Nearing the End.

I can't believe that my time here is ALMOST finished. Four more days, and I will be on a plane and headed back to the
States. I feel so torn...a part of me is here and will remain even though I am excited to return home to friends and family.

The past week has been very rich. I have been able to hang out with a lot of the students from camp one on one over coffee.
Mana and I also planned a camping trip to Bovec, Slovenia. However, due to rain, our plans had to change slightly.
We ended up taking a few students to a mountain top in Vrsic. We stayed in a hiking lodge nestled back the the Julian Alps. It was absolutely beautiful! Mountains like that often times don't seem real to me. I kept waiting for some huge cosmic hand to pull the backdrop away.

We had a great opportunity to bond with students at the lodge. We played a lot of games and enjoyed classic Slovene mountain food. It was SO good! We had fresh mushroom soup (the mushrooms grew on that mountain) and crepes. We also had gulas, sausage, hot tea, and many other warm hearty treats. The next day, we went to a town called Lasko where we enjoyed an indoor water park/spa.

One of the students invited Mana and I to stay the night at her family's farm that night. She wasn't kidding when she said "farm." Her family had cows, ducks, chickens, wild blueberries/blackberries, apples, bees, and even a house pig named "Peppy." Peppy is like their dog...he will even roll on his back if you scratch his belly.

Last night, we had our last girls' night here in Celje. I'm going to miss these people a lot. They have a part of my heart that no one else in the world has.

I'm excited about having Mexican food, Sonic, and Panera again. However, I will miss the nutella, fresh bread, and ledena kava.
You win some, you lose some, I guess. American Friends, I will get to see you soon! :)

A Little Bit of Vienna

Wednesday night, the interns had the opportunity to go to Vienna, Austria. It was absolutely beautiful!
It was chilly and rainy most of the trip, but the cool air was refreshing compared to the hot weather we have been experiencing.
We got to see the Vienna Palace. This building has a balcony where Hitler gave a famous speech. We saw St. Stephens cathedral and St. Charles' cathedral. We also enjoyed Starbucks, which was a nice taste of home. Starbucks always look similar inside no matter where you are in the world.

I got to attend a Monet and Picasso art exhibit at the Albatina as well. This exhibit was SO amazing. I think this made the experience for me. Vienna was the seat of the Austro-Hungarian empire and has been marinating in rich history for hundreds of years. Getting to experience the architecture and culture there was really fun. :)

Bled, Velenje, and Girls' Night!

This week can be summed up in one word...BONDING.
Monday, all of the interns got together at Lake Bled (one of the loveliest places in Slovenia) in order to reconnect and debrief a little. I didn't realize how much I missed them until we were all back together. Although our time was short, our conversation was incredibly refreshing.

The rest of the week was scattered with coffee dates, group cooking adventures in Marko's kitchen, the LAST Harry Potter movie, and Velenje. Mana and I went to Velenje on Wednesday in order to hang out with some girls who went to camp with us. They showed us the Velenje Castle and lake. We also enjoyed some lunch and ice cream with them. Friday, Mana and I put on a girls' night for some of the students as well. After cookies, ice cream, a photo shoot, M.A.S.H.,"She's the Man," and good conversation, I would say we spent our night well.

I have been encouraged by my relationships here. I love so many of the people here in Celje! Many of them feel like family to me, and it's such a blessing to get to actually live life with them instead of just visit.

Things to Remember:
-Sometimes, Slovenes drive tractors to buy groceries.
-Because Slovenia is 7 hours ahead, I got to see Harry Potter before my friends in the States.
-Live, Slovene rock music is really good!

"The works of His hands are faithful and just; ALL His precepts are trustworthy." (Psalm 111:7)

Hot Weather and Turkish Coffee

Here, the weather has been incredibly HOT. Days like these make me feel like a winter-person. Somehow, the heat does not keep people from drinking coffee. I am amazed by the people who STILL sit outside and drink hot coffee even though it's around 90 degrees. Amidst this heat, we had a chance to go to AquaLuna, a waterpark in a tiny town that I can't pronounce. Everyone (the students/Nashville team) enjoyed the water park after a hard day of the Amazing Race.

The race was a success! A lot of students came, and I think they really enjoyed the competition. Perhaps the Americans enjoyed it more, but that's a story for a different time :). One team was originally in 5th place, and then they hitch-hiked and ended up winning the entire race! It was exciting.

The Nashville team left early Wednesday morning. I was very sad to see them go. It was so comforting and encouraging to spend time with people from home. Mana and I moved in with the Lajlars Tuesday night. The Lajlars are a wonderful family who attend the church here in Celje. We have been helping them around the house and just hanging out.

(Yes...I ordered this at McDonalds).

My main focus has been on follow up. I have been trying to hangout with students who went to English camp in order to continue the relationships we began there. I have had a couple coffee dates this week, and Friday night we had a girls' night at Hondo and Trisha Wynn's house in a village about 2 hours from Celje. The girls' night was a lot of fun. We played games, talked, and ate ice cream..what more could we ask for?

Tonight, I am moving into Maja Spindler's home. She is a friend of mine who I met the very first year I came to Slovenia in 2008. I am so excited about getting to spend time with her!

This Week I Learned...
-The McCaffe in Velenje is nicer than some of our Starbucks.
-How to make Turkish Coffee.
-Raw coconut and brown sugar tastes pretty good.

A Link for Your Convenience...

If you want more information on the history and culture of Slovenia, this website is a WONDERFUL resource.

Celje English Camp at the Croatian Seaside

For the last 8 days, we have been putting on an English camp at the Croatian Seaside for Slovene students.

A typical day:
-Breakfast in the morning.
-3 hours of English class.
-Lunch.
-Free Time.
-Evening session.
-Small Groups.
-Late Night Activity.

I had the opportunity to teach a class all week, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had a great time bonding with my students. I think we really connected this year. I feel like I come alive in the classroom! Teaching was one of my favorite parts for sure!

Free time was spent laying on the beach, swimming, and playing volleyball. The weather was beautiful! And the water was crystal clear blue.

The evening session each night was a very significant part of camp. Each night, Johnny or Hondo would speak about Christ and the Bible. This sparked a lot of discussion in the small groups about whether or not God is real and if He loves us. By the end of the week, my class agreed that they had never heard about Christianity in this way, and had developed new ideas about Jesus and what "being a Christian" means. This is SUCH an awesome step forward for them. I think the Lord moved in a big way during camp this summer. I am always thankful to see how God STILL chooses to use us, weak vessels, in order to proclaim the Gospel to students who have never heard it before. There is something SO amazing about feeling completely used for God's glory. It's what we were created for. There was a Spiritual groundedness to this camp that was very powerful. I think many of the students were aware that faith is a journey and not a one night decision, and this changed the feel of camp completely.



On a lighter note, Late Night activities were a blast! We had a Pirate Night that actually took place on a pirate ship. We also had a hip-hop night where everyone danced and ate chicken and waffles. Coffee Night was also vital. We were able to enjoy hot beverages and continue deep conversations from the night before with students.

Also, I got to hang out with my sister all week! Abby came in town with the Nashville team and we got to room together. It was a great time for us to bond and unwind. I am incredibly thankful for her friendship, and saying goodbye was really hard for me.

Tomorrow, we are putting on an Amazing Race similar to the one the interns ran last month. We are using this event to follow up with students and get them connected with the church in Celje. Mana and I had the opportunity to plan this event :). We will see how it goes.

Promo Promo Promo!

The past week has been great! Tuesday, we had a chance to reconnect with the other interns in Ljublijana. After going through endless boxes in the JV warehouse searching for camp supplies, the interns and Johnny and Brooke spent some time debriefing and walking around Ljublijana. Then, Johnny and Brooke took us to a go cart course where we could race each other...I came in last.

Mana, Danny, and I stayed the night in Ljublijana so we could help with camp promotion in a school the next day. Promoting was intense. I thought that we were going to show up at the school and pass out flyers. Actually, we ended up teaching the entire English class. Who knew? Later that day, and Thursday, we spent a lot of time promoting English camp downtown in Celje (the photo of us in cute matching shirts is right before our first real promotion day).

Yesterday, the Celje team woke up early and drove to Ravne, a village in the mountains about an hour away, to promote English camp at a school there. We ended up teaching 5 different classes and got a lot of small group time with the students. They were awesome! The school was so excited that we were there and the students seemed very interested. This was encouraging for us. Every time I hang out with high schoolers like that, I feel like the Lord confirms His calling for me to be a teacher for that age group. I love it.

Early this morning, I went on a hike. It was very intense. I went with the oldest daughter of the family I living with. She is a hardcore athlete, and I could barely keep up. However, the walk was BEAUTIFUL. I posted a photo of the view from the top. We also really enjoyed just getting to hang out together. The rest of the day was filled with still MORE promotion in the City Center and a camp leader meeting with Chinese Food. The Tennessee Team comes in town on Thursday! I can't wait to see them and spend time with my sister :).



Fun Stuff:
- I experienced a new favorite coffee shop in Celje called Kuba Cafe.
- I stumbled upon a COW roast...Yes, an entire skinned cow was on a pole being roasted over a fire in a parking lot.
- Slovene families usually eat salad during meals. There is one big salad bowl in the middle of the table, and everyone eats with their own fork directly from it.

A Short Description of a Short Trip to Hungary.

Today, the interns had a day off. So, Mana, Danny, and I decided to spend it in Vajta, Hungary. Our new Slovene friend, Miha, drove us to Vajta so we could see the Hungarian countryside and villages, and tour the Calvary Chapel Bible college there.

The college is beautiful! Hungary was a lot less wealthy than Slovenia. The condition of the homes and villages makes thier economic condition very obvious. However, the campus of the Bible college is very pleasant, and we got to meet some of Mana's friends there. I posted two pictures...one looks like a field. This is the Hungarian countryside. It looks a lot like Kentucky. The other photo is of Miha, Mana, Danny, and me in front of the college. Enjoy :).

Highlight of the drive home...
Mana: "Look! It's raining."
Miha responds by singing: "...it's raining men..."
Margaret and Danny in unison, in the same falsetto key, sing out: "HALLELUJAH!"
-The timing couldn't have been better.

(I bet you thought that this photo is of Kentucky...NOT! It's Hungary).

FINALLY in Slovenija.

Wednesday evening, my team and I arrived in Maribor, Slovenija just in time for a BBQ with Slovene friends at Andre and Nina's house. It felt like coming home! I completely enjoyed seeing all of my Maribor friends.

That night, the interns went their separate ways. I went to Celje with Johnny and Brooke. Mana, my roommate, and I are staying with a Slovene family. Maja Rosina lives here. Maja accepted Christ about a year ago after English camp. It's been such an experience living with this family! I am the only American.

The past few days I have been working on lesson plans for my English Camp class. We have also been walking around the city and putting up posters in order to promote camps. Earlier tonight, Danny, Mana, and I attended the Celje youth group. This group is small, but awesome. They are really seeking the Lord in Scripture. I LOVED getting to talk to these students because I knew them from last year's camps...it was like spending time with old friends.

Tomorrow we get to see some of those people again at the church in Celje. It's such a blessing to see what the Lord is doing here!

An Adventure Through Prague

On June 1st, I landed in Prague and met up with Johnny, Mana, Gwynne, Danny, Evan, and Ben. These are the names of the people on my intern team for Slovenia. Our team left the airport, running, in competition with the other 16 intern teams who will be serving all over Eastern Europe. It was so encouraging for me to see that around 90 other young people decided to give up their summers to serve Jesus in this part of the world.




Our competition was called, the "Amazing Race" (like the TV show), and lasted three days. We traveled on foot, by tram, train, and bus all over Prague (the coolest city ever), other towns in the Czech Republic, and Poland. We had to travel to different locations and complete certain tasks. For instance, I had to go inside of a Spa in Prague and get a 15 min. Thai Fish Pedicure. This is a process where I literally stuck my feet in a large fish tank, and hundreds of little sucker-fish ate the dead skin off of my feet. Enjoy the photos (if you ever see them), because I will never do this again :p. These activities allowed us to build relationships with our intern teammates, and it worked. After 24 hours with my team, I felt like I had known them for months. Long story, short...my team won 2nd place :). Go Slovenia!!

Prague is probably the coolest city I have ever been to. There is so much culture and beauty at every turn. I kind of wish I could have sat and soaked in the city instead of literally run through it, but the race was a blast! I used a disposable camera to take pictures there because I didn't want to carry my Nikon everywhere. We'll see how those pictures turned out... :/ I also got to go to Poland for the first time!

We have been training at a beautiful conference center in Czech Republic for the past couple days with all of the JV interns. We have really enjoyed spending time with each other. I will be training in Czech Republic until Wednesday!

Frankfurt.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to visit Frankfurt with my "grand, grand" cousin Philipp. I awoke and took the train from Eichen to Frankfurt, only praying that I would get off at the CORRECT Frankfurt station (there are several). Well, I made it, and Philipp was on the platform waiting. We went to the top of the "Main Tower" where one can look out over all of Frankfurt. It was lovely. Frankfurt is the only city in Germany with a "skyline" of sky-scrapers. We saw the Alte Opre or "Old Opera House." We went shopping for a bit in the new Galaria, complete with a modern-tuby-cieling-thing and bar inside. There is an H&M literally on every corner of Frankfurt. One of the coolest things we saw was the GoetheHaus. This is the house Johann Wolfgang Goethe grew up in. They have restored the rooms with original furniture and have made it into a museum. Goethe is one of the most famous German authors. He wrote "Faust" as well as "der Erlkönig" and other important literary things :). We also saw Paul's Church, the City Hall, and The Dome. The Dome is a beautiful medieval cathedral with vaulted cielings, stained glass windows, epic paintings and statues...etc. I would recommend this beautiful and interesting city to anyone.
I will try to post a few pictures eventually, but the internet is very slow.
I saw a few more quaint "castle-towns" today...some with the medieval city walls STILL standing! It rained this afternoon for the first time in a while. Apparently, this part of Germany had been in a drought, so rain is a great thing. I fly to Prague tomorrow morning in order to begin training for my internship with JosiahVenture!

Schokolade, Kaffee, und Marburg,

Coffee helps jet lag, and so does water. You are supposed to treat it like a hangover, I guess :). After arriving in Frankfurt early this morning, I had the opportunity to visit a small village called Marburg. Marburg is an old town surrounded by a newer town, overlooked by a medieval castle or "schloss."

Reiner and I enjoyed lunch and coffee in Marburg and, of course, freshly baked goods and chocolate truffles to follow. I am incredibly thankful for my family here. They have treated me like royalty since my arrival. Marburg, as well as Eichen, is everything you would expect of a German town - cobble stone streets, small cottages with flower boxes, and gardens everywhere. Small shops and bakeries are ever present as well. The atmosphere is very pleasant and quiet out on the countryside. I am staying in a lovely little room at Uli's house (a distant cousin of mine). These few days in Eichen are going to be very valuable to me, and I am so thankful for the relationships that I have already established here on my first day.

Many of the villages around Frankfurt look similar. They remind me of the Beauty and the Beast town at the beginning of the movie. Quaint. Enjoying life is important, and I think the Germans know how to do this. I have seen several castles during my short stay, and a bikeride through the countryside is in store for me tomorrow. I have never seen so many old people biking. This is quite a novelty...maybe I will be like them one day.

A Headdress Instead of Ashes

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to BRING good news to the poor,
he has sent me to BIND UP the brokenhearted,
to PROCLAIM liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those
who are bound.
to PROCLAIM the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to COMFORT all who mourn;
to GRANT to those who mourn in Zion -
to GIVE them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified."

(Isaiah 61:1-3)

Almost Time.

May 26th is approaching quickly, and the fact that I am leaving the country soon is actually beginning to sink in.

I will be spending almost my entire summer in Europe from May 26th until August 5th. First, I will fly into Frankfurt, Germany and spend a few days with some relatives and then venture on to Prague where my intern training will take place. After training, I will be spending the rest of the summer in Celje, Slovenia, living with a missionary family (Johnny and Brooke Stevens). Once in Slovenia, I will be helping plan and put on English camps for high school students in the area. We will practice English with them and build relationships with the students in order to tell them about Christ.

Hopefully this intership will give me a chance to get a glipse of what it's like to live overseas. I don't know if God has called me to this lifestyle in the future, but I am certainly open to the idea. Also, as a future English teacher, this experience really is priceless. I'm looking forward to what God is going to teach me while I'm away. Places change people. This place has already changed me, and future change is very likely. In some instances, I desperately need a fresh outlook on life and Christian spirituality. I think this internship will broaden those parts of my thinking that are too narrow. I guess we will find out what happens :).

You can keep up with my experiences overseas via this blog. That's why I made it. Thanks for caring! And there will be
much more to come.