Returning home

Zdravo svima!

Well, its finally here, my last day. I really can't believe six weeks has already passed by! Its definitely been an awesome experience and I can't wait to share my stories with everyone. Well for the past couple weeks some pretty exciting things have been happening.

Last Friday me and Petula left to visit Mostar (which is the capital of Herzegovina). It was such a beautiful city. But its also sad at the same time because there is a very distinct division in Mostar. The Neretva River runs through Mostar and on one side are Muslims and on the other are Catholics. And up on one of the hills in Mostar there is a giant cross in the Muslim part of town, which keeps the hate alive. And to go along with that the Catholics built a very tall (in fact the tallest in the city) steeple on one of their churches so that it would eclipse the minarets of the mosques.

But there are two Evangelical churches in Mostar. On of which Petula and I stayed at. And it also serves as a Bible School. I'm not going to lie, its definitely not what I expected. The building is abolutely beautiful and on the inside it is furnished very nicely. It was found out that it was a childhood home of a famous Bosnian author. So there is a small memorial to him in one of the sitting rooms. And out of respect for the landmark, it was decided that the furnishings would be elegant and sophisticated.

So after our night in Mostar me and Petula set off for the coast. We stopped at a few places in between, but if you want to know about those, ask me. The place where we visited first was Orebić and Korčula. Orebič was part of the mainland of Croatia, and Korčula is an island. Aaah, Croatia is absolutely beautiful. I advise anyone and everyone to visit at some point in their life. White buildings and red roofs, the clearest water you will ever see, and the Mediterranean atmosphere were breathtaking. So we stayed there for two nights and we just went sight seeing and shopping. We even got to spend a day on the beach just relaxing and tanning (and again, enjoying the elderly in their speedos and bikinis). Honestly, there was this one older couple we saw on the beach, I kid you not, they looked like lobsters, they were so fried. And me and Petula were aghast as to why the heck they still decided to come to the beach. And it was seriously in the upper 90's that day. And they would sit down by the waters edge and cover themselves in sand, lay there for awhile, then get in the water. And they would repeat this over and over again. I tell you, I just don't understand some Europeans.

Well, after that we drove to Dubrovnik. Which is about two hours away. Dubrovnik is a port town really. It still has the huge stone city walls up. You pay some money and you can walk all the way around. It was a really cool experience, although I think we picked the hottest day of the year and pretty much everyone and their mother was there. So I'll put up some pictures for your enjoyment. And I was lucky enough to visit camp one more time before I left, so there will be some pictures from that also.


<-- Me, Mirela, and Stacy <-- Mirela, Ivan, and me <-- This is a Pouh. They're kind of a mix between a rat and a squirrel. They are very cute and everyone at camp was enthralled by them.

<-- Korčula


<-- Alley Way in Korčula


<-- City walls of Dubrovnik

<-- Some houses in Dubrovnik

Before I come back I just want to say thank you to everyone who has kept me in their prayers. I really felt God doing awesome things while I've been here. And I know I will be coming back! I just ask that you keep Bosnia and Herzegovina in your daily prayers, because so many things we take for granted in the church in the States, the churches here have never known. But God has risen up awesome leaders with strong visions and things are definitely happening here! Well...I will see everyone soon! Vidimo Se!

Emek Beraka and other adventures

Soooo.....I'm finally back to civilization. And contrary to popular belief I am NOT dead. Thank goodness for small favors.

For the past week (the 14th-21st) I was at a camp called Emek Beraka. This is a camp that is really a unification of a lot of the churches around Bosnia. And if it weren't for that, the camp just really wouldn't have a chance just because 'camp' is just culturally foreign to Bosnians. And basically what was done in that week was to prepare the camp for the adult, child, teen, and family camps which will be taking place over the next 6 weeks. So there was a lot of physical labor but also A LOT of praying and just a lot of fellowship. I must say, camp was probably one of the best experiences I've ever had, to put it simply. God was overwhelmingly present the whole week and I know I've made friends that will last a lifetime. So the camp is in Herzegovina and the scenery is just breathtaking. It was quite amazing how hot it could get during the day yet by the time night fell it would be around 40 to 50 degrees. So funny little side note, when deciding if you want to go into the Herzigovinian forests/wilderness be prepared to look out for these things: stinging nettles (which I can personally testify that stinging is an understatement), scorpions (yes, scorpions), and poisonous snakes. Luckily I didn't have a run-in with the last two.

So the camp is by a lake, Boracko Jezero (Boracko Lake). And of course just as everything else in BiH, it too was beautiful. Although I didn't really enjoy the elderly in speedos and bikinis...ew. It was a lot of fun to just hang by the lake, swimming, sunbathing, and drinking coffee. You know you've been in Bosnia enough when one, you've had about four cups of coffee a day and two, you drink it regardless of the fact that its 90 degrees outside.

Well, the week passed and the work was pretty much finished on time, with only minor mishaps. So on Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday of that week was prayer camp. And its pretty self explanatory but we just prayed for the people that would be coming to the camps and the full time team. A team from Fredricksburg, VA came to the camp. (I actually got culture shock from the Americans, it was crazy) They've been coming to BiH for a couple of years. Their main purpose is just praying over people and things. Its a very...charismatic group. If you want to know more, see me ;) But really they are great people, and it was a great kick-off to the camps. So for prayer camp weekend we had morning, afternoon, and evening sermons. And throughout the night was a prayer chain, so we had to get up at crazy hours and go and pray for the camp. (Needless to say it was pouring rain...but that didn't get us down!)

So, that was camp! I don't know if I really explained too well, so if you have questions just ask. Well, after that you think we would come back and have a day or two of rest. Hah! Ne, ne, ne. The day after I got back I rode on a bus with my AWEsome new friends Jessica and Alba (yeah, Jessica Alba ha ha ha...) Anywho! We rode out to Breza, which is pretty much the smallest town ever but its still awesome. And we hung out with some folks out there at the church. We played connect four and watched movies. (One of them being Juno...Adi, I can't get away from it!) So we came back from that and immediately went to the Malta church to help part of the Fredricksburg team paint the sanctuary. Which I can now say is finished...and looks the same. But not as dirty, which is good!

So, funny story. Petula was the cook the whole week of camp, and needless to say by the time the week ended she did not want to cook anything else, ever. Well, you can guess what happened. She has ended up having to cook for the American team for the last few days after being adamantly reassured by some of the church staff that should would not (and could not) be allowed to cook for them. So we've spent the last few days helping up at the church. Honestly, this has opened my eyes to how much work a team really is. It is CRAZY!

Whew...recalling all these adventures has almost been as much work as going through them! Honestly, I can't even describe how amazing it has been here. God has been so good. I can tell that He is moving and working in BiH. That He has risen up strong leaders and given them great visions. I feel so blessed to be able to be a part of everything going on here, if only for a short time. Bosnia is a part of my heart. I strongly hope to return next year to be a part of the full time team at camp. So, if you could please be praying that God would reveal if that is something I should be pursuing or not. Well, I will leave you with some pictures :)

<-- Kitchen/storage place

<--Boracko Jezero




<-- Hanging out in the kitchen. From left to right: Petula, Elvis, I don't know.., Stiv, Mirela)



<-- Hanging out at a festivle a couple miles from the camp. From left to right: Remi, Eldina, Elvis, me)

Malta and Ilidza churches

Zdravo!

Things have still been pretty mellow here, which hasn't been such a bad thing. But they are starting to pick up..and fast!

So in the past few days a few exciting things have happened. Yesterday, Petula and I went to help at the secondhand store that both the church in Malta and Ilidza own. (They're like an Eagle and Eagle at Avon kind of church, same church different locations) We separated and tried to match up tons of shoes for a couple hours. The store gets shipments of clothing and shoes from a place in Sweden. The cool thing, and the factor that drew everyone to the store, was the fact that they get shipments of tons of clothing from H&M (one of my favorite stores!)

<-- This is Ilidza church..and Mark Eikost being a goof.

On Friday the church at Malta (Petula's church) had a prayer meeting over the camps that are going to be taking place over the next couple of weeks. Camps for kids, teenagers, and adults. Also, prayer for the Ilidza church site.

Saturday night Petula has a small women's group that comes to her house. Its a time where they can just come and hang out and eat food, talk about important things going on in their lives, and most importantly, pray for each other. It was a really fun, relaxing time. All of the women that came were really sweet, funny and welcoming. The age range was between 19 to late 30's.

Today (Sunday) I went to church services at both the Malta and Ilidza churches. The Ilidza church, where the Eikost's attend, has about 20 people that attend, give or take a few. Mark Eikost gave the sermon. Since today was the first Sunday of the month, communion was served. And here they do it with legit wine. So, for any of you that know me you can imagine how I tried to hide the look of disgust as I gulped it down. And fortunate for me both services had communion today!

After the service at the Ilidza church, Petula showed me around that part of Sarajevo. It was kind of on the outskirts where a lot of Sarajevans go to get out of the city. To put it simply, it was absolutely beautiful. Its really not too far away from the church. It was just a huge open park area with trees and cafes and beautifully restored hotels. These were like major 4 star hotels. So after we walked around for awhile we got to go on a carriage ride! Down this beautiful tree lined lane, which they call the Boulevard. Down this path is where all the people who benefitted from the war; warlords, druglords, diplomats..live in these huge houses. All of the trees that line the road were planted when the Austro-Hungarians were in control of Bosnia and all of the really wealthy families would take carriage rides on nice days. But actually, one of the houses is used as a nursing home, and Petula knows one of the guys that works there. It was so breathtaking and of course the backdrop is the beautiful mountains. So at the end of the lane is another park area where the Bosnia River runs throughout. Its really famous because this is where the source of the Bosnia River is. So you see everyone filling up their water bottles since the water is completely pure.

<-- The Boulevard


<-- One of the houses (which most people use as "weekend" or "summer" houses)


<-- Source of the Bosnia River. Woman filling up her water bottle.

Lastly, we went to the service in Malta. The service is at 6 because many of the people in the church work with Campus Crusades and Inner Varsity. So they work a lot on Saturdays and they kind of refuse to get up early on Sundays. Neno, an elder in the church who is filling in as pastor since the actual pastor, Sasa (which is pronounced Sasha) is on sabbatical, delivered a really great sermon on the importance of giving and tithing and how we reap what we sow.

This has been a really long post..I hope I haven't bored you to death, haha. But before I end I would just like to ask you to keep a few things in your prayers:
-- Both the Malta and Ilidza churches that they may continue to reach out to their communities. And for those that are in the church to continue to stay strong and grow in their faith despite all the opposition that they receive.
-- For the camps that will be happening in the next few weeks. That God would work in ways that they couldn't imagine. For the full time teams that will be working in the camps (there will be a team from South Africa and a team from Fredricksburg, VA) that they would be Christ-like examples and that they too, would receive blessings from their work.
-- That God would use the secondhand store as a source of ministry to the people of Sarajevo.
-- One last thing, I'll be traveling around sometimes by myself in Sarajevo. So if you could be praying for my safety, and maybe a good sense of direction because the trams are kind of interesting to navigate :)

If you read this far, bless you :)

Finally Here

Dobra večer!

So...after what seemed like a very long time (and indeed it was) Petula and I finally arrived in Sarajevo. But not before spending about 8 hours in Toronto. It wasn't all bad, we actually got to do some sight seeing. Our main mission was to visit the CN Tower (our second, to find ice cream..but that's not as important) which was pretty amazing, it put the Sears Tower to shame. The CN Tower is actually considered one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World.

Here's a few pictures...if you don't really know what you're looking at in the last picture its actually a glass floor. So you're looking down about 113 stories. It was pretty freaky!




After we did that we decided to find the waterfront. It was a beach but not really because you couldn't swim. But there were umbrellas set up and really comfortable chairs so we decided to chill there for awhile.

So the dreaded 8 hour flight finally arrived. And to make it worse me or Petula didn't sleep pretty much the entire time. So needless to say, by the time we got off that plane we looked like the living dead.

Well, not much has happened yet, just a much needed night of sleep. Today Petula and I went out to run some errands and she took me up to the mountains. These pictures don't really do justice to how beautiful it really is.

Well, thats about it from my end for now!

Departure

Hey All,
I figured this would be the easiest way for anyone who wants to keep up with what I'm going to be doing in Bosnia to get updates (aka my mom). I leave tomorrow (13 hours) not that I'm counting or anything... But I just wanted to thank everyone who has supported me and kept me in their prayers. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to travel back to Bosnia, something I never thought would happen again. Well, here I go!

Hannah