Chow from Sombor, Serbia! It seems like months since I was hugging my mom goodbye in Atlanta, Georgia! I’ve officially become accustomed to living in constant community, showering only a few times a week, doing laundry in a bucket, never knowing what exactly I’m ordering at restaurants, and eating under $3/day! I’m still working on getting accustomed to ice cold showers that take your breath away 🙂
Our ministry this past month was in Sombor, Serbia. Sombor is a cute little town in Northern Serbia (about 30 minutes from the Croatian and Hungarian border). We are working at a local Church helping our ministry host build the Kingdom! Our ministry is heavily focused on building relationships with young adults and teens. We are working to plant and water seeds of faith throughout the community and fight apathy and luke-warmness in the Church by helping people to cultivate relationships with Jesus, rather than viewing Christianity as a list of rules. Serbia is, by majority, Orthodox Christian. To build relationships with people inside and outside of the Church, we’ve spent lots and lots of time doing a mixture of playing intense Uno games, hosting English clubs and Bible studies, playing baseball and volleyball, sharing testimonies and messages at the church we’re volunteering in, and indulging in ice cream with the local teens and young adults.
Uno & Daniel! – This is Daniel! Daniel was such a gift to me this month. He walks around with a constant smile and radiates joy! It’s impossible not to smile when you see him! He also really loves to win games of Uno 🙂 I’ve played more cards these past 3 weeks than I ever have in my life. Serbians LOVE “Serbian Uno”! It’s a ton of fun because it’s super-fast paced and requires a little more thought! Our first week here we played a ton of Uno to build relationships with the local believers and non-believers. Over the last couple weeks, we’ve still played a lot of Uno but our conversations became much deeper and more meaningful.
Mexican & American Night! – This is Catarina! This month, she taught me more about what it means to have child-like faith! Her laugh is so contagious and cute. She throws her head back and puts her hands over her mouth and laughs and laughs and laughs! My team and I got to host a Mexican night and an American night where the locals got to get a little taste of the Mexican & American cultures. We taught them cultural dances, sang songs, cooked the locals Mexican & American food, and deepened relationships with people inside and outside of Zoli’s church.
Goran’s Birthday Party! – This is Goran! Goran is Daniel’s older brother. He has also been a huge blessing this month! He is a day maker and has such a pure heart! He has an incredible story of God’s redemption in his family and is never scared to talk about Jesus! He invited my team and me to his 20th birthday party and then he invited us over for crepes!
Bible Study! – We hosted a few Bible studies for the locals to come and learn more about God! It was so cool to get to know some of the locals more and hear their stories. One local girl that came got to pray for the first time!
English Club! – The church that we are volunteering at here in Serbia host numerous English clubs over the summer to help the locals learn more English and to plant more seeds! Every night looks a little different. Some nights we ask each other questions about culture, food, religion, faith, our dreams, etc. and some nights we play a bunch of games. My team and I have been able to meet lots of locals who are very hungry for Jesus. It’s amazing getting to share our stories and testimonies about how Jesus transformed our lives.
Baseball in the park! – We hosted and taught a few of the locals how to play American baseball! It was fun to bring a little bit of home to Serbia!
Adventure Days! – Our team has had two off days since being here in Serbia, so we filled them with some fun adventures! One day, we went to Budapest! Sombor is only about 2.5 hours away from Budapest. My team and I walked over 12 miles and got a good taste of what Budapest is like! On our other off day, we took a boat ride down the Danube River. It was so nice to relax for a bit! On one side of the river is Serbia and on the other is Croatia!
Overall, my month in Serbia was been full of new friendships! My squad and I are actually in Romania now starting our first week of ministry here (more to come on our ministry here!)
I am so excited to share with y’all what God has been teaching me over the last 4 weeks! New blog to come soon (I’m going to be better at blogging more frequently 🙂 )
Hope you all are doing great!! Please let me know how I can be praying for you.
Much love,
Claire
