At this point, the team has been adjusting to life in Slovakia, getting to know one another, and even taking the first steps in ministry.  I feel very blessed with this team, as we are bonding very well and I have seen a lot of initiative within each person.  Everyone is excited to engage the culture in new ways. 

School has not even begun here in Slovakia!  But we were able to go to some freshman orientations and set up survey tables to meet students.  We had someone donate an Ipod for ministry use, so we told students to fill out a survey and we would draw one for the free Ipod.  Here in Kosice there are five big dorm areas, so we went to the Vet School and Med School dorms.  We also spent one afternoon in Presov, a town about thirty minutes from Kosice where we have seen fruitful ministry. 

The team after an afternoon of outreach at the freshman orientation in Presov

The Lord truly blessed our efforts.  About 85 students filled out surveys at Presov during the freshman orientation.  In Kosice, we were praying for 6 girls to fill out interest in Bible study, and 7 girls did!  I was even able to talk to one student about a relationship with God already.  As he was filling out the survey, he asked “do you believe in God?” and said “I don’t like religion.”  I quickly responded by saying “I do believe in God, because I have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.”  That got his attention, because he had never heard that before.

Stephanie and Lindsey display our sign, which says Enter to Win Free Ipod, during our outreach in Presov

 During our weekends and free evenings we have also explored the culture as a team with some fun activites.  We went to Budapest one weekend to shop for items for our apartments.  We went to a park and to do a traditional spikacki roast (like a hot dog), and went to see Spis Castle, a castle built in the 11th century whose stone foundation is still standing.

The team went to Budapest to shop at IKEA for our apartments!

 

Roasting spikacki at horny bankov

Here I am at Spis Castle

Have you checked out the Pictures and Videos pages?  You can see more of these events on those pages as I update them on a regular basis.