Whew! It finally feels like Spring has arrived and it feels so good! It's so refreshing to have the warmer, fresh air and to hear the birds chirping outside. Lately we have found ourselves outside more, as have all of our neighbors. It's nice to see everybody again! I went for a walk with a girl that lives behind us and when we came back her dad was outside working in the yard. His first question was, "Where's Joel?" Then he said, "When he gets home I can help him get his grass ready for Spring."
Last summer Joel & Marjan quickly became outdoor workers together since our houses are so close. Marjan and his wife, Marija, were so helpful to us as we planted grass and attempted our first garden. They offered such helpful advice and their labor and it almost always ended with us visiting them for some sort of "drinks and conversation" afterward. Often times last summer Joel would head out in the evening to water the grass and garden and end up coming back inside after an hour or two of chatting with Marjan. They have a big, black, friendly dog named, Aaron, that shares both of our yards as his own. This winter Joel was able to return the many favors from last summer with all the snow that we had. In late November Marjan had open-heart surgery and during all of our snow was unable to shovel it and with two daughters and a wife, Joel spent many hours in their driveway shoveling the snow out. And again it often ended with "coffee and chatting" inside to warm up afterward. It's such a blessing to have neighbors and to be able to give and receive!
Another blessing recently has been having our van worked on. A father of a girl who came to camp last summer owns his own auto repair business and offered to do some work on our van. Joel had asked for the brakes to be fixed and a few other small things and as the man looked at it he kept mentioning things to fix on it. It sort-of became a "project" for him. Like those Extreme Home Makeover shows, this ended up being the Extreme Van Makeover project! He fixed the brakes, the stick shift, the door jams, and completely redid the bottom of the van because of rust problems! What a blessing!
The next day we drove up to Graz, Austria to make an IKEA run for furniture for Trdna Skala. Our missionary friends, Todd Hunnicutt and Michelle Ricklick came along with us which gave us Todd's van to also fill up with furniture. On the way back, just 3 miles before the border to Slovenia, the van overheated and we had to repack the two vans, fitting as much as possible into Todd's van for the drive back. Thankfully, there are some missionaries in the near border town in Slovenia who have an American friend, who was a mechanic for 25 years in the states and is now living there. Todd & Michelle came back here to Kranj, dropped off the furniture in the van (and me), then Todd buzzed off to a meeting at church while Michelle drove the hour and a half trip back to Maribor to pick up Joel and the rest of the furniture and then back to Kranj again. It was a long day but such a blessing to have all these pieces fit together, with missionaries here in Kranj to partner with and missionaries in Maribor to help us out. Ron called yesterday to say that the new radiator is ordered and should be finished by Thursday to get our van back! What a blessing!
This coming Friday we are having our first youth meeting in our newly renovated Trdna Skala!! Mike Ricklick was there recently and called afterward to say, "I think it's better than anything one of those Makeover shows could've done!" So I guess we've had our Extreme Youth Room Makeover here too. Joel has been working so hard, along with so many others. It will be great to open the doors this Friday and offer the students a place to call their own that is alcohol free and full of the Lord and fun! We'll be having an open house from 7:00pm until 10:00pm with a program from 8:00pm until 9:00pm. Postcards have been mailed out inviting all the students from camp last summer so it will be another "reunion" type night for us all!This past week our church was very busy doing a week-long outreach. We had a German "Billy Graham Crusade" type thing that was watched via satellite live every night. God blessed it as we had many people visit. Three woman in particular came five nights. Their first contact with our church was through an English Class our fellow missionaries, Todd & Sarah, did three years ago. Actually most of the people who came had had some form of contact with our church in the past. It was so encouraging knowing the people who came were hearing the gospel one more time.
The pregnancy continues to go well. Thank you all for your prayers! I feel like I've grown a TON and it's so wonderful to feel the baby moving all around inside! And just this morning Joel was able to feel the baby moving for the first time too! We are so happy the Lord is allowing us to enjoy this time. We both can't wait to see him or her...just a few more months. We have another appointment on April 5th and we're both really praying the doctor will be more willing to try to see if we're having a boy or a girl. The last time we were in and out of his office in less than 10 minutes, so we're hoping for a little more time at this next appointment. Along with Spring weather comes prep for summer and camps along with everything else. It's a busy season but we are expecting the Lord to do mighty things here in Kranj. Thanks for standing with us! You're a blessing to us!
Enjoying His Blessings,
Joel & Amy & the little one
Joel & Amy Woodard
Stranska Pot 5
4208 Sencur
Slovenia
(503) 207-5653
Support Address:
Josiah Venture
PO Box 4317
Wheaton, IL 60189
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