National Church Business Mtg

Oh, this sounds boring, but I assure you... it was much better than it sounds. Picture this.... one room, 130 people, of which are every pastor of every church in the country plus a number of chosen delegates to represent these churches. These delegates were all in church leadership, most were church elders. We opened in worship in song, and it was such a beautiful presence of God's spirit.

We also had matters of business to attend to, as this meeting only takes place every 3 yrs. But, that was OK. There was also time of reflection on the past 3 years, what God has done, what changes have been made and how we have grown. A time to set vision for the future. Also, a time to look at what we are doing presently around the country. Here were a couple things that stood out to me:

1) Bible Translation into the Roma language. This project has been going on for the past 1.5 yrs and they already have a number of New Testament books already translated. (Acts, Mark, James and a few others) The translator translates 20 verses every day, rain or shine, into a language that has an abundance of verbs, but very few nouns. Good luck!

2) Puchov Church Plant: This is a plant that is in the North-West part of Slovakia. They have built a multi-purpose building as a church, and have received incredible support for their building project... but, they MUST finish the outside of the building and the land surrounding (by order of the city) by June 30, or they risk losing it all. They are looking for someone who can scaffold, and who can do the facade of the building. They had a guy who was going to help them, but just this week he backed out. CAN YOU HELP?

3) Prievidza: population over 60,000 people with no evangelical witness. One of the biggest challenges for the Gospel in the country currently. Who will go? Pray for workers to be sent into the harvest!

This was also a time for me to recharge my vision for this country, and for our city. I recieved a number of ideas that I would like to investigate further. I was also so encouraged just to be with brothers and sisters I don't see very often. So blessed also to be a blessing!

God bless you as you pray for this country!

Change of Plans

Yesterday was our final discussion club night of the semester. What we didn't realise was that the school year finished last week... so, we weren't quite sure how many people would even show up. In the end, only 1 student came. But we had 4 other people there, who were of working age. So, students or not, we still had a decent turn out. And, they were all men! Betka and I were the only females in the room! So, the girls ran the show for the guys!

Anyway, our theme was Honesty and Integrity. I am not even sure how it happened, but we started to talk about God quite directly. My colleague from the language school, Lubo, came and he always comes with a lot of questions... about everything! So, when the topic was moving onto more spiritual matters, he latched onto that and started asking about faith and Christ and how we experience God and salvation and everything in between. Our pastor, Miro, was also in attendance, and he ended up sharing his testimony and giving him a very clear presentation of the Gospel. I know that the Holy Spirit was present, because typically Lubo doesn't give you a lot of time to answer the question he's asked you, before he gives you another one! But last night, he listened and asked, and listened some more. He also seemed very touched by what he was hearing. Please pray for him, that the Holy Spirit would lead him to Himself!

Thank you for your prayers for us and for this ministry, it's because of those prayers these opportunities become available. And it is only by prayer that this will follow through!

God changed the plans on us last night, but, we didn't mind at all!

Jailbird Evangelist!

Peter Slany is a young man from Teen Challenge, a Christian drug/alcohol addiction rehabilitation centre. Before entering the program, Peter had been convicted of a crime, and a couple months ago, he began his jail term. He was a little nervous about going to prison, he had given his life to Christ and was afraid of slipping back into that old lifestyle. But, now we see that he has done the exact opposite. While in jail he feels himself growing closer to God, and he even led one of his fellow in-mates to Christ! Peter's last name, Slany, means "salty". We can see that he is living up to his name by being salt and light, even in prison! Please continue to pray for Peter as he continues his sentence.

Engaged!

Yes, it is true, my marital status is changing! For the past number of months I have been seeing a very wonderful man, and this weekend, he proposed! :) His name is James Clapham, and he is from Leighton Buzzard, England. He is 30 yrs old and is a Technical Quality Officer by trade. He loves Jesus with his whole heart, and has also found that he has a heart also for Slovakia and Nitra. After getting married he will move here, and we will stay here and serve God in His vision for the city until we're told otherwise! Please pray for us as we seek the Lord and enter into a marriage together. Thank you!