Goose-Ducks?!

No, I certainly did NOT mean "half moose half duck" Although that would be interesting beyond anything we have seen here so far!

Well, I'm finally gettign around to posting about the Goose-ducks and chickens. They arrived a little over a month ago.


there are 5 "Goose-Ducks" (everyone swears they are really half Goose half Duck, but I'm still suspicious that they are just messing with the Americans. I am simply not convinced about their parentage, they look just like normal ducklings to me.

I don't have a more recent photo, but they are getting a lot bigger and have real feathers now.


There are 5 chickens with Ugly heads and 10 chickens that look like I think chickens should look. 2 of them are roosters, as near as I an figure.

I still do not know anything about chickens, But it is my job to close their little door at night so that the foxes don't get them. the chickens put themselves to bed, but I have to chase the Goose-Ducks pretty often. It is kind of funny since they can't see the door in the dark and they run into the wall as often as not trying to get in.

It is also my job to open the door in the morning and make sure they have food and water. I am not sure why any of this is my job. But, no matter what our job descriptions say we are here to serve however YFC can use us. Even if it means putting chickens and Mutant Goose-Ducks to bed and taking them water 4 times a day.

Thank you for Praying for Mobilization weekend. It was a good weekend and many people committed to pray daily for the speakers and bands and volunteers who will be at CampFest. We had excellent speakers and got a taste of what CampFest will be all about. The theme this year in "VIP - Vyplv Informacia Premena" Translated it works out to something like "Influential Information for Change". The idea is that the Information from God's word is powerful and we can be part of that. It was also encouraging to hear from people all across Slovakia about what God is doing in their town and region and to pray with and for them.

We are still waiting for our visas. We have been here 2 months now and have another month left on our 90 day visa. We are praying and trusting that God will open doors and clear the way through the bureaucracy. We still need to get our medical clearance and we are not entirely sure that there is not some missing paper that someone will tell us about. This is a difficult process especially in a foreign language and we appreciate your prayers.

We have continued to take language lessons 3 times a week. Slovak is a difficult language and we could probably study for years and still be scratching our heads occasionally. We are definitely making progress though. We can now use the past and future tenses and we are working on using the possessive. It is not a matter of a simple 's like in English, there are SIX possible ending to show possession depending on wether the possessor and possession are Male, female or neuter. In spite of his insistance that the Slovak language was designed to discourage foreigners, our language teacher complimented Micah on making drastic progress in the past 2 months.

The Lipovsky family (Marian, the national director with his wife and 2 kids) will be moving to the Ranch in September. They are planning to build a house but until that is finished they will be living in one of the cottages here at the Ranch. We are making some renovations to cottage #2 before they come, installing a small kitchen, dividing the upstairs into two bedrooms, relocating the steps and something about moving an exterior wall! Micah has been working hard along with others to make sure that it will be ready for them. My part in the "we are making renovations" has been to photograph the process :)

This past weekend we drove to Kosice to visit with our friends the O'Connells before they return to the US later this week. We had a good time visiting and helping them pack. We also helped by taking a few items like pots, picture frames, some books and a vacuum that would not fit in their suitcases. the vacuum is bright yellow and it makes me happy to sweep, Micah likes it too. We will miss having the O'Connells in Slovakia. If you think of it please pray for them (Jeff, Andrea, Will 6, and Jon 4) as they fly on Thursday and transition to what God has next for their family.

We can never tell you how much your prayers and support mean to us here in Slovakia. We had some rough days last week and know that your prayers helped us to get us through. Thank you!

We have been keeping busy here. We are still adjusting to life in a different culture and appreciate your prayers.

Last week a huge load of wood was delivered and Micah has been busy ever since chopping the logs into firewood for the furnace. He has also been working to get the grass mowed even though the belt on the mower keeps breaking (twice in one week!). I finished the first of the videos from last years campfest. I have a few changes to make,but it is essentially finished.I had the chance to sit down last Friday and brainstorm with Marian and Simon about ways to use media more effectively at CampFest.

Last week was Micah's birthday. Simon and Lubo also had birthdays. It was fun to celebrate all together.

I baked a tri-lingual cake and Simon gave Lubo and Micah water guns; I think they will really enjoy those this summer. There was also lots of pizza and sweetened condensed milk in a tube fore everyone.Do we know how to party or what!

Last weekend was the Crown financial seminar here at the Ranch.

In Slovakia there has been very little teaching about finances and virtually none from a biblical standpoint. Micah and I were able to participate in the seminar along with about 30 others. The seminar was led by the Program Director for Crown Europe in English and was translated into Slovak. So far the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and people have shown a lot of interest to see it taught in their local churches. For Micah and I personally we appreciated the biblical perspective and have had a number of conversations about our goals and thoughts from the seminar. We are praying that others who attended are having a similar experience.

Finally, we think that all of our paperwork has been sent and translated!! We made two trips this week to the Foreign Police and submitted our applications with all(?) the necessary paperwork, including these very unflattering photos taken when we felt like dying two weeks ago.

Was it Erma Bombeck who said "when you look like your passport photo, it's time to go home"? :)
There was only a minimum of run-around and red tape. We still have to have a physical sometime in the next weeks (there is something complicated about scheduling this that is lost in translation) but they will start to process our application in the meantime. It was a huge relief to get this done and now it is in the hands of God and the foreign police. Thank you for your prayers and please don't stop just quite yet! :)

This evening around 100 people will come to the Ranch for a weekend of prayer and fasting for Slovakia and CampFest. There will be previews of the main themes from the CF speakers and prayers over specific regions of Slovakia and over different areas of CampFest. Please feel free to join us in spirit this weekend.

Buchty!

Recipe Serves 4 (pictures served 400!)

-1/4c sugar
-1 ½ c hot/warm milk
-½ package yeast
Mix together and let sit till frothy

-A little less than 5 c flour 
-6 T Margerine
-1 T vanilla extract
-a little lemon zest
-½ t salt
-1 egg

mix together with yeast mixture Let sit 45 minutes to 1 hour or till risen. Punch down if it gets out of hand.

generously flour your work surface and preheat oven to 170 degrees…Celcius ☺ A hair under 350F


plop the dough down –  or if you're feeling proper....Place dough on work surface

be sure and flour your hands!




roll the dough out to between ¼ and 1/8 inch


cut into 2 or 3 inch squares


spoon filling (jam or nutella or stiff pudding or cottage cheese whatever you want) onto the center of the squares


form into balls around the filling be sure and pinch shut


Coat each ball with melted margerine and put into pans


Bake for 25-30 minutes


after they come out, brush sugar water over the finished buchty. Then Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Best eaten warm. The best part is they count as a meal!

Another Language mistake

Dino is one of the dogs here at the ranch. He is very territorial, it took Micah about 2 months to get friendly with him. Dino and I have a tentative relationship at best. And sometimes he is downright hostile. And when he barks outside at 3AM like last night I'm downright hostile. 

Today though, I realized why he just looks at me when I tell him to go into his house ("Do Miesto" - literally your "place".) I have been shouting "Dino, do Mesto".....Dino go to the city!

Poor dog, he is not being disobedient, just very confused!

This is the last week that we will be collecting questions for an upcoming FAQ (frequently asked questions) newsletter, so please e-mail and let us know what you would like to hear more about! (at this point it will be a really short letter)

 I set up a new feature on our website. You can now subscribe to receive these website updates (more detail, more often!) via e-mail. Just click the Subscribe via e-mail link in the right side column. 

The past week or so has been a busy one, we ate meals with two families, attended a conversation class and our bible study, went to the Bazar (second hand home goods), found a great new place to hike, and a spring with fresh mineral water (it's an acquired taste but we're on our way) we also got directions to a natural hot spring.

A missions group from East Main Church in Grove City stopped by Wednesday to see the Ranch and we went with them in the afternoon to the Tatras national park. It was a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed the break and the native english speakers :)

It seems like every day something new is added to our home. We now have a kitchen area with vinyl floor, tile backsplash, a refrigerator, microwave, cupboards and a sink. The stove should arrive over the weekend, but I have no clue where we will put it!  Or where we will plug any of this in. We only have one outlet in the downstairs until we re-wire.

We also have new carpet and all the sawdust is gone! 

Along with all his work on our cottage, Micah built some shelves for the terrace kitchen, and helped put up a stage for the program that was here over the weekend 

(notice they were using a minivan to help them pull it up)

370 kids came for some sort of day program! It had a mystery theme, a policeman came (and read from isaiah!) and they basically ran all over. Some sort of safety training meets VBS...I think... It was one of the events that the ranch is just the location for and Micah and I have no real clue what was going on :)

I worked this week to design a logo for the YFC Slovakia training center "Timothy Centrum" and a flier of the upcoming Crown Financial seminar. I also am working on compressing a 64GIG video file to fit on 2 DVD's. I am meeting with only moderate success.

I also helped in the kitchen last Friday making Buchty (a baked roll with filling, we used chocolate) for lunch for the kids who were coming. That was a LOT of fun! (once Mirka gives me the recipe, I'll post the step by step)

For those of you wondering about the status of our visas, we are waiting to hear back from the FBI about our criminal records. After those arrive (hopefully by next week) we will really step it up. But for now it is a waiting game.

We met this morning with our language teacher to discuss some new options for lessons. We have the chance to join another class of Slovak learners or continue with private lessons. We ask that you would continue to pray for wisdom for our decision making. We also appreciate your prayers for language learning, we need a lot of help.

Please continue to pray with us for:
~Language learning and lesson decisions
~A smooth process for the visas (that the FBI clearance comes soon)
~For YFC Slovakia as we gear up for summer events (school ends the 1st of June)

Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Meet everyone!

Micah & I are so lucky to have such great people here at the Ranch. It is like being part of a family. I thought we could introduce everyone. I'm sure the rest of the staff woudl appreciate your prayers, and later when I tell a story about Odo or Lubo or Zoe, you will have a face to put with it.

First the Kloters from Switzerland: Simon Angie and Zoe

Simon was in a band that played at CampFest a few times. In 2006, he worked in Presov for a few months as an internship requirement for School. Simon, Angie and Zoe moved to Slovakia last November. They plan to live in Slovakia and work with YFC long term. They are currently staying in one of the cottages and are planning to build a house near the Ranc. Simon is heading up the new training program of YFC Slovakia, "Timothy Centrum" he deals with the logistics and any communication that needs to be done in English. Angie is a mom and helps Simon part-time. Zoe is a little over a year old and unbearably cute.

Next comes Milos Pasternak

Milos is the Manager of the ranch. He is in charge of the day to day running and decisions at the Ranch. He is a certified engineer, and knowledgable about almost everything. The most common thing you hear around here is "...ask Milos..." about any and everything. Milos has a great laugh, and sense of humor. He has 5 kids and is treats us like we are just an addition to that (a good thing).

This is Milos' oldest son, Ondrej. We call him Odo

He is taking a year off School and helping here at the ranch. He is training to be an architect, and is helping draw up Simon & Angie's house. (this is a different Ondrej than was here last summer, that Ondrej no longer works at the ranch)



The rest of the staff lives and works at the ranch 7 days and then has 7 days off.

Lubos is Micah's favorite. He is also called Lubo.

He is from a village just down the road and we have also gotten to know his family as well. Lubo speaks "intermittent" English. He is not afraid to try new words and is constantly comparing similar words...girl, grill, growl? Lubo cooks and helps with a little of everythign else here. He is also very encouraging to us. Everytime we learn new word Lubo celebrates with us, "Progress!"

Lubos works with Mirka,

Mirka was part of a group that I traveled with to Bratislava a few years ago. She takes care of the cleaning and serving guests. When there is a big group, she also helps cook. Mirka makes the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had. (Sorry grandma Henry and Meghan) In the past, Mirka has gone with us to the foreigners police.

For a long time we only knew Miro as "the cook" because when someone talked to us about him they never used his name.

Miro does not speak any English, but will occasionally try a German word or two :) He lives in Liptovsky Hradok, with his wife and 3 kids. He was very glad to discover that he is 2 years younger than my dad. This morning he went with Micah to get the tires changed on the car. when Micah asked how much it would cost he told him "if you go 20 Euros. if i go with you 5." Miro knows just about everyone in town. I am going to get him to teach me to make soup. He and Micah have coffee every day at three.

Last but not least is Danka.

Danka takes care of cleaning and guests and office work. Last summer Danka made us feel very welcome here at the Ranch while we are still adjusting. She is a very nurturing person. Danka speaks English and German as well as Slovak and sometimes forgets who she is talking to and what language they speak. It's complicated around here: German and English with the Kloters, English with Micah, English and Slovak with Stasi, Slovak with everyone else...


Now you have faces to go with the names so when you come visit, you will know who's who.