It’s finally time to close out the chapter on our 2011 transition to Slovakia. Of all the overseas transitions that Jana and I have experienced in moving from Slovakia to the US (1995), from the US to Slovakia (2001), back from Slovakia to the US (2005), and now from the US to Slovakia again, this was by far the most challenging.
On June 7 my dad and I packed our boxes of belongings into his horse trailer (power washed) and dropped them off at Perfect Express by the airport in Chicago. So far, so good.
As usual, the visa process is coming down to the wire. It never fails. There is always something about it that brings you face to face with the barbarous beast of bureaucracy. You might remember I called it Kafkaesque. It turns out that’s actually a word.
A few weeks ago I was asked to be the student speaker at a luncheon for the Kenneth Kantzer Society. This is a group of people who have made large donations to Trinity via some sort of planned giving and the luncheon was an expression of thanks from the University. The speakers included the president of the University (Dr. Carig Williford) on behalf of the administration, a professor (Dr. Perry Downs) on behalf of the faculty, and myself on behalf of the students. My job was to give a student’s perspective on how Trinity has impacted me and my ministry.
During the process of writing the dissertation I’m supposed to be turning in chapters for my advisor (first reader) to look over, comment on, request revision, etc. Because of the nature of my dissertation, I decided to complete chapters 1-4 (out of eight chapters) and submit them all at once. I submitted those chapter in early March and on Friday, April 29th I sat down with my advisor to hear his recommendations. This was a very important meeting for me because early in the writing process I decided to take a bit of a risk and I wasn’t sure it would pay off.
Yesterday I spent a good part of the day reading the Slovak law about visa requirements and searching for websites that could possibly help explain the process of applying for a visa. From all of us to all of you with heartfelt thanks for your friendship: I hope you enjoy our video rendition of the annual family Christmas letter. At our house, we have our time of family Scripture reading and prayer before bedtime. One Sunday Max decided he wanted to read the Bible during our family worship time. Then Elisabeth decided she wanted to join in. What followed was a mix of liturgical church service and family devotions. It was actually pretty impressive.
Interesting story. Maybe even funny, but not very. I’ve written in other posts about the power of presence and how I wish I had more contact with my students. This year I had a rare opportunity to meet one of my current students face to face. The first time I met him in person was last year–at least that’s the first time I remember meeting him. Maybe I should back up… |   |
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