A Blur of Encouragement

Whew! All I can say is that this past week was a blur. But...and encouraging blur. I have so much I could write about that it will be a challenge to keep this short, sweet, and to the point!
So, I think to help myself and my list-oriented mind, and to keep things paired down, I will report on my week by going through different encouraging moments (because God knew I needed encouragement this week - the honeymoon phase is starting to wear off!).

Encouragement 1: Dinner at the Holloways
Something that Roberta has been setting up for all of us interns are dinners at missionary families' homes. On Tuesday night, all of us interns and the Hill family went over to the Holloway family's home for some dinner, dessert, and conversation about what they do as missionaries here in Bratislava. Let me just say that since I've been here, the Holloway family has been a wonderful part of my experience. They have been incredibly welcoming to all of us interns, have invited us to the park to play soccer, and have come and played basketball with us numerous times. I have been so blessed by their enthusiasm and love towards us. All of us were very much looking forward to this dinner, and we were not disappointed. We had a great time eating some angel hair casserole and cookie pie and drinking some yummy hazelnut coffee from the U.S. (boy do I miss that stuff!) while absorbing all of the Holloway's vast knowledge of what it means to be a missionary here. They were very honest with us that missions here is hard. People come all gung-ho, but end up leaving the field a few short months afterward. It's hard because as Mr. Holloway put it, the harvest time has not come in Slovakia, it is the sowing time. So honestly, there aren't many "results" (a.k.a. three people got saved last week!) to write home about. And that can be discouraging. But they know their calling is sure, and that is what keeps them here. I was so massively encouraged by what they said about "being called". They made it clear that when they first came to Slovakia on a short two week missions trip and then returned, God made sure that they were not comfortable being back in the states until they returned to Slovakia. It just was so good to be reminded that God will make it clear if I am "called" somewhere. Another thing is that people around them were confirming their choice, saying "we knew it would be only a matter of time until ya'll left for the mission field." The body of Christ confirms...yes!!! Also, the Holloways are from southern Virginia, so it's so nice to hear that sweet drawl. I miss it! All of us left feeling challenged, but very encouraged. What an amazing way to start the week.

Encouragement 2: Guitar Lessons
So I started teaching guitar this week, Monday-Thursday, and praise God that it is going so great! I have taught guitar for a total of six years, starting back in 8th grade. And I've had a lot of students, ranging from extremely excited, to extremely...not. I can safely say I have the most amazing guitar students here. They are so enthusiastic and are quickly diving in to whatever I teach them. One of my guitar students, Ben, has already learned and can play God of Wonders. It does my heart so good. I have six students total, so it is a good number that keeps me on my tows. Pray for continued enthusiasm and that those calluses grow! :)

Encouragement 3: The Norquist Clan and Matt Benson!!!
On Tuesday, Ben and Ariel Norquist (Ben was the co-leader of our missions class) came to Bratislava! Ariel will be teaching ESL training classes to all of us interns and some of the missionaries here next week, and Ben will be heading down to Rwanda to visit more Bryan interns this week. It was great to see more familiar faces and to see that Ariel is doing well with her pregnancy. Matt Benson (the other co-leader and the Dean of Spiritual Formation at Bryan) came on Wednesday. Last night we had dinner and coffee with him and the Norquists and it was very encouraging and refreshing just to sit and talk with them again. They have so much wisdom and are just plain fun to be around. Good times :)

Encouragement 4: Talking Teens
I know to some, talking teens may seem like an oxymoron, but alas! I have found some! At our teens Bible study on Thursday night, we are systematically going through Malachi. We were in chapter two, which is all about God admonishing the priests for attempting to make sacrifices, but not living holy lives. We were hoping to talk about these imperfect priests, and then point to Jesus as our perfect high priest, but we never got there - here's why. About two verses of the chapter talks about divorce and how God hates it, because the priests were divorcing their wives. I asked the loaded questions, "So why do ya'll think God hates divorce so much?" And we were off. For the next half an hour, these teens talked, debated, created scenarios, and wrestled with the idea of divorce. I was so thrilled. While we strayed completely off topic, just to hear these teens talk about an issue that they had obviously put a lot of thought into was so neat. They have so much stored inside of them, and I'm happy to give them an opportunity to share.

Encouragement 5: BERC did NOT float like Noah's ark
Let me explain: there have been quite a number of hefty storms here in Slovakia in the past week, the strength of which I have never seen. Crazy winds, driving rain, thunder and lighting, the whole shabang! Well, after the teen Bible study on Thursday night, it started storming...big time. Of course, the kids were itching to play outside in it...and before we could stop them, they were out on the sidewalk drenched. And before I knew it, Evan was dragging me outside, whilst I was getting squirted with a water gun by Ben Holloway, then plopped on the porch where I proceeded to slip and fall into the mud. But that is beside the point :) After playing for a while with the kids in the rain, I came back inside to change and noticed that water was pouring out of the laundry room. I called Melanie Hill downstairs, and she snapped into action, because this same thing happened last summer. Basically, the drain in the laundry room that is supposed to let excess water out to the street pipes, was overflowing with water from the storm coming up through the pipes. At first it seemed like we (me and Melanie) had it under control. We were mopping up the water with towels and wringing them out into buckets. But before we knew it, the water was coming faster than we could handle. We ended up calling in Evan and Eric and all the kids to come help us. At this point Jim, Roberta, Ben, and Ariel were on their way back from Vienna. To make a long story short, the water came faster and faster until pretty much the entire downstairs was flooded, including the garage, with about 3-4 inches of water. We were wet vaccing, bailing water out with tupperware, towels, whatever we could find. Half of the people helping were kids from the Bible study, the other half were Jim, Roberta, Ben, Ariel, and all us interns. It was a huge team effort and finally, the water started draining away, and the rain stopped. It was really scary, but PRAISE GOD there was minimal damage. It was quite an adventure. But get this: as I was in the midst of task-oriented stress mode, these missionary kids were singing, yes singing. "I'm bailing in the rain, just bailing in the rain..." They are no strangers to hardship, and they take it the most in-stride of anyone I've ever met. After the whole flood had subsided, we dragged our wet bodies up the stairs to the library, where we sat around and warmed up with some vanilla steamers that Melanie made. What a night!

Encouragement 6: The Lake and the Opera
At the end of this long, tiring, but AWESOME week, it was nice to be able to relax today. Heather (another intern here from California), Melanie, Brittany, and I went to a lake here in Bratislava and swam. It was SO relaxing and just fun to be in a very culturally different place than the states. It is definitely a local hang out! After swimming and sunning with the girls for the afternoon, we came back and got ready to go to an opera! The name of the opera was Turinot (which probably means more to some of you out there than it did to me when I first heard the title!) and it was fantastic. I big group of us went from BERC, and I now I feel very cultured. It was a great way to end a long, amazing, but hard week.

I could write so much more about this week (like Heather, the intern from California returning from her support raising trip to California with her support raised for the next two years!). But my eyes are getting droopy and I don't want to subject you to my late night ramblings. Suffice it to say, this week was great and deliriously encouraging blur. I thank God for the prayer support that is being lifted up for us from what seems like so far away. But it is not far away to our God. I hope you have been encouraged this past week, friends. I love you and I will see many of you in about a month and a half!