I feel like I’m in a constant state of on-my-toes.
We arrived in Osijek on Tuesday afternoon, as I have previously mentioned. We stayed the night in a youth center, as I have previously mentioned. We were going to stay a second night in that youth center. Instead, we stayed at a church in Pozega. How did we get there? That’s a great question.
At 11:30 on Wednesday, Tim and Tamica had a meeting with the pastor who oversees the youth center. They had a conference call with our squad leaders immediately afterwards. At 2:25, we all gathered together, and our leaders delivered the news: we were able to stay for free, but our teams had to split up. Half of us were going to be going to Pozega, while the other half would be staying in Osijek. Both Petra and Kingdom Unity were split in half, and Tim read off my name in his group, which was going to Pozega. We would be leaving to catch the bus at 2:45. That day. As in twenty minutes from the time of announcement.
I’m pretty sure Tim was still talking when we sprinted into the bedrooms to pack.
To our credit, we were ready to roll on time, and we made it to the bus station by 3, which was pretty amazing in my mind. Two and a half hours later, we arrived in Pozega, and were transported by a Croatian pastor and another contact named Joe to one of the two churches in the town. We’re staying here through Monday or Tuesday, and then we’re heading back to Osijek to meet the rest of the crew.
I adore the pastor and his wife here. They don’t speak a lick of English, but they’ve opened their building to us. We’re helping them to do some work around their church to help speed up its dedication, and in return, they’re allowing us to sleep in their church. Our two guys, Tim and Matt, are sleeping in the kitchen, and the rest of the girls (Jennifer, Lauren, Lauren, Heather, and me) are sleeping in the balcony space. The pastor’s wife is making lunch for us every day, as long as one of the girls goes to help her, and we’re able to use the stove and refrigerator for meals. The pastor has also given us the freedom to use whatever we want or need from the kitchen cabinets, and he bought us cookies and coffee from the local grocery store while Lauren, Matt, and I were figuring out meals for the next day.
To be honest, I’m kind of obsessed with how awesome God is.
On a totally unrelated note, I saw two scales at the pastor’s house today. I have either gained six pounds or lost five since leaving the States. I really hope it’s the former.
