So many things have happened in the last week, so understand that I can’t share everything in this blog, but I will try to hit high points.
First of all we began what the World Race calls Launch on September 5th. That morning I said goodbye to family and friends and boarded a plane for Atlanta, GA. Once there, myself and the other World Racers began a four-day preparation and last minute training to supplement what we learned at training camp before we leave. It was incredible. I loved every moment of it, but the more we learned and prepared, the more ready I became to be on my way to our first country, Serbia. Finally it had arrived. On the morning of September 9th we took a shuttle bus to the airport to begin a travel day that would take about 30 hours total.
Traveling was interesting, but great. Our first plane left at 5:15 PM for Chicago. Since we had to get 45 people to the airport and checked in we went ahead and left at 9 AM, beginning a very long day. At this point I want to add that I thought all the traveling we did was a blast. I rode my first plane in January 2014 and think it is so much fun! Also, I had never been to Chicago, but we had to leave the terminal and go back through security, so I’m counting it.
From Chicago at 10:00 PM we boarded a plane for Istanbul, Turkey, a ten hour flight. Since it was so late when we took off, a lot of people were debating if they should sleep or not since Serbia is seven hours ahead of Chicago. That means by the time we got from Turkey to Serbia and got to our ministry location, it would be time to sleep there. Jet lag would hit hard. I decided it would be great to stay awake if I could but wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it. That whole day I just happened to have been dealing with the absolute worst sinus congestion I’ve had in over a year. It had been bothering be all day, making people keep asking if I was ok because my eyes were watering so much. Some gave me some medicine and my good friend Joy even used some of her peppermint oil and FNG to try to help me feel better, but anything I was given just couldn’t shake it. Well because of the pressure and the high altitude of the plane, I couldn’t have slept if I had wanted to. I arrived in Istanbul tired, but awake and ready to board the next plane to Serbia.
We boarded the plane at around 7:15ish and I had every intention of taking a catnap for the hour long flight. First of all, my congestion hadn’t changed, so there was still no chance of me sleeping while in the air. Also, though, I was sat next to an actual Serbian man on his way back home to pick up his wife. He was also a Christian and loved hearing about what we were doing and asked so many questions about America and what I thought about so many things. Topics included drinking, the existence of aliens, guns, and deep theology. Oh, and his name? It just happened to be Mark! So cool, right? Earlier that month I had been given some money with words like “Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven” and “Hallelujah Jesus Christo” Written across the bills, with the intention that I would pass them on to someone or to a cause when I felt the Spirit leading me to. Well, I felt such a prompting talking to this man and removed one of the ten dollar bills from my wallet, explained what it was, and gave it to him. You should have seen his face. We was touched almost to the point of tears. He said he would treasure it and would hold it tightly until he felt lead to pass it along, then he placed it in his passport where he felt it would be safest. After we landed, he asked me if I would wait for a moment as he got his bag out of the overhead compartment. He then took out a card that had a picture of the virgin Mary on it and some writing in Serbian. He said it had reminded him of who keeps him safe in his travels for years and wanted to give it to me so that it would to the same for me. We then proceeded to hug it out in a manly way.
We finally had arrived in Serbia. It was dark and time to for our team to part ways with the rest of the squad and head the city we were set to do ministry in. We rode a very squished airport shuttle to the local bus station in Belgrade and a very nice man who was the ministry contact for another team translated for us and helped us get the bus tickets we needed to get to Sombor that evening. We boarded the bus at 10:00 for a three hour bus ride. What we were expecting a bit was an old bus that would be pretty uncomfortable the entire way. What we were unprepared for was the large and roomy bus with extremely comfortable seats and plenty of room. In fact, there were moments in the ride that my team was the only passengers in the bus. We finally were dropped of at 1:00 AM on Friday morning at the bus stop where our ministry contact, Zoli, picked us up and took us to the church where we would be living for the next month.
The church a beautiful little building that used to be a house before they bought it. It had a little coffee shop that they use for parties and fellowship and is incredible looking (pictures will come soon). It also has a loft with chairs for hanging out, a children’s room upstairs which is where the majority of us sleep, a chapel and a big room with a ping pong table. Yes, a ping pong table. Zoli uses the coffee shop and the ping pong table to build relationships with locals. His goal in doing that is to help them realize that church isn’t that scary or weird, but is actually a fun and joyful place.
Serbia is a beautiful country, with very old buildings, huge churches, and very lively and kind people. In fact, a great many of the Serbians in Sombor can communicate in English enough to understand what our meaning is and some are even conversational. Ever Serbian we have met that can speak English so far have been extremely nice and helpful.
Also, I just happen to have experienced zero jet lag! I guess the discomfort I experienced on the plane was, in fact, a blessing. Ever since we have arrived in Serbia I haven’t had any congestion or trouble adjusting to the time zone!
Our role in the ministry here is going to be very all over the place. One day we may be preaching and doing children’s ministry, the next we could be teaching English, or we could even be chopping firewood for people. Zoli informed us though that Sombor is a place that he feels is receiving a great deal of spiritual oppression. People are on fire at one point, then fall off the radar for months at a time at a moments notice. It is a place were apathy and lack of commitment are rampant. He told us that our main ministry there was going to be in the form of daily prayer walks and other such things to fight back against the spiritual warfare they were experiencing. He compared us to soldiers going behind enemy lines to turn the tide of the battle! Very cool!
Please keep my team, Zoli, and his ministry in your prayers as we press on here in Serbia.
Ciao!
