A good and busy week.

Last week was a busy week but  a resting week at the same time. CEF workers from Slovenia went to Hungary for the conference of CEF Central Europe. Around 180 people came and it was great and amazing to see and hear how CEF works, to meet the president of CEF for Central Europe, the president of CEF for Europe and the president of the whole CEF! The gave us a beautiful presentation/report of how CEF is working, which countries and how many are left. Each central Europe country also told about their ministry and how Good News Clubs and Camps are going.
Our team was quite big - my pastor Zvonko and his wife Dubravka, Metka (my mentor), Alenka, an older lady that helps as a volunteer in CEF, and me from Ljubljana - but another CEF worker Tončka came (she works in Murska Sobota) and she brought another girl , Petra, that's interested in working with CEF. Our team was really united and we had a lot of fun getting to know each other and enjoying our company. We played cards every evening, until midnight!

We only stayed at the conference for 4 days, returned home at 1am and continued our way at 9am next morning, going to Crikvenica, Croatia for our church retreat. We spent 3 days there and we had 150 people from Ljubljana, Radovljica and Kočevje church! We've never had that many people before but it was great! The weather was beautiful and it was really warm. We also had 5 baptisms in the sea, all young people. The theme of the retreat was "Does God still speak?" and Josh was the speaker. Great stuff! And God still does speak! :)

It was a pretty rough week for me because God was stirring up some things. It was phisically good but spiritually heavy. It was a good ending, though. God is faithful and mighty, and He never leaves us.

We're finishing our Good News Clubs and Youth Groups slowly and promoting English Camps big time. We're also preparing Camps. We'll be in the ZOO tomorrow, all day, promoting kids camps. It'll be so much fun! 8 of us will be dressed in fairytale characters - I'll be a ladybug. Hm. Is a ladybug in any of the fairytales? Hm...
I'll post pics soon! :)

New ministry?

A good week ago I talked to one of my friends about prison ministry and how I saw it in other countries but not in ours. I don't even think it's possible to openly do ministry in prison in Slovenia but I never really asked.

This week's Bible Read Through was book of Luke and Acts, and I read Acts in one sit. This was my second time reading Acts; the first time was when I was a 6-month old believer, not knowing anything about the Bible or missions. My view of the book "slightly" changed, if I can put it like that. It was so easy to read it in one take, I loved it! God spoke to me through it and really fired me up for missions again and not just missions in the world but even ministry in Slovenia.

You see a lot of prison ministry in the book of Acts. I started thinking "what crime would get me to prison that I wouldn't hurt myself or anyone else?" Now, I don't want to go to prison but it was a thought. It would be the most natural way to preach the gospel in the prison.
I put the thought aside and went on the bus to the Bible Study. On my way I saw a commercial on the bus, saying "looking for volunteer work? Join us in women's prison to do different workshops, sports... with women there." I just smiled :)

God really put it on my heart to do it. I wrote to the organization, asking for more details, and I started praying that if God would like me to become friends with prisoners, I need to find time. I don't have a lot since my schedule is pretty much booked all week. But nothing is impossible with God! :)

Would you pray with me about this amazing opportunity? I'm super excited and would love to see things move :)

He's got it.

I've had a priviledge to stay in my friend Metka's house for 2 weeks while she went to the States. I had a lot of time for myself, to read my Bible, to gather my thoughts, to listen to sermons, to listen to worship music, to cook and bake which I LOVE and to just feel free and independent. Living with my parents is ok but it's pretty much time for me to slowly move out and live my own life.
I've been reading Luke in the past 2 days and God really spoke to me through verses that have always stood out to me:

"Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

   “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well." - Luke 12:22-31

God just reminded me how I don't trust Him even though I've always had everything I needed AND more, yet... I want to have things under control, I want to figure things out, I want to worry and I keep worrying. What did God say? 

"Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?"

He worries for me, I don't have to. It's a good but hard lesson to learn, that's for sure. But it's so crucial and important because if I ever want to be in ministry, I'm going to have to trust God. Even if I won't be in ministry, I'll have to learn how to trust Him. Why would I want to worry when He's got it? 
It's better for me to learn this now than later, even though I think I'll be learning this lesson my whole life. Yet He is so faithful and so patient... and so loving.
Thank you, Lord!

The End Times

I watched the video about the end times this morning and it kind of scared me. I know we're very near the end even though it could be 50 or 100 years before Jesus returns... but it scares me when I hear all that's going on in the world, all the preparation for the antichrist and prophecies being fulfilled. We really are near the end and it's so important we're ready for everything that's going to happen. A lot of times I think "Hm... I wonder what God is preparing me for" and in my head is marriage, family... and I think that's true, but I also think He's preparing us all for the end times - knowing what we believe in and why we believe it, knowing the Scripture and the truth about Him...

In The Land of Blood and Honey

I recently watched this movie, written and produced by Angelina Jolie. I heard she was interested in making a movie that would take a scene in Bosnia but I didn't know it'll come out so soon.

The movie is placed in Bosnia from 1992 to 1995. There's a war between Bosnians and Muslims, I'm not sure if Serbians are in between somewhere. Their war started a year after war stopped in Slovenia, a year after Slovenia became an independent country and wasn't under Yugoslavia anymore.

I was 3 years old when war in Bosnia started.

I heard about it as a kid... we would be driving to the seaside in the summer and would drive through Croatia. We were sometimes close to the border with Bosnia and you could see wholes of bullets in the houses, different kinds of buildings... and my parents told me about it. I don't remember much, I was too young, but I remember seeing those buildings, imagining how it was for them.

This movie really gives you a picture what people had to go through. It shows more women than man, and their pain... and it makes me say "Thank you, God, for finishing war in Slovenia!" I was 2 years old when Slovenia became a republic, and 3 when war in Bosnia started. It didn't effect Slovenia and I'm so thankful for it. I can't imagine how it would be for us to go through what Bosnians and Serbians had to go through. It makes me thank the Lord for freedom, for what I have right now, for all He's given me. I went through some hard things in my life but I don't think they can compare to pain, fear and horrible memories people who were in war have.. including my parents! They weren't in the war itself but they were in the process of Slovenia becoming a republic, of different nations, of struggles, of fighting.. Can you imagine all of that? Can you imagine that war is still going on? People in Iraq and Iran...

It was a great movie with horrible things shown but it helped me realize what my life looks like and how easy it is.

Thank you, Lord, for my life.

Busy and blessed March

This month has been a month of many open doors, new opportunities and new challenges. And the month is not over yet!

2 weeks ago we started our first Junior High meeting in Kočevje. 3 teenagers came and another one at the end, and we had a lot of fun. We played some games, ate brownies and talked about how God views them now when they aren't kids anymore but teenagers. We read Jeremiah 1:4-10 and talked about how God is the one that sends us even if we think we're just kids or if we think we're not old enough to do certain things - God is the one that judges who does what, and when He sends us, He makes it happen.

1 week ago we started our first Junior High meeting for girls in Ljubljana, only that there weren't just girls but actually 5 boys and 3 girls!! It just so happenned that the invitations were sent to all the Junior High kids who've been going to Kids Camps over the past 8 years and so Metka (my mentor) and I rearranged some things and were ready for whatever and whoever. It was amazing and the kids had so much fun! We played some ice breakers and then had a lesson on why are we on earth (I connected it with a story of a butterfly that CEF uses) and then we played some competitive games with marshmellows (of course they all love eating marshmellows :)

This week we met with Kočevje teenagers again and 5 of them came. For both groups I bring a box where they can put questions in, and then I write a lesson that answers that question and we talk about it. One of the question they asked was "How do you recognize a true friend?". It was an interesting process of me writing the lesson and thinking about it because God taught me a lot through it. It was a good debate with teenagers and I think they really enjoyed it.
2 hours later Metka and I were in Ljubljana, ready for the Ljubljana Junior High. This week we went bowling. 6 boys and 5 girls came - woohoo! We connected, laughed a lot, had so much fun and Ithink we really hit it off! After I went home, I felt so blessed because I see the next generation in these kids - all of them! They are amazing and God really put them on my heart. I love investing in them, going through this process of growing up with them and observing how they're growing and becoming older. I just met this group and I already feel attached to them. They accepted me and I can't wait to meet with them again.

After bowling we went to McDonalds and drove cars... loved it! :)

Over all, God is working in Slovenia and He really openned my eyes to see that. He's been blessing me with many different things and I've been so overwhelmed by His love in the past couple of days that I can't describe it. On top of it, I was able to see Miha (a friend from my church) and some other schoolmates from Bible College today. They came to church in Radovljica and it was so good to see them, hear how the semester is going and see their faces again. I know I'll see Miha again but others are Americans and you never know when's the last time you see each other.

Thank you for all of your prayers and support. Please be praying for these teenagers, our next generation of leaders. God is working amazing things in their hearts.

New beginnings

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I got back home. Time is running fast and sometimes that can even be a good thing.

I felt really lost when I came back home because I had absolutely no idea what to do with my life now. I talked to leaders here and they had some ideas to pray about, and I did. 3 weeks, and nothing changed. And then my birthday came at the beginning of January. I was praying on that day and was just crying to God, asking Him for a gift for my birthday. I asked Him to give me a vision, an idea, a dream, a Word... anything about my future. I needed something and I was pretty desperate.
Next day I met with my pastor and his wife to talk about my time at Bible College, about my plans for now and how I'm doing. I told them I was thinking of helping a Junior High group in Ljubljana, kind of stepping out in faith. They said they heard about that and that they have a need in Kočevje (an hour away from Ljubljana) with a group of Junior High kids, and they were wondering if I was up for taking that group. I told them I'd pray about it and let them know. God didn't speak about it to me but He didn't have to. He told me before I came home that I need to step out in faith. I didn't know what that means but He clearly opened the door for me to step out in faith, and I did. 2 months later I work with Junior High kids in Kočevje, Junior High kids in Ljubljana and Junior High girls (a seperate group) in Ljubljana. I also work with kids in Sunday School in Radovljica, an hour away from Ljubljana (where there was recently a church plant), and I help with Sunday School in my church.

God opened the door for me to try different ministries and to step out and see what I want to do. My pastor and his wife work with a Child Evangelism Organization (CEF) and they took me on board. I'll be going to a CEF conference with them, meeting people from all over the world who work for the organization and I've been given an amazing gift from God. I only obligated or agreed to do this until September because I really feel like September is going to be some kind of a turning point for me. I'll either go and study to be a Preschool teacher or I'll go to something else God calls me to; maybe full time ministry, maybe He'll provide a job and I'll do some ministry alongside of that... I don't know. But I know where He called me today and tomorrow and until September. I don't have to know about the future; He does.

February was an interesting month. Metka is my mentor and a full time missionary. She also works with CEF and I go with her to most events and to one of the Good News clubs she has for kids. I'm learning a lot. We were doing a lot of promoting during the school holidays and it was just around Pust (which is like Halloween in the States). Metka, Dubravka (pastor's wife) and me dressed up and went on the streets of Kočevje to promote the show with clowns that came from Croatia. It was a lot of fun and we had some good times.

March is going to be busier than I thought it will be, but in a good way. It's spring, it's getting warmer and I'm excited for all the new adventures God is taking me on. It's usually a bumpy ride but it's always a safe one.