20 They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.”
22 The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. 23 After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24 When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. -Acts 16:20-25
Day one of our ATL ministry after taking a rest day to recover from both debrief & the 4 hour bus ride to the town of Novi Pazar, where my team and I were to be serving for the month of April here in Serbia.
We got up early that morning, and after breakfast and some team devotional/worship time, the 7 of us were ready to tackle day one of ATL. One of our first tasks was to go and register with the city to let them know that there were Americans in town for the month. This was something new to me as in all the previous countries that we had visited we didn’t have to register, so this was a all new experience for us.
No problem, just head down to the post office, and fill out paperwork, and maybe pay a fee. quick & easy right?
Not so much.
First off we found out that it wasn’t the post office where we had to go register at, but instead we had to go to the police station. Ok no big deal, and go and get the right paperwork, fill it out, and boom we are all set, and free to explore the town to get our bearings.
So off we go to the police station with the help of one of the postal employees who so kindly walked with us to make sure we went the right way.
Once we arrived at the station, we went to the check in window, and tried to communicate with the officer there what we needed via google translate, but had a difficult time. Eventually a officer who worked in the auto theft department who spoke very good English came to our rescue and told us to follow him to the proper office to fill out the paperwork, and meet with the lady who was in charge of that task.
*Cue Law & Order theme* (and yes this was playing in my head as we were walking in the hall to the office)
So all 8 of us crammed into her tiny office as we handed her our passports so that she could begin whatever she needed to do for us to get registered with the city. She took our passports and looked at the stamp to see when we had entered Serbia (March 29th)….6 days before
Oops.
As it turned out we had missed our window to register as being foreigners in the country, and we had the threat of having to face a judge to either pay a fine of up to 1500 euro or spend time in jail. So needless to say the 7 of us were sitting there just looking at each other helpless as our officer and the lady were discussing our future in Serbian, no less with the officer translating us bits and pieces throughout the conversation. I will admit I was freaking out a little bit inside, but kept my cool on the outside especially after he mentioned the chance of us being put in a holding cell.
Finally in what felt like forever, the officer told us to follow him back out to the main lobby of the station, and on the way he told us that we wouldn’t have to worry about facing a judge or paying the fine or going to jail thanks to him. We were extremely grateful to him as I’m sure none of us wanted to be put in a Serbian Slammer. We really have no idea what he said, but man whatever it was it really did help us to get our of that jam! THANK YOU GOD! (Huge shoutout to officer Sonion!)
So we sat in the lobby of the station while waiting for our landlord to bring the documents that were needed to show proof of stay as well as to help us get the right paperwork filled out. We then had to go across the street to another office where we once again had to show our passports, and do the actual registering and to get our registeration papers that we had to carry on us at all times just in case we were ever stopped by the police. I think our landlord’s father paid the registration fee for us, which was a huge blessing to us. After we all finished getting our proper papers, we had to head back to the police station to be formally registered with the police/city/American embassy, and back into the lady’s office so that she could put our infomation into the computer. We waited for awhile as she took our passports/papers once again, and enter our info. After this was all said and done, the 7 of us were finally legal to be here, and the lady even wanted to have her photo taken with us, and we obliged as that we the least that we could do her and the officer who was so gracious in helping us avoid the fine/jail. Plus I’m sure that we were in a way celebrities to them as it turns out that not many Americans come through this part of the country, and in all honestly I kinda felt like one being here.
5 hours later we were finally registered, no fines paid & jail avoided & on our way to have lunch with our landlord’s father & brother at a local mantija joint, and he paid for our meal as well per Serbian custom as I later found out.
God truly blessed us that day in so many ways that have also included us getting in touch with many of the locals here because of having lunch at Yasmin’s place, and beginning to form relationships with them in hopes of eventually opening the door for them to hear the gospel of our Lord. As that is our main mission this month here in Novi Pazar this month. (more to come in my next blog)
On a totally different side note, I now know what it is like to be a purebreed dog with registered papers as that’s what I feel like carrying around my document.
Til next time you fellow sister in Christ,
Bonnie
Team SC
P Squad
Psalms 18:2
YOLO
