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Greetings friends, family and supporters!
I apologize for not getting a final newsletter out to you sooner. Life’s been a whirlwind of activity the last month and a half! I want to share with you glimpses of my final months in Vrbovce and some of my reflections on the way home. I also want to thank you for your amazing support that you’ve given me these last twelve months! So here in just a few lines, we’ll get to that.
First though, here is my updated contact information:
Katy Harder
1100 East 55th St.
Chicago, IL 60615
Cell: 316-200-7880
e-mail: (same) katyaharder@yahoo.com or kharder@lstc.edu
I wanted to update you on where I’m at in life right now. Some of you might wonder if I’ve fallen off the face of the earth, it’s been so long since I’ve written. No I haven’t, but when I arrived back to the U.S. I sure hit the ground running! After I arrived home from Vrbovce August 6th, I spent a couple of weeks in Wichita visiting with friends and family. I was welcomed home by both of my church communities with open arms, and was able to share stories with them on the Sundays I had in Kansas. During that time I also worked on finishing up candidacy requirements for my entrance into the process and had an interview in Kansas City and was accepted! Woo hoo! On August 22nd I moved up to Chicago where I’ve now begun seminary. I’m on the Masters of Divinity track towards ordination and have begun my seminary career (we’re starting our fourth week now) at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. The M-Div (short for Masters of Divinity) program is a four year program of study with your third year as an internship. I feel like I dove head first into studying since classes have begun and am already loving it. There is an amazing community here at LSTC in which to learn and grow in, and that’s been both energizing and empowering for me as I’ve gotten off to a really good start. I’m really enjoying the classes I’m taking with some brilliant professors. Here’s a look at my four classes for this semester if you’re interested: Pentatuech and Wisdom Literature (w/ Dr. Ralph Klein – an amazing prof!), Church History 1 (Dr. Hendel), Intro to Pastoral Care and Counseling (Swanson), and Biblical Greek (Perry) Yes, I’m learning another language, it’s crazy but true – and kind of fun. J After Slovak…Greek’s not that bad at all. J
For those of you who have time I invite you to read some of my last adventures and thoughts from my time in Slovakia. And if you would like to see my last set of pictures you can go to this new site (yahoo photos closed on me) and check out “Summer in Slovakia:” http://www.flickr.com/photos/10282513@N07/sets/72157602131049818/
I want to give all of you a big heart-felt thank you! God taught me so much during my time in Slovakia and it would not have been possible without your support. God truly blessed me through you!! THANK YOU!!! Thank you for your prayers, your letters and e-mails, your financial support, and your love.
I hope that you will continue to stay in touch!
May God’s grace and peace be with you,
Pokoj a laska (peace and love)
Katka
Service in Slovakia
Stories of a Volunteer in Vrbovce
Summer 2007
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:17-19
Sights, Sounds, Smells and Souls of Slovakia: Things I will never forget!
There are many things that I truly came to love about Vrbovce. As I’ve been reflecting about my time there I’ve made a short list in my dictionary of things that I hope and pray that I never forget about Slovensko. So here are a few of the smells, sights, sounds and souls I was touched by this last year. Things that I will never forget....
- Kopec (“hill”) The gorgeous rolling hills that surround the village. Their gentle beauty and the red roofed houses that accompany them.
- The smell of wood fire stoves burning in the winter.
- The ballad of the soup spoons – the silence and clinking that accompanies every lunch meal, party or special occasion – while people contentedly gulp down soup.
- Mr. Zigmund – my oldest and most charismatic student. I will never forget his line at the beginning of English class one evening when I asked him what he did yesterday (we had just learned past tense). His response had me chuckling for days! He said “Yesterday I cried, when I was learning the past simple tense.”
- The smell of Kristina’s basement kitchen when she’s baking cookies.
- Each unique garden adorned with myriads of flowers and vegetables.
- The sound of the church bell ringing at random times during the day.
- Seeing older women dressed in kroj (traditional dress) walking to the store, to church, or around the village square.
- Three amazing sisters – Veronika (her kindness and crazy dance moves), Dominika (her gumption and laugh) and Monika (her smile and her gentleness).
- The sound of the “konvica” (not sure in english? an electric tea pot like thing?) when the water bubbles for tea or coffee.
- The respectful bowing of church members during the final blessings in a service.
- Three year old Natalka’s call of “Ahoj Teta Katka!” (“Hi Aunt Katy!”) when we meet on the street and her great hugs!
- My host parents – Kristina and Dusan….I don’t think I will ever be able to express my love and appreciation for these two dear people. In a year filled with trials, shortcomings and struggles, these two people brought me hope, joy and love. And they didn’t have to love me as one of their own. That wasn’t in their job description. But they did, they loved me as a daughter and shared their lives with me. And that’s something that I will never, NEVER forget.
- The love and support that was so freely given to me by my host family, the school community, the youth group and the people of Vrbovce. It’s remembrance brings me to tears, I don’t think I will ever be able to thank them enough for the amazing gifts they’ve given me!
Summer Fun: Final Seminar, Tutoring, Meals on wheels, and English Camp
The end of June marked the beginning of summer for all the students of Slovakia. My final days in those classrooms were fun. We played games, did simple review and basically just hung out. During the kids last week of school I ventured off to my final seminar with the other volunteers to a place in central Slovakia (kind of) called Slovensky Raj (Slovak Paradise) There I enjoyed days filled with great conversations with friends, long hikes in the mountains and gorgeous weather. I prepared a poem for the volunteers and read it our last night spent together. I marveled then at how much we had grown throughout the year. We prepared ourselves somewhat during that final week in June for our last month or so at our placements. I’m very grateful now for that last seminar and the time that I got to spend with those girls there, they became such good friends during the year, such a blessing!
Venturing back home to Vrbovce I pondered over what my month of July would look like. That last month I had in my village was the one that went by the fastest, and it was also one of the most special. J
Since school was out I spent much of my first two weeks of July helping out more around the parsonage. The first week especially I helped make and decorate cookies for a youth group fundraiser. I frosted so many cookies I think that I could have gone pro! But it was a lot of fun to sit and frost with youth group kids and talk, free from the worries of school and homework. I also helped out at the parsonage by going with the German volunteer Adrian to deliver hot lunches from the local restaurant to the people of the community. This was one of my favorite daytime activities. Let me say more.
Adrian would drive the old church vehicle (small white peugot/sedan that was falling apart in more places than we knew J but was quite the conversation piece) with me in the passenger’s seat and we would work as a team to deliver these lunches. The lunches rattled around in the back of the car as we went from house to house. I would often walk into a home, hand the man or woman their lunch and get a big thank you by way of conversation. J I would stay and chat for a little bit, listen to their stories, and then pick up their empty lunch pail and head out to the car. I really enjoyed this ministry. I loved getting to know the older generations of Vrbovce. I heard many tales of communism, both good and bad, many family histories and many current ailments. God placed this opportunity for me at a good time as well because I know that at the beginning of my time of service I wouldn’t have been able to communicate and converse in Slovak with these people as well as I was able to at the end. I realized how much Slovak (and Vrbovcansky!) I had learned. Being able to talk with these older men and women made me glow from the inside out. I could feel it. And what a great feeling it was. J
Along with the what I like to call “Vrbovce meals on wheels” gig, I also did some tutoring with some older students in village at the beginning of July. I LOVED this. I tutored an older student named Katka and felt like I could be a much more effective teacher when I was doing one-on-ones. I was happy to be able to use what teaching methods I had learned throughout the year with these students one on one and they came to be quite good friends as well. I was somewhat surprised that I was still making brand new friends at the end of my time in Vrbovce.
And speaking of making new friends, let me talk about English Bible Camp! I was asked early on during the time of my service if I would be willing to help out (I soon found out that meant “lead.”) at the English Bible camp that the congregation in Vrbovce hosted at a small cottage near the Tatra mountains. I volunteered but really had very little idea of what to expect “English camp” to look like. Well, it wasn’t what I was expecting. But it was an experience that ended up being pretty fun and a great learning experience.
I could probably talk about English camp for pages, but I’ll try my best to summarize. J So the goal of this English Bible camp is for the kids that attend to learn some bible stories, learn a little bit of English, and have a lot of fun. So that’s what we did. I, along with five or six other volunteers lived in a cottage (a very crowded little abode) with an average of about 40 kids each week for two weeks. I would teach a short English lesson in the morning, we would have Bible time and activities relating to that for most of the morning and then the rest of the day was filled with an afternoon trip to the near by swimming pool/water park, games, relaxing (better defined by Katy as chaos in which kids had free time to do WHATEVER) and evening activities. After the evening meal the kids would do evening activities like skits, games and even a carnival and dance. Overall there was a lot of fun to be had by all. If you would like me to share with you more stories from camp (some of which I shared at my talks at my church’s in Wichita and Lindsborg, just ask! I would love to!)
Leaving one home to return to another: Saying goodbye to Slovakia
Saying goodbye to the people of Slovakia was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. I’d never spent an entire year of my life with a community that I became so invested in, only to have to say goodbye to it. The ladies at the post office in the village put it so….accurately. They said “well, just now you’ve learned the language, you know the people, and you know what to do…and NOW you have to go home.” So true. But go home I must, and so I started preparing for my journey home, one step at a time.
Ways I said “goodbye” to Vrbovce:
· My host family did a great job of leaving me with some lasting memories of that last month in Vrbovce. One Sunday in July I dressed up in the village’s traditional dress and went to church. I felt so loved while taking pictures after the service with my host family and friends. What a loving way of showing me how I had become a part of the community.
· I was invited to preach in Slovak one Sunday in July. I spoke only a few sentences in Slovak and then used an English translator for the rest.
· On my last Sunday in church I was invited to read the epistle in Slovak, something I treasured greatly and labored over a lot to make sure that I got it right. Pastor Miroslav also gave me the opportunity to thank the congregation for the many gifts they had given me that year. (So many!) They also then gave me a going away gift in the shape of some handmade Vrbovcan ceramic vase and honey jar.
· I enjoyed one last Elias family get-together. Kristina and Dusan had their sons and their families over for one last meal while I was still in Vrbovce. This time was so precious to me. I made my favorite cookies with the kids, I laughed with them and tickled them, they showered me with hugs and we even played Uno. J Perhaps my millionth game that year. J It was hard for me to squeeze one last hug out of the grandchildren I had gotten so close to, Adam, Janka and Misko. Tears streamed down my eyes as I waved goodbye and walking back up to the house Kristina gave me a big hug, saying a whole bunch to me without even using words.
· I enjoyed one last night at the bar with Adrian, my German comrade and friend. And when he drove me to Bratislava we had some really good chats about how the year had gone, how much we had learned (and how much we had learned from each other) and how we would stay in touch in the years to come.
· My second hardest goodbye was the one I had to say to my dear friends Veronika, Monika, and Dominika. They truly had been the best friends I could have asked for during the course of the year. Saying goodbye to them was insanely difficult. On the night I was to leave they came over to my house to give me hugs and say goodbye. We exchanged gifts (I gave them a picture book I had made with phrases, jokes and pictures of the year’s memories.) I think I hugged each one of them three times. Tears were fast flowing and loving words were shared. How can I possibly thank God enough for them?
· My hardest goodbye was with my host parents. And I think I have the fewest words to write about it. These people touched my heart in a way that I can’t comprehend. They shared of themselves with me. They welcomed me, a stranger, as a daughter and a friend. All this they did out of their love for God. I pray that one day I might be able to do the same, to show that kind of love that doesn’t care about where a person is from or how well they speak the language. God’s love shone brightly from the hearts of Kristina and Dusan Elias and I will be forever changed because of it.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ~Ephesians 3:17-19
This is my prayer for myself and for all of you. That we may continue learn what it means to be children of God. That we may learn how wide and long and high and deep Christ’s love is for us. God gives us many opportunities to learn about Christ’s amazing love and grace as we travel along lives paths. Let us continue on that road today being called by God’s love, redeemed by Christ’s grace and send forth with the Holy Spirit to serve in all corners of this world.
Amen.
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