The last 2 weeks we have been living in Mostar and then in Supetar on the island of Braè off the coast of Croatia. Our last week in Mostar we spent doing several different things.
First of all the Lord blessed us with some time to rest after camp. Many people provided us meals and/or time to hang out and relax in a house. After resting up some, the pastor of the church we worked with asked if we would mind doing some early morning tasks involving cleaning out the storage units and building some shelves. It took us two 6am mornings to finish the task of going through all the random stuff in those containers. You name it and you could find it in those beasts…old washing machines, vacuums, furniture, dishes, maybe even some floppy discs, laser discs or an Atari…who knows. After working, Pastor Carmello always insisted on treating us to breakfast…which consisted of food that in America we would call lunch or dinner, but after being up for so long…we loved it.
Another time of blessing, was one of the last nights when Kiki (our camp director) invited us over to his house for dinner. He also invited some of our other fellow camp volunteers as well. Kiki had a little joke planned for us that arose out of a running camp joke with Kim and me. See a couple of the guys at camp were supposed to buy us Fantas. Well they never paid up, and one of the guys even wrote us a ballad entitled “Fanta is just your Fantasy.” So to be funny Kiki provided what seemed like endless Fanta with the goal to make us sick of it by the time we left his house. He even double sided taped the Fanta labels to his front door. His plan wasn’t foiled as I haven’t craved a Fanta since then. It has been amazing getting to know Kiki, his wife, and 3 kids. They have made a great impact in my life representing servants of the Lord!
Almost a week ago the Yellow, Lime, and Brown teams made it to Mostar so we could travel together for debrief. It was so fun to reunite with everyone, especially since I hadn’t seen some of them in over 2 months! We all took a bus and then a ferry to the beautiful island we are now on. We are staying at a campground, 3 minutes walk from the ocean. It has been great to enjoy everyone’s company, reflect on how the Lord worked through the different teams this month, and process how God has been working in my heart. In between all the meetings we have been able to find time to swim, eat some icecream, and visit an outdoor theater. This morning we enjoyed the first ever World Race water polo match, the Pines vs. Needles (due to the fact we are camping practically in a pine tree forest). Jessica Sisson (for the Pines) and Sarah Cruz (for the Needles) dramatically picked teams as the tension built. I must say I’m just glad I don’t know what it feels like to be a 2nd string guy picked after a girl…Paul maybe you can relate :). I’m proud to say the Pine squadron(thanks to our MVP Lana) won by 2 goal unit baskets. Fun and a great workout were had by all.
Well we are about to head out on our next leg of the journey. As a lot of you know, we were supposed to go to Turkey, Israel, and then Egypt. However, due to recent war circumstances and our lack of military training, Israel has been cut out of the agenda. So our alternative plan is this. Tomorrow we will leave here and start making our way to Greece by a pair of overnight ferries. In Greece we will visit a couple of spots where Paul ventured on his missionary journeys. After a few days, we will begin the race portion of the leg to Turkey. We will spend a little over a week there visiting many other Biblical cities such as Ephesus, Smyrna, Laodicia, Patmos and maybe a few more. Anna Marie will lead us through a couple Bible studies on Ephesians and Revelations while there. From Turkey we will travel to Egypt, where we will spend the rest of August working with youth. I am sad to leave behind Bosnia and Croatia, but excited to see what the Lord has in store for us next.
