I first of all want to give a quick update and say THANK YOU to everyone who helped participate in “Zi-Day!” Praise God! Because of y’all, they were able to raise over $16,000 to help bring him home to his new Mommy and Daddy, in the states! The incredible thing about that number is… That isn’t doubled yet… So, in one day, you helped raise a total of over $32,000!!! How incredible is that?! I woke up yesterday morning and excitedly jumped onto Facebook to see what the total amount was, and as I seen the final number, I became so overwhelmed by how good the Lord is. It’s one of those things that there is no explanation for except that it was God. I’m still trying to process all that happened to be honest. I’m not sure that I’ll ever reach a point of being able to “pin” a word on it… All I know is that we serve a God who is still VERY MUCH ALIVE! Now… I just can’t wait to see my little buddy finally get home to the states!
So, this month, believe it or not… is month 8 of my World Race journey. That’s right! It’s hard to believe, but I’ll be home in 3.5 months! Bittersweet for sure. This month my team is working in Subotica, Serbia. Most of y’all are like me and probably have never even heard of Serbia, right? Well, don’t feel bad, haha. Prior to becoming Serbia, you may have know this country as Yugoslavia. I know that’ll ring a bell.
This month we are working with “FOKUS MINISTRIES.” It’s an incredible ministry that has many different branches to it. We are blessed to be able to participate in each of the branches during our time here to help get a better feel for what they do. The ministry here is actually a very well know ministry back home. Many of you have heard of “Campus Crusade for Christ?” That is who we are working with this month, but because of the restrictions in the country, they’re not allowed to call it that for certain reasons.
The ministry here is run by a couple by the name of Pedja & Angela (pictured above). They are wonderful people and have been so good to us so far! We have been blessed once again with an incredible ministry for the third month in a row in Eastern Europe. I’m telling you, if you’ve never visited this area, you’re missing out. It sometimes feels like being back home in the South. They feed us ALL THE TIME and are so hospitable.
So far this month we have had the privilege of doing several different things. We have been able to lead church services here at the base we are staying at for the month (which might I add, are some of the best accommodations we’ve had on the entire race)! We have been able to play “Football” aka to us Americans as soccer, with the local youth in the neighborhood. Several days we have also had the blessing of traveling over an hour away to lead worship services in different villages. Its been great! Some of my personal favorite times so far this month, have been when we have gotten to perform dramas and skits that I was able to teach my team. It’s been great cause that’s what I did back home with the youth group! And starting this week, we will be going into town doing “outreach” with local young adults and college students at coffee shops, attempting to build relationships, and eventually be able to share Christ with them.
The country of Serbia is currently not part of the “European Union”, so things here are a little different than in our past two countries (Bulgaria & Romania). Because of this, the area is VERY MUCH Orthodox. So people are not as open to the Gospel, and because of that reason, we must first get to know the students before attempting to share Jesus with them. A lot of folks are not open to hearing about Jesus.
Please be in prayer for our team as we minister this month to the locals. Pray for doors to be open and walls to be torn down. Pray that in the midst of such a post-communist country, the love of Jesus would flip this place upside down. Also, this month our squad is basically spread ALL OVER Eastern Europe. We have one team in Czech Republic, one in Ukraine, two in Bulgaria, one in Croatia, and then also our team here in Serbia. Pray that we finish strong and that God would continue to protect us during our last couple of weeks in Europe.
Love y’all.
