Friday in Slovenia

After a great night's sleep, we got up the next day and met J.P., his wife Angie, and son Josh, for a walking tour of Ljubljana, with stops for prayer along the way. I fell in love with that city; it is beautiful, and has such history. One meaningful time was when we stopped at a former monastery that has been turned into an amphitheater. J.P. has a dream of a Passion conference coming there, and the amphitheater being filled with young men and women, passionately following Christ. He had us scatter out and pray to that end, and also for the person who would one day be sitting in that very spot. It was very moving.

The monastery

Ljubljianica River

Praying at the amphitheater

Legend says that Jason and the Argonaut sailed up the Ljubljanica River looking for the Golden Fleece, and that Ljubljana (Emona at the time) is where Hercules killed a dragon. There were dragons everywhere!

See the castle on the hill in the background?

Centuries old fountain celebrating the three main rivers of Slovenia

The Lock Bridge--if you put a lock on with your love's name, your love will last forever.

You can't quite see them all, but there are 3 bridges close together right there. It's next to Preseren Square, very close to our hotel.

This day was graduation day in every city and village in Slovenia, and was celebrated in all the town squares at noon with music and dancing and whistles (and drinking). We left the city for the town of Kranj early to avoid getting trapped by the crowds. Kranj has over 54,000 people and only one evangelical church, which about 12 people attend on Sundays. We worked with an American missionary (Todd), a 2-year volunteer (Shauna) and a local believer (Tilen) to pass out fliers as the kids left the square. We ran out of them quickly, and most people were very pleasant (although several of them were already drunk). We didn't really have any meaningful conversations, but I did see kids reading what we gave them.

Getting our fliers

We got there just as the dancing stopped--I was hoping to get to see it.

Todd got us some more and we passed them out at a couple of schools before lunch.

See the Alps in the background?!

We ate Bosnian (or Slovene or Croat, depending on who you ask) food for lunch, and I loved it! Cevapi--links of ground meat (like sausage) on delicious bread spread with red pepper sauce and kajmak, a kind of buttery cheese or cheesy butter. Mmmm!

After lunch (and ice cream, of course) we went back to the church and stuffed envelopes and prepared more fliers, which we passed out along with gospels of John in mailboxes at apartment buildings.

I thought this gave a good sample of the language-

The church we helped

The apartments where we passed out literature

When we got back to the church, we rested for a little bit before helping with a youth fellowship that night. That was a lot of fun! About 10 kids came, and we played some ice breaker games and board games, then 2 of my girls shared their testimonies. All of the kids spoke English, but one was a little uncertain so Tilen translated for her. I don't know if they realized it or not, because they talked really fast! He managed to keep up though, and they did a good job. We found out afterward that only a couple of them were believers, so I pray their words continue to take root and grow.

Mingle

Nejc

My "family" for a while in one game. :)

Jungle Speed

Tilen and Tim

Amy

Lauren

Talking to Nastia and Shauna

We got back to Ljubljana so late we ate supper (at 10:00) at McDonald's on our way back in. Fanciest one I've ever seen! I was so sleepy and tired by the time I fell into bed--but it was a good day.