August 28th, 2013 by Zac

If I’m honest, I will admit that I really didn’t think it would get this far! Really. Not that I didn’t believe God could do it. But you know, the uncertainty of chasing a dream, questioning, “is it really from God” and all the skepticism that goes along with that kind of thinking. However, I didn’t stop praying. I didn’t stop asking you to pray with me for it. And now it is REALLY HAPPENING!

I  (Kim) want to share with you a dream God has given me for Slovakia. Many of you may have already heard about it, but it doesn’t hurt repeating it!

Last year when I was in the hospital for over 3 weeks, I stumbled on and began reading “blogs.” It was really my first experience with this kind of a blog. Until then, I only understood blogs to be like mine: I tell about all the ministry things we are doing here in Slovakia. The audience is people who support us – kind of boring, but purposeful.

But these blogs, these blogs were so different than mine. Their stories were from real-life and so authentic and vulnerable, not always the pretty. And that encouraged me and even pointed me to God’s word. Each day, it felt like I was reading something that was written just for me, that the author knew exactly my circumstance and had something to say directly to me. It was really an incredible experience. One blog would lead me to another and I began to see just how many (and how popular) blogs are in the US. It seems to be the new media for information, like an online library, of every topic you can imagine!

As I was experiencing this and learning new things about God, I often shared what I had read with friends. However, I quickly became frustrated that I could only share it (blog links) with my friends who speak English. And that is when it started.  A dream started in me. What if there was a blogging community like this in the Slovak language? What would it look like? Who would write it? Would it work here?”So I began to pray about this idea and asking the Lord how I could be a part of it, (especially when my Slovak language is so horrible)! I ask the Lord to use me to get this dream to reality.

So, I want to start a blog in the Slovak language, for all the women of Slovakia. Women in all stages of life: single, married, widowed, with children and without.  I want this blog to be a place where they can come and read stories from other Slovak women in their own language. Stories about being single, about marriage, about parenting, about weight loss (or gain), about cooking, cleaning, shopping, saving money. . .  Stories that tell the good, the bad and the not so pretty of our daily life. Real stories. Real life. Authentic. Vulnerable.

I believe these kind of stories will encourage many women. And like I experienced,  to find they are not alone.  They would find encouragement and Christ and His word. My dream has a dual purpose, to encourage Christian women (as I was encouraged) while more importantly pointing women who don’t believe, to Christ through honest transparent stories of our lives.

I know this won’t be easy to do (write about the hard things), but I feel called by God to get it started.

NOW – ONE YEAR LATER….

We have a name for our blog: www.napokonkrasne.sk. Translated literally, it means, “after all (or in the end) beautiful”.

We have a domain and  hosting.

We have 16 committed writers (15! we prayed and asked for 12)! Today, I received the first “copy” from one of those writers!

We have a deadline for going live: September 16!

And now we need training! And here is our opportunity.

There is a blogging conference in Greenville, SC (I know, what are the chances???) October 24-26 and we want to go and learn how to make this ministry work! Me and three other Slovak women are all prepared to go and learn. But we need your support. We need your help getting there.

Can you help us?

We have created a new and fun way you can “shop” and “send us”.  Below is a link to our secure JV website. There you will find “items” you can “purchase”  online (by credit card, or by electronic check) and you can “buy” portions of our trip. For example, you can “purchase”, an airline ticket, or a conference fee, a hotel room, or meals. You can give as much or as little as you are able. And you will know exactly what your money will be used for. Of course, there is also the option to give in “general” at any amount.

And just like a normal store, when all the available items are “purchased”, giving is “closed” (or “sold-out”). Isn’t that clever!

Here is the link for giving: https://josiahventure.webconnex.com/sk_allume_trip

Thank you for reading all this and for your interest in what God is doing here in Slovakia.