Getting Sick

I don't have a lot of time to post, but I thought i should keep everyone up to date on what I need prayer for. I am getting or maybe actually am sick. (No Mom, I don't need advice on how to get better. I've got all of that information already.  I'm putting as much as possible to good use.  But its difficult to get the sleep I need to get better while not missing out on important teachings. ) So prayer that I get better would be very appreciated. :) Thank you!

Wedding Stalking

So some of my friends might know that I attended a fair number of weddings this summer as well as randomly stumbling upon more when I was just being a tourist in BC.  Well, it turns out that the trend continues!

We stumbled upon a SLOVAK WEDDING!

They actually were all just walking out of the Catholic Church downtown as we walked into the square. I saw the white limo and new what was going on right away!  So we stood at the outskirts of the crowd of guests and watched. Until they actually gathered all the guests to take a big picture with everyone (this actually was something I had never seen before, but I think its pretty cool.)  Janka said this was a pretty expensive wedding, and quite formal. All the women the bride's age were wearing evening dresses, and even that they had a limo.  However, there was one thing that seemed pretty traditional to me:

It was a stick with ribbons that this middle aged man was carrying.  It made me think of Ukrainian wedding traditions but Janka didn't know what it meant. So she went up to the man and asked!  I was so surprised! But she later explained that he was kindof the wedding manager who does the introductions etc, and he had a ribbon for every wedding he had "managed".  Not nearly as exciting as i had hoped the stick would be... I actually think its a pretty gawdy thing to carry around for no reason but whatever.

So I have seen a Slovak wedding now, however they said that if we could weasel our way into a wedding in a village, that would be the ultimate experience. Seeing as we know no one, chances are slim of that happening. 

Thanks for reading! 

Funny Pants

These pants are in style here. We see them everywhere. In every color you can think of. Always with solid fabric on the knees and butt and plaid on the rest. We think they are funny, but apparently its very fashionable.  Maybe we will give in to Slovak fashion, maybe not, but either way I think Canadians will get a kick out of them. :)

Friday Night Freedom

We have been joking that we have never looked forward to a weekend as much as we have this week. We finally have a chance to rest and catch up on sleep!

So on Friday night we went on an adventure to the "Europa" shopping centre down the street.  It was quite interesting just to buy shampoo and soap.  And I also bought some carbonated water. I finally found a flavour I really like: chestnut!  It is very refreshing and the big bottle wasn't even a euro so I don't feel too bad buying it.

We also stopped in a toy store while we were in the mall. That was so fun!  Most things are your run of the mill playschool and disney toys.  But I  found something new that I thought was great: Farm Toys!
Okay, to be fair, these aren't actually new. They are in Canada too, but I thought these were very intricate and accurate and interesting!

A combine!

A Tractor!

A rake? Maybe?  

Don't you love how it says "just like the real thing"?

A jeep to pull your horse trailer.

And my personal favorite:

The wind farm! You don't see that in Canada!

(its out of focus because it was on the top shelf...lots of zoom)

We obviously had lots of fun.

We also spent some time in the namiestie (spelling in slovak isn't great yet, but I think this is what it is) and that means square as in the town square.  So we got to see the fountain with its lights.

Its very nice to see everything lit up. And it was a nice big moon too.

So it was a nice relaxing and fun night. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be good too.

Who Do I Live and Learn With?

First week is done. Its hard to believe its only been a week.  Having only four of us, we already know each other so well, it seems like we have known each other for much longer than 6 days. I don't think I've explained where we all come from so I'll do that now!

Alex is from the states (Oregon) and is the baby of the group at 18.  His dad actually is Slovak so that is how he ended up here. He is really funny and doesn't seem 18.  He is learning Slovak faster than the rest of us, but I blame it on him having slovak genes.

Janna/ Janka (pronounced Yanna and Yanka) is our only Slovak.  Her english is very good, and her vocab is growing because of us. We lean on her to interpret for us and to teach us new words. She isn't from Banska but she lived here to go to school so she knows the town. However, that makes it difficult when we are ministering on the street because she knows people. Its harder to be bold in your own city. It's more of a shock I think.

Art is from Holland (yes now I kinda am kicking myself for not learning dutch when i had the chance). He has very good english.  But he seems to speak a little of every language. And as a result, he does a good job at picking up words in Slovak. And he seems to be able to talk to anyone in any situation even with the language barrier.  It is amazing to watch. He has no inhibitions what so ever. He also is extremely funny because he has no inhibitions. We can laugh for an entire meal just at his antics.  We joke that we will have very defined abs by the end of the dts.

So all four of us get along really well already. Its amazing. Its already like we are a little family.  In a larger group usually there are smaller groups that are closer knit. We don't have that because its impossible.  I feel just as comfortable with each student. I'm sure that the same closeness will happen soon with the staff (which is a married couple, Michel and Myska from the Czech Republic) who live in the hostel with us.

So that is our DTS.  Six people sit at meals at the house, so we have a very small course. But I wouldn't wish it any other way.

Healings

So....

Today was "healing" day. The last two days we have attended a seminar put on by a church about healing on the streets. Literally they go out to the town square, but up a banner that says healing, and ask people if they need or want to be healed. Its amazing. They say there are very few people who don't experience something. So we were trained in how the ministry works and today we were put out on the streets.  But it was hard. The worst part was that we don't all speak slovak so its hard to explain to passersby what we are offering them. Thankfully they have little flyers. But it was hard to walk up only knowing how to say hello, goodbye, thank you and sorry. It is not so easy to do.

But today they saw two people's legs grow, an alcoholic said he felt better, and many people took the step of faith to just be prayed for.  However, often people won't have any immediate signs and actually will have it happen in the next twenty four hours.  So we have faith in more. And tomorrow they are going out today, so who knows what will happen then.

I'm sorry i don't have more descriptions for you, but I'm so very tired. We weren't able to relax this evening because Wednesday is the night we have an open meeting that the community can come to. So I just listened to an hour or so of very hard to handle teachings. I need to sleep and let it soak in.

ps. picture at the top is from the top of the building in the chapel room. Beautiful view. Can't wait to see a sun set from up there.

First Day of DTS

Hello All!

Its only my first day here and I already feel like its been a week!  Crazy huh?  Today was a whirlwind. We had breakfast and quiet time (they put aside an hour a day, which is great!) and then a time of worship and prayer where they told us visions and prophesy and verses that they had received from God as they prayed for us before we arrived.  Isn't that an amazing way to start a course?  I was floored.  And we learned some basic things, decided on house rules etc.  Then apparently every day we are going out to eat at a little restaurant near by.  Which is totally sweet because restaurants here are so economical. And we get to practice our slovak on the waitresses!  Today we were working on the please, thank you, sorry, etc. And the numbers from one to ten. I don't think I feel very confident in numbers over 5, but even five is five more than I knew this morning!

So this afternoon we actually went to a church in Banska that one of our leader goes to.  They actually had two visitors from England visiting this week to do seminars, so our staff wanted us to be able to be part of it. However, this is like just jumping into the deep end of moving in the Spirit and supernatural.  The seminar is on Healing street ministries.  These men from Bath are part of a group who three mornings a week set up chairs in the main square in Bath and a banner that says healing. And people come and sit and are healed. Its amazing!  And the seminar is about preparing us to be part of the same ministry here in Banska.  So on Wed we are going to be going out and declaring healing in Jesus name. Overwhelming isn't it?  I thought so too. But after listening to these speakers, it is actually seeming like the most natural thing in the world. Jesus did it. He commissioned the 12 to do it, then again the 72 and then commissioned us all to go out and heal.  And Jesus said that we would go greater things even that the disciples saw him do on earth. So really, the expectation is that we can go out and heal.

If anyone said this is what I'd be doing in 2010 I would have thought them crazy.  But now I'm excited. May God be given glory in whatever happens this week!

(there are so many other stories I could have written, but maybe I'll save some for another time? Or perhaps you just have to wait till I'm home?)

This is the four students, the two staff, and our leader having ice cream yesterday. 

Hopefully there will be much more to come!

The Hostel

Okay, so since no one is around yet to day i figured it was perfect for being a weirdo and taking pictures of the place.  :)  I hope you guys actually want to see it because I'm going to post them all now with explanations.

So this is a four story building.  I just got Katie to confirm that and she got very confused. I had to tell her I meant floors.  Then she said yes there is the basement... so we just confirmed that what she meant was the first floor, in "Katie English".

Anyways, there are four stories. The first is like most old buildings in that there is a walkway from the front to the back courtyard (which in this case has doors blocking it off on both ends) with some doors going off the passageway.  We take one of those doors up a staircase to the second floor which is where I'm going to spend most of my time.

This was the door waiting for me at the far end of the hall on the second floor. Then to its right is the door to the kitchen then the door to go upstairs.  If you go through this (the one above) door we have another room/hall with some bookcases and computers. And off of that is a lounge:

 

And a lecture room that I'm not going to put up picture of yet because it isn't set up yet. 

But this is the view out the windows in those rooms.  Its the view of the front of the building.  And these windows open completely without any screens or anything. So I'm hoping to be able to sit in these windows and read before it gets too cold for the winter. 

Then the kitchen is actually pretty big, but the kitchen part is squeezed into this little area of it.

Then because I am snooping around I opened the door that goes out the back of the building. There actually is a terrace out there on the second level, but I'm guessing its unsafe because there is an iron bar door locked so you can't get out. But this is the picture I got:

The wall with the drawing on it is the back wall of the courtyard.

So now we can go up to the rooms. Scary door huh? Its made of some sort of metal and looks like its a couple hundred years old. Makes you think someone will lock you up there!

But as you walk up the stairs there is this amazing mural of trees and bunnies and the banska tower.

This is actually the view from the third floor "lounge". I don't have another name for it. So this is the view from my bedroom door outward to the lounge.

Then this is the view of the bedroom that I'm going to be sharing with just one other girl.

Its huge! This is from the door inwards.

My bunk is on the right bottom.

And we are lucky enough to have an en suite bathroom! 

It looks pretty normal? Its pretty small i guess...

But it also has a hot water tank in the bathroom.

That is all the hot water we get for the entire day because it only warms water at night. Good thing there isn't five girls in this room, or that could get interesting.

And the last thing is the view from my window. 

Nothing interesting. I just look at a sloped metal roof. But isn't the way the window is made cool?  And I'm guessing the bars is to keep people out.. especially if criminals actually walk around in europe on the roof like in those in video games. I guess that probably happens in movies too. 

So that is my home away from home for the next three months. YMCA Hostel: The picture tour.

Banska Bystrica

So since the DTS hasn't actually started yet, I've had some time to unpack (that actually didn't take very long at all... It seemed like alot but really it was just all clothes) and to go sight seeing a bit.

It is really nice here so I took myself on a little walk. I actually went for a walk with Steve and Emma (his daughter) and Katie last night so I kinda feel like I know my way around already. So after lunch I took my camera out in the sunshine.  (Mom: yes I went alone. Yes i asked if it is safe to do that first. No I didn't get robbed.)

So our street actually is a pedestrian only street that connects up to the pedestrian only main square. I absolutely love that part of these Slovak towns.  Its about walking everywhere! Well.. maybe not but it makes me feel better about not having a car.

So this is the friendly neighborhood butcher who is maybe 3 or 4 buildings down from here.

Cute huh?

Then at the end of our "block" (i don't know if you can even use that term here...) there is this beautiful huge building which they said is the Slovak National Scientific Library. Steve says that someone told him that they have an english section, but I'm not sure it would be that interesting anyways. 

So there is another 200m or so before you reach the actual down town square.  And this square is actually pretty big!  It goes on for a long distance in my mind.  I also just realized that I didn't climb up the town tower to take a picture... but I can't read the signs so i don't actually know where you go to climb the tower. Those pictures will come later i guess.

But this is the tower and a church that is also at that end of the square.

And a really sweet building that incorporates the old and new:

Then also at the top of the square (it kind of slopes downward from here toward the West) is this really cool building which may have used to be a church but now is a  restaurant. This is my first favorite picture of the trip. 

I think I'll skip over all the monuments until i know a little bit more. I went to see them though. 

This is the view from the Slovak National Uprising monument.

So we have hills (no this is not a mountain) covered in leafy trees as well as flat plains (and I think there is a river around here somewhere too but I haven't been there yet.

Forestry is a big deal. You actually can have a bust of you in a public square put up for making important forestry decisions. 

This is what it said on his plaque (he actually got english and slovak, way to go dude!): 

Jozef Dekret Matejovie

chamber chief forester (1814-1837)

 applied progressive methods to save

 forests ruined by mining and smelting industries 

thus laying the foundations for orderly 

forest management throughout 

the land.  

He totally deserves a huge bust. 

Hmm... now what else should i show you all?

I have decided that I really like windows, especially when they have flowers in them.

Or windows with men with green hair under them..

As you can tell its still pretty warm here. The flowers are still in bloom. I think there actually has been alot of harvesting already done as there are fields cleared, but I still saw sunflowers in the fields.  And they say it has been raining alot lately but I was very happy to not have rain today.

Now at the bottom of the downtown street it gets a bit more modern. This is a bank where the street stops being pedestrian only. And within walking distance from there is a very modern mall that we walked through yesterday.  

So now all of you know as much about banska as I do.  (I've found out that everyone here just calls in Banska which will make pronouncing it alot easier).  Maybe I'll practice some slovak with my free afternoon.

Ciau! (pronounced chow)

Trip to Slovakia!

I'm HERE!
Finally.
Goodness I don't like long trips. Especially on economy class airplanes. There was a good reason that that flight was cheap. It was an eight hour flight so I expected to get some sleep. Nope.  They waited three hours into the flight to serve us supper. We got on the flight at 6pm... I don't want to eat at nine (toronto time).  Then the cabin lights stayed on until we were half way across.... its hard to sleep even if you have a sleep mask with the cabin lights on. And then two hours before we land we start flying into the rising sun so the staff decide to serve breakfast. Three hours after supper. I was a little cranky about all of that. Not to mention that this is an old aircraft so there is only one big screen for the whole section of the plane. It made the animated safety video more entertaining though to see it in Polish first and then English.  And since this was a Polish airlines flight to Warsaw: everyone was speaking Polish. It was my first taste of not being able to understand anyone for this trip.

Yes that is a little animated arm...

Okay so what else... In Warsaw I ran into my first non english news paper- i still flipped through it to see if I understood anything. All i found was something scooby doo.  And there were all kinds of Polish souvenirs in the airport. Very tempting.. but I had no idea what the polish exchange rate was so I didn't get any.

Made me think of the olympics again.

Then off I went from Warsaw to Bratislava. That was a more white knuckle flight. The plane was making noises that I didn't think were good, and you could tell it was an old plane. Although it may have been because it was flying with propellors that it made all the noise?  Anyways I  got to Bratislava. Was very happy to see my luggage get off the plane and was very blessed to have a former YWAM staffer pick me up and take me to the bus station. She even got me a ticket for the right bus and figured that all out. Then i had to sit for four more hours (it was a three hour trip but the traffic wasn't very good) to get to Banska Bystrica.  Steve, the leader of the dts, and his family picked me up from the bus and took me to the place I'll be calling home for 3 months. Its actually a hostel. Its the YMCA hostel to be exact. And we use their kitchen, a few bed rooms, and some lounge areas. It was pretty overwhelming yesterday but today it seems okay. I'm getting accustomed to the fact that I'm sitting in a building that is probably 400 years old. 

The closer building is the one I'm staying in. It doesn't look like anything special and I guess it isn't but its walking distance from down town, clean, secure (so many locked doors!), and comfortable. I guess I can call it home for a while.

I'm the first DTS student to arrive. The next guy gets here tonight sometime from Holland (yes Jazz, i should have learnt dutch when i could!). Then there are only two more students!  One from Slovakia and one from the states. So all together there are four of us. I was so surprised to hear that. I thought it would be small but I thought 7 or 8. Not less than 5! There also is a married couple from the Czech Republic working as staff. Then the leader Steve is from the US and his wife is from the UK (I already like them because they are so easy to understand compared to everyone else!) And they have kids but I've only met one. (Steve and his family don't live at the hostel but the rest of us do). And then Katie (slovakia) is a former student who is visiting for the weekend who has been a complete God send. She has helped me get accustomed and feel at home and just asks me questions and makes conversation. I don't feel like I'm bothering her if I ask her a question and she is bunking in my room this weekend so I don't feel completely lonely.

And I have had very overwhelmed moments already. Yesterday I was blaming it on the lack of sleep. Today I am doing my best to stay positive and anything that is concerning to me I've turned over to God. I also keep telling myself that it hasn't even started yet. This is nothing like what the next three months will really be like. I probably won't have an afternoon off that I can just sit and type this super long blog entry.  So enjoy these long ones while you can.  

How to Comment

I've realized that people have problems commenting, so this is my easy tutorial:

Write: what you want to say in the comment box, including your name at the end so I know who you are!
Choose: Anonymous from the profile choices underneath the box for your comment.
Click: publish or post or whatever the little button says at the bottom.

Ta Da!  Now I can read your comments. And everyone else can read them too.  So if you want to send it to just me, write an email.

Thanks!

Last Post before my Flight!

So I leave tomorrow morning for my very long flight to Bratislava. I actually am going to Toronto, then Warsaw, then Bratislava. Should be interesting. I'm praying for good movies during the flight but I also have reading to do and a language to learn!

For everyone who doesn't know yet I'm going to Banska Bystrica in Slovakia.

This is where Slovakia is:

And Banska Bystrica is in the middle there:

 Then as far as I know we will be going to Jordan for three months starting in Dec or so:

YWAM is going to be quite the adventure but God has got me covered. Doesn't mean I don't enjoy comments and emails though. I'll do my best to at least give short replies to emails.