OH MAN

Ok. The past 3-4 weeks have been absolutely exhausting, crazy, and amazing. 2 weekends, 3 trips, a TON of ministry, new people met, and growth. So much personal growth :)

So in terms of travel, we went to the Adriatic sea twice, including the cities of Piran here in Slovenia, and Rovinj in Croatia as a surprise trip put on by the staff. I didn't post every picture, but from the few that I did I think you'll notice how similar the cities are. Both had a castle, huge church, the buildings look almost identical and the layout of each city was pretty similar. Either way, both cities were absolutely gorgeous and had very friendly and easygoing people. Like REALLY easygoing (to the point of completely nude easygoing in Croatia).

Piran was fantastic and was the picturesque European city on the ocean. Really similar to pictures of Italy that I had seen, it it a bustling little town (only 43 sq. km). It was VERY geared toward tourists and had tons of stands for buying souvenirs that were entirely too expensive haha. A couple of us jumped in the ocean for a little bit, but too many jellyfish and the cold water didn't keep us in the water for very long. I visited the castle in the city which offered the best best views of the city. Unfortunately, I took a later bus than everyone else that went, and I was only able to explore the city for a couple hours and had to leave soon after visiting the castle.

When the bus driver first dropped us off at Rovinj, he said that it would be a 20 minute walk tops to the center of the city... 1.5 hours, a nude beach, and a gallon of sweat later, we arrived in the center more than a little upset. Gotta love those FKK beaches with signs that say you cannot wear clothes if you're doing anything besides passing through. Another fun fact about Croatia: they don't use the Euro for their currency - they use Kuna, and 1E = 7.5 Kuna right now, so exchanging money at the bank was an interesting experience. This one ice cream place had slushies - mixing Orange, Lime, and Strawberry was only 10 Kuna and I had never been more thankful for a brainfreeze. The heat also made us really appreciate finding most of the rest of our group at the ocean and being able to jump in the water and relax with them. When we had all cooled off, we sat on the rocks to dry out. Several people fell asleep (#caughtsnoozing) and most everyone else journaled or read a book. It was the most peaceful moment I had ever experienced. Listening to some Celtic Woman, the waves lapping at my feet, surrounded by people that I love and who love me in return, and being happy and content with where God had brought me so far and where he was going to take me in the future. I don't think I could ever ask for a more beautiful moment. Of course the moment had to end eventually and we had to go home, but isn't that part of makes something beautiful in the first place - that it is only momentary?

I'll have to do another post about Lake Bled because I'm a bit short on time. BUT. I liked it more than Rovinj - and that's saying a ton!

My faith journey:
We've been doing an in depth study of the book of Philippians with particular emphasis on Phil 1:21 "for me, to live is Christ and to die is gain".
Pretty much every single day on this trip except weekends, I've been talking about how amazing Jesus is to every person that I meet. And the more that I talk about it, the more I realize how true that statement is. We have so much to look forward to after death, and I can really sympathize with Paul as he writes from prison to the first church that he started how he wants to continue spreading the news of how much God loves us, but at the same time cannot wait to meet his creator when he dies.
I've wrestled with the concept of God being like a selfish child, and thinking that he only created us  to have something worship Him. Tim Keller helped me out with this by further explaining the concept of the Trinity. Because God is 3 in 1, he is effectively in a relationship with Himself, and God had so much love within Himself that he needed something else to share it with  - so He created us! So that He could love more, and that we could find love and joy in Him! I can't think of a better reason to celebrate life - that we were created to be loved and to find joy :)

Check out my 2 albums on Facebook - Piran, and Ready. Set. SLO! I'll upload pictures later tonight of Rovinj!
https://www.facebook.com/chris.keener.771/photos_albums

Week 1

This last week was amazing! Getting to know the city and the people here is an awesome experience
Here is a daily schedule:
Quiet time with the Lord 9-10
Training / free time (depending on the day) 10-12
lunch / evangelism / building friendships with local students 12-4:30
free time 4:30-6
Dinner 6-7
evening activity / free time (depending on the day) 7-11

Quiet time is basically personal study time, prayer, and devotion to the Lord. Not everyone does it in the morning, but if I don't do it first thing in the morning, then I probably won't do it at all that day.

Training - this is the cool part where we learn how to connect with people here. Staffers and STINTers teach us new ways to explain the gospel and new ways to study the bible, and I can really see a huge difference in my personal time with God with how I approach different passages in the Bible.

Evening activities can really be anything like hanging out with students, a group activity, more quiet time, or card game like mafia and euchre. Or getting more gelato. That is always a viable option.


General observations so far about Europe:
1. Food is really cheap. Like full meal for only 4 euro cheap. And healthier food is typically cheaper than fast food and and candy.We get per diem at the beginning of the week for all of our meals, and by the end of this past week, I had 60% of left over to spend on fun things and sightseeing this weekend. The caves More fun for me!
2. Gelato is amazing. There's a local gelato bar called Cacao and I'm pretty sure that I've been there almost every single time I get a meal in the city. But with 1 scoop being only 1.50, there is absolutely no shame being felt over here. My mission is to try every flavor that they have. And they change flavors every day. BRING IT ON.
3. The culture is not so fast and busy over here. The waiters will not come to the table unless you flag them down when you need something, and they are very content to just let customers chill out for a while. Did this yesterday after lunch, just sat chatting for 2 hours after we finished eating and the waiter had to bring us our check because his shift was ending.
 Also, cashiers and waiters will let you take your time to get exact change. If you give them a 20 for something that costs 15.61, they will ask for the 61 eurocents so they can give you 1 bill instead of 4 coins. It's great to not be carrying around change all the time because people are actually expecting you to use it! And with their smallest bill being 5 euro, they have 2E and 1E coins, so you actually have a lot more in change than you think you do.
4. People are a bit more introverted - I don't think that I have made eye contact with 1 passerby since being here. Everybody keeps to themselves especially in the fakulties (college buildings) where we are trying to meet new people. It's a bit awkward to disrupt studying students, but once they start talking, the students are very friendly and really want to know more about us.

Making new friends has been pretty cool. This week we were starting out with a cultural survey and just seeing what things we should do while in Slovenia, and letting the conversation flow from there. The fewer conversations you have in one day the better, since those couple conversations will probably last a lot longer and go deeper than many that just last for a few minutes. Everyone here takes English from 1st grade until sometime in high school, so there is rarely a language barrier.

Honeymoon phase is pretty much over, but I still love it here :)

Days 1-3

So, I stink at remembering people's names, and I have met like 25 people in the past 36 hours. The struggle is real. But being around them every hour of every day has helped immensely and I think I know them all at least slightly well at this point. All of these people are so on fire for Christ that I wanted to cry at pretty much every testimony I heard. I didn't get a chance to snap any first pictures of the city, but a lot of exploring is happening in the next couple days. My first impression: the architecture is beautiful, all houses are sort of beige with either brown or red roofs, and the city is more accessible to pedestrians than cars. This resulted in a pretty awesome jazz combo in the middle of a square with 10-15 pairs of people dancing along to the music. I love everything about this city 

Photos are slightly out of order. 

First day = briefing. Good 8 hours of icebreakers, prayer, and questions about schedules being answered

Days 2-3  = travel. Left from Columbus for a connecting flight from Philly to Munich, then a 6 hour bus ride to Ljubljana (Loob-lee-yana). I never really got more than an hour of sleep at a time, and "night" on the flight was all of about 4 hours since we flew East. My mind is still very excited to be here, but my body can't really do anything about it at this point. 

This is it!

Well... tomorrow is the day! I begin my journey to a foreign place filled with foreign people with a bunch of people I really don't know that well. And how am I feeling? I think that if I tried to raise my excitement level any higher than what it is right now, something would literally come out the top of my head. I really don't know a lot about what I am about to do - and that is the best part because God does!

I've had a friend recently tell me that I will not return from Slovenia the same person as long as I can let God work in me - to let go and let God. This is my best opportunity to really let Him shine since most of these people don't know me well enough to expect anything less. Here's to change! 

I really hope that change includes no longer procrastinating. My suitcase is a little too empty for my liking at the moment :)