one of the girls. Please pray for this team as they start their travels, that they will have energy and that their visit will be glorifying to God.

I obviously have all my regular church work each week, I still meet one to one with two girls and we have the regular youth group on a Friday night. Apart from this, I am in the process of trying to start a new monthly group with some of the older teenagers where we can talk more about their questions, go deeper into the Bible and try to help them to be able to read it and understand it for themselves. I am very aware that we have an ageing youth population (the youngest is 14) and so the aim is to try and help them transistion well to adulthood and student life. Please be praying for this group as we aim to start in November, that these young people would grow in their relationships with God and that God would be working in their hearts and minds.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It is always very much appreciated!

Starting the School Year...

 

Visiting Ptuj

Once again I have to apologise for taking so long to write a new blog. Life has just about settled into a new routine. I'm still meeting with two girls one to one every week and of course we have the weekly youth group. 

Today we've taken the youth on a trip to a town called Ptuj in the north of the country. We're meeting with some of the teenagers who came to our camp in the summer. We've visited the town, had lunch together and just had a time of singing and reminiscing about camp. 

It's such an encouragement to see these young people spend time together and encourage each other with their friendship. 

My time has also started to fill up with ECM work. As you may remember, I was voted onto the Advisory Group for ECM. This is where we review documents on policies and procedures ready for publication to the rest of the organisation. Another new role I have is to help organise the next ECM Biennial in 2025. Although this event is still over a year away, the planning starts now. Finally, I have been asked to be the member care facilitator for three new Australian missionaries who are moving to Slovenia next year. It will be strange to no longer be the only non national in the country but I'm excited to see how God will be working with all these new changes. 

So as you can see, I'm being kept busy. I have some other plans for the youth in the church which I'm just starting to organise. Please be praying for the young people as we're into the new school year. Please also be praying for my plans and all the work I have to do, that I would be trusting God to lead and guide all that I do. 

One Summer, Three Camps, Seven Countries...

The monastary which was the
venue of our weekend away

Sadly, summer has officially finished and life is now starting to get back into a more organised rhythm. Over the summer I've led 2 camps, been involved in a third and travelled through seven different countries (Slovenia, Italy, Montenegro, Greece, UK, Croatia and Hungary!). My summer has been far busier than term time and so I'm almost glad to get back to normal life. 

My last trip took place in the middle of August where I took a group of teenagers to the UK for a week to help with a Holiday Bible Club in Suffolk. They were aged between 14 and early 20s and they all did a fantastic job - it was such an answer to prayer, so thank you to all of you who were praying for us. There were a few bumps on the way - last minute passport and ticket issues but we all got there safely. We spent the first day and a half in London before travelling to Suffolk. It was such a great chance to build connections and relationships with the people in the church there. HBC ran for 3 days and they had over 60 kids every day. For the Slovene teenagers it was eye opening to see all the work, the team effort and the numbers of people involved. I truly and honestly have nothing negative to say about the trip and the teenagers. They did everything that was asked of them with a smile on their faces - in fact they went over and above what was asked of them. Since most of them were over 18, I gave them a lot of freedom to wander and explore and it was just a real joy to lead and to see them adapt to the new environments.

Because of the way timings worked out, we travelled back from the UK directly to our church weekend away (via Croatia and Hungary). For the last few years our weekend away has taken place in the north east of the country in a monastary - as pictured above. Although we were all pretty exhausted from our travels, it was a joy to be able to spend time with the church family. We also had people from 3 other churches join us. On the Saturday we had a group come just for the day. Included in this group was L, a teenager who had joined us at our youth camp earlier in the summer. Before camp she had barely opened a Bible before. At camp she was really engaged with everything and bought some books. Apparently since then she has been reading the Bible on her own and is in contact with her local church. It was so amazing to see her come for the day, especially since she brought her mum K with her. Please be praying for L and K. Thank God for the work he is clearly doing, but please pray that they would both come to know him as their Lord and Saviour.

So now summer has finished, holidays are over and I'm looking to the term ahead. Our first youth group meeting is tonight and I hope to be able to start my one to ones next week. I am also starting to get busier with ECM work. Please be praying that I would get into a good rhythm and that I would keep leaning on God for all things.

Flooding and Clean Up...

Piles of ruined belongings at
the side of the road

Wow, what a week! I'm sure most of you will have heard about the devastating floods that hit Slovenia a week ago. There's been so much damage and many people have been left with nothing. I personally was not at any risk - I live on the second floor in the middle of the city, well away from and sources of water - but it actually could have been very different. 3 weeks ago, late at night, it was raining and I suddenly heard dripping in my flat. It was quite bad and I could start to see water soaking into one of my walls. I had no idea what was going on especially since there is a flat above mine. My upstairs neighbours were away at the time but I had the key. I woke my landlords up and together we found that the upstairs terrace had a blocked drain which meant that the water was seeping through the door jamb and into my flat. The upstairs flat was totally fine.

This was all very frustrating but the next day my landlords cleared the drain and totally unblocked the pipe. If we had not found out about this blocked drain, which only caused a little bit of staining and no long term damage, my flat would probably have been flooded when the big rainstorms hit. My story is nothing compared to the people who lost everything, but it was a good reminder to me that we don't know the future. We don't know what will happen in a week, a month or a year, but God does. Although I faced a minor inconvenience, this probably saved me from much worse damages. We may not understand why things happen, we may not understand why God allowed these floods to take place, but I am sure that God is still in control and has a plan. Sometimes he allows bad things to happen to protect us from something worse later on.

This week the rains have finally stopped and the clean up operation is in full swing. The government has declared Monday to be a national holiday of solidarity, to help those in need. Tuesday is also a holiday so this means a 4 day weekend. 

Earlier this week, on Monday, I travelled to one of the affected areas to help a family connected to a church nearby. All along the road people had dumped their ruined possessions. We passed over the stream that had flooded and it was mind boggling to realise that it had been several metres higher only a few days earlier. Despite that, people had worked so hard and the roads were a lot cleaner than I was expecting. The house I was helping at had had 4 feet of water which meant that the whole downstairs and the garage had been affected. We stayed for several hours, throwing away things that could not be saved and cleaning some of the things that could. The smell of mould and damp was pervasive and of course they had no clean drinking water. I felt slightly guilty that I was able to go home to my clean, fresh smelling flat, knowing that I could drink the water and clean my clothes with no risk.

Please keep praying for the country of Slovenia and for all the people affected by these floods.

On a different note, I will be travelling to the UK next Friday with a group of teenagers to help with a Holiday Bible Club. Please pray for us as we prepare to go, we are already facing some last minute challenges. Please pray that things will go smoothly and that the young people will learn how to serve cross culturally. Please pray for the HBC and the church we will be serving with. Pray that God would be glorified and that we would be able to share his gospel with the children and their parents. Also, that we would have a good time together and that they will enjoy seeing more of my home context!

Reflecting on My First Year in Ministry

Early morning view of the River Kolpa

I hadn't quite realised how long it had been since I last wrote a blog post. So much has happened that unfortunately my updates have been pushed to one side. For those who want to hear more about my time on camp, I have just sent out a prayer letter. Please let me know if you would like to be added to that list.

The end of June marked the end of my first school year in full time, long term ministry. That's a strange sentence to write considering I've been in Slovenia since 2018. I've not really had a chance yet to reflect on the year but it's been interesting to see how a job title change has changed my outlook both on my purpose for being in Slovenia but also my confidence. One of the ways Satan loves to attack workers in Slovenia is by making them feel inadequate and I have definitely been on the receiving end of these attacks. What I have been reminded of time and time again, is that it doesn't matter if I'm the best or the worst youth worker in the world because I'm not doing this job in my own strength but in the strength of Christ. I am here, I am willing to serve and I know that God is with me.

My first year has, in general, been very positive. I have seen God working, I have seen young people grow in their faith and want to learn more about God. When I took over this role last September, I wrote the following mission statement: "The point of youth work is to help them grow in godliness as we teach them the Bible, train them, worship God together and do life with them in the good times and the hard times. We encourage them, we have fun with them as we model what it looks like to live as a Christian and as we prepare them to go into the world living lives pleasing to God."

I have said many time this year that although I would love to see lots of people becoming Christians, discipling the young people we have is just as important. I want to see them grow, whether it's from no faith, to faith or to a more mature faith. We are called to make disciples of all nations, not just converts.

As I look back on this year I definitely feel the weight of more responsibility, but I also see the joy and encouragement of a young person having a question answered or discovering something in the Bible that they had never seen before.

Looking ahead to the new year, I know that I will still face challenges, I know that I will still face attacks from Satan, but I also know that God is with me, working through me and I know that I will still see the encouragements of young people wanting to know God better. I know that God has not forgotten Slovenia and most of all, I know that he is faithful to his promises!