some thoughts during the holiday season

This was actually a journal entry I wrote on the 24th of this month, Christmas Eve:

"Well, it's actually going to happen, Christmas in Slovakia. I can't believe this is about to happen. I don't have many other thoughts about it. Rachel did make one good point that being away from home can be good b/c it can force us to really focus on Christ this year and not necessarily our families or friends; just the birth of our Savior Christ.

I was just reading in Luke about the parable of the sower. I started to think about how the sower was obedient to what God wanted him to do, sow the word of God into people's hearts and lives. Most of the times the sower put seed out it got trampled or taken away or choked out. Only 25% of the time did the seed he threw come to bear fruit. But he wasn't worried about all that, he knew what his task was and kept the results truly up to God. We so often talk about how we should leave the results up to God, but many times that is really hard to do.

But a lot of things in life are hard; life is hard. I must press on with faith and ask the Spirit to change me. It is said that successful sharing is sharing Christ by the Holy Spirit and leaving the results up to God. If I look at this definition and measure myself to it I have failed horribly. I often share out of my own strength and then get upset when I dont' see results. How selfish am I really? How selfish do I have to be in order to expect God to bless what I do out of my own power? I've got to be a total idiot.

If God's truth does endure to all generations then I can rejoice that He is working still among all the sin of this generation. It often seems hard to find, though."

I can honestly say this has been my semester; most of the time failing at sharing the gospel with the power of the Spirit. But I'm learning and God is showing me the true meaning and purpose behind sharing my faith.


cheers,
Matt

ps - Christmas in Slovakia was great!

coming to a close

The semester is quickly coming to a close. It's sad yet exciting at the same time. On one hand, I have made it a little over three months. That is surely by the grace of God. On the other, I often feel like we have not accomplished much, and even regret not being able to adjust more quickly. It's really hard to not be critical of myself, but I'm learning how to live in grace. A lot has happened this semester and I have learned many things. Which include, but are not limited to, the following:

- I am WAY too prideful of who I think I am when in reality I'm pretty ignorant
- God is the only one who can initiate and sustain any type of spiritual change in people's lives
- doing ministry overseas, where you know just about nothing, really points out the sin in your life
- there are A LOT of people who have no clue what it means to have faith in Christ...and I mean this pretty much anwhere you go in the world
- I appreciate my family so much more
- ministry is really hard but God has not called me to an easy life; He never asks His followers to do easy things in life. He wants full obedience and trust.

Despite the semester coming to a close, I am looking forward to the four conferences, wedding of Jeremy and Dara, and trip to Rome during the break. Gonna be loads of fun.

Until next time, kids.

starting over

I'm sitting in the hospital hallway listening to some Tifah on my laptop...and thinking about what is going to happen next. So what is God going to do with everything now? Where is He going to lead me...or even better, how is He going to rework everything that I know?

The past few days here have been much better than the first. I actually started to lose some of the bitterness of being here and being in this situation. I started to release some of the resentment and guilt of my inadequacies. It has taken me the whole time here to finally realize why the Lord brought me to this point:

He is starting things over with me.

Or at least that's what I'm hearing from Him. Now, I have to admit I have no clue what that means. Will I finally be disciplined to read the Word every day? Or pray constantly? Maybe not. Maybe it's something deeper. He's bringing me to the point of recognizing exactly why I'm in Slovakia this year...no, why I even follow Him to begin with.

Why do I follow Jesus, anyways? It sure isn't safe. I don't know the plans of my life. My sinful self gets mad when things go bad because I think God is not good. My life is still hard; why is that? I didn't sign up for this. But I think I'm starting to see a light to all my answers.

That same light that I'm looking toward is the same one that gave me life in the first place, and is the same one that is sending me out even now. Now I don't want to get too deep or spiritual on you. In simple terms, I'm learning how to deal with the mess. That's all it really is: finding life in the middle of the mess. Yeah, sure, it's easy to live life when things are good. But life is still messy in the middle of all that. We still deal with our sinful self and are tempted to withold glory from the Lord.

So back to the whole starting over thing. Coming into this year my mind was totally set on what my relationship with Jesus should look like in order for me to be happy this year...and be effective in ministry. But I think that stems from a wrong belief that I have to be something in order for God to use me.

Before you go off thinking that I'm going to talk about how His power is made perfect in weakness, and then lose you, I want to say something. There's something about all this that goes so much deeper. It's my life; it's who I am. It hits you harder when it's your life. Now, don't get me wrong. All the forementioned is good and true. And yes, this is a simple thought, but one that I honestly haven't wrestled with much. So I'm having to learn how to wrestle with it. And in this time, literally.

So maybe all I'm saying is that I'm finally at the point where I can be comfortable with this. It's sad that God had to use extreme measures to get me here, but that's how He deals with things. I don't understand it, but that's kinda beautiful.

Honestly, all this is still jumbled up in my head and not making much sense. But I have to start somewhere with this whole process. It will truly be a miracle if I grasp onto anything that God is teaching me. Please pray that it does.



caught in the middle,
Matt

fall retreat

- some students at the bonfire Saturday night



- our cabin in Rackova Dolina



















Well, it's Monday night and I'm still recovering from our fall retreat this past weekend. Me, Aaron, Kelly, Biba, and Dara went up early on Friday to set up everything...including the sound and all the "ambiance." It was about 3 1/2 hours to Rackova Dolina, a remote little place in the Low Tatras...and very beautiful.

On the way up we started to notice that it was SNOWING! Now you must know that I haven't seen snow in about two years, so I was very excited about this. The closer we got to our destination, the more snow we started seeing. By Saturday morning the ground was covered with snow!

But, to rewind a little and talk about the weekend. The students arrived at about 7pm on Friday night. We all had dinner and then had our first meeting. Greg, a staff member in Budapest, came up to speak at our retreat. It was great to see a new face and get new perspective about things. The weekend's theme was "iskra v tme," which means "a spark in the dark." Our goal for the weekend was to provide a time when Slovak students could realize the fact that we are living in a dark world, and that only Christ can provide life in this dark world. Greg's first talk that night was, naturally, about sin and darkness of life. To me, it was good to hear, but it didn't seem that many of the students were very receptive to the topic. When talking to Stanley, a guy who I'm discipling, about what he thought, he mentioned that his buddy, Peter, has said that it was something he had heard many times in church...and didn't really think much about it. That was kind of discouraging, but forced me to pray for the next meeting.

Later that night I got to talk with Denis, another guy I am discipling this year. He is an awesome guy. He spent the last year in the states working and traveling. It has become much easier for Slovaks to travel to the states...especially since joining the european union. Anyways, we spent some time throwing the pigskin, aka football, and talking about life. I pretty much shared my testimony from the time I started walking with Christ in college until now. It's awesome to see how much my life story compares to his. I told him about my struggles during my senior year, and how God showed me so much grace in those times. He is in a similar position after being in the states for a year and not having much fellowship.

It is my prayer that this year I will be able to pour into him and help him restore fellowship with the Lord. I have been feeling very discouraged by not being able to meet more guys on campus and share my faith with them, so this opportunity to invest in Denis is so promising, and somewhat life-giving, to me. I definately have a passion for discipleship, and really want to use that passion to invest in these Slovak guys' lives.

So Saturday morning we had our second meeting, about "The Light of the World." It was refreshing to hear about Christ's provision and the hope He gives. I also heard good feedback from students about the message...a big answer to prayer. We had the afternoon free to go hiking, play games, whatever. I spent most of it taking a nap and trying to rest up for the remainder of the conference. I had to run all the technical aspects of the meetings, which took up most of my free time between meetings.

The talk on Saturday night was "being children of the light." Mostly, how do we, as Christians, live out our lives in Christ? Greg brought it from the Word, talking about living in the power of the Spirit, and in faith. It is something that we always have to return to and be reminded of constantly.

I had the opportunity during our time there to speak with Greg about a lot of things concerning our ministry here in Kosice; how we feel like nothing is working, how I feel overwhelmed and inadequate to lead this team, the hard soil in Slovakia, changing culture. It was good to hear a new perspective on it all and realize that I'm not an absolute failure. But one thing that Greg did remind me of is that we are not alone in this fight. We are not even fighting a battle of our own effort. We are fighting a spiritual battle:

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." I must constantly remember this while I'm here; I'm laboring against an unseen enemy, through the power of the Spirit. It's REALLY hard to do it, but I'm trying.

Also, one of the hopes that I continually must tell myself is that one day I will get to see how this year fit into the the Lord's plans of salvation for His chosen people. My prayer is that God would somehow use my efforts to bring people into His Kingdom. I'm not seeing the fruit now, but one day Jesus will tell me "well done good and faithful servant." That will all be worth it.

On Wednesday Kelly, Biba, and I are traveling to Budapest to meet with Doug. He is the country director for all of Slovakia. I'm really excited about getting some more insight into how to reach Slovaks this year and make this year effective. Please pray us.....we need it so badly.

praying for a movement,
Matt

breakthrough

Today was our day with the Lord. If you don't know about it, it is when we, as a team, set aside one day a month to meet with the Lord all day. It is always a welcomed refreshment to just meet with Jesus and not have to think about ministry.

My day was really good. I spent lots of team reading, and stopped to spend some extended time on the be-attitudes in Matthew 5. I'm thinking I should spend a whole lot of time on them. So later in the day I was walking out of my flat to go read some more in Matthew.

I just needed to read the Gospel. It always gives me hope and refreshes me.

As I'm walking out the door I look over at the guys who are working on the building directly next to our flat...and realize that they are still working at 5:30pm. Now my first thought is, "Dude, it's quitin' time; go home."

Then it hits me.....I'm working, too. Seriously?

Yeah, seriously. Meeting with God and reading His word is in my job description. My time with God is counted towards my "working" hours. How stinkin' sweet is that?! You really can't beat that...not even with a five foot stick.

Even though it's hard, it's such a sweet job.

Life is hard no matter where you go, God just calls us to trust Him through whatever it is.

waiting

I have been realizing that this year is more about waiting on the Lord than anything else. I somewhat knew this coming into this year, but I was so hyped up about the opportunity of coming here that I put that to the side.

Ministry is hard. Relationships here develop so much slower, and students are much less inclined toward spiritual things. Teams have been coming here for quite some time, but the relationships that are built are never fully developed, so trust is never fully given.

It's really frustrating.

But then I was pointed toward this passage recently. It is Psalm 27:14 which says, "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Now, this was written by David when he was being chased by the current king of Israel, but after the Lord had promised to him that he would be king of Israel. The king was chasing David to kill him, and David even had the opportunity to kill Saul(I think it was Saul). But David waited.

David says, earlier in the Psalm, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple."

David knew what was coming, and he soooo longed for it. I can indentify with David. I soooo want to seek His face and dwell in His house. I also, like David, desire to see the faithfulness of the Lord NOW. I desire to see Slovaks won to Christ; I want it NOW. I don't want to labor for a whole year and see nothing happen. I don't want to labor for one week and see nothing happen. It takes so much stinkin' effort to love these people, and to show the love of Christ through my life.

But I'm trying to learn how to wait on the Lord. I'm trying, like David, to be strong and let my heart take courage.

It's not easy...but I think it's worth it.



praying for strength and courage,
Matt

hurting

Do you ever spend a lot of time praying and thinking about something, asking God for wisdom and discernment? You finally reach a decision, it's settled. Then things around you start to threaten that decision, forces out of your control. People start to make decisions which will effect you, but all you can do is pray that the Lord makes those decisions.

Yeah, those are tough.

I'm going through that right now. It kinda hurts to let it go. But I'm learning the beauty of finding contentment in Jesus' plans for me.



hurting,
Matt

fasting is very hard.

Jesus, dogs, and prayer

So today was a pretty interesting day.

The day started off with three hours of language school. We learned that Hungarian is totally different from Slovak, and thus very confusing to try and learn along with Slovak.

In the afternoon we were one one of the campuses, the vet school, doing surveys and passing out our evangelistic CD. The original plan was to split up and send teams to two separate campuses. But God didn't want that. I found out earlier in the day that the technical school hadn't started yet, so there would be no one at the dorms. So we changed things up last minute...which seems to be the common theme...and went to the vet school.

My attitude was pretty poor coming into it. Then about an hour later it was even worse. I hadn't talked to many guys, and most people didn't speak a lick of English. I got frustrated and decided to go to the other table, which was in front of the other dorm. I went down there with my bad attitude and mopped for a while. Then after about ten minutes of feeling sorry for myself I spotted a guy coming up, and the Lord immediately told me to talk to him.

So I walked up to him and asked if he spoke English. His reply...yes! So I started reading the survey, which asks questions like "What problems do students face?", "Do you think Christianity offers a solution to these problems?" and "What would you ask God if you had one question?" He, Peter, responded pretty well. So the last question is "Do you want to talk more about this with someone?" Then he proceeded to say YES. Man, was I shocked.

I asked if he had ten minutes to hear about God and how he could know Him. And he said YES! I almost lost it. This guy actually wants to listen to me tell him about knowing God...it was a break throught. So I quickly grapped a four spiritual laws booklet to share with him. I moved through the booklet, making sure to read all the points and Scripture. I got all the way to the end where it has the prayer of salvation. I asked him if that was the desire of his heart. He said that maybe some parts were.

I'm thinking, "Only SOME parts?!"

I continue to share the rest of the booklet with him and then just ask some questions about him. He responded really well, and was interested in talking more about God.

And to think I was so scared of talking to this guy, a guy who Jesus loves and needs to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. I'm pretty selfish for not giving what I have.

Later that day I got to pet some dogs...since it is a vet school dorm. I really love dogs, especially puppies.

Also, later I was able to meet with a group of Slovaks, about the same age as me, who are forming a prayer group among the different ministries here in Kosice. I can not tell you how encouraging it was to see other believers passionate about God and prayer. It is good to know that the Lord is present here in Slovakia and up to something big.


Overall, it was a day that I never expected. But totally enjoyed.

working through the mess

So I found out today that this thing called STINT is a lot harder than I ever expected.

I never thought God would teach me so much about my sin, and His forgiveness and grace. How He works through the differences is absolutely beyond me.

And how easily I allow satan to come into my life and tell me lies, and then truly believe them. It is very scary.

I can not even express how much I am grateful that I do not have to live this life alone. Praise be to Jesus Christ for His grace and power. Amen.

Slovak Paradise?

Me, Peter, and Aaron went on an adventure yesterday. We decided on Friday that we would take a road trip to see an ice cave about an hour and a half away from Kosice. It was going to be a man-day road trip.

Well, we first planned on leaving at 10am. That didn't happen. We didn't leave until 11:15. Then on the way we stopped at a discount grocery store to eat lunch. I ate a pretty good lunch, complete with meat, cheese, and bread, for about the equivalent of $2. Sweet.

Our next stop was to be a mansion. We quickly found a parking spot and then meandered around the grounds four about fifeteen minutes...and of course took some pictures to capture the moment. But we couldn't spend long b/c we had to make it to our final destiation, the ice cave, by 2pm. So we took off.

As we are driving, we are moving around some pretty sharp curves...which didn't have guardrails I should add. So it's about 1:45 and we realize we are still pretty far away from our destination. Not to mention, we still have to hike a mountain to get up there. So we finally arrive at about 7 minutes til, with not much time to get up there. We start running. But it didn't last long. The hill is steep. We are out of shape. This is not good news b/c we are supposed to be running a half marathon in about a month.

After about ten minutes, I am the first one to make it up the hill...completely out of breath. I arrive just in time to watch the last person go in the gate. I say to the guy, "No more?!" knowing that he probably doesn't understand much English. I'm standing there out of breath, intently looking through the gate into the cave. But he looks right past me and doesn't even acknowledge me. He just closes the gate and starts closing up the office. So I'm a little confused/angry.

Finally, Aaron and Peter make it up. Peter, our Slovak friend and guide, asks the lady about getting in. She tells him that the last time is 2pm and that we can't make it today, but we could come back in the morning. Right. So after about five minutes of fussing and trying not to be mad at Peter, we start walking back down. We find a cool stream along the way, which we play in, and I finally stop pouting like a little school boy.

We keep hiking some more until we head back to the car. We start making our way to another town, Spisska Nova Ves, a place where we are going to eat dinner. A really GREAT place. But not too far away from our departure point, we stop at a little town to get some Kofola (Kofola is a Slovak soda that was made during Communism b/c those jerks wouldn't let people drink Coke or Pepsi). The town we stopped in means "Lost" in English. Quite fitting.

So we get some Kofola and Peter pulls out his laptop. He had been watching a John Piper sermon on it, so we join him in watching Piper. Then it hits me. I am in a VERY remote village in SLOVAKIA, drinking Kofola, and watching John Piper on a laptop. Life is crazy!

We finished up our Kofola and started back on our journey through the mountains and onto Spisska Nova Ves. We finally make it to the city, without throwing up, and stop at the gas station. Suddenly, Peter realizes that he doesn't have his bag, which happens to have his credit card, wallet, and lots of other important things. Wait a minute. He LEFT IT in the "lost" village. Ouch. So we fill up on gas and turn back around. All the way back through the whinding roads, 45 minutes back to the village. When we got there, his bag was still there with everything in it! We then stopped to thank Jesus for helping us out.

Soooooo, we started back to Spisska Nova Ves and make it back through the mountains. We made it to our restaurant, called Nostalgia, which is amazing and has lots of "American" dishes. I had a steak and salad. They even have Tex-Mex...like burritos and stuff. We spend lots of great time enjoying our food and each other.

We get back in the car and drive another hour back to Kosice. By the time we got back to Kosice, I was ready to die. Not really, but almost. It was such a long day, and very unexpected, but it was fun to watch God put obstacles in front of us to see how we would react to them. I really think that the whole day was put together so that Jesus could increase our patience with Him.

I tried to think of some good Scripture that talks about patience and I thought about in Galatians when it talks about the fruits of the Spirit being "love, joy, peace, patience..." That's something that I've been trying to learn more of; being filled with the Spirit. It seems so important that I do that this year. I am here, Slovakia, to share the love of Christ with students. I can't do that unless I am walking in the Spirit. I know that His patience will be so crucial this year if I am going to fully experience what God has for me.

If you are reading this, would you please pray for me? I need it. I need the Spirit. Thanks!



growing,
Matt

our trip to prison

our team during the waiting period



So this story officially begins when we found out that we had to get student visas in order to be official students this year, naturally. Well, one of the steps (out of about 15 other steps) is to get a background check from the FBI.

Before we left from the States we still didn't know if we would be taking language classes, so we didn't take any preliminary steps to get a student visa. The background check involves us having to get our fingerprints taken and then sent back to America for them to check...our criminal history. In order to get these fingerprints done, we are informed, we have to take a trip to Vienna, Austria and visit an Austrian police station. Apparently this is the only place in Eastern Europe that is authorized to do this.

Luckily, we were already planning a trip to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, to visit the long-term team there, and also do our in-country briefing. Vienna is only about 45 minutes away from Bratislava, so not hard to get there since we are already in Bratislava....right? Well, sort of.

We made it to BA on Wednesday, no problems. We decided to take a 7:10am train the next morning to Vienna. The office is only open from 8am to 11:30am, so not much time to work with.

So we gather ourselves, all five of us, at the train station in time to make the 7am train. We make it to Vienna, no problems, with only an address to find. We luckily find an info booth and then find out where we are, and where we are going. We hop on the train/metro and take it to one stop and then another. We get off at our destination and make our way down the street...after a few guesses. We finally make it to the address we are looking for, but the door is locked. We try another door and it's locked too. We try a third door and it's open...YES!

We make our way into a dark entrance hallway and figure out how to ring the bell. This random guy, who is not really dressed up in a police uniform, comes out and asks what we want. I proceed to tell him that we need to get fingerprints at the police station for our visas.

He looks very perplexed.

I explain that we are Americans who are studying in Slovakia and we need to get fingerprints taken in order to get our visas.

He asks, "You want to go back to America?"

"No," I reply. "We need to get fingerprints taken for students visas so we can study in Slovakia."

He says, "I don't know of anything like that."

Then he asks a random guy walking by, in German, about the fingerprints...or at least I assume that's what he said. He walks back into the office to make a phone call, and then emerges a few minutes later and says, "It seems as though you are right. Follow me."

We make our way through a maze of door, and out into an open courtyard sealed off by buildings on every side. Our guide points to the left and says, "Don't go there. That's prison."

"We won't," I reply. He takes us to an elevator and says, "Take this to the second floor. Go to this room (pointing to a number), and she will know what to do."

We make our way up to the room and ring the bell. A lady opens the door, waiting for my response, and stares blankly. I respond by giving her the same explanation I gave to the guy at the door.

Same lost look.

After a little more explaining, she agrees to take our passports and addresses in Kosice. We gladly go along with her request and give her our precious passports. She closes the door without really informing us about the process. So we just assume that things are in the works, and take a seat.

About an hour later the lady comes back out and says to follow her. We do so and start the fingerprinting process. Once we are done, she informs us that we will have to wait until the 5th of September to get our prints. But this can't happen. We need them now.

So I talk to her about possibly getting them the same day and she gives me that familiar face...the one of refusal. I ask again, she talks to another guy in German, then says, "Give me a minute."

Then we realize that we have got to pray hard about this. We really need them that day because we can't afford to come back to Vienna just for fingerprints. All I'm asking from the Lord is that He take away any obstacles there may be. Five minutes of solid praying go by and she comes back out and says, "Okay, you can have them in one hour." My thought: "thank you Jesus."

We make our way out of the building to get more money (since the cost is about 20 dollars more than we expected) and food. We return to the building, going through the same process of bells and doors, and finally make it back up to the office where we recieve our $70 papers with fingerprints.

I am very grateful that the Lord heard our cry for help in our time of need. He could have easily decided to teach us some patience and made us come back a week later. It was also a great task for the team to go through. It taught me that I can't always have the answers for the team and that I have to rely on their help many times in order to get through what we are facing.

Not to mention it's a great story to tell the grand-kids.

I am in Kosice!

Well, we have finally made it to Kosice, Slovakia...and I am sweating all the time. It is actually hot here during the summer, and no a/c in site. I kinda understand the situation b/c it is cold enough to not have one 11 months out of the year here. Now that I am done whining I will move on with what has been happening here in Kosice.

We left Sunday morning at 5am on a bus to the Denver airport. We arrived in Kosice the next day, Monday, at 2:30pm, with all bags intact. A pure miracle. Aaron and I made it to our apartment, which is a really sweet joint in the old town part of Kosice. We have bunk beds and I sleep on the bottom. We went out to eat the first night and I had Halusky, a traditional Slovak dish. It tastes almost like southern mac and cheese, but it is made of potatoes. So clutch. Then we had to say goodbye to Jeremy, who is returning to be long-term staff in Slovakia, but has to return to the States for more training.

The first morning we all crawled over to the girl's apartment for prayer. I really didn't want to force everyone to come, but I felt like it would really help the team in the long run, both spiritually and physically. It was a little dry, mostly b/c we were tired and we haven't gotten to know each other yet. But it was still good because God's Spirit was with us.

The past few days we have been doing logistical stuff, such as getting cell phones and bus passes. We are planning to travel to Bratislava, the capital, for briefing next week. Briefing doesn't really consist of much content, but we just want to get away for the "retreat" feel....and I wanna see the city. We also have to go get our fingeprints taken to make sure we are not criminals so the we can get student visas. Yeah, I know. Missionaries getting fingerprinted.

We are going to be official "students" though. We are taking six hours of langage a week, which should be good for the ministry in many ways. We really want to start to transition the ministry to be more Slovak-led. There are now three Slovak girls on full-time staff, and of course we just need more MEN to step up and pursue other men. Typical.

Things are still fun here. I am still in honeymoon phase, and still exploring and re-exploring things. Please pray for us as we have lots of bonding to do and lots of encouraging to do. We NEED unity among the team if we are going to get anything done. Also, pray for Aaron and I as I don't feel very connected to him right now. He is my only male felllowship this year, so it is critical that we spur each other on this year.

Thanks, everyone!
Chao.

CO!

Well, I'm finally in Colorado. I am really amazed at the weather here. It's cold, even during the day.

Me and two other guys walked to Quizno's today. We were supposed to get sandwiches at the lodge, but they ran out. Soooooo, we quickly made our way to the Quizno's about a mile away.....on foot. We ordered and then one of the sandwiches got stuck in the heater rack thingy. It was kinda funny, but Amber, the girl at the register, did not think so. By the way, she likes to frolick. That's just what her name tag said. No lie, seriously.

Then we made our way back, thanks to my navigational skills through the golf course and enjoyed our beautiful sandwiches.

Later on the rest of our team made it to Colorado. Then I found out that Aaron got some more support, and he should be able to fly out on Sunday with us all. But, I don't know about Carlyn. I must keep praying for her. But she will make it.

I'm just praying for God to show up in amazing ways.

WATER?

So this morning I woke up with the dread that I had to go to the dentist to get two cavities filled. I was very upset about this because I take pride in clean teeth, and my pride was damaged when I found out my teeth cleaning was not sufficient. Well, I had them done and then came home to realize that there was no water running in my house.

NO WATER? You've got to be kidding. I live in suburban America where no running water is just a myth...a situation only for third-world places. So I call my mother and inform her that we have no water. She tells me that she forgot to pay the bill.....DOOH!

I'm a little "frustrated" at my mother by this point, so I decide to get out the house, the source of frustration, to run errands. Much to my enjoyment, it is 104 degrees in Columbia. AWESOME! I have no water, and the heat is so ridiculous that I can't even open my eyes without them burning. I think I hate Columbia more at this point.

I make my way to the mall to buy vitamins and a new bible before I leave....on Saturday. Wow. I come back to the house, where I am reminded we have no water after I try to wash out a glass so I can put store-bought water in it. Ugghhh.

I have to stop and admit something at this point. I'm a brat. I'm selfish. I've got it made in America...and even in Slovakia, where I'm supposed to be "suffering" for the Gospel. How many people just live with the fact that running water is not part of their lives? And better yet, how many people are still happy despite the fact...and even BETTER yet, still are thankful to the Lord for what they have. In most cases, family.

Tonight I will go without my nightly shower. I'll probably complain about it in my head, telling God that this isn't fair. And how many people will go to sleep tonight just thankful that they have salvation in Christ?

YES!

God taught me a lot today about His sovereign providence. I'm glad He's doing this thing, and not me.

I'm at 80% of my support overall. I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel...and Slovakia. Man, I'm REALLY excited.

"but they do not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them; they are always before me." Hosea 7:2

really awesome rainbow

sometimes you just gotta find the rainbows in life...

i had a hard day today...but God taught me about my weakness through it

mmmm....support

So I'm in Columbia for a few days trying to meet with as many people as possible about support. I had a pretty successful day today, with three new supporters. I've been praying for God to bring in 20 new supporters this week and to raise up 10,000 dollars. Pray for me if you would, please.

I did have the chance of sharing at a camp on Wednesday night, which is something that the Lord wanted me to do for a long time. I just shared how God had grabbed my heart over the past few years to go overseas.

I went to my doctor's office today for a checkup before I leave. As I was rushing over there, b/c I was late, I kept praying that the Lord would give me a chance to share with my doctor about what I'm doing. He kinda knew what I was doing last summer, but had no clue I am going back. And of course God did it. He asked me what I was doing and then he mentioned that he had just gotten back from a mission trip to Peru. Hello. Awesomeness. So we kept talking and then I got the chance to ask him if he would consider supporting me, which he quickly replied positively and I'm sending him some info in the mail. God is cool like that.

But you know what's cool about right now? I get to watch God be God. I get to see Him bring in support which I do not have the strength or power to do. Good deal.

More support appointments tomorrow. I'm going to be really glad when this is over.

Korea and such

So I had the pleasure of going to CM2007. The following is a list of what I learned there:

-my prayer life is weak, Koreans pray all the stinkin' time

-God really wants me to be in Slovakia next year, it's not just a joke

-Koreans are for real about their faith, unlike 90% of Christians in America

-God is serious about reaching all the nations of the world, by sending the nations

-I have no ability to lead the STINT team next year, only the HS can

-I love the way Crusade does things, building spiritual movements not just doing ministry

-if I ever can afford it, I will fly first class b/c 28 hrs of travel is rough in economy class

-winning students to Christ is going to be hard

-it's going to be really cold in Slovakia

-ministry is a lot more work than I ever thought

-I absolutely have to believe God will raise all my support, still another 2/3 and only one month

-Korean people are fun

My brain is still somewhat fried from jet-lag and being sick. Please pray for my support to come in quickly. Til next time.

Matt

still treking on...

Well, life is treating me pretty well right now. Support is coming in pretty steady at the moment. I'm just starting to gain momentum and then I have to leave to go to South Korea. I guess it's not such a bad thing since I'm going to the other side of the world. That's always fun. Last weekend was fun. It included 1,100 miles of travel all within five days. Drove to Hickory, NC and back again on Friday. Then I drove from Clemson to Charleston, while stopping in Columbia for lunch. Then Monday I drove to Beaufort, where I was acquitted of all charges in traffic court....pretty awesome! I stayed in Beaufort for the night, which turned out to be a poor decision, then drove back up to Clemson with another stop for lunch in Columbia. I think I decided that I want to live in Charleston at some point in my immediate future. Maybe when I get back from Slovakia...maybe not. I might like it too much there. I'm thinking I'll find me a nice Slovak woman to marry. Just settle in and live happily ever after in a foreign land. Tomorrow starts another week of work at Eco-Art. It's a pretty sweet job. I get to design landscape and install them at the same time. I've decided I don't want to be in the design-build business for myself. It's way too much work and too much time. I need time for my future family. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about hard work and sweat. But I've got to have consistent time to love my wife and kids, Lord willing.

I've been reading in 1 Kings about the disobedience of all the kings that came and went through Judah and Israel. It seems hard to connect myself with those people, but I have to continually remind myself that I am a sinful man, just like the last and next guy. Pray for the Lord to open your eyes to your sinfulness. It is paramount that we understand our fallen nature...and then grasp onto the Gospel of Christ and cherish it. It is the only place of peace.


Peace and Love to you,
Matt

it's going

Well, it is officially June. It's kind sad to see May go by. I've had so many memories; graduating, spending countless hours in studio, going to the beach, sleeping. Yeah, it's been quite the month. But I must push onward toward my goal of getting to Slovakia.

So my support is coming in....gradually. I can't seem to setup any actual appointments, though. Everyone I talk to doesn't seem to be interested in meeting with me...although some have already decided they want to support me, which is cool I guess. I'm hoping I can find more contacts here in Clemson and be able to have meetings in the evenings. That's if work doesn't kill me first.

Eco-Art is fun so far. I've mostly been working out on the jobs and sweating most of the day. I did get to work on a design for a future job Friday. The design-build world is a hard one. You've got to find all your own work and provide enough work for your employees at the same time. I don't think it's something I want to do long term, but it's good for now.

I'm gonna make some phone calls and try to get some appointments setup. If anyone out there would like to meet with me about Slovakia, give me a holler!


peace,
Matt

Here's the scoop

Hey everyone. This is my new website to hopefully keep everyone posted about my year in Slovakia next year.

I just finished college, so I'll start raising support soon. Stay tuned for more details.