As you know, this month is ATL for our entire squad. This means that we have not been assigned ministry this month and we have also not had lodging or any of the other logistical things set up for us.
We have literally asked the Lord what it is we are supposed to do for the next few weeks. This shouldn’t be surprising because we should be asking the Lord daily what it is that we should do, however, it’s a little different when you have to ask Him to provide a place to lay your head for the night.
We settled into the apartment that we found in the city of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Our plan was to stay here for the first three nights to spend more time asking the Lord what He desired for us this month. Now, we will at least spend a week here before we make any moves.
While we have come to the conclusion that we are not supposed to stay in this town the entire sixth month of the race, we have also realized that He has something for us here.
The first two days in Sarajevo, we have lived a “normal life” but we have created space for interruption.
We have prayer walked through the city and met many of the locals in the markets and in the parks. Some of my teammates have had coffee and dinner dates with people that they met in the local market while others of us have spent time in prayer over the city.
What I didn’t expect was touring the Gallerija 11/07/1995. As we have spent time in this city meeting people we have also spent time learning the history behind the people we are meeting. A history that I had no idea about.
As we entered the museum, the first thing we saw were the faces of some of the over 8,000 Bosniak Muslims who were massacred in Srebrenica, a town outside of Sarajevo.
As the haunting images unfolded before me, my mind couldn’t help but scan through the history classes that I had taken throughout the years.
WHY had I never heard of this?
Is it just me?
Or have the cries of people fell on deaf ears yet again?
Men and young boys were fleeing from the city of Sarajevo through the mountains to seek safety, the same mountains that held the 1984 Winter Olympics. They were being sniped by snipers hiding in their perches. They were being shot down as they made their way through the mountains. Between the years of 1992 and 1995, over 100,000 Bosnians and Croatians were murdered. Shortly after officials declared the city of Srebrenica a “safe area” over 8,000 were massacred there.
All I could think about was how this could have been my family that became refugees in their own country and torn apart by officials. I cannot remove myself from this possibility because it was only 23 years ago. Literally 2 and a half months before I was born, the massacre took place. This could have been my dad, my grandfathers, my uncles.
After we left the exhibit, my eyes were completely shifted towards the people and the town of Sarajevo. The older women I saw were no longer just older women. They were women who had lost husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. The older men I saw became survivors who I easily imagined trekking through the mountains to flee the impending possibility of death. The mountains that I saw were no longer just places of wilderness but places of refuge. Old Town was no longer a place of tourist shops and bakeries but a place of perseverance.
The wound is still very fresh in Sarajevo and in the country of Bosnia.
I’ve been trying to process what I saw and heard today. After leaving the exhibit and eating lunch with my team, we split up for our time of ministry.
Heidi and I have been going to this park in Old Town and sitting on different benches throughout the park and praying for people to come sit beside us so that we can talk to them.
Today, we were planning to sit there for two hours and then we would meet back up and decide what we wanted to do next. I sat there and prayed for an hour and 45 minutes and not a soul sat down beside me. As I started to think about it as a time for the Lord to teach me patience, a lady asked if she could sit down beside me. Let me tell you, I was thrilled! Someone finally chose to sit on my bench and not only that, she spoke great English!
It turns out, she is originally from Istanbul, Turkey and she comes to Sarajevo quite frequently to visit her husband who is in the hotel industry here. As we began to talk and share our stories with each other, I learned that she was born into a Muslim family and when she was a young adult she dreamed that she met Jesus and that’s how she came to the Christian faith.
As we began talking about the town of Sarajevo, we shared what we knew about the history of the town. She told me that in Istanbul, they refer to Sarajevo as “the Jerusalem of Europe” because of the meshing of religions here. Unfortunately, she said that the religions do not live peaceably among each other. This is one reason why the genocide happened. Because of this, the image of a cross is seen as a symbol of rebellion and is feared in the region.
We finished our conversation and she entered into the church near the park to go pray. I left my park bench and met up with Heidi and we walked back to our apartment for the day.
I decided that I wanted to have some more quiet time after the day that I had just had. Aside from an act of the Lord, I don’t know how I ended up in the book of Obadiah but that’s where I read. I felt a strong urge that this passage was for this town and for the people here and I wanted to share this story on my blog.
This passage was a vision given to Obadiah about the Edomites who had persecuted the Israelites.
“(16-17) Just as you swallowed up my people on my holy mountain, so you and the surrounding nations will swallow the punishment I pour out on you. Yes, all you nations will drink and stagger and disappear from history.
BUT Jerusalem will become a refuge for those who escape; it will be a holy place. And the people of Israel will come back to reclaim their inheritance… (19a) then my people living in the Negev will occupy the mountains of Edom… (20a) the exiles of Israel will return to their land… (20c-21) the captives from Jerusalem exiled in the north will return home and resettle the towns of the Negev. Those who have been rescued will go up to Mount Zion in Jerusalem to rule over the mountains of Edom. And the LORD Himself will be king!”
The Lord is bringing restoration and redemption to the people in Sarajevo. This city is going to become a refuge and a holy place. The Lord is calling this place to be a city of hope nestled into the mountains of Bosnia and the Lord Himself is going to be king of this land.
Sarajevo is not a city that is destined to live in its past forever. The people are still grieving but the Lord is offering hope to this place.
We get to be a part of this process for about a week and we need you to stand in the gap and pray for us and for this city.
Pray for the people here, that they will have fresh eyes and fresh ears to the Gospel. Pray that my team and I will be more and more compassionate to the people.
We feel so called to just go into town this week, sit down in places and just pray and trust that the Lord will bring people to us. So far He has brought the people. So just pray with us that He will continue to bring the right people to sit down on benches and in cafes with us. Pray for our ears to be opened to their stories. Pray for good communication as some of them do not speak great English and we speak none of their language.
“Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” -Habakkuk 1:5
Until next time,
S
