Hey Ya'll!!!
Well, I must say, I am very pumped to report on this past week. It's seriously been a huge turning point for my time here in Slovakia...so much so that I have to keep asking God, "What are you doing in my heart?" It's so crazy and amazing that I feel like everyday I am standing in awe literally watching God change my heart day by day. Let me explain...
Last Friday was the end of the school year for BERC, so in celebration, BERC hosted an end-of-the-year picnic at a park on a hill in Bratislava. To put it simply, it was amazing. All the BERC families, or families associated with BERC or the Hill family (who run BERC) came, and it was such a blessing to meet more families, and get to know better those I already had met. The park was on this beautiful hill that overlooked a green valley, full of villages and church steeples. There was these amazing walking trails through the forest, and a huge open meadow with tall grass. I felt like I was Maria in Sound of Music. The icing on the cake was when they asked me to play my guitar, and I had the kids gathered around me, and I played Do a Deer and we all sang. Priceless.
But even better than playing Do a Deer in a meadow of waving grass, was the fact that for the first time since I've been here, I felt like I belonged with these kids and these families. The families accepted all of us interns with open arms, and the kids were playing with us all like they'd know us their whole lives. It was incredible. I told Roberta Hill that the picnic kind of sealed the deal for me. It was huge confirmation just to see myself loving to hang out and play with these kids, and them loving it too. What a huge blessing and answer to prayer!
Another cool thing that I've been up to is playing basketball a ton with the BERC kids, even though school had ended. And I'm excited to say my meager skills are improving somewhat! Watch out...Bryan inter murals...here I come :) I love the interaction I have with the kids as we play. I think the moments of just hanging out with them are the most influential, because that is when they see how one can strive to be honoring to God in all they do. It is also a huge responsibility.
This week was also an exciting week because I started (along with Eric McEachron) teaching a Bible study for the BERC teens, and any missionary teens in the area that want to take part. We will meet every Thursday night here at BERC for about two hours. We have started going through the book of Malachi...yes, Malachi! It was Eric's idea, but I am so glad we are! I didn't learn the HUGE importance of the Old Testament until this year in Dr. Turner's Pentateuch class, and if these kids can learn it's importance earlier, great. They all seemed so excited to be there, and I at least had a blast...I hope they did too! We were able to get into some pretty hefty topics, and they seemed to be grasping them well. I love it because I love working with teens, and I love helping people love God's Word more. It was a perfect combo. :)
Ok...something that happened this week may have not been so positive, but humorous at least. When I got here to Slovakia, I was lamenting the fact that I didn't have my iPod dock speakers to play music in my apartment. So on Skype, I asked my mom if she could mail it to me. It took like three weeks to get here, and it obviously wasn't the cheapest package to mail. So when I finally got it, in my excitement, I ran down stairs to my room, and using my limited knowledge on electricity, surmised the best combination of transformers/converters, and plugged it in. All of a sudden I smelled a funny smell, like plastic burning. Looking at the outlet, I see that smoke is rising from it!!! AAHHHHHHH!! I darted towards it, then darted back, then darted towards it again, before finally pulling the cord out. I felt like collapsing in relief that I didn't die of electric shock, or burn the house and school down. I was so relieved, in fact, that I failed to realize that the electricity in the whole building was down. When I finally did, I bashfully creeped upstairs, and apologized to the Hills and the interns for what I had done. We all ended up laughing so hard about it we cried - and the interns decided that it is "somewhat amusing when bad things happen to me" (in the words of Eric McEachron - and you can only fully appreciate that statement if you know Eric). Anyway, I am sad to report I burned the iPod dock cord, so there probably might not be tune-age in my room this summer. But rejoice with me that nothing terribly disastrous happened. hehehe...aww man.
Anyway, God is changing my heart in many ways. I don't know if I can express it fully in words right now, but I know he is, and it's big. When I finally figure out how to say what is going on, I'll let ya'll know :) For now, keep praying that we as a team stay unified in our approach of ministry and that God continues to give us strength to be examples. It is a big responsibility and one that is at times overwhelming. I'm just glad that because of the Holy Spirit, it's not me just trying on my own strength to be "good". It's Christ's righteousness living in me.
Thank you for the prayers, encouraging emails, wall posts, and messages. I am so blessed. If you have any questions on what else is going on here, please feel free to email me at rclaflin0195@bryan.edu. I would always love to share more! But for now, Ciao!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment