Oh Hi Oh Hi OH

Well, we are here safely in Ohio. Thank you for Praying!

We had a safe and uneventful trip from Budapest to NYC. We were very glad that we had a direct flight when we got to the airport and found out that our flight had been delayed almost 3 hours. 

We decided that having New York City as your rentry point to US culture was (for us) a little like diving directly into the deep end.
But we really enjoyed visiting with my (Stasi) sister and her family. We got to hold the baby, play RockBand on their XBox, eat at a Cuban restaurant, and we used Jimmy's ID to bypass ALL the lines at the empire state building.

He is currently at the high end of the brother-in-law list.

We also went to church with them on Sunday and then drove to Micah's parents in Ohio. We were only lost once very briefly (well ok, about 45 minutes) in what might have been the Bronx but we are not sure. :)

We are with Micah's family now, working on adjusting to the latest in a long series of lessons in living flexibly. Once we settle a bit more and find a transformer for the external Hard disks, I will continue work on video for the CampFest DVD. Micah also has a number of projects here that he will be working on. We will also be using this time to visit with as many of our friends who support us as possible. If you want to get together, just drop us a line and let us know.

quick update

I know it's been awhile and this will not be a regular full update.

Micah and I wanted to thank all of you who have been praying for us and share two prayer requests with you.


First, Lubo, who works here at the Ranc, and his family (wife & kids ages 3 & ~6 months) were in a car accident on the way home from vacation last Saturday. He ran head on into another car while passing.
Lubo and his wife, Katka, are in the hospital. The kids are staying with their grandparents. Timo the 3 year old has a broken collarbone and the baby Ester was not hurt. Katka has a broken hip. Lubo is having surgury today on two broken vertebrae in his lower back.
Please pray with us for Lubo and his family. Especially about his surgery. He is a very dear man and Micah has gotten to know him well as they worked together.

Second, There have been some problems with getting our temporary stay permits. In the words of our national director, "the whole process went for ages." This is relatively normal with official paperwork and Slovak bureaucracy. Without a temorary stay permit we are limited to being in the country 90 days every six months, so we will be traveling back to the states Friday. We are flying out of Budapest at 1:15 local time and will arrive in NYC at 5:10 EST. My sister is picking us up and we will spend a few days there before heading west to Ohio and staying with Micah's parents.

We will stay for Micah's brother's wedding at the end of October. Hopefully our paperwork will go through and we will return to Slovakia for the rest of our two year term after the wedding. Otherwise we will stay in the states for another month to "reset" our 90 days. Please pray for us as we make plans and fly on short notice. Also continue to pray for the temporary stay permit to come through.

Last Weekend

Last Saturday, Micah and I went hiking in the Prosiecka Dolina.


Micah is really the one who likes hiking. I just like to take pictures. We have a good deal, I go hiking with him and try not to complain and he waits while i take pictures and tries not to complain.


The particular trail we took was written up in a photocopied flier that we got from the info center. It rated the trail as good for older people or children...


So micah wore his new sandals, because if older people could do it, he could do it in sandals.

we want to know who rates hiking trails in Slovakia? We can not imagine our grandmothers doing this.


the trail did end at a pretty neat water fall


I took over 100 photos and Micah climbed a tree.

do you think I will get in trouble for posting this one?

More about CampFest!

How do you capture something like CampFest? 11 days full of preparation, thousands of people, loud music, challenging speakers, and lots of fun.

On August 1st over 120 volunteers arrived to set up tents and other equipment. On the 7th the rest of the atendees started to arrive.

The Festival kicked off that evening and nothing was quiet or still until well past 2am on Sunday morning!


Including the performers and volunteers there were over 4,650 people! The field behind the ranch was turned into a tent city full of people, tents,

water towers, and as many porta pots as i have ever seen in one place.

CampFest is more than great bands from Slovakia,

and all over the world,

the young people who came heard the gospel message clearly presented. There were over 100 trained spiritual counselors who had around 350 discussions with festival participants.

Of those over 200 prayed to confess sins and receive deliverance from addictions and occultism in their lives. We can also celebrate the 40 young people who prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior!!

Can I share just two of the testimonies that we have already received.

I came back yesterday from CampFest. I would like to thank you for great atmosphere and say that it was my first time at the festival but not the last time. I was fullfiled by the strength from above which I was missing. Seminars, concerts, worship- all that was awesome and I took something from it all. I hope that CampFest will be organized also the next year. And if God wants and we will be still here, I will come with my friends again.
Peto

I came to the festival for the third time as performer. I am always amazed by great tents with good construction, technics of good quality, cameras, all the performers...

Most of them are real servants of God and do not pretend to be stars.
Behind this work there has to be people with purpose. And this purpose is not just to satisfy the youth with good music or give them the best. For the leaders the most important things are the hearts of those young people. They want to see them growing, be on fire for Jesus and coming back to their churches renewed.

It is not important there whether you are from apostolic church, lutheran, brethren or catholic...What is important is your faith in Jesus Christ and it has united many of them.
Gina

The big tent

The main Stage at CampFest is in a tent called the Hangar. It is a very impressive structure. When YFC realized that we would need a tent that could hold over 4,000 people, Milos, the director of the ranch, custom designed it.


After CampFest last year they left the skeleton of the tent standing.


So setup this year was much easier than last year. This year all we had to do was to put the skins on. The first four Panels are covered on the inside with black plastic to keep the light from coming in on the stage and the projection screens. They are laying in the plastic here to keep it form blowing away.


Even though we didn't have to set up the frame it is still a lot of work to get the canvas up onto the tent. People have to climb up very the structure and pull from the top as well as having a rope over the top with people pulling on the other side to get the canvas up to the top. Just to cover the tent took almost two full days


Of course after the festival is over, the whole thing has to come back down. This year we took down the frame as well as the cover. Thanks to Gravity, the tent comes down a lot quicker than it goes up. But it still took over a full day to get it all finished.


It is a lot of hard work but in the end when the tent is full of young people listening to christian bands and speakers, I think all the work is worth it.

Photos from CampFest

Here's a link to the Full Set of CampFest Photos. There are more of setting up and tearing down than of the bands and concerts this time. I was responsible for different things this year than in 2006.

we are pulling ourselves out of the mud here. :) Actually it only rained most of Saturday and the sun has shone ever since. I Figure that the rain stopped around the time people in the States were waking up and thinking of us.
I took over a thousand pictures at CampFest, mostly of setup and tear down. I spent today uploading the good ones to Flickr and tomorrow i'll blog with pictures and more detials.

thank you for praying!

CampFest!

it is raining.
Please pray that it will stop.
Please pray that we will be encouraged.
Please pray that the issues with the electricity will resolve.

Thank you for praying. Things are not dire here. God is moving, I just wanted to give you a quick update on how you can pray.

The countdown is running short. Tomorrow afternoon 150 volunteers will start arriving for Daniel Generation. DG is the conference for volunteers before CampFest starts. Because they will be working during the festival, the week before CampFest is set aside for them to preview the speakers, have fun getting to know each other, and help setting up the tents, stages, and equipment. August 1st, thousands of young people will arrive and set up their tents. The first concert will start at 7 that evening. From that point till sometime around 2:30AM Sunday everything will be a blur of concerts, speakers, tents, stages, general busyness, and not enough sleep. We will get back in touch with everyone once we recover.

The bathrooms are finished and Micah can put those 6 weeks behind him. Last week there were over 200 young people from an AWANA-like program here for their annual camp. They dressed up like Indians, slept in tents and were very glad that the bathroom building was available to them. On monday, Micah helped hang the letters on the sign above the driveway. Now when you drive up, instead of a plain brown sign it says "Ranc Kralova Lehota". Micah's current project is renovating the outdoor kitchen. It will be down to the wire, but the goal is to have it up and running as the snack bar at CampFest.


Speaking of down to the wire, I am still working on pulling the CampFest video together. There were some miscommunications and changes that need to be made, but I think it will be pretty nice when it is finished.

This past weekend we toured a cave and saw ancient bear bones. We learned a new term as well: stalacnites are the rock formations when a stalactite and stalagmite meet. I wasn't allowed to take photos inside the cave but if youve ever been inside a cave you get the idea. I still think it's cool every time.


We also made our way to the information center in Liptovsky Mikulas and bought a map with all the local hiking trails. Micah is looking forward to hiking and I'm anticipating the chance to take a lot of pictures - - this area is really beautiful, you should come visit us sometime :)

We have had 5 language lessons so far and they are going well. We are taking a short break during CampFest and we'll restart again in August. Hopefully we do not forget everything we have learned between now and then!

Please pray with us:
~For CampFest
~Safety and good health for everyone at the festival
~That it will run smooth from the organization side of things
~That people will be open to the gospel message
~That an apartment will be found for us
~For continued adjustment to a new culture
~Language learning - for courage to practice and make mistakes

Thank you so much, your prayers and support are the only reason that we are able to be here.

update - kind of

I wrote this last monday, sent it on the 24th, and now i'm posting it here. without pictures. i will get better at this....after Campfest

Things are good here in Slovakia, we had palacinky (like crepes with fruit) for lunch and there is fried Cheese for dinner! Some days are hot dogs with mustard for breakfast. But today things are looking up! : )

We are still busy here. I (Stasi) am making headway on the Campfest intro video. I have also re-designed the menu and created lettering for the sign above the driveway. This week I moved into a new workspace. It is a little building, really a small cottage, but it is quiet and I am no longer at risk of getting hit with the back end of a pool stick.

Micah has spent a lot of time the past week digging holes. He says that he is starting to feel like a human excacvator. If anyone has a spare excavator laying around, Micah asks that you to ship it to Slovakia, his arms are getting tired. He has also been working on finishing the letters for the sign above the driveway out of wood. The bathrooms are mostly finished and they are being used this week by over 200 young people who are staying here (mostly in tents).

The weather here has been bizarre this week. I suppose the proper term could be scattered thundershowers. But it's more like the clouds can't make up their minds. It started out very hot and then turned very wet. The sun comes and goes rather suddenly. We have been told that this is not normal summer weather.

I'd like to thank those of you who have been praying for my rash, The trip to the doctor's was very confusing in a different culture, but the doctor looked at my arm and said it was an alergic reaction probably to some food. She gave me a shot and some very strong antihistamines. When Micah started to get a similar rash the next day we started to think it was probably not an allergic reaction. A trip to the vet (all by ourselves!) revealed that the kitten, who we named Rabbit (after our car), had a severe case of notoderic mites. These mites are not supposed to bother humans, but considering how severe Rabbit's infection was and how much close contact we had with her, it is our guess that this is what caused the rash and itching. The vet gave Rabbit some medicine to kill the mites and since she has cleared up, so have we. We are mostly cleared up and only itch a very little bit.

We had our first language lessons this week. Our teacher Danica is very nice and has been very patient working with both of us at different levels. She was very impressed that Micah already knew the word for wheelbarrow. We are looking forward to being able to communicate more. We have not made any embarrassing language mistakes yet, but we will be sure and let you know when we do :)

Volunteers will start arriving in just 2 weeks to start setting up for CampFest. CampFest is YFC Slovakia's big event, a 3 day music festival with bands from all over Slovakia and the world. Last year over 4500 people came. We still need about 10 more guys to volunteer to help with setup and running the festival, and there are a thousand little details being pulled together so that things will run smoothly

Thank you so much for praying for us. The little things are easy enough to take on their own, but can start to grate on us after a while. There is so much room for us to grow and we are by God's grace learning.

Please continue to pray with us:
~Praise - the rash cleared up!!
~That we find an apartment.
~For CampFest. That the final details come together smoothly.
~That we continue to be open to learning in this new culture

Ranc Tour Part 2

Welcome to The second half of the tour of Ranc Kralova Lehota


This is the playground behind the terrace. The ranch also has a sand volleyball court and a (non permanent, kind of bumpy) soccer field.

In addition to the Main building there are also 4 cottages here. Each cottage can sleep up to 12 people.


Even though each is set up a little differntly inside if you go into one you get the basic idea and you can imagine all the different ways that furniture could be arranged.

There is a small bathroom in the back left corner.

Upstairs there is a little sleeping loft.

there is only so much that you can say about 4 beds a chair and overhead lighting.


Now we move to the "Socialka" or the bathroom building. This is where Micah has put in a good deal of work in the past month. This is great if you host a music festival where thousands of people camp for the weekend.

This side is the men's bathroom and showers

And this side has the outdoor faucet (time will tell) and the women's toilets and showers


this interior shot (doesn't that sound fancy) shows the women's showers. The men's side looks pretty similar, and you don't really want to see pictures of the toilets do you? (I couldn't get a good angle of them anyway.)


Above the bathrooms is a little dorm type place. It's not the Hilton, but in my opinion it beats a tent!


I hope you enjoyed seeing where we are living and working. We are enjoying living and working here. Just let us know when you are planning to come and see it in person.

our newest additions

This is our new car. After a trip to the police station at 5 this morning, (yes, FIVE AM!) we now have all the paperwork, emissions, inspections, insurance....and now we have a car we can drive. Technically, the car is not in our name, but until the quest for a visa is complete we are satisfied by the ability to make trips for cat food! and chocolate in Liptovsky Hradok.

More recent than even the car, our family has grown by about 200g. No, that is not how much weight I have put on. We now have a (very) little kitten.

Here she is almost lifesize! (I am only kidding a little bit :)
Our friends the O'Connells saved her from the cold city outside their apartment in Kosice, and we promised to give her a new life in the country. So far she does not like to venture off the bed much, but she loves to cuddle. We think she may be blind in her left eye, and when she cries at night Micah wishes he were deaf. She had a hard few weeks on the streets and we're glad for the chance to fatten her up.

So that's the summary, still looking for an apartment, still in the process of getting temporary stay permits, but we have paprika, a car and a kitten. Life is good in Slovakia!

P.S.We are taking suggestions for names (for the car and the kitten)

Micah's Addiction

In addition to Salt, Pepper and Toothpicks, the table setting here includes Paprika. Micah rarely eats a meal now without adding paprika to it. He is trying very hard to convert me but so far I am holding out.
I just thought you should know. :)

Ranc Tour Part 1

You may notice that I have no clue how to spell Ranch. Sometimes I leave off the H at the end. This is the Slovak spelling....kind of. In Slovak the C should have a "v" above it. I am just too lazy to add the special symbol. At any rate, you get the idea right?

Vitajte do Ranc YFC (welcome to the YFC Ranch)
We begin our tour at the main building and Summer terrace


Let's Go in Shall we?


This dining room is the first thing you see when you walk in. To your right are the fish and birds. this room used to be outdoor seating but has been closed in to allow larger groups to eat her in the winter. The expanded terrace created plenty of outdoor seating.


As we continue straight ahead you enter the second dining room, to the right outside this photo is the bar and the kitchen.


If we turn around from the previous shot, we can enter the larger group meeting room. This room has a shound system, chairs and also a pool table. It is also where my desk is.


That concludes the downstairs portion of our tour, maybe you would like a peek into one of the rooms upstairs? There are 12 rooms upstairs, most of them look like this one, to the right, out of the photo, is a small bathroom with a toilet sink & shower.


If you look out the window of this room you can see the terrace. The open part will have a tarp cover eventually. Since this photo was taken, Micah and I helped stain the unfinished wood


Here you can see the inside a little better. There are tables and a (not currently functioning) outdoor kitchen. This is also where large groups can hold meeting in the warmer months.


Well, that's all for now, i hope you'll join us later for the rest of the tour.