Friday, May 04, 2007

Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia!

Hey guys! This past month I have been on a crazy adventure, serving the Lord, learning soooooooo much and experiencing so many new things! As you know, I am leading a YWAM Discipleship Training School outreach team of three students: Mario from Bulgaria, Veska Also from Bulgaria and Lorraine from England. We started off in Sophia, Bulgaria where Mario and Veska are from. There we met with some of their friends and did some team prep. for our outreach. Then we had a change of plans and ended up going to Kratovo, Macedonia for a week where I had been for my DTS outreach last fall. It was so good to reconnect with people and to encourage the growing church there. We also met with two young guys, who gave their lives to Jesus just few days after we left Macedonia. It was so cool to see God working in their lives, showing them the truth. Macedonia was a huge blessing for us!

After Macedonia we went to Nis, Serbia where we had all kinds of opportunities to serve: in an orphanage for teenagers, at a public pre-school for gypsy kids, in a village with kids and young people where they have no church, visiting elderly ladies who needed encouragement, in the local churches, and visiting families! Lots of variety for just two and a half weeks of being there. It was so interesting to learn about Serbia and the issues they are dealing with. There is such a big need there for encouragement and hope...Pray for this nation!

And now we are are in Sarajevo, Bosnia...my favorite place so far. The whole country is full of gorgeous mountains and green green trees!! The river Drina is the most amazing green blue color I have ever seen in a river! This place is really breath-taking. The great missionary couple we are working with here, Tom and Kristie Trowbridge drove us up into the mountains around the city and see where the 84 Olymplic games were held, (most all of the sites now destroyed from the war).

There is really too much to say about this place for this short update, but i can tell you that I am so glad God has brought our team here. Our prayer is to bring hope, life and light in Jesus to the people here and we need your prayers. We will be working with Tom and Kristie's ministry center, which reaches out through all kinds of creative activities: english classes, community nights, worship nights for seekers and more...with the intention of building relationships with people where we can share the hope of Jesus. A lot of missionaries here deal with division and so we need prayers for unity and love. This is a Muslim nation and in Sarajevo alone there are 150 mosques. A new one is built every month.

Our good friend from YWAM, Don Stevens lives here and has been introducing us to his friends, some, young muslim guys that are quickly becoming part of our team family. Pray for God to use us in this place and for him to continue to work in the lives of the people we met in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia.

For those of you interested in supporting me for this outreach I am still in need of about $800. You can send a check to His Hands Foundation, 1045 N. Main St., Ashland, OR 97520...Thank you so much for your prayers and support! Oh and keep in mind that I will be in the States June 16 through July 28th! Blessings to you all!

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"All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If He wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is His concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that."
- Dominique Voillaume
(From "The Signature of Jesus" by Brennan Manning)