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I am excited because this weekend I head back to Wilmington for a few days to hang out with my friend Lindsey - we haven’t seen each other since Rome in December - so needless to say, we’re both excited.

Last weekend my church (Port City) had it’s first service in the new church building and we were all so humbled by what God has done over the past 9 years to bring us to the point where we are now. Here is a picture that my talented friend Scott took.

Also, I have a few pictures of my Wilmington family, I love the Mixons and am so thankful they allow me to stay with them in their spare bedroom, which they now call, “Kelly’s room.”

I’m really looking forward to my “official” move back to Wilmington. For now, you can pray that I’ll be able to get a car soon - my dad and my uncle, “know a guy” and he’s supposedly on the car hunt for me. It’s just hard in the waiting time - because it’s so unknown. So, please, if you would pray I find one soon. I think it will help with my sanity.

There is more to pray for - but really, more than things or circumstances I need peace and patience. Pray that my heart would be flooded with these things.

I’m so thankful for my friends - everywhere, near and far. Thanks for shaping me, for speaking truth into my life, and for loving me.

last week i had the chance to venture home to wilmington, nc. it was like dreamworld for me to be back there again. the purpose of the trip was 3-fold. i wanted to see people - that was priority number one, and i did, i saw lots of people and it kinda wore me out in the end (but it was so so so good!). number two - the goal was to see if wilmington, nc is a place i could see myself living again (problem solved). and three, i wanted to think about the future and try to see where God might have me. it was awesome to be in wilmington, and definitely a place that i would love to live again. i do sense that God is speaking to me about where He wants me next and i’d love to update you on that - the problem is, it’s such a process - which is good, too. i find God giving me grace, strength and hope through it all; which truly, i need.

i want to give you more of an update - which there is, but i don’t feel like a blog is the best place to post my innermost thoughts and feelings at this point, maybe that will change in the coming weeks.

i’ll continue to say this, please don’t get annoyed. more to come.

here are a few pictures from the wilmington reunion.

I’m back in the states. I’m a bit overwhelmed, but I can’t tell why. There are a few things that I could be overwhelmed by. Maybe it’s the differentness of American culture from what I got used to being overseas for a year, or maybe it’s the refills, the ice, the air-conditioner, or the way everyone speaks english around me. Could it be the pace of life? Or maybe the fact that my sister gets married on Friday? I don’t know, but it’s a lot. I tried my best to prepare for being here, but in a lot of ways you just can’t. I remember thinking the more and more I got used to being in Slovakia - how hard it would be to transition back, but I didn’t know exactly how.

What’s more is that I feel like I cheated you on a Serbia update, because it was amazing, God really showed up and brought His A-game. I saw Him work in our students lives and change us all towards stepping out in faith and relying on Him to direct our paths. Being in Serbia, was for me, an excellent time so that I could focus on “being fully there” till the very end. Two days after the Serbia experience, I got on a plane and flew all the way home, with a missed flight in Chicago, and a long runway experience. I guess all of that comes with flying internationally.

Now that I’m home I’m working on wedding stuff for my sister, Kirby, who gets married this Friday! I’m real excited for her. I’m glad to be here to help. It’s been really hard to not be a part of helping her plan because I’ve been overseas.

But, jumping back in is hard, especially this fast. I feel like I don’t know really where I fit, or where I belong - or if I belong anywhere. Things that I remember being so good, aren’t really that good to me anymore. For example, I had a chik-fil-a milkshake the other day (with all of its millions of calories) and I didn’t really even like it. It wasn’t that good, it kind of even made me feel sick to my stomach. The things I thought I missed aren’t really as good as I remembered. It’s funny how distance and time can do that to you. How the good sifts to the top, and you don’t really remember the bad things, or the difficult things.

The most difficult thing I think is the lack of time people have to spend time talking and helping me process through life as -is, I think there is a tendency in all of us to say, “it will all just work out.” But, what if it doesn’t. Or, what if it doesn’t at the speed that you think it will. Maybe this is the hardest.

Hard, but good? I guess so.

I got back last night from a full week in Serbia. It was a really great time filled with God’s complete provision for our needs. I’m sitting here at my desk in Kosice now and am just so thankful for all that He did. I just really wish you could have been there to see it. I want to write a longer update, but I’m in the midst of packing everything to return to America on Friday. So, I’ll try to write more when I get the chance.

Here’s a picture of our group last night, after we arrived back from our 8 day journey.

There is something to be said for getting away from time to time.

Last week, I had the chance to get away by going to a friend’s village, it was a great time of relaxation, strawberry picking (for the first time in my life), walks, and a hunting castle with a tea room. It was a great timewith Miska and her family, they were incredibly sweet to have me over for the night.

The ruralness of it all was a bit striking, there were sheep and chickens, and a garden with all types of fruits and vegetables. It felt like something out of a novel. I wanted to capture the animals on video, because I loved watching them and tried to imagine what it would be like with that as my normal.

Something that hit me while I was there was that it was a time that I really seized, I was enjoying the small things, taking delight in saying “baaa” at the sheep. It was then that I realized that time will pass, inevitably, and it’s up to us how we spend our days.

So, I know that I only have about 10 more days on this side of the ocean, I really want to enjoy them, take delight in the fact that God has given them to me, and most of all enjoy Him. So this is my attempt at carpe diem: seize the day, for you non-latin takers.

Enjoy this video from the village.

what i’m going to miss about Slovakia #4: going to a village from Kelly on Vimeo.

So, last night I decided to give it a-go and try going to the movies by myself. But, remember, here’s the thing, I’m in Slovakia, so the movie-going experience is just a wee-bit different. So I’ll start at the beginning, hopefully you’ll be able to picture it.

6:35 Left my apartment, to start to walk towards the tram stop of the #6 which will carry me to kino druzba (the movie theater I need to go to)

6:41 Tram #2 takes me to the tram #6 stop, I love it when trams time themselves like this

6:47 Tram #6 comes, I get on (tram checkers get on - and you have to show that you’re a legal passenger by presenting your ticket or your month pass, luckily I had returned mine earlier that day from a previous tram checker incident)

7:00 Arrive at Kino Druzba (the movie theater)

7:05 Purchase movie ticket for 99sk ($5)

7:07 Me, trying to figure out the system, because you see there is assigned seating at movie theaters here, I check my ticket - row 11, seat 7

7:10 I’m seated, with no one around, but some Slovak’s are crowded into their rows (I’m thinking, this would never fly in America)

7:15 still no one around and I’m starting to feel a bit like a loser, I’m really by myself at the movies

7:18 a burst of confidence - I’m really doing this. Not just alone at the movies, but alone IN Slovakia at the movies.

7:22 a couple arrives, and sits right beside me, with an entire empty row

7:28 the girl, of the couple, leans over to me to ask, “are you waiting on someone?” and i reply that i am not, she asks me if i can switch seats because they have a friend coming. I’m thinking, no problem, we have an entire empty row, why don’t we just stagger ourselves with 13 seats in between us, that could be an option.

7:29 I’ve moved seats, and I’m talking to this girl,

me -”do you study in Kosice?”

girl - “yes”

me - “what do you study”

girl- “english”

me - “I’m an American and I’ve lived in Slovakia for a year, I’m working and taking Slovak language here”

girl - “oh, I thought no one wanted to come to Kosice”

7:31 movie starts

7:33 a rush of girls floods our row, where clearly there are more girls than there are seats

7:35 i’m standing, we’re trying to figure out who has what seat, in Slovak, i feel out of place but not lonely, no, not lonely

7:40 i’m in my seat tucked between a guy (the friend of the couple that i was cuddling with at 7:22)

7:45 i’m well on my way to enjoying the movie

for the next 2 hours it’s something like this…

couple in front of me making out

couple beside me making out

couple behind me making out (i’m just assuming, i didn’t turn around)

9:50 it’s over, and i made it, so it’s off to the races to catch the tram back

9:55 tram #6 comes to carry me home

10:15 i’m home, back in my apartment, walk in to aaron sitting on the couch, carlyn in her room (door closed on the phone)

this is my life. this is somehow all normal. and it will be over soon and i will be sad.

there were many times throughout the night that i thought about taking video, but then i thought that it might be better explained than seen, sometimes it’s like that.

now, the next morning, i think about what this girl said,

i thought nobody wanted to come here.

i pray, that it’s been a testimony to many Slovaks that we’ve met and ministered to that we wanted to come here and we want them to know Jesus and that’s why i came, not to live in europe for a year (although i love that i can check this off my “things to do before I’m 30″ list, not to travel to cool places (although, that was fun and i got some good pictures). it was all about following God and i hope that it still is - I’m searching my heart on this now, as i’ve processed through the fact lately that “faith is not a feeling.”

I’m probably no different than you are.

I have a lot of fears, I make a lot of mistakes, and I want people to like me. Yet somehow, I find that writing these things down and placing them here allows for reflection and supplies me with a creative outlet.

Inside of these mistakes, fears, and seeking approval it’s very true that I am “learning to get out of the boat.” With each step I take forward, I find that it’s easier to want to be comfortable and harder to step out and trust. You’ll find laced through these pages stories of conflict, redemption, realizations, and faith. I hope that somehow they bring you hope and that you find a great story being told through it all, what I like to call “boat theology.”

Boat theology relates to Matthew 14:25-33

About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?” When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

This is what you’ll find here, stories of calling out to Jesus, getting out of the boat, doubting, and my response to it all.

For the past 10 months, I’ve had the privilege of taking five flights of stairs up to my flat. I thought you might want to see what the journey is like…

what i’m going to miss about Slovakia #3: the stairs from Kelly on Vimeo.

To explain six one six, I think I’ll just let you read an email I sent my team about a week ago…

One thing I’ve been convicted of recently, is how much I’m not praying for things. That isn’t to say, I’m not praying at all, but I’m maybe not bringing things before God as I need to be. I once heard it said, the degree to which you are trusting God with something is the degree to which you pray for it. So, here we go, a prayer initiative. It’s called sixonsix and it’s because we leave for Serbia on June 16th - which is the 16th of June right, therefore sixonesix, and what I’m hoping is that everyday at 6:16 everyone will pause and say a prayer for Serbia and our time there. I’m really trusting that God is going to change the world through this summer project and I want to trust Him for it and I want to be praying for it. So heres the deal, everyday at 6:16 if you’re awake in the morning, but certainly at 6:16pm take some time to PRAY.

-Kelly

Here’s a list for starters of things to pray for:

-God to use this summer to radically change the lives of Miska, Zuzka, and ZuZu
-God would work in the hearts of those will be ministering to
-for unity, vision, and purpose
-for fun while we’re there and as we’re preparing
-for God to bring about change in the lives of many students
-for God to bring the details together for the story of the soul outreach and that He would use it to greatly impact us and those we are ministering to
-for focus
-for love as a team, unified
-for all the details that need to come together before June 16th
-for our hearts to be delighting in Jesus, seeking Him in everything we do
-for good health, no sickness or injuries (so everyone would be able to go and remain healthy during the project)
-for support (students and our support as well)
-for financial details
-What would you add?

Here are things that my team said they are trusting God for:

Aaron - I’m trusting God to build up a movement here. Not just one, two, ten scattered students meeting with people one on one, but a growing community of believers who are excited to reach their classmates, coworkers, family, neighbors, anyone they can. A group of students so in love with God and desiring to do His will that it’s contagious.

Dara - I’m trusting God that He will continue to work in this city and all over the world because I think He is working in an amazing way if we see it or not. I am trusting God that He will raise up laborers who will carry His gospel wherever they go!

Kelly - I’m trusting God for great things here in Slovakia. That God would open the eyes of the unbeliever and that He would bring light in dark places. I’m trusting You Lord to raise up students who love you, who will desire a deeper connection with you.

Bibka - I’m trusting God that he has students out there that are seeking Him and want to know HIm and that He will continue working in their hearts so they can come to know HIm and want to serve Him and follow Him.

Carlyn - I am trusting God to use the summer project to Serbia to change Presov and Kosice, Slovakia, and the world…one person at a time! I trust that God will fulfull our vision statement and women and men in Slovakia will join in on seeing this vision become a reality.

HOW AWESOME? Look at all that we’re trusting Him for, but ARE WE PRAYING?

Okay, thats great Kelly, but what can I do from here?

-You can pray
-You can invite any and everyone to the facebook group
-You can let your supporters know about it
-You can add your own Serbia prayer requests to the wall of the group
-You can talk about how excited you are about Serbia (if you are)
-You can trust
-in a couple of weeks I want to gather everyone together to pray for Serbia - details coming

Looking forward to seeing God do big things.

So, thanks for joining us in prayer and for being a part of what God is doing all over the world!

I really don’t think I would be so unsatisfied, if there wasn’t so much to choose from. I’ve been trying for the past…well, long time, to add a banner to this site, i have one made up, which I’ll proudly display here:

but I’m still not sure how to edit the style sheet to make it appear correctly. I’m also learning lots of php things and other nerdy stuff like MySQL and things that no one cares about in a blog post.

I’ve been really inspired by several sites lately, which I’ll list here, I hope you enjoy visiting them if you get the time.

http://ma.tt/

http://www.burnkit.com/

http://wherewedowhatwedo.com/

Oh, and if you can believe it, my return to America is in 21 days, but first, we’ll go to Serbia on June 16th through the 24th for our own tailor made summer project, that I really believe will inject into those going motivation and boldness to be the difference that’s needed in Slovakia and on their campuses.

I’ll tell you more in another post…