Welcome back to Slovakia or at least the virtual version. You are looking at the town of Trencin (Tren-chin). For those of you who are hockey fans, this town was a great hockey factor not so long ago. This town produced such great players as Gaborik, Demitra, Hossa and Chara. Gaborik built his own arena here and is a hero in these parts.
Anyway, I decided a little update about my life in Slovakia was long over due. More about Trencin later.

These are my tennis coaches Michael and Michael. Michael is the one on the left. Actually to avoid confusion Michael in the center is called Roger. Both these guys go to the C.S. Lewis high school where I hang out soemtimes and do after school activities. These guys love sports and so we are frequently playing tennis, badminton, foosball or billiards.

CHEERS! The customary, post tennis, beverage of choice is the local cola called Kofola. It was created during the communist years when they couldnt get coke, pepsi or other products into the country. What do they say about necessity? Its the mother of all inventions. What would our existence be like without our cola. I shudder to think about it.

Most of you recognize this room as the living room in my flat. I am hosting friends here on a regular basis. I like to cook for people and create an atmosphere for interesting conversation. This is Johnny, his wife Zuzka (both Slovaks) and Christie who is the representative from Hockey Ministries International-Canada. Christie is in Europe to lay the ground work for all the summer camps they will do this summer including: Switzerland, Sweden, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Johnny and Zuzka are instrumental in the Slovak camp, she as a translator and he as emergency medical worker. We had a nice afternoon getting excited as we talked about the 2010 camp here in Slovakia.

These are some American friends which I am privileged to hang out with from time to time. They are all teachers at the school I mentioned earlier. This past weekend we went to the local city park for a little cookout. Bratislava has one of the best city parks you will find anywhere. I'm guessing but its probably 2 or 3 square miles in size, all forest, meadows and large hills with creeks and ponds all around. There is a number of activities in the park for everyone. The play area for kids of all ages is second to none with trampolines, elaborate climbing structures, areas for sports and an ampitheater for music and entertainers.

Vic and Darla are from Ohio. They have been here almost as long as me and have become dear friends. Unfortunately they announced at this gathering that their time in Slovakia may be coming to an end. They were thinking about going to Liberia as their next missionary destination but now they are unsure what's next.

You know what they say, "when in Rome..." so we decided to cook sausages and hot dogs over an open fire. The weather has been perfect as of late and the park was full of people looking to escape the concrete jungle. This park is hugely popular among Bratislavans. Recently I was presented with the opportunity to give english lessons to the director of this park which comes with a few fringe benefits as far as access to the park and its services. Nice!

One of the activities at the park is to row around on the placid serenity of the pond.

My ship mates were Dominick (I called him Gilligan), Vic and Darla's son and Gina a teacher/missionary from the New Jersey area.

There on the boat you can see "Mestske Lesy V Bratislave," which means City Forests in Bratislva. Ashley from Louisiana is on the left. Katy from N. Carolina on the right and Mirka from Slovakia is the captain of the ship (however a bit camera shy).

Now back to Trencin. This is my friend and translator Martin. He's been featured on the blog before. We have traveled to many prisons around Slovakia together and on this day we had just come from a nearby village where we met with a group of men inside a prison. We had never been to this particular prison which goes by the name Dubnica. I dont know how many prisons there are in Slovakia but we have now been to 7of them with plans to visit 2 more for the first time in the near future. As I take you on a tour of Trencin I would like to share a little bit about our prison experience from this day. Unfortunately I cannot get pictures of the actual facility for obvious reasons.

All of the prisons I have visited in SVK are housed in really old facilities, most of them built during the communist years. For the most part they do a decent job of maintaining these facilities so that they are at least habitable. The prison we visited today, Dubnica, was the worst of the facilities Ive seen as the buildings were quite dilapidated and generally in very poor condition. Having heard the stories, its eerie walking around these places knowing that they used to confine many innocent people whom the goverment didnt like for one reason or another. There are very real stories of horrible treatment and even cases where people went in and were never seen again.

As we entered into the prison I was prepared for the normal security procedures, searches, questions ect. The guards had only 2 questions: do you have a mobile phone and how long will you be staying? I opened my guitar case but no one was interested to look inside. The whole atmosphere was quite relaxed in the facility. As we walked in through 3 gates and into the campus of the prison we saw prisoners walking freely about, playing soccer, lifting weights, talking and just generally enjoying the sunny weather. I’m assuming this was a minimum security prison but the lack of security was a bit surprising for me. I only saw one or two guards around the campus.

We were escorted into the room, where we would meet with the men, by what appeared to be a senior representative from the prisoner ranks. He was given keys to the doors and rooms and seemed to be in charge of supervising our visit. This is the first time I’ve spoken in a prison without a guard present. The number of the group was supposed to be 25 but I think the nice weather pushed the number down to 10 or 12That is the smallest group we have ever encountered at any of the prisons. The week before we had with us a real guitarist and native Slovak who was able to lead the guys in singing some worship songs. This time it was up to me. Ive learned a few songs in Svk and have also translated one or two choruses into Svk from other songs so that the men can fully participate. Most of the prisoners we meet really enjoy singing. In addition, when we sing worship songs there is a noticeably different atmosphere in the room when we finish the songs. Its feels like we are turning a dark room into a well lit room.

My message today was centered on Jesus’ well known parable “The Prodigal Son.” Generally the men seemed to be really focused on the message and intrigued by the insights I tried to share. This is a message I have shared at many different prisons and have written about here on the blog. Last week when we visited a facility which we have been to many times, I was asked to speak about, “Finding Happiness in Times of Difficulty.” Its no surprise that incarcerated men would want to hear about this particular topic as they are facing a difficult and stressful existence everyday. The same could be said for you and I on some level but clearly the life of a prisoner is a distinctive and unique challenge.
I have to imagine that maybe the message I chose to share regarding this topic was not quite what they expected in many ways. I began by asking them about their own experience of happiness at various times in their lives, including now and if they think they will find some measure of happiness when they get released. Not many of them indicated they have experienced much happiness in their lives. I then pointed out that there are probably as many different definitions of happiness as there are people. The prevailing definition among many people in the world today is that happiness is having plenty of money and possessions, as well as a nice wife/husband, family and a great job. I asked the men “what is happiness?” Well, it depends in large part on your current circumstances. For example if you’re a blind man you may say that happiness is having eyes that work. If you’re a poor man you may say a house, food or just a good pair of shoes. What about an obese man, a diseased man, a lonely man or… an incarcerated man. He may say that happiness is freedom.

So, one main element of happiness is feelings of satisfaction when our basic needs are met. For many people the philosophy is, the more of these possessions you have, the more happiness you have. And its quite easy, I would say, to get into the mentality that we deserve happiness, especially in America. We develop this sense of entitlement. Many even come to believe that God’s central role in our lives is to provide us with the happiness we are entitled to. This is a dangerous mentality because it leads us down a dark road where ignorance and false expectation breed disappointment with God and a decision that He is not the answer or simply doesn’t exist. People ask, “why would a loving God allow us to experience unhappiness?” At that point I asked the men, “is it possible that there is something better than happiness, something better than having plenty of money, a great career, a nice wife, lots of possessions?” Then I read them a quote from the Apostle Paul who was in a dungeon at the time, shackled, hungry and sick… he says, “…for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything in Him who gives me strength.” Amazing! A man in that condition saying that he is a contented man. I suggested to the men that the bible is making the assertion that contentment is indeed better than happiness because it doesn’t only depend on having the trappings of the world.

Many people who pursue happiness as the pinnacle of human experience ultimately find unfulfillment because, in my opinion, its simply not in our spiritual DNA to find in this life what we are truly hungry for. Contentment provides something which goes well beyond immediate gratification and even beyond the confining borders of this life. Now, clearly, Paul was a really amazing guy and for many of us to experience contentment as we are starving in a dungeon would be a huge challenge. For those of us who are not suffering such a fate, the point is clear. If Paul and the bible is to be believed, a life with Christ means an existence which is not of this world. And I guess that only makes sense when you consider that we are not finite beings. Each of us has been designed and created for eternity where there are treasures infinitely beyond what we could experience in this life. It begs the question: why would we settle for happiness when we can have contentment?
Well, I have already said more than I had planned for this blog post so I will stop here with the brief summary of my comments at the prison. Most of the men responded with comments that suggested they were intrigued and encouraged by these thoughts. Thanks for reading my blog.