Wonderful Letter!

I got this letter today. It made my week! My friend Kim and I used to go on mission trips to Mexico when we were in high school. She is so dear to me, and so is her son!

Hi Christina,
You are my mom's friend, I am 5 and I live in Papua New Guinea. I really like to play bats in my room because I have a closet with a place to hang upside down. There are no clothes in my closet because my clothes are in baskets. I have some questions about Slovenia. My mom is typing for me while I talk. Are there castles there? Is there a king? Or a Prime minister? Are there secret agents there? Is it cold? Do you eat pizza there?
Good bye,
Ian

What a day...

8:30am Prayer meeting.
10:30am Went to Visa Office to renew my residency. Long line. But got it, first try!!
12:00am Drove to the gas station to fill up and replace a light bulb that was out. The light bulb never worked. I asked for someone to help me. They couldnt
figure out why the light bulb wouldnt work. They told me to go to an Electrician.
1pm Went to my Mechanic. He knows me. Im always there. Turns out we were
plugging the lights in wrong. He fixed them. And some others I didnt know
were out. Then he tested my brakes and told me they should pass the DEQ
(tehnici pregled) test.
1:30pm Go to Tehnici Pregled (DEQ). Turns out ANOTHER light bulb is out. What in
the world? But they pass me. There was no line either! Bonus!
1:45 Wait in line to Register my car. There was definitely a line. I register it.
2:30pm Wait in line for insurance. Small line, but felt like I waited forever! I get insurance.
Recognize one of the workers from last years fiasco.
3:00pm Finally get my insurance Im official!!
3:30pm As Im nearing home I pray for the closest parking spot possible, because Im
EXHAUSTED and it feels like 100degrees F in my car (37 C). The closest one
available was available. Thank you Jesus!
3:45pm Make photocopies of all my papers for documentation and my landlord.
4:00pm Fall on my bed and go to sleep.
5:00pm Awakened by my doorbell. Hand off the papers to be given to my landlord.

Its days like this where I sometimes look back and ask myself, what the heck did I do today!? Anything? And yes, it helps to write it out to remind myself that I did in fact do something. And this something was important. And this something took all day!

Sad Bananas...

Last year after the disaster of getting my car registered, (see my blog entry Its as Easy as 1,2,3..or Not), and knowing (thinking) that this year required a significant number of less steps, I decided to give my self a mere two weeks head start--thinking that would be plenty of time! Sadly I'm finding, its not.

I need to register my car. As I gathered my papers I noticed my EMSO (Slovene SSN) is about ready to expire--I need this for car registration. I need to first renew that number. But to renew that number I first need a housing contract. And my landlord is in Italy.

Why didnt I start earlier?!

Worse case scenario I cant drive my car and have to go through the long and expensive process of starting from scratch. Thats a sad scenario. But...what can you do.

Maybe Im becoming a more seasoned veteran, or maybe I just am tired of drama. But, Im not too stressed about it. I was the first day when I realized everything. But now, I guess what happens happens.

Im going to go do my pilates now.

Conference in Czech

The theme was Back to the Basics. In different sessions we learned about spiritual warfare and how to stand as we work to create a movement of God across Eastern Europe. I loved it. I spent time with friends that Ive known for years. Brad and Laurel Jenkins, and Matt and Sharon Mormance came to visit!! I connected with my dear JV family. We even had a Hawaiian Luau!

I was challenged to think deeper. Encouraged to grow. And of course, Invited into worship.









We stopped at Burger King on the way through Vienna























Spring Conference wouldnt be the same without JV Kids!!! They put on quite the musical! If you want to watch hop over to Terry and Lori's blog!











Family Day! Aloha! I learned that I am a decent hula hooper, but Dave Patty... could probably practice more!
















Matt and Sharon. I like them a lot.












At Multnomah when I was an RA, Sharon was my RD, and Laurel my Head RA. I met weekly with both. How FUN to be together again!!! Laurel and Brad Jenkins plan to move to Slovenia soon! We can hardly wait!











The whole group. Can you find me?! Im in the middle towards the right. Holding sweet Abigail Woodard.














Pizza Hut! We stopped on the way home for dinner. We happily and sleepily arrived home at 12:30am.