“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”
Hebrews 11:1
“What after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who make things grow.”
1 Corinthians 3:5-7
‘We walk by faith not by sight’ (2 Corinthians 5:7)…. And like the verse above says, we often can’t see what lies ahead or why God would bring this person into our lives but we trust GOD none the less. See this month of ministry has been quite different than other months. We didn’t have a schedule or specific programs/tasks to support. . . each day was unique and open to how we spent our time. Daily we sought the Lord for His plans and purposes…we were unaware of what He had in store but walked by faith into each day knowing He was going to use us to share and show others His love. Like Paul and Apollos, we too planted seeds of the gospel into people’s lives and trusted God to make them grow into a saving knowledge of Him! While we may not get to see the lives of those we met and invested in this month come to know Christ personally, we definitely TRUST that God will do that work in His timing in the future!
Here are some of the seeds planted that I am trusting God will water and grow for His glory!!!
A bike ride around the bay…
One day some teammates and I rented bikes to ride around the Bay of Kotor. The plan was to bike around, stopping whenever we felt prompted to pray for people, building, churches, etc. So we headed out and ended up stopping at an ART building.
See Phil, our ministry contact for Shiloh Ministries, shared his vision for this building to be a Christian school/seminary, so we stopped and prayed there. This ended up taking us inside the building as well where we met Nadin, a Russian artist who spoke just a bit of English. We gathered that she was opening a jewelry shop in the building and had been here for a few months. We exchanged email addresses and told her we looked forward to communicating with her. Then we headed off…
Little did we know that this seemingly ‘random’ prompt to stop and pray at this building opened up a friendship with Nadin! See after this initial meeting, Jenna and myself were able to meet up with Nadin several more times for coffee and then to eventually see her open her shop!
Me, Nadin & Jenna in Nadin’s jewelry shop
Here’s the coolest part….we were able to introduce Nadin to our friend Kseniya, who works with Shiloh Ministries and speaks Russian too! They exchanged numbers and Lord willing will continue their friendship. Seeds planted….God make them grow!
At the end of this bike ride as we were heading back to our apartment, the Lord crossed our paths with a boy named Darjan. As it turns out Darjan ended up knowing Phil and Shiloh Ministries and had been attending the church service. WOW! Talk about His timing! This was the start of our friendship with Darjan, who is from Kotor but speaks English well. As summer break was starting for him, we were able to spend lots of time together… he introduced us to all sorts of fun things to do and see in Kotor including Seagull rock – a 25 ft. rock that we jumped off of many times into the sea below. One of the highlights of our time together was reading the Bible.
Darjan was excited to begin understanding the Bible. He said since he didn’t have school he’d begin studying the Bible more! I can’t say I have met many 13 year olds who have this desire! Amen! Seeds planted….God make them grow!
Conversations on the porch
Another way I saw God at work was with the people who lived at our apartment complex. I mentioned Goca in my last blog, a Serbian woman who works here for the summer. She ended up coming to church our first Sunday there. We also met a younger guy named Ljubomir who also worked there along with the two brothers and their wives who own the complex.
Jenna, Kelsey, me, Kayla, Goca, Ljubomir, & Taylor
I spent a lot of time interacting with them on the front porch of our complex overlooking the ocean…we would talk, play UNO, eat, and listen to music.
Through these conversations I was able to learn more about their lives and also share God’s love with them sometimes with words other times through my actions. Over the course of the month we came to know and love all of these people through our day to day interactions….My team and I organized a thank you dessert party for these friends near the end of the month.
Lots of desserts!
Lucky & his wife Sandra – who is expecting!
We had a delightful time eating, talking, and dancing together! We wanted them to know how thankful we were for inviting us into their lives and making us feel like family. We are all committed to keeping in touch via email and facebook and I definitely intend on returning to see them all!! Seeds planted….God make them grow!
Not just once, but twice we met….
One night our team got dressed up and did a photo shoot around our apartment complex – near the shore (see my facebook page for the photos….). It was during this time that a man on a bike stopped to see what we were up to. His name is Bruno and he happened to be from Croatia. He was visiting Kotor for 3 months to get away and ‘clear his mind’. I was intrigued to learn more about what this meant. Upon further questioning it seemed like Bruno had been through a lot and needed time away to be rejuvenated and refreshed. Our conversation was short but pleasant – he went on his way and we went on ours.
Then as the Lord would have it we ran into Bruno again near the shore and again during our team time. It wasn’t until we finished our time that Bruno came over to chat. He and I ended up talking about 30 minutes about his life, struggles, past, and why he felt like he needed to go to church (his exact words). I told him how convenient because I knew about a church meeting the following night, Sunday, in Old Town. I encouraged Bruno to come and gave him my number and the information about church. I walked away from that conversation with a heavy heart in prayer for Bruno knowing how much he was hurting and in need of God’s love and grace yet resistant to receive His love….
Sunday, the next day, around 5:15pm I was surprised and overjoyed to get a call from Bruno asking about church. He said he was still in the area and would be able to come. I told him I’d meet him outside the hotel and walk up with him. At around 6:15pm Bruno and I walked into the service. We made it just in time for one of my favorite worship songs, “Good, Good Father” by Housefires (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djrY_eFDOwE – you should listen to it if you haven’t heard it!). Why the timing was key is because the words are SO powerful and exactly what Bruno needed to hear… that there is a God who loves him despite his past and would continue loving him. After this song I went up to share a testimony of how God pursues us….talk about God’s perfect timing. We gave Bruno a Bible and I highlighted some parts for him to read. The service ended and before he left, Bruno was able to meet Aleks (Kseniya’s wife) who works for Shiloh Ministries, and get his number for further follow up. I then walked Bruno out and he said it was great to be there. He would start reading his Bible and I encouraged him to connect with Aleks (as I was leaving the next day)….we hugged and parted ways.
Even as I write this I am moved to tears to see how much God loves Bruno. Here Bruno thought he knew how to ‘clean his mind’ by coming to Kotor but what he found was a God who loved him and would continue to pursue him with His love!!! Seeds planted….God make them grow!
And these are just a few of the stories from the month…. not including Dragana at the coffee shop or Dragana at the bakery or the women at the grocery store…. as we stepped out in faith and gave Him our lives each day, He used us in more ways than we could imagine – for His glory!
Dragana from the coffee shop
Dragana from the bakery (left)
I want to leave you with a quote that I copied down from somewhere but can’t remember where…none the less still powerful:
“How naïve of us to fill our pockets with seeds, never intending to gather a harvest, let alone plant anything. How twisted to withhold the medicine from the sick.
He wanted to show us what is meant to be broken for the lost.
He wanted to show us that church was never meant to be in a building.
He wanted to show us that there were people waiting for us.
He wanted to show us that greater things were to be done.
He wanted to show us that belief requires action.
He wanted to show us his heart. And that’s what we found.”
May you join me in praying for these people and those here in Kotor, Montenegro who need Jesus. AND also ask God to open your eyes to see who He has placed in your life to love on in His name! For His glory!!
Get planting!!!
Lauren
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2 Cor. 5:15
P.S. Mark my words…..I WILL BE RETURNING TO MONTENEGRO!!!!
