the heartbeat

things in slovakia are still going great. thank you for your gracious prayers. we are nearing the end of our time here in košice and we are now exactly half way through the project, which is all together hard to believe. ministry has not been what we have expected at times. this week we were supposed to have anywhere from 40 to 100 high school students come to a program that we are hosting about transitioning from high school to college and misconceptions about america. on monday, however, we saw only 8 come out to the program, and we continue to pray for more and hope that they will invite their friends. we are having to think even more outside of the box of ways to reach students here in the city. most college students are in exams, or have gone to their village for the summer to study. exams are quite different here than in america. they may have one one week and then their next exam may be next month. they are a lot more spaced out and not really on any kind of specific schedule.
yesterday we saw the sun for the first time in two weeks. we caught word that it snowed in germany and italy this past weekend - and even in the tatras - which is pretty close to where we are! we have a week and half left here of high school ministry in kosice and then we travel to Prague and then Vienna to end the project. Tomorrow I am heading to Krakow and we are taking the night train which leaves at 11:27 tomorrow night and arrives at 5am. i am excited about going back to krakow and seeing things i've never seen before. last weekend we were in budapest, hungary and that was really fun. we got to explore castles, museums, and the city. i enjoyed the rich history that budapest has and am excited to learn more about the kings and rulers that once hailed in that city. it was a relaxing trip gearing us up for 2 more weeks of full on ministry in kosice.
personally, i can say that things are going really great. we are studying jonah and i have learned a lot about the Lord from this small 4 chapter book. we are studying the book through the inductive method looking closely for key words, common themes, and looking in depth to the 5w's and H. who, what when, where, why and how. i am greatly enjoying my time with the Lord and i'm finding that i am really meeting with Him. i am also really loving my relationships here with the students on project and getting to know the staff. i am definitely learning about dependence on the Lord and not a culture or any one person - but just on Him. it's been an awesome and humbling time to get to know part of His character even more.
i am getting over a cold today and i am thankful for that. please continue to pray for good weather, safe travel, against sickness, and for more ministry opportunities. i've taken almost 800 pictures and i'll try to figure out a good way to get those to you.