week 27 totally on time too!!

Greetings from Slovakia!!

The main reason this update is on time is because tomorrow I leave in the morning for Timothy School, the first official MPK action at the Svarin Ranch. I am so excited! Also it is a really neat event, a sort of intensive discipleship weekend retreat for about 50 new believers and teens interested in going deeper. I will be running video projection and photographing the event. Please keep us in your prayers this weekend. Pray especially for Stevo who is planning the weekend, he is getting a lot of last minute questions/problems this could be a rough weekend for him because, like the rest of us, he is not familiar with the ranch. Another exciting thing (for me) is that one of the speakers is Jean Jaques Wieler former president of YFC and a key part of starting YFC in Slovakia. One of my year-long projects is telling the really cool story of how that all happened and I will get the chance to interview him this weekend! Next week Roman will come back from vacation and we will start working on a 20 minute Promo video for CampFest.

I am in a really good mood today, I think it has to do with the caffeine, Pepsi Light and black tea. I had a really good week too though and I was not caffeinated the entire time. :)

My time in Kosice this weekend was really great. I enjoy spending time with the O'Connells. We got some pretty good pictures for a family with 2 little boys and a photographer who does not specialize in portraits. Also, I finally succeeded in buying new jeans (size 36!! ouch) and I bought a truck (matchbox :)).
Saturday evening, I peeled a million potatoes for the party Sunday. And helped get things decorated and set up for the party. Sunday was the big day. Teo’s Christening was in church and the party was for that and Klara and Ivetka’s Birthdays. It also coincidentally was the 6 month anniversary of my arrival in Slovakia.
Monday I woke up with the most gigantic pain in my shoulder and neck, it has gotten better this week, but I couldn’t turn my head on Monday. I worked some more on the Music video in the morning and in the afternoon I got an unexpected project, nametags for Timothy School. This project involved using Roman’s computer because I don’t have Corel Draw on mine and that’s the format the files I needed were sent in :). So working in an unfamiliar software that spoke Slovak took the rest of the day! Except for a grea Slovak Lesson. Anka told me I got an A* for the day! :) thanks for praying please don’t stop!
Tuesday I sent off the nametags for approval and sat down with the music video, I have 2 sequences blocked out and I think it will turn out ok in spite of itself. It’s coming along, and I am proud of it so far. I also got the final cut of the music for the CampFest hymn video and did some tweaking to match the video to the audio. I love this stuff!!
This morning the MPK staff went to Calvary hill, a neat hill overlooking the city (I’ll put up pictures on Flickr either tonight or Sunday evening) to pray for the city, and our immpact here. This morning I edited more music video and found out that the music I got yesterday is “not quite final” :) this afternoon brought a trip to the printer, and a reintroduction to our old friend the papercutter. Lucky for me Timothy School only needed about 60 nametags and not 4,000 like CampFest! I gathered what I’ll need to take for the weekend from the office end of things (after a million calls to try and find out what I wa responsible to bring, the projector is coming from Liptovsky Hradok, but the cables are coming from Presov :))This evening I’ll be running around like crazy trying to pack and get things cleaned up and squared away for the weekend!


This Week Please Pray:
~For Timothy School, that it will go smoothly and the young people will learn to hear from God
~For my Slovak learning...i still don’t like to study, but its getting better:)
~That I will make an impact here in Slovakia.

Thank you for praying!

CampFest 2006 - the final rundown

• CampFest 2006 participants included about 30 people on the organization team, 160 volunteers, 38 people on the prayer team, 50 people on the counseling team, 51 people on the technical team, about 300 performers and about 3500 participants-of these participants about 500 came from Czech republic which was a really nice surprise for us. We are encouraged by mail from many Czechs who express their desire to have something similar in their country

• During the weekend for volunteers the main themes of CampFest were presented- Dangerously attractive, Reality and New DNA and a challenge was given for volunteers to enter God’s army, they then recieved a dg tag with the logo of CampFest- many of them made serious decisions to go deeper in their life with God

• Preparations for CampFest were not easy, although we felt miraculous protection and prayer warriors behind us (thanks to all who prayed!!!)- we had various attacks, for example:

~ while building the main stage before CF a rope got loose and the entire construction with the light system fell down...thank God nobody was hurt and also damages were not as large as we expected...but finishing of stage continued nonstop till CampFest
~ a sickness spread among volunteers and the organization team. Every day there were more and more people sick with a virus, stomach problems and fevers. Because many were sick, Volunteers served long time and were really exhausted
~ during night some thieves stole their stuff from tents- to about 20 people were affected and claims were about 2000-2700 dollars

• Before CampFest we got a message from our friends from Northern Ireland a word about feeding hungry people for God...that we should give thanks for everything before we get it as Jesus also did- this word was really fulfilled during CampFest. The hunger of people for God was big and the work of counsellors was very intensive, from the beginning till the end of CampFest...God taught us to expect His miracles and grace and when we thanked Him, His promises were fulfilled

• The CampFest program ran from Thursday night till Sunday morning in three tents at once. Beyond this, participants could visit the Business centre, Cafe, counselling tent and prayer room 24/3 where they could calm down and spend time alone with God nonstop during all CampFest. Beyond these tents people talked outside, enjoyed nature and sunshine and peaceful time of the festival...

• Beyond great music, concerts, performences and talks at stages deep discussions were also lead and decisions were made in the counselling tent. From the evening challenges about 600 people responded, another 100 came during day programs to talk, from this 26 people made the first step to follow Jesus together with counsellers. About 1000 people received the invitation to join God’s army and got a sign similar to the one volunteers received during the weekend.

• Counsellors gave advice to people in difficult situations and prayed for freedom from ocultism, satanism, healing from violation, from addictions to smoking and drugs, for forgiveness of parents and self-acceptance...and many others. Thanks God for everything He was doing there, healing and for every open heart.

• The last night which continued till early morning was a strong experience of God’s presence for many of us...on stage worship and prayers were lead, all preachers, worshipleaders, dancers, singers, and organizers were united and praised God for everything He did, and what He prepares for Slovakia and young generation.

• We hope that everyone who came to CampFest with calling to God didn’t leave without experiencing His presence. We believe that God is forming a strong army of His fighters in our country who are ready to fight in their towns and villages for people around them

Here are some testimonies of people about what they experienced at CampFest:

„CampFest- it is something special. Special because in the centre of everything is God. Not music, not a man, not popularity but my relationship with God. This leads and inspires everyone and then ministry follows. Because without this just a memory would stay in my mind, memory of loud singing and tones, melodies...I believe that many people were touched here. Maybe just these weren’t who didn’t want to be and stayed closed in front of truth which opens just God and His word to every human-being. My wish for you is that the energy to organize such actions would stay with you and that many people could join the praises of our Lord.“

„At CampFest many people were born again, who came there just as ordinary and Sunday Christians!!! Almost everybody leave CampFest encouraged, happy to live with Jesus and to serve Him, to spread His word.
If I should speak for myself: when I came back home, I started to listen just to Christian music, I bought my first worship CD, I started to read and study Bible every day, I started to see the world more positively, I learnt to be thankful for everything that our great Dad gives me every day, I learnt to be happy because of friendship, health, details and everything that is just and just His grace.“

„Hi CampFest team. I would like to tell you that CampFest was really perfect. I was there for the first time and I know already now that I want to come also next year. It was for me a great blessed three days full of God’s presence.“

„Hi organization team, I am writing to you because I would like to thank you very much for your work and the effort you had to invest to prepare something like this. It was really great and through this festival God really touched me. It was something that I have never experienced before and it was just amazing...“


Yes, it was really just amazing. wanna come with me next year?

false friends

I REALLY should know better than to try and say an English word with Slovak accent and hope that it translates. But sometimes i get desperate to comunicate and hope that it will be a cognate....today they were not and i might have appeared desperate for something else.

"Bez preservatives" does not translate to "Without Preservatives".

"Preservative" in slovak is "Condom"

week 26. halfway to 52!

The overview!
So, basically, you all rock my world. This week has gone smoothly (and I’m in wonderfully good spirits) in spite of a number of things that I could dwell on and get down over. I chalk that all up to having you praying for me. This week I have started really working on learning Paul’s “Secret of being Content” (Philippians 4:5-13) it’s my next step in learning to be rooted in Him.

the Preview!
Next week will be a lot of last minute Timothy School preparation. Please pray for this. We will be in Svarin!! (MPK’s new property for retreats events and CampFest) This is super-exciting. “A Hip-Hip-Hooray Time” as Pastor Cope would say! However, It is also the first event in a new place. And it is an important event focused on training and discipling new believers. All the legal paperwork stuff will be completed on October 5th for Svarin. There is some concern that we do not have anyone there to oversee the property, please pray for God’s guidance and protection over His new property.

The Play by Play!
Monday was one of those edgy days they warned us about in training. The kind where everything annoys the life out of you. The big flashpoint: personal space. It is smaller here, for some people it is almost nonexistent! It didn’t help that I have been a bit of a nomad recently since my table got relocated to run hot water pipes to the 3rd floor. Things improved in the afternoon with a good Slovak Lesson. To those of you praying for my Slovak, THANK YOU!

Tuesday I added “spajkovacka” (soldering pen) to my list of “really useful words.” Vlado helped me reattach the micro-switch that had broken off the inside of my palm pilot. Sadly, I can fear I must remove palm pilot from my list of “really useful gadgets” since it still will not turn on. :( I think it is time to say final goodbyes. I also printed shot lists for the music video and started picking what pieces will go where.

Do you ever have days where everything feels like it takes ten times as long as you expected? Wednesday was a day on which everything took about a hundred times longer than I expected. I spent most of the day trying to render a rough copy of the CampFest Hymn video so they can re-record/mix the song. I am not sure why that took all day, but it did. And while they do it much less often than a PC, macs do occasionally crash. And their timins is spectacular. I love when my computer says, at 98% of a 2 hour render, “what? You wanted me to finish that? I think not.” I love technology.

This morning I had another Stasi Vs. Public Transportation moment when I realized half-way here that I forgot to put my power cord for my laptop in my bag this morning. I got off the bus in the City center, waited 10 minutes, got back on the bus going the other way, got home, got the cord, waited a half hour for the bus and got back to the office an hour later and only missed half of morning prayer time. I did not freak out and because of that, I think I won this round!
It has been a remarkably good morning all things considered. We put my table back where it should be and cleaned up a weeks worth of construction dirt in the office. (Yay for no more “Nomad Stasi”!!) Currently, I’m updating youall and converting/burning video of CampFest performances for some artists. This afternoon, I have a Slovak Lesson (yay for being back to twice a week on schedule) and maybe I’ll finally get to work some on the music video.
Tonight I’ll be baking cookies for Sunday. We are celebrating Teodore’s christening, Klara & Ivetka’s birthdays, and my 6 month anniversary in Slovakia!
I have to bake tonight because Friday evening I’m going to Kosice to visit the O’Connells. Saturday, Andrea and I are going to attempt to buy pants, and I’m going to re-take their prayer card picture. it should be a good weekend. I love weekends

Please Pray:
~for my Slovak Learning (studying - I just don’t like doing it)
~for Timothy School (preparations, safety, and the Holy Spirits presence.)
~for the Svarin ranch
~MPK. There are some interpersonal issues going on here. I only understand parts because of language barrier, but I can see Satan trying to mess stuff up
~That my second 6 months will be focused on serving here and not spent counting down till April.

I do not have words for how grateful I am for your prayers and support while I’m here. I fully recognize that without you, I would not be where I am.
THANK YOU! DAKUJEM VELMI PEKNE!!

dedicated to Abi

"The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at
Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a
wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer
be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a
pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh?"

found this in Richie's myspace via Stephen's RSS blog. whaoh. the internet is a crazy place

A (really random) thought and a lot of parenthesis

I had this thought the other day while walking to work. (The 725 bus ends 3 stops earlier than usual for some reason. I walk about 15 minutes through the city center.) As I was walking past the tattoo place, I entertained the idea of getting something "slovak" tattoed on me (like the crest or some phrase or something). You know, cause I'm here and it's a cool place. But then I thought better of it.(How do you spell tatoo? I tried like 4 different spellings and erased 3 different typos)

The internal dialogue went something like this:

If I get a Slovak tattoo, I would have to get a tattoo in every country I visit (in interest of not playing favorites). Two logistical problems arise from this.

The first problem is how to decide what length of stay would constitute a "tattoo-worthy" country. Thinking that out just got complicated. Would a tatto of something Czech be in order because of my weekend in Prague? What about my 10-hour layover in Austria? Would I have to go back and get Chile and Greece tatoos? Should I start with a USA one? And not directly related: would it have to be done in that country? Much complications. (painfully poor grammar)

The second issue is that after a few trips, my body might start to look like one of those hard sided suitcases with all the stickers. I would become a walking (traveling) conversation piece.

Although the "suitcase look" was originally classified as a problem after thinking about it awhile, I decided that it might actually be a plus for the plan. it would give the random body art a unifying theme for starters. And, I ADORE those old suitcases. They are just plain out cool. If I looked like them, maybe I would be cool. I would never have to worry about small-talk with people ever again. (I am really bad at small talk) Folks would come up to me and ask questions and I could just tell stories. (I love stories!)

It was one of my most amusing walks to work in almost 6 months of being here. :)

I finally decided against it finally, based on two factors. The first being fear of what my grandchildren would think of gramma's wrinkly colored skin. The second thing (and deciding factor): Pain. I am a wuss, and I hear that tatooes hurt! Especially the colored ones.

The final decision came down to the question: What good could possibly come of being seventy years old and looking like a wrinkly black and white suitcase?

(Also, if i was covered in them, i'd have to learn how to spell tato? tattoo? tatto? tatoo? And then I'd have to figure out how to pluralize it tatoos? tattoes? tatti?)

I know a secret!!!

You Never Know What Life Will Throw at You
Todd Rhodes
http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com

Do you ever get real contemplative as you start your week? I mean, if you think about it, you don’t know what will happen this week, good or bad. And sometimes what happens in our lives is completely unexpected.

A couple cases in point. I had a friend who attended a county fair on Friday. One moment he is enjoying a meal with his family, the next moment, he takes a drink out of a can of pop to find out about a second later that there was a bee that had flown into it. He was stung inside his throat about half way down his neck. He never saw that coming.

Another acquaintance of mine was expecting twins with his new wife. Then, all of a sudden over the weekend, her water broke, and they now have two beautiful, (but extremely pre-mature) boys, born at just 24 weeks into pregnancy. Both weigh under 2 pounds.

Yesterday, we sang the song “Blessed Be the Name of the Lord” about how no matter what happens that we will give praise to the Lord. You ever find that hard? I know I do, especially when the hard times come. And yet when things are good, it’s so easy to forget about the blessings and where they come from. I pray today that I won’t do that.

The apostle Paul apparently struggled with this aspect of life as well. As a matter of fact he says that he found the ‘secret’ to contentment. (That must mean that most people aren’t able to find it, or that you really have to look hard for the lesson here):

“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” (Phil 4:12) Paul either had it really good or really bad. Had plenty of food or none. Living in plenty, or in a rat-infested prison. Our lives usually aren’t that radical in either direction. But there is hope when we discover Paul’s ‘secret’ of contentment. There is complete satisfaction in resting in where God has you.

Are you content in your ministry today? Have you unlocked Paul’s secret of being satisfied? Take some time to consider your situation today… and be content. And learn, as Paul did, to be satisfied in whatever situation God puts you in, either right now, or five minutes from now. I’ll pray the same strength for myself.

~~~~~~

I’m not preaching as much as sharing....today I did not feel like doing any work....I was stressed, distracted unmotivated and unproductive, anything but content.....this article in my inbox was a good reminder that we can do all things through Him who gives us strength....that’s the secret, that’s what I tend to forget. That I don’t have to do this on my own

Also, I have decided to try and memorize a passage of scripture in Slovak. Any suggestions? I’m thinking the 23rd Psalm or Something fromm Philippians.....but I’m up for suggestions.

Hope you’re having a good day. Remember, we know the secret. :)

Week 25: the update

Greetings from Slovakia!
I have gotten back into the regular boring routine of things
Last Friday, after work I went with Rina to get my hair cut. I had been a bit apprehensive (OK, downright scared) about getting it cut to this point, not speaking the same language and all that, but Rina helped me, and 6 or 7 inches later, I am very happy!! I’m getting lots of compliments and people don’t recognize me from behind.
Saturday I went shopping for jeans. I was successful in figuring out my size...it’s a blow to your ego to go up over 20 pant sizes :) I was not successful in finding a pair of pants that fit. Oh well. Maybe I’ll try again some evening this week.
Sunday I tried something different in church. I did the morning service without a translator, I just wanted to see how much I could follow after 5 and a half months. The answer to my question was more words than I expected, but not enough to tell you anything about the sermon except that it was from Philemon.
I spent Monday working on the CampFest Hymn video, picking the best from each night to combine the three performances into one video. I’m currently in a waiting pattern for the music to be remixed before I do final sound video sync.
Tuesday morning, I started working on the Strateny V Tme music video. Specifically on taking a series of photos of the graffiti being created and merging them into one clip. This was very time consuming, but it was actually a lot of fun. Zuzka and I spent most of the afternoon trying to make the downstairs look like it is not a construction zone, cleaning tables, relocating stacks of things, rearanging furniture.
Wednesday was a debrief meeting from CampFest. Ad’a translated for me, and I actually understood a fair deal on my own. I find that I either understand the specifics or the big idea. Rarely both. My comprehension is still a little on the slow side. The focus of the meeting was mostly to figure out what should be done differently next year, and most of it had very little to do with me. It was a long day.
Thursday was more editing the graffiti clip, a great Slovak Lesson, and being reminded that no matter how much we clean up downstairs, we still work in a construction zone. I sat at an empty desk across the room because Erik was standing on my desk pounding holes in the ceiling with a hammer. Ander was also moving and banging things part of the day.
Friday was a day off for some sort of Catholic holiday. I hung out around the house played outside, and helped with some painting. The other achievement was learning the word rieditlo, “paint thinner.” I am adding it to my list of “really useful everyday words” along with “wire,” “glove,” 2 words for “shovel,” and “duck”.

There is not much going on in the office. We are still easing into the idea that summer is over and getting ready for Timothy School.

Please keep praying.

:)

why it is a good thing my micah is not a zooologist (doesn't that sound like a sort of cult, you know like the sort of thing you announce at family dinner to scandalize your grandmother and your friends stage an intervention about? i always thought it might be fun to have my friends stage an intervention cause i think i'd get feisty if someone was intervening me. i'm always up for an excuse to get feisty!! wow that was a long tangent!)
in the conversation about the flying squirrel (which will live in ben's closet): "Dude's nocturnal, she doesn't need air."
i am reminded why i'm a fan.


(also, if you type in campfest video on google, i'm the first result!!)

Sing Along!!

Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them o'er your shoulder
Like a Continental Soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

Do your ears hang high?
Do they reach up to the sky?
Do they wrinkle when they're wet?
Do they straighten when they're dry?
Can you wave them at your neighbor
With an element of flavor? (minimumm of labor? jury's still out)
Do your ears hang high?

Do your ears hang wide?
Do they flap from side to side?
Do they wave in the breeze
From the slightest little sneeze?
Can you soar above the nation
With a feeling of elevation?
Do your ears hang wide?

Do your ears fall off
When you give a great big cough?
Do they lie there on the ground
Or bounce up at every sound? (jump up and dance around?)
Can you stick them in your pocket
Just like Davy Crocket?
Do your ears fall off?

Yes my ears hang low!
And they wobble to and fro!
I can tie them in a knot!
I can tie them in a bow!
I Can throw them o'er my shoulder
Like a Continental Soldier!
Yes my ears hang low!

i just had a camp song singalong long distance with Ami. we are crazy. it was prompted by not being able to remember what happened after my ears jumped up and danced around. Ami had never heard that verse.
Googling "ears hang low" revealed not only the full lyrics (including the "ears hang wide" verse that neither of us knew), but ALSO that someone had filmed himself singing that and other cammpsongs and they were available on google video.
fun times were had by all.
i miss my crazy family!

(yes, that is my ear the picture was originally taken at Ami's request and totally unrelated to this blog. comment and tell me your best guess as to the original purpose of the picture!)

(Ami, dont spoil it!!)

HAIR!!!

well the hair crisis in Slovakia has a happy ending:)
Before


After

i love it.
The stylist liked my “natural” color (aka combination of roots and the leftovers of 2 home dye jobs) so we left it at that. I may go back and change the color later....but for now it is enough change that You can see the back of my neck
The lady who cut it kept saying “super” which was a nice change from my gramma who cut it all through High school, she always used to say “oops”....
I am going to get some gel or something, but it is fairly wash and wear thanks to the fact that "unruly" is "in" and that annoying flippy thing in the back looks like I spent time doing it!! the stylist and rina kept sayng that my hair must have been curly....i told them it jsut has attitude problems!

this is the last i'll talk about my hair on here....
except to say that it only cost about $4.75!

CampFest Video

The Infamous CampFest Video!
CampFest Video!
CampFest Video!
how many times can we say it?

Translation: To je pokolenie tých, ktorí sa pýtajú po ňom, generácia hľadajúcich Tvoju tvár, ....... Žalm 24: 6 Such are the people that love the LORD, that seek the face of the God of Jacob. Obnovenie - Renewal Zjednotenie - Uniting Prebudenie - Revival Vízia je Ježiš – The Vision is Jesus Smädní po Tebe – Thirsty for You Je to život v inej dimenzii – It’s life in another dimension Kto smie vystúpiť na vrch Hospodinov? Kto môže stáť na Jeho svätom mieste?.....Žalm 24:3 Who may go up the mountain of the LORD? Who can stand in his holy place? Ľud, ktorý si vytvorím, bude rozprávať moju chválu.....Izaiáš 43:21 The people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise. Vízia je armáda mladých ľudí – Vision is an army of young people Generácia ktorá sa modlí – generation that prays Vízia je svätosť – vision is holiness Priezrační - trancperency Čistí – Pure Na tvári pred Tebou – On my face in front of You Každá dolina nech sa zdvihne a každý vrch a kopec zníži; čo je kopcovité, nech je rovinou a čo hrboľaté, nížinou....Izaiáš 40:4 Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley A zjaví sa sláva Hospodinova...Izaiáš 40:5 Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed ...Pozdvihnite sa, vráta večnosti, a vojde Kráľ slávy. – Open up, ancient doors,and let the King of glory enter. A ktože je to ten Kráľ slávy? Hospodin Zástupov, on je Kráľom slávy. Žalm 24:9,10 Who is this king of glory? The LORD of hosts is the king of glory Ak je niekto v Kristovi, je novým stvorením; staré pominulo, všetko je nové. .....2 Korinťanom 5.17. whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new has come Iná DNA, Realita, nebezpečne príťažliví – New DNA, Reality,Dangerously attractive. ON Zvíťazí – HE will win

Weeks 23 &24 - two for the price of one!

Greetings and thanks for praying!!

A short one for these 2 weeks.

To sum up:
I’m back at the office, kids here are back in school, it’s too chilly for flipflops, and I think it’s official, my Slovak Summer is over :(. I have transitioned back into a more normal schedule the past week. The past few weeks, I have been coming to terms with the fact that I now have two places I call “home.” It’s hard because sometimes I wish I was back in the US but I know that to do that, I would have to leave Slovakia. The best solution I have come up with is airlifting Slovakia and relocating it somewhere off the coast of Virginia. :)

Here in Presov everyone else is transitioning too. Most are just getting out of the summer mindset, but a lot of people are moving on to new adventures Simon went back to Switzerland, Viktor moved to England for a year, Zuzka got married and moved to Poprad, Miazga is leaving MPK to work elsewhere, and Rina will be attending a Youth ministry training program in France for a year. These are all people I was building relationships with. I’m excited that they are all headed off on their own adventures, but I’m sad that they won’t be such a part of my adventure anymore.

The end of this month is Timothy School. It’s a weekend for new believers, a sort of discipleship jumpstart. Very excitingly, it will be the first even at the ranch in Svarin! There are some obstacles in the way, it looks like we may only be able to buy half of the ranch and will have to rent the other half. Also there are a lot of things to get Timothy School up and running. We are praying here that the right people will come, and that everything will go smoothly with the new location.

The play by play:
The week traveling was a great way to end the summer. It was a very relaxing trip with a good balance of down time, and seeing cool stuff. Rado, Roman, and I left Monday afternoon on a train for Zilina where we met up with Mirka, Lenka, and Dominika. (I think you will really enjoy the pictures just click through the set
We stayed in Mirka’s flat and spent the time in Zilina meandering, and helping in the YFC Café there. Kompas Café is a really neat place. Much bigger than Café Most here in Presov will be. (pictures coming soon to a flickr near you).
We left Zilina Thursday afternoon for a 4 our train ride to Bratislava (Capital City of Slovakia) we got in in the evening, dropped our bags off where we were staying and headed back out to see Bratislava at night. The lights. The Danube. The architecture. The castle lit up on the hill. It was beautiful. I saw a lot of things that I hadn’t seen when I was in Bratislava a few months ago. Saturday we went to the open house at Slovak television. I thought it was wonderful fun and very neat to see all the studios and equipment. Roman thought so too and I think everyone else was just humoring us most of the time :) the rest of the time there we hung out visited the presidential gardens and walked around. There was a coronation reenactment that weekend so there were all sorts of booths and street actors. We couldn’t go to see the actual coronations but watched them on a big screen in the square.

on to the second week....
Monday I slept in and was back in the office by lunch, and I’ve been at the regular time the rest of the week. It was very nice to sleep in but also to have some normalcy/structure back in my life after CampFest Craziness and two weeks of vacation. This week (and probably part of next week) I am working on video from the opening of the evening program at CampFest. There were dancers, music, video, and I’m combining video from three evenings into one video for the CF ’06 DVD. It is a challenge, but I am having fun working on it.I’m spending my evenings cleaning and sorting and basicly reclaiming my room from the clutter :)
All in all not a very interesting week to write about, but tomorrow I have an appointment to get my hair cut and possibly dyed.


Please continue to pray:
~For preparations for Timothy School at the end of September
~For staff changes in the office
~For Zuzka, Viktor, Miazga and Rina in their new places.
~For my Slovak Learning (Must. Study. More!)

#4

i'm leaning toward #4


very possibly with this coloring but more chestnut than black.


my appointment is at 16:00 (10AM EST) Friday. weigh in before then :)

hair

more specifically, thngs i am threatening to DO to my hair.

Cast your votes people....

#1 - this color this cut?


#2 - the bangs here might be a bit blunt...and i really am serious about going very dark...so imagine it darker...and maybe with bangs like below or above.


#3 - darker, platinum is just not me cause roots and maintaining them are SO not me...but the cut might be my personal favorite


#4 - again with the darker, but i am actually considering this, it's not just here for shock value


#5 - maybe in pink....or blue....or pink and blue....




ok this one really is here for shock value :) (MATTHEW!! do not vote for this one!!)

Crisis

there is a crisis in my little part of Slovakia

i am REALLY bored with my hair
this is dangerous.
I am contemplating things like:
~cutting off 12 inches.
~ getting bangs.
~ dying it a dark red/brown.
~ making it pink on purpose this time.
or maybe some combination of all of the above.

I'm actually considering every single one of the above ideas. this is not me using hyperbole for comedic effect i promise.

Save me from myself with reasonable suggestions

PLEASE!!!!

PROSIM!!!

I'm BEGGING!!!!!

*pittiful face*

coming soon to a blog near you

did you know that if you type "campfest video" into Google i'm #3?
The infamous CampFest video in all it's glory will appear here sometime in the next week.
in the meantime scrolll down and see if you can catch YFC Slovakia's vision

Vizia

Video created for Youth for Christ Slovakia. A Slovak translation of Pete Greig's Poem "the vision" This was my first Slovak project back April. Here is the English translation, just in case you dont speak Slovak fluently yet either :). THE VISION [ Pete Greig, 24-7prayer.com] So this guy comes up to me and says, "What's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this... The vision? The vision is JESUS - obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus. The vision is an army of young people. You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism. They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the West was won. They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free, yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying. What is the vision? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure. Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose that they might one day win the great "Well done" of faithful sons and daughters. Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!" And this is the sound of the underground The whisper of history in the making Foundations shaking Revolutionaries dreaming once again Mystery is scheming in whispers Conspiracy is breathing... This is the sound of the underground And the army is discipl(in)ed. Young people who beat their bodies into submission. Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them? And the generation prays like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Waiting. Watching: 24 - 7 - 365. Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mold them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries. They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive inside. On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate, but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair. With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days, they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them. Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.) Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres. Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdos! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden. And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great "Amen!" from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner. Guaranteed.