Viki and Maja

Today I spent time with 2 really sweet Slovak girls, Viki and Maja. They are both still in high-school and live in a dorm here in Presov. They are both from small villages outside of Presov so they are here during the week and head home on the weekends. Viki knows some English, but Maja does not know much (her English is about the same level as my Slovak!). We spent a good bit of time looking up words in our Slovak/English dictionaries and trying to pronounce them! It was totally fun to hang out with them and they both are involved in some of the youth activities we do. Hopefully I will get to spend more time with them next week!

Good Friday (Velke Piatok)

Been thinking a lot this week about "Easter"...the daily events of Jesus life leading up to events we recognize this weekend. Thursday thinking of Jesus celebrating his final meal with his brothers. What he felt as he heard them confess their love and loyalty to him knowing they would all scatter and deny him. Been thinking of how self-absorbed I would have been if I knew I was heading off to perform the greatest act of love the world had even known and my closest companions could not even stay awake while I prayed. Reading that Jesus said "my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" and not even being able to comprehend that. Hating that my sin was part of the reason why Christ had to suffer, and being overwhelmed myself at times by how much God has given me...given all of us. Jesus overcame death so that we could all live forever connected to him, connected to the Father. This great mercy, this undeserved grace, this amazing mystery and tomorrow we celebrate his resurrection. Without the Sunday morning the rest of the story doesn't mean very much. It's Christ's return that brings us hope. So this weekend I am giving thanks that there is hope, there is more to life than this world has to offer us, we can know God, be loved by God, be satisfied in him completely. Our lives only mean something because He is a part of them. We have a future only because of Him.

I pray you have a wonderful and love filled Easter weekend. I pray that in some way all of us will be reminded of Christ, his death and ultimately his resurrection and be thankful that God loves us enough to give us his very best.

The latest

Sorry for the lack of interesting information lately. I was in Zilina for a conference for youth workers last week (which was great but really busy) and my internet was having issues so I was a little behind! So what's been happening here you may ask...

Learning to live life in a very new way. I am getting better and better at the grocery store (I think i know the words for chicken, fish, and pork), and I can go into a shop and usually point and use some broken phrases to make the shopkeeper understand what I am after. Small victories! I am studying language and really enjoying it. Slovak is really hard and there are some sounds that I just cannot force my mouth to make (this crazy soft T and a soft L especially). But I am encouraged and I understand more and more every day. My English skills are plummeting though...I can't seem to put sentences together correctly anymore so forgive me if these posts sound like I am not a native English speaker!

My girls...I really had this fear coming over here that I wouldn't love these girls the way I wanted to, or enjoy spending time with them as much as I wanted to. But God has totally put a new heart in me for the girls I am spending time with. I have a few college girls I am meeting with that I really love and care for and pray for. I have met some high school girls that I feel such a desire to connect with and I can only chalk that up to God putting the desire into my heart. Such sweet, fun loving girls and I smile so often when I think of them and I am so excited to get to walk through life for a while with them.

We are working on things for camp this summer and trying to plan activities in the cafe now and at the various youth groups. Still learning a lot about the church here in Slovakia and trying to find my place within the ministry so God can use me in any way he wants.

I have been here 6 weeks and I definitely miss my friends and my family and many conveniences of living in America. But every day I am more convinced that I am EXACTLY where I am supposed to be...which is a pretty amazing feeling. God is taking care of me and I am learning so much about trusting Him.

Will post more often to avoid these long and rambling ones! Thanks for checking the site and for praying for me, and the ministry and these amazing students who are wanting to know God more!

Slovak Easter

It's nearly Easter, and I was trying to think if I should buy Easter baskets or plan some sort of Easter egg hunt...then I realized that Easter traditions here in Slovakia are just a touch different. From what I can gather (and I promise this is true) boys will spend the day throwing buckets of water on girls and girls will spend the day giving boys chocolate and other presents. Girls will literally sit in their house and wait. A boy will come to the door, throw water on them and leave. yeah, I know. I managed to hear something about how the water is supposed to signify a year of health for the girls but I still am not real clear on the whole thing. The girls all make a face when you talk about it and the boys all grin like boys. I will chalk this up to another "cultural lesson" I hope not to learn the hard way!

Pracovnikov s Mladezou

AKA Youth Worker...person who works with youth. This week I am working at a conference for youth workers from all over Slovkia. The group I work with in Zilina puts this conference on every year and it's pretty amazing. I am helping with the chapel they have open for students and leaders to come pray and reflect and react to what God is doing in their lives and hearts. It's been really cool to serve here and see some of the students from Presov and see how excited they are about serving God there. Will post some pictures in a few days of what we had going on here.

Feel like I am losing the ability to write well in English so forgive me if these posts sometimes sound a little strange! Now my Slovak and my English are terrible! I am enjoying studying Slovak. It is a really beautiful language and i am excited about the prospect of actually being able to speak it well some day. it's a hard language to learn but i have caught onto a few things and i have a great language tutor named Maruska.

Have been spending time with a few girls I know from the cafe and have met some new girls that I am looking forward to hanging out with. Such sweet hearts and I really love being able to get to know them better.

would love continued prayer for language, ministry strategy, and the expansion of our team in Presov. thanks for your love and support. Would love to hear from you and to know how I can be praying for you as well!

Saturday

Since most students are never really available during the week because of school we end up doing a lot of ministry stuff on the weekends. Tonight we had KECY Club. Students who have been to KECY English camps in the past, or who have just heard about what we do come and we will do some sort of program or a talk or play games...it just depends on where we are. Tonight they were wrapping up a series about God being a perfect father. We have been talking to students about their picture of who God really is, and how sometimes we have a flawed picture of God. I actually got to talk a bit tonight about the story in Luke 15 about the prodigal son and how God is very much like the father in the story...ready to extend grace and desiring of a relationship with us. It was a fun night and I met some really neat students. The language barrier makes talking to them a little interesting!

Thoughts for Thursday Morning

"If indeed we lived a life in imitation of his, our witness would be irresistable. If we dared to live beyond our self-concern; if we refused to shrink from being vulnerable; if we took nothing but a compassionate attitude toward the world; if we were a counterculture to our nation's lunatic lust for pride of place, power, and possessions; if we preferred to be faithful rather than successful, the walls of indifference to Jesus Christ would crumble." From "The Signature of Jesus" by Brennan Manning

If you were a cafe...

One of the coolest things I get to be a part of here is the new Youth for Christ (MPK) cafe in Presov. MPK just bought a house and they are putting a new cafe in there and I get to be a part of the design, activities and programming elements for it. Would love to hear any cool, creative ideas anyone has about how we can make the cafe look and feel inviting, and what kind of events/activities we could have there for the youth, or just for anybody. The name of the cafe is the Slovak word for Bridge so we are trying to think of cool ways to incorporate that theme into the design. So excited to get to help create a cool, "relavant" environment for students to hear about God!

What's happening

Language...it's so weird to have to start from square one. Literally yesterday I was learning my A, B, Cs (which in Slovak sounds more like Ahh, Buh, Chuh). There are multiple ways to pronounce different letters, and most of the time it's counterintuitive to what I would do in English. But it's really fun to learn new things, and be able to use it and get around better.

I am learning some new language skill through my spin class that I am taking at the gym around the corner from my place. Things like "stryi, tre, dva, hore!" (which is 4, 3, 2, up!) and something that sounds a lot like "full brat" (don't forget to roll your Rs) which I think may have been a secret command for my quads to give out completely.

Had a meeting today about the English lessons we will teach at camp and will have a meeting later today about my involvement at the cafe. Looking forward to finding my place here and being a part of all that God is doing!

Would love to hear from you...thanks so much for your prayers and love!

JV Girls

JV Girls
Posted by: amylawlor.

Christina, Bekah, me, Paige in the Tatras

The Weekend

Spent the weekend here in Presov. It was cold and snowed some...they tell me it will warm up soon! Had some friends from Zilina come and visit me on Friday which was nice. Saturday I actually went bowling with the youth group. I think bowling may be a new "sport" for SK...they have these strings at the top of the pins to help reset them. Mike gave a talk later at a youth group meeting on the prophet Micah and afterwards we played some games with the students.

I spent a good part of the weekend continuing to get my house in order. I have new furniture and have been loving making my place, MY place. I am apparently in a new "clean freak" phase (stop laughing...it's true). It is really nice to have a place to come home to that is so comfortable.

This week I plan to study my Slovak (3 lessons a week and 2 hours a day studying), buy a few more things for my flat, have some meetings about camp planning, and spend some time in the cafe.

The World of Blogging

Hey y'all!
I am going to try this blog (or internet weblog) thing out until I get a website up and running. This way I can keep you updated on what is happening here without clogging your inbox with emails. I will be updating this blog probably daily...it's a good way for me to "process" so feel free to check in or post comments or say hello. Thanks for being on the adventure with me!
Amy