“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” -Galatians 6:9 (ESV) After coming 2 years in a row, I thought I was pretty well prepared to head back to Slovakia with this team.  God had different ideas than I did. As I talked about in an […]

God always has a good reason!

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-That last hurried shared cup of coffee at a nearby shop before friends part. -That last frantic attempt to teach one more grammar practice before the “school bell rings” for dismissal. -That last thank-you to hosts and hostesses who have welcomed us around their tables for yummy Slovak meals and moments of sweet fellowship shared sometimes through broken English and […]

That last…

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If I died tonight I would die a blessed and happy man. To be invited by a student to see his village; eat with his family hosting you at their home; trying wonderfully delicious new foods and drinks; getting a personal tour of a church built in the 1200s; travel to a working sheep farm, to watch a sun set, […]

A full heart

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“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.” Colossians 3:12 As we finish up day 3 of week 2 my heart is so in awe of the Love of Jesus. In our second week here, the GO team has had the opportunity to spend a few hours each morning in […]

Holy and Dearly Loved

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One of the first things a Slovak student asked me was, “Why did you come here? Did you come on vacation?  I responded, “I came here because God sent me to help you.”  He said, “That is very kind of you.”          
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The perfect opportunity During the first week of camp, I had the privilege to serve on a small team from New Heights Church as a leader at a camp for incoming high school students in Slovakia. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine my passion for teaching, serving, and sharing the love God has for us. I pictured it […]

Being Present

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God is hilariously sneaky!  I thought He was sending me 6,000 miles to build relationships with Slovak people. I was clueless to the relationships He would build with my teammates.  What a blessing it has been getting to know them.  Little did I know that it was a two-for-one deal!

6,000 miles to Build Relationships

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This week we have 21 students in the Intermediate 1 class. About half returned from the previous week. They are a fantastic group ranging from 9-13 years old. Today we created obstacle courses to learn about giving directions, made bracelets, and described mustaches with afterwards trying some on! When 2:30 came today, it was hard to get the students to […]

Intermediate 1 EFL Class Day 8

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Have you ever seen the photos or video of the comparison of the Earth to the rest of the universe?  It usually starts with Earth’s moon, then zooms out to the Earth, then Mars, Jupiter’s moons, then Saturn, and Jupiter, and finally the sun.  And then it gets crazy when they show our sun compared to other stars/suns in the […]

So much bigger!

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  A Teacher’s Calling   Today, as I listened to Bohdan Hrobon speak during devotions on hope, then later about his vision, one theme resonated within me: Teaching is a calling. This school is a calling. The dream Bohdan is seeing fulfilled is truly, unequivocally a calling. Listening to him talk about the dream as I stood in the unfinished […]

A Teacher’s Calling

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E-Mail Updates

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One of the most interesting changes that took place in me this week was the way that I view the people we are serving. I continually found myself forming an opinion about the person in front of me based on their language, culture or ability to speak English. It was never on purpose, but I thought I had the conversation […]

Humbled

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Americans get a lot of looks when chattering and walking through the square. One afternoon, as a group of us walked through the square, a man came up to us and asked in his thick accent if we were from America. He said he had lived there for about 10 years in New York and Florida. He asked if we […]

Ivan, the once American

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I grew up hearing Bible stories about Eli and Samuel.  My mother would read them to me. “Saaamuellll, Saammmuelll, Saaaaaaamuuuellll” she would read.  And I would hear how Samuel thought Eli was calling him, but Eli realized it must be the Lord.  Eli told Samuel the next time he heard his name called to answer, “Yes, Lord, here I am”. […]

Two callings

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A friend on the team asked me last Saturday as we were on the bus into Martin, “What are you most excited about for this trip?” I told him honestly that I try not to have expectations when I come here. And on some levels, I don’t. As a third-year returner to Slovakia, I’m most excited about just being with […]

The Blessing of Blown Expectations

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This has been a time I shall never forget. Yesterday was a long day. After class we hopped on a bus to visit our friends at the “GO” camp. I can’t imagine how hard their week has been, as they have been going non-stop. The trip there took longer than was announced, to the fault of none. It was not […]

The Purpose.

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Tonight was the midweek trip to see the Global Outreach (GO!) Team at camp. We were told up front it was optional, partly because what should have only been about a one hour bus ride was going to be nearly three hours due to a landslide. Three hours each way plus dinner and time with the GO team around camp. […]

GO! far

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Day three of English class is complete. We’ve been sharing about our families & pets, packing imaginary suitcases for holiday and cheering each other on while playing outdoor games. We also have been using emojis to share our feelings, which is incredibly entertaining. These may not seem like your typical English lessons; however, they are avenues or doors to help […]

Listening, Sharing, Laughter & Connection

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The students were practicing making up questions, proper grammar, sentence structure, verb tense, and presentation today.  At a certain point they would stand up in front of the class and ask another student their question they had been working on.  For many students the choices presented in the questions involved material things – food, money, houses, vacations, clothes, and so […]

…and the greatest of these is Love

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