June 11, 2011
The things we do…
Ahh, the joys of ministry…particularly in another culture
I’m trying to decide if I can make this story funny, or if it will just be gross no matter what I do. Actually, since many of you have asked “What does a typical day look like for you?” I think I’ll go ahead and kill two birds with one stone here. So I’ll start with how the day went, and soon enough, you’ll get to the part that inspired me to share this little story with you (I think you’ll know when you get there).
Today began with a pretty relaxed morning. I went for a run and got to enjoy God’s incredible creativity, as well as a sermon podcast by an old friend (Treb Praytor, anybody heard of him?). God outdid himself as usual this morning. I could see the mountain peaks in the distance and yet there was a fog to where I couldn’t see the bottom of the mountains. It was great. After the run, I got ready for the day and enjoyed some time in the Word. We had “youth staff” meeting and prayer at 11:30, during which God gave us a great idea to do for all the students who are graduating this year (either 8th grade or high school), and we had a great opportunity to pray particularly for the families of our students (who for the most part are not believers). Immediately after that I went off to the home of one of our church members, whom I will call Lejla*.
I thought I was going to Lejla’s today for fellowship and for her and her daughter (who is not a believer) to teach me how to make a traditional Bosnian dish: Pita – which is not what you’re thinking it is. It turns out, she didn’t understand me very well on the phone the day before so when I got to her house, I found out that she doesn’t even like pita and she’s not very good at making it. So after spending 1.5 or 2 hours sitting and drinking coffee, hearing about her current crisis, and attempting to give some spiritual encouragement, I am still feeling from the Lord like I should insist on being taught to make something. Lejla does not have the easiest financial situation, and though I know of worse financial situations, this is what I felt from the Lord I should do today. Off to the store we went to buy everything we needed for Sarma (this is a sour cabbage roll stuffed with mince-meat and rice). For the record, I don’t really like sarma, but this is what I feel like I need to do.
Back at Lejla’s we got to work and between the two of us, preparation was done pretty quickly. She asked if either her daughter or I was hungry. Her daughter said no, but I honestly was, so I told her I could eat a little bit. Of course I assumed that I would be eating the sarma, when it was finished. Not my favorite, but I can stomach it. But Lejla proceeds to re-heat me some of yesterday’s leftovers: Jetrice i tjestenina (LIVER and pasta). I kind of start to freak out in my mind… “Oh no, I hate liver!..but I already said I was hungry, I can’t take it back now…what am I gonna DO!?!” And so…I ate it. Praying every bite that I would not reproduce it on her table in a much less appetizing form. God was faithful. I did not throw-up, and I left 5 hours later having consumed more than my share of food, coffee, and second-hand smoke.
The day ended with a little meeting at our team leaders house, where I of course shared my latest in the “What we do for Jesus” chronicles, and our ideas about the ensuing youth event.
Hope you enjoyed this one. It was definitely one for the record books! Love and miss you all!
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April 21, 2011
Loooong Awaited Update…(sorry)
A few weekends ago, we were preparing to take some women to a women’s conference in Sarajevo. As usual, the plans came down to the last minute. We had signed up three Bosnian women for the conference to go from Biha – knowing very well, that we might not take the particular three we were thinking of when we signed up.
In particular, there was one young lady I wanted to take, but she wasn’t sure if she would be able to get released from school to attend. I will call her Amira*. About a week before the conference I met with Amira for a coffee and she really wanted to go to the conference, despite the fact that it was not just for young people and that the schedule might be really full. She got permission from her mom that day and permission from the school the next day. At this point I knew that we had not planned for her and possibly would have to pay late registration for her, but I really felt that she should come with us.
Two days before the conference, Amira called me and asked if there would be room to bring one of her friends (Sanela*) with us. Sanela had never really had contact with the church, other than meeting a few of the believers through Amira. I told her I had to check with my teammate to see if all the other ladies were still planning on coming. Turns out that my teammate had just gotten off the phone with another young lady who had to cancel, and the day before, another believer had also cancelled. So I called Amira back and said, “Yes! Sanela can go.”
All I can say is that God knew all along who he wanted at this conference, and even which sessions we would attend and with whom we would connect. I was a little worried about how Sanela would feel, knowing that she was going to get a mega-dose of Jesus in a very short period of time and that she probably had never seen anything like it before. But as usual, God took my expectations and blew them away!
I had to give the Lord room to take me out of my “western mindset”. Yes, the conference was paid for and it was right for us to attend the sessions, but missing one or two, in order to have conversations with these girls about who Jesus is, or why there was a workshop on the topic of purity, was so worth it. We spent a lot of time with a woman from Sarajevo who has a heart for teenagers and is incredibly gifted at laying out the gospel. I believe with all my heart that God set up “divine appointments” for these young women all throughout the weekend. Amira is thinking more and more about what it means to make Jesus the Lord of her life. Sanela is full of questions, maybe even confused at the moment (in a good way), and searching for answers . They have asked me if we can start meeting together specifically to talk about the Bible!
Please pray that this curiosity and renewed fire will burn bright in these two young women. Pray also for wisdom for me, and schedules that allow for the three of us to meet together. I believe God is moving in their lives, and I can hardly wait to see what happens.
*Name changed for internet privacy
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December 4, 2010
Welcome to Bihać…
We made it! I’m writing to you from our new home in the northwest corner of the country, Bihać, and boy do I have a story for you!!
Some of you may remember my story about possibly training for a half-marathon in September, with my friend, Elma*. Well, because of my travel schedule, the half-marathon didn’t quite happen, but we did get to go on several training runs together and we kept in touch through the gym I worked out at in Dobrinja. It just so happens that Elma is originally from Bihać!! Not only that, but her younger sister, Azra*, still lives here. She set me up with Azra’s phone number and even the phone numbers of a couple of potential flats for rent.
After arriving in Bihac on Wednesday night and moving our things temporarily into our teammates’ house, I went ahead and sent Azra a text message. At this point, I had no idea how old Azra is, or what she is like at all. I just knew that Elma told me she would be willing to help us out. Right away on Thursday morning, I got a very excited text message back from Azra (mostly in English, with a couple words in Bosnian) asking where and when I would like to meet with her. So Thursday night, we arranged to meet “kod sata” (at the clock) – a very common meeting place in the center of Bihac.
Billy recognized Azra as Elma’s sister the moment we walked up…I, of course, wanted to be sure, so I gave her a call and sure enough, Billy was right! We went to a near-by coffee shop and talked and laughed and told stories for 2.5 hours. Azra is quite a bit like her sister, and even made me laugh by using the same hand gestures a couple of times. She is full of life and curious about America, currently studying sport at one of the universities here in Bihac (something we have in common), and is extremely excited to help us find an apartment!
But that’s not all… Through our conversation, we came to find out that Azra and her twin brother used to attend the kids klub that our team here in Bihać had 8 years ago!! She still remembers our teammate, “with the long dark hair”, that ran the program. She is very excited to help us with anything we do with music or sports, she wants to do it all!
We are blown away by God’s faithfulness in bringing us here, and just through this one coffee, we can see that God has a plan for us and He is in complete control. Please pray that the Lord will draw our new friend, Azra*, closer to Himself, and that our joint efforts to find an apartment are fruitful.
Be blessed, friends!
Jess