We met Daniel on the second ministry outing our team did with United Life Serbia. The twelve of us met up for the first time at what turned out to be the most common location we found ourselves this month-The Horse at Belgrade, City Center. We divided ourselves into four groups of three, and after inviting the Holy Spirit into the purpose of what we were doing that evening, the teams split. My team was made up of myself – a white girl who sometimes considers herself an artist, our host Remi – a Ghanaian man from London, and my teammate Rhakeem – an African American man with the stature of an NFL player. Needless to say, we got noticed.
As soon as we stepped away from the rest of our group Remi began to discuss my nervousness about having conversations with strangers. He had mentioned to try and allow the Holy Spirit to work and be obedient to Him. It wasn't a moment later that I had noticed some street art at the front of City Center.
Daniel has the look of the typical Boulder resident – long brown hair, a not fully grown in beard, some sort of native necklace, t-shirt and cut off jean shorts all put together with a kind, welcoming smile. It felt right for me to mosey on over to some hand made postcards next to his area. Daniel immediately came over and informed us that the artist wasn't present but he could help us until the other guy came back (we've learned that this neighbor-helping-neighbor attitude is indicative of Serbian culture). From there Rhakeem struck up some surface level conversation and instantly we discovered that Daniel doesn't do surface level. After asking about the feather tattoo on his shoulder he intentionally mentioned his life long dream to us – “to travel to your land (pointing to Remi) and all of Africa helping the children and the people of that land.” He also threw in some choice four-letter words to describe his dislike towards Americans and their stereotypical arrogance and attitudes towards helping people. I like to think he didn't know Rhakeem and I are American.
Conversation lent itself to the World Cup games and Remi made a friendly wager on a game for the purpose of getting his number and being able to intentionally meeting up with him again. Within those short 10 minutes we discovered this man was not only full of passion but fully welcoming to community and to pouring into everyone he meets.
Daniel works for a local artist, selling beautiful pallet knife paintings right at the front of City Center – the main location we found ourselves. Each day we arrived there we were warmly greeted by him, a local art seller that morphed into a friend. A friend and a face that I can now pair with Serbia.
If I were to chalk up my time here in Serbia to one purpose it would be to have moseyed on over to Daniels area to peruse the art and attempt conversation. That moment lead to a friendly World Cup wager which turned into intentional trips to City Center to just see Daniel and ultimately to Ryan and Rhakeem having the privilege of late night outings and truly getting to know the deeper layers of what makes up Daniel.
Admittedly I am jealous that I haven't been able to have the time and conversations with him as much as the guys have but I can see that regardless, Gods love has been shown. It has been shown intentionally by us and by how we as a team and as 'Christians' are attempting to live our lives, but also by Daniel himself. He may not be a Christian but he knows how to genuinely care about others. Every one of us knows that we are held close to Daniels heart and we attempt to show him that we too hold him dear, just as God does us.
