healing.

So I do know that some check this every day--which is perfect for unexpected posts..


our friends here have been dealing with fever and strep throat and it looked to be getting better...but now everyone but the baby has fever again. So off to Belgrade (1 and half away) to go to the doctor. Please lift them up--Kirk, Amy, Izabel, Boaz, and Titus!!! Yes, I do know we are six or seven hours behind but that doesn't matter. They need your prayers and more the merrier!

"'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'" "Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong."--2 Corinthians 12:9-10 May His grace abound over them

hidden treasure

Treasure!? Depends on the person--to me finding a random child size ring in the dirt and a Yugoslavian dinar (the currency) [Yugo was one big state of lots of these Eastern European nations] were treasures to me. :)

Why hello now that I have your attention--we all secretly wish we were pirates or could meet pirates....like Jack! Nonetheless, it has been four weeks since I landed in Serbia = cuh-razy! It truly does feel like the time has flown by yet sad to realize that my time is near the half-way mark.


So here is a recap of week four--
We were able to make it to a few more films going on during the festival, visited a couple of museums--one the strange meter with 10 being strangest and 1 being closest to normal, the first was a 15 and the second was a 6--Bethany, a friend, and I competed in the 5K race along the Danube River at night. It was beautiful..and of course, I forgot my camera. And I posted mid-week of the Roma house opportunity..we talked to a young lady about volunteering. At first, she wasn't very open to the idea, but by the end of the conversation, we was optimistic about our chances of helping. So we should hear back this week about that!!! But we continued to walk around various neighborhoods of the city...one by one we hope to have covered all of them with prayer and observe the opportunities for engagement by time we leave. 

My favorite painting in the museum--Stephen's stoning.

Can't visit a museum and not joke around :)

more hidden treasure time--now the most important kind of treasure and it isn't even purposely hidden. The treasure is Christ, yet the culture and 'religion' have buried Christ under so much junk that He is hidden from them, and they can't find a way to dig Him out...but man oh man, they sure don't have to do it alone. God is yearning for them to turn to Him so that they can be made alive through His Son--"But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved!" Ephesians 2:4-5


Please be in prayer for the Serbs that they may want to find the Treasure that you and I cling to!

short and sweet

This will probably be the shortest blog post possibly ever in my blogging career...but later on this day (23 June) some of us are going to the Roma Half-Way House. It isn't in the outskirts of town like I imagined but real close to the main bus and train station in town.  I am so excited to be given the opportunity to work with this people group that needs Love and Hope.


I know most of you back home will be asleep by time I am there since it will be 3 am for yall..but time makes no difference with prayer. So please pray for these kids to welcome and trust us so that we can interact with them and just love on them.  Read 1 John 3-4 (what was Wednesday) about love in honor of my parents' wedding anniversary---1 John 3:18 "Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth" and 1 John 4:12 "No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and His love is perfected in us." May these Roma children be able to see the love in our deeds and experience the presence of APAGE love!

where do you find your hope?

So--week four has begun! It has been a wild and amazing journey thus far...so much is like the South and yet completely different. I haven't really contrasted but I'll let y'all in on a little bit--

• they usually cook each meal--and only shop at the markets for a days worth of meals.
• walk / bike / rollerblade / bus to everything...gotten REAL use to walking everywhere!
• they don't smile or make eye contact with everyone like the South does. 
• if you aren't rude, then people walk all over you. 
• carbonated water--which i have come to enjoy, especially with a lime or lemon!

Nonetheless...as I mentioned last week, we met with Natasha and did "walkabouts" in the neighborhoods surrounding us.  We didn't come across anyone that would really hold a conversation with us..but we did find an abandoned synagogue, walked through the Orthodox cemetery, and found cheap places to eat.

The highlight of my week was Saturday night when my partner and I attended Cinema City International Film Festival.  We found a movie that was at a free location, in English. The movie made of up videos people sent in of their July 24, 2010 day actually comes out 24 July 2011---saw it prior to the theaters!! It did have some good and funny parts in it! However, it did have some pretty hopeless points..this is what prompts me to the title of this post. A man and son were basically worshipping the recently deceased mom, another woman worshipped false gods, etc. But mainly in the movie, there were two sections: what do you love? what do you fear?

In the first, there was one man that mentioned how he loved his family and land, but most importantly he loved "his God, his creator, from whom all blessings flow." So awesome to hear that--yet the audience laughed. Then in the latter section, one young girl tells how she believes in God but fears he won't save her when she is dead..and another girl mentioned how she fears that people won't believe in God and go to hell..they laughed again! Tears were ready to fall! They seemingly do not question how they are blessed with life and how the stars are made or fear life after death...then where is their hope?!

So I enjoyed the experience of seeing a movie before the world does and attending a film festival but walked away wishing that the "workers" were so abundant that the "harvest" was completely reached and that these people would yearn for their hopelessness to be filled with God!


so where is it that you find your hope?

the romas

"Your way went through the sea, 

and Your path through

  the great waters,

but Your footprints were unseen." 

Psalm 77:19

Unseen footprints...ammmmmazing! God ceases to amaze me in His splendor, majestic-ness [yes, a made up word], and His control over everything.  Since I enjoy/love the outdoors and the adventures they ensue, I am drawn to Scripture that involves creation and how God has His hand over it all. Thus, another...about the creation He formed:

"For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility--not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it--in the hope that creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children." Romans 8:19-21

To the human eye, it seems as though not many in this gorgeous city are eagerly waiting for anything spiritually speaking. Less than two percent (2%) are born again believers. Their bondage to 'religion' and cultural norms is crazy! More so, the Roma [who I mentioned in my first post] are not being reached at all. They are completely outcasted from society.  Everyday, the children can be seen walking around town, or the men and young boys driving their horse-drawn buggies to dig in trash.  You would look at them and your heart would break for these little children walking around in used clothes that don't really fit...however, there is more to the story. The Roma children are pawns in the chess game. The children walk around begging people for money only to give the money to the 'king' or ring leader.  Some of my friends told me that supposedly there are like Roma mansions for the leaders since they receive everything from all the pawns, knights, bishops, and rooks. Each of them is God's creation and are in bondage to sin and God desires for them to claim Him.

We hope to go to the Roma half-way house..a ministry to meet the needs of the Roma children. 

But please be in prayer for these people..we don't personally minister to them on a daily basis..but they still deserve your prayers so that they can one day hear the Gospel and proclaim Him as the Most High God.

walkabout in serbia..not australia.

Greetings!

So in my email, I briefly mentioned a bit of some exciting news about meeting two girls that want to speak English with us. We had coffee with one of them, Natasha, yesterday (13 June). Please pray for her salvation. This past week we trained for about three days and would train then do a "walkabout," which just the chance to apply what we had just learned in mapping. It is crazy how basic spiritual mapping (prayerwalking and identifying spiritual needs) has not been done here...but it is crucial to the spreading of the Good News and building of the Church. The other days of training were teaching us to be aware of strongholds in this city--whether they be spiritual, cultural, etc.

In between training days and such, we were able to go to the Danube River, visit the American Corner [a shop with English magazines, DVDs, board games, and books] and we asked about volunteering there and he said yes that we could do a conversational English class with youth (EXCITING!), went to a humanitarian concert at the Jewish synagogue, I tried cabbage and eggplant [two things I would not eat at home], and Bethany and I watched Princess Diaries 2 with our dinner the other night and Princess Mia says "Dobar Dan" in it!!!! we freaked out and rewinded the movie to hear it again.  It is crazy---Bethany described it so well: "When we were younger, we didn't know what that meant. God knew and now we know. And He knew all along that we would one day know that saying because we would be in Serbia."


Sunday, one of our friends preached the Gospel clear as day...something most in the church have never heard! So be in prayer that they crave for more and desire to be a co-heir in the Kingdom.

Here is Psalm 63:1..a sweet and dear friend encouraged me with last week:

"God, You are my God;
I eagerly seek You.
I thirst for You;
my body faints for You
in a land that is dry, desolate,
and without water."

This land is dry, desolate, and without Living Water. May your prayers be that they will eagerly seek, thirst, and faint for the Giver of Life. Less than 2% of this country are born-again believers.

 Novi Sad from the Fortress.

This week we are mapping these areas so be in prayer for them: Grbavica and Liman I-IV (pronounced Lee-man). Each of these are neighborhoods (ours is Grbavica) and covers lots of people. Pray for our eyes and ears to open to see and hear the needs of those around us, that we constantly cover the streets in prayer, and that the Spirit guide us to divine interventions.  

life as a balkan

You are more than likely asking "what is a balkan?"  Well, the area I am around are the Balkan countries and most of them live life as a Balkan meaning that they usually do not wake up and get going until 10 am or so and take it hour by hour with noooo schedules. They don't plan out the week for dinner dates or sport events but usually a few hours before the event is supposed to occur. Life is very easy going and relaxed. That is Balkan life...LOVE! 
I plan on introducing MS to Balkanism. :)

Recap of my last few days:

We began our Wednesday in the Word with some colleagues. We were challenged with Matthew 9:36 (which happened to be Garaywa's verse last year): "When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. (37-38) Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." It was through Jesus' observations that He was aware of the peoples' weariness. So we were challenged to observe the city by going to a handful of hand picked places to observe the people, the sounds, and possible opportunities. Furthermore, I could say all day that I love this city--yet how can I if I do not KNOW the city...much like within a relationship: how can you love someone and not know them? Impossible. So we have been getting to know this great city for this past week. Thus, this entails much walking! I actually got us lost a few times in the older part of the town but a lady and then a couple were able to help us out...they are soooo gracious and willing to help out! I have been able to figure out how to get around to places and such--much to the fact that I remember easily how I got to and from places. 

Thursday-Sunday

Bethany and I observed more of the city.  I ran into the lady that helped us out the day before in the Center where there were probably 200 hundred people...pray for a possible opportunity if God's will to run back into her and have some coffee. Then, we got to eat some home-cooked Mexican with some great friends and it was awesome just to Fellowship!

Got bus passes so that we don't have to pay every time we get on...my name is in cryllic--legit stuff! And met some more Friends around town. Then, our colleagues cooked us some southern food before the youth event Friday night. The songs were in Serbian--ever so thankful that God is not just God of America but of EVERYONE and he knows every language, not just English! Such a great experience. And a man from Slovenia was bringing the Word--which was translated to Serbian and then English..hehe. 

Saturday can be described in one word: Balkan. Didn't wake up until 12 and didn't leave the apartment until 4----I can get use to this! But we just walked around town and I gmailed surprise call my Momma.

Sunday was fabulous! The man from Friday night was back at the Church so it was translated again. We had the Lord's Supper-----funny story to come: They had loaves of bread and the juice. And you immediately eat it or drink it as it comes to you. Right after the service, I said "that was weird grape juice." Little did I know that it WAS NOT grape juice! Yes, in fact it was wine. Never would had known if my friends around me didn't tell me. I thought it was just extremely bitter...nope, wine. I'm still a bit shocked at that one.--- Then lunch with all the colleagues here at the Fortress: yum and fun! And then hung out with some Friends. And then I decided to figure out the bus routes and took one hoping it was go near my apartment--20 minutes later it did! ha it was an experience! 

Pray for us to continually get to know this great city that needs His Light and our training that begins this week.