cau

here it is. we have officially been here a week. i have decided to check email and blog only once a week. things here are going great, except for one really rainy and cold day that we had yesterday. we have been on campus for 3 days now at mediska (the medical school) meeting students and asking them questions about spiritual things. most have never heard or thought about what happens after death and therefore have not really considered what life really means. me and the girls in my group; sarah, lindsey, stephanie, ashley, and elizabeth as well as two stinters Stacy and Meg have had the opportunity to meet students and share with them about what we believe and why we traveled over three thousand miles to share that with them. the spiritual climate here is much different than america. most people in america have heard the name of Jesus at one time or another - many are jaded by the church, or have had a bad experience with a Christian and the struggle is getting them to come back - to truth. however, most here have been jaded by communism and there is not a need to get better - because everyone is the same - there is no striving. a better life is almost out of the question - and then we walk into their lives - into their story of what is already going on - and we share with them these things about grace, truth, faith, and Jesus - and it's all very brand new. it takes time. it is definitely a process. we need to pray that long termers will be raised up to live here and walk with these slovaks through life and on the path towards knowing Christ personally. all of which we take so for granted in america.
things here are great, we are living at a hostel pretty close to the main street. we have breakfast and dinner provided at the hotel and then we go to main street to find lunch. i am finding that i really love it here, more and more. i am praying for the Lord to increase my heart for the slovaks so that i will love them out of a genuine heart and have compassion on them to know Christ. this is not of myself, so that i cannot boast. that's the power of grace.
we are studying Jonah and it's really rich. we had our first bible study yesterday and i really learned a lot. last night we went to see the da vinci code and brought slovak students that we have met on campus these first few days with us. we did not have any come from our campus because they are in exams right now - and medical school exams are pretty tough as you might imagine. several other schools had students come and they will be getting into more conversations today about God and what was true in that movie if anything. obviously the movie is fiction and we are not basing anything on it, rather, we are hoping to open up different conversations about truth and things that many people have not even considered.
oh. you'll love this. there is a guy here that is taking massive amounts of pictures. i am pretty sure the total is over 1000 at this point and he has taken the time to put around 300 of those on his website. so enjoy these! :)