A Message from the Pastor

All the students and teachers from week 2 of teaching.

We are winging our way home at 40,000 feet over Greenland’s summer ice flows shimmering in the bright daylight that we follow all 7,000+ miles to California. 

First of all I thank you for your interest, care and prayers these past weeks. A glance at the daily blogs will show our class work, team work, friendships made, and local sight seeing trips the Bible School staff planned for us. What no blog can fully capture, however, is the dynamic of the Holy Spirit working internally in the hearts and minds of each of us. Many of our team experienced life transforming faith moments and their fruits will be seen in the weeks, months and years to come. 

Secondly, for most of us there were big surprises, such as Priscilla, Erica, Joyce and I moving to different level classes to teach so that the students were best served. Jennifer, Arianna, and Breck’s Advanced classes were merged into one larger class. Pam had her Beginner class split into two. Only Charlotte and Sarah had their class intact! We had many students added in week two. These changes meant we had to let go of our personal wants and desires for the greater good. We lived out our motto of ‘be flexible’ to the many surprises of the trip, and studied hard!

Thirdly, we witnessed the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Bible School and the 10th Anniversary of the Lutheran Day School. We also saw the dream fulfilled of the high school, along with new summer priorities. Last week was a 9th Grade and new students week long high school camp up in the mountains. It was designed to teach English through worship music and activities. The leaders (both day school, Bible School, and Americans from Vancouver) set the religious foundations and expectations for the high school experience. I was very impressed with the intentionality of this program. This Lutheran Day School is already ranked as one of the best schools in the country. 

As pastor I witnessed kindness and friendliness from our team to one another, the staff, and our students. This Conversational English Course is for some of us and many of them the first experience in meeting and befriending a person from far away. Former enemies of the Cold War era are in fact now partners and importantly sisters and brothers in the Body of Christ. The Slovakian Church Women’s Altar Group gifted our church with a hand embroidered Altar Cloth.  Our Altar Guild gave the Martin Lutheran Congregation a fusion glass and walnut framed art piece handcrafted by two of Saint John’s members. The four Hope Lutheran, Fresno team members were thrilled to visit with their beloved summer 2012 Youth Intern, Kamil, and the Saint John’s team members were blessed to see our wonderful summer 2011 Youth Intern, Andrea. 

So you see, there is a web (or network) of connections and meaning to life in Christ that makes our lives deeper and richer.  Our dear special friend Michaela (Mishka) dedicated these two weeks not only as a student, but as translator for us on many occasions and as friend to us everyday and evening. She even offered the family washing machine for our use!

I especially thank Jennifer (Hope Lutheran, Fresno) for serving as Leader of curriculum and day to day schedules; she and I conferred many times throughout the winter and all the time these past three weeks! She and Charlotte revised and planned the daily teaching curriculum for Advanced and Intermediate classes. This is my final season as leader and teacher. The Bible School gave me a beautiful water color painting of five special Slovakian Lutheran Church steeples. We have experienced the joy of hard work with a lasting purpose. I thank each of our our team for answering God’s Call to serve - Priscilla Thomas, Breck Thomas, Erica Thomas, Charlotte Mosqueira, Jennifer Jordan, Pam Reistetter, Sara Martin, Arianna Metcalfe, Sarah Ormonde, and Joyce Bauer. To God be the glory! 

Dokujem and Do videnia (thank you and good bye), Pastor Randy 

The whole team and their luggage upon arriving in Vienna, Austria.

The End of This Journey

Friends from the Bible School saying goodbye.

Well the last three days have been traveling days. Saturday after saying round two of goodbyes to the staff at the Bible school, students that came to see us off, as well as some very close friends, we boarded a bus with the Vancouver team to start our four hour drive to Vienna. It was very hard for me to say goodbye because the last few days of us being in Martin came with connections with others being made stronger. The bus to Vienna was pretty quiet, at the beginning of the ride, as everyone was reflecting on everything that happened during the last two weeks. After many tears, and reflecting, there were a few of us who tried to catch up on sleep. Some were more successful than others, but hey, that's part of traveling. 

We stopped near the airport in Vienna to drop off the Vancouver team, and it was time for round three of goodbyes. Although we didn't spend much time with the Vancouver team, some of the California team made connections with them. Then it was off to our hotel. After about a half hour drive from the airport we made it. As we settled into the rooms, most of us decided to relax for a while before going to explore. 

A partially eaten scoop of gelato from Zanoni and Zanoni.

Later in the afternoon, a group of us decided to go into downtown Vienna to explore. We saw a beautiful church, stopped a few times to get gelato at the most famous place in Vienna, Zanoni and Zanoni, found a place to eat, and continued to explore. Since we were exhausted, we headed back much earlier than we did when we were in Paris and Martin, and decided to call it an evening. The evening consisted of more reflecting, communicating with family, repacking, and even watching a movie. 

The border patrol.

In the morning, we woke up at the regular time to eat breakfast and load into vans to get to the airport. After some crazy driving, and trouble printing boarding passes, we were through security and at the gate doing devotions. We boarded the plane, flew for about two hours and then landed in Paris. This time instead of sightseeing, we had to navigate the airport. This meant visiting the border patrol, trying to understand some French, and riding a bus that was packed full of people to the right terminal. It was a little confusing to say the least. We got to the gate with about half an hour to spare and loaded up the plane. On the way back, we didn’t seem to be as squished as before, which was very nice considering the flight was about eleven and a half hours. After waiting for our luggage to come off the plane, and making it through customs in less than ten minutes, the Fresno team (Jennifer, Charlotte, Pam, and Sara) headed to their hotel for the night, and after waiting for a while, the coast team (Arianna, Erica, Sarah, Priscilla, Breck, Joyce, and Pastor Randy) got in their van and headed home.

As of now, everyone is home and probably close to going to bed. I know I am recovering and am excited to get to bed. Slovakia 2013 was an amazing trip and I hope to go again sometime very soon. I can’t wait to share my experience with eeveryone who supported me on this trip, whether it was through prayer, advice, or monetary support among many other things. The trip could not have been possible without them. The trip also couldn’t have been possible without you. Thank you for reading the blog, for praying for the team, and for listening to all our stories. I would encourage you to ask someone you know about their trip and how what they learned impacted their life. We all have quite the story to tell.

Sara Martin

Day 1 of Goodbyes

The cross at the church above the buildings in the square.

The team with two of the students who made a poster for us.

Well, today was Day 1 of goodbyes. The day started off with breakfast, devotions, and opening like usual and then off to teaching whatever we had left to go over. Our class decided to have a review game, inspired by Erica, to see what it was they were actually remembering throughout the week. The students seemed to like the game and it got everyone talking to each other and getting to know each other a little better. After lunch was goodbyes part one. We handed the team gifts to our students as well as individual gifts, then it was time for the program. the program is a way for each class to showcase what they learned during the week. There were skits and songs in both English and Slovak. The California team also did a few skits to add to the fun, and then it was time to pass out certificates. As we said goodbye to most of our students, it was bitter-sweet. It was hard to say goodbye, but in reality it's only a goodbye for now.

After we had cleaned everything up at the Bible School, there was enough time to get some ice cream, and buy any souvenirs we still needed to buy. On our walk around the square for the last time, I was able to take the picture above. To me it was God saying he would always be in Martin and with us.

Charlotte getting her certificate and chocolate.

In the evening we had a dinner program, where the students from the high school camp performed a few songs for us, did a skit, and did a dance. It was great to see all that they had been doing during the week. We had goulash and bread and got to enjoy the company of some new found friends. We were presented certificates and chocolate as a thank you, and then round two of goodbyes began. It was really hard to say goodbye to Katka, Michal, and Slavka since they had helped us out so mich during the week, but again, it was only goodbye for now.

Currently everyone is packing up and getting ready to start our journey home. While it will be nice to return to my bed, in my 100 degree city, I will definitely miss Martin. Something happened here that i cannot explain. Sovakia definitely has a piece of my heart.

Sara Martin

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Line Dancing, Wall Breaking, Summer Nights

Panoramic view from Bohdan's house

There is only one full day of teaching left and I can't believe how quickly this second week has gone. Thursday morning brought my turn for daily devotions and after some prayerful thought, I had my devotion set. Only at the last minute, a song I had heard countless time before, came on and I heard it like it was for the first time. Tenth Avenue North, Healing Begins. Every word spoke to me and I realized that while I had come on this trip expecting to be helpful, to teach, to share God's love and to share my love for Jesus with others, I was also receiving help and healing in ways I didn't think I would, especially not in Slovakia, halfway around the world from my personal struggles. I changed my devotion at the last minute, going off the cuff and shared the healing I had experienced on this trip with the team. My hope was to inspire them and to let them know that their support, guidance and prayers on the trip had been pivotal the start of the healing from my personal struggle.

The Advanced Group- Jennifer, Arianna and Breck

Pastor Randy and Joyce's Beginner Group

Priska and Pamela's Beginner Group

Sara and Erica's Intermediate Group (being silly)

Charlotte and Sarah's Intermediate Group

The teaching day began with a great round of singing and the second day of the electric slide. Our students are basically professional electric slide dancers now. Today's theme was all about recreation and holidays. It was a joy to learn about what our students did for their holiday celebrations as well as what they enjoyed doing in their free time. Our group spent a good part of the afternoon preparing for our final presentation tomorrow. We are doing a classic campfire skit with a Slovak twist. Other groups were also excitedly preparing for their performances as well.

We had a bit of extra time today so we were able to play telephone pictionary as well as return to a few conversations from earlier in the week that we did not have time to complete.

After class let out, I was introduced to Andrea (sorry for any misspellings) who interned at St. Johns for a few months this past year. Pastor Randy was able to catch up with her over coffee while a group of us to a short adventure to the square to find parachute pants, play croquet on a roof and drink coffee with two students, Katka and Michaela. It's not every day you get to go on such adventures! The coffee shop is located on the roof of one of the buildngs in the square of Martin and has a grassy area with croquet and a monoscope for looking at the surrounding mountains. For the record, Arianna and I played two rounds of speed croquet and we may have neglected a few rules but we were laughing the entire time. This coffee shop is one of my favorite places within Martin. I could easily spend an afternoon sipping coffee, reading a book, playing croquet and catching up with friends there. I'd like to transport it back to the U.S. with me!

Rooftop Cafe with Monoscope and Croquet

View from Rooftop Cafe

By 4:30 we were all gathered at the Bible School again to travel to Bohdan's house for a BBQ dinner with the Vancouver group. The beauty of the area still amazes me and the view from Bohdan's backyard did not disappoint. The whole Bible School crew was there and it was great to reconnect with them outside of the office day to talk about our experience the past two weeks. I had the opportunity to chat with several people from the Vancouver group as well as from the Bible School. It was a great evening for all as the sound of jovial conversations danced between the open fire and the grill and kids yelps and playful shouts paraded around the tables.

Breck enjoying the view with Adrian BBQing in the background

View from Bohdan's backyard

Priska inspecting the sausages! :D

After enjoying a scrumptious dinner of sausages and a wonderful secret sauce stew, we toured each of the houses (Bohdan and Beba's, Katka and Michal's, and Adrian and Natasha's). All too soon it was time to say good night and head back to the hotel. Another amazing day of sharing our vision and teaching. Tomorrow is one last opportunity for now to share our message and God's love. I feel so honored to have experienced this trip and to have met and worked with all the people here. Until the next time, Erica

Enjoy a few extra picture from the past few days of adventures!

View on the way to Bohdan's house.

Flowers outside of Adrian's house

Lunch out with Sara and Erica's group-Danka, Brano, David

Kristina, Erica, Sara, Danka

Joyce, Martin and Eva enjoying lunch out

Marek, Pastor Randy and Adam playing with the coaster

Playing soccer at the summer camp during our visit on Wednesday afternoon.

Winding down and gearing up

  Wednesday of our 2nd week. We leave on Saturday morning for Vienna, so our time here is winding down. As we grow more tired, we begin to look forward to home, but on the other hand, it is sad to know we are going to be leaving our new found friends behind. It is amazing how strong a connection you can make in such a short time. Interesting side note: in years past, the Bible School provided coffee, soda and cookies for our breaks. In the last 2 years, they have discontinued that practice. But our students and the staff have risen to the occasion! Each day several students have brought food: blueberries, apricots, baked goods, all yummy things, all on their own. These people are so sweet and thoughtful!
  Today we finished up our focused viewing of Fireproof and had a great discussion on values and relationships, religion and society. Amazing stuff. I seriously recommend this movie for everyone, but bring a box of tissues!
  This week we began working on our classes' performance for the final afternoon. Some will sing a song in English. Some will do a skit, or some other interesting thing to show off their new English skills. Our advanced class is doing a skit ( I can't tell you the subject....it's a secret!) There is so much enthusiasm for the project. So many great ideas! English flying everywhere! So whenever the students' eyes start glazing over, it's time to work on the skit!  It is going to be so much fun. Ok, a hint: my character's name is #hashtag. Can you guess what fairy tale our skit is based on?
 This afternoon, half of our group took a bus to a camp near the Polish border (1.5 hours away) to see a final presentation at the youth camp program lead by the Vancouver, WA. group. The rest of us stayed here in Martin for a little much needed down time. Pastor Randy went by train to Zilina to visit a former student, Jana, for a few hours. Priscilla and I read and watched a movie before going downstairs for a nice quiet dinner. Randy returned from Zilina and kept us company while we ate.
All in all, a beautiful, blessed day, warm and sunny weather, and good company all day long!

Breck

How Time Flies

Week 2, day 2 of teaching. Wow. Time surely has flown by and it is honestly kind of depressing to think about the fact that we start our journey home in less than 4 days. I want to stay here much longer but part of me is ready to go home to the regularly scheduled programming. In class today, the students in my class (as well as Erica's) started to get creative. They drew a variety of animals to add to our class pets. It was fun to see the excitement in their eyes as we were teaching them the names of the animals they were drawing. Since it is week 2, it is time to start planning for our end of the program skit. All I have to say is that the skit Erica and I am involved in will be quite entertaining, especially since she and I are choosing to learn a new language for it!

A little bit of values discussion in English and Slovak after the movie.

Tonight we had the public viewing of Fireproof. I was very surprised with the amount of people that showed up. It was a lot of fun to enjoy such a good movie with people that saw the value in what the movie had to say. Not only did we watch the movie, but we also enjoyed some popcorn, cake, Coke and Kofola (Slovakia's main soft drink). It was a great time of fellowship for us and our students.

Miška in the middle with me (Sara) and Jennifer  with a waterfall in the background.

In the small amount of free time that we've been having, I've really enjoyed spending time with the younger girls on our team as well as Miška. Miška lives in Martin, but has visited California several times already. She has been a student of the EFL program for three years now, and it has been a joy spending time with her. She has definitely been taking care of us, making sure we've eaten for the day, made sure we can properly communicate what we need to others (even during class), and she's been a great friend. Although we are almost ten years apart, we have a lot in common, and it is great to have someone like her to look up to. I've really enjoyed all the time we've spent together, and I look forward to spending even more time with her as the wee progresses.

Thank you for all the prayers! We can't wait to share more of our journey with you!

-Sara Martin

In the Land of Giant Snails and Leaves....

Day one of week two of teaching. Wow, I am still amazed that we have already been in Europe for 2 whole weeks and by the same token, I feel like it has been longer than a month with all the fun and adventures we have had and all the people we have met and/or caught up with as a team.

We began our second week of teaching with some new students! Yay for new students! While they were being evaluated so that they could be placed in the right class level, we sang our three opening songs. We sang "The Penguin Song", "Rejoice in the Lord Always" and "I've got Peace like a River" with great participation from all the students. They are really starting to learn the words and actions and you can tell they like it from their smiles and enthusiasm. Next we opened the activity portion of the morning with Simon Says. A classical way to learn the parts of the body, actions and directions regardless of whether you are learning English or not. The next three pictures are from the final crew that was too tough to get out so they were declared our winners!

Playing Simon Says with new and returning students. Simon says "Point to the sky"

Simon says "Point at Erica"

Simon says "Say Cheese"

Listening for instructions on where to go for class

Some of the intermediate students hanging out before class

With the loss of some students last week and the gain of new students this week, we made a few teaching team changes so that we could provide the best experience and learning environment for all our students. This change placed me in one of the intermediate sections with Sarah Martin because our class is mostly teenagers and shifted Joyce into the advanced beginners because she could relate well with those students. This change required many of us to be very flexible as well as studious as we switched curriculum levels and had to create a new teaching relationship with our partners.

Randy and Joyce and Sarah and I all worked a few extra hours on Sunday to be sure we were prepared to teach our new areas or with our new partners. I am happy to say that today was a success for all levels and classes. Everyone's willingness to sacrifice for the sake of our students made the change over that much easier.

Now if you are wondering why the title of this blog post is "In the Land of Giant Snails and Leaves..." Here is your answer. Our afternoon adventure was a hike from the village of Blatnica through the forest to the castle ruins of Blatnicky. Along the way we encountered GIANT leaves and GIANT snails.

Giant Leaf on the way to the Blatnicky Castle ruins

Giant Snail on the way to the Blatnicky Castle ruins.

We also were shown a plant that has burs that work better than any man made velcro. They work so good that you can chuck them at your friend's shirt and they will stick. They also stick to hair and jeans and fingers and collars. The discovery of what plant produced these wonderful little burs created a small commotion to find more so that we could essentially have a bur fight as we hiked.

I can honestly say that I could have been entertained for hours just chucking burs at one another. It reminded me of the velcro mitt and ball game of catch I would try to play when I was growing up. Only the burs actually stuck, while the ball always seemed to bounce off the velcro mitt. I wish I had photo of the hits I took while walking in the front of the pack. My entire back was covered.

Needless to say, on the return trip, I smiled when I say evidence of our bur fight as burs laid strewn about the trail. Nature is so much fun!

Entering Blatnica village

View on the drive in. The skies were being dramatically beautiful again today

The stream that we followed through the canyon to the castle

On the trail to the castle

Castle wall ruins

Blatnicky Castle was certainly an adventure to find and to visit. I did not get to learn a lot about the castle since there is no organized tour there. But because there was no organized tour, we were able to wander about the ruins at our leisure.
Tomorrow brings another day of teaching and the theme is my favorite! Food! (well food and fashion, but I'll be honest, I am really excited about food!)
Enjoy the pictures below from our journey!
Erica

Breck and Priska standing on a ledge at the Castle, over looking the valley

Blatnicy Castle

View from the trail to the Castle when the canyon opened up for a moment and showed us the rolling hills.- (Photo-Arianna)

View on the drive back. Break in the clouds as the sun shone down on the wheat fields. (Photo Arianna)

A Day of Rest....sort of.

Pastor Randy holding the Alter Linen.

Pastor Randy dedicating the fusion cross with Katka translating.

Pastor Milan Kubik preaching from the pulpit.

The high school youth from camp singing songs during worship.

 Sunday. Our day of rest, cool and cloudy started with devotions at 8 A.M. Then some of the team headed out to spend time with the families of students. Priska (Priscilla) and I returned to our room for a little more rest before Church at 10:00 A.M. The service was beautiful. It was all in Slovak, with Katka Valcova translating. The youth who had returned from Church Camp sang several songs; familiar tunes, but Slovak words. Slovak is a very pretty language, in my opinion. Pastor Milan, in appreciation of our 10 years of devoted service, presented Pastor Randy with a handmade Altar Linen, made by the Alter Women of the Martin Congregation. and Randy presented the fusion glass and walnut cross made by George Erickson and Mike Apfel of St. John's.
 After lunch the rest of the team scattered to the winds. Priska and Erica took a run for about an hour. Then it was laundry time for Priska, and I met with Arianna and Jennifer to plan for Monday classes. Arianna then met up with an old friend, Lenka for the rest of the afternoon. To finish the afternoon, Priska and I took a walk along the stream that flows through Martin to the Tesco store, eerily similar to Walmart, where we bought snacks and fruit.
 Randy and Jennifer went to dinner at Michaela's home, and may be home late. Michaela's mother wanted to be sure they got a full dose of Slovak hospitality. Tomorrow we will try to update you on what Charlotte, Pam, Joyce and the others did.
So, spiritually and physically refreshed, we are prepared for our final week of classes!
Dovidinia!
Breck

A Day Full of Adventures!

One of the booths at Kvety Podhradia.

Jennifer during her horse ride.

Well yesterday was a very busy day. Although we didn't have a class to teach, the Bible School in Martin kept us very busy with activities. In the morning, after devotions and breakfast, the whole team got on a bus to go to Kvety Podhradia, which was a folk art exhibit in Podhradie. There were many booths set up along the street selling things ranging from food, to wood crafts, to jewelry, to paper crafts and much more. While we were there, we were able to watch what looked like a class of children perform some songs they learned. As we were getting ready to get back on the bus, Jennifer decided to take a picture on a horse. We didn't know that if you gave the owner a tip, they would take you on a horse ride. So, Jennifer rode a horse in Slovakia!

The pet camel we saw.

We returned to the hotel for about three hours of relaxation before heading out for yet another adventure. For this adventure, most of the team went knowing that we wouldn't be back until very late at night. This is part of the reason the blog wasn't posted yesterday, oops! After about A hour of driving we arrived at the restaurant in Bojnice, which served us chicken with cheese melted on it and vegetables! Now I don't eat vegetables often but it was kind of  nice to see them on our plate outside of breakfast time. Since we arrived at the restaurant early and ate fairly quickly we had some time before our night tour of Bojnice Castle. Most of us used that as an excuse to have some zmrzlina (gelato). Once members of our team and the Vancouver team got exactly what we wanted, we started taking a walk to see a view of the city when we saw a man walking a camel. One of the Slovaks with us asked him why he had a camel and his response was, "Some have dog, so I have camel." We just about died laughing when we heard the translation.

Bojnice Castle during the day.

We headed back to the meeting spot to walk up to the castle for our guided tour.  The Bojnice Castle is nicknamed the Cinderella Castle because it is one of the most restored castles in the area. After looking at it and spending time inside of it, I definitely understand where Walt Disney got his castle ideas from. It was magnificent both inside and outside. Our tour was very special. Not only were we given a tour, but it was also a scary tour, complete with us seeing ghosts and people jumping out at us. I'm not a fan of scary or startling things so I wasn't too thrilled about the scary part of the tour but it was kind of fun.  Seeing the way things were 900 years ago was very interesting and I am very glad that we had the chance to see the different lifestyle. We got back to the hotel after 10:30 and after lots of walking and general exhaustion from the week, it was time for bed. 

One week until we return home. Please continue to pray for us, especially that we will stay well and have the energy to complete this next week of teaching. Thank you for all your support and prayers!

-Sara Martin