Earlier this week we had the pleasure of meeting with the people who helped facilitate our time in Novi Sad, Fokus Ministries, they are a branch of Campus Crusades for Christ based in Serbia.
On the way to the meeting, I was listening to a conversation between Shrena and Thomas, the man who was driving us from the church to their offices and a key player at Fokus Ministries, when he said something that struck me;
“Saying you believe in God isn’t the problem, but when you mention Jesus and a relationship with him they will think you are in a cult or something.”
This broke my heart and made so much sense about the youth’s slight doubt in telling their school friends they were Christians.
I’ve had multiple youth members tell me they have people at school make fun of them because they don’t say bad words, because they don’t dress up like the other girls and because they don’t like doing what everyone at school does, but their church friends love them besides that and I just want to let them know how wise they are beyond their years. If I had a group of friends who loved me like these youth love each other growing up I can only imagine how confident I would be today, not only in myself but in my ever growing relationship with the Lord.
The people here have such a strong sense of God but due to cultural beliefs sharing the gospel is a daily struggle. I’ve been so blessed this month to get a chance to work along side these people and to help the youth of this community get to have stronger relationships with the Lord. While we have to leave to continue our journey, I know this community will continue to pull closer to the Father and he will wrap his arms around them. Please continue to pray for these people, along with me and my team, for a revival of Christianity in their country.
As we were leaving the Fokus office, earlier this week, we were going around giving goodbye hugs when Erol said, “We will never forget you.” Trust me Erol, we will never forget you or the rest of the family we’ve made in Serbia either.
I’m so sad, that as I’m typing this, I’m officially on my last day here in Novi Sad, while I’m excited to move on to my next country, it breaks my heart to have to say goodbye to the people I’ve met here.
I’ve made some incredible connections with the people here, both younger and older. And these goodbye’s are much harder than the ones I said just a short month ago in my own hometown – Hear me out on this point; for you all back home reading this, I know when I will see you again, but for those of you in Serbia reading this, I don’t know when I will see you again and that breaks my heart.
Thank you Serbia for your unconditional love and support while we’ve been here, thank you for opening up your homes to us, for teaching us traditional dances and for feeding our always hungry bellies with delicious Serbian dishes. Thank you for allowing us to come into your lives for a short while, for allowing us to stay at your church and work with your children. Thank you for opening up to us emotionally and for being willing to take us anywhere you enjoy just to show us your hometown. Thank you for allowing us to share our stories with you and in return sharing your stories with us. Thank you for making this goodbye so hard, but most importantly thank you for trusting us with your sorrow, with your joy and with your hearts. Love you all so much and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for your community!
P.s. Thank you for all the puppy love <3
