Simply Amazing

Ok so I should not have titled the last post "the second to last hoorah" because we still have two days left in Serbia! God has been doing some awesome things, even just today!

The day started off with the children and advanced adult English classes. As usual they went very good! I have not been to an advanced class but I know Marabeth does a great job with the kids! And from what I hear, the advanced classes are doing great and people are truly enjoying them!

After lunch we had the leadership meeting with our mission team and the leaders of Rodja's church. Let me just say that it was pretty awesome! Peep (Jim Greene) showed a presentation about the needs of Serbia and what we can do to help. I learned that there are less than twelve evangelical churches in South Serbia. There are so many people here without hope and I feel the urge to help them! I also learned that there are three evangelical churches in Belgrade, and the population is around three million people! I was appalled when I learned this! What have we as Christians been doing?

Also today, Rodja and I were on the news! Rodja was asked to come on the news to talk about the ESL classes we have been having and when Rodja first asked me to come with him, of course I immediately said no! I am a very shy person and the thought of being on T.V. where so many people can see me was unimaginable to me! But I finally agreed (after some begging lol) and we went! Before we left, Rodja and I prayed together and this completely calmed my nerves. I also remembered a letter that Sandy Waymire wrote for the day that had the verse 1st Corinthians 1:25  "This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength." I also remembered Cait pointing out a verse that spoke to her while in Prokuplje. In verse 21, it says "Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe." Even in our foolish plans and our foolish speech God still uses us! He gives us the words to speak so we are supposed to lean on Him through everything. God strength is greater than our greatest strength, even greater than what we can imagine. How awesome is that then, that He sent His son for us? That He even cares for us? God thinks of each of us more than there are grains of sand on the entire Earth.

That is simply amazing.

We will share the gospel with the students from the ESL classes tomorrow. Pray that the students' hearts will e open to see Christ. That they will recognize their need for Christ. Pray that God gives us all the words to say.

Thanks for the prayers :)

Bethany

The Next to Last Hoorah!

Hello friends!

We have been so busy since the last time I updated! The second group from church is now here and we have already done so much with them! When we picked them up from the airport, we visited First Baptist Church of Belgrade, Serbia. The church is currently under construction, and it is coming along beautifully! Please pray for Dane and Melita! Dane had a benign tumor removed from his throat and his voice is still recovering. Melita has also been sick many times. Pray that God will give them the strength they need to further God’s kingdom.

We have had three days of teaching English! In the mornings, we teach the children and have an advanced English class, and at night, we teach two times with basic, beginner, and advanced classes. It was everyone’s first time to teach (except the three amigos) and it went ok for the first time. Marabeth teaches the children, her and Cait teach beginner, Bethany and I teach basic, and everyone else teaches the advanced class. Marabeth does awesome with the kids groups! They have so much fun!

While visiting the monasteries yesterday, I realized some things about the Orthodox religion. When I first entered a monastery, I saw that there were many things for sale. There are bracelets and necklaces that are supposed to “protect you” or something. There were beads, flowers, and oils to pray with, and many other things but I am not sure what they are for. The first monastery had paintings of different people from the Bible over all the walls of the inside of the church. The paintings seemed very unrealistic to me. The Orthodox religion seems like they have a very warped view of God. It seemed like you had to buy things from the gift shop or do certain rituals to pray or get close to God. Everything about Orthodox is a religion, but as Christians, we are supposed to focus on passion!

Sunday, Toby’s message was about the difference between “religion” and “passion.” He spoke from Philippians chapter two. It has been a few days since he spoke, but I remember thinking about how I could apply this to my life. God showed me things in my life where I make Christianity a religion and how to turn it into passion. If you are passionate about Christ, others will see this passion and wonder about it. If you are truly passionate about Christ, your whole focus and whole drive in life is for Christ. This has been hitting home these past weeks and how I can be truly passionate for Christ on my campus.

I will update as soon as possible again, but keep in mind we have very little free time!! Thanks for reading and praying for us! Pray that the people we are teaching English to will have open hearts when we share Christ with them on Friday!

Love, Bethany

Last Days in Prokuplje

Hey friends! Sorry its been awhile since we updated last, but its been a very busy past few days! I have a lot to say so I'll just jump right in :)

Tuesday we relaxed a little in the morning, and in the afternoon we went on a visit to a family who lived about an hour away from Prokuiplje. This is a Roma family who lives in a very poor village. I was shocked when we drove into the village at seeing how poor it was. It was a very large family living in one house, yet they were so happy to see us! Because they live so far away and they are so poor, they don't get to come to Marijan's church, so Marijan goes to visit them about twice a month- again he is such a servant for Christ! Caitlin and I introduced ourselves, gave our testimony, and shared a couple of verses that would encourage them. Marijan them gave a message and we worshiped. Seeing the family worship was awesome! The mother was down on her knees, arms raised, and totally humbling herself before God! I was so encouraged when I saw her and I thought to myself, how often do I totally humble myself when I come before God? This idea has constantly been coming to my mind that I am selfish, full of myself! There are so many people in this world that have needs, and because we are so blessed, we are to be using these blessings to further God's kingdom! I was so glad that we visited this family!

Wednesday was a very busy day! In the morning we filmed some people's testimonies from the church. We thought this would be good for everyone back home to see what it is like to live in Serbia, be a gypsy, and see how they are persecuted as Christians. When we finished, Marijan told us that a family from church really needed prayer so we visited them and prayed with them; the mother's son had an accident and was in a coma. The family was very upset because the doctors did not know what to do. This family has been through a lot and it was very sad to see what they were going through. Please pray that God would give them peace no matter what the outcome of the situation is!

After this we had a birthday lunch for our host, Slavica! As we said before, Slavica and Marijan are truly amazing people! They are so selfless and we are so glad we could celebrate her birthday with her and some youth from the church!

After this, we went to visit another lady from the church, her name is Caca. She is a widow raising her three granddaughters, and she is very poor, but she knows she has hope in Christ. She shared her testimony with us and let me tell you, she has had a rough life! But that just shows how big our God is! She has a very hard life, so please pray for her that God would give her wisdom, strength, and peace!

Wednesday night we hung out with the youth and we had a great time! We love the youth in Prokuplje! It is so refreshing to be around young people and hear how they are serving Christ! They prayed for us and the rest of our mission trip, and we prayed for them as well.

Thursday was just a day of getting ready to go back to Novi Sad, and saying our sad goodbyes :( Going to Prokuplje was truly a blessing! Next summer we should definitely stay for a longer time so we can do a lot more! It was an unforgettable experience!!

One of these mornings I was reading the end of chapter 1 in James and came across verse 22 which says:

But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

We are to be applying what the scripture says to our lives. I thought, okay, yes, I already know this... but then I came to verse 27 which says:

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. 

Again, this is what our lives should reflect! How often do we go out of our way to help those in need? I don't know where the "American Dream" life came from but I know a lot of people striving to get it! I sometimes catch myself thinking how great life would be with a nice house, a new car, and a comfortable life. Where in the Bible does it say that it's okay to be comfortable? 1st and 2nd Peter talk about the Christian life as if it is normal to suffer for Christ's sake. Is it normal in your life? I know personally that it isn't in my life! I have a pretty stinkin easy life! Seeing the Roma people here in Prokuplje and how little they have has truly opened my eyes! Although they have little earthly possessions, they have everything because they have Christ! 

Again, continue to pray for the people we will encounter this next week teaching English, and pray for the three amigos and everyone else here that our eyes are open to what God wants us to do.

Cao!

<3 Bethany

Bok Te Voli

Hey guys,

I want to start out with a couple of scriptures that God has been showing me. I just finished reading 1 Corinthians, and it's beyond words how much God has shown me. Seriously, read the Bible for yourself. Just going to church and listening to other people isn't enough, do you eat only twice a week? So why should you starve your spirit? Okay, to the scriptures:

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"

1 Corinthians 10:31

I know that most people have heard this verse before, but the Word of God is always fresh and relevant. When I read this, I can sometimes just skim over it, and not think about it much, but if you just stop for a minute, this verse will change your life. "Do all to the glory of God." Everything. Every breath you take, every time you take a bite to eat, or have something to drink, do it to glorify God. What would our lives look like as Christians if we took this verse seriously? If everything that you do was done for the glory of God, how would your life change? I can't even imagine this, let alone put it into words, which leads me to the next verse:

"In the path of Your judgments,

O Lord, we wait for you;

You name and remembrance

are the desire of our soul."

Isaiah 26:8

Is the one desire of our souls truly to make God known? I don't know about you, but this makes me take a hard look at myself to see if the true desire of my soul is to make God known throughout the world, and if it is, what am I doing about it?

                I know that it has been a few days since we have updated the blog, and I’m sorry about that. We have been experiencing some amazing things here in Prokuplje, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to capture it in words, but I’ll give my best shot.

                Sunday was a great day. We started the day off with a delicious breakfast made by our host, Slavica. After breakfast, we made our way to the church for the children’s week. Kristina taught the lesson, and she did a wonderful job. All of the children were watching her, and they paid attention so well. Afterwards, when we had the quiz, they children knew all of the questions! It was really amazing, and we all had a lot of fun just trying to talk and playing with all of them.

                After the children’s lesson, we came back to Marian’s apartment, and Slavica made lunch. She is so selfless and she is truly an amazing woman of God; and we are blessed to know her and her family! Since Daniel was preaching that night, we went to the apartment that he and Kristina were staying in with Marian after lunch. Bethany helped him prepare, and we prayed for him; he was really nervous, but he studied a lot, so he was prepared. We walked to church, and everyone prayed for the service. Prayer is the most important thing here, and they pray for everything! It really makes me realize how much we as Christians can sometimes forgo that part of our walk with God. The Bible says to “pray without ceasing,” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. It seems like a lot of times people can be embarrassed to pray, and that is really sad. Prayer is so important for our spiritual health, and being here just reminds me of how much I lack in that area. After we prayed, we had a time of worship, and again, it was amazing. Everyone truly means what they are saying; they are not just singing empty words, they are worshipping God. Daniel preached about having encouragement in God. It was his first time to preach, and he did really well. Kristina translated him, and, as always, she was wonderful! After church we had pizza for supper; it was completely homemade by the one and only Slavica. Delish. Seriously, you have to try her cooking.

                Monday was a busy day. We had the last day of the children’s week, and also the last day for the ESL class. For the children’s class everyone made a craft (hearts that said “Bok te voli” on them. They were really cute), and we had a prize for every child. All of the kids had a lot of fun, and we had a blast. The last ESL class was that night, and afterwards, to celebrate, we had a little pizza party. It’s a lot of fun just hanging out with the youth, and getting to know them. Everyone here is so kind, and they all love God so much. They are the true examples of servants for Christ.

                Please pray for Marian and Slavica and their church. Pray for the youth of their church, also. They have sacrificed a lot to be Christians and go to church. Pray to give them peace in God, and the wisdom and strength to discern His will.

In Christ’s love,

Caitlin

A Humbling Experience

Cao Cao!!

We bring more news! We had an awesome day today here with the youth in Prokuplje! This morning started with an awesome breakfast from Slavica. She is an amazing cook! Then we left Marijan's flat around 10:00 and got some treats and other supplies for the children's group. We are walking everywhere here and the church is a mile away from the flat. Marijan does not have a car and hot or cold, rain or shine, his family is serving in the church. What a true servant! At 11:00 we had the children's group and we had such a great time with them! Caitlin and I shared the message and all three of us taught the kids a song. The message was a little difficult learning at first because Caitlin and I have never heard the story before. The story was about Saul's grandson and Johnathen's son Mephibosheth. We studied the story and finally knew what we would say. We could not think of which song to teach the kids because all the songs we know have too many words. Slavica knew a simple English song and taught it to us. The kids really enjoyed the story and the English song!

That afternoon we went swimming with the youth. Remember how I talked about picking cherries? Well the youth picked cherries to earn money to pay for us, the kids, and the youth to go swimming. They worked so hard to do this! We were completely humbled! It was such an honor to be their guest and we are so grateful for it! In America, paying for someone's ticket to go swimming is nothing, but here in Prokuplje it something extremely special to a Roma people.

Before blogging I had another face slapping experience! Google 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 (I don't have very much time to type this post sorry!) But we don't suffer like this for the gospel in America!! Gah!! These people here are criticized ad rejected, yet they know that the true prize in this life is Christ! Please please don't miss this! This is what our lives should reflect. I know that before I came on this trip I took so many things for granted, but my life is forever changed! I hope and pray your lives are changing as well.

Continue to pray for Serbia!

Christ is Risen From the Dead

    So far we are enjoying our time in Prokuplje very very much. We have been witnesses of God's amazing power and His presence. We have also seen people in very poor living conditions. But they still trust in Christ, and know that in Him they have strength, and they have Hope in Him. This is hard for me to imagine... I have trouble trusting sometimes, and i have everything compared to them, it was a real encouragement to us. It is also very sad..

    Marijan, the pastor of the church here in Prokuplje, is a very good example of a Christ like man. People from his church are constantly coming and going from his flat, and he is happy for that. People visit for different reasons. Some visit because they are hungry, some visit just to charge their cell phone because they don't have electricity in their own home. This is hard for me to even describe how i feel sitting there with them, and knowing what they are going home to. A home with no water, electricity, or even a wood stove, and I have anything i want. It doesn't seem fair, but i struggle with how to help them. Their are so many people here in need, and we are only three people, and this is only one city, in one country, in a whole world of hurting and lost people. So pray that God will move in miraculous ways, and reveal what he has for us to do, and how to best serve these broken people.

   In this town there are approximately 50,000 people, 6,000 of which are Roma (Gypsies). The Church is only Roma people. They try to invite Serbs, but they are too prejudiced to even listen to what they are saying, much less go to church with them. They see them as dirty, and uncivilized people. when they are people just like me and you. This makes things very hard because we are talking about a whole nation's attitude toward the Roma. The only way this can change is God. We know that in the worst situations, that he is shown the most powerful. So pray that God would move here and make His glory known, though Serbs and Roma alike.

    We have been teaching English to approximately 30 Roma people here, including children, youth and adults. They are learning well, and we are glad for that. We also participated in the churches kids camp today and for two more days ( like a VBS). The kids are precious, and we really like being with them. Here is a video of them worshiping at the "VBS".                                         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgy03g-I72I

    The youth are very happy that we are here. They love just that we would spend time with them. They love that we talk to them, and we care about them. They are not used to visitors coming to them. Usually people just visit one service or something, but not really be with them. So it means a lot to them that we are staying with them. And we don't feel like we are anything special, because we know that they are our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is a weird situation for us because they treat us so well, and we feel unworthy, and want to serve them. So pray that in every situation they see Christ in us, and through that God will be glorified!

   in Christ,

     Daniel

Svaki Dan Sa Vama Gospod

Hello friends!

We have made it to Prokuplje!  We are staying with Marijan and his wife Slavica and their two boys Andrija and Filip. They are extremely welcoming and we are so grateful to them that they have let us stay with them like we were their family. We have Internet connection, but the only free time we have is a night and we are so exhausted that we drop to our beds like a sack of potatoes! We will try and update as much as possible.

From left to right: (top row) Daniel, Danijel, Arif, Igor, Marijan. (Bottom row) Bethany, Caitlin, Andrija, Slavica.

We have been very busy here in Prokuplje and we are enjoying every minute of it. We will be teaching English for seven days, and have a children’s club for three days. There is church on Thursday night and on Sunday. We will all speak at church on Thursday for 10 minutes each, sharing our testimonies and what God is doing in our lives. Daniel will preach on Sunday so pray for him because he is extremely nervous!! We have met one gypsy family and some youth from the church, and we plan on meeting more gypsy families.

Yesterday we had our first English lesson with people a church. It was mostly teenagers that came because the adults are working from 5 a.m. until 9 p.m. picking cherries. The cherry season will be over by Sunday and those adults will come to the last few days of the English lessons. We were again surprised at how much English the people knew and because this is our second time teaching English, it is much easier. 

We also visited a gypsy family and it was very heartbreaking. While walking down to the village, we saw children in tattered clothing, adults with sad faces, huge piles of trash along with the smell. When the Roma people saw that we were white and American, some stared with glaring looks and others would not look at us at all. We got to the Jagoda’s home and we noticed they did not have very much. She offered us coffee and juice and we felt bad taking it because it was all they had (but we were told it is rude to say no). Danijel is Jagoda’s son and he is the only Christian in the home. Jagoda says she believes in God but she has not accepted Christ as her Savior. Pray that God will show her who He is and that she cannot go on in life without Him. She will be coming to church for the first time tonight and pray that she comes with an open heart.

Danijel, along with his father and younger brother, has muscular dystrophy. You can see the sorrow in his and his brother’s face. I can’t imagine a harder life, to have this sickness and to be extremely poor. Because there are three sick people in the family, Jagoda has to work picking cherries. They told us that they get 10 dinars for every kilo of cherries (that is 15 cents)! It is an extremely tiresome job and you can see the scrapes and scars on her hands and arms. Can you imagine working like this for next to nothing pay? It is so heartbreaking that this family is going through so many hard times and they don’t have any hope (except Danijel).

Pray for this family that God will give them the strength they need to go throughout the day. Pray that God will open the hearts of Danijel's family and that they will come to know Christ. Pray that they will find peace and hope through Christ.

Yesterday morning I had a “WOW” moment in my quite time. I’ve been trying to read to entire New Testament through and I was at 2 Timothy chapter six. Verses 7-8, 11-12, and 17-19 slapped me in the face!!

7 After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. 8 So if we have enough food and clothing let us be content.

11 Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you.

17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life. 

If this doesn’t make you realize how extremely blessed we are in America, you need to pray that God will soften your heart to a world that is starving for hope, for Jesus Christ. I pray that you will realize you are blessed and that you will use you blessings to bring others to Christ. You don’t have to go on a mission trip across the world to tell others, look around you! Look at the homeless people in the street; look at your coworker who is a single parent and barely paying bills. GIVE HOPE!

Love,

A servant trying to do God’s will

South Serbia-Prokuplje

Hey everyone! We did not have an internet connection yesterday so we could not update, sorry! Sunday, Daniel went fishing with Ivan, one of the leaders in the band at church, and had a great time. He cannot speak very much English but Daniel says it was still really fun! Caitlin and I met up with Ivan and his wife Minja and had lunch with them. We really enjoyed it and are grateful that they had us over. Ivan's parents are deaf and he know Serbian sign language. Ivan says that God is telling him to start a church for the deaf so we need to pray for him over this. Ivan is a really great man and truly sets a Christ like example here in Serbia.

Sunday night we went to church. It was Ivan's first time to preach and he did an excellent job by the way! He preached on how we cannot do anything without Christ and how his life reflects this. God is raising up truly great leaders here in Serbia and we ask that you continue to pray for these people that their hearts are open and willing to do God's will.

Tomorrow we will leave for South Serbia to a city called Prokuplje. This is a very poor city and is a city of mostly Roma people. We have told you a little about Roma people in the past blogs, but just as a reminder, the Roma people are very poor. The Roma people we have seen in Novi Sad are mostly homeless or the live in shacks made out of random things found in dumpsters. The dig through dumpsters all day looking for things to sell and are very discriminated against. No one will give them jobs and they are forced to humiliate themselves and beg.

There are very few Evangelical Churches in South Serbia, I think that more than 50% are in North Serbia. The greatest need for missions is in South Serbia, an I am so excited to be apart of it this week. Go is doing great things and we are so blessed to be a part of it!

Pray that our lives reflect Christ to the people and South Serbia and pray that lives will be changed!

I am not sure if we will have internet this week, but if not we will update as soon as we get back (in 9 days)!

In Christ's Love, Bethany

Budapest!

Hello all! We are back from Budapest now and finally finished resting! We left early Wednesday morning and got back at 5 a.m. Friday. We had an absolutely amazing time! We didn't go there for missions or anything, just a short fun and relaxing trip because it was so cheap to get there.

We took a train and for a round trip it cost us about $30! The train ride there was long but we still enjoyed it! When we got there we found an ATM to get Forints (Hungarian currency) and then we found somewhere to eat. We ate a gyro stand on the street. The gyros were so spicy that Cait and I could only eat half of our gyros so Daniel finished his and ours! Then we walked around the city a little and asked a taxi if he could takes us to the apartment. He told us the apartment was just around the corner. It was definitely God intervening because there is no way we would have walked the correct way from the train station and to find something to eat and be so close to the apartment! The apartment cost us $60 total and it was awesome! There were two bedrooms with full sized beds, another twin bed in the living room, a kitchen, and two bathrooms. We were so excited to have something so nice and for so cheap! Were weren't sure what to do next (this was our first time ever being on our own in a foreign country) so we looked up things to do in Budapest. We decided to go to the center of town and look at all the shops and everything they had (this was at 7 p.m. so there wasn't much to sight see). Then we decided to walk across the bridge to the "Buda" side of Budapest. We mainly just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

Thursday morning we checked out of the apartment and went to a small cafe for breakfast. Caitlin and I ordered French Toast and Daniel ordered some kind of sausage. When the food arrived, the French toast came without syrup. I took a bite and being the picky eater that I am, I gagged! We asked for some syrup (everyone spoke some English by the way) and  the waitress did not know what syrup was so we asked for honey. After we spread honey on the French toast it was delicious! Daniel also enjoyed his Hungarian sausage.

Then we set out to sight see. First we did a little shopping (Cait and I ARE girls!) and then we went to Buda Castle. We had to choice of paying a trolley like lift or walking up. We are cheap and young, so we walked, and it was quite the hike! The view was absolutely amazing! I really enjoyed how beautiful the architecture was and how you could see almost the entire city! The we walked to St. Mattias church and stopped at some souvenir stands along the way. It started to rain a little but it didn't stop us!

We got to St. Mattias church and we were extremely impressed! The church was magnificent! I've never seen a church so beautiful! We could have payed $8 to go in but we ran out of Forints so we enjoyed the view from the outside. We walked along a little more around the church and the view was incredible there too! We kept walking to look for Fisherman's Bastion but I think we overshot it and we couldn't find it.

It started raining very heavily then so we started to make our way to find some dinner. We didn't really mind the rain but we were so excited to be in Budapest! We got lost a little and walked through some neighborhoods (they were gorgeous!) and finally found the Danube. We then followed the Danube to the bridge and crossed back over the the "Pest" side of Budapest. It was raining to hard to do any more sight seeing so we went to the nicest McDonald's I have ever been to!

Our train was not going to leave until 11:30 p.m. so we hung out there for a while, did a little more shopping, and went to Burger King to hang out (there wasn't anywhere else to go, trust me we would not have chosen McDonald's or Burger King unless we had to!).

We made it to the train station and waited for a train. The train ride home was not near as nice as the train to Budapest. The only seats available we in boxes and there were six of us in a box! But we made it back to Novi Sad safely and soundly and we had an amazing time!

Monday we will leave for South Serbia, where we will be working with a Roma village. We are so excited to be working here and please keep us in your prayers!!

Much love! <3 Bethany