Of Camping and Cornfields

Okay, so I have a lot of blogging to catch up on, and this cornfield just outside village limits seemed the perfect place to do it. We have more morning personal time today, but I’m simply not built to spend that long in the house if at all possible—especially in a country like this. Thus, this morning saw me sneak out of the building with my laptop and a handful of European chocolates stashed in my DIY backpack, bound for where I now sit typing on the ground, a few meters deep into an ocean of high green stalks. Looking up, I can just see patches of blue-and-clouded mixed sky between their distinctive narrow leaves. But back to the point of this exercise: writing about our two-day excursion to a young adult camp last week: 

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Our beloved cube van—which we have since named the Canadian Mule—set out through the beautiful familiar farmland of Slovenia, past some of the same villages, hills and steeples we met on the way to Ptuj, to arrive at a hilltop camp facilities overlooking an incredible vista of rolling countryside. The lush green forested hills mixed with scattered fields of corn and pumpkin almost reminded me of the splendour of Western Uganda—except for the white-walled, red-roofed European village buildings smattered throughout the scene.

The morning was spent meeting Slovenian friends, attending a Bible teaching session and team meeting, and gathering for lunch. Everyone then set out for a nearby lake and “Adrenaline Park,” which turned out to be a really cool treetop ropes/zipline course much like one I’d encountered with my youth group in BC last autumn. 

After challenging the wires, nets, bridges, ladders, suspended disks and other obstacles, we descended from our lofty jungle adventure world and assembled together for a BBQ picnic dinner, Slovenian-style: with lots and lots of meat. A rather dramatic storm soon developed, rendering me engulfed in huddle of squealing picnickers beneath the shelter where we were eating, watching lightning flashing, tree branches falling amidst bouncing hailstones, and rain blowing in so hard that someone commented “we’re at the ocean!”

Back at the camp facilities, our Canadian team led an evening service and hosted a late night Canadian-themed pancake party, complete with “maple syrup” and a province-by-province presentation of our country. We spent the night at the camp facilities, and the next morning helped provide music for a praise-and-worship workshop taught by Dr. Paulson. What an incredible service that turned out to be, watching from the stage as many people in the audience encountered the Holy Spirit while they worshiped. In fact, getting everyone to actually leave the service and head for the scheduled lunch was almost like pulling teeth! A similar touching service happened later that night, which we also had the privilege of helping to lead. In between services, I enjoyed exploring some of the neighbouring countryside with some new Slovenian friends, finding a cool sculpture in a nearby village with them, learning how to count to 10 in Slovenian, and eating some really great ice cream while watching a foozeball tournament. I even played a little myself, later that night, and heard a really cool testimony from one of the people who beat me. All in all, I’d say it was a pretty fantastic week. Thank you for your continued prayer and support as we enter our last week of ministry.