Choir

This is the new childrens choir that Ada (Andrea Borcovanova, Juraj's wife) is leading! They did a great job on Sunday! In other news, the Advent season is fast approaching and those of us in the adult choir (Larry, Brenda and I) have about 13 new songs to learn before we begin singing every Sunday from then until the end of the year! Pray hard!! :o)

Please Pray

There are so many people back home that are going through hard times, painful times, sad times, some are having truly heartbreaking times right now, that my heart is heavy. Will you please join with me in praying that God will be especially close to them and that He will give undeniable evidence of His deep and abiding Love for them? Thank you.

First Annual Harvest Food Drive

Well, we think it was a big success! The people of Martin, though they have never experienced giving in quite this way before, really embraced the concept of a food drive and gave very generously! We have done the preliminary work of unloading and organizing the donations onto shelves and now we will pack the food into the bags that Baumax graciously donated for the cause and get them delivered to the people who need them! We hope to have all this done by Saturday. Our prayer is that this will be an annual event at this time every year, please pray with us!

Bohdan and Zuzka
Friends outside of church
It keeps getting fuller and fuller!

Juraj showing everyone how much fun giving is!

God bless you richly!

WOW! What a great first year start to what we hopekeeps growing.

The Latest and Greatest....

Well, it was a busy week last week. So to quickly fill you in, I'll tell the story........then add the pictures later. One of the happy problems here (as Pastor Matt would say) is that both the Bible College and the Elementary School are running out of room to teach and play and meet. Michal and Bodhan (both Directors of the Bible School) have been looking for the last few years for a place that was affordable where they could grow into the Campus they desire to be. There have been a few options for them and they have had plans and dreams concerning a couple of different places, but either the timing wasn't right, or the money wasn't right, or the place was too far away to be useful in the community of Martin in the way they believe the Lord is calling them to be. So, they have patiently waited and prayed and waited. And it has pleased the Lord to answer their prayers with the best news possible! (Isn't that just like God to bless us immeasurably more than we could ever hope or dream of!) The news is that the City Council had a vote last week to determine the use of three buildings right behind the college dorm. Bohdan has been talking with the Mayor for months about using those buildings......and the Mayor believing in what the Bible School is trying to do here, has been talking to his council. On Thursday last week, the Council voted 24-1 in favor of leasing those buildings to the Bible School for the next 50 years at something like a euro a year! FREE basically!! For 50 years!!! It is the absolute best solution to this ever increasing (happy) problem of room to grow!

So, an architect by the name of Paul Snyder donated his time and talents to come here and draw up plans for how to build the campus to enhance and add to the charm of the City of Martin (and add to the numbers of those being saved by the work being done in this place!). And hopefully by December of 2010 the work can begin! There are tenants using at least one of the buildings now so we have to wait until they are out of the building to begin the actual rehabilitating....but time most quickly here, and 2010 will be here before we now it!

As for me, I have started teaching the City Hall folks as well as the college students and my private students so the year is in full swing. It has been a bit of a challenge getting schedules and times and appropriate materials together and meeting the needs of everyone involved, but God is Good.....and Brenda and Larry are coming soon, so I think everything is going to smooth out and calm down a little as I finish my last year here in Martin....but that's another post.

Baumax....

We are collecting food donations at the church for the next couple of weeks to do baskets for needy families in the community. This is a new thing in Slovakia....and therefore in Martin. The congregation isn't used to giving anything more than the regular offerings or tithe to the church. So, when it was announced last Sunday in church what we're going to do and how they could help, it was met with a little confusion maybe and uncertainty....and then a little excitement! It is to honor and worship Him and to thank Him for His abundant harvest lavished on us that we want to do this.
Our first donation came from an unlikely source...and it wasn't even food! The local home improvement store, Baumax, generously gave us 35 huge bags to put the food in to deliver to the families....They had never heard of such a thing at Baumax...actually they had never heard of the Lutheran church or the Bible school....but when Sisa and I went to talk with the manager about donating some bags, he was eager to do it....and...now he knows about the Lutheran church and the Bible school - and we know about him!
Please pray for the harvest we share with the community to reap a bountiful Harvest for Him!

My Prayer....

Help me Lord, to come into this year from where you are. I want your heart and your mind in this place. I want to know what you see as the needs of this community. Please take all I have seen and heard and felt and form these experiences into a central theme for your plan and purpose here. This is my earnest prayer. Thank you God for your Presence in my heart, mind and spirit…thank you for impressing on me the need to wait for You and thank you for helping me to see what You want me to see. I love you Lord Jesus and I am so grateful to You for everything…my life here and hereafter. I gladly give myself to You….thank you for calling me…thank you for wanting me…thank you for loving me….Amen.

It's Been a Long Time....

..and I've missed you! It has been an interesting and active summer. To start with, about 30 people from my church (New Heights) were here for two weeks teaching the summer English courses. They did a great job, as is their reputation, and the two weeks flew by for me! When they left, one of them (my friend Kim) stayed behind with me and we went to Italy for two weeks! We actually took the bus with New Heights to Vienna and played for a day with everyone in that marvelous city and then Kim and I took another bus to Bratislava where we spent the night in preparation for our flight from there to Milan, Italy the next day. In Milan, we rented a car and then headed straight for the coastline in Genoa...we followed the outline of the country almost all the way around in the little over 2 weeks we were there! Visited some incredible areas (the Italian Riveria, Florence, Tuscany, Pisa, Rome, Naples, across to the other side at Bari, up to Ancona and finishing off in Venice before heading back to Milan for our flight home. It was a trip I will always remember. Once home in Martin, we did a little shopping, a lot of clothes washing and packing and then took a train up to Krakow, Poland to have lunch and spend the night before Kim caught her flight back to the states. From there (since no one was going to be in Martin for the rest of the month...they all take vacation time then), I decided to catch a flight to Spain. I flew in to Alicante, took a train to Denia and spent some lovely time on the beach there. Then trained it up to Valencia and Barcelona...and then on up into France....stopping in Montpellier first, then to the French Riveria..Cannes, Nice, Monaco....and then finally heading up to Paris. I spent several days in Denia, Nice and Paris and a day or here or there in places along the way. After Paris, I flew to Stavanger, Norway to visit some friends who live there. All in all, it was a very relaxing and awe-inspiring summer....one I will never forget and always be grateful to God for. But now...it is time to get back to work! And boy oh boy , is this year ever gonna be busy! I'm praying for strength even now!