On the Farm

A few weeks ago all over Slovakia was an event entitled - “Night of Museums”. Which basically was a day where museums opened up their doors to the public for free or next to nothing. Well, our guys are not much for museums just yet (at least the ones here in Nitra). So, we opted for the Agricultural Museum, which in reality is just a huge plot of land next to Nitra devoted to displaying historical agricultural processes and machinery. This includes a mock up classic farming community, huge tractors, a steam locomotive and to top it off a spcaky (sausage) BBQ. So, not your typical museum experience. The guys loved it, especially the train!

Nitra Village

Ruppel-rific!

We recently had a visit from our long lost friend - Eric Ruppel. Our first contact with Eric and the rest of the Ruppel clan was for sure a divine encounter....and it still continues to be one. How else would you describe randomly meeting a family from Kentucky while sitting in a small synagogue in the middle of eastern Europe during a classical guitar concert? And then finding out that they have been attending a Bible study that meets in your home while you were away in China for 7 weeks? Since then we have had many Ruppel Encounters - all of them fun, eclectic, and in general a big blessing. Anyways, the boys loved being crazy & silly with Eric over the weekend.

Missions Made Possible (po Slovensky)

Once again our friends Neal & Yvonne Pirolo are crossing the globe spreading blessings along as they go. In a few weeks they will be with us here in Slovakia. Check out the teaching 'tour' that we have been setting up. If you are in the area drop into one of the sessions. Help us advertise if you can.

Click here for MORE

This is home

Check out this new Switchfoot video/song which will be featured on "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" movie. The soundtrack is up for sale on Tuesday, see the website for detials: SWITCHFOOT

a day in the park

Spring is fully upon us now, and summer is on the way...and it's great! This long weekend we spent quite a bit of time outdoors in the city park (a 5 minute walk from our home). This park is great- it's huge, very lush, ponds, baby ducks, a mini-"farm",and much more. Our first trip out was part of visit from Ivetka's dad (a.k.a "Daddy-O") and his wife Jana. Then on Saturday we meet up with all the usual suspects - Hanka, Danny and all of their 'significant others' (i.e parents). All in all it was a great time out.

Little Chef

Tyger in the grass

LessHome

As some of you know, when we came back to Slovakia we had the intention to move back to Bratislava (the capital), not Nitra (where our home is). Obviously, if you have been following our adventures we didn't make it to Bratislava yet. Even though I'm there 4 days a week, it's not the same thing as living in the 'big city.'

Some of you have asked - "why haven't you moved yet?" And most of the askers expect a 'spiritual' reason - it goes with the territory of being missionaries. People expect that everything you do is 'spiritual'. Although I'm sure there is a spiritual component to our living situation (certainly God has His hands in most things), there are really clear logistic/economic reasons we didn't move- yet. In a word, Bratislava is a very "expensive" place to live in.

It's pretty difficult for me to describe housing market here in Slovakia other then it's very competitive. It's the exact opposite of what many of you in America are experiencing right now. To get a better idea of what I'm talking about check out this report:

"Will the balloon burst in Slovakia?

In Western Europe apartment prices are considered unreasonably high when the price of an average (60 m2 1-bedroom) apartment climbs higher than the 5-year income of an average household.

If this is true, then the prices in three counties of Slovakia, namely Bratislava, Trnava, and Kosice, are excessive, in certain cases clearly speculative. Zilina, so popular because of the KIA Motors factory, is fast approaching this level.

In the city of Bratislava the price of an average apartment reaches 8 years worth of household income.

However, Slovak real estate professionals agree that the steep price rises will continue for a number of years. There are two main reasons for this.

First of all the indebtedness of the population is very low. There is an ample reserve for apartment purchases through bank financing. In 2007 the residential mortgage debt was a massive 55% of the GDP in the eurozone (EU15) countries. In Slovakia this indicator is merely 16%. (This is one of the main reasons the “credit crunch” is not directly threatening the Eastern European economies.)

The second reason is that the ratio of apartments to 1000 inhabitants is only 318 in Slovakia, while it is 420 in the old EU countries. “Taking this into consideration, there is a shortage of 550,000 apartments in the country,” claims Juraj Necpal, one of the directors of the real estate development firm IPEC. Milan Kanuscak, the project manager of the developer Cresco says there is a shortage of 80,000 units just in Bratislava. This is why it is no wonder that today in the capital city with an official population of 440,000, the price of the newly-built apartments is 50% more than the costs of construction.

It is impossible to find a studio apartment in Bratislava under 2 million Slovak crowns (62,400 EUR), except in a few outer, socially challenged neighborhoods. The price of small apartments has skyrocketed. People gasp when browsing average prices in the capital. The square meter price of newly-built apartments begins at 50,000 SKK (1560 EUR). A new 30 m2 studio apartment in Petrzalka, which is the low end of the market, costs 2.3 million SKK (71,760 EUR). Calculating with a 20-year term, the monthly mortgage payments would amount to 16,000 SKK (500 EUR) in case the buyer takes a 100% mortgage, which is available. If there is a 20% down payment, then the monthly payments are reduced to 12,800 SKK (400 EUR). There are no older pre-fab apartments in panel blocks available under 2 million SKK, either.

This phenomenon of chronic shortage of apartments has spread to other nearby commuting towns as well, for example Samorin. As we go further east, the situation is all the same; just an example of what is driving the search for housing in Western Slovakia: Sony has just announced the hiring of 3500 people in Nitra (town of 85,000, 92 km east of Bratislava) as they are planning to manufacture 3 million TV sets by the end of this year."

Big 5

Shake it up baby

God is dynamic. On the move. In motion. Not static at all. We can either watch Him fly by. Ignore He even is here. Imprison Him in our theologies, dogmas and insecurities. Or, if we are lucky we can get into His motion, His paths, His dance.

Below is a link to a report on dance steps as played out in Slovakia. God has been shaking it up here for a long time, but the night is still young. This particular report is put out by the Evangelical Alliance. Although it's a few years old, the basic tone and view on the Slovak CHURCH is fairly up-to-date. So, explore and pray that the Slovak people will join deeply into the dance of God.

Click for MORE

DE/REconstruction

Over the last two weekneds we have been squezing in our long anticipated (and much needed) kitchen reconstruction. Like most projects of this nature there are always some suprizes which make things 'interesting'. We still have a bit of detail work to do before we can sign off on the project, but it is close. Below are a glimps of the deconstruction/construction fun we have been having. I especially enjoy the pics of my special helpers......

Made for More

Is all that is right before our eyes? Or have we just settled for 2nd best? Have we entertained ourselves to sleep? Or do we long to live for so much more? Are we who we want to be? really?

These and many other questions where tackled last week at Potichu Nahlas (Quietly Outspoken). <<< Click for more

Missions Made Possible

Once again our friends Neal & Yvonne Pirolo are crossing the globe spreading blessings along as they go. In a few weeks they will be with us here in Slovakia. Check out the teaching 'tour' that we have been setting up. If you are in the area drop into one of the sessions. Help us advertise if you can.

Click here for MORE

Fast Money

If you are like me you get a bunch of junk mail via email. Recently much of it has been get-rich-quick schemes. Well, what I'm sharing now is not one of them, but it is a interesting report on the Slovak economy (if you like that sort of thing). I've decided to to start posting various reports about Slovakia on our blog. Even though it's not about us or the ministry, it is about the 'fish-bowl' we live in. Many of you (outside of Slovakia) have commented on the fact that you enjoy learning about Slovakia. Hopefully these reports/article/links will draw you closer into our world and what is going on in this very dynamic environment.

Here is an article from BuissnessWeek

PN - Pass it on!