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Four from Del Sol Church travel to Slovakia from July 1 thru Jul 18 to conduct an "English Camp" mission outreach.
July 15
Today's update from Teri...
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/15/2011 11:48 AM

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Friday, July 15, 2011 how sad!  As much as we miss our families back home and look forward to seeing them, we are sad about having to say goodbye to the people we’ve come to know and love here in Slovakia.  Our time here has been a tremendous blessing as always.  We are asked to come here to teach conversational English, so we come hoping and praying that through this camp and by building new relationships and strengthening old ones we can share about the love of God with them.  Many have no interest in anything else but attending English camp and leave as soon as it’s over, and that’s ok because others hang around and we are able to just chit chat with them, thus gaining trust.  We will miss all of our students and their families.  The Corner family that was here and helped us with the beginners classes were a joy and a pleasure to be around and do ministry together with.  They leave tonight and we’ll leave tomorrow for a day of sightseeing, then off to Vienna where we will fly out of on Monday, headed back home.    So today is a day of celebration for completing two weeks of English camp for students and a day of many tears for us.  Who would have thought we’d come half way around the world and fall so much in love with the people of Nove Zamky, Slovakia, God is so wonderful, and we’re thankful that he is the one in control!  Well we’re off to tackle sadness and embrace some joy.   Please pray for sweet moments of loving goodbyes and safety as we travel back home.  Thank you for your prayers throughout the trip, they have strengthened and sustained us.  Lord willing, we’ll see you soon.  God bless…

 

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July 10
Sunday Update
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/10/2011 4:05 PM

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Our weekend is over but it was great.  Family Day on Saturday, I would consider a success.  I’m almost sure there were well over 100 children, some from the English Camp and a lot of new faces.  There were lots of games, crafts and other large attractions for them to participate in and enjoy and they sure seemed to be having fun.  We all did the best we could communicating with people (at least in crafts and games we were able to get by with hand signals and body motions) I think that was half the fun for us.  Pastor Pal was able to announce on a couple of occasions the purpose of the event and tell and invite everyone to the English Camp and other events that the church has throughout the year and of course invite them to church.  It was a good outreach; everything seemed to work out just fine.  We praise God for that and pray that people’s hearts would be drawn towards Him.

 

 
Today we slept in late (well if you call 9:00 am late) just hung around till lunch time at 1:00 pm at the Hammon’s home (the local missionaries) and then off to church for a 3:00 Hungarian worship service and a 4:30 Slovak service.  Love the singing, we actually recognize some of the songs, now if we could just twist our tongues around to pronounce some of the funny looking words, we’d be in good shape.  It was a good time of worship anyway.
 
Tomorrow we start our second week of classes and hopefully we’ll have new students from the “Family Day” event.   When we are at this point we start thinking that it’s almost over and it gets a little sad knowing that soon we will be saying goodbye to our dear Slovak friends, yet looking forward to seeing our family and friends again.  It’s going to be a wonderful week. 
 

 

Thanks for praying for us and especially for Bettye who sprained her ankle last week.  The swelling went down and she bandages it up every day and is able to walk ok, she’s not even limping.  But do try to keep her off her feet as much as possible.  We’re thankful that it wasn’t too bad.    Till next time, God bless…

 

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July 08
Slovakia Update
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/8/2011 5:39 PM

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Well our first week is over.  Except for the small mishaps, accidents and illnesses everything went smoothly.  Bettye is already talking about next year; she’s befriended some of the girls in her intermediate class and they’ve asked her to come back.  All the kids are very sweet and eager to learn, it’s been fun watching her interact with the kids and adults alike.  Now if she would just stop tripping over things we just might bring her back, just kidding, but we are keeping an eye on her.  Kim of course is a returning teacher so everyone from last year and new students just love her and from what I can tell as I check in on them every once in a while are having loads of fun yet learning at the same time.  She’s already taken a group out on a field trip to the plaza and had them tell her and Stephan the history of some statues.  Stephen is fitting in just fine with old and young alike, he is very personable, likable, and a true gentleman.  It’s a pleasure to have him along on this trip,  I’m glad we forced him to come.  Not really!  He wanted to. 
 
Tomorrow (Saturday, July 10th) is a very special day.  That’s “Family Day”, the community is invited to come spend a few hours in the evening enjoying several different activities. Things like jumping balloons, a trampoline, a water slide, games and crafts will be available to children and the family will be invited to visit the church.  Pray that hearts are responsive and that the message of God’s love goes out to all.  We are all excited about this event and are looking forward to it.  Hope our short planning session today pans out into a very successful and fun day to tomorrow. 
 
It’s midnight now so I’m going to sleep, it’s past my bedtime, although the whole time thing is really got me messed up this time, don’t know why.  Good night. 

 

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July 06
Moon lighting mission team style!
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/6/2011 4:13 PM

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WOW! Tonight this trip went from being a good mission trip to being a great one. We had the opportunity to do some manual labor helping Pastor Pal in the building of his house. We shoveled cement for a several hours after dinner. It was unexpected, but we were excited to help. They needed help working the cement before it dried up, things get done very different around here. It’s almost midnight and we just got back to the apartment, maybe tonight we'll be able to sleep. Good night!

 

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July 06
Brief Update forwarded by Ariel
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/6/2011 2:37 PM

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- From Teri Valdespino. Sunday morning. "Just attended two worship service, one in Hungarian and one in slovak. Didn't understand a word I either one but I love listening and watching Pastor Pal preach. You can hear and feel his passion for sharing the Word of God."
 
- From Teri Valdespino. Monday afternoon. "First day of English Camp in Slovakia went well. Some returning students, some new. Great to see old friends, love these people! Wish you were here!"

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July 06
This just in from Teri Valdespino
by  Creighton BellNo presence information  on 7/6/2011 2:33 PM

 

As you might have heard or seen we did arrive without three of our suitcases, although they did find and deliver them the following day (Sunday), so we had our school material and of course, a change of clothes, praise God it didn’t take longer.  We attended two worship services on Sunday evening one in Slovak and one in Hungarian and even though we could not understand what was being said, the Lords presence was evident, it was a real blessing. 
 
School started Monday and it got off to a good start.  We had between two to twelve people in each level (beginner, intermediate, and advanced).  The beginner group is the smallest with two to four people at this level.  Jerry and Susan Hammon the local missionaries found a wonderful family from Michigan that is here in Slovakia patiently awaiting on God to reveal what his plan is for them here, if any.  They have been in Slovakia at different places for about 11 weeks and will be going back to the U.S. in August.  Because we were a little short of people they agreed to come to Nove Zamky and help us with the English Camp.  They and their five children have been a blessing, and we’ve enjoyed their company. 
 
Pastor Pal and Zuzka have a new baby son by the name of Toby.  He is “as cute as a button” as they say, not sure I understand that saying but anyway he is absolutely adorable.  We have not seen much of Pal as he is busy building his house, and yes he is actually building it himself from what I understand, with a little help from his friends I’m sure.  I can’t wait to see it; I wish I could be helping do that. 
 
The weather here has been wonderful, it was raining when we got here and rained for a couple more days.  Today (Wednesday, July 6th) it’s a little warmer and will continue to get warmer from here on out.  I’m thinking that because of the weather I ended up with a little bit of a cold, congested and a sore throat.  I’m now taking medicine and have started to feel better, although it seems to be getting to Stephen now, so we came straight back to the hotel after lunch to drug him up.  Hopefully we can stop it before it gets worse. 
 
We’ve seen almost all of our friends from previous years; it’s like coming home to see family, young and old alike.  They are just so wonderful you can’t help but love them.  Even some returning students remember us and receive us with hugs.  For me this is the best part of the trip re-uniting with our dear, dear Slovak friends, meeting and forming new friendships.  I’m so thankful that Our Lord provided the opportunity for our church to partner with Pastor Pal and this itty bitty church that has so much love and compassion and a heartfelt sense of commitment to share God’s Word and love to their countrymen.  I hope and pray that more people from our church can someday experience this blessing.  It is a different kind of mission trip because it’s an English Camp, but through this we have been able to share our faith with others, and that’s the ultimate goal, after all. 
 
Well that’s it for now; I’ll update you later, till then take care and please keep praying.  God bless…
 
Teri Valdespino
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About this blog
Four from Del Sol Church (Bettye Nelson, Stephen Meyer, Kim Loya and Teri Valdespino), travel to Nove Zamky, Slovakia to assist Pastor Pal Fazekas to conduct an "English Camp" mission outreach.