Serbia. Wow!
Let’s talk about favorites.
Here are a few of mine: strawberry tea, brown dogs, sunrises, and my llama scarf.
This month God is speaking to me a lot through the original beauty of the little things. It’s like I’m learning gratitude all over again. Why do we so quickly overlook the gift in the ordinary?
May we never cease our wonder.
Arriving Serbia with little expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by what met my senses.
We are staying at a summer camp, which obviously, now, is not in operation.
I’m living in sort of a cabin, surrounded by woods. There’s snow on the ground. I feel like I’m in my natural habitat. I can almost make myself believe there’s deer around me. (Karl says they are here, but he’s never seen them in the 17 years they live here.) Btw. How I miss deer!
The smell of spring is in the air!
There’s wood to build a campfire and a hot tub facing the sunrise. There’s surplus coffee and tea, there’s a toaster, a kitchen aid, in fact, kitchen utensils to cook for an army. The toilets have flushing mechanisms and the faucet expels safe drinking water. These are not necessities, I have learned, but they certainly are blessings, and I am grateful.
The feta cheese here is the best on the planet, I actually teared up when I first tasted it. Not to mention the chocolate croissants, they deserve their own blog!
We have dog ministry. Three dogs that were rescued by our host as puppies after being dumped are now staying with us at camp. They are poorly trained and they love taking us for a run. Nikki will so tug on his leash that his front legs remain elevated and he runs on his two back legs. We love to love them and they are crazy about us. They are so cute.
Sadly, though, they’ve earned the name “chicken thief”, which cuts their opportunity to run leash free.
Most of our work here in Mrcajevci consists of clearing brush and cleaning up a property that camp is in the process of buying. It’s an old farm that appears to have been neglected for many years. Many a treasure is discovered, my favorite of which is an old fashioned corn grinder.
Each day we work up a big ole bonfire and feed it with dead trees and branches, rotted fence posts and trash. I love the manual labor aspect of this ministry.
Working the pitchfork, mucking the dog pen, and stacking firewood brings back so many memories and fuels my love of the outdoors and hard work.
We also have the beautiful privilege of building relationships with some of the few Christians in our city. While language barriers do limit us, it’s a blessing to be able to fellowship and connect with brothers and sisters all over the world.
So much about Serb for now…
Fun fact:
Today is happy halfway day!
I covet your prayers.
Love and peace,
Edna
