I can’t believe that I have been in Serbia for a week and a half. It is crazy that this new environment already seems normal. So far our ministry is far from what we expected. When we arrived, our host Deb told us that we would be doing mostly street evangelism. For us that looks like handing out fliers for a concert we are putting on tonight as well as fliers for Saturday night church. As we do this we also try to start up conversations with people in order to make connections.
Asking strangers to come to church and about their faith is not an easy thing to do even in the U.S. where our “targets” would most likely speak English. Here, in Belgrade, few people speak English. With this barrier it is hard to know how to start conversations. This is evidenced by my first day of ministry where I started every conversation with the question, “ Do you speak English?” While I was able to have a few conversations that day the majority of people either got offended that I would ask them such a question, “Of course I speak English,” or they were insecure about how little they spoke.
I went home that day excited about the people I had talked to but discouraged by how hard it was to connect with people.
My next ministry day I was not really sure what to do so I, along with my teammates Emily and Clare, began to walk around a park close to the center of the city. Not really sure where we were going and not super familiar with the area Emily and I both felt pulled towards a bench. We started to sit down but quickly realized that the two men beside us were putting down newspapers because the benches had just been painted.
In this moment the Lord worked because somehow we were deep in conversation with these men who had offered us some of their newspapers. They were from Moscow and were leaving Serbia that night. One of them spoke great English and he was able to translate for the other. We were able to talk about what we were doing in Serbia and our 11 month trip. Through that we were able to talk to them about their personal relationships with God and their experiences with church. While in Serbia it seemed they were mostly going out to clubs and parties, we were able to invite one of them (who will be traveling back through Serbia) to the concert tonight.
Since that day I have felt the Lord choosing who I talk to. Sometimes, like with the two men in the park, I haven’t even had to approach a person. Just yesterday, I was sitting with my teammate Maria on a bench and man and his dog start walking back and forth in front of us. “If he walks by one more time I am giving him a flier,” I said with resolve. Just as I said that he turned around to walk back by us. He was so surprised by the fact that we were having a gospel concert. “Gospel music is exotic for Serbia. It is so dark here.”
It is so cool how the Lord has led us here in Serbia. There is nothing about this type of ministry that is easy and many times we have been ignored or turned away. But we have also started to make connections here. Some of them will be just for our stay here and other people we will continue to connect with even after we leave Serbia. But I am sure that the each and every connection that we make is meaningful. It has been hard to adjust and even discouraging at times, but it is much more fulfilling when I allow Jesus to go before and behind me, leading the way.
Please be in prayer for the ministry here. That we will be able to break through barriers in order to minister and that after we leave the Lord will continue to work through the connections that we make.
Our concert is tonight and we plan to have a women’s retreat next week.
Also be in prayer for my team. We have all been battling illness on and off.
