Exactly one year ago, after a very hard journey (it was super hot, our RV was an oven, there was a drought, and my son broke his arm and needed to be operated somewhere in Germany) we made it to Ljubljana, Slovenia. There we met Matjaz and Simone, a couple of passionate brothers, who had a burning desire to see the Kingdom of God grow in their country. He was a Bible translator, and she was a school teacher. We could sow some inspiration and gave some teachings, which helped them and their network move on with their calling for their country. We also were able to baptize Marco, a dear friend of them who lives in Ajdovščina. All in all, a fruitful work!
At the end of 2018 we met and started learning from Florian Bärtsch, a powerful apostolic worker based in Switzerland. After getting acquainted with him, and seeing his humble heart, hard work for the Kingdom, and the fruit the Lord had granted him, we became good friends. I have learned a lot from him, but I still wanted to see him on the field. So I asked him if he would like to take over the work in Slovenia, so that I could see how he managed it, and I could learn from him on the field. He agreed, and our brothers in Slovenia agreed too. Great opportunity!
So finally in July this year (2019) we made it to visit our brothers and sisters there. Florian and I had a great time, and I learned tons from how he manages and equips new networks. I could also ask him what he recommended me to do for our local work in the Netherlands, and we could exchange many ideas. There in Ljubljana he taught them about building an apostolic DNA and set up an apostolic team to reach their nation, which was information that helped me greatly for our own work in the Netherlands. I had to adapt it a bit to our culture and context here, but the principles were very useful and biblical.
After Florian’s departure I got the chance to teach the community from Ajdovščina by the river side, and minister to some of them through prayer as well. It was beautiful to see that a year before it was just Marco and Darja, his wife, and now it was a large group of enthusiastic disciples.
A beautiful testimony is the story of one of the ladies there. We went to evangelize in the city center, and on the way God gave me a blurry vision of a blond person who had experienced a heavy trauma at around 9 years of age. I had to tell him/her that. Later came Darja with a friend, a young blond lady. This lady was experiencing fear attacks, to the point in which she couldn’t work or even drive her car.
Before we prayed for them, Florian proposed taking a time to seek the Lord and see what He had to reveal. I knew immediately it was her the Lord had shown me in the vision. After a couple of minutes in prayer, I shared what I felt was from God and she broke down in tears. At that age she had been attacked as a child, and that trauma had been with her many years. I am not sure if anyone knew about it. Certainly not me. Then another brother shared he saw two young girl feet, with specific clothing walking up the stairs in the dark. She told us that those were the clothes she was wearing, and that she was attacked on the stairs. We prayed for her, and the next day she was driving again, free from her oppression!
God has a lot in store in Slovenia. Keep them in your prayers! If you want to have a glimpse at the apostolic strategy from Florian, you can visit his website and see some of his teachings here.