“I didn’t realize it, but I needed a bit of a break, some time for me to re-fuel for the rest of my race. Phil and Tanya cultivated an environment for just that.”
Phil and Tanya: our ministry hosts in Montenegro. Missionaries from South Africa
This was the beginning of the testimonial I wrote for my ministry hosts in Montenegro, on the morning my team was set to leave the country.
I loved Montenegro. It’s probably the prettiest place I’ve been to this year, it definitely has some of the best weather, and my time in Montenegro was incredibly relaxing.
Most of the time I was there I worried that maybe it was too relaxing. Isn’t the World Race supposed to be work?
At the beginning of the month, Phil and Tanya told us that our ministry was to make friends. As the month wore on I wondered if I was doing enough. I’m not an incredibly out going person so I didn’t make friends around town the way my teammates did. As the month drew to a close I was ready to leave. I was ready to move on to another place where I would hopefully be more successful at doing ministry. I would, of course, miss Phil and Tanya, but I thought that was it.
Then, the day before my team left town, I realized that there were definitely people I was going to miss: the staff at the hotel where we stayed all month. These people really made the hotel feel like home.
This is Lily, the hotel maid. She always greeted us girls with a smile, and one morning my team got to help her decorate the hotel for a wedding!
Along with Lily there was a second lady that cleaned the lobby each morning. I never caught her name, but she reminded me of a sweet grandma. Every time she saw me she joked about stealing the clothes I was wearing because she liked them so much – especially after she found out I made most of my clothes and all my dresses had pockets.
This is Borka, the cook. She never let us do the dishes for her, no matter how many times we offered, and every morning she had a pot of hot water on the stove for me so I could make myself a cup of coffee!
This is Sonya, the hotel owner. Every morning you could find her in the dining room, enjoying a cigarette and a cup of coffee with her employees. She spoke great English and acted as our translator many times – such as when we made plans with locals who spoke only Montenegrin and when the CDC came to call after catching wind of the possibility that one of my teammates might have still had malaria, an unwelcome guest brought along from Africa.
When Sonya wasn’t at the front desk, you could find Mr. Nikola sitting there. His nickname for me was “Texas”, due to my cowboy boots. The day we arrived he had a passer-by take a picture of him with all of us because he was so excited to have Americans staying at the hotel.
So, refreshing, refueling and full of friendly faces is the way I will remember Montenegro. And also a little lesson, that sometimes “ministry” doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t have to feel like work. I can be something easy and so simple, right under your nose, you don’t realize you’re doing it until you look behind you. It’s just the way you live your life. And that’s the way it should be.
Written by Alyssa, and completed by Joey
