SMS Blog update #3

I can’t believe today marks exactly that half of the Steiger Missions School is officially over. It seems so unreal. I feel like I’ve been wonderfully lost in this European dream for the past 5 weeks. It’s been such a blessing to be here. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. It’s also been SO HARD for me to keep you dearest friends updated on what God has been doing. My mind has so many thoughts to express and I was wrestling with the ideas of having a missions news letter, updating my RuslanaEvelyn blog, updating my missions blog……For now I think I’m going to simply express my Lietuve heart just like this…Freely artistic as God’s heart speaks to me.  Last Saturday, our missions school had the blessing to go to the  SLOT  Art Festival in Lubiaz, Poland. It is a small village town. It took about 3 hours by bus from Krogis to get there. This art festival has been happening for the past 20 years. This festival gets up to about 7,000 people from all over Poland, and surrounding European countries. The main highlights of this festival: You can sign up for creative workshops such as, singing, dancing, painting, fire spinning, learning how to make music with a saw etc, go to a variety of concerts (styles include acoustic, jazz, rock, pop, rap, club, reggae, metalcore) go to a cute artistically colorful coffeeshops, or try amazing Polish food. The festival itself is a week long, so there are hundreds of tents scattered everywhere. It reminds me of the European version of Sonshine Festival. (Minnesota’s largest Christian music festival). The event is held inside an 800 year old monastery. The architecture of the building so intricate and beautiful. SLOT also has a strong Christian presence here as well. There are prayer rooms set up inside the monastery. The idea behind this festival is simply for young people to express their creativity.

My heart and soul are so blessed and touched by the creativity of my European brothers and sisters. I felt so at home artistically here. It was surreal to simply walk around the festival grounds and just look into the colorfully creative eyes of my dearest Polish brothers and sisters. Seeing “them” for the first time in my life. I enjoy how every person has their own sense of style. Every person there is a walking piece of fashion art. I also enjoyed rocking out at my very first Polish metal core concert in the late evening. I had the blessing to meet even more Steiger missionaries at the festival and make connections. In the early evening, I went to a Polish worship service. That was one of the most touching moments of my life. I’ll elaborate in greater detail in another blog post. Most of my missions school stayed at the festival until 1am. Did I mention we left at 5am the previous day? I was so tired and for the rest of the late evening I just watched a few more melodic/electronic concerts with my friends. My artistic soul has never felt more alive, being surrounded by so many amazing Polish artists. Next year, God willing I’m hoping I can go to SLOT for the entire week. I HIGHLY recommend this art festival to all of my dearest friends. It’s a unique experience that  will just kiss your soul.