Living the Call together

I have been abundantly blessed to have so many people supporting me in my ministry in Bosnia-Herzegovina. One of the greatest blessings over the past ten years of working with Bosnians has been my home church, Eagle Church. Eagle has sent several teams to BiH since the start of their partnership with the Bosnian Field in 2000. However, I think that the team that came this summer has been one of my favorites so far.

One of the reasons this is true is because all of the people on the team have been a special part of my life at Eagle church. A second reason is because they came to help us develop the camp purchased last year by the Evangelical church of Bosnia-Herzegovina. This camp has become very special to me as I have spent 2-3 weeks there every summer over the last 4 years. In fact, this year I will once again be there for 3 weeks in the kitchen with two of my Bosnian sisters from Tuzla.  The has and continues to play a part in the spiritual development of a large majority of Bosnian believers.  It is one of only a few opportunities the Bosnian church has each year for believers to meet other believers from all over BiH.  It was so much fun for me to be able to show the team the amazing place God has provided for us to have camp and to introduce them to my new hometown, Sarajevo.

Another special part of the team's time in BiH and at the camp was that they had the opportunity to meet a majority of the pastors currently serving in Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as having the opportunity to spend time with nearly all of our C&MA team. Though this was not a planned part of their time here, it was exciting for me that they could get to know some of the amazing men and women God has chosen to build His church here. The team's time here was truly an example of what Kingdom partnership is meant to be. 

My new place in Sarajevo

Well it has been a crazy few months with teams and moving to Sarajevo but I thought I'd take a few moments to tell you about my new place and show you a few pictures.

I am living in a great little one bedroom apartment in a neighborhood called Mojmilo (my dear one in English) which is named for the hill we are located on. It is a small, peaceful neighborhood with just 8-10 buildings and a nice square and small shopping center in the middle.It was once used to house Olympic athletes and then later become a sort of artists' colony. It was one of the first areas of Sarajevo to be fired on during the war and remained an area of heavy bombardment throughout the war. There are still some signs of this throughout the neighborhood just as there are everywhere in Sarajevo.

I've included a few pictures from my place and my neighborhood. I've also included a picture of my first guests in my new place, the Eikosts and some dear friends from Mostar.Though it isn't easy to see from the pictures, I have an incredible view of the mountains and the nearby city of Ilidza where my co-workers, the Eikosts are partnering with a Bosnian couple in a new church plant. I will be assisting at this site to some extent but will also be doing a lot of mentoring and relationship building at the "mother" church which is located in Sarajevo proper about a 10 minute drive or 20 minute tram ride from my place. It is quite exciting for me to be in a larger city again as I have the heart of a city girl even if I was born in a small town.

Well, in just a few days I'm off to camp to help cook for three weeks so check out this site in a month or so for some exciting new stories from camp. Ciao for now!

The Wild West comes to Tuzla

I've had lots of fun in June as teams from my home church, Eagle and my brother's church, Cody Missionary Alliance have visited BiH this month.  

The group from Cody arrived on June 20th and departed on July 1st.  The team came to Tuzla to assist us with our annual Kids' English Day Camp.  It was a great time and the team did a fantastic job of introducing the kids to the history of the Wild West and Yellowstone National Park through lots of fun crafts, drama, songs and games. 

The team also spent lots of time with our volunteer workers who were all present or former students of our English school, Svjetionik.  Some of the team members went out almost every evening to watch the European Football (Soccer in American English!) Championships or to just enjoy a stroll on Tuzla's walking street.  As many of you have heard from me before, an evening stroll and a cup of coffee in one of the local cafes are more or less the national past times in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  

It was also an extra bonus that my brother, Dave and his wife, Julie were able to be a part of the team.  It was great to let them see Tuzla where I'd been living for the past 2 1/2 years.  They also got to meet some of the people from the Sarajevo and Ilidza churches with whom I'll be working in the coming years.  It was great fun to have them as my first overnight guests in my new apartment in Sarajevo.  

I just want to wrap this up by saying a huge thank you to the team from Cody for the incredible effort they gave to prepare for the English camp as well as for the way they worked so hard to learn Bosnian and understand the local culture.  God bless and I hope we'll see some of you here again some day!