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.

Mobilization

I promise to continue the ranch tour later. I just wanted to share a few shots from the weekend so far.

We have had some great times of worship and prayer as well as good speakers and encouraging testimonies.


The most powerful times for me so far have been the times that we all prayed out loud together. It is a beautiful thing to hear the hum of voices all asking God to bless Slovakia and to use us and the festivals and event this summer to Change Slovakia for His glory.

We will be here fasting and praying until Sunday at noon. (6pm EST) Please continue to pray with us.

The Ranch

Would you like to see the ranc?

this is what it looks like from above.

I'll post more pictures and a tour after this weekend. If you can't wait, you can see more at flickr

Mobilization Weekend, for fasting and prayer for campFest is starting in a few hours. Please join us in prayer?

Next week we may be headed back to Presov to help out at at a Matt Redman and Hillsong concert....exciting stuff

We still don't have a car or a place to live. Please pray with us about this. the leads we thought we had fell through. it is very difficult to locate a car and apartment in a place where you don't have a car or speak the language.

We made it!

I am writing this from Slovakia! We started out from Pittsburgh with our stuff on the 5th at 8:15 in the morning!


24 hours, four flights and one confiscated pocket knife later, we arrived in Kosice.
Paly and Ivetka who I lived with here before picked us up at the airport with thier son Teo. I was exhausted from traveling and also was carrying luggage at that point so I didn't get any pictures of Teo who is easily twice the size he was when I left!

We stopped at the YFC offices in Presov to say hi to some people there and have some lunch. The cafe there is up and running, it was exciting to see how it looks finished and with people in it.
We also remembered that sometimes Europeans make their hot chocolate thick enough to eat with a spoon (it was veeery good)


Then Paly drove us out to the Ranch then where we will be staying until we find a place to live and a car.

We are just having a relaxing weekend here before the real work of searching for a place to live and a car and cell phones and all that needs to be done starts on Monday.

Thank you for praying, we had a safe trip and the baby we sat next to while we crossed the Atlantic ocean didn't cry once! If that is not God's grace I don't know what is!

Packing

Wednesday we packed most of our things into a pickup with a trailer and stored them at Micah's parents place in PA. Today we tackled actually packing what we need to take in suitcases. Everything we will want for two years packed into two 50lb bags apiece. This week we've spent a lot of time deciding what we "need" to take with us and what is worth storing.

Since packing has all but taken over my mind this week, I thought I'd share this e-mail from Dan Wolgemuth the President of YFC in the USA

...the words of Jesus in Mark 6:7-9 to be so stunning…

And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.

Let’s understand this… the disciples, dispatched for duty. Aware of the uncertainty of the assignment. Constrained to move by the Spirit. And the packing checklist looked like this:

o No food.
o No luggage.
o No money.
o No extra clothing.

The disciples had to be stunned. “Take nothing.” But make no mistake, Jesus had a perfect strategy and an ideal design. This was not a suicide mission or a haphazard approach. Jesus fully equipped the disciples.

Each disciple, mission clearly spelled out, was released with two incredible resources… authority and companionship. These were the key components to successfully executing the call of God. Perhaps this very lesson was still ringing in the ears of Peter when he wrote: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”

We have all things necessary for the journey and the call when we embrace His divine power, when we dip deeply in the well of His authority and we rely humbly on the companions that share our pathway. Notice that Paul selected the word “us” when he described the call. This is not a solo mission, and it’s not fueled by fumes.

Together and with power.

This is the formula. Pack light, but pack wisely.

Thanks for joining us on this journey. Regardless of what we manage to fit into our two 50lb suitcases apiece, we know that with you behind us, we have all that we need.

Moving out

Why is moving day always a mess?

Our apartment looks like a tornado went through it last night. Everything is covered in boxes and newspapers and stacks of things. I will not post a picture of the other room, I do not want to scare you. 

Our friend is coming with his truck & trailer tonight. Today will be a full busy day :) I am taking some time this morning to get some paperwork/clerical things done. Just some everyday stuff... try and schedule a doctor appointment or two, cancel my cell phone, call the FBI...business as usual, never a dull moment. 

Please pray that we get everything packed and moved safely. 

(and that we don't kill each other in the process. I think we are both a little stressed!)

WE MADE IT!!!!

Micah and I are soooo excited!! We reached 100% of our funding last week. God is so good and He provides in His time.

I should have updated this sooner. But things like flight reservations and packing and cleaning have taken up all my brain power.

Sometime in the next week or so I will re-start sending my weekly update/prayer e-mails. I'll also post them here. If you'd like to get those in your inbox, please e-mail Stasigh@gmail.com and ask to be added. We make it a rule never to turn down prayer or ice cream :)

If you'd like to start praying now, our requests are updated in the right sidebar -->

Thanks and Praise the Lord,
Stasi

A little Q & A

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but as we talk to different people we find that many of you have the same questions. So we wanted to try and give you all the answers that we have.

Are you two still here?
Yes, we are. As much as we look forward to being in Slovakia we have enjoyed spending the past months here. Living close to both our families has been great. It has been good for us to start our life together with out the added stresses that come with changing cultures. The past months have been a blessing and a confirmation that God’s timing is best.

When do you leave?
It is YFC’s policy that we cannot finalize a departure date or buy our plane tickets until they have record of 100% of our support. In order for us to leave by our target date of June 1st, we need to have the rest of our support in place by the 15th of May so that we can quit our jobs, end our lease, buy plane tickets, pack our things, and finalize all of the little details involved with moving out of the country.

How is the fundraising coming along?
As we write this, we are pleased to report that, thanks to your prayers and support, we have 86% of our monthly pledges. We are only short around $425/month to reach 100% pledged!! If just 9 people pledge $50 a month, we will be past our goal and able to leave for Slovakia. 

If you have been waiting until right before we leave to give a gift or make a pledge to our ministry, now is the time. Even $10 a month will make a difference.

So, what else is new?
In addition to continuing to work on raising funds so that we can leave, we have both been working locally here in the Grove City area. Micah has a job he really enjoys in a shop that makes custom kitchen cabinets and Stasi is working in a local BBQ restaurant.
In "breaking“ news, we are down to one car. A few weeks ago Stasi’s car was hit and totaled in the parking lot. No one was in either car, insurance covered it, and everything turned out just fine except the Corolla. It is time to leave the country!

So how long will you be gone? When will you be back to visit?
We are currently committed to a two-years in Slovakia. A lot can change in two years. Two years ago, neither of us had ever been to Slovakia. At the end of our term, we will look at everything that has changed and see if Slovakia is still where YFC can use us and, more importantly, where God wants to use us.
As for visits home, honestly we don’t even have our leave date finalized yet! Neither of us can imagine spending two years without our friends and families, but we aren’t at a place where we can make any plans. Our question for you is when are you coming Slovakia for a visit?

What do you still need?
While finances are the limiting factor in reaching our departure goal, Micah and I know that money will not make us successful in ministry. We believe that prayer support is the thing that will make the biggest impact on our ministry and the ministries of Youth for Christ in Slovakia.
We are building a list of people who will commit to praying for us on a weekly basis. Once we reach Slovakia we will send a brief weekly e-mail update including the latest news and prayer requests so that people can pray for our specific needs. If you are interested in receiving those weekly e-mails, please either e-mail us at Stasigh@gmail.com.

We hope that answered at least some of your questions. If there is something that you are still wondering about, please e-mail us.

Letter from Marian

We have the opportunity to let you hear about the ministries in Slovakia first hand from the national director of YFC Slovakia.

A man of God,

the man of YFC Slovakia,

and the man of this entry,

without further ado, we present to you Marian Lipovsky….

Dear Friends of Micah and Anastasia,
The Lord has been so good to YFC Slovakia and we’re very privileged that He uses us as His tools. We can see how the Lord saves and renews the lives of many people.
YFC Slovakia currently has 28 employees and many more volunteers who stand with us in ministry. God has given us a ranch and our vision is to create a place there where people can come to meet God and spend time with Him.
The place where the Ranch is situated has a beautiful history. The king gave this land to his servants for their loyalty in the 16th century and raised them up to noble status. The area where the ranch is situated is called “Kings land.” When we read this history we were very happy that we are the children of the King. We believe that it’s the King of kings who wants to use Youth for Christ Slovakia as well as Micah and Anastasia.
This place is also used for CampFest. CampFest is a musical festival where, just last year for instance, over 60 people gave their life to Jesus and about 120 people responded to the challenge to renew their life with God. Another 500 received spiritual counseling. Approximately 4,500 people came to CampFest.
We also hold four additional conferences at the ranch. The first one is for new believers, the second for spiritual counselors, the third one is for musicians, speakers and dancers and the last one is for the volunteers who work with us. I really believe that it’s the place from the Lord.
The Ranch is a place where we need such people as Micah and Anastasia. They would have a place there to serve the Lord.
I’d like to ask you very much for your prayers and financial support for Micah and Anastasia to come to Slovakia.
Many Blessings,
Marian Lipovsky
National director of YFC Slovakia

We have been encouraged this month, as we have now reached 100% of our start up budget, and have over 70% of our monthly pledges. Praise God that He is supplying the needed funds, and thank you for believing with us that God is the provider of all our needs. 

Due to a number of changes of circumstance, we have revised our budget and our fundraising goals and plan to leave at the end of May to be at the ranch for the summer when things are the busiest. In order for us to leave as planned, we need to have all of our monthly support pledged by April.

We would like to agree with Marian and ask you “very much” for your prayers and support, as we get closer to having everything in order so that we can serve where God has called us. We are excited about the chance to serve God so early in our life together and we are looking for the people God has called to share in this ministry with us. 

Please pray for us, and if you feel that God wants to use you as a part of this ministry please contact us for more information. Or you can give online by going to www.yfc.org/give and typing Henry into the search field. 

Ups & Downs

The process of raising support and getting to the field is like riding a roller coaster. There are really high times and then, like my sister Amanda said on the plane ride home from Disney, "Now comes the big drop!" Thankfully she was wrong about the plane. She was only 4 but she understood rollercoasters.
The past week we had a few issues with our budget and plans for our housing and our ministry in Slovakia. The complications mean that our leave date has been pushed to the end of May. That was hard news to hear.
The good news is that we are back on the upswing :)

I just got news that we have 100% of our launch funds. And we have over 50% of our monthly pledges.Whheee!!! It's exciting to be able to say that.

About Slovakia

People have a lot of questions when they hear that we're going to Slovakia. Questions that range from the most basic "Where is Slovakia?" to more complex questions about politics and culture.

This document from the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs is called, “Slovakia-The Country Where We Live”, a 50-page PDF to introduce someone to Slovakia. It’s very well done, with lots of beautiful pictures and easy to read text. Even though it's geared towards children, it will answer a lot of the basic questions and gives insight into some of the more complex ones.


Click on the title page to see the whole presentation

Announcement & Invitation

Since Slovakia is "The Heart of Europe," Dave and Anne Dayton are holding a 

Benefit Soup Supper at the Slovak Folk Crafts Store 

on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, at 6:00. 

There will be six kinds of soup, bread and crackers, relishes, beverages, and dessert. 

Stasi will present a gorgeous travelogue of Slovakia from her hundreds of photographs taken for Youth for Christ. Stasi and Micah will also share their ministry vision and financial needs for your prayerful consideration. 

There is no charge for supper: 

all funds contributed will help send these newly-weds to Slovakia to serve the Lord. 

Please make reservations by calling Dave and Anne Dayton's home number 724-458-9215 or e-mail to anne(at)daytons(dot)org by Feb. 12.

In 2006, God provided Youth for Christ a glorious property in central Slovakia (called "The King's Ranch") to host Christian camps and retreats. Thousands of young people and adults, churches and other Christian ministries use this camp year round, but their best known festival is Camp Fest each August with lots of music; last summer about 4500 young people attended!
Stasi and Micah love Slovakia. YFC wants Stasi back on their media staff, working in video production and event photography, and they badly need a ranch caretaker/manager with Micah's gifts and talents. However, they can't go to Slovakia until they raise start-up expenses, plus pledges for a monthly budget.


Micah and I hope that you can come if you are in the area. If you have any questions or need directions, please feel free to e-mail me.
Stasi

Pray for Us

Introducing Us

For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant peace shall not be removed”
(Isaiah 54:10)

As Stasi and I sit down to write this letter, we are thankful for God’s promise in Isaiah that His peace will remain with us regardless of our circumstances. So much has changed in our lives and we know that if God were not in control, it would be impossible to have any real peace or confidence. We thank God for working in all things and seeing us through these hectic and often uncertain times. We are writing you this letter to briefly update you on what is new with us, and to share the exciting things that God has called us to.

Since our June wedding, we have been living in a small apartment in Grove City, Pennsylvania. Along with adjusting to being married, we have been keeping busy with work, all kinds of everyday life, and fundraising—but that’s getting too far ahead. Allow us to back up for a minute.

We believe that God has called us both to serve in a support role for the ministries of Youth for Christ in Slovakia, working in areas where He has given us talents and passions. We will be living and working at a ranch that YFC has recently acquired and plans to use as a resource for many ministries. Micah will be filling the need for a full-time caretaker and will be working on the continuing construction and renovations that are needed for the ranch to reach its full potential. Stasi will be serving in the area of media—she will be editing videos, doing event photography, and a myriad of related projects to enable YFC Slovakia’s ministry to be more effective.

The ranch is located in central Slovakia at the base of the Low Tatras Mountains. The history of this land draws a parallel with YFC’s acquisition of the ranch: In the 13th century servants of the king settled this area to maintain it for a royal hunting getaway. In the 14th century, as a reward for generations of faithful service, a later king gave the servants ownership of this land. We believe that The King of Kings has provided this land for YFC Slovakia, and it will be available year round for church groups, retreats, seminars, and other events.

The land also serves as a home for the music festival CampFest. CampFest 2007 was held there in August, and over 4,500 people from Slovakia and the surrounding countries came to the festival to camp out and listen to Christian musicians from around the world. More then 500 people met with trained spiritual counselors during that one weekend, and about 50 of them made the decision to follow Christ. The potential for God to work in this place is immense.

There is simply no way we would even dream of doing this on our own—but thankfully, we know that God never asks us to do anything in our own strength. We believe that He will raise up people to support us in prayer and financially. Would you please ask God to show you what part He has for you in this ministry?

May the Lord bless and keep you in every way in this New Year. We praise God for the wonderful opportunities that a new year brings, and for His promise to remain with us and see us through.

"If I could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: 'God with us.'

~John F. MacArthur, Jr.

Have you ever let your mind wander and imagined what it meant for Jesus to become “Emmanuel, God with us”? He left the vastness of heaven to come to our little planet. He left His home, His Father, His power, His divinity all to come and be with us. He gave up all that even though He knew that being with us would be costly. The kind of love would make you consider that is mind-boggling.

The Bible talks about God being with us through the Old and New testaments. “God with us” bookends the gospel story. It begins with proof in a manger that God is serious about being with us. The gospel continues full of stories about Jesus’ time with the people he meets. And the story ends with the Great commission to “go make disciples of all nations” and with Jesus’ promise “be sure of this: I am with you always”

We are holding on to His promise to never leave us as we continue to raise funds so that we can serve with YFC in Slovakia. We believe that God has created unique places at YFC’s ranch in Slovakia for both of us to serve and we are anxious be serving together in the place He has for us. God has blessed us by providing work for Micah the past 5 months, but that is coming to a close soon. During the early days of 2008 we will both be dedicating ourselves to full-time support raising efforts in an effort to make it to Slovakia as soon as we can. It is our hearts desire to make it to Slovakia early in 2008.

But we cannot do this all on our own. Will you prayerfully consider the part that God has for you to play in the ministry of YFC in Slovakia? Currently we have 32% of our support pledged. We need to have all of our support pledged before we can set a date to leave. If 20 people pledge to give $100 a month, or 40 people give $50 a month, all our needs would be met and we could leave for the field. Would you please pray about how God might use you to meet these needs through a pledge or one time gift.

If you plan to make a pledge or continue a pledge through 2008, would you please take the time now to fill out the form at the bottom of this letter with your intentions and send it back to YFC? We would love to have you join us in the work that God will do in Slovakia.

Trusting Him,

Stasi & Micah

P.S. All gifts through YFC are tax-deductible.

CampFest 2007!!

More than 4500 young people from Slovakia, Czech republic, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA, Poland and Romania visited the festival. They created a "tent city" where they lived for the weekend.There were 160 total volunteers, and there was a group of volunteers from Holland who came helped us a lot with manual work and publicity. A miracle for us was the group of Americans from Italy who came with willingness to do some of the less pleasant work. The rest of the volunteers were Slovaks who worked very hard before, during and after the festival. There were also about 80 spiritual counselors, a thirty member team dedicated to prayer in addition to the technical and organization teams.
The program was very rich and each person could choose something according to the style they liked - All styles of music bands, pantomimes, dramas, talks, seminars, childrens programs, movies with christian themes, soccer, beach volleyball, a jump house for the kids, and an inflatable water football game. There were bands from Great Brittan, Poland, and Germany in addition to bands from Slovakia. All that helped to create good time for the visitors of CampFest 2007.

What was happening behind the stage was not always visible to the participants...but it was no less important. The Lord was at work, He touched hearts and changed lives. We got some feedback from counselors who had discussions in special tent that was set aside just for that purpose. Altogether there were about 550 discussions and from those about 50 the people decided to accept Jesus into their lives. About 150 discussions were about going deeper in relationship with God and confessing their sins. About 100 people searched for help with problems in relationships- family, friends.

For more info & Pictures check out WWW.CAMPFEST.SK