Learning to Communicate!

Remember the classic child game of telephone? The game where you whisper a sentence into the ear of one child and send it down the line of children in order to find out how bad the sentence has been butchered by the youthful relay system. Everyone looks forward to seeing the end product and how poorly it has been communicated. It is quite funny to see how skewed the sentence turns out compared to how it was first communicated.

I often think of this game as we attempt to communicate here in Slovenia, only it isn’t in a line of people. The words/sentences are often butchered directly after we are told, we don’t need a relay line! Although the language is difficult I think we are beginning to enjoy and embrace the opportunity to learn a new language, and we are excited for the ministry opportunities that will bring. 

On the subject of learning . . .  we are very proud of Tahlia and Mikaela as they are excelling in Slovene school! God has truly used them as lights for Him even in these first few months. They are learning quick, but even greater, they are filled with joy instead of discouragement and for this we praise God!

With all we are learning I cannot wait to play telephone again with American children, it will be great to hear how they relay this sentence: Moj učiteljica gre v nakupovalnem središču nakup nahrbtnik in sladkarije v slaščičarni.

IKEA Madness

The last few months have been a blur, but we are finally settling in a bit and for this we are thankful. God provided us with an amazing home here in Slovenia. We actually live in a village named Lancovo. From our home we have a gorgeous view of Radovljica and the surrounding hills. Often in the evening we can hear the river Sava which is a five minute walk away.

One unexpected task for us was setting up our home. I had been focused on details involved with our shipping container, but I never really considered the actual unpacking and setting up part of this move. It turned in to quite a project and involved multiple trips to IKEA. In Europe you do not find closets or storage areas which means wardrobes and cabinets are a necessary purchase. The cheapest place for this is the IKEA in Klagenfurt, Austria (an hour drive from here).

We have a van, but still it took multiple trips to IKEA to get all the furniture we needed. Now this may sound like a fun shopping spree for some, but I can assure you it was anything but. I have never really shopped around IKEA, not to mention one in Austria where all language posted is GERMAN. So here I am trying to figure out how the IKEA process works in German. Of course trying to find all the needed parts was near impossible. This literally took me all day on multiple trips. Seriously, I spent the whole day at IKEA. Now as if finding it wasn't hard enough I had to figure out how to load it in a van, by myself. It was like a puzzle, only the pieces were somewhere between 50 to 200 pounds.

As happy as I was to drive away from IKEA, it was only then I realized I had the joy of putting this all together and let me just say I am amazed at the crazy engineering it took to design IKEA furniture. So much is going on in just a little box.

The last part of the IKEA madness was the massive amount of cardboard and packing material I was left with. This was added to the already crazy amount we had from the move. It took me three weeks of driving around disposing in public dumpsters. I'm sure the workers were totally confused at how their bins were immediately filled to capacity after they dumped it all.

Thankful the experience is over, thankful we have a place to put clothes, and thankful for the apple strudel in the IKEA cafe (the one reason to return!).

First 3 Weeks of SLO Life

I will do my best to summarize the first three weeks we have had in Slovenia. Travel here went smoothly, jet lag took longer with kids!

We stayed in Ljubljana for 2 weeks with the Patty family and this was a great time of fellowship and introduction into the ministry and life in Slovenia as Americans. The Patty kids even conducted a mock Slovene school to help the girls see what life in a Slovenian class will look like.

In the first couple of weeks we were able to attend two church services in Ljubljana and one in Radovljica. The welcome we received was overwhelming and we have been able to engage in relationships very quickly. We have already been to several bbq's and partaken of a wonderful Slovenian sausage called Cevapcici - seriously amazing and seriously served at EVERY bbq we have been to!

Ashley and I were able to take a drive to an English Camp and this offered breathtaking views of the Julian Alps.

Much of the time in these first few weeks has been spent trying to establish life here. This means learning the processes and systems in place and basically bringing an interpreter everywhere! We have purchased a vehicle after making daily trips to an ATM due to no bank account here :) We now have tax id numbers and will hopefully be able to get a bank account set up in the weeks ahead. This number was needed to purchase cell phones, get vehicle insurance and registration, etc.

Last week we moved to Radovljica and moved into our home! We are camping out here since our container hasn't arrived, but we are so glad to be here! We still have much to do, but little by little things are getting checked off the list. Once the container gets here and we can clear customs then we will turn our attention towards language learning.

That is a very long update, but seems short to us considering all we are doing right now.

Maybe the next blog I will share about shopping experiences, basically we are shopping by pictures and this doesn't always work out for us!

Here are a few photos:

God's Provisions

As we have rejoiced in being fully supported and released to buy plane tickets to Slovenia we have taken some opportunities to reminesce about this last year and the amazing provision of the Lord. I thought I would share some fun stats and blessings of the year!

Over 100% of support needed for ongoing monthly and one-time expenses was provided by the Lord. This is amazing considering the ongoing economic situation in the world.

Over 100 financial partners are invested in our ministry directly, which means they are invested in Slovenia and more specifically Radovljica.

6 church bodies are now involved in what God is doing in Slovenia.

Over 200 people are praying for the country and people of Slovenia, as well as lifting up our family!

In the last year almost 2000 people heard about Slovenia and ongoing gospel opportunities there!

Some fun facts from the year for our family: We were in 14 different states at some point in time, we slept in 40 different beds, some of us traveled over 10,000 road miles and 20,000 air miles.

God provided for us in amazing ways and through amazing people, and it was an amazing year growing deeper in relationship with people we love.

Thank you all for the year and we are thanking God for the way He has miraculously provided. We look forward to watching Him work in the days ahead as we have many details still to be worked out!

A Log Cabin Blessing

We leave for Slovenia on July 6th, and we are filled with excitement as we look forward to what God has there. We are also filled with sadness as we say goodbye to those we love in the states, it has been an incredible year and God allowed us to have many special moments in our time of preparation. The next few blogs will reflect on some of the amazing things God provided and allowed us to experience in this last year.

The cabin above was home since October. Our wonderful friends allowed us to crash there for an extended period of time and God provided so much through this. He provided respite, joy, office space, relaxation space, wonderful accommodations, and so much more. Beyond this we had a shop to store our goods, we had sixteen acres to roam, two ponds to fish, numerous forts to play in and wildlife to see, but most of all he allowed a deeper friendship to be formed with the wonderful family who owns it. They own it on paper, but they will make it very clear to you that God owns it and He gave it to them, and in turn they used it to bless us and maybe many more after us!

We love them dearly, and we are beyond grateful for their amazing sacrifice on our behalf. God has a unique way of providing and this was one of many provisions he allowed to be an affirmation of His call to Slovenia. This log cabin will always hold dear memories for our family and I bet in a crevice somewhere within it will forever hold some of the children's toys!

Reflecting Via a Burger Craving!

After picking up our visas at the Slovenian embassy I headed to a few D.C. museums and then searched for a spot in the city to have a good burger (a craving I get frequently!). I ended up at a sports bar directly next to a Starbucks (the other craving I get). My point is not to talk food, although the burger was good! Rather, the important piece of info was I was able to watch some of the Euro Cup 2012. I was interested in the game, but I suddenly realized the last time I watched the Euro Cup was in 2008, next to Mikaela’s bedside in the hospital as she fought pneumonia. Our family was in the process of praying through the possibility of life and ministry in Slovenia and Ashley was pregnant with the boys. God had much He wanted to teach us and I believe it was in preparation for the call to Slovenia. We thank Him for sustaining grace and I thank Him He helped me remember through my hamburger craving!

Commissioned

As I write I am sitting on an airplane headed back from our nation’s capital with our family’s residence permits (visas)! I am reflecting on the year our family has experienced and it is amazing for me to think we are coming up on one year since I resigned from the police force and upped the intensity on support development. Although we had hoped to be in Slovenia by now, we are 100% sure God’s timing is perfect and we have seen His sustaining and gracious hand on our family this last year.

We have experienced love and sacrifice in so many forms and from so many people. It has been overwhelming and at the same time reassuring of God’s call on our lives. God has deepened relationships, deepened our faith, deepened our understanding and prepared us in unimaginable ways for what He has for us in the years to come.

On May 27th we were commissioned by our home and sending church, Community Bible Church at Sunriver. It has been a wonderful privilege to call this home and we felt truly honored to be sent out from their midst.

Next week we will have the shipping container on its way and we hope to have the green light from Josiah Venture to purchase one-way tickets to Slovenia!

The Joy of Waiting

Since applying for our visas at the Slovenian embassy in D.C. we have been in a waiting game! We have had a few responsibilities along the way, but for the most part we have been able to enjoy time as family, enjoy visiting with family and friends, and plan for the many logistics that lie ahead.

This morning we received word from the embassy that our visas have been issued! We won't be able to get them for several weeks yet, but we know now the ball is rolling on the actual departure to Slovenia, and we praise God for His quick timing.

One of the amazing provisions of God in the last year has been the gracious use of a guest cabin of some close friends of ours. We have been able to enjoy this as our home since October and this stay has allowed us to grow deeper in relationship with them while also allowing us to take advantage of the wonderful property they live on.

On the property are several ponds and in these ponds are a number of elusive bass. I love fishing. I love the splendor and peacefulness of creation, and I love the competition (man vs. fish) that occurs. In the last few weeks I have taken some moments to fish with the sole goal of hooking some of the bass in the pond. As I have worked to trick the fish into taking the bait, I was reminded that patience is a key to fishing. Many people despise fishing because of how boring it can be, but I love the reward of waiting.

We live in such a fast-paced society in which there is a high demand for immediate gratification. However, in this attitude we often miss what we could be learning in patience. God has impressed upon us the beauty there can be in waiting as we grow in further dependence on Him. God's timing is perfect, but it doesn't always make sense to us. Never-the-less, we can trust that He has ordered it in a way which will allow Him to receive the most glory and in this we can be the most joyous!

I have no idea why fish take the bait sometimes and at other times turn their head away. However, I do know if I fail in patience then I will surely miss out on the biggest fish story ever. I wouldn't want to miss the big one and we surely don't want to miss the lessons God is teaching us - so we remain fixed upon His timing and will patiently wait for the last details to fall into place.

Visa Trip to D.C.

Our intent for this blog is to share family moments and culture as we learn it in Slovenia. It has been forever long since we last posted, but we are committed to sharing all we can to any who are willing to follow here on the blog and also on Facebook! Since our last post we have been developing support and watching God form a team for His glory to take the gospel to the unreached people of Slovenia. We are excited to share what God does there in years to come!

As part of the final process of getting to Slovenia we traveled to Washington D.C. for an appointment at the Slovenian embassy. The boys did not need to come, but the girls were there. After the time at the embassy (which went great!) we were able to see some sights.

We hope to have the visas in hand by June, pray to this end!

Embassy Experience

Where lots of arguments occur!

We didn't get a dinner invite!