If I haven’t already made it clear, here in Tuzla we are crazy about our Bosnian hosts. I figured you might want to hear a little more about them so that you can understand our deep love for them & why they are such a key reason to the utter success of this month. Before I talk about individuals, here’s an introduction to the church & kind of the way they do things.
The church building is basically an apartment. People come in & out nonstop, & it feels like somebody’s home because…well…it is. It’s the church’s home. This church is heavily involved with what’s known as the Wave Projects. I’m not 100% sure how to explain it except that they just host whatever they think the community needs in the church & that could look like just about anything.
While we’ve been here, many students are trying to get into college & need help with math for their entrance exams. A lot of people in the community want to learn English. Apparently last year a Navy Seal was visiting so they hosted self-defense classes. It’s really just whatever might interest the community, & it’s not get them there & shove Jesus down their throats.
It’s get them there & just get to know them. If they ask or it comes up, of coarse we share Jesus. But we just spend time pouring into them as much as they allow.
Wave has been a part of many different types of outreaches including work at the local orphanage & trips to the refugee camps, which you’ll hear more about soon. They also spend time with the special needs kids & just help wherever they can. It’s a pretty cool program, & basically whoever wants to lend a hand just comes & helps. The church is super involved & they’re all volunteers — they just serve their community.
I could talk a lot about this church in general because they have been so wonderful to us from the very beginning, but I need to take this space to post about the 3 people whole are truly the pillars of all the great things coming out of this church.
Lela, the pastor’s wife & someone so like my own mom in that I don’t think people have any idea just how amazing she is. Lela is very sweet, very thoughtful, & very loving. She also has such a gigantic servant’s heart & is so good at taking care of forgotten people no matter how tired she is. Lela spends a lot of time caring for the senior community both at church & at the local home for the elderly. She hosts a house group with the older Christ-followers of the church & also has a class during church for the children. She teaches English classes.
Honestly, Lela just works really hard doing behind the scenes things…things that nobody else wants to do but she does with all her heart. Things people don’t even realize that are making everyone’s lives easier.
And on top of all her hard work, she did our laundry every week. That’s right. There were 7 full grown adults giving her a week’s worth of laundry & they don’t have dryers in Bosnia. But with much insistence, Lela would wash, hang, & fold our clothes for us.
& when we had a 6 hour drive to the refugee camps, guess who was making lunch at our stops out of the back of the car? Lela. & she’s got major skills, because those were pretty amazing little picnic lunches she wipped up for us.
Who wants to do that? No one. But Lela wouldn’t have it any other way. She sees needs, meets them, & chooses to find joy in all these things.
Lela has become kind of like a mom for all of us, & just like most moms, I think she is pretty overlooked despite her awesomeness. But she would, of coarse, disagree — her motivation has nothing to do with receiving praise. She cares about serving God & serving others.
The last thing I’ll mention about our wonderful Lela is a memory that I’ll try to capture. We were at the refugee camp & there was a boy Lela knew from another camp…she had met him months ago & knew that his shoes were worthless for the trek ahead of him. After some argument, Lela convinced this maybe 12 year old boy that she would rather have his worn out, unsuitable shoes than her practically new sneakers & she made him a trade for them. Below is the picture I snagged after she made the trade…they didn’t even fit her. I could go on about this wonderful woman, but I think that captures her heart pretty clearly.
Zeljko, the pastor & basically everybody’s goofy but extremely caring uncle. He is so easy going & fun to be with, but he has a pretty big bad heart for this country. Everyone he comes into contact with is his mission field. He sees needs & his brain starts working out how best to meet them. He has no care for his own physical needs — he’d rather give everything he has to every person every moment of the day. & that goes for his own personal wealth, too.
Zeljko is honestly one of the most generous people I have ever met. I guarantee he would be the first person to give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, & I would not be surprised to hear if he actually had done that in the past. He just genuinely loves people, & that motivates all his decisions.
This is a guy who has so much on his plate but never stops dreaming about how much more he can do to love the people of Bosnia. He sees kids & he dreams of them having a future full of hope, education, & success. I don’t think Zeljko has ever looked at someone & wondered what they had to offer — he’d be too busy wondering what he could offer them.
& he’s quite a character 🙂 we definitely have just been overwhelmed by how quickly he made us his family. He allowed us to stay for free at the church & he feeds us frequently. & his hugs are just like I said — like hugging a goofy uncle who you know cares so much about how you are even though he’s gonna spend time laughing with you.
This is a pastor who works tirelessly to love people, & though I don’t know how he can keep going at the rate he does, I love watching it because he is such a great example of what it means to give your life for others.
Tea, the only Croatian missionary to currently be serving in Bosnia & my friend. I remember being a little in awe of her when we first met because she doesn’t have the easiest life, but she chooses it. & why? Because Tea loves the people of Bosnia. She is similar to Zeljko in how she sees needs & begins working out how to practically meet them. She’s kind of like Zeljko’s little sister — they work so well together & they get things done.
Tea is also someone who works through all kinds of tiredness because she knows what has to be done & she figures out how to make things happen. Even when others might be discouraged, Tea continues on. I had the honor of going with her to the orphanage a couple times. The actual institution has made it very difficult for Wave to really help the kids, & formally their hands are pretty tied. But that doesn’t stop Tea. She still goes & sees them. Hugs them & brings them birthday gifts. These are kids who have been neglected or forgotten, but Tea sees them, & they love her so much for it.
One of the other ways Tea serves is to transport people to & from church each time there’s an event (which is basically all the time) & she also hosts a house group. If you regularly have people in your house — even if you enjoy it — you know how draining that can be. & as far as transporting everyone…if you are like me & just struggle getting yourself somewhere on time, imagine the sacrifice Tea makes in leaving in time to make multiple trips to get people where things are happening. Oh. & she is one of the drivers for the 6 hour trip to the refugee camps & back. Now that is love.
I have really enjoyed just talking to Tea about life & how she has come here. She has made some difficult choices, but she remains steadfast in them. This is her life — to love & serve people. Their joy & success brings her joy. I especially love seeing her with kiddos — you can see the love written all over her face.
I know some missionaries are really well supported, but that is not the case for Tea. Her work comes at a very high cost with very little financial compensation. & yet I’ve seen Tea pull money out of her wallet to give to people in need. I’ve seen her gas tank that is NEVER full. She’s given gifts to overlooked children. Her compassion radar is never turned off. I personally have even benefitted from her generosity when she took time to take me to lunch & then by paid for me to get my hair washed & dried, which made me feel feminine again for the first time in a while (the nature of race life can take that from you sometimes).
***Mom, I promise you I put up a fight both times & offered to pay, but she was just as stubborn as we are, so I had to drop it. But I tried!***
The point is that I’ve already watched Tea give away the small income that she has coming in, but she still saw fit to love on me by giving me lunch & the best looking hair I’ve had on the race. That is somebody who sees & loves people, & it has meant so much to me. Watching Tea choose to love people more than money every day made me reexamine my own life & whether or not I love with so little regard for my own needs.
& so, these are our hosts! I hope reading about them has helped you understand a little more about this month & the hearts of the people we work with — the people we get to learn from. It has been an honor, & I can’t wait to tell you more.
