Sandwich anyone?

From bad to......










Oh the funny things you find abroad.... :)

Have a happy wednesday!

New Adventures

In my attempt to use the warm weather to the full, and to become a bit more active. My friends and I have recently purchased rollerblades. There is a path along the river that is nice to go down and one other road that we have heard about but have yet to investigate further. I was hoping to use the rollerblades as an alternate form of transportation within the city, but i don't think that will be very safe. The sidewalks here have lots of cracks, missing chunks, and bubbles caused by the heat. On the first day after buying these, I decided to try it out. I went to the grocery market. All was good and fine in the recently renovated, newer area of town. But the area around the traffic circle,... was not so nice and I nearly wiped out left right and centre! Note though: nearly wiped out. I managed to keep my feet under me! So i've decided to stick to the trails and maybe the main roads, but only at low traffic times of the day! :)

FINALLY!!

I finally got my visa to stay and work in Slovakia. Yes!

12,000 Slovak crowns paid ($600)
500 stamps and seals
10 documents notarized
6 documents translated
5 trips to the police station
4 criminal record checks (with super-legalization)
3 infectious diseases tests (including anal swabbing)
2 trips to Bratislava
1 visa obtained.

Praise the Lord!

Team Canada Takes Gold!

Today is Mother's Day, and I think that the best present for our Canadian mothers, is a good hockey win!









Team Canada triumphed over Sweden 4-2 in the final game. Woo hoo!

The Forest

I decided to go for a walk yesterday and I tried to find a quiet spot.
Not that easy when you live in the city centre! It seemed that no matter where I went, there was either the sound of cars or music blaring from somewhere. So, into the forest I went! Actually, it was just along the path to go up to the mountain,but the way I positioned myself, it felt like I was deep in the forest! And because it had been raining, the blaring music got turned off. I really just wanted to hear from God in nature. I used It was a nice time to be alone and to ponder. When I was a little girl, we lived on an acreage, and, at that time, we didn't have too many neighbours. So that meant, lots of forest, hills, and swamps for us to play in! We used to build forts out of fallen trees or branches. I used to also make tents out of a bedsheet, a board and some rocks, and I'd sleep out there at night.

Well, until Mom called me in because of the bear! :) I used to climb trees, and have all sorts of wild adventures in those woods with my brother and our little friends from down the road. I used to go out there alone sometimes too, on one of my runaway attempts(where I couldn't leave the subdivision) or just to get away. There is something about just being in nature, it makes me feel closer to God. To clear my ears of the noise from traffic, and to listen to the wind as it blows through the trees. To fill my nostrils not with exhaust but with the scent of after the rain. To listen to the music of birds in the trees, than the latest pop hit. To allow the Lord to speak to me and show me new things through the beauty of His creation.



My Mary Poppins moment

Adam Šangala

Last night I had the privilege to go to the theatre to see my friend act in a play called Adam Šangala. Adam Šangala is a play for Slovaks, about Slovaks. This play is said to capture the essence of the Slovak spirit. My curiousity was definitely peaked by such an introduction, and the fact that Ludka was playing one of the main characters, that was more than enough motivation for me to go see it! So i went with my friend Edita, and Martin and Marika a couple from our church. It was a musical, and very well done! I was thoroughly impressed.

The storyline is basically about a young man from a small village who decides that he wants to see the world, motivated by the fact that he is the only one in the village who can write their name. So, off he goes and rescues the damsel in distress and they fall in love. But the man Adam rescued her from was a very powerful man, and he seeks to kill Adam, but he is saved at the last minute by divine provision.
He gets separated from his love, and then he gets mixed up with some powerful lords who force him to concieve a child with the general of the army's wife because he is impotent. Much to the general's dismay, but as he is unable to produce an heir...
Adam reunites with his love and then she discovers the awful truth about his "job", and runs away. But then someone planted a fire in the house, and as a result, the unborn child dies. So they planted everything on Adam, and he is saved by Martin Luther. (there was also some not so hidden prodestant/catholic undertones - it was also placed shortly after the Reformation...) God then flew them to Trnava, where Betka, his true love, is at home with her parents, pregnant with Adam's child. Betka is angry and feeling betrayed, but she forgives him and they get married. Not too long after that, these powerful people find him and imprison him for detroying a marriage, for the fire which killed the unborn child, for assaulting the Lord and they seek his death. Betka pleads on his behalf, her husband, the father of her child, everything that she has... But they would not listen, and he's hung. You see his spirit going to Heaven and he sings this awesome song about no one can take his freedom, even if they kill him, they won't be able to take it from him.
Betka then has the baby, and the play ends with her singing to her small son about the father he doesn't yet know.

It was awesome! The pics I have from this I took off the internet, and Ludka isn't even in them! But oh well, you can have a peek anyway!

Pastor Al

Tonight we had a special evening of teaching with Pastor Al. Pastor Al was the pastor of Sherwood Park Pentecostal Assembly when I first started attending. Now he is the Canadian Director for Next Level Intl (NLI), and the overseer of the Slovakia project. Which basically means that I get to see him more often! :) Tonight we had our church leadership meeting in my house with the leaders from Nitra, Nove Zamky, Zlate Moravce, Trnava, Zvolen and Hlohovec. Pastor Al gave a really nice word on leadership, including keys to leadership and the spirits of fear and pride and how to overcome them. I was touched, and I know that the Spirit was present! Thanks Pastor Al!

Another Wedding

Yesterday was the wedding of my two friends, David and Lydia. It was a very nice wedding: the bride and groom were stunning, the ceremony started on time and ended in less than an hour (very impressed, good job Miro!), the reception was fun, food good and the band, very neat. The band was the worship team from a church in Bratislava and they played fun music which was also worshiful. Very cool. We were all very impressed.

It is always wonderful to witness the miracle of two people becoming one! They have a whole new life of adventure together!

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Go Team Canada!

Canada beat Slovakia tonight in a preliminary game. I only saw the last our of the game because I was leading at our small group meeting. But, as soon as we had finished, I went to the bar! I managed to find a spot where I could kind of see the game! It wasn't nearly the same though. Everyone else was cheering for the wrong team! And I was afraid to be identified... so I only had a couple small flags on my purse. I didn't want to be a hockey canada martyr! :)


Please pray for me... I was given "just one more document" to obtain for my visa. It should take about 3-5 days, but let's pray that a) it's really all I need and b) that it comes faster! :)



Eye spy with my little eye.... do you see what I see??? Oh yes, an Alberta plate! How can that be??? Some people use foreign plates in addition to their own because a) they bought it from abroad or b) it looks cool. But i've never seen a Canadian plate, and an Alberta plate at that! How funny!

I also have another wedding this weekend...

Turbulencia

This past weekend we had a youth conference for the western part of the country. Our theme was Code 1:8 genetic code for a generation of mission. It was really good. There were a lot of young people who responded to the challenge of living a life of mission. Mark Holdcroft talked about how the phrase "secular job" should be banned from the english language, and how we should live like Joseph, seeing everywhere we are as a mission feild. Sheldon Armitage talked about how God wants to kick us out into action! Miro Toth spoke about the 4 rings of mission (jerusalem, judea, samaria and the ends of the world), and about leaving our comfort zones. We also spoke about the empowering of the Holy Spirit, and one of the girls from my small group in Nitra got baptized in the Holy Spirit! Woo!