we're sad that there wasn't enough time for us to upload some pictures of our last week or so but alas, you'll just have to wait until after camp.
today the US teams arrive and we're VERY excited about that (especially Mary cause her sis is on the GSCC team)
well, we're heading to training today and then from training we'll go to camp.
be looking for a prayer update email.
We're are greatly anticipating sharing with you all that God has done when we get back.
-Lindy for the Marylindy team
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Monday, June 18, 2007
Cherries at Cakovec
Cherries!!
So we listed some of the crazy things we've been doing lately and one of them was pitting Cherries in Croatia.
We (Christina, Lindy and I) came down Sat. afternoon to do training for the camp we'll help with at the end of
July. That night we stayed with the Horvat family (a Christian family of 5 sons! Filip the second oldest is co-directing the camp)
In 2 and a half hours between Christina, Lindy, Filip, his mom and I we pitted 7 1/2 gallons of cherries. A couple thousand I'm sure.
We became pros.
And now what you've all been waiting for...Pictures!!!!
Here's us with all our aprons (Filip and 7 year old Ruben too)
Here's Lindy with the pitter machine (She got really fast)
We were amazed at how much the juice looked like blood
Lindy and I all messy
About half way through Bratko, the Horvat Dad asserted that now that we can pit cherries we are ready for marriage,HA!
I think he had someone in mind for Christina ;)
Christina and Filip
Lindy emptied this whole bucket herself
All done!!
And here are the pitts!
Mary for the LindyMary team
So we listed some of the crazy things we've been doing lately and one of them was pitting Cherries in Croatia.
We (Christina, Lindy and I) came down Sat. afternoon to do training for the camp we'll help with at the end of
July. That night we stayed with the Horvat family (a Christian family of 5 sons! Filip the second oldest is co-directing the camp)
In 2 and a half hours between Christina, Lindy, Filip, his mom and I we pitted 7 1/2 gallons of cherries. A couple thousand I'm sure.
We became pros.
And now what you've all been waiting for...Pictures!!!!
Here's us with all our aprons (Filip and 7 year old Ruben too)
Here's Lindy with the pitter machine (She got really fast)
We were amazed at how much the juice looked like blood
Lindy and I all messy
About half way through Bratko, the Horvat Dad asserted that now that we can pit cherries we are ready for marriage,HA!
I think he had someone in mind for Christina ;)
Christina and Filip
Lindy emptied this whole bucket herself
All done!!
And here are the pitts!
Mary for the LindyMary team
Hillsong Concert
We had a worship concert with Hillsong last Friday night. This was a huge deal for Slovenia because three separate churches
(separate denominations even) united to make this concert happen. Yet another confirmation that God is doing work in Slovenia.
Anywho, the concert ws exactly what I needed because despite Mary and I's ability to sing worship in Croatian, Czech and Slovene,
it felt so good to rock out to worship music IN ENGLISH!
Everyone was moshing:) At the end they had an alter call and at least 50 Slovenes were up front making commitments to Jesus!
This is unheared of. Praise God!
Lindy for the MaryLindy Team
Check out Joel and Amy Woodard's blog for some more specific stories about how God used this concert to give a new believer the
opportunity to share Christ with her entire class at school. << Their blog is linked in the side panel>>
Also please be praying that those students who came forward would make connections with other believers and a local church
to be discipled. Pray that those believers who stepped forward to commit to asking God to use their lives. Pray that they
Would have strength and courage. Please pray for the strengthening of the connections between local bodies of believers, that
they would be unified in Christ with the same goal of discipling believers and inviting others to know God.
Mary for the LindyMary Team
(separate denominations even) united to make this concert happen. Yet another confirmation that God is doing work in Slovenia.
Anywho, the concert ws exactly what I needed because despite Mary and I's ability to sing worship in Croatian, Czech and Slovene,
it felt so good to rock out to worship music IN ENGLISH!
Everyone was moshing:) At the end they had an alter call and at least 50 Slovenes were up front making commitments to Jesus!
This is unheared of. Praise God!
Lindy for the MaryLindy Team
Check out Joel and Amy Woodard's blog for some more specific stories about how God used this concert to give a new believer the
opportunity to share Christ with her entire class at school. << Their blog is linked in the side panel>>
Also please be praying that those students who came forward would make connections with other believers and a local church
to be discipled. Pray that those believers who stepped forward to commit to asking God to use their lives. Pray that they
Would have strength and courage. Please pray for the strengthening of the connections between local bodies of believers, that
they would be unified in Christ with the same goal of discipling believers and inviting others to know God.
Mary for the LindyMary Team
Is this NORMAL???!!?
In the last 2 days We have:
- Visited Croatia
- Been to a Hillsong concert (with only a couple 100 other people)
- Stayed in the guest home of complete strangers
- Pitted 1,000s of cherries
- Walked all around Ljublijana
- Played Basketball with a 7 year old that understands very little English
- Worked in a warehouse
- Danced in warm rain
- Gone to a store with no shoes on
- Watched a flannelboard presentation at church
- Hiked up to Ljublinski Hrad (Castle) in the pitch dark and rode an elevator thing down the cliff back to the city
Oh, and the craziness continues :) I couldn't have asked for a better time.
Lindy for the MaryLindy team
- Visited Croatia
- Been to a Hillsong concert (with only a couple 100 other people)
- Stayed in the guest home of complete strangers
- Pitted 1,000s of cherries
- Walked all around Ljublijana
- Played Basketball with a 7 year old that understands very little English
- Worked in a warehouse
- Danced in warm rain
- Gone to a store with no shoes on
- Watched a flannelboard presentation at church
- Hiked up to Ljublinski Hrad (Castle) in the pitch dark and rode an elevator thing down the cliff back to the city
Oh, and the craziness continues :) I couldn't have asked for a better time.
Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Cajna Hisa
SO I went off on my own for a little bit the other day. I went to a tea place called Cajna Pisna. I had a great time thinking through
and journaling about some big stuff that God has been showing me lately. But first I took a bunch of "Artsy" Pics. It caused
some staring, but it was fun. Here are a few, there are a lot more, ha!
I took this of myself... and made the waiter smile.
My Favorite picture
My Journal
This is just a cool picture.
(Bekah, this is my new H&M shirt.. he he)
I love tea shops!! This is going to be a favorite journal spot for me :)
I Like this Pic of Lindy!
Lindy also took a few artsy pictures of her own. This one wins as coolest pic of the day
Mary for the LindyMary Team
and journaling about some big stuff that God has been showing me lately. But first I took a bunch of "Artsy" Pics. It caused
some staring, but it was fun. Here are a few, there are a lot more, ha!
I took this of myself... and made the waiter smile.
My Favorite picture
My Journal
This is just a cool picture.
(Bekah, this is my new H&M shirt.. he he)
I love tea shops!! This is going to be a favorite journal spot for me :)
I Like this Pic of Lindy!
Lindy also took a few artsy pictures of her own. This one wins as coolest pic of the day
Mary for the LindyMary Team
Thursday, June 14, 2007
He is mighty to save
I want to start by saying that Lindy and I really enjoy the priveledge of being a part of the Josiah venture team this summer. We love the community and the support that we have experienced among these believers who are all united towards a common goal of glorifying God and inviting students to seek Him in Slovenia. At our last meeting we discussed the role of community in moving someone along in the process of knowing God. We also discussed the importance of having an anchor point to look back on symbolizing the commitment made to God.
I am not gifted with the ability to sum things up, but I will try to give you a picture of our discussion without writing a novel :)
Joel Woodard wrote a very good paper that summarizes the way that students seem to be responding to the ministry method of inviting them into a community of believers and allowing them to be a part of "the church" even before they have decided to follow God. Students are invited to be involved and live their lives alongside Christians no matter where they are in their journey towards God. They are invited to be involved in bible study, attend and help out at worship nights and help out at camp. Many students have come to know Jesus by experiencing his love radiating from Christians and by seeing them experience God's presence. In this context they are not pressured to "pray the prayer" to seal the deal, but rather are shepherded towards making transforming steps toward the Father as they come to know Him more. They are allowed to do this in the safety of this community that has accepted them.
As a result of this many believers from this culture cannot identify a day that they gave their life to God and crossed the line from unbelief to belief, from being lost to being saved. Rather, when asked they usually identify one year that they made the most significant decisions (not one but a series of decisions) that drew them closer to the point of realizing their need for God and entering into His family.
Some of us may struggle with the greyness of this reality. Most of us grew up in a youth group culture with altercalls or prayed the prayer in VBS. We were challenged during this meeting too to notice some of the downsides of each of these situations. The one time decision/altercall situation, we'll call modern and the gradual/journey we'll call post-modern. While the modern situation can push people to a concrete crossing line. Many cross the line before they even understand what it means to be a child of God. Many people stop there and label themselves saved/Christian after the prayer even if they never experience transformation or a growing actual relationship with the Lord. In short this has the potential of leaning too heavily on religion not relationship and could have a false sense of security in salvation when they have never actually stepped into a relationship with Christ.
The other grayer post-modern side has the downside of not providing a concrete line of commitment to look back upon. It also can lead to a loss in the sense of urgency as it is very patient and non-forceful. People could also believe that being a part of a Christian community is what saves them rather than having a living relationship with God. We must seek out the "tender balance" as Erin Thomas put it.
Terry Jackson offered a familiar analogy that helped to illustrate both of these. This process of coming to know God, realize your need for God and commit to live for/with God is like the development of a dating relationship which ulitimately ends in marriage. The first months of dating are spent getting to know the other person. This is often through other people (community). During this time you are finding out what defines them and if you can trust them. As the dating relationship deepens you begin moving towards a direction of greater commitment and you begin to see this relationship as unlike any other you have had before. You begin to realize the depth of your care for the other and realize that you need the other. Notice all this comes before the time of commitment.
Then comes the engagement, the time when you say to each other, "Out of everyone else I could have, I choose you. I want to commit myself to you alone. I want to live life with you. I want you to be a part fo who I am." This is a clear, life altering decision, but it was made over time. It is a culmination of a series of decisions throughout the whole process leading up to that time. There is always a story leading up to this point it is not a stand-alone decision. Then comes the ceremony that declares before God and people what your decision is. Christina Stanton recognized that for many, this point of standing up before witnesses and declaring your decision in marriage is a lot like baptism. It is an act of identifying oneself with the other and a symbol (ring or water) that illustrates the decision. This point of commitment is important as an anchor point. A place that can be looked back upon in times of hardship.
At looking at our own lives we can see the reflection of this annology. Our relationship with God really is a process.
-Mary for the MaryLindy team
I (Lindy) am gonna end with some final thoughts:
God is SO timely. These concepts were great to rethink and ponder upon. However, we are both aware that God saves people, not humans or methods. What an encouragement for Josh Patty (JV Missionary) to bring this up as a closing statement and as a word of benediction. What an amazing team.
Also, this time was full of encouragement. This summer is unlike ANY other summer in Slovenia. God has already answered numerous prayers. In Slovenia alone there will be 7 camps. 3 of the seven camps are first time camps and are busting at the seams with anxious kids. The registration for Castle camp, by far the most popular camp, usually fills up last second. This year we have enough students signed up to have 2 camps... and we still have a week left to sign up- GOD IS GOOD! What's even more exciting is that JV has had some doors open up to work with the younger generation. 3 camps will be with Jr. High students. God is at work in Slovenia and we're excited to be apart of it.
We are looking forward to life changing experiences.
on the front lines in battle
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
I am not gifted with the ability to sum things up, but I will try to give you a picture of our discussion without writing a novel :)
Joel Woodard wrote a very good paper that summarizes the way that students seem to be responding to the ministry method of inviting them into a community of believers and allowing them to be a part of "the church" even before they have decided to follow God. Students are invited to be involved and live their lives alongside Christians no matter where they are in their journey towards God. They are invited to be involved in bible study, attend and help out at worship nights and help out at camp. Many students have come to know Jesus by experiencing his love radiating from Christians and by seeing them experience God's presence. In this context they are not pressured to "pray the prayer" to seal the deal, but rather are shepherded towards making transforming steps toward the Father as they come to know Him more. They are allowed to do this in the safety of this community that has accepted them.
As a result of this many believers from this culture cannot identify a day that they gave their life to God and crossed the line from unbelief to belief, from being lost to being saved. Rather, when asked they usually identify one year that they made the most significant decisions (not one but a series of decisions) that drew them closer to the point of realizing their need for God and entering into His family.
Some of us may struggle with the greyness of this reality. Most of us grew up in a youth group culture with altercalls or prayed the prayer in VBS. We were challenged during this meeting too to notice some of the downsides of each of these situations. The one time decision/altercall situation, we'll call modern and the gradual/journey we'll call post-modern. While the modern situation can push people to a concrete crossing line. Many cross the line before they even understand what it means to be a child of God. Many people stop there and label themselves saved/Christian after the prayer even if they never experience transformation or a growing actual relationship with the Lord. In short this has the potential of leaning too heavily on religion not relationship and could have a false sense of security in salvation when they have never actually stepped into a relationship with Christ.
The other grayer post-modern side has the downside of not providing a concrete line of commitment to look back upon. It also can lead to a loss in the sense of urgency as it is very patient and non-forceful. People could also believe that being a part of a Christian community is what saves them rather than having a living relationship with God. We must seek out the "tender balance" as Erin Thomas put it.
Terry Jackson offered a familiar analogy that helped to illustrate both of these. This process of coming to know God, realize your need for God and commit to live for/with God is like the development of a dating relationship which ulitimately ends in marriage. The first months of dating are spent getting to know the other person. This is often through other people (community). During this time you are finding out what defines them and if you can trust them. As the dating relationship deepens you begin moving towards a direction of greater commitment and you begin to see this relationship as unlike any other you have had before. You begin to realize the depth of your care for the other and realize that you need the other. Notice all this comes before the time of commitment.
Then comes the engagement, the time when you say to each other, "Out of everyone else I could have, I choose you. I want to commit myself to you alone. I want to live life with you. I want you to be a part fo who I am." This is a clear, life altering decision, but it was made over time. It is a culmination of a series of decisions throughout the whole process leading up to that time. There is always a story leading up to this point it is not a stand-alone decision. Then comes the ceremony that declares before God and people what your decision is. Christina Stanton recognized that for many, this point of standing up before witnesses and declaring your decision in marriage is a lot like baptism. It is an act of identifying oneself with the other and a symbol (ring or water) that illustrates the decision. This point of commitment is important as an anchor point. A place that can be looked back upon in times of hardship.
At looking at our own lives we can see the reflection of this annology. Our relationship with God really is a process.
-Mary for the MaryLindy team
I (Lindy) am gonna end with some final thoughts:
God is SO timely. These concepts were great to rethink and ponder upon. However, we are both aware that God saves people, not humans or methods. What an encouragement for Josh Patty (JV Missionary) to bring this up as a closing statement and as a word of benediction. What an amazing team.
Also, this time was full of encouragement. This summer is unlike ANY other summer in Slovenia. God has already answered numerous prayers. In Slovenia alone there will be 7 camps. 3 of the seven camps are first time camps and are busting at the seams with anxious kids. The registration for Castle camp, by far the most popular camp, usually fills up last second. This year we have enough students signed up to have 2 camps... and we still have a week left to sign up- GOD IS GOOD! What's even more exciting is that JV has had some doors open up to work with the younger generation. 3 camps will be with Jr. High students. God is at work in Slovenia and we're excited to be apart of it.
We are looking forward to life changing experiences.
on the front lines in battle
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Welcome to our apartment
We want to start out by very clearly saying that we are SO grateful to have this place to call our own this summer. That said, there are a couple funny quirks to our place that we want to point out the first being the tiny bathroom. It's incredible how small it is.
And it all fits behind a door which is about 2 ft across:
Here's our kitchen, full stocked with food we bought ourselves :) and with our one pot that doubles as a salad bowl, serving bowl etc.:
Our cool beds, you can see the castle from the top bed :):
Our Couch:
Desks and Windows:
Another angle of the couch and kitchen:
Another angle of our desks:
There's the tour... hope you enjoyed it. We do :)
Mary for the MaryLindy team
And it all fits behind a door which is about 2 ft across:
Here's our kitchen, full stocked with food we bought ourselves :) and with our one pot that doubles as a salad bowl, serving bowl etc.:
Our cool beds, you can see the castle from the top bed :):
Our Couch:
Desks and Windows:
Another angle of the couch and kitchen:
Another angle of our desks:
There's the tour... hope you enjoyed it. We do :)
Mary for the MaryLindy team
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
picture time!
Disclaimer: I don't know how to rotate pictures with Mac computers.. You WILL see pictures sideways because of my lack of Mac skills.. if you have any helpful comments or suggestions I'll take them...
this picture is of our pizza excursion (notice TWO pizzas *cough cough* Mary :-P)
some of mary's many flower boxes:
eating mexican with Erin :-)
Then, on our train ride home we actually almost got in trouble with the Law!! Mary almost let me go to jail! Just kidding. We DID however get in trouble with the train guy who asked for our tickets... we had tickets but appearently we had the wrong ones or something.. We probably looked suspicious.. Mary and I ended up having to pay the train guy more money. He was VERY angry/ annoyed with us. OOPS!
we laughed about it later
Mary will update later... maybe... We're gonna try to get some pics of our luxurious apartment...
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
this picture is of our pizza excursion (notice TWO pizzas *cough cough* Mary :-P)
some of mary's many flower boxes:
eating mexican with Erin :-)
Then, on our train ride home we actually almost got in trouble with the Law!! Mary almost let me go to jail! Just kidding. We DID however get in trouble with the train guy who asked for our tickets... we had tickets but appearently we had the wrong ones or something.. We probably looked suspicious.. Mary and I ended up having to pay the train guy more money. He was VERY angry/ annoyed with us. OOPS!
we laughed about it later
Mary will update later... maybe... We're gonna try to get some pics of our luxurious apartment...
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Mexican food
okay, so I don't have a ton of time to update so this is going to be hurried a bit:
Monday started early with a prayer/ staff meeting. this meeting was an intense prayer time and I’m so relieved to know that we’re in good hands.
Afterwards Mary and I got all settled into our apartment (it’s small- we look forward to posting some pictures), bought groceries (you have to pay for bags here… we need to remember our own bags!), and did a load of wash :-) 3 cheers for clean clothes!
In the middle of us running around, we were asked to help a fellow JV intern to clean her house. That was awesome :-) Erin lives in a quaint little cottage style house in a tiny village near Kranj. Mary and I were set to work. As thanks, Erin decided to take us around Kranj and show us 'old town'. On our walk I enjoyed people watching and Mary enjoyed taking pictures of every flowerbox we walked by (we’ll probably upload some pictures when we have more time). She took us to a mexican place for food... I got a little excited about using my spanish skills but ot my dismay... the guy didn't know a lick of spanish.. not even gracias.. I think i cried a little... (not really)
After our trip, we caught a train and crashed at Christina and Anna’s apartment. Actually, we just spent a long time over there in hopes that our laundry was dry.. it wasn’t
Tuesday was a relaxing day. Mary and I headed out to a shop called ZEBRA to copy two packets and six teaching handbooks (80 pages EACH!)… that’s a lot of copying. We decided not to wait around for the job to be finished and made our way to the market to buy a flower to put in our apartment- This is probably Mary’s favorite purchase so far. We spent a while picking out just the right flower and then headed back to pick up our copied items. Mary and I then spent a good chunk of time organizing our class agendas/ curriculum. I’m pretty sure we lost our minds..
We had a ton of work and decided to buy some fruits at this vendor that Christina told us about. We got a cucumber and cauliflower for our salad that evening as well as some raspberries for dessert. Praise God we found SALAD Dressing which apparently they don’t really eat here. Mary almost cried when she found out it was ranch :-).. so did I :-)
After dinner it was back to work… We planned three classes and read a packet with good insight on how to do ministry.. we were burnt out on reading.
Do you understand what it is like to not have communication with the outside world? Have NO forms of media entertainment (TV, Movies, Music, Computer…). Mary and I broke down and listened to music (one at a time mind you since we’re listening from a portable CD player with headphones).
I think we both benefited from that.. then we sang together… that helped too.
This morning (Wednesday) both Mary and I had the privilege and the challenge of taking showers in our bathroom.. I wish I could give you the dimensions of this room… hopefully we’ll get a picture of it on here for you all to see… until then you can wait in suspense.
Then it was off to a prayer/ staff meeting (Mary will go into more depth about this later). There was good food and now we’re heading out to meet with Naja to shop and plan for a girls’ night.
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Monday started early with a prayer/ staff meeting. this meeting was an intense prayer time and I’m so relieved to know that we’re in good hands.
Afterwards Mary and I got all settled into our apartment (it’s small- we look forward to posting some pictures), bought groceries (you have to pay for bags here… we need to remember our own bags!), and did a load of wash :-) 3 cheers for clean clothes!
In the middle of us running around, we were asked to help a fellow JV intern to clean her house. That was awesome :-) Erin lives in a quaint little cottage style house in a tiny village near Kranj. Mary and I were set to work. As thanks, Erin decided to take us around Kranj and show us 'old town'. On our walk I enjoyed people watching and Mary enjoyed taking pictures of every flowerbox we walked by (we’ll probably upload some pictures when we have more time). She took us to a mexican place for food... I got a little excited about using my spanish skills but ot my dismay... the guy didn't know a lick of spanish.. not even gracias.. I think i cried a little... (not really)
After our trip, we caught a train and crashed at Christina and Anna’s apartment. Actually, we just spent a long time over there in hopes that our laundry was dry.. it wasn’t
Tuesday was a relaxing day. Mary and I headed out to a shop called ZEBRA to copy two packets and six teaching handbooks (80 pages EACH!)… that’s a lot of copying. We decided not to wait around for the job to be finished and made our way to the market to buy a flower to put in our apartment- This is probably Mary’s favorite purchase so far. We spent a while picking out just the right flower and then headed back to pick up our copied items. Mary and I then spent a good chunk of time organizing our class agendas/ curriculum. I’m pretty sure we lost our minds..
We had a ton of work and decided to buy some fruits at this vendor that Christina told us about. We got a cucumber and cauliflower for our salad that evening as well as some raspberries for dessert. Praise God we found SALAD Dressing which apparently they don’t really eat here. Mary almost cried when she found out it was ranch :-).. so did I :-)
After dinner it was back to work… We planned three classes and read a packet with good insight on how to do ministry.. we were burnt out on reading.
Do you understand what it is like to not have communication with the outside world? Have NO forms of media entertainment (TV, Movies, Music, Computer…). Mary and I broke down and listened to music (one at a time mind you since we’re listening from a portable CD player with headphones).
I think we both benefited from that.. then we sang together… that helped too.
This morning (Wednesday) both Mary and I had the privilege and the challenge of taking showers in our bathroom.. I wish I could give you the dimensions of this room… hopefully we’ll get a picture of it on here for you all to see… until then you can wait in suspense.
Then it was off to a prayer/ staff meeting (Mary will go into more depth about this later). There was good food and now we’re heading out to meet with Naja to shop and plan for a girls’ night.
-Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Apartment, Church and Pizza!
Today Lindy and I went out into downtown again to make cultural observations. We decided to sit down to eat at Lublijanski Dvor (a pizzeria) and I (Mary) somehow convinced Lindy that we could each eat our own whole pizza (against Lindy's better judgment). I remembered doing that before...but well maybe I have a bad memory. Um, so despite our hunger neither of us could eat much more than half, though we did try knowing 1) that most people just look at you funny when you ask for a take out box and 2)Wasting is way looked down upon. Oops! (I'm not quite so sure how I thought that we could eat it, seeing as I have NEVER ordered a whole medium pizza for MYSELF in the states before, I blame it on the sun).We were both sort of ill after that because of the pizza and the sun... a scorcher today, so we decided to come back and nap.
Instead of sleeping we really just talked and laughed (Lindy had a laugh attack... shhh don't tell, but I think the sun got to her). Shortly after that I went out with Anna to a french style cafe. When I got back we went directly to church (@5pm)it was POURING! (the weather is much like Oregon... can't make up its mind). We so enjoyed the worship, Lindy and I can both sing Slovene as long as the words are up there and we appreciated that several of the songs were translations of familiar ones. After talking and seeing our apartment (a small place in the attic of the church) we left (it was 9 o clock!!).
We move into our apartment tomorrow. We are very excited to be able to unpack :) and are looking forward to buying food and making some yummy lunch and dinner recipes in our kitchen :) Maybe one of us is more excited than the other :) We're planning on a girls' night soon.
We get to move after a prayer meeting tomorrow with all the staff. Lindy and I are so enjoying being included in all those things and we are continuing to get a clearer picture of what longterm ministry is like here. Please continue to pray for us as this coming week brings meetings and prep for camps! Thanks so Much!
Mary for the LindyMary team
P.S. FYI: We will not have phone or computer at our apartment so we can't be sure when our next post or e-mail will come.
Instead of sleeping we really just talked and laughed (Lindy had a laugh attack... shhh don't tell, but I think the sun got to her). Shortly after that I went out with Anna to a french style cafe. When I got back we went directly to church (@5pm)it was POURING! (the weather is much like Oregon... can't make up its mind). We so enjoyed the worship, Lindy and I can both sing Slovene as long as the words are up there and we appreciated that several of the songs were translations of familiar ones. After talking and seeing our apartment (a small place in the attic of the church) we left (it was 9 o clock!!).
We move into our apartment tomorrow. We are very excited to be able to unpack :) and are looking forward to buying food and making some yummy lunch and dinner recipes in our kitchen :) Maybe one of us is more excited than the other :) We're planning on a girls' night soon.
We get to move after a prayer meeting tomorrow with all the staff. Lindy and I are so enjoying being included in all those things and we are continuing to get a clearer picture of what longterm ministry is like here. Please continue to pray for us as this coming week brings meetings and prep for camps! Thanks so Much!
Mary for the LindyMary team
P.S. FYI: We will not have phone or computer at our apartment so we can't be sure when our next post or e-mail will come.
Saturday, June 9, 2007
Friday, June 8, 2007
Another day in the life...
Today we:
- Navigated between the missionaries apartments, around the open air market and downtown Ljublijana
- Took some fun video and pictures
- Had a little best friend bonding
- Figured out how to use the bus system and took it to the church (we will be living in an apartment above the church).
- Used/decoded the grocery store that we will be using throughout the summer (remembered details like that they charged for plastic bags :)
- Felt the language barrier and became familiar with being helpless to communicate/learned to use other means of communication besides Slovene
- Remembered all the shops and places from last time/became reaquainted with Ljublijana
- Had good conversations about missionary life
- Went over details about budgeting and camps (looks like we may help at a camp in Croatia after all)
- Went to church to hear a visiting pastor (from Belfast Bible College in Ireland)
- Reunited with Meta!!! Glorija and Sebastian! Metka (our fellow intern)!! Naja, Neja and Sasha at church. Also saw Johnny and Josh, Katka and David.
- Went to 'youth group' at the girls' apartment and played mexican train and rummy.
A good day :)
Mary for the LindyMary team
- Navigated between the missionaries apartments, around the open air market and downtown Ljublijana
- Took some fun video and pictures
- Had a little best friend bonding
- Figured out how to use the bus system and took it to the church (we will be living in an apartment above the church).
- Used/decoded the grocery store that we will be using throughout the summer (remembered details like that they charged for plastic bags :)
- Felt the language barrier and became familiar with being helpless to communicate/learned to use other means of communication besides Slovene
- Remembered all the shops and places from last time/became reaquainted with Ljublijana
- Had good conversations about missionary life
- Went over details about budgeting and camps (looks like we may help at a camp in Croatia after all)
- Went to church to hear a visiting pastor (from Belfast Bible College in Ireland)
- Reunited with Meta!!! Glorija and Sebastian! Metka (our fellow intern)!! Naja, Neja and Sasha at church. Also saw Johnny and Josh, Katka and David.
- Went to 'youth group' at the girls' apartment and played mexican train and rummy.
A good day :)
Mary for the LindyMary team
Thursday, June 7, 2007
a day in the life of a missionary :-P
Training is over and we're officially in Slovenia (and have been for a little over a day).
We've been staying at David and Katka’s apartment. Today was our day of rest.. and boy did we take advantage of that! We didn't even THINK of rolling out of bed until after 10 :-) SWEET DEAL! That's what I'm talking about :-)
Neja came and visited after her test around 2 and finally Mary and I left the house at 4 to take her to the bus stop. I can barely believe that's even possible to not even step foot outside until 4... especially when both of us are healthy.
We were gone maybe 15 minutes and then we sat down to watch Pride and Prejudice (which I've never seen) and enjoyed some wonderful, home made, Slovene hamburgers. The movie ended just as Mateja came and joined the party.
A little before 8 David, Katka, Mateja, Mary and I all got in the car to see Gašper at a 'drum' performance. We were in for a real treat. At this concert there were many performers who played marimbas, drums and other percussion instruments. Did you know that one player can actually play with 4 sticks!! I was so incredibly impressed with the talent displayed. Gašper really stole the show with his creativity though… wish we had taken some more pics.
Then we came home around 10 PM and enjoyed great conversations over a home cooked meal- Chicken, corn, rice, followed by some wicked awesome ice cream.
But don’t let today fool you, today was our ‘lazy day’. We are so pumped for these next couple of days and about what the missionaries are going to teach us. They're really trying to give us a vision of what our lives will look like some day. Including obstacles we'll have to overcome like: transportation, language, shopping, how to plan successful outreach stuff, etc.
We’ve had a full day and we’re heading to bed.
Nočko (nighty night)
Lindy for the MaryLindy team
We've been staying at David and Katka’s apartment. Today was our day of rest.. and boy did we take advantage of that! We didn't even THINK of rolling out of bed until after 10 :-) SWEET DEAL! That's what I'm talking about :-)
Neja came and visited after her test around 2 and finally Mary and I left the house at 4 to take her to the bus stop. I can barely believe that's even possible to not even step foot outside until 4... especially when both of us are healthy.
We were gone maybe 15 minutes and then we sat down to watch Pride and Prejudice (which I've never seen) and enjoyed some wonderful, home made, Slovene hamburgers. The movie ended just as Mateja came and joined the party.
A little before 8 David, Katka, Mateja, Mary and I all got in the car to see Gašper at a 'drum' performance. We were in for a real treat. At this concert there were many performers who played marimbas, drums and other percussion instruments. Did you know that one player can actually play with 4 sticks!! I was so incredibly impressed with the talent displayed. Gašper really stole the show with his creativity though… wish we had taken some more pics.
Then we came home around 10 PM and enjoyed great conversations over a home cooked meal- Chicken, corn, rice, followed by some wicked awesome ice cream.
But don’t let today fool you, today was our ‘lazy day’. We are so pumped for these next couple of days and about what the missionaries are going to teach us. They're really trying to give us a vision of what our lives will look like some day. Including obstacles we'll have to overcome like: transportation, language, shopping, how to plan successful outreach stuff, etc.
We’ve had a full day and we’re heading to bed.
Nočko (nighty night)
Lindy for the MaryLindy team
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
up 'til now
wow, so many cool and amazing things to say.
Lisa Hora
A group of people climbed to the top of Lisa Hora (the tallest Mountain in Czech). The weather started out nice and sunny on the way up... in fact, it was a little too humid for my liking(think rainforest, no joke). However, that was about to change
it was slightly discouraging to be climbing amist the fog, MAJOR FOG..., like if someone was 5 ft ahead you couldn't see them fog, like tall thin trees on a hillside and fog (really Lord of the Rings-ish, in fact they did film too much of it here)... so many details, most of you have already realized that this was Mary taking over while Lindy was gone... Here she is again :)
*ahem*
...like I was saying... MAJOR FOG.
The fog ruined the view but it was really cool to climb through clouds and to reach the top... my legs are still screaming "WHY ME!?!" but it was worth it.
We lost 2 girls on the hike and on the way down it rained.. not only did it rain- it POURED! Not only did it POUR there was THUNDER AND LIGHTNING!!! AND we got to be surrounded by it!!!!!! yeah... you guys don't fully understand the greatness of this moment.. We even got some of it on tape.. (By the way the girls were found)
it's really a shame that we can't recreate some of those deep conversations and the company. We really should have tried to record the convo between mary and I trying to find some really "spiritual significance" in our hike...There's a lot of analogies about not being able to see ahead or behind... we're good :)
Debrief of the rest of training: Here's Mary...
We were so blessed to learn under Dave Patty the president of this organization. We went through the entire book of Ephesians last week. A couple of "gold nuggets" we pulled out from that are:
The last session we talked about the armor of God. We were really enlightened about the specific ways that each attack can be responded to. I was really encouraged by this practical knowledge and also by the reminder that we have absolutely no reason to fear in a Spiritual Battle because we have Christ on our side.
We also were encouraged to submit to other team mate's strengths and cover their weaknesses. I also was reminded that there is no reason to feel threatened by others strengths because as a part of one body, they are mine too...
Also, we have been challenged to live in light of who we are in Christ (blessed, chosen, holy, blameless, redeemed, forgiven, predestined for a purpose, adopted, included in Christ, God's posession!!)See Eph 1. We were struck with how often we are not living according of who we are in Christ, how often we don't believe that we really already am all these things because of what Christ did. Often I think we search for grace and try to earn it back when we have had it all along. It's really hard to find what you already have. God's shown us a lot in this area...
We also talked about personality types and I found out although I wasn't too surprised that I am more like a:
"Beaver" organized, detailed, self disciplined, systematic, creative, loyal/faithful and that Lindy is mostly an:
"Otter/Seal" fun-loving, outgoing, talkative, enthusiastic, loves people, I think I have some of this too.
We also learned about conflict styles
Mary is more of a Lion, goal-oriented and aggressive. while Lindy is more of a passive aggressive Beaver. This could potentially be a very hard obstacle to overcome.
I (mary) am having a bit of an identity crisis with this because my form of conflict is effective in that it gets the job done but very intimidating and can cause people to withdraw. Basically I feel confident in this style but it is not always good for my teammates...I'm feeling sort fo discouraged because I can't find too many positives for this... This is an area that I know will be stretched and challenged this summer. Please pray for us.
Update about our schedule etc:
First off, all of this could change at a minutes notice if needs change but here you go anyway.
Lindy and I will be doing 2 camps... not 8, sorry for the confusion, we can't do all the camps happening in SLO this summer because a lot of them are happening simulataneously.
Unless something changes, we will not be at the GSCC camp. We will be working at a smaller camp in the 4th largest city in SLO Celje (tSell yay). This is sort of a pioneering thing and we are excited for it. As for our second camp, it looks like we will be in a village that has never put on a camp before, but we're not sure. Later, we also might help out with a camp in Croatia, again, not sure.
We are excited that a lot of our next few weeks will involve experiencing "real" day in-day out missionary life. We will learn how to navigate the city, attend language classes (a few), work on logistics for camp (lots of buying and organizing) we will even learn to drive here...just kidding, that'll have to wait till we're somewhere for longer, plus Mary is way too timid of a driver for intense Euro traffic :)
Pray for us as we ask God if this is something He would have us do in the future (live here as a missionary for a year or more).
Well that gets you up to date, if you made it all the way through this post congrats it was a bit of a marathon.
We are so blessed to have a great support base.
Mary and Lindy for the marylindy team
PS We're living in the future...literally
PS. Contrary to popular to believe based on our last email- mary and I DO NOT hate each other... we just want to be extra sensitive to the fact that at times our friendship WILL be attacked this summer. Sorry for confusion :-D
Lisa Hora
A group of people climbed to the top of Lisa Hora (the tallest Mountain in Czech). The weather started out nice and sunny on the way up... in fact, it was a little too humid for my liking(think rainforest, no joke). However, that was about to change
it was slightly discouraging to be climbing amist the fog, MAJOR FOG..., like if someone was 5 ft ahead you couldn't see them fog, like tall thin trees on a hillside and fog (really Lord of the Rings-ish, in fact they did film too much of it here)... so many details, most of you have already realized that this was Mary taking over while Lindy was gone... Here she is again :)
*ahem*
...like I was saying... MAJOR FOG.
The fog ruined the view but it was really cool to climb through clouds and to reach the top... my legs are still screaming "WHY ME!?!" but it was worth it.
We lost 2 girls on the hike and on the way down it rained.. not only did it rain- it POURED! Not only did it POUR there was THUNDER AND LIGHTNING!!! AND we got to be surrounded by it!!!!!! yeah... you guys don't fully understand the greatness of this moment.. We even got some of it on tape.. (By the way the girls were found)
it's really a shame that we can't recreate some of those deep conversations and the company. We really should have tried to record the convo between mary and I trying to find some really "spiritual significance" in our hike...There's a lot of analogies about not being able to see ahead or behind... we're good :)
Debrief of the rest of training: Here's Mary...
We were so blessed to learn under Dave Patty the president of this organization. We went through the entire book of Ephesians last week. A couple of "gold nuggets" we pulled out from that are:
The last session we talked about the armor of God. We were really enlightened about the specific ways that each attack can be responded to. I was really encouraged by this practical knowledge and also by the reminder that we have absolutely no reason to fear in a Spiritual Battle because we have Christ on our side.
We also were encouraged to submit to other team mate's strengths and cover their weaknesses. I also was reminded that there is no reason to feel threatened by others strengths because as a part of one body, they are mine too...
Also, we have been challenged to live in light of who we are in Christ (blessed, chosen, holy, blameless, redeemed, forgiven, predestined for a purpose, adopted, included in Christ, God's posession!!)See Eph 1. We were struck with how often we are not living according of who we are in Christ, how often we don't believe that we really already am all these things because of what Christ did. Often I think we search for grace and try to earn it back when we have had it all along. It's really hard to find what you already have. God's shown us a lot in this area...
We also talked about personality types and I found out although I wasn't too surprised that I am more like a:
"Beaver" organized, detailed, self disciplined, systematic, creative, loyal/faithful and that Lindy is mostly an:
"Otter/Seal" fun-loving, outgoing, talkative, enthusiastic, loves people, I think I have some of this too.
We also learned about conflict styles
Mary is more of a Lion, goal-oriented and aggressive. while Lindy is more of a passive aggressive Beaver. This could potentially be a very hard obstacle to overcome.
I (mary) am having a bit of an identity crisis with this because my form of conflict is effective in that it gets the job done but very intimidating and can cause people to withdraw. Basically I feel confident in this style but it is not always good for my teammates...I'm feeling sort fo discouraged because I can't find too many positives for this... This is an area that I know will be stretched and challenged this summer. Please pray for us.
Update about our schedule etc:
First off, all of this could change at a minutes notice if needs change but here you go anyway.
Lindy and I will be doing 2 camps... not 8, sorry for the confusion, we can't do all the camps happening in SLO this summer because a lot of them are happening simulataneously.
Unless something changes, we will not be at the GSCC camp. We will be working at a smaller camp in the 4th largest city in SLO Celje (tSell yay). This is sort of a pioneering thing and we are excited for it. As for our second camp, it looks like we will be in a village that has never put on a camp before, but we're not sure. Later, we also might help out with a camp in Croatia, again, not sure.
We are excited that a lot of our next few weeks will involve experiencing "real" day in-day out missionary life. We will learn how to navigate the city, attend language classes (a few), work on logistics for camp (lots of buying and organizing) we will even learn to drive here...just kidding, that'll have to wait till we're somewhere for longer, plus Mary is way too timid of a driver for intense Euro traffic :)
Pray for us as we ask God if this is something He would have us do in the future (live here as a missionary for a year or more).
Well that gets you up to date, if you made it all the way through this post congrats it was a bit of a marathon.
We are so blessed to have a great support base.
Mary and Lindy for the marylindy team
PS We're living in the future...literally
PS. Contrary to popular to believe based on our last email- mary and I DO NOT hate each other... we just want to be extra sensitive to the fact that at times our friendship WILL be attacked this summer. Sorry for confusion :-D
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Highlights of Intern Training
We will have to do bullet points which really won't do justice to how impactful this time has been but what can you do? >>Ask questions by e-mail and I will be happy to clarify/expand anything. That applies to the whole summer<<
- Really good teaching by Dave Patty about Ephesians and who we are in Christ and how we need to live according to that identity. See Eph 1:3-12. We heard some pretty life changing stuff tonight that I haven't had a chance to process yet so will write about later.
- We both have loved talking to people who are living out how we see ourselves two years down the road (graduated from college, in language school, at the beginning of a 2 year internship. We are LOVING the access we have to all these interns to answer our questions and are excited about all that we will be able to absorb and learn as we live and serve with so many people who we highly respect and are in many ways living out our dream.
-Building relationships with fellow interns. it is amazing how small of a world it is, we are connected to so many people through other people, churches, ministries etc. Some people are even familiar with my old church in Texas! We have so much we have in common even though we come from all over the country.
- Really Really good food. We are so spoiled :)
-For Lindy coming in 1st place in Bunco was a highlight.
-Oh and the beauty of Malenovice, it looks out on a beautiful canyon and little town and is tucked in the middle of mountains. We won;t be able to upload pictures for a while so search for "hotel Malenovice Czech republic" if you're curious.
-Also on a funny note, having a pigeon interupt our English study seminar TWICE this morning by flying in was pretty histerical.
That's it for now!
--> Mary
For the team
- Really good teaching by Dave Patty about Ephesians and who we are in Christ and how we need to live according to that identity. See Eph 1:3-12. We heard some pretty life changing stuff tonight that I haven't had a chance to process yet so will write about later.
- We both have loved talking to people who are living out how we see ourselves two years down the road (graduated from college, in language school, at the beginning of a 2 year internship. We are LOVING the access we have to all these interns to answer our questions and are excited about all that we will be able to absorb and learn as we live and serve with so many people who we highly respect and are in many ways living out our dream.
-Building relationships with fellow interns. it is amazing how small of a world it is, we are connected to so many people through other people, churches, ministries etc. Some people are even familiar with my old church in Texas! We have so much we have in common even though we come from all over the country.
- Really Really good food. We are so spoiled :)
-For Lindy coming in 1st place in Bunco was a highlight.
-Oh and the beauty of Malenovice, it looks out on a beautiful canyon and little town and is tucked in the middle of mountains. We won;t be able to upload pictures for a while so search for "hotel Malenovice Czech republic" if you're curious.
-Also on a funny note, having a pigeon interupt our English study seminar TWICE this morning by flying in was pretty histerical.
That's it for now!
--> Mary
For the team
First Reflection in Anticipation of the Summer
I personally am so glad to have had some time to sit down and process the team building that happened during the race and in the last few days following it. Lindy and I have each gotten to get a little bit more sleep, although our schedule is pretty packed with training details. Let me share a bit of what we have learned about our team...
In our debrief time, we all came to the conclusion that part of the reason our team was so successful (We came in 2nd by 5 minutes!!) was because we each have different talents that didn't compete with each other. For example Anna is good at encouraging, strategizing and identifying people's strengths and helping them use them at the right times. Lindy is good at details, and solving riddles, she also can run for a LONG time and motivated us in that way. She also was able to give us an extra dose of competitiveness if ever we needed it. Metka has an amazing talent for finding just the right people to help us find our way :) She was willing to walk up to anyone and ask them for help, she also is very flexible and can put aside pain etc to keep going. She also is very persistant and willing to give all she has for whatever is important. (Mary was too humble to put her strengths here so.. I will) Mary has a photographic memory as well as strong will and determined spirit. She was great at locating places by the pictures we were given along with motivating us to have fun amongest the chaos. (None of us realized how hard we pushed ourselves until we stopped!!).
We have a great team!!
We realized that when we were united together and had a tight bond within the team we were able to meet the challenges ahead in such a powerful way. Unity will be so important as we meet the common challenge of sharing our lives this summer.
Please read the e-mail we just sent out for current prayer requests. We plan to update events and reflections by blog and prayer requests by e-mail, so please keep in touch with both so that you will know both the context of our prayer needs and our requests.
Mary for the LindyMary team
In our debrief time, we all came to the conclusion that part of the reason our team was so successful (We came in 2nd by 5 minutes!!) was because we each have different talents that didn't compete with each other. For example Anna is good at encouraging, strategizing and identifying people's strengths and helping them use them at the right times. Lindy is good at details, and solving riddles, she also can run for a LONG time and motivated us in that way. She also was able to give us an extra dose of competitiveness if ever we needed it. Metka has an amazing talent for finding just the right people to help us find our way :) She was willing to walk up to anyone and ask them for help, she also is very flexible and can put aside pain etc to keep going. She also is very persistant and willing to give all she has for whatever is important. (Mary was too humble to put her strengths here so.. I will) Mary has a photographic memory as well as strong will and determined spirit. She was great at locating places by the pictures we were given along with motivating us to have fun amongest the chaos. (None of us realized how hard we pushed ourselves until we stopped!!).
We have a great team!!
We realized that when we were united together and had a tight bond within the team we were able to meet the challenges ahead in such a powerful way. Unity will be so important as we meet the common challenge of sharing our lives this summer.
Please read the e-mail we just sent out for current prayer requests. We plan to update events and reflections by blog and prayer requests by e-mail, so please keep in touch with both so that you will know both the context of our prayer needs and our requests.
Mary for the LindyMary team
Friday, June 1, 2007
We had fun talking to strangers
so, you want details?? You don't really have a choice :-P
This Amazing race started much before getting the first clue. At the Frankfurt Airport we ran into two other interns who said that we should make our packs as light as possible because that's what we will be carrying around during the race. Mary and I, being the competitive girls that we are, decided to put all of our important things into one bag.. to share... oh yeah! That means one bag for the both of us for three days... it also meant ONE PAIR OF CLOTHES for 3 days. Mary and I took advantage of our one-hour flight to study about JV with our flashcards.
Day One:
Our team consisted of Anna (JV staff), Metka (may-t-ka, Slovene intern), Mary and myself. Our first stop was making a Mosaic. Next, we made our way to the bus where we met a Czech guy named Jan (Yawn) who was extremely helpful and carefully explained all transportation routes as well as pointed us in the right direction for our nest stop in Old Town Square, Prague. Here we were given 8 pictures to help locate JV staff who greeted us with multiple choice, trivia questions about JV staff members and JV ministry. THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR NOTE CARDS!! After this stop our team was known for our intense running and helpful note cards.
After answering the questions it was off to find a pizza place to make our very own pizza. Again, we found some very helpful Czechs. The map of Czech that Mary brought from home was put to good use as well. We finally ended up at the hotel Krystal where we stayed the night and had a wonderful breakfast in the morning.
Day Two:
Our team left for the 'Czech Inn' for our first assignment. We were the first team to arrive (which was awesome since we were the third team to leave). At the checkpoint we were greeted with three bags of plastic cups and six 2-litter bottles of Kofola (kind of like coke.. but grosser). Our instructions were to pour a glass for random people on the street to drink and empty all of the bottles before going to our next checkpoint. Metka was super helpful. She talked to LOTS of people, in fact, we're convinced that she was our secret weapon :-) Anywho, we finally got rid of all the Kofola and were on our way to sing “When The Saints Go Marching In” with a jazz band on the Charles’ bridge.
Because the Jazz band didn’t finish setting up until 11 our team decided to complete the physical challenge part of our clue. Mary and I rented a paddle boat, met JV staff in Vltana (the river under the Charles’ Bridge), got a bucket from them, went under the bridge, and waited for our teammates to pour water over the bridge into our bucket. We displayed some mad skills. Mary was balancing on the boat while I tried to keep the boat in on place and Anna and Metka were enjoying pouring water on us from above- that’s what we call teamwork… and free entertainment for the Czechs.
We finished up in record time, sang with the band and then were off to Old Town Square with a picture of our next destination. We located the silk shop, found the what we needed and were off to the train station.. in first place!!
Unfortunately, our train was delayed and 3 teams caught up with us then :-(
We were given, yet another picture. After looking in an ossuary and finding the correct skull that matched our clue (a picture of a skull) we ran helter-skelter to the train… but we read the schedule wrong and had a whole half hour to rest and catch our breath, as well as get a bite to eat. Finally, the train came and we were on our way to Ostrava to inhale nasty sausages as fast as we could. Everyone was given three sausages and two pieces of bread.. Anna and I ate four sausages each to get rid of our team’s food. Finally, we received our next clue.
To our dismay, our clue was blank accompanied with a CD. Finding a computer that will play a CD was an interesting task. the CD played the song “Desperado” and our team thought maybe we’d have to karaoke in a bar or something (don’t tell our parents :-P) It turns out that there’s a bar named Desperado and once we found it we made our very own Mojitos (virgin, of course). This was our last checkpoint until we checked into our hostel.
Day 3
We left early in the morning to find a high tower to see our next checkpoint. We actually raced neck and neck with another team during this stretch. We made it to the tower and spotted our next destination. Mary and I ran down to get our other team members and didn’t stop until we got our next clue.
Our clue sent us to a Mining Museum. The transportation was very difficult but once again, Metka found just the right person to ask for help. With a ton of luck and some helpful Czechs, we actually passed the other teams while on the bus. I do remember the strange looks we girls got when Mary shouted “DUCK!” and in unison we all hit the floor of the bus, as not to be seen by the other teams.
At the Museum we completed 3 tasks: A mining rescue training course, Archery (I got 2 points for the team and Mary got the other one!! woohoo!!) and finally a ropes course where both Anna and Mary showed their bravery and jumped off a 40ft pole (they were harnessed in- don’t worry)
After that we were instructed to find a well in Poland. So, we left for Poland and stayed in Poland for maybe 10 min… the border patrol wasn’t so happy with us. After that we stopped off at a farm and then instead of waiting for a train we ended up having enough money to pay for a taxi for our last two stops :-) That’s what you get when your team never spends money on food!!
At this point we were following one team to Malenovice, the training center, and then raced to find the Staff member in the camp shirt. We came in a very close second place. It was another 10 min before another team showed up- we were proud of us :-)
and now we’re in training and doing debrief stuff…
this was more than a mouthful. Mary will be updating soon about the things we learned as a team and such.. so be watching for that.. or maybe wait for a while so you don’t feel so over loaded.
-lindy for the MaryLindy team
This Amazing race started much before getting the first clue. At the Frankfurt Airport we ran into two other interns who said that we should make our packs as light as possible because that's what we will be carrying around during the race. Mary and I, being the competitive girls that we are, decided to put all of our important things into one bag.. to share... oh yeah! That means one bag for the both of us for three days... it also meant ONE PAIR OF CLOTHES for 3 days. Mary and I took advantage of our one-hour flight to study about JV with our flashcards.
Day One:
Our team consisted of Anna (JV staff), Metka (may-t-ka, Slovene intern), Mary and myself. Our first stop was making a Mosaic. Next, we made our way to the bus where we met a Czech guy named Jan (Yawn) who was extremely helpful and carefully explained all transportation routes as well as pointed us in the right direction for our nest stop in Old Town Square, Prague. Here we were given 8 pictures to help locate JV staff who greeted us with multiple choice, trivia questions about JV staff members and JV ministry. THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR NOTE CARDS!! After this stop our team was known for our intense running and helpful note cards.
After answering the questions it was off to find a pizza place to make our very own pizza. Again, we found some very helpful Czechs. The map of Czech that Mary brought from home was put to good use as well. We finally ended up at the hotel Krystal where we stayed the night and had a wonderful breakfast in the morning.
Day Two:
Our team left for the 'Czech Inn' for our first assignment. We were the first team to arrive (which was awesome since we were the third team to leave). At the checkpoint we were greeted with three bags of plastic cups and six 2-litter bottles of Kofola (kind of like coke.. but grosser). Our instructions were to pour a glass for random people on the street to drink and empty all of the bottles before going to our next checkpoint. Metka was super helpful. She talked to LOTS of people, in fact, we're convinced that she was our secret weapon :-) Anywho, we finally got rid of all the Kofola and were on our way to sing “When The Saints Go Marching In” with a jazz band on the Charles’ bridge.
Because the Jazz band didn’t finish setting up until 11 our team decided to complete the physical challenge part of our clue. Mary and I rented a paddle boat, met JV staff in Vltana (the river under the Charles’ Bridge), got a bucket from them, went under the bridge, and waited for our teammates to pour water over the bridge into our bucket. We displayed some mad skills. Mary was balancing on the boat while I tried to keep the boat in on place and Anna and Metka were enjoying pouring water on us from above- that’s what we call teamwork… and free entertainment for the Czechs.
We finished up in record time, sang with the band and then were off to Old Town Square with a picture of our next destination. We located the silk shop, found the what we needed and were off to the train station.. in first place!!
Unfortunately, our train was delayed and 3 teams caught up with us then :-(
We were given, yet another picture. After looking in an ossuary and finding the correct skull that matched our clue (a picture of a skull) we ran helter-skelter to the train… but we read the schedule wrong and had a whole half hour to rest and catch our breath, as well as get a bite to eat. Finally, the train came and we were on our way to Ostrava to inhale nasty sausages as fast as we could. Everyone was given three sausages and two pieces of bread.. Anna and I ate four sausages each to get rid of our team’s food. Finally, we received our next clue.
To our dismay, our clue was blank accompanied with a CD. Finding a computer that will play a CD was an interesting task. the CD played the song “Desperado” and our team thought maybe we’d have to karaoke in a bar or something (don’t tell our parents :-P) It turns out that there’s a bar named Desperado and once we found it we made our very own Mojitos (virgin, of course). This was our last checkpoint until we checked into our hostel.
Day 3
We left early in the morning to find a high tower to see our next checkpoint. We actually raced neck and neck with another team during this stretch. We made it to the tower and spotted our next destination. Mary and I ran down to get our other team members and didn’t stop until we got our next clue.
Our clue sent us to a Mining Museum. The transportation was very difficult but once again, Metka found just the right person to ask for help. With a ton of luck and some helpful Czechs, we actually passed the other teams while on the bus. I do remember the strange looks we girls got when Mary shouted “DUCK!” and in unison we all hit the floor of the bus, as not to be seen by the other teams.
At the Museum we completed 3 tasks: A mining rescue training course, Archery (I got 2 points for the team and Mary got the other one!! woohoo!!) and finally a ropes course where both Anna and Mary showed their bravery and jumped off a 40ft pole (they were harnessed in- don’t worry)
After that we were instructed to find a well in Poland. So, we left for Poland and stayed in Poland for maybe 10 min… the border patrol wasn’t so happy with us. After that we stopped off at a farm and then instead of waiting for a train we ended up having enough money to pay for a taxi for our last two stops :-) That’s what you get when your team never spends money on food!!
At this point we were following one team to Malenovice, the training center, and then raced to find the Staff member in the camp shirt. We came in a very close second place. It was another 10 min before another team showed up- we were proud of us :-)
and now we’re in training and doing debrief stuff…
this was more than a mouthful. Mary will be updating soon about the things we learned as a team and such.. so be watching for that.. or maybe wait for a while so you don’t feel so over loaded.
-lindy for the MaryLindy team
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