The History Makers

I was invited to join a conference for young leaders of Slovenia, called The History Makers. The conference lasted 6 days and we talked about our relationship with God and all the important parts of it in our lives (integrity, intimacy with God, stewardship of different things…). ILI team (International Leadership Institute) has been equipping young leaders all over the world for years and this was their first time in Slovenia.

It was an intense conference and I have to admit that it was hard to sit still and 'study' for hours every day, especially after such a busy summer, but I got so much out of it. We had prayer teams where we prayed for one another; we had alone time with God where we sought His call for our lives and asked to give us a vision; we had free time where we played board games :) ...

It was really good to be reminded of all the core things of our walk with the Lord, and it's good to be equipped with all the material they presented to us so we can share it and be leaders who make leaders for the Lord. Ultimately, that is their vision, and it's ours too.

Performing Arts Camp 2014 - Fearless

PA Camp has been a highlight of my summer for the past 5 years. The schedule of the camp is not that different than an English Camp schedule; instead of English classes we have choir and dance practices. Instead of crazy games in the afternoon we have different workshops. Evening program is very similar to other camps, as are late nights as well.
But there is one difference, a really big one too. At PA Camp we all work together towards a goal - to put together a show of singing, dancing, acting and playing instruments, in just 8 days. We sweat together, laugh together, sometimes even cry together; when we are discouraged, we encourage each other, practice the dance routine outside of practice... and we do it all TOGETHER. It's such an amazing experience that by the end of the week, when it's time to say goodbye, most of us cry when it's time to say goodbye, even if we know we'll see each other again.

This year's theme was FEARLESS. When I visited US this past winter, I visited Modesto, CA which is where most of the people from PA Camp US team come from. They took me to see San Francisco one day, and on our drive back Lin, Deb, Chloe and I started talking about recent struggles we've had in our lives, and we realized they were mostly connected to fear. As we talked about upcoming PA Camp, Lin suggested that Fearless could be this year's camp theme. A couple of weeks later that was confirmed by all the directors of camp. 

The whole show was putting together a message that we don't have to be afraid because God is with us. We are His children and He takes care of us.

We had 5 people coming from Kocevje, including me, and it was a really good time of connecting in a different way. 4 of us were in the band workshop, and another girl was in a singing workshop. She didn't know any of us but she came to camp because it seemed interesting. Such courage! :) She is such a joyful person, always smiling and encouraging others.

Band worskhop

All people in black on the picture are from Kocevje :) 

God spoke to me a lot about my fear in life during camp. Fear used to control my life in a really big way. I didn't know that until my spiritual eyes opened when I accepted Jesus into my life. When that happened, God even gave me a life verse (He knows me so well...): "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." - Isaiah 41:10

Andrea (an extended intern who's my roommate until December) and I just recently wrote down our fears and then next to them wrote down the truth from the Bible (so any kind of verse that talks about that fear and pretty much kills it). We will return to it every time any of those fears comes up and be reminded of God's truth. Fear doesn't come from God and we need to keep our eyes focused on Him!

I hope I can be a part of next year's camp as well... I really feel like I come alive there, I can really be myself, and I love seeing how our youth comes alive and flourishes!

At the American Ambassador's house. He's been inviting us for a picnic for 3 years in a row! :) Such a privilege! And I will never say no to eating American food :)

KRIZ

KRIZ is one of the most intense and challenging Theology trainings I've ever been to, and I absolutely love it!

This was my 4th summer doing Kriz. It's a 2~year Theology program we have in Slovenia, non~credited, where we read through the whole Bible together, we meet 4 weekends during the year and we meet for 2 weeks during the summer, up in the Slovene mountains, and study the Bible.
This year was the most challenging because we were talking about our hearts and where we get Identity, Love, Pleasure and Place. We ultimately need it from God, our Father, but we too often look for it in other people, in places, in activities, in relationships… When we only need to look up to Him.

Ana and I have been in a core group for 2 years and we graduated together this summer. We have been encouraging and challenging each other, praying for one another, laughing and crying… it's been an amazing journey and even though we officially finished Kriz program and we're not in a core group anymore, we are. We will always be. I love it when God creates such good + deep friendships! Though Ana is more than a friend to me; she's my sister, and not just in Christ. 

I love this group of people!! :)

Adventure Camp in Bovec

We had our first High School camp in Kocevje this year, and it was an Adventure camp in Bovec. That's a beautiful town in the North West of Slovenia, surrounded by mountains, and it's not super crowded with tourists yet. It's a hidden gem of Slovenia :)

We went camping and had 4 days of rain which wasn't fun, but now we have some funny and interesting stories to tell :) It was stretchy though. God answered our prayers for unity and I think we all learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

There were 9 of us total (5 Slovenes, 3 Americans). We did different activities (rafting, paintball, hiking, sightseeing, waterfalls…) and had a lot of fun. We cooked for ourselves in a small kitchen at our campsite and lived as a big family. It was one of the best camps I've ever been to! :)

Beginning of summer: Junior High English Camp 2014 ~ Upside Down

This summer has been the busiest summer I've ever had! But it has also been the best summer I've ever had! :)

We had our Junior High camp at the end of June, and it was a great camp! We had 47 campers (last year we had 70) and God answered one of my personal prayers that I would have more time to build relationships with students. I was actually able to sit down with them and play cards, do crafts and talk.

We had English classes in the morning, then lunch, afternoon activities (sports, slip'n'slide, paintball…), dinner, camp dance, songs with motions, evening program (we talked about the Upside Down Kingdom of God), discussion groups and then a late night party (Christmas in June, Minute to Win it games, camp fire…).

My friend Andrea put this video together; it captures our camp very well :)

A gracious answer

We all know God hears our prayers, all of them, no matter how long or short they are. He hears them. But we often don't feel like He does because nothing major happens; there's no lightning coming down from the sky, there's no visible sign of it… and sometimes we don't see His answer for a long time.

In summer 2011 I was doubting God's love for me. I was only a Christian for a good year and I was a summer intern with Josiah Venture in Celje, a city I didn't know. It was a hard summer and my doubt didn't help the struggles. I prayed a prayer I don't often pray, and said, "God, can you please show me your love for me? Can you show me you love me?" My motives weren't entirely right because I kind of tested God. I said, "If you give me a black lilly, I'll know you love me." I didn't know black lilies exist (they do) so I was thinking God will never be able to show me a black lilly.
I came to my parents house a couple of weeks later, said hi to my mom, and then stopped in shock. There it was, a black lilly on our table. My mom came to me and said, "Do you like it? I got it at out garden." The lilly had 3 flowers on it (it reminded me of the Trinity) and it was beautiful. As "hard" as it was for me to think God could give me a black lilly and as wrong as my motives were in asking Him to do this for me, God provided the flower to show me just how much He loves me!

God gave me a big promise in December, something that's very important to me. A lot of stuff happened in the past few months that made me start questioning if that promise really was from God or if I just made it up. I remembered the prayer from 2011 and decided to ask God to confirm His promise to me, if it was from Him, with a rainbow. I continued with my day, forgetting what I prayed for.
It was Friday so we had our Junior High youth group in the evening. I drove the kids home afterwards, it was 8:20pm. We were driving towards Kocevje and there was a small patch of forest before us. We drove past it and there was this huge rainbow in the sky! :)
I got tears in my eyes and I explained to the girls how just 4 hours before that I prayed that God would show me a rainbow and confirm His promise to me, and He did! He did it when it was almost night, it was raining most of the day, and he did it in just those 10min when I was outside and was actually able to see it! Oh, how amazing, loving, gracious and good God we have! He didn't have to answer my prayer, but He did, by His grace. I feel loved and seen, and God confirmed something that means a lot to me!

Oh, what a day… :)

Christena and I have become really good friends in the past year. In fact, she is my best friend here in Slovenia. Friendship with her was given to me as a gift from God. She challenges me, makes me laugh, speaks honestly with me, shares her heart with me, listens to me, and even though she's not a crying kind a person, she cries with me sometimes.

With the busy schedule that we have, we don't get to spend much quality time together, though we see each other almost every day. That's why we decided to take a full day off, just the two of us :) Shawn was taking care of the kiddos and we were able to really spend good time with one another.

We went to downtown Ljubljana. Christena's lived in Slovenia for over 2 years now but never really got to tour Ljubljana and see all the cool and special places. So, I took her on a quick tour of Ljubljana through my eyes :) We ate lunch at Paninoteka where they have delicious sandwiches, we went to Cacao for the yummiest ice cream in the world (flavors we had: muffin, sacher cake, mango) and then we visited my family at their garden. Sweet time.

We were leaving my parents around 5:30pm. It was still kind of early to go home but we didn't really have much to do on a Sunday afternoon (most stores were closed).
I came up with the idea, and I said it out loud more as a joke than anything else, but Christena got really excited! I asked her, "Do you want to go to Piran?" (Piran is my favorite town in Slovenia. It's on the coast and it's beauuuuutiful. I've been telling Christena about it ever since we met, and she hasn't gone there yet because she wanted me to take her.)

We weren't lucky enough to see Piran in the sun… :)

So, off we were, at almost 6pm :) it's a good hour drive to get there and the weather wasn't looking good. We prayed and the more we went towards the coast, the clearer the sky was. Oh, is God good! :)

We got there, parked our car and RAN to the town! The wind was blowing but it was so warm, we were in our short sleeves.

I took her to my favorite coffee shop, showed her my favorite jewelry shop, took her to the church on top of the hill (you see Croatia on the left and Italy on the right) and then we walked back to the car. It was a short visit but it was a perfect day to walk on the beach, to be goofy and crazy, not worrying about life and the summer and everything else. We were really able to relax and enjoy the beautiful creation of God.

We ended the day with a really delicious pizza with sea fruits and looots of garlic on it :)

It was around 9:30pm when we headed back home. We were just about to leave the parking lot when the wind blew soooo harsh it almost moved the whole car. We saw lightning everywhere, and then the rain came. Oh… we knew we were headed into a fun storm.

We started driving and saw a really bad car accident. We were there just seconds after it happened and it seemed like a man was lying on the road. Crazy!
The lightning was EVERYWHERE, it was raining so hard I couldn't see a thing, and there were many cars on the road. We were praying like crazy!
We were on the highway where the speed limit is 130km/h and I was driving 60km/h, sometimes 80km/h. The lighting was striking all around us, sometimes really close to us. Christena said she bit her whole lip from being so scared of the drive back. She wasn't the only one…

So, we're driving towards Ljubljana, and we notice something white on the road. We were thinking, "Oh, it's probably hail…" but it was too white and it wasn't just on the side of the road but on the road too… and then we realized it wasn't hail but snow! It was May 11th, and we were in a snow storm! There was 0ºC outside, freezing; no wonder there was snow! We were caught in a snow storm 15min outside of Kocevje, too!

I spent the night at Shawn and Christena's, too scared to drive home, and full of adrenaline from the ride home.

It was a really crazy day yesterday but at the same time such an amazing day, full of adventures and spontaneous decisions. Christena sure does challenge me ;)