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