Onward to Slovenia

It's another quiet night in the little village of Gorica, in Slovenia. Only the hum of some distant highway, the whistling of night insects and the clacking of my keyboard can be heard on this balcony, where I'm writing in view of the first stars.

Ptuj, Slovenia

Fields surrounding our village

This is our fourth night here in Slovenia, and what a time it's been! From helping with four services held everywhere from a hotel in the oldest city of Slovenia to a tent at a Roma community...to trying lots of traditional food...to exploring neighboring villages solo on foot...the past few days have brought forth a host of exciting stories to tell.


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Narrow Slovenian road

It all began Saturday night with the pizza party in a church parking lot. We kicked off our time in Slovenia there, meeting the people who would be working with us, to chat, to plan and of course to walk the short distance to town for some amazing Slovenian ice cream. Sunday morning we Canadians split up our team to go to two separate churches to help with the services, at which one of the highlights for me was singing the song 10,000 Reasons in Slovenian.

Ptuj, Slovenia with my best bro! We don't really share an arm!

Later that night we all piled into our big rented 9-passenger cube van and headed out through the cornfields and woodlands, past historic farmhouses and beneath ancient steeples (one of which was more than 1000 years old) to arrive at Ptuj (pronounced pee-TOO-ee), Slovenia's oldest town. With narrow streets full of red-tiled, sloping-roofed houses, quintessential bright geraniums in the square upper windows, and an immense white castle on the highest point in town, Ptuj is the epitome of everything a European village ought to be...

Traditional Slovenian lunch on Monday included schnitzel, salad topped with some kind of amazing pumpkin seed oil made by many farmers here, and some kind of potato.

Grapevine roofs are common on outdoor shelters

There, we were guest speakers/performers (both of music and drama) for a special service that night at a church plant which meets in a hotel. After an amazing potluck supper of Slovenian-style finger food, we left the hotel to visit the 200-year-old building being renovated for the new church.

What it was like - singing 10,000 Reasons with the team again in that majestic old building, this time in English four-part a cappella harmony - is something I never want to forget.

The next day, Monday, was our first team day: a time to debrief from Slovakia, relax and switch gears for Slovenia. After spending most of the day at a water park - at which Jonathan bribed Dr. Paulson, to go down the rather exhilarating upside-down looping water slide, much to our enjoyment!

We headed out to a Roma community for an evening of kids' ministry. After some games, songs and a mainly improvised dramatic telling of the David and Goliath story - which most of the kids there had never, ever heard - we completely ran out of things to do! (It took me back to Uganda - I couldn't help reminiscing about improvising kids' ministry for two hours under that avocado tree.) Thus, I pulled out a little ventriloquism sketch I'd used before for a youth group to fill some time while the others planned another set of songs to sing, followed by a lively game of "football". Since I harbour a long-instilled phobia of projectiles, I happily steered clear of the soccer ball and choreographed a "Go Canada!" cheer with the team of little girls on the sidelines.

Bright house & garden

Today (Tuesday), we returned to the Roma community for an adult service in the morning and another round of action-packed kids' ministry in the evening. Between lunch and evening kids' ministry on Monday we all had an hour to spend as individuals, so I struck out excitedly on foot to see if I could reach the next village. A new Slovenian friend had told me which direction to go, and sure enough, after about 15 minutes of walking along the countryside road, a new yellow road sign - the kind you see in front of every Slovenian village - came into view announcing my arrival in… well, I can't pronounce or spell the name of the place. But it was a really cool little village, with beautiful old houses, bright gardens, a tiny church and even a little cemetery on the hill to explore, with a view of the farmland below.

Cemetery on a slope which overlooks the village I walked to

Wee church in the next village I walked to

But the fun wasn't over yet. An evening of kids' ministry still lay ahead, filled with everything from a water balloon fight to a candy toss. I even had the privilege of telling the creation-to-cross story with string figures again! And yes, one little girl said "yes" to the message we shared :-) What an amazing night. God is really doing some incredible things in the Roma communities. We are hearing testimonies of healings, witnessing the light of Christ in the faces of people set free from addiction and abuse, and listening to amazing stories of lives being changed in something of a revival stirring among this people group. Our team leader was told by the parents that a child who died from drowning was brought to life again four days ago by his grandmother in the name of Jesus. The parents are now believers!

These are things that may seem extraordinary in our normal school-work-coffee break routines in Canada, where concepts considered religious tend to be shuffled away under the politically-correct carpet of noncommittal humanism and hidden from sight. But even though the communities here seem to be more sensitive to a spirituality which is based on their long-held mix-and-match religious traditions and even superstitions, God is still God wherever one is in the world, whether a coffeehouse in Canada or a Roma Village in Slovenia. And He still wants to move. To heal. To change lives.

We deeply appreciate your continued prayer, especially as the spiritual attacks seem to be heating up right now as fatigue, sicknesses and the emotional intensity of ministry continue to set in amongst the team. But in all these things, as Paul said, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. And we are confident that He will have the victory in everything, completing the work He has begun in these nations.