We were two days into our stay here in Novi Pazar, Serbia. The team and I had woken up ready for our first day of ministry. We thought it was going to be a casual day exploring the city and finding people we wanted to connect with. As we left our apartment, we had no idea the adventure we were walking into, nor did we know we would be stuck inside a police station for half the day!
Our ministry this month is ATL (Ask The Lord). We don’t have a host and we don’t have a set ministry we do. Instead we get together as a team and also spend time individually in prayer, asking God where he is leading us for the day. Sometimes we feel guidance, other days we just get out and see where he leads us.
What we knew coming into Novi Pazar is that street evangelism isn’t the way to go here. There is a very large Islamic community here. And the best way to plant seeds is to build a relationship with the people and let conversation come up more organically. So day one’s agenda was to explore and meet some locals.
As Day One began, we thought we were simply going to start the day by checking off something on our to do list by registering ourselves with the police of Novi Pazar, and then get into ministry after. (Most countries we stay at require us to register so they know we are living there for the month)
This day turned out in a crazy sort of events but God’s ultimate plan was woven all through the random moments and people we came across that day. So I’m just going to quickly loop you all in to how Month 7 began…
We first were told by Sead, the owner of our apartment to go to the post office to register, so that’s where we began…
As soon as we got to the post office the guy (Ifran) told us we were at the wrong place and needed to go to the police. We had no idea where it was and his pointing of left and right wasn’t helping us at all. So before we knew it, he came around from the counter pulling his jacket on ready to show us the way.
He did not have to do that, but thank goodness he did because the amount of twists and turns we took, we would have never found it. Thanks God.
Once we got the the police station we were trying to tell the police what we needed. No one spoke English until a man named, Sonion, walked in minutes behind us and quickly took over on the role of translator. Thanks God.
He led us behind the police station where all 8 of us squeezed into a small office to meet with a young woman. She asked for a passport and saw we had actually entered the country of Serbia on March 29…6 days prior.
We had no idea but we had missed our window to register as being in the country of Serbia and were on the verge of having to face a judge and potentially pay a fine of 100-1500 euro. So we all sat there anxiously watching Sonion and this woman discuss our future in Serbian. Only here and there would Sonion give us a quick sentence of what they were discussing.
After what felt like forever, Sonion had us follow him out of the office. as we walked back into the mai Office of the station He said we wouldn’t be facing a judge thanks to him. Don’t know what he did or said but he got us out of that pickle! Thanks God.
So our next step was to wait for the apartment owners’ dad and brother who came and helped us get all the correct paper work completed. With the entire morning and part of the afternoon behind us we were finally walking out of the police station with no fines to pay. Thanks God.
Then Sead’s father and brother took us out for a Serbian snack, Mantija. It was so good and they completely covered our cost. Thanks God.
The owner of the Mantija shop, Jasmin, spoke English and we got into conversation about how we would be here for the entire month of April. He was so helpful and gave us all kinds of advice on places to go. Thanks God.
Before we left he got Aundraya’s number and before we even got back home to our apartment her phone was going crazy with messages. Jasmin had told us there was an English university here, and had apparently given Aundraya’s number to the English professor who had given it out to several students, all of whom were now messaging Aundraya.
Not sure if Aundraya loved having her number sent throughout a university but now we were overwhelmed with connections for the month! Thanks God.
We had started the day not knowing a single soul but now we had more than we could count on our hands. And you want to know something crazy…apparently there aren’t many English speakers here in Novi Pazar but somehow we managed to meet almost all of them on day one! Thanks God.
We didn’t even have to work hard, God literally brought the people to us. So far we’ve hung out with 3 of the students here and still have more to meet up with. God has already been preparing their hearts for this month with us and I cannot wait to see what God does in Novi Pazar!
Thanks God.
My prayer warriors:
- God to work in the hearts of the people we meet this month and for strong connections.
- For myself and the team to be bold in our faith and conversation.
- For seeds to be planted and a rich harvest to come in Novi Pazar.
