As I sit on the couch watching a movie with my friends at Hope for the World in Marikaj, Albania, I reminisce about a month in Montenegro (yes I can do two things at once). This blog is an overview of what happened in March and what I learned.
Ministry:
What did we do all month, you may ask!?! This month was busy with lots of unique opportunities. For the first 2 weeks my team, SSBD, spent each day in our apartment (complete with a fire in the range and a pot of coffee) and put seeds into small packages. This is for a seed project where we put seeds into a little evangelistic package that gets sent out to people in the community. We also spent a couple of days passing out flyers inviting people to a conference where a Hindu man shared his testimony of meeting Christ. The conference was two days and we spent a lot of time helping to get ready for that. Each Sunday we helped with the kids club at the church- spent time just hanging out with the kids, singing songs and teaching a bible lesson, and playing ping pong. One day we travelled a couple hours north to Zjoulbak. I had the unique opportunity to be the person who hands a Christmas shoebox to a special child! This was so cool- I got to experience the joy and see the smile on their face.
Off day adventures:
Montenegro is a beautiful country. Our team had so many cool opportunities to explore and enjoy the beauty! We took a little road trip to Dubrovnik, Croatia and enjoyed exploring the beautiful old city. We felt like a little family on a road trip and I really enjoyed driving a car (since I have not done that in 7 months!), and driving along the coast was so beautiful!
Biggest Lesson:
Our team took a short trip to Kotor, a beautiful, old city on the coast. My first thoughts on arriving here were “damn, why am I in Podgorica and not here”! A few of our teams were staying here and they got to enjoy the beauty every day! But, then I asked myself- “what blessings do we have in Podgorica”? And I realized that we have many blessings. Pastor Vladimir and his wife Maryanna have blessed and encouraged us in every way, our host Meti has been so generous, our friend Ruth from South Africa has been so fun, friendly and loving, and the church has been so hospitable! We are blessed!!! All month I struggled with feeling negative about the cold weather and missing Africa, but I learned to appreciate the small things (like dessert Sunday or a little space heater that stayed at my feet like a faithful dog).
Fun fact:
When I left home in September, I never thought that I would get to go snowboarding on the race, but, I did indeed!! It may have been the worst conditions I have ever went snowboarding in- it was raining, only the smallest hill was open, I used a t-bar for the first time ever, and I was wearing an 80’s onsie: but I was just so happy to be snowboarding!
Sent from my iPhone
