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gethys
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Name: ~Nathanko Emerick~
Country: Slovakia
Birthday: 12/18/1979
Gender: Male
Interests: museums, art, drawing and painting, plays, music (both listening and playing), concerts, europe, the ocean, Jesus and His word, friends, ice cream, chocolate,
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  gethys
Member Since:
11/19/2005
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| Adventures in Socialized Medicine.
The following is a rather long narrative of my recent adventure of piercing my wrist and all that followed. And no it was not an attempt to follow Christ in Crucifixion. I realize Galatians 2:20 does not intend for us to be literally crucified with Christ.
Due to the length of the story and the span of time of the events, I am dividing it into several chapters over several days, to keep it readable and enjoyable.
Ch. 1 – the incident.
Monday morning was a normal day. Working on the attic of the Baldis’ house. Now, we are building frames for dry-wall but are using metal beams. On a typical day, the drill doesn’t want to work for me on the metal and I break around 3 bits, so I avoid doing such. This day I decided to try my hand at drilling again. And it was going smooth as butter. This should have been my first hint, it was not going to be a good day. The drill bit was going in and out with no problem. So I realize the next need is to drill a hole near the top. I grab a stool. Not the step-stool mind you, but the rickety old stole and seems like It’s been around since pre-communist times. So the hole gets drilled, no problem, it’s time to screw the screw in, so I lean to set the drill down and… …whoops! Out goes the stool and down goes Nathan. In an effort to try to maintain some dignity despite my three stooges moment, I rush to get up, but in putting my hand down to heave myself up, I feel a pain go through my wrist. After the word ‘owwie’ resonated through my lips, I looked down to realize there was a whole through my wrist, and wow, look at that, through the muscle too. It was a nice looking hole, pretty round and clean. There was no blood to be seen. I didn’t realize exactly where it came from at first until I noticed the bit on the drill was snapped off. And the hole perfectly matched the drill bit circumference. After depressing the skin around with much pain and anguish, We decided that no metal was to be felt and more than likely the bit snapped before piercing my skin.
After cleaning my hand with much pain, and a short hunt for the broken drill bit, we decided, it’s best to go and have it checked out just in case. So Charles dropped me off at my apt to get my insurance card as he ran back to get the other half of the drill bit to present a visualization for the Dr.. I poured a glass of orange juice with my left hand, as my right was held stationary and rendered immobile.
The Dr. in Zavadka was quite the waste of time as all that was done was have the injured area cleaned with peroxide and wrapped and told us that we would have to go to Brezno. After doing absolutely nothing, the Dr. started filling our forms on his computer with his fluent hunting and pecking. He asked if ‘Nathaniel’ was my first name, We answered yes as we watched him type it in the ‘last name’ field. After correcting his inadequate skills at filling out forms three times, he finally got it correct and we were on our way to Brezno Hospital with a bag of reading material.
Tomorrow will be posted Ch 2. – Waiting, Waiting, and more waiting.
 
I thank everyone who kept me in prayer during this time. God really protected me as it didn't hit an artery or ligaments or cause any serious damage.
tune in tomorrow for part two.
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| My delinquency has come to an end. I am officially updating my blog.
My things have been going on here in Slovakia. Austin had come for a visit and we had fun, but also worked on the Baldis' house and headed up bible studies and kids club.
I've taken the youth on a few trips. The one was to a worship conference in Kosice (a few pictures of this). Sara Brendal from Germany sang. She's signed on an american label and spoke and sang all in English. I felt I was a concert in America. the other two bands were Slovak worship bands. We knew most of the songs. Many we sing in church and the others from their albums that Peter and I have. We stayed overnight and took the youth to the baptist church in the morning. They really enjoyed it and it was a new experience for them.
Two Thursdays ago, I had the opportunity to take a few of our gypsie youth to a village called 'Cino Báňa' which basically means 'The Iron Mines' in English. The church down there has a ministry primarily for Gypsies and was a great opportunity for our youth to see and worship with other believers of similar background in Slovakia. It also gave me the opportunity to practice my horrible Slovak and after many shared their testimony I was asked to give a little bit of a devotional. It went very well and we enjoyed it very much. We made many new friends and meet brothers and sisters in another part of Slovakia.
On the 22nd of April the church in Cino Báňa is bringing a group to our village to fellowship here. I hope it will be a real spiritual encouragement to both them and to our church and I pray it will help ignite fires in the hearts of the Christians here.
I've been, pretty much, teaching basic level apologetics in youth. Trying to help these kids learn why they believe what they believe and how to stand up for it. We've covered Topics from why do we believe the Bible? Other than our faith and trusting it's God's word, what proof do we have that it's credible as opposed to other documents claiming to be words from God? Some Sundays go well, others are discouraging. Pray that they have a desire to learn. Sometimes I feel I'm preaching to trees. They don't seem to learn or even care. I pray that God will break through their apathy. I try to keep it interesting with pictures and stories (this past week we talked about Dinosaurs and I had pictures of cave paintings, ancient temples with dinosaurs on them... ...http://www.genesispark.com/genpark/ancient/ancient.htm is a web site with many fascinating photos) but the majority of the church and the youth have no passion for anything and only come to talk and goof off. So pray for patience and for them. I have to remember that I am only called to teach the word of God and the Holy Spirit is the one who changes lives and works in people.
We've been going into schools weekly doing a program with songs and skits to promote our camps in the Summer. We are praying for a large turnout and for God to save lives. We seem to have a pretty good reaction at the schools so we'll see how it goes. Planning for the camps is beginning. We want something unique and professional that is fun and entertaining, but gives us the opportunity to present the gospel. It's all in God hands, He worked wonders last year and He can do even bigger things if He wants.
My youth have also been putting on concerts once a month with gypsie music, worship music, testimonies, and presenting the gospel and it's been wonderful the turn out we've had. In fact, we've been having so many people, that we don't have chairs and many are standing or sitting on the floor. Many do not know Christ. Such an opportunity and the gospel is being presented. It's hard soil but God can do wonders.
I have also had the opportunity to take some of the youth to the orphanage in the village of Polompka (two villages over). We sang some songs for them, they sang some songs for us, and we just had a great time hanging out with the kids. We want to go back and teach them American Football (and they want to learn). We were told though that we can't teach about Jesus to them because they are a catholic orphanage, but Christ can shine though us, and one on one and through relationships, He can open up opportunities. We'll see how things go in the future.
Finally, I'm trying to figure out where God wants me for the future. As many of you know Prague is my desire and the direction I am pursuing. I know God has laid on my heart a passion for large city ministry working with the art community and there is a large one in Prague. This was actually my reason for moving to Europe (and of course I believe God put it in my heart and opened my eyes up to these places as well as opened the door). But I believe if God wants me there He will open doors. It seems like a very difficult task to get there and sometimes I question what God wants of me. If He calls me back to the US I would be fine with that but if He opens the doors for Prague I would be just as happy. More than anything I want to do what He wants of me but I am seeking direction. Pray God makes this clear to me and soon. October my visa runs out for Slovakia, I may go visit the Czech Republic for a little while (that's where Prague is for the geographically challenged) since I can be there without a visa for a couple months, but I need to know where I am going before October.
It's quite apprehensive living on a whim. I often wonder what it was like for Paul, traveling around, depending on people for food, shelter, and support. Sometimes I wish my life was more stable with a steady income, other times I feel this is an adventure into an uncertain and somewhat scary future, but is exciting, but always I come to the conclusion that I must forfeit any personal desires and follow Christ with the message of the cross.
So with this post done and complete, a lot has been going on here. I ask that you really bask me and whatever potential ministry God may bless me with in Prayer. I thank you for your support, both prayerfully and financially, and I thank God for such an amazing and supportive spiritual family and friends in America.
~nathan~
 
the youth doing their concert to give the gospel
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Prague, the (potential) future and target of my ministry. And this is me rebuking the Devil in Prague (not a thumbs up). Okay so it's really a figure in front of a restaurant but the symbolism's still there.
 
Sarah Brendel, Treti Den, and Timothy at the worship festival in Kosice.
Sorry I don't have more photos. Maybe next time.
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| Well, I'm heading back to slovakia in less than a week. I've made up some prayer cards and have determined to send out an actual tangable support letter at least every other month, if not every month (we'll see how well I stick to that). If you read this and would like to get a montly/bimonthly (and by bimontly I mean every two months, not twice a month, I know there's ambiguity in the usage of that word so this sideline is for clarification purposes), then send me an e-mail with your snail mail address and let me know that you would like to be a part of the official nathan emerick fan club for a mear $99.95... ...or just that you want the free newsletter, but not the other stuff, including a signed glossy of my georgeous mug or the collapsable, nathan is hot coffee mug (two mugs for the price of one, how about that). So yeah, get me your snail mail addresses (and maybe even europe if you dwell there.
Take care and pray for me as I head back.
~Nathan Emerick~
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| Last week Jonathan Grooms came in for a conference we put together. He spoke on living for eternity. Here in Zavadka we didn’t have a large turn out, but the time that we set up for being in Brezno, we had a pretty good turnout in people. Zdena, who has been faithful in coming to the bible study there, invited most of the people that came. She makes me think of Lydia from acts 16. The Lord has really worked in her heart and made her sensitive to the things of God. Just as Lydia said, ‘come into my house and stay’ so Zdena has opened her apartment for our weekly meetings.
Because she invited all of those people, five raised their hands stating that they have given their lives to Christ and given Him His rightful place as Lord over them. We are praying that they will remain faithful in the coming times and that they will become an active part of the remnant in Brezno. They are the start of the growth of that church and that is such an exciting thing to see and to be a part of.
We had music every night. Charles and Janet sang a few times, and a bunch of kids from the youth put together a group and did very well and then Vicki and I did a few songs. Sunday morning, though, we did the song ‘who am I’ by mercy me and sang to a sound track. I’m perfectly comfortable singing with a guitar and comfortable standing and speaking in front of people, but with a background track… …man was I nervous. It went pretty well though, so at least nervousness wasn’t followed by humiliation.
Well, the other day I was pulled over by police on the side of the rode in an unmarked car. The time has started where we are supposed to have our car lights on 24 hours a day and, yup, mine were off. Followed by my seatbelt not being on (I was just running down the road to get tarter sauce for fried cheese at Peter and Jana’s house. It’s maybe a 30 second drive, and I got pulled. The guy seemed pretty determined to fine be, but fortunately, I had left my passport and drivers license in my apartment. Fortunate, you say? Yes, because he didn’t know English, I didn’t know German, and so we could only communicate with my limited Slovak. I had the tarter sauce and was able to show him and tell him I ran to the store for tarter sauce for lunch and was only out driving for less than a min, on the main road for two seconds (literally, I had just pulled off the side road and my turn off was the next left about 10 feet away). Anyways, I think he got frustrated because he couldn’t communicate and I didn’t have anything for him to get info to write my fine up with, so he finally let me go. I turned off and then made a detour to my apartment to get my license just in case, and got to the house.
At the house I was explaining my run in with Peter and Jana and concluded by saying ‘ at least I think he let me go. I mean, maybe he sent me to get my stuff, but if so, oh well, he doesn’t have my information, didn’t get my license number.’ And then there was a knock at the door. Jana answers and all I hear is ‘……Policia……….Nataniel Emerick………Paseka 8 (where I live)……’ and I’m thinking, ‘oh man!’. Turns out they were from the foreign police just checking up because I had put in to stay another year. And the fortunate thing is that I had my passport. So as nerve racking as it may have been, the first stop was a Godsend because it’s the reason I went to get my passport and I needed it for them.
And on a last note… It snowed here the other day.
And on a final note… …less than two weeks and I got back to the US to visit!
And now pictures:
 
from a youth activity we had
 
our first snow
 
 
a cat and austin
 
 
and october 31 has come and gone again. another day of fire on the hills and tombstones aglo (read my first entry if you want to know more. | | |
| I know this time it’s been quite a while since I last updated, so for those faithful few that actually read this, I apologize. For the rest, well, you won’t be reading this anyway, so oh well. If I’m not mistaken, I haven’t updated in a month or so. You’ll have a few pictures in this post and it’ll be somewhat of a lengthy post.
Things have been moving along here in Slovakia. I’m still heading up the youth and music. We are currently planning for a conference the first week of November, and I’m taking Slovak classes. Seriously… …I’m actually attempting to learn the language in a more direct way. And it’s kicking my butt. It is such a difficult language. The endings of the verbs are conjugated, similar to Spanish and other languages. The endings of the adjectives are changed to match the gender of the words, similar to Spanish. But there are six different cases for nouns for who knows what grammatical reasons. These cases are different depending on the gender (Masculine, Feminine, Neutral). And within each gender, every cases have a possibility of being one of four different changes. So that’s 6x4x3 endings. That’s a total of 72 endings that each noun can have and we have to decide which one is best. Then we have to figure out which extra ending the adjective can have to match up with the noun, which maintaining the right case of Verb and agreement in gender. Soooo, along with actually learning new words, it’s pretty fair to say, my brain hurts.
It’s amazing how quickly fervor can die out in youth. It becomes a challenge to try to encourage them to continue in the faith and yet it’s such a balance between pushing too hard and letting them fall to far. But, it all end with me feeling helpless in bringing them to God and I find all I am able to do is to just pray for them and let them know I love them and am here to help them. I can pray and pray and God is the only one that can convict. I want so much to have these kids know Christ is such a real way.
On the other side of things, there are those who have completely turned their life around after camp. They made a commitment and a sincere and permanent change in their lives has taken place. There is a joy deep within that seeps out to others. There is a passion for things of eternity and there is sorrowful repentance when they feel they’ve fallen. It’s encouraging to hear these things, because you see a genuine love for our LORD. There are also those who came to English camp, heard about youth camp, came to youth camp, and are now active in attending church and other activities. They are excited to come and one girl even brings chocolate to youth every week for me. I told her she’s my favorite.
It’s something else, how in visiting people in this sleeping village, you take a step back in time. Our neighbors on either side and across the street are all old women (and one still has her husband). Upon walking out the door, we are sure to be confronted with a wrinkled old face looking for a conversation. A conversation about their past, their family, communism, the weather, anything that comes to their mind. They just want someone to talk to. Because of this I regret not knowing Slovak better. So ask I ask how they are doing, I am prepared to listen to their reply of ‘bad’ and all the reasons they are not doing so well. They touch my hand, rub my bald head and before I depart I give them a hug and get a smile in return. To the right of us is our 93 year-old friend. Walking through the door of her basement, to the right is an archaic spinning machine and lomb built by her father. It’s amazing to watch this rickety old lady, dressed in slippers with her big toe sticking out, work the machines. It feels like we’ve stepped back in time. The old lady across the street and her husband had invited Tina and I into their house for some snacks and conversation. They are quite the eccentric couple and he rambled on and on about his family and also about how he knows people in the US, and that was about all I understood. Between my lack of knowledge of the language and his lack of teeth, it became a difficult conversation to follow, and the whole time, she’s interrupting him telling him I don’t understand because I speak English, then asking me if I understand, then interrupting to tell her side. When it came time for us to leave, we were told to wait, as she brought beans from her garden for us all.
It’s wonderful to spend time with people and to visit and just share the love of Christ with others. To pray with them and encourage them with the hope I’ve found. I look forward to being able to share more with others as God enables me to understand and speak the language more.
And in closing, I’ll be coming back to the United states Nov 20th, to visit until Jan 10. I look forward too seeing many of you again.
Please pray for:
My language learning efforts
The youth, that they would have a passion for God
The conference coming up
That God will provide the support I need
That everything will go well in renewing my work visa for another year.
 
 
 
 
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