Visitors from Skopje

A couple of weeks ago, the pastor of the Baptist church in the capital city was here on vacation. He came by to have coffee with us, and he and his wife were such an encouragement. And God sent them at the perfect time when Brian and I were feeling almost as low as we have ever felt here.
Bore and Rule (the pastor and his wife) are on the love seat.


And last night, He, my great and loving Father, sent another encouragement, Elena, who was much needed at that exact time. He is so faithful!!! She is also from Skopje, and I regret I don't have a picture of her to show you. She and her friend Maya stayed with K and M, and their boyfriends who are also great, stayed with us. These are college students who show amazing spiritual maturity. They love their Lord and loved on us while they were here. And boy did it come at a perfect time.

Elena's boyfriend, Alek, and Kate hit it off immediately.

I question my role (wife and mom) here a lot. I shouldn't, but sometimes that is just where satan attacks me, and sometimes he uses other people to do the attacking. I never pictured this being what my job would look like here, home a lot, cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, etc. I love those things because I do them for the people I love most in the world. Its my act of service to them and I strive to glorify God in that role, while also trying to get out among lost people and invite the lost into my home for coffee. But, when I was in college and God called me to serve Him in a foreign country, this is not what I imagined. I guess I imagined being surrounded by beautiful orphans who loved me and who loved hearing about Jesus. I imagined hanging out with the women in my host-culture for days to learn their way of life. HA! Expectations can kill you if you don't check them at the door. All of that to say, Elena, a 20 year old college student, spoke amazing truth into my heart last night after a difficult conversation with another person. She said exactly what I knew in my head, but struggled with in my heart. I am so grateful that she was there. What an amazing blessing! God used her so mightily!

PLEASE pray for Brian and I, as I feel like, I know, we are under spiritual attack. We have been for awhile now, and I am just now mustering up enough strength to ask you for prayer. Please pray that we will not grow weary in doing what is good--running this race-- and that in abiding in our Savior, our joy will remain FULL at all times no matter what is thrown our way!

Pray that even though our life may not look like we thought it would here, that we will be perfectly content, resting in Him and His perfect plan. Pray that we will have the courage to carry on even when it looks different from how we wanted.

Pray for all of our colleagues here as well. Stories of an "m" being discouraged is not a rare thing to hear, and I have been hearing it A LOT lately. Pray that we as laborers in this great field of souls, will not fear, nor be dismayed, for our God will never leave us or forsake us (Joshua 1). He knows our path, and our lying down and is acquainted with ALL of our ways. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me (Ps. 139). Pray that we will cling to His testimonies and not to the dust (Ps. 119). Pray that we will be still and know that He is God, and He is on His throne.

Thanks!