Month 10 wow. Fun fact about the title of this blog was that our host would wear a baseball cap that said “Make Serbia Great Again” and it would always make me smile. Transitioning from not having a host back to having one was hard at times. We lived in a church with the same team I lived with in Romania. However this month was vastly different from Romania.
This month a group of us decided that we were going to join a gym and meet people that way. Right away we felt so welcomed by the man that ran the gym. Going to the gym was the highlight of my day. We would workout and then just sit and talk to him for a while. He told us that we were always so joyful and enjoyed talking with us. It was cool that he could see the joy that we carried because of the Holy Spirit within us.
After the first week of working out we started hanging out outside of his work. We went to get Mexican food by the canal, it was a trek down what felt like a nature walk to get there and it was so beautiful. It was very impressive to me the number of elderly people that would ride bikes along the paths around town. He took us to the art museum, best ice cream spot and then to a huge painting in a government building that a security guard had to let us in to see. We played ping pong and joked around a lot. He seriously became a dear friend to us. Over the course of the month we shared parts of our stories and he shared parts of his.
Our host explained to us at the beginning of the month that people in Serbia are very oppressed and live under heavy spiritual darkness. He also said that seeing people’s lives transformed by Jesus takes a lot of time and that often he doesn’t see people accept God until years later. It would blown my mind the stories he shared with us. One of those being that this one guy showed up and our host met with him all the time and he really seemed to be enjoying their interactions about God then he just stopped coming. Then seven years later he showed back up at the church and said “okay now I’m ready to accept God.” It just goes to show how it’s not ever our timeline it’s always God’s perfect timing.
Although we didn’t get to see our friend accept God I’m praying that it planted a seed in his heart and that over time his heart would be transformed. That he would long for true comfort, peace and life & that he would find that in God. I know that God is going to use him to do so many incredible things. He basically became the older brother I’ve never had and would love if y’all could pray for him! His name is Branko 🙂
Also during this month I applied to work for a company called Booster. After interviewing I asked God to make it abundantly clear if I should work there or not. Since coming on the race I’ve been more attentive to the way he speaks to me. One of my favorite things is thrift shopping and so I went a few days after I had received an offer from the job. I was praying heavily about it because I wanted to make sure He was in the midst of my decision. While looking in the thrift store guess what I saw? A Jacksonville, Florida Super Bowl teeshirt from 2005. I laughed out loud like seriously no way in this small town in northern Serbia did I just find that. Then a few days later the girl that I knew that worked there told me there was a room available in her house, that’s a couple of blocks from the beach. If you know me then you know that I absolutely love the beach! Also she went on the race and will be able to relate to me so well. Also the job is a fun mixture of working with children and adults. It’s very interactive and seems like a lot of fun. Also it follows the elementary school schedule so I will have a lot of time off for holidays which is totally awesome. I am very excited to see what this next season has in store.
However I am very sad to be ending this world race journey. I have seen what God can do in Your life when you continue to press into Him and truly trust Him with everything. I am also super upset that I won’t have much time in Georgia when I get home. I want to see everyone, I want to catch up with everyone so very badly. My emotions have been an all time high lately. I know that God led me to the decision but it still has been so hard to deal with it all at once.
It blows my mind that I won’t wake up to a room full of girls and I will be the only one in my room. It blows my mind that I will be back in a country where I will be able to know what everyone around me is saying. I will be able to sit down at a restaurant and they will bring me water, like clean drinking water and it will be free. It blows my mind that I will be back in a country where I will be able to read everything. I won’t have to worry if I am being culturally appropriate all the time. I’m excited to be able to split checks when I go out to eat with friends. There are so many other things I could share but I’ll just leave y’all with those! Anyways 18 days until I am home in Georgia!
