Forjan's ministry

In the first week of March I was invited for a church planting seminar in Czech. Gloria had to stay at home with Patrik but I had a chance to go with eleven other Slovene church workers. The speaker was Alan Hirsch who is the founding Director of Forge Mission Training Network (http://www.theforgottenways.org/). It was very encouraging to think what is church and what it is all about. His recent book The Forgotten Ways, has quickly become a key reference for missional thinking, particularly as it relates to movements. My prayer is that God will build a strong church in Radovljica and that people will really encounter with Him.

We were totally impressed! Well done everyone! Over 100 people were involved the last month into this project that our church decided to do. Richard Montez came from the States to train young people in dance, music and performance. He is a professional and has been doing this for the last 18 years. (www.cornerstonearts.com for more info) More than five churches in our area were involved in this project and it made a big impact on everyone that participates as well as on those who came to watch. The life of Joseph from the Bible is a fascinating story and they did a good job acting it out for us. Gloria’s brother played Joseph.
They already had 8 shows and many more are being planed over this year. The shows went great, and from what I heard, everyone came home encouraged and tired. We got to see the show twice. Last Friday we took a group of young people to Ljubljana to see it and they all loved it. Here are some pictures from one of the shows.

Lots of dancing and singing!

A few young people from our town participated as well. This is our precios friend Neza as a Pharaoh girl.

Really interesting and well done play!

Gloria’s brother as Joseph. What a talented actor

Some skills!! Very impressive

Over 100 people participated to make this happen. They sacrificed a lot to be on this team. In only three weeks they learned the whole thing and did an amazing job. We look forward to many more shows. They sure plan to do more of Joseph ones and some others as well. Slovenia loves muzicals and it is a great way to reach many.

Two days after we returned home from Poland we flew to Northern Ireland to visit our friends, supporters and churches. It was a long day getting there but it all went well. Patrik did great in the air. His nap time was a little disturbed and he didn’t really enjoy that. Nevertheless, we made it across the see to an island.

Friends collected us and took us to their wee cottage. It was such a perfect place and I still can’t get over it. We really enjoy being there. Then we went to stay with Helen & Ian who also have a child. I felt relay knowing their house would be a playground for Patrik. And it really was. The two boys got along so well. At one point they were holding hands while eating breakfast. We gave them bath together, lay them down for their night sleep and enjoy the evening just the four of us talking mainly about marriage. Oh, precious times. Well, we had to move on and it was hard to say good-bye. But our next station was just as lovely. Sally, who is our ‘Irish grandma’, took such good care of us three. Sally is a wonderful godly lady who is always interested in knowing what God is doing in our lives. So we talked and talked till late at night. We also got to visit McKinstry family. Their third son has a wee boy Patrik’s age. The family has been so good to us when we were studying in Belfast and we love coming back to them. The afternoon with them was refreshing. Than it was the North coast. We got to visit a few churches there and spend time with our dear friends from Portrush and Coleraine. We were back to our wee cottage for our last two days there and got to spend some time with the team from Portglenone who came to Slovenia to do camps with us.

We did lots of traveling and have met with many other friends that we didn’t even mention here, but most important we got to tell them of God’s work in our town. We love telling stories of how God is redeeming people and calling them into his family.

It’s good to be back though!! Just a few pictures. There were too many to choose from.

The cottage we stayed at.

Eoin & Patrik taking bath together

Patrik playing with Isac

Enjoying lunch with David, Besiana and their dauther Ariana. They were our school mates at Belfast Bible Collage and are preparing themselves to make a move to Kosova on a mission field.

Taking an afternoon walk at the North coast with Stephen and Heather.

A few folks that came to Slovenia in 2009 to do a camp

And this is us three. I often forget to post a family picture. Yes we love being a family and feel really blessed to be able to travel together.

We attended a marriage conference in January. We met with most of the couples in the JV family from around Eastern Europe for a great conference. There was some great teaching from Dave Patty and some much needed time to process the content with one another. We had some really significant conversations. I am so thankful that we had some needed time to focus on each other. Patrik stayed home with Gloria’s parents and he did well. It was first time for us leaving Patrik for that long. Quite a challenge. But it was worth it!

It is important to work on our marriages. This is why:
* A good marriage can always get better
* A good marriage is one of the best gifts you can give your children
* A good marriage will help you know Christ in a deeper way
* A good marriage will protect you from temptation and failure
* A good marriage will transform you and heal you
* A good marriage will significantly expend the impact of your ministry

The conference was in the beautiful city of Krakow, Poland. It was our first time to the city and we really enjoyed it despite some really cold temperatures (-20 c or -4 f).

Hotel room- even our honney moon hotel wasn’t this nice! What a treat

On a beautiful (but very cold day) we enjoyed exploring the city

We met for some great teaching three times a day. After the teaching we had time reserved for reflection with our spouses. And believe me, we had much to talk about every time.

Each day we went out for lunch and dinner. Every couple got some money and a list of restaurants to choose from.

This is a picture of all the couples from Slovenia! We are so blessed to be a part of this team and to have an oppurtunity to work on our marriages together.

Us taking notes!!! As we mentioned earlier, we really enjoyed the teachings. Our marriage is important to us and we want to invest into it. we learned a lot and are excited to put it into practice. Thank you JV for this gift.

We have had a lot of snow in Radovljica and have absolutely loved it. We try to go for a walk every day to get some fresh air, spend some time as a family and enjoy the beauty of a nature under snow. We both love summer time, but winter is special too. In fact all seasons are beautiful. We are so glad to be living in a country with four different seasons. What a blessing to be able to observe the nature and see how it response to different climatic changes. It reminds me of our lives. We experience different ’season’ changes. They all come from our God. Hard or well, it is all for our blessing, I believe!!

We had a special Christmas celebration this year. The reason is simply because we celebrated it as a family. We got to think about and choose our family Christmas traditions that we will now do each year. We also got to spend time with our big family. David and Katka kindly opened their home for us and the party lasted for two days. Than right after Christmas we got visitors from N.Ireland. Time with them and our youth group was precious. We took them places around Slovenia and even had New years celebration together at the Castle in Austria. All to say, we were exausted but thankful for many precious holiday times with family and friends.

Taking everyone to Kranjska gora for skiing and sliding

Having a break from ehausting and fast sliding down the hill

Our three friends from N.Ireland : Sharon, Stuart and Sharon

Sabina’s mum invited us all for a lovely dinner to theri house after a day at Kranjska gora. It was a great evening.

Boys chilling out!

Sabina’s family have theri own zoo at their house. Pretty amazing. This is their parrot that talks and dances.

We spent quite some time in the van driving places around Slovenia.

This is us arriving to Ljubljana- the capital of Slovenia

Ljubljana at night

Some of us downtown Ljubljana

Christmas lights in Ljubljana

The most handsome driver of the week!

Stopping to grab lunch. Notice how Patrik is enjoying it

We had Kebab and It was delicious!

Than it was time to go to Austria for New Years celebration. This is the view onto the lake from the castle in Austria

A picture of the castle at night (Not the best one, but the only one we had)

Everyone was supposed to wear someting green.

Our family in fromt of the Christmas tree at the castle.

Castle coffee shop – best coffee

Patrik pointing at what he wanted on the menu

Was satisfied with his bottle at the end

The awaited moment! Everyone at the dock for the moment. It was loud, cheery. People said their wishes to each other and we all sang songs togehter.

We even had our own fire works

But the party continued at the castle until early hours. More games, dancing, hanging-out and food.

Some decided they didn’t want to go to bed at all so they were up till the next day. I was suprised to find them still alive the next morning and full of energy. But on our way back to Slovenia they all fell asleep. Having Patrik we couldn’t afford this.

That it was more time at our house.

After this night at our house the Irish crew left us. We were sad to say good-bye. They surprised us with an idea that they will be back in April. Would be absolutely great!

This year our choir had five different concerts in five different cities. We had an amazing time together doing a musical called ‘Don’t be afraid!’ The musical had drama, dance and songs in it. The massage was so powerful and it touched many people’s lives. Good crowed was there each night, but last night we had about 250 people at our church. It was packed. Many many more waited outside to get in. That has never happened to us before. It truly was amazing. Even snow didn’t stop people from coming. Now, all we can say is that our prayer is people find peace in Jesus this Christmas! Merry Christmas!!

44 people participated in the choir this year

Katka and young girls who attended her music camp last summer and have decided to join the church choir for this occasion.

Sebastian was our sound man. He did such a great job and really worked hard at setting up everything for us so that the message was heard well.

One night we even sang outside on the streets on Koper. That was a great experience. The wind was strong and it was cold but it didn’t stop us from doing it.

Everyone gatering before the concert to pray together and go trrough the last details.

Gloria and Neza doing a solo. Neza is from our town Radovljica.

On Saturday, Gloria had a choir practice for Christmas concerts and I was home with Patrik. We had a great time full of fun and laugh. I really enjoy being dad. Here is a video of our time together. He was surprised when I got the camera out. I think he looks cute. And you can also hear the great music that we are already listening from October on.

Patrik gave me some good moments to take pictures

Our wonderful turkey!! It was delicious!

Our wonderful Team

Taking a boat to Bled island

Late night program! We had so much fun playing together

American football

We have adopted an American tradition of celebrating thanksgiving and we love it. It is an amazing opportunity to look back, take time and thank the Lord for blessing he has blessed us with! We are thankful that His love endures forever!!

It was Patrik’s first time flying going to N.Ireland and he absolutely loved it. I was a bit nervous how it will all go, but he seemed to enjoy it. I have to say I was thankful he was asleep most of the time when in the air. We are so blessed to have a child who just ‘goes with the flow’.

Out of four flight we had to take on the last flight going home from London he cried for about 10 min. I didn’t think it was that bad. He was just exhausted from all the drama we had at London airport (four of our girls almost had to stay in London. Ryanair canceled their ticket to fly home for who knows what reason and Sebastian had to deal with it for over two hours. They didn’t admit their mistake so we ended up paying a lot of money to buy new tickets for all four of them.) Well, after he fell asleep, a flight attended commented: ‘hundreds of people on this plane are happy now!’ I didn’t really understand what he was saying until one girl from our group told me that apparently other people on the plane were complaining about the baby cry. Oh well, Patrik does have a strong voice.

This is exciting! First time flying with 7 months

Please, fasten your seat belts

Didn’t take long after takeoff before he fell asleep

Daddy and Patrik

Taking another nap in mummys arms