thinking in Slovak

I speak English differently when I am thinking about Slovakia or to a Slovak person. When i was over there last year I worried that I might permanently loose my already precarious grasp of the proper usage of articles, proper verb conjugations and prepositions. (Mrs. Pringle would be so disappointed in me)
I was writing a short e-mail note to the YFC/MPK folks in Slovakia just to wish them all a merry christmas. i found myself typing things like "...wish very much that we can come..." and "we are having trouble to raise" and "please tell everyone in MPK office"

In other (kind of a downer) news: In spite of the fact that, over the past 5 days, we have celebrated Christmas in all the places we might ever consider home: our apartment, my grandmothers house, my parents house, Micah's parents house, I am feeling homesick for the place that i have never lived. I honestly thought we'd celebrate our first Christmas in the Low Tatra mountains at the YFC Ranch this year. I have to remind myself that sharing our first christmas with all our relatives is a huge blessing and that God's timing is never wrong.

Marriage Changes Your Perspective

Micah has started cutting Blondie cartoons out of the Sunday paper and attaching them to the fridge. He says that Blondie used to be his least favorite comic but, since we got married, it is quickly becoming his favorite. I dont know what to think about this. I might have liked it better when his sense of humor had less to do with married life and more to do with cars. Unless his old favorite comic had more to do with marriage than i realized....

The Year in Song

Can you spot My and Micah's lines?

(To the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel)

True confessions, Resignation, Lots of prayer and restoration
Bathroom renovations, Camping on the beach

Accountability, Gratitude and humility
Family reunions, Gobs-no gluten, Lots of tea with peach

Chicken dance, Songs to sing, Manifests and tracking
Resumes, Interviews, Business meetings in canoes

Tie your shoes, Comb your hair; Do you have the dog in there?
Getting Alex out the door, I can’t take it any more…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Blogspot, iPod, Control freak, Trusting God,
5K, Rainy day, Run around the block.

Movies at the Guthrie, Dinosaurs at Carnegie,
Full-time, Over-time, Work around the clock.

Mother of the Bride dress, Could I have any more stress?
Wedding days, Pirate games, Jose, Jose, Jose.

Labor and delivery, Grandma Brenda, GB.
Whimsical Tuesdays, What else do I have to say?

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Slovakia, Airports, Wedding plans, New York
Wedding jars, I do, Mrs. Micah Henry

Malibu honeymoon, Grove City - two rooms
Drive across the country, Quarter of a century

Student teaching, College grad, Move back in with Mom and Dad
Big Apple, All of us on a New York City Bus

Grandma’s pearls, La Maze class, Phipps bride, Chihuly Glass
Claire Marie the Fabulous, Now Jimmy’s one of us.

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

Greg Holland, boyfriend, Yes they’re dating once again
PennDOT, Internship, Construction worker tan.

Car wreck, Bridesmaid twice, Canada was pretty nice
Junior year, Fancy House, Geneva Marching Band.

Twenty years looks like fourteen; he said so in Counseling
Drove the roller, and the paver, Her first College B.

Sister-of-the-Year award, Roadwork makes her really bored
First-time aunt, wait I can’t, make this rhyme with anything…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
Didn’t plan to do it,
But God saw us through it.

PanoryFest, Big success, Harry Potter, DS
Swimming lessons, Tennis camp, Down the water slides

Uncle Alex, Frog rock, Shower days, Alarm clock
Camp Invention, No detention, Brother of the brides

Black Belt, Tae Kwon Do, keeping Mom on the go
Mahaffey Camp, Wildwood, Principal’s Office

Sixth Grade, Journaling, Suicide, Counseling
Paper route, We’ll find out, if ’08 can top this…

We didn’t see this coming…
Yes, it caught us nappin’
Now it’s got us rappin’
We didn’t see this coming…
But when we are gone
God will still go on and on and on and on…

Things....

Things I like
~Vacation on the beach with fireworks each night.
~Street Luge with two old men and a broken car.
~Driving my "Cute Lil Thang" Roxy down the Highway.


Things I do not like
~Having my car stolen.
~Caravanning with truckers.
~Doing the dishes for a beach house full of people.
~Waking up from all these weird dreams.

*edit* yes, all of these were the contents (that i remember) of a night worth of really weird dreams.

PS does anyone know if Giraffes have an aversion to standing on level surfaces? or did my brain make that up last night.

If You're Happy and you know it.....

Go Around Twice!!

It's time to start getting into the Spirit!! And being in the Christmas spirit doesn't have to do with red and green or lights or ornaments or spending $150 on the perfect little black dress, or getting 25 gifts for under $50. It's certainly not about going broke (but if you are, be sure and flash your lights)
The Christmas spirit is all about Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men"
I'll share pictures of my christmas decorations and thoughts about Peace and Glory to God in later posts, but for today, have some good will. Good will toward men is all about attitude, it's letting someone ahead of you a crowded store, not yelling at your kids about glitter all over the living room carpet, and sometimes, it might be going around twice just to let the Happy out. So here's my little attempt at good will in case i don't see you in person today. Because making someone smile goes a long way toward Good will.
So i hope you aceept my good will for what it's worth and then go out and share some of your own with someone else...if you do that, you might come a long way closer to Peace on Earth and Glory to God than you might think.

new car...yet to be named

it's snowing. the "feels like" temperature is currently 25. i belive it. the low tonight is supposed to be 29 degrees. it is cold. tomorrow's high is 36.
this seems like the perfect time to blog about our new car. it is a convertable :)
a new car might seem like a frivolous thing for two newlyweds leaving the country.
a convertable might seem like a rediculous thing to have in WPA in the late fall.
but Micah's car.....well it currently resides in Mercer Auto Wreckers Land. The rear bumper was hangin on by sheer will and a few zip ties (and maybe some bubblegum). and the muffler (well, technically the entire exhaust system) stopped hanging on a while ago. He had to take a route home from work that didnt go through any towns. Darn cops and their enforcing the state laws and all. So, the car needed replaced before Micah went to jail.
Also, we bought the car salvaged in September and we (micah & my dad) worked on it in my parents driveway for weeks. and when we got it all spiffied up (new headlights grill, muffler, tires, and scrubbed all up) we took it to get inspected. I got a call asking if there ws a trick to staring the car. the starter failed. So Micah and I drove to Connoquenessing, push started the darn car and took it back to my parents. and then we left for a month.
when we came back, Micah fixed the starter in the living room. with a Soldering pen. in the LIVING ROOM. The "fixed" starter ran long enough for the darn thing to pass inspection. Abi & Claire spent a day driving me around to get all the paperwork and stuff done. Then the next day, when Micah and i came to take the car home, the starter failed. We push started it agian, (Micah's really good at this) and drive it home to Grove City.
Micah put a new starter in and new speakers and a fuel filter. there is also talk of a new thermostat. I set the clock.and anyway we now have a convertable in Western PA in November. I never even got to drive it with the top down. i did dream that i did the other night though (seriously) I like it. we may lookinto shipping it to Slovakia.

Bold FLY!!

well, it took almost a month but i finally got a picture of that darn bold fly.
i swear i will update again soon....keep your eyes open for the cross country road trip, our new convertable, and Abi's wedding.

bold fly

in my appartmment, we have no hot water. we also have a very bold fly. it woke me up this morning buzing in one ear and then the other. it lands on my hands while i type and it will not leave mmy hot chocolate alone. once the plumber comes to fix the water heater, i am going to wal-mart and buying one of those hanging fly sticky thingys that I hate. because i hate this fly immmesurably more. ("bold fly" sounds like a great name for a band) (a really annoying band)

--

Most people would wait to scrub their kitchen floor until the hot water heater was fixed huh? especially if "scrub kitchen floor" wasn't even on the 29 item to do list for the day. I am not most people. the kitchen floor was grossing me out. I am not mmost people, i am distractable, procrastinating, compulsive people. it is hereditary.

CAMPFEST 2007!!

In spite of my prayers and VERY strong desire, i wasn't at Campfest this year. But it went on without me. So here's the rundown on the "Event of the Year."

More than 4500 young people from Slovakia, Czech republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA, Poland and Romania visited the festival. They created a "tent city" where they lived for the weekend.There were 160 total volunteers, and there was a group of volunteers from Holland who came helped us a lot with manual work and publicity. A miracle for us was the group of Americans from Italy who came with willingness to do some of the less pleasant work. The rest of the volunteers were Slovaks who worked very hard before, during and after the festival. There was also about 80 spiritual counselors, a thirty member team dedicated to prayer in addition to the technical and organization teams.

The program was very rich and each person could choose something according to the style they liked - All styles of music bands, pantomimes, dramas, talks, seminars, childrens programs, movies with christian themes, soccer, beach volleyball, a jump house for the kids, and an inflatable water football game. There were bands from Great Brittan, Poland, and Germany in addition to bands form Slovakia. All that helped to create good time for the visitors of CampFest 2007.

What was happening behind the stage was not always visible to the participants...but it was no less important. The Lord was at work, He touched hearts and changed lives. We got some feedback from counselors who had discussions in special tent that was set aside just for that purpose. Altogether there were about 550 discussions and from those about 50 the people decided to accept Jesus into their lives. About 150 discussions were about going deeper in relationship with God and confessing their sins. About 100 people searched for help with problems in relationships- family, friends.

Wedding Photos

a few at least and then a link to more





here's the link to the set.
I'm in CO again for MTI training, it's going well.
we've been married 3 months, we arent dead yet.
my to do list is long, the promised blog subjects are coming.

Can you see it?

Well, here's the photo of my new hair. I'm the one on the left. Alex, my baby brother is the one on the right. When I was his age, my hair was that blonde.

My mom always said that Alex looks like me when I was his age. We have the same face, the same stubborn cowlick, and the same goofy smile. Looking at pictures of me when I was little I could see it. But it turns out now that he's grown up and especially with my new haircut and glasses Alex looks like me...now.

Looking like other family members is nothing new for me. Ami and I once got the same haircut in different states. Another time I dyed my hair the same color as my mom's. And for two years our glasses were really similar before I got these new ones. I consider my mom and sisters when i change my appearance, I just never thought to consider my 11 year old brother.

I like my new haircut even if it does make me look a lot like my 11 year old brother.

Things that need (to be) said....Who knew?

It was my Senior year of College!! before anyone said anything about the absence of "to be" in my grammar: "Can someone cover for me tomorrow, my paper needs written", "This tape needs labeled", "The schedule needs filled in-do it now!"

It seems to me like the kind of thing that your English teacher, or your parents would tell you before you left the state to pursue higher education. But then again, it also seems to me that you parents wouldn't let you make it out of Kindergarten before telling you that the sleeves on a shirt are not called "arm-sleeves"! (pant legs, arm-sleeves it made sense to me)

What follows is my edited (read: stolen and chopped up) version of what yinz would find over on Wikkipedia

need, like, or want + past participle

Examples:
“The car needs washed”; “Babies like cuddled”; “The cat wants petted.”

The Right Way:
“Babies like cuddling” or “Babies like to be cuddled”; “”The car needs washing” or “The car needs to be washed”; and “The cat wants petting” or “The cat wants to be petted.”

Useless Facts:
Need + past participle is the most common construction, followed by want, and then like. The forms are "implicationally related" to one another. Put another way, the existence of the least common construction implies the necessary existence of the two more common constructions, but the existence of the most common construction does not necessarily entail existence of the two less common constructions.

Origins:
like and need + past participle are Scots-Irish, want + past participle could be from Scots-Irish or German, but it seems likely that this construction is Scots-Irish.
The distributions of all three constructions are implicationally related, the area where they are predominantly found is most heavily influenced by Scots-Irish.

(Murray, Frazer and Simon 1996; Tenny 1998; McElhinny 1999; Murray and Simon 1999; Montgomery 2001; Johnstone, Bhasin and Wittkofski 2002; Murray and Simon 2002; Wisnosky 2003; Johnstone and Baumgardt 2004; Johnstone, Andrus and Danielson 2006; Crozier 1984).

Look at me gettin' all fancy with sources n'at.

breakfast & blogs

Usually, I go back to bed after micah leaves in the morning. This mornign i stayed up and ate a bowl of Corn Pops. I bought 3 boxes of cereal on Sunday. Buy 2 get 1 Free! There are now three times more boxes of cereal in the appartment than there are people living here. I do not know what I was thinking. I blame genetics. Visit Miss Brenda's blog and ask her how many boxes of cereal she had last week before the Great Cereal Purge of '07.

While I was eating my cereal, I redesigned the template on Miss Brenda's Blog. She compared me to her plumber. I am pretty sure that was not flattery. I expect the flattery will begin once she sees my handiwork.

Coming Soon...to a Blog Near You!

(the title needs read out loud in your most dramatic voice)

I have a whole list of stuff to blog about.
in the upcoming days you can look forward to reading about:

- strange things in the doctors office
- my new hair=my brother's old hair (with pictures!)
- our new car
- a link to wedding photos (better late than never, eh?)
- Henry-Slovakia Update
- to be homesick, you have to have to define home
- Campfest 2007!!
- driving across the country
- proper omission of "to be" (i.e. "this entry needs lots of quotes and parentheses")

not guarentteed to appear in this order.

how do you spell garinteed?

geranteed?

garentead?

gaurantteed?

garentteid?

garunteid?

gahrunteed?

geruntead?

geruntteed?

I believe there's a "U" somewhere.....and a few double letters....i dont know why i'm convinced that double T's seem right....it's a lot more fun to play with it than to look it up.

Maybe learning to read with phonics will turn out to be a problem after all. But making those letter snakes out of my dad's old tie was so much fun in kindergarten. (Miss Brenda, do we have any pictures of my snake??)

gettin' all science-y here

Has anyone else noticed that the ammount of perishables in your grocery bag and your need to get to the bathroom directly corrolates to the ease with which your key fits into the lock and also the ease with which it turns? it also seems to be related to how far the kitchen table juts out into your path, but that may be incidental

Nick the Amazing

loook!! Nick the Amazing strikes again!! he fixed the T in my header!!!
Hi Nick, i didnt even know you were reading :)
I made an apointment today to get my hair cut on monday. I'm going back to the short style i had last september.
in spite of having internet, i am rather dull.
We spoke to a missions comittee on Tuesday and Micah's COusin;s church is going to support us to go to Slovakia!!
YAY

Ta DAAA

I have quit playing with my template. I wish the T was capitalized in "this" but I rasterized my font in Photoshop. that means it would be a pain in the neck to fix it. It also means that I am too lazy to fix it.

Micah has 3 days off this weekend!! Initially he told me that he had to work Saturday and Sunday. He likes getting a rise out of me...not that it's a difficult thing to do. Tonight Micah took me out to dinner instead of bringing me flowers since he stopped at the dentist on the way home.We had pizza. Not at the place downstairs, we went to the really fancy restaurant....Pizza Hut!! Then we went to the library and got a library card to check out a few Andy Griffith DVD's. Then we went on a romantic walk to the gas station to buy a newspaper. I love Friday date nights :)

glasses & the internet

I have given up on having good hair. I am settling for having clean hair...and really good looking new glasses :)
Just so you know, my face isn't really purple. I have no clue what is wrong with my white balance


Also, you may be wondering, why all the posting? most of the answer is that it beats doing the dishes.
The real answer is that last week after having little or no internet in the appartment, I went over to the barber shop across the street and asked if he would give us the password to his wireless internet in exchange for a small fee. After convincing him that I was "the nerd" in my marriage and he didn't need to discuss this with my husband, and after assuring him that neither of us would hack into his business account, he gave me the password.
And, since I braved the barber shop, Micah put away the groceries. Somehow the egg noodles ended up in the refrigerator. But we have internet and I didnt have to carry the groceries up the steps, so I'm not complaining.

Creative air conditioning

Micah has had a problem this summer, the air conditioning unit is in the bedroom and the couch is in the living room.

How Micah has been keeping cool.

ouchys

I fell in a creek yesterday. my arm is scraped and sore and my knee is brusied. my shoes have dried, but my jeans are still covered in mud.
I got really nice new glasses, but I don't have good hair at the same time that I have a desire to photograph myself. Micah's started working 6 10-hour days, so he's not here to take my picture either. and agian, i never remember when i have good hair.
I'm thinking of cutting my hair like i did last year around this time, all off.
Yes, it is all about me

Obviously, i have a rather loose interpretation of "A Slovakia Update in the next few days". but anyway, here is one....kind of....
i'm going to try and do better about posting here. maybe tomorrow i'll tell you all about why and how we buy our internet from a barber.

I know I’ve been out of communication for a while, but I have a good excuse (I think so anyway) and he’s sitting on the couch right next to me while I type this letter. I spent the last few months in wedding planning mode. Micah and I got married at the end of June and after our honeymoon in California, and getting settled into our new apartment in Grove City, PA, I am getting settled back into missionary mode and you are getting the update that I owe you as well as a brief introduction to Micah.
I figured that rather than me trying to describe him, I’d let Micah share his vision and calling in his own words

“For the last few years God has impressed on my heart that He has a plan to use the talents and skills that He has given me for His glory. I feel like God has called me to work and use my hands to share His love by meeting the needs of his people. I mostly shrugged this off, however, as something that would never come to fruition. The vision that God had placed in my heart was not one of great evangelistic work, and so I never thought that I would pursue full-time mission work.

But praise God, He had other plans. As you know, Stasi recently spent a year in Slovakia. It was during this time that God began broadening my limited view of how he calls and uses people in His service. I could no longer avoid pursuing God’s call just because it would not fit into a classical view of full-time missions. I began praying that God would show me how He wanted to use me, and that if God wanted Stasi and me to be married, that He would show us a place where we both could serve Him.

Neither of us thought that this would end up being in Slovakia. But after seeing the need at the ranch, the role that it will play in realizing Youth for Christ’s vision for change and revival in Slovakia, and how God could use us both there as part of His master plan, we both know that this is where God wants us to be.

I don’t think that I can fully relate to you just how unqualified I feel to be the caretaker/manager at YFC’s ranch/camp. But I do know that our God is able to do above and beyond all that we can think or imagine possible. And since God goes before us, I know that we have nothing to worry about.”

At the end of September Micah will be doing in the cross cultural training that I did before I left for Slovakia last year and I will be joining him so that we can learn and process together. After that training, the only thing we need before we can leave for Slovakia is to complete our fundraising.

Because we will be ministering in a different area and capacity than I was in last year, and because there are two of us now, our budget has gone up from what I had to raise for last year. In addition to the up front costs we need to raise, we need to receive $3,200 in monthly pledges. YFC’s policy is that we must have all our support pledged before we can set a departure date, but it is our goal to be in Slovakia before the end of October.

We believe that God will raise up a team of people who will join with us in our ministry through prayer and financial support, and we hope that you will continue be a part of that team. If you gave to my ministry last year would you please pray about continuing your support and possibly increasing your pledge? If you never took that chance last year would you pray and ask God where you fit in our new ministry? But most importantly would you please keep us in your prayers, as we raise support and prepare to go?

Keep your eyes open for our next update, we’ll share more details about our ministry in Slovakia then.

Still Living an adventure,
Micah & Stasi Henry


P.S. Because Micah and I combined accounts, we are starting from zero. If you plan to continue giving on a prior pledge, YFC needs to receive a new donor slip. Please fill out and send in the slip at the bottom of this letter.

some random thoughts

Micah told me on our honeymoon that he liked my pedigree. I think he meant my pedicure. not that my pedigree is anything to sneeze at.

Blueberry rice was only a good idea if i had added more rice. and if Micah liked blueberries. it was a great purple color though!

Changing your name is a royal pain in the butt!

We got Married!!

I am Mrs. Henry now.

sorry bout the lack of updates, the wedding ate my last two months. also sorry about the lack of pictures. to try and fix that, here's a link to Nick the Amazing's photos from the weekend. he does not call himself "The Amazing". that's just in my little world. if you have pictures, i'd love to see them!

the wedding was ammmazing. i had a great day! Aside from one or two transportation snafus (I forgot to obsess over that small detail! thanks for bailing us out Heidi :)) everything was perfect! I am convinced that if you didnt have fun, it was your own fault!

look for a Slovakia Update in the next few days.

UPDATE!!!!

I'm sorry that I have been so negligent in keeping you all in the loop since I got home.

The summary is pretty basic though, I've been practicing using doorknobs, remembering how to flush toilets, spending time with Micah and my family, adjusting to being back in the states and trying my best not to compare everything to “how we do in in Slovakia”. Micah and I will be getting married on June 30th at Mars Alliance Church.

I have also been working on preparing some videos and PowerPoint presentations to share my time with you all and getting ready to go back to Slovakia.

Micah has been officially accepted with Youth for Christ. He has spent a week in Denver for Candidate Orientation and is getting ready to head to Indiana for 10 days of training with YFC during the first half June (5th –14th).

Micah and I spoke last Sunday at the Garman Church of God and we’re planning to share that a few more times. If you’d like to meet with us and hear about what God did in Slovakia the past year and what He has in store for us in the days ahead, just send an e-mail or give me a call.

The news from Slovakia is good. The café is open in Presov and four Christian bands have already recorded their album in our studio. Timothy is also going to record their live album in the end of May. They’re preparing 24/7 prayers May 19 – 26 with cooperation with six local churches there in Presov.

At the Ranch they’re dealing with building and hygiene permissions, water supply and permission from the electricians. June 1-3 will be the Mobilization conference at the Ranch. It’ll be a time of prayers and fasting for youth in Slovakia. The main aim of the conference is to mobilize people to pray for the ministry among youth in Slovakia. For those who believe that we can become more involved in God’s plan with young generation through prayers.
Everything at the ranch and national office is building up to CampFest on August 9th. We expect about 6000 people to come.

Please pray for Micah as he prepares and travels to this training and for us as we plan the final details of the wedding and fundraise. Even though I’m home, please continue to pray with me for the ministry of YFC in Slovakia.

a month

i've been home a month.
i have horribly neglected this blog.
i'll do better i promise.

today is my name day in Slovakia.
i'll be accepting candy and flowers all day long.

I'm baaaack!

i am home in mars, using our wireless internet on my bedroom floor!
the flights home were mostly unremarkable besides a problem with my luggage at the start and some turbulance getting into boston.
the dog and my brother have gotten huge, i got to be AlMeade's "rester" (person who lays with him till he falls asleep) tonight. he asked me. it is good to be home.
i still remember how to use a doorknob. I am shocked by how much ice restaurants put into a glass of soda. we went to eatnpark for grilled stickes. Micah and i got a little lost on the way.
oh life is good. i am going to bed. i think i've slept like 4 of the last 25 hours and those were a nap on a plane. . . .

T minus 33 hours

update on my room: you might not have thought this possible, but it looks worse. :)
i have a box of soup packed and ready to mail to myself, and all of my socks and like items packed. in a suitcase!
i had dinner with the o'Connells, gave Andrea some books and my miniature rose bush. and opened my last bottle of ale-8 let the caffeene fueled packing begin.
my problem with packing is not actually getting things into suitcases. i am a master at getting lots of stuff into the suitcases. a handy skill when packing to drive home from college. the difference is that darned airplanes have weight limits. everything into a suitcase, no problem, everything weighing less than 75 pounds. well, i cant change the weight of things :(
i continue to maintain that by personally weighing in under 125 pounds, i should get an extra baggage allowance. i should be allowed more baggage weight than someone who weighs 200 pounds for example.

back to packing...

I cleaned out my desk drawer and discovered that i have 15 pads of post-it notes in various colors and shapes one pad of postit's is not pictured as i only discovered it just now AND that does not count the pad of purple notes that i just gave away this weekend. i also have two notepads shaped like the letter S, two half used packs of index cards and two list sized pads of paper(one of which is not pictured).

i also have nothing packed and i fly in under 48 hours. i am excited about the flying part and not about the packing part... so instead of doing something about the fact that this is what my room looks like from the doorway, i am posting pictures on the internet and blogging about it :) you cant see the stacks of books on the floor or the messy shelf of jewlery lotions and makeup, but i promise both of those are there too.

funny language story: i have trouble differentiating between the words for mustard and fever. this isn't usually a problem since i learned about context clues in elementary school. But i was slightly confused when i thought Vlado was asking me if i had travel mustard. context clues got me in trouble this time as he was using this question to switch the topic of conversation conversation from the hot dogs we were eating and if we had such good hot dogs in america, onto the topic of my trip home. He really wanted to know if i had travel FEVER :) once we sorted that out, the conversation went much smoother.

March 2007 Newsletter

Keep your eyes on your mailbox....

What’s Been Up?

Kosice WorshipFestival
February 10th was a WorshipFestival in Kosice. It was amazing to see over 2000 people worshiping God and we believe that it will bring a change to that city. During the festival, representatives of different Churches came on the stage to pray for and bless each other. The mayor of Kosice, who also attended the event, supported the WorshipFestival. He gave a short speech and after that the representatives from the churches prayed for him as well. It was a very powerful moment and very important for the city. We are very grateful to the Lord for the unity, friendship and trust among the denominations there in Kosice.
In addition to great music and a blessed prayer time, we also had a great response to the main speaker, one hundred and eighty people responded to his challenge to find their identity in Christ and to separate themselves from this world and twenty people prayed for the first time to start a relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Most Centrum” - The Bridge Center
The past months have seen a lot of progress in the work on the Center here in Presov. After a year of working in a construction zone and trusting God for His timing and provision, all of the major work is complete with just a few final touches left.
The studio in the basement is complete and Vlado is already starting to work with the queue of bands that have reserved time there.
The attic is two thirds complete. Only the conference room lacks carpet and furniture. Marian, our national director, moved into his new office upstairs earlier this week.
The Café is almost ready to open. The walls are painted, the chair rail is up, and all the furniture is just waiting for people to come. Rado is ordering and receiving the things needed to run a café. Roman is finishing the menu design and Ludka is completing the artwork for the walls. The only major thing left is a final inspection and certification to have a café here.
If you have internet access, you can go on a photo tour of the building at my flickr site in the set “Most Centrum: Before and After”

YFC Ranch at Kralova Lehota (formerly Svarin Ranch)
The first time I was at the ranch I felt that it was a place where God’s Spirit wanted to work. We have a vision to see this place used to touch the lives of young people and their families. We believe that God has provided the ranch for this purpose and as a home to CampFest. I believe that Satan also knows this about the Ranch and he has been throwing up roadblocks left and right.
The big thing is to secure permission to have CampFest at the ranch. The ranch is partly on protected land and so getting permission to host a tent city for a weekend requires special permission. We trust that CampFest is one of the reasons God provided us with this land.
In order to have CampFest at the Ranch we need to update the septic system and build shower and restroom facilities to accommodate about 5,000 people. Getting the building permits and finding both the manpower and funding to complete this task before August has been a concern. Plans are in place for a couple mission teams to come and help with the work.
Another obstacle we have faced is that because it’s out in the middle of nowhere the ranch is an easy target for thieves. We have lost some valuable property and recently just over $1,000. Again in this we trust God’s faithfulness to prevail.
God has provided so far and we trust Him to do so again.


What’s Coming Up! (This is the really exciting part.)

Leaving & Coming Home
It seems like the longer I’m here, the more I add to my list of things to do in Slovakia. Some of it is just things I want to do, like visit Spis castle and Poland and Austria while I am so close, plus I have two or three video projects on my “wish I had time” list. Some of the things are more urgent like packing and wrapping up the loose ends of projects that I have already started.
But regardless of what gets done from my ever-growing list, in two weeks, I’ll be back in the states. I booked the flight, I have the ticket and I will fly out of Kosice the morning of the 28th. I will make my way through Prague, Dublin and Boston and finally come into Pittsburgh (either 11 or 17 hours later depending on your definition of time), at around 8PM.

Redefining “Home”
Coming back to the states is a mixed bag emotionally. Presov and Slovakia have become “home” so I am in the odd position of leaving home in order to come home.
One thing that is making leaving much easier is that Micah and I believe that God has called us to come to Slovakia as a couple after we are married. We have been invited to live and work at the YFC Ranch in Kralova Lehota. Micah will take care of technical and maintenance work on the ranch as well as the renovations and improvements that are planned. I will continue to work with video and photography, from the ranch instead of the main office here in Presov.
This makes the next 4 months after I return to Pennsylvania very busy ones. Micah is in the process of joining YFC World Outreach staff and is planning to attend Candidate Orientation at the end of April and MTI cross-cultural training at the end of May. We are planning our wedding for June 30th and hope to be at the Ranch in time for CampFest 2007 at the beginning of August.
The need here is immediate and we can’t think of a better way to start our life together than on this great adventure that God has laid out in front of us. Would you please pray for us as we go through this busy time and also start to think and pray about continuing to support us as I finish up my year of adventure here in Slovakia and Micah and I start our ministry together.


Thank you
As my time in Slovakia comes to an end for now, I know that I have never been alone this year. I have been held up daily by your prayers. Every one of you who supported me through your giving and prayers has been a part of the work that God is doing in Slovakia through Youth For Christ. As sad as I am to leave, I can’t wait to come back to the states and show you a more complete picture of the difference that you have made this year.

Love from Slovakia,
Stasi.

Barnyard Imagery...

In the last few days before I leave (I only have EIGHT!!!!!) my typically ambitious to-do lists have taken on epic proportions. Some things are necessary; find out about the airline restrictions in each of the 4 airports and countries I’m flying through, do two loads of laundry, start and finish packing, figure out what to store here and where, deal with my bank account and cell phone, clean my room and bathroom, finish Katka’s DVD, find thank-you gifts for people here.
Some are just things I want to do or thought that I would be able to do; visit the O’Connells one more time, bake a last batch of cookies, start on my taxes, finish the layouts for my wedding invites, get my hair trimmed so i look good when i get home, clean out my hard disk and archive everything before I take my laptop on a plane

“Like a chicken with it’s head cut off.”
During some quiet time this morning, I had that thought. It came in direct contrast to the picture of us as sheep that shows up in the bible so often. I cant speak for anyone else, but my inclination (especially recently) leans more toward the headless chicken than the sheep. (You have heard that expression right? I used it this morning, and then had to explain it to a room full of Slovak speakers. I will miss constantly clarifying my language.)

Some contrasts I thought of:
~The chicken can’t see of hear where it’s going, it’s head is somewhere else.
~The sheep is following the shepherd and it hears his voice.
~The chicken is running around but it keeps running into walls and making a mess everywhere in it’s futile efforts.
~The sheep may not know where they are headed but they don’t have to as long as they follow the shepherd they will end up exactly where the has planned to take them.
~The chicken is going to die. You can’t just run around without a head forever
~The sheep has someone looking out after it.

In the words of the VBS song: I just wanna be a sheep baaa baa baa baaa.


*edit* i keep editing this entry to add things to my to do list :)

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payback

i played with Klara tonight while her parents went to their bible study. Paly paid me with a pudding cup. I am not complaining. it came with whipped cream right in it. plus it was chocolate. also it was a big pudding cup, 200 grams. just to give you an idea, the chicken leg i haad for lunch today was 150g :)
everyone should get the occasional paycheck made entirely of chocolate pudding. just because i said so.

T minus 2 weeks

Dear friends and prayer warriors,

There is so much to update you on.

This past week Roman and I finished editing on the 26 minute video from CampFest 2006 that will be on the DVD along with photos, promotional shorts for CF07 and the messages from the main tent. It took longer than we hoped because of some technical glitches, but it is finished and we are very proud of it. I‚ll bring back a copy and you can see it if you‚d like. Unfortunately, as of now, it hasn‚t been translated and subtitled yet so it‚s all in Slovak. Hopefully that will happen in the next 2 weeks so I can bring home an English version.

My next project is shooting some interviews for a video that will be shown at the CB Family Conference on conflict and emotional healing. Since I am not fluent enough to to edit a piece made up mainly of interviews (understatement alert!) Roman will put all the pieces together, probably after I leave.

This will be my last free weekend here in Slovakia. And I plann to bake cookies for the office onelast time and try to get a good start on packing. I am pretty overwhelmed with that thoutht.

Next weekend will be a WorshipFestival in Vsetin in the Czech republic. I planed my departure date so that I could be here for this last festival. It will be a roughly 6 hour trip across the country for the festival on Sunday. I‚m short on details, but your prayers will most certainly be appreciated.

We have been having weekly work days here at the center to try and put all the finishing touches on the work here. The Studio is done and looks great. It is already in use! The attic is two thirds done with just the conference room lacking carpet and furniture. Marian has already moved into his new office. The café is finished except for light fixtures and cushions on the chairs. We still need to be inspected and certified to run a café here. Yesterday we worked outside some to clean up the mess that was left from all the construction. We have a new fence and the place looks good.
For a photo tour please check out the „Most Centrum: before and after‰ album on my flickr site. Just click here(or copy to the address bar on your browser: http://www.flickr.com/gp/63912494@N00/85hgVx

On Monday I had a free day and met up with a youth group of Baptists from Texas who are here teaching english and building relationships. Monday was their sightseeing day and was able to do some of that with them. We climbed the bell tower in the Catholic church for great view of the city. I have wanted to do that since I got here, but never had the time and opportunity to do it at the same time before now.

It was a nice break from all that is flying around in my head now. There is so much I still want/need to do here before coming home. It seems like the longer I‚m here, the more I add to my list of things to do in Slovakia Some of it is just things I want to do, like visit Spis castle and Poland and Austria while I am so close, plus I have three or four video projects on my „wish I had time‰ list. Some of the things are more urgent like packing and wrapping up the loose ends of projects that I have already started.

But regardless of what gets done from my ever growing list, in just under two weeks, I‚ll be back in the states. Coming back to the states is a mixed bag emotionally. Presov has become „home‰ so I am in the odd place of leaving home in order to go home. A year ago I was nervous that I would never remember everyone‚s names, and now I am a part of a community here. I have built friendships.

For those of you who have been praying for God‚s guidance for Micah and Me as we decide what comes next, I have some exciting news. We have been invited to come back to Slovakia to work at the YFC Ranch in Kralova Lehota (central Slovakia) and are currently in the process of getting everything together for that. Our plan is that Micah will attend YFC‚s Candidate orientation at the end of April, and the MTI training at the end of May. We will get married of June 30th. And then head to Slovakia together as soon as we have the funding in place. So between that and planning a wedding my time at home will be pretty busy.

At the same time I‚m sending this out I am also typing up my last Letter from Slovakia with more info on the big picture here and what is visible of the road ahead. If for some reason you receive this update but not my mailings, please let me know so that I can add you to that list and you can get the whole picture of what‚s going on.

I finally updated flickr with my pictures

dyed my hair

it's been awhile since i updated. it's been even longer time since i updated you on my hair. it's red now.

just a random thought

do you know what Kevin Bacon looks like?
i don't think he's really all that attractive. (though i may be wrong, sometimes i don't agree with others about what is attractive)
i wonder why anyone would WANT to be 6 degrees away from him? why not pick a more attractive star. or maybe the idea isn't that you're close but see how far you actually can stay from him?

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oh. my. goodness.

hairology

bless God, we know it's right because that's the way we fundamentalists do it!

if we're ever going to have a revival in america, we have to come back to these tremendous truths.

(this is just a joke...have a good week)

family

"Occasionally, one realizes that a primary objective of family is to be embarrassing." ~Elise at indie etiquette
and furthermore, to quote Hayley Wojdowski "there are no lifeguards in the gene pool"


disclaimer: My family (and the additional family i'll be gaining in June) has been nothing but wonderful in all the craziness of me leaving the country and then planning a wedding and then thinking about leaving the country again. i love them deeply, but occasionally one finds a quote that must be preserved because of it's truth, regardless of it's timeliness. this is one of those times.
(also they DID talk about having a 50/50 raffle and wheelbarrows at the wedding)

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do YOU live near a ColdStone?

I sure don't. It's a little sad. But i'm a generous person and so, when i find a Buy one Get one Coupon for good ice cream, i'm the sore of girl who shares.
You can thank me later. Just click the link, print the coupon, and let me know what kind you get. I like living vicariously!!

46! WEEKS!! (aka, the long overdue official update)

Dear Friends and Prayer warriors.

I am sorry that it has been over a month since my last “weekly update.” I’ll try and catch you all up and keep you better updated in the next weeks. I appreciate your prayers very much and everyone else here does too.

Things are still moving along slow but steady with the work on the center. Last week we had two work days and another is planned for this week sometime, we are painting and cleaning and doing all the little things that go much faster when you have a group attacking them. The attic is almost finished, it just needs carpet put down and the wood paneling sealed. The café furniture is all finished (except for cushions I think), and they are putting some sort of plaster texture on the walls and painting downstairs today. The studio lacks paint, carpet, some finishing of the windows (they are specially angled and sealed for soundproofing), and all the equipment moved in. Please keep the center in prayer as we secure funding for finishing, safety as we work, and that lives would be changed though the work that will happen here.

This past weekend was the Save the Light conference in the Brethren Church here in Presov. Save the Light is an annual prayer conference for eastern Slovakia. I was helping out there doing camera work, and whatever else I could on the technical side of things. It was nice to spend the weekend with a camera in my hands. Some people said that this year was probably the best Save the Light so far.

This week, Roman and I were supposed to start editing the CampFest 2006 footage for the DVD. We finally got the interview tapes from the company that did video, well most of them. It turned out that we were missing the one of Marian, the national director. :( Roman is making calls and e-mails to see if we can track that down. Please pray that the tape will be found and sent so that this can be started and finished.

This coming weekend will be another big event. We are having a Worship Festival in Kosice, the second largest city in Slovakia. We hope for many people to come and for God to be glorified. Please pray for us as the details get tweaked this week, and for safety and blessing at the Festival itself. Riso and Samo are the MPK staff in Kosice who are doing most of the detail work to get everything set up and I’m sure they would appreciate your specific prayers.

Please also continue to pray for the new ranch. Technically we still don’t have all the papers and approvals that we will need to have CampFest 2007 there. Plus, there is a LOT of work to get done especially with the hygiene facilities that need to be in place to host a few thousand campers for a weekend. We believe that God has provided this ranch to MPK to touch the lives of young people and families and so that CampFest can be held there, and we are trusting in Him to take care of the details.

I only have 50 days left in Slovakia. I’m not sure whether to say I’m leaving home or going home. Home as it turns out is a complicated concept these days. I am sure though that I am looking forward to seeing all of you and sharing stories and pictures and thanking you in person for your prayers.
I have my ticket and on March 28th I’ll fly back to Pittsburgh from Kosice via Prague, Dublin and Boston. Five airports in less than 20 hours! Micah and I are making plans and praying to know God’s will more clearly we would really appreciate your prayers on that front.

Thank you for your Prayers
:)Stasi!

PICTURES!!!

there shall be news coming soon i promise. I am aware that i have not done a real update in over a month....i apologise. please be patient with me.
However, to tide you over, I have just updated my pictures on Flickr. The link is in the sidebar. These pictures include the worship festival weekend in Presov, my Trip almost on a whim to Budapest, Christmas, somme new years, some Svarin Ranch, and some of the latest progess in the Center.

18 things to do before you get married

When I called home yesterday Alex presented me with a list of 18 things i needed to do before i got married. (It turns out the list came off the back of a cereal box and really had nothing to do with weddings.) I should just tell you i love to make lists. and as opposed to all my other checklists, I am in surprisingly good shape :)

1. Ride the Worlds Biggest Roller coaster.
~ Until 2005 the world's biggest roller coaster was in Japan. Now, the record holder is in New Jersey. slightly more doable, but taking into account the cost of admission to Six Flags, price of gas for a cross-state trip, the amount of time it would take, the fact that Micah gets sick on rides that go around, and the fact that eventually, someone will build a bigger rollercoaster, i decided to see if i could negotiate on this one. It turns out that Lakemont has the world's OLDEST rollercoaster. let's face it, no one will ever build an older roller coaster. it defies logic. lakemont is closer to home and the cost is about 82% less than six flags and includes a water park. so there is a trip planned to lakemont this summer.

2. Bungee jump
~ I hate the feeling of free fall. I almost squeezed all the blood out of my friend Matt's hand when we went on the Tower of Terror in Disney world. i love rides that spin, swing or flip, but the drop ones, no thank you! but since it's on the list... Alex says that one of those extreme swing rides at amusement parks would count. a trip to Kenneywood is planned for this summer. I cant believe i plan on doing this (dont tell Alex, i also plan on chickening out :) )

3. Score the winning goal.
~I have done this. Playing Asbury College Soccer. I believe it was against Kentucky Christian. I would recognize the field. I scored. we won. Check.

4. Win an award.
~I got a ribbon for reading at Forst Hills Elementary School. We have pictures of this, bad hair and all. I also got a certificate for "most patient counselor" at Heart Camp and I was on the deans list once too. Checks all around.

5. Learn to play an instrument.
~I play the trombone, and i can plunk out a tune on the piano. Double Check.

6. Go Backstage at a concert.
~I was IN the band ;) (seehow cool that makes me) I have been "backstage" at marching band competitions, Christmas concerts, ajudications, parades, you name it. Check!

7. Meet your Idol.
~ This met with confusion. i'm not sure my Idol is alive. I'm not even sure who my idol is. (Besides the Cliche SundaySchool answer of "Jesus".) Alex's take: "you met Micah. Check" the kid's rooting for me.

8. Be on your favorite TV show.
~I'm not sure it counts as being on the show, or that it was my favorite show, but one of my videos was on TV here two weeks ago and my name was in the credits. it was even spelled right (which is more than i can say about my HS yearbook!) we decided that was impressive enough. Check!

9. Meet someone with your name.
~When i was in Greece for the Olympics, I actually did meet another Anastasia. She went by Sia. Check!

10. Make a discovery.
~Sunday afternoon, i discoverd that my bread was moldy, before i ate it too. Check.

11. Play a successful practical joke.
~ I am certain that in all my years of youth camp, i have done this. one time we Pushed the Asst. Director's car about 100 yards down a trail into the woods. i'm sure there's better, but that's all i can remember on the spot. check.

12. Have a pointless collection.
~If all my t-shirts don't count, i dont know what would. My favorite is a tie between the glow-in-the-dark Einstein and the Primatologist convention shirts. Check.

13. Invent a word and get it into the dictionary.
~ Nauffy. (adj) being like the creamy part of stroganoff in consitancy. EX. It is a really nauffy day outside. Also, I claim the verbation of the word happy. as in "that happys me"
neither are in the dictionary, YET. Half-check, but two of them, so check :)

14. Conquor your biggest fear.
~ See #2. plans are in place.

15. Raise money for charity.
~ I did the math-a-thon for St Judes. this is really funny if you know me. math. me. it's like abi and digital clocks. anyway, Check.

16. Road trip across the country.
~This is in the planning stages for directly after the wedding. I was granted an extension. if someone calls me on it on my way down the aisle, i'm claiming that the family vacation to South Dakota counts. sorta check.

17. Turn 25.
~Alex made this one up. The cereal box said 18. Due to poor scheduling of my birthday, i'll still be 24. what was my mom thinking having me in November! :) since he made it up, Alex says i have till I have my first child to do this one.

18. Pass your drivers test the first time.
~not to brag but, Check!!!

y'all are really brave to have read all this. i think it was probably a lot more entertaining to be part of the conversation. But i was entertained and I figured that some of you might appreciate having more than a 5 month notice on the requirements for marriage.

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ever been to a wedding with a 50/50 raffle?

I dreamed that My Micah and his brother Judah, the best man, decided to do some male bonding. so they dyed their hair. for the wedding.
crayola green!
Micah said to me "green is one of the wedding colors, right? just chill out, dude"
It went down hill from there. trying to dye it back straightens out all the curls AND the green still shows. his solution is shaving his head. totally bald!!
have I ever mentioned here how much i Love Micah's blonde curls? or how much I love the idea of wedding pictures? it was not a happy dream.

we have actually had a conversation about wether or not he will get his haircut in the 6 months before the wedding. he would like to see how long he could get it. I told him he would get a haircut 10-14 days before the wedding. and not just a trim either!

In fact, we have had a number of crazy ideas thus far in the wedding planning process.
For instance, the idea of a unity sandwich instead of candles. (his mom puts peanut butter on a slice of bread, my mom does a slice with marshmallow fluff, and we make a sandwich. and then eat it!)
Micah took the picture of the couple who got married in McDonalds that I sent him as a serious suggestion.
Abi would like to have a coloring contest.
Judah says that the best man's only real job is holding the ring. And if we give his job to a preschooler, he wants to carry a gun to point at the congregation when Pastor Cope says the part about "any objections". (Judah will be carry the ring.)
Aunt Sara suggested putting the flowers in wheelbarrows so that we could move them from the ceremony to the dinner site and then the park more easily.
Micah says he will be in exactly one wedding picture and he wants it posed like the painting "American Gothic" (but with a rifle instead of a pitchfork)
Then there was my dad's idea of having the extra groomsman selling 50/50 raffle tickets at the door.
And no matter what Micah says, I will recognize him when I get home. That will put a wrench in his plan to have his friend Matt stand in for him at the altar. (I expect a few nightmares about this sometime in the next 5 months.)
After pawning me off on Matt, Micah and Chris will run off to party in Vegas with all the money from the 50/50 tickets.

Micah's brother offered to pay the judges fee if we eloped. Sometimes I wonder why we havent taken him up on it. :)

food i miss

biscuits from KFC
hamburgers
barbeque sauce
Primanti Brothers sandwich...bacon and cheese
Chicken salad with french fries and ranch dressing
Mango Salsa
corn bread and chili
Nachos
German Chocolate Cake with teh coconut icing
Heinz Ketchup
taco bell....the mushy buritos....the cinnamon twists....

ok i'm gonna stop now.

a quiet place.

I've been stressed this entire year. it sounds much more dramatic that way rather than saying i've been stressed the past 2 weeks :) actually, i've been on the edge since before the holidays, and i'm starting to get back to normal.

it's not that i dont trust, it's that i forget that i do.

on repeat today, (with Great is Thy Faithfulness, and He's Always been Faithful):

When the enemy invades my peace
And I find that I need rest,
Battle weary I trudge along
And my faith’s put to the test.

I long for a quiet place
Where chaos does not reign,
Someone to bring serenity
And peace to my life.
My God’s in that quiet place
Where my strength can be renewed.
Come to that quiet place
Where He heals me and you.

When my spirit’s dull and dry
And courage needs to be restored,
When the condition of my soul is weak
And I’m longing for so much more

I long for a quiet place
Where chaos does not reign,
Someone to bring serenity
And peace to my life.
My God’s in that quiet place
Where my strength can be renewed.
Come to that quiet place
Where he heals me and you.

~Rev. T. Chris Alderton

dreams

i have been having the weirdest dreams the past week.

first off, and by far the freakiest, i have dreamed that i went blind THREE nights. and two of those times, i had kids. and once it was a special needs kid! this is freaking me out. imagine all the things you can't do if you are blind. Video editing, photography, reading a new knitting pattern, reading a book (i find braille VERY intimidating). you cant make sure your kids arent licking steak knives and sticking them into electrical sockets, you couldnt even change a diaper!!

second weird dream aslo dealing with kids. i set a little girl on fire
to be fair, i didnt willfully set her on fire, i was in charge of watching her and she crawled into the bonfore that was inexplicably in the front of the room. i got to her before she caught real fire and only her hair singed and the ruffled edge of her shirt.

THEN, i had an entire dream in the form of a flashback. it was all about the time that i used to be friends with someone. somehow, even though it was never shown, i knew that in the present time we were enemies. the real kicker was not hte flashback aspect though, it was that the enemy was Marissa, and in my dream she was a gymnast. the leotard the balance beam. really funny.

so yeah, i now dream in dramatic devices....what's your point, Alex's dreams have outtakes like on a DVD.

new year, new week....

"Maybe we need to rethink our time frame.

Maybe, instead of setting resolutions for an entire year, let's choose a resolution or two for this week. Who knows where we'll all be by spring? Let's set a goal or two that we can achieve by Friday -- and maybe, just maybe, we'll build on that achievement next week -- and the week after that."
~Butch Ward

like i said, resolutions scare me. but I like this. because i do want to be a better person. thus begins my new feature....."this week's resolution!!"

hmmmmm maybe i need a better title for this....lol i declare this the beta version! when i leave beta, i'll retitle it.

at any rate, this week, only one cause i'm starting on wednesday

drumroll please

i resolve to stretch every night before bed

Have you made your list of New Year’s resolutions yet? I thought about it and decided not to make a list for 2007, it’s just too intimidating.
Instead, I sat down this morning and wrote out my 2006 resolutions. It was a lot more fun. Plus, I have everything checked off already! And everyone knows that the fun of making lists is checking things off of them.

To Do in 2006:
 Move a LONG way from home and family.
 Fall in love with a city you have never heard of before.
 Realize there is nothing wrong with asking how to flush the toilet. (Do this more than once)
 Make all new friends with wonderful people.
 Learn fun and useless Slovak words: “soldering pen,” “better than having wire in your eye” and “I am a confused blueberry”.
 Find a great Slovak teacher and learn Slovak. (I’d learn more if I studied like I should.)
 Thoroughly embarrass myself with the help of the language barrier multiple times.
 Cry a fair deal.
 Laugh a whole lot more.
 Acquire a passable skill and tolerance for using public transportation.
 Feel glaringly out of place.
 Feel like I fit right in.
 Hike up a few mountains and through a river.
 Travel to Prague, Berlin, Budapest and all over Slovakia
 Visit my first Castle. Don’t stop at just one.
 Experience God’s faithfulness first hand over and over again.
 Get engaged (Micah visited twice and the second time he brought a ring. I said yes)
 Make a number of videos that I am proud of. (They have been shown to literally thousands of people and we just sent one to Slovak National Television!)
 Become a Jane of all trades. (I have done everything from making video clips and nametags, to cutting out admission tickets. From setting up projectors, photographing and cutting video, to wrapping cable.)
 Eat a TON of ice cream!! (2 scoops, 45 cents!)
 Pray a lot (I knew I was prayed for even more.)
 I worked and lived in a construction zone. (I learned and grew so much that I might as well have been a construction zone.)
 Celebrate Easter, The 4th of July, Thanksgiving and my Birthday in a foreign country.
 Get my hair cut in a foreign language.
 Switch to speaking about Presov as “home” and YFC Slovakia as “we”.
 Be a part of something big that God is doing in Slovakia

So, that’s my list AND I still have 3 and a half months left here in Slovakia!

This has been a big year for me. I have had more blessings and stretching opportunities that I could have ever imagined. I hope that your year has been as blessed as mine and that next year will be even more so.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,