Our 10-day outreach to Slovenia was amazing. No… it was beyond amazing.
Even before we left we were praying a lot, the last week we would gathered every morning at 7am and prayed together as a team for 30min.
We left Vajta on Friday morning at 10.15 and went to a town where the train would be, it was an hour away. We said goodbye to the Croatia team that was waiting for their train and then our train came! It was so exciting! It was a 6 hour train ride but we had fun. We shared our testimonies and once we came to Slovenia, we started to see beautiful mountains and our outreach officially began.
Justin, Whitney and Eno came to pick us up to the train station and took us to the church where we stayed. They ordered pizzas for us and we hang out, talked, got to know each other for a bit and then hit it of to bed.
I wrote down everything we did day by day but it would take me forever to write that here so I’ll just tell you what all we did:
- we went street evangelizing in Velenje, Celje, Maribor, Sevnica and Ljubljana (we did our “set me free” skit in Ljubljana and Celje)
- we did some practical stuff around the church (painting, gardening)
- we were a part of a youth group
- we visited my church in Ljubljana and spent the night, hung out with my family for a bit
- we went sightseeing Ljubljana and Celje and saw their castles
- we went to a Bible study in Maribor
- we helped a couple from the church by cleaning their house in Razborje
- we went to a High School in Velenje (9 different classes) to tell them about English Camps
- we did a lot of fellowship with the church body and our team which was one of the best things ever
- we went to a park after the school was done and talked to youth
- we talked to 2 Mormon guys that we met
- we helped with Sunday School on Easter Sunday
- we went to retirement home to spend time with older people
and many more things.
As you can see, our schedule was busy but it was amazing. God’s been leading us and uniting us. We became a family and even though it was 11 of us on the team, we didn’t have any conflicts and any arguments. We split many times as a team but that didn’t affect our attitudes.
One of the things I loved the most was that we started every day by having our morning devotions and each of us shared one day. We covered 1 and 2 Corinthians and God spoke, not just through devotions, He was speaking the whole time.
He put Velenje on my heart in August when I met 4 girls from that town during the Performing Arts Camp. It was weird that I had it on my heart since I’ve never been there before but God took care of that during the 10-day. I went there on Saturday morning when we went street evangelizing and as soon as we came into the town, I felt at peace, you know, the peace you know it’s from God because He’s the only who can give you that kind of peace. I felt joyful, filled with the Spirit and so thankful I got to be there. Alex and I talked to one older lady that day and she was at a point where she almost accepted Jesus as her Savior. Her heart’s been hurt many times so she was still doubting but we gave her our contacts, in case she wants to know more or if she’d need help, a prayer…
I also went to Velenje on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, to talk to students about the English Camp. It was so amazing and I got to talk in front of each class about my experience of an English Camp when I was 15, and I talked in Slovene. I don’t know where the courage to talk in front of a class came from, but I wasn’t really nervous, I was excited!
One of my favorite memories is Sunday when we went to Ljubljana. My parents came to pick us up and prepared lunch for us and then took us to my church. What I didn’t know was that my sister was waiting for us there (she ate lunch with us and then made an excuse that she was meeting someone for coffee when she went to church). She wrote an email to Katka if she can be a part of a worship team as a surprise for me – it sure was a surprise!! When she got up there, I started sobbing because it meant so much to see her up there, singing worship songs! She stayed for the whole sermon and listened and the message David gave was perfect – Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. It was an amazing experience and I know that’s just one of the steps God’s doing in her life, I’m sure there’ll be much more to see.
Johnny came to talk to us on Saturday before we had our youth group and he briefly shared his and Brooke’s vision for the future. He talked about a bunch of things and one of them was what God’s been speaking to me for a couple of months now. God is amazing and it was awesome to see just another confirmation for His hand upon everything.
I got to talk to Johnny and Brooke about the coming summer and they offered me a position of internship in Celje. I had a lot of worries about it but once again, God is amazing! He planned out everything, of course, and all I had to say was “yes” :) It’s an amazing opportunity and it’s so hard for me to understand the love of God for me – I’m so unworthy of anything but He still blesses me in an incredible way. I guess I’ll fully understand His love for us when I see Him face to face, until then my heart will just stay grateful.
He showed me how amazing He is and He showed all of us how thirsty people in Slovenia are for God. They’re open and ready but there’s usually no one there to tell them about Jesus! I know God doesn’t need people to share the gospel, He can do it all on His own but He’s so gracious that He does choose us to work for Him and His glory!
I love the town of Celje, I love the church there and I love the people. You could sense the Holy Spirit working in them as a body of Christ and it was amazing to be a part of that with our team.
God is good and He is real, and no one can convince me otherwise. He personally revealed Himself to me and I can see Him all around.
If you don’t know Him yet, open your heart for Him and He’ll open your eyes so you’ll be able to see Him as well :)
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