April 26th, 2012 by Kim

This week it’s just me and the kids at home. Zac is away for the week to Banská Bystrica (1.5 hours away) participating in Exit tour. Since most of you won’t know what Exit Tour is, I wrote this post about it:

https://sheppsnsk.org/blog/2012/04/25/exit-tour-2/

In addition to Exit tour there are a few other things on my plate I could really use help praying for:

Hampton’s Visa: I will need to return to the foreign police this week and report Hampton’s new passport. Since his visa has lapsed there could be complications. However, since he is a small child, it is our understanding they could equally choose to NOT make it complicated. We are definitely praying for NO complications!

Emili’s school: Now is the time of year for students finishing 8th class to decide which high school they will attend for the fall. This is really an education for us, learning all the rules/laws and which schools are a possibility. It really seems to be more equivalent to when i went to college:( Somehow I really believe that if I grew up in slovakia I would not get accepted to High School! (i’m not joking, it’s very difficult) There are entrance exams, deadlines, specialized schools (“majors”), so much to learn. Read the rest of this entry »

April 25th, 2012 by Kim

So this week is another busy week! Zac left on Monday to attend the week long Exit tour in Banksa Bystrica (about 1 1/2 away). Morning programs started Tuesday, continue all week, ending on Saturday with an after-party.

Exit tour is an very special outreach project that travels to schools in Slovakia.  The goal of EXIT Tour is to help schools provide lectures about the problems teenagers face daily, how to live a healthy lifestyle and to share true life values.  While we are in the schools, we provide an assembly for the students in their gym where a music band performs a few songs. During the morning concert, we present our program, invite students to the afternoon activities, and promote the various preventative lectures taking place at their school in that day. Students are divided into five or six groups, and attend two series of lectures in their own classrooms, on Sex, AIDS, relationships, drug and alcohol prevention, and others.  Zac is leading one of the lectures this week on divorce prevention or healthy family.

The key element for EXIT Tour is cooperation among local youth organizations that follow up with students at so called EXIT clubs.

I talked to Zac yesterday and he was very excited to have the opportunity on this first day to share personally his faith in Jesus with 2 students who stayed after his seminar.  Please pray for the TCKompas team as they conduct this incredible week of ministry with the local churches in Banska Bystrica.

If you would like to read more detailed information about Exit Tour you can find it here!

April 19th, 2012 by Kim

Days here in Zilina are still cold. We keep waiting and hoping for some spring-like weather. It does comes, on occasion, but is gone again as fast as it showed!

This week we are happy to have a bit of a “slower” week. Normal teaching for me, normal school for the kids, and “normal” office hours for Zac. It’s nice to be normal once in a while!

Last Friday we  had another meeting for our “middle-school” group, eMKo, here at our house. We are so thankful to have dedicated leaders, Dusko and Anicka, as well as a commited group of students that come. We continue to pray this will be the time they hear something new that changes their life forever. Read the rest of this entry »

April 10th, 2012 by Kim

After KPM, we cruised right into celebrating Easter here in Slovakia. Since we are a Catholic State, we are off from school from the Wednesday prior and return the Wednesday after. God gave us just the rest we needed and MORE.

I researched a bit and found this great “simple seder” or ritual meal (http://www.chrysaliscafe.com/2007/03/practical-life-easy-christian-seder.html) that I prepared on Thursday in remembrance of the last supper. It had simple foods all that were very symbolic of the Jews in Egypt and the Passover, Christ’s death and resurrection. It was basically 6 things:

Unleaven bread– This symbolizes the bread that the Israelites took with them from Egypt. In their hasty exit, they did not have time to let it rise. The bread that Jesus broke at the Last Supper was without yeast or unleavened. Yeast stands for sin. Jesus said the bread represents his body. He was without sin. His body was broken for us.

Haroset (apples, honey, cinnamin, nuts)-The Haroset is eaten as a symbol of hope. Jesus is the hope of the world. He is sweeter than the honey in the honeycomb. Read the rest of this entry »

April 10th, 2012 by Kim

It’s hard to believe that only 1 week ago we were elbows deep in KPM (our annual conference for youth leaders)! Times moves so quickly here!  I wonder, if it’s the same for you? So, before I write about Easter, I want to give a report about last weekend’s conference.  It was truly amazing to be with the other 765 people who came from all over Slovakia. So many wonderful things were going on, all at the same time. For me one of the highlights was spending time with 2 particular young women, Jarka and Jana.