Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A beautiful country divided into two separate governmental entities and populated by three ethnic groups with strong cultural identities – Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Croats (Croatian Catholics), and Serbs (Serbian Eastern Orthodox). This triangular shaped country on the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe is bordered by Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro. In determining whether to separate from Yugoslavia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina became involved in a devastating three-year civil war. Fighting broke out along ethnic lines where few cultural differences had previously existed. The war left over 200,000 people dead, half the population displaced, and much of the country’s infrastructure and economy destroyed. The 1995 Dayton Peace Accord ended the war and established a governmental plan to include all three ethnic factions. (www.prayercast.net)
Before getting to Bosnia/Herzegovina, we did not know much about the history of this country, but have recently learned a lot about their hard past from research and talking to many locals about what the country has experienced. When our team arrived here, we did not have a set ministry host or location, since this month of the World Race is called ATL month, or “Ask The Lord” month. Our team spent a lot of time in prayer, and after coming together to discuss what the Lord had revealed to each of us, it was clear that Mostar was where we needed to be.
After praying, two cities in Bosnia kept coming to my mind, one being Mostar. As for Greg, there were three cities in the area that were laid on his heart, one of them also being Mostar. For Lucas, he said that he felt that he wanted to reach out to a specific people group, and a majority of that people group resides in Mostar. For Katie & Caley, they both felt like we needed to spend a few days hiking through the mountains to spend time connecting with God and each other, and a major trail that we found was right near the city of Mostar. As for Alyssa O. and Mia, they both felt that God was calling them to have a “yes” spirit and that they should go along with whatever place the team decided to spend the month. Because of all this, we knew that Mostar should be our home for the month and had total peace about coming to that decision as a team.
Since getting back from our hiking adventure in the mountains, we have spent a lot of our time here getting to know the locals, engaging in conversation with anyone that we meet, and trying to love and encourage the people here the best way that we can. We are so grateful to be here and are expectant for what else the Lord has for us in this city!
Also, check out a short video from our time in the mountains last week! A quick note about the last clip of the video…after our team got off the mountain, we realized that the bus station was still about 9 miles away. Our legs were so tired and worn out from the hike and we didn’t know if we could make it to the bus station by the end of the day. We stumbled upon a Catholic church near the bottom of the mountain, and in broken English, the priest there offered to give us all a free ride in his car to the next town over where the bus station was located. What a blessing he was to us!
