My time in Macedonia is coming to an end, and with that I am saying goodbye to Europe, and will soon be saying hello to Africa. I wanted to take some time to share about my time in Macedonia, and some of the highlights from our weeks here. As I continue to process all that I saw and experienced in Greece, I soon will share some blogs on this.
Our ministry contacts are Sasha and Tony. Sasha has a church and bible school in the city, Skopje. Tony has a church and soup kitchen in the gypsy community, Shutka.
During the weekdays, mornings are spent talking and playing with some of the children, and then helping prepare lunch for the 15-30 children we feed. Some evenings we do prayer walks through the city. Recently Sasha’s wife, Maria got us started on a project of making Christmas Card and wrapping some books as presents that will be given out to the parents of children receiving an Operation Christmas Child shoebox.
One afternoon Sasha brought us to a nursing home. We were able to sing songs and share a message and have a time of fellowship with the residents there. It brought me way back to my days in elementary school when my teacher, Mrs. Ten Pass, would do the same and we would always sing Go Light your Candle.
My teammate Allison has a friend in the city that works with Albanian students here in Macedonia. It was an Albanian holiday, and all of us were invited to the party. We spent the evening hearing a little of Albania’s history, and then spent the evening dancing. We were even able to learn some of the traditional dances, and a beat boxing match was performed in our honor.
This month I had my first holiday away from home. We celebrated Thanksgiving as a team; we had made plans to cook a big meal together. However, Shutka had different plans for us. The power went out, and cancelled all options of cooking a meal. Although we were a little bummed but we made the best of it, and went out for a nice meal and dessert. We spent the night at the churches office so that we had the ability to video call our families for Thanksgiving.
On an off day we were able to take a gondola up to the top of a mountain where the millennium cross resides. Knowing this would be the only time we experienced snow this year made for quite an exciting day.
With this being a slower month I had lots of time to reflect on my life and what Jesus was showing me. With that came a strong reminder that I am called to love, it doesn’t matter who or what I receive in return. I am just called to love.
Europe will be hard to say goodbye to after all it had many comforts. Like wonderful pastries and hot showers, but I am excited to see what God has in store for me in Africa
Tomorrow we head out to a hostel where we will meet the rest of our squad mates, and Wednesday we fly out to South Africa. Please keep us in your prayers as there will be some big changes, and probably some culture shock as well.
