November Update

Dear brothers and sisters,

With half of November gone, it's been three months since our arriving to Bratislava and the weather is beginning to get chilly with leaves changing. We continue our daily Slovak language classes and are excelling at what our teacher assures us is a rapid pace (Being impatient to learn, "fast" is somehow not fast enough for us.). And to think of how far our language skills have come in the past two-months that we've been taking classes is even now exciting. One interesting thing we've noticed with studying a language intensively for five or six hours-day is that it can be hard to "switch" back to English from Slovak syntax in the evening:  

"Natalie, how many years has yonder woman with birthdays even on the Novembers?" 

"I think that already has twenty she."

"Interesting. I have no little clock. Tell me of how many hours?" 

"Therefore, we have of six hours and on the one-half of seven now."

"So late of evening, and even we should to be eating now, for certain, you think appropriate?"

"Good, yes, be suppering we to can. Thus, my Jordan, you want I should to go into little store by means of foot to be getting some chickens and with what must we eat suppers I can?"

That's a little exaggerated, but you get the idea!

Still, we're getting settled in well. Natalie has begun to deck the halls, decorating the flat for the season to get a sense of home. We'll be missing our family and friends back home for sure, but we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with Nicole and Mike, an American couple employed by the U.S. State Department at the embassy here in Bratislava. Nicole teaches a lady's Bible class every Sunday morning in the church. 

Since last month's update the congregation in Bratislava has had one addition, a single Slovak brother, an anesthesiologist who's now returned to his home country to lecture and practice (He became a disciple while living and working in Ireland over the past several years). Also, we're in contact and evangelistic studies with another Christ-loving man named who reached out to us from Central Slovakia and is seeking to understand the will of God according to the Scripture. By the end of the month, God willing, one couple from the church will be having a baby boy--the first newborn child in the congregation's history.  

We love and miss you all, and thank you beyond words for your prayers and support.