Yesterday was different in a lot of ways.
For one, it rained, and hard. We were at Jovica's house for lunch when it started and it continued for a few hours. We were planning on going to the courts to play some ball but that plan was foiled. Instead we decided to hit the china shop to get some umbrellas, the same shop where we met one of the girls who worked there a day or two ago. She was there and recognized us immediately and excitedly slapped Shelby on the back to get her attention and talked with us for little bit. We're meeting with her this weekend and she's going to bring her sister who she says speaks much better English than she does. It was good reconnecting with her and to see how excited she was to see us, especially Shelby.
As we were leaving the shop it was still drizzling a little bit and we all got our umbrellas out of the plastic shopping bag. As we start to open them up some random guy comes running up to us and points to the bag speaking in Serbian. When he realizes we're not understanding him he points from the bag to his head and it finally hits us. Sarah and Beverly hand him the bag and he quickly straps it over his head like a helmet and runs off away from town. We couldn't believe what had just happened. We needed a good laugh and that was more than enough to satisfy.
After that we decided to split up. We told Jovica that we would check the courts to make sure they were still wet because he wanted to come play with us so Shelby and I investigated while the rest of the group went to the hotel. The courts were wet but I then talked with Shelby about her thoughts on how the group is doing and what we could be doing better. After a short conversation I felt like I really needed to address the group one on one and then together as a whole to get everyone on the same page and to calm some tensions that may have been springing up amongst ourselves.
We went back to the hotel and I told everyone what was on my mind. After dinner we would simply prayer walk the center of town. Three people would walk together up and down the middle while I took turns talking to everyone in the center by the statue. There my hope was to understand where everyone was at in thinking about strategies for witnessing, things that have been hard for them, irritations with others but most importantly their ideas on how to make the most of our time here most effective.
It worked.
Everyone was able to share with me something that had been on their minds and I was able to take what they said and express it to the group after we were finished. The prayer walking teams enjoyed prayer walking too and even met another girl who spoke really good English at another shop in town. They are going to go back there sometime today and talk with her a bit more.
At the hotel I expressed what I had learned and opened the floor for more ideas and everyone agreed that the new changes would be helpful. The team unity has already seemed to improve, at least as far as I can see. That should prove really important going forward.
Tonight we're going to meet up with one of our friends from our time before camp and her boyfriend who is now back in town after having worked in Western Europe for the last month or so. We're excited to see her again and to meet her boyfriend. She's been a good friend to us and every conversation has been really good. Definitely pray for our relationship with her and for a good night tonight.
In an hour or so we'll be heading to meet Jovica to go to the gypsy village just outside of town. He's going to play marbles with the kids there and introduce us to a couple of his gypsy friends. We've already met one family who came to the bible study our first Sunday in Kraljevo. We're looking forward to going out there but don't know what to expect. Pray that we will be prayerful and ready for whoever we meet or get to talk to, and that we can be a blessing to those people.
Today marks the half-way point of our trip. It's a little exhausting thinking that this is halfway but it's also exciting to think that we still have time to make friends, expand on relationships and work the sports fest. There's enough time for us to minister here still :)
Please pray for strength, patience, courage, discernment, trust, for the English class we're trying to organize (I've started working on the posters) and for our missionary and his wife who is due within the week :) they're packed and ready to get to Belgrade to deliver their 5th!
Ciao!
For one, it rained, and hard. We were at Jovica's house for lunch when it started and it continued for a few hours. We were planning on going to the courts to play some ball but that plan was foiled. Instead we decided to hit the china shop to get some umbrellas, the same shop where we met one of the girls who worked there a day or two ago. She was there and recognized us immediately and excitedly slapped Shelby on the back to get her attention and talked with us for little bit. We're meeting with her this weekend and she's going to bring her sister who she says speaks much better English than she does. It was good reconnecting with her and to see how excited she was to see us, especially Shelby.
As we were leaving the shop it was still drizzling a little bit and we all got our umbrellas out of the plastic shopping bag. As we start to open them up some random guy comes running up to us and points to the bag speaking in Serbian. When he realizes we're not understanding him he points from the bag to his head and it finally hits us. Sarah and Beverly hand him the bag and he quickly straps it over his head like a helmet and runs off away from town. We couldn't believe what had just happened. We needed a good laugh and that was more than enough to satisfy.
After that we decided to split up. We told Jovica that we would check the courts to make sure they were still wet because he wanted to come play with us so Shelby and I investigated while the rest of the group went to the hotel. The courts were wet but I then talked with Shelby about her thoughts on how the group is doing and what we could be doing better. After a short conversation I felt like I really needed to address the group one on one and then together as a whole to get everyone on the same page and to calm some tensions that may have been springing up amongst ourselves.
We went back to the hotel and I told everyone what was on my mind. After dinner we would simply prayer walk the center of town. Three people would walk together up and down the middle while I took turns talking to everyone in the center by the statue. There my hope was to understand where everyone was at in thinking about strategies for witnessing, things that have been hard for them, irritations with others but most importantly their ideas on how to make the most of our time here most effective.
It worked.
Everyone was able to share with me something that had been on their minds and I was able to take what they said and express it to the group after we were finished. The prayer walking teams enjoyed prayer walking too and even met another girl who spoke really good English at another shop in town. They are going to go back there sometime today and talk with her a bit more.
At the hotel I expressed what I had learned and opened the floor for more ideas and everyone agreed that the new changes would be helpful. The team unity has already seemed to improve, at least as far as I can see. That should prove really important going forward.
Tonight we're going to meet up with one of our friends from our time before camp and her boyfriend who is now back in town after having worked in Western Europe for the last month or so. We're excited to see her again and to meet her boyfriend. She's been a good friend to us and every conversation has been really good. Definitely pray for our relationship with her and for a good night tonight.
In an hour or so we'll be heading to meet Jovica to go to the gypsy village just outside of town. He's going to play marbles with the kids there and introduce us to a couple of his gypsy friends. We've already met one family who came to the bible study our first Sunday in Kraljevo. We're looking forward to going out there but don't know what to expect. Pray that we will be prayerful and ready for whoever we meet or get to talk to, and that we can be a blessing to those people.
Today marks the half-way point of our trip. It's a little exhausting thinking that this is halfway but it's also exciting to think that we still have time to make friends, expand on relationships and work the sports fest. There's enough time for us to minister here still :)
Please pray for strength, patience, courage, discernment, trust, for the English class we're trying to organize (I've started working on the posters) and for our missionary and his wife who is due within the week :) they're packed and ready to get to Belgrade to deliver their 5th!
Ciao!
So very proud of what you all are learning, excited about what you're experiencing, prayerful for the requests you've made, and eager to see how God leads you in these next days. Thank you for your faithfulness and obedience. You encourage and inspire me.
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