“…let all of the children come to me.”
wow… we have been here in tuzla for 2 weeks now and time has flown by. we are staying at an amazing place that the church has provided for us. it feels so much like home. in fact, we do call it home. it is a one bedroom apartment with a washing machine, bathroom, kitchen, and large room for paul to sleep in 🙂 and FREE internet access. what more could we ask for. oh yeah… we actually have hot showers!!!
since we have been here we have been working with the church, ministering in the roma villages, cleaning, and helping to teach english. needless to say, we have kept busy.
as you know, friske was not with us last week. she and laura helped stay at the camp and cook. so, last sunday jessica and i made a surprise visit to camp to take them goodies and to pick up friske and bring her back here with us. laura is still at the camp with the south africans and will be meeting us at debrief in croatia. (we miss you laura and want you back…)
this week we were taken to 3 different roma villages. these villages are where the people that were affected most by the war live. why i say they were affected most by the war is because they were never able to pick up the pieces and have a fresh start after the war. so they live in very poor conditions.
these villages are not an easy place for us to go to and minister. so many feelings and emotions go through you while you are there. you sit and wonder where to put them all in your head.
on our way into these villages we have to come up with an escape plan. seriously… im not kidding. as we pull in, before we get out we have to turn the car around and have it facing the exit ready to go, then when we get ready to go we all have to run to the car at the exact same time, get in and lock the doors as fast as possible, and then as we are leaving do our best to not hit anyone because kids are hanging all over our car. this escape plan is not because we are in danger, its because these kids want all the love and attention that we can give them. they never get the affection or feel loved and when we go in we bring the love of Jesus. they cling to that and dont want it to leave.
when i think about these children, all i can think about is when Jesus said “… let all the children come to me.” we are here to show them love and to show them Jesus, so as we sit there in those villages and paint faces, play the guitar, sing, dance, play games, whatever we do, the children flock to us and we accept with open arms. during the 2 hours that we are there, we pour out as much love and affection on them as we possibly can. many times we get in the car and are so tired because we have nothing else left in us, we gave it all to the kids. they need and deserve all that we can give them, but more than that its Jesus that they need.
they see the light through us, they see something different in us, and they ask “why are you here” and its then that we can share with them Jesus and what He means to us and what He can do for them… we are here planting seeds in this dark dark place. i know the Lord will be faithful and make them grow.
the church in bosnia is very new and has only a few believers (i think i remember hearing around 500). the Lord is doing and is going to do some amazing amazing things here. you can already see the way He is so faithful and the way that He provides for the people that dont even know Him. however, the spiritual warfare here is so so great. as we come in and bring that light, it stirs things up because the enemy does not want us on his ground. we are here claiming this land back. claiming it for the Lord. standing on the promises that He has given us for the people here in bosnia.
Invading the Enemy’s territory and taking back what
rightfully belongs to God.
please be in prayer and stand in agreement with us for bosnia and the people here.
i gave my testimony in church this morning
