Ukraine trip

The Cathedral in Uzhorod, Ukraine

One of our teammates, Aaron, had his passport stamp expire before his visa got rolling.  According to European Union rules, you cannot stay in the EU for more than 90 days without a visa of some kind.  You must leave the EU for 90 days if you wish to re-enter without a visa.   When we were at the foreign police station, they said they could not begin work on Aaron’s visa without a new, valid, stamp on his passport.  So we risked leaving the EU by going to Ukraine for a day!  We hopped the border to a small town called Uzhorod.  We made it back into Slovakia and thus the EU just fine and Aaron got his fresh stamp.

Aaron and Biba in front of the restaurant called "Nyum Nyum". It was yum yum. It was fun to practice my cyrillic.

 Thanksgiving in Prague

For most of us, it was our first Thanksgiving away from family.  But we celebrated it as a team by going to Prague for three days.   Although we were sad to be without family, we truly had a great relaxing time during the holiday.

The Old Town Square in Prague

Folk Dance

One of the guys I have been meeting with, Mat’o, let me know that the universities were holding a folk dance and he invited me to meet him there.  So Stephanie, Amber, and I went… and walked into a room of about 400 Slovak college students dressed in traditional folk garb dancing to a live folk band!  It was quite the cultural experience!  On top of that, we learned a lesson about being “in the culture” because Mat’o, and other students we met there, expressed how deeply touched they were that we came. 

Standing in a room full of traditionally-dressed slovak students sitting for a folk dinner.

A Knight of Murder…

During one of our staff socials, we were whisked back in time to the Medieval Era, where knights jousted for the hand of a maiden, lords and ladies ruled their manors, sherrifs collected taxes, and the king and queen reigned over all.  We had a murder mystery dessert, where we solved the case of a mysterious death of a knight during a wedding festival.  Turns out, it was the bride who was the murderer! 

Everyone came dressed as their role. I was King Kyle!

HC Kosice Hockey

One of the fun things about Kosice is that they have a premier league hockey team.  The US Steel hockey areana is just as modern as anything in the states.  It was truly yet another culutral experience to sit in a crowd of 50,000 slovaks cheering, and jeering, the hockey teams.

Lindsey, Stephanie, and Aaron are obviously enjoying the hockey game!

Thanksgiving/Christmas party

We had a team Thanksgiving dinner after we got back from Prague.  As a team, everyone brought a dish or two… so altogether we had turkey, stuffing, fruit salad, green salad, cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, pumpkin pie, and cake.  After dinner was over, we kicked off the Christmas season by setting up our team Christmas tree!  It was a very fun night for all.

Mikey, Aaron, and Cindy enjoy their Thanksgiving meal...

As do Stephanie, Bronny, Amber, and Lindsey

Merry Christmas from our STINT team!

So it’s pretty obvious this blog thing is a hard thing to stay on top of.  So instead of creating individual blogs about all that has happened the last few months, I thought I’d just go ahead and to a brief flyover over some of the major things.  So strap yourselves in folks, here we go…

Jesenny Ulet/ Fall Retreat

About 40 students came to fall retreat

In mid-october, we had our annual Jesenny Ulet… Fall Retreat!  This is an event that many students look forward to.   This year, the retreat was near the beautiful Tatras mountains.  The Bratislava and Kosice teams brought around 40 students together for a weekend of fun, games, learning, growth, fellowship, and worship.  Some of our students brought their classmates who had never experienced anything like this before!  Many heard the gospel clearly presented for the first time by our speaker Mark Sanders.  The theme of Fall Retreat was “Satisfaction Guaranteed.”  Mark spoke to our group about how to have true satisfaction in success, in relationships, and in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Kosice team at Fall Retreat!

Halloween Party

At the end of October we threw a Halloween party to invite our Slovak students and friends to.   It was a fun time to just have fun and invite people into our lives.

Aaron and I were Mario and Luigi for Halloween

  Palacinky Party

We threw a Palacinkovica (a Slovak pancake party) at the Medical dormitories.  We wanted to do something that would attract students and give us some “face time” with new people in order to promote our English club.  The Lord truly answered this prayer as somewhere near 80-100 students flocked into our little room in the dorm to grab some palacinky!

Students flock to get palacinky (crepe-like pancake)

Our English Club at the Medical Dormitories

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 Story of the Soul

 

Mid- November we had a large Story of the Soul Outreach.  Story of the Soul is an interactive coffee house where you use art based around a theme to share the story of the gospel.  Our student leaders decided to do an outreach based on the theme of “friendship.”  We used personal stories and pictures, the theme song from “F.R.I.E.N.D.S.”, and a clip from “The Shawshank Redemption” to discuss questions based on the theme.  At the end of the program, Zuzka, one of our student leaders, shared her testimony about how she came to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, a friendship that will always last.

 

 

The goal of this STINT year is one in which we must depend on God; building a movement of Slovak believers who will carry out ministry after the Americans have gone.  Because this is the last year of STINT in Slovakia, we must think strategically of how we can successfully “pass the torch” of ministry to Slovak leadership.  This month, it has occurred to me over and over how God is blessing the ministry by giving us the foundations we need to see this ministry last.

Earlier this month, we launched a new Slovak student leadership team.  We are calling this small group of dedicated believers our Student Action Team.  Our vision is to train, equip, and model to them how to share their faith with their peers, and see them do it for a lifetime.  We are excited for the students that God has drawn to Himself through our ministry who have a heart to share the gospel!

Our first Student Action Team meeting. Pray for more student leaders to be developed by the end of the year!

In another exciting development, we have partnered with a church!  We are very excited for this.  Our vision is to see Slovaks become ministers for the gospel for a lifetime, and having a church body must be a foundational part of their life.  One church in town came to us and admitted that they had no outreach to college students, and they wanted us to come alongside them to be their extension of college ministry.  This church happens to be the same church where many of our students graduate and get plugged in, so we know their heart for evangelism.  They are providing us with a room and time once a month to hold a weekly meeting with an evanglistic focus, just for college students!  We have also talked with them about joining with us to put on some of our bigger evangelistic outreaches this year. 

Finally, as a team we realized if we want to see ministry last, evangelistic outreach must be a foundational aspect of what we do.  We have been in full-swing with some of our outreaches, such as our English Club in Presov.  There have been dozens of students that have come out to this meeting.  The students have a great time learning new phrases and words.  Meanwhile, our team gets to build relationships  with these students and will hopefully be able to share the gospel with them.

Stephanie, Lindsey, and Aaron teach a lesson at English Club in Presov.

 Part of the English Club time is spent in discussion groups.  During one discussion time on “cultural values,”  one student asked Aaron what he felt was the most important thing in his life.  Aaron was able to respond “Jesus Christ” and share why Jesus is the foundation of his life.  This led to even more questions and spiritual discussion that the whole group got to hear.  In another group, Slovak student believer Miska was able to share bits of her testimony about Christ in her life with the group.  It was exciting to see that our English Club was serving as a platform for the gospel.

Discussion groups are a fun part of English club that can open doors into the gospel

As I reflect on what God is doing, I see Him laying a great foundation for ministry.  We have a core leadership team, we have a church partnership, we have outreaches running, we have Bible studies.  Pray that these things would now allow us to share the gospel, see more people come to Christ, build students in their faith, and see students be sent out as lifelong laborers for Christ.

“The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

I have found this to be so true, especially when it concerns ministry.  No matter how prepared I may think I am, I must totally depend on what the LORD is doing and what His plans are.  Here are a couple examples…

* We recently launched a Bible study at Medicka, the Medical University.  However, our first Bible study was comprised of all international students!  We are thankful, because these students have six years of school here in Kosice.  What would happen if they caught a vision to reach Slovaks for Christ, then carried the gospel back to their own countries?  Although this is not at all what we were planning for (our lesson materials were even in Slovak!), we had a great time together and went through a lesson on how you can know you have eternal life (1 John 5:9-13).

The first Bible study at Medicka for this year. We had people from the Ukraine, Ireland, and Angola there!

* I recently shared my staff team how I was longing for the Lord to begin deeping some of my contacts, or at least have some of them respond.  That night, while awaiting for a tram to go to my apartment, two guys came up and said something in Slovak.  I replied “Som American.  Nie rozumiem” (I’m American.  I don’t understand).  To my surprise they said “Oh you speak English?  We are trying to get to the Technical University and need to know how.”  I told them this tram line ran to their University and found out they were first-year students.  We began to talk… and soon we were exchanging phone numbers!  They said they would love to practice their English together.  And because their tram did not come for 14 more minutes, I waited with them and talked about all sorts of things! 

There are more examples that I could give, but I praise the Lord for how He blows away our expectations and causes us to trust Him in ministry.

Playing host in my host country! Aaron invited Lukas and his girlfriend Ivana to our apartment for dinner one night. They have known American STINTers for awhile now, so pray that this year they would come to know Christ!

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

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.

Well we have arrived.  It’s hard to believe that I’ve been living in Slovakia for 16 days.  But the 2008-2009 STINT team has settled-in and we are already engaging in ministry.

For those who don’t know, the journey to go on STINT (which stands for Short Term International) is one that spans over five years.  I went on a summer project to Saratov, Russia when I was a junior at East Carolina University (go Pirates).  As I observed the life and growth of the STINT team serving in that location, I knew that one day I would love to go on a STINT.  I decided to become a full-time missionary with Campus Crusade for Christ and then worked at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.  Then last fall, new plans began to emerge.

I was fully enjoying the ministry at Marshall University.  However, I still longed to go overseas for longer than a summer.  I had been to Slovakia twice at this point on summer mission trips.  Then word came that this year would be the last year for STINT in Slovakia.  The ministry is at the point where the Slovaks will be running the ministry themselves in the near future.  I began to think, “How cool would it be to be on that last torch-passing team?”  And after lots of discussion, thought, and prayer, it became clear that now was the time to go.

So here I am.  I am serving on a team of nine people, and I’d love to introduce my teammates.

From left to right: Aaron Hassell, me, Lindsey Walton, Amber Bouchillon, Cindy Taylor, Mikey Taylor, and Stephanie Godfrey

 Aaron Hassell is a 2nd year STINTer from Clemson University, and he is my roommate.  Lindsey Walton is also a Clemson grad, and this is her second time to Slovakia.  She was on the 2006 Slovakia summer project that I was on.  Amber Bouchillon is a graduate of Clemson University, and has been to Slovakia a number of times already including a summer project I was on in 2006.  Cindy Taylor was a student at Marshall University who then joined full-time staff with CCC in Central KY.  Mikey Taylor is a University of Tennessee grad who served with me on staff at Marshall University before getting married to Cindy and being placed on the Central Kentucky Catalytic team.   Mikey and Cindy are also currently expecting their first child, due in April of this year.  Stephanie Godfrey graduated from Clemson U and then interned with CCC there last year.  She decided to do another year of internship on our team.  She was also on the 2006 Slovakia summer project.

 Rounding out the team are Biba Cziglerova who has been serving on staff here in Slovakia for a number of years.  She is a Slovak who came to Christ through the CCC ministry here.  She is co-leading the team with me.  Dara Adams is also a Slovak serving on our team and has been on staff in Slovakia for a few years as well.  Dara is married to Jeremy Adams, who is currently doing full-time language study as an American International Campus Staff (one who serves indefinitely in a foreign location).

As you can tell, we have a team that is very connected and fairly experienced.  We are anticipating that God will do great things through the ministry this year!

This is my apartment building

Every night the sun sets behind my balcony at my apartment.