Our team is entering our third week in Sarajevo now. We’re getting used to the city, getting to know some of the people, becoming more involved in some of the ministries, and developing a taste for ridiculously sweet Turkish espressos (not really, but I’m trying). We have some new opportunities coming up that we hope to start up or be a part of, working with local missionaries and organizations. One local christian organization we hope to work more with is Svaki student, or ‘Every student’, the Bosnian equivalent to campus crusade(Alege Viata if you like). This is a group of young Americans dedicated to spreading the gospel to Bosnian students. Our team joined them this last Thursday going to the different campuses in Sarajevo meeting and talking with local college students, one of which we invited for coffee later in the week, and hope to continue to get to know.
The whole team has also been working on lesson plans and other preparations for an English kids club, which will start this Saturday. In the near future we hope to start working with a group of ywam’ers at an orphanage in Sarajevo, and help start up more activities at Nova Nada (the community center) such as guitar/piano lessons, a Saturday night community night, and a Q&A lunch discussion group on Sundays. In addition to all the activities and ministries we are involved with in Sarajevo, we continue to enjoy the warmth and hospitality of all the people we meet here and continue to look for opportunities to share and discuss the goodness of God.
Testimony from Leah:
While talking with some of the students I realized that many of them are very wounded, from the affects of the war that was here in the 90’s and also from broken families and all kinds of painful situations. One of the young guys we talked to said that he didn’t believe in God because he had just experienced too many terrible things, as he pointed out the many scares on his face and head. How could a God allow all of that to happen? There is such a big need here for people to experience the healing power of God in their lives. Not just for their physical lives but for their hearts. They have experienced so much pain and suffering, and this, along with all the different religious influences of the region have painted a very different picture of God than the one we know. My prayer is that the believers here and our team as well, would have the opportunity to paint new pictures for those we meet of God’s true character- through our lives, through our words and through our love.
I shared a little bit with two guys about how God longs to heal us, to touch us in the places where we are hurting and to set us free from the things that we do just to cover up the pain we feel. Their response was, “Sounds like a nice commercial for Mc Donald’s”-too good to be true I guess. But it is true and it is the Good News that we need to keep on sharing. Please keep praying with us for healing for this nation and for this Good News to be spread to each and every heart…