Merry Christmas!!!

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate together the birth of our Savior.

Convicting Broadcast

This is a message aimed at all the Christians who read our blog. I will be the first one to say that relational evangelism is most effective method for teaching people about God, the Bible, and the truth of salvation; I am not against door-to-door, but it is not something that I practice. I do believe that everyone needs a chance to hear the gospel and since we cannot meet everyone in the workplace, going door-to-door or spending a couple afternoons in the park handing out water and tracts might be the only way to reach some people. I personally have seen people realize they are separated from God and trust in Christ's work on the cross doing both door-to-door and afternoons in the park. I think one of the reason that I shy away from door-to-door is because it is offensive and often times we get rejected ... and who likes being offensive or rejected? However, I must remember that for all the rejections and offended people, there are those who invite us in. The reason I am telling you this is because I recently heard something on YouTube which showed me that the impersonal and sometime harsh approach of handing out a tract, is sometimes the thing that makes people think. I have realized that I need to balance out my relational with some simple tract distribution. (If you are reading this and don't know what a tract is, here is an example). So I am starting to keep a tract in my pocket for the store owners or people that I will probably only see once or very rarely because who knows if anyone else will take the time to be their friend and share the gospel. The tract has the contact information of the coffeehouse if anyone is interested in talking more. So if you have 8 minutes and 48 seconds, listen to this broadcast by a British pastor on YouTube.

NOTE: For the life of me, I cannot figure out the title or the links that go with this broadcast. The guy speaking is clearly a Baptist and talks about Baptists, but the link is Catholic. Maybe you can figure it out.

A Fantastic Two Weeks

I was intending to write a post last week, but never got around to it, but I wanted everyone to know about the great two weeks we have had at the coffeehouse.
First of all, I was sitting in the coffeehouse with a few regulars and our neighbor came into greet everyone. Just before he left he looked at the new Christian books we just got in and I used the opportunity to strike up a spiritual conversation. He told me he had some questions about “our religion.” In discussing the difference between the Orthodox and “Protestants”, he said “You guys make Jesus the center and base of your religion, this is something we don’t have by us [the Orthodox]” He correctly quoted several previous gospel presentations we had and said that “you do everything through Him, and we … well, don’t.” After asking him if I could show him one verse I showed him John 14:6 to which he gave a hardy and deep thinking “Hmm.” I then turned to show him John 3:16. After reading John 3:16, he really didn’t say much, but he did say “that other one, John 14:6, better proves your point.” And I reminded him that Jesus said it and these are some of the verses we use to make Jesus the center and base of our faith. He looked at me deep in thought and said, “Well if it is in the Bible, and even Jesus said it, it must be true … hmm. I’ll come back and we can talk about it some more.” So a simple question and lots of prior evangelism allowed Vlatko to realized the Gospel on his own.
Second of all, we were able to have a believer from another town named Marin come and spend time at the coffeehouse. Until New Year, we are only open 3 nights a week and we have developed a pretty good crowd or regulars. All three nights Marin was there for at least 2 hours (2 nights he was there for 3 hours.) While he was there, we ended up having Bible Studies every night and our regulars were able to hear about what the Bible said from someone else besides myself. Not only that, they heard it from someone perfectly fluent in Macedonian :). He also told me that just about everyday he had told at least one shop owner about our coffeehouse and how to be saved and that he hoped some of them would come by. This was all very encouraging for us because it was good to have a Macedonian confirm to our friends what we have been teaching.
Praise God for how He is working in Ohrid and allowing us to participate in His work.

Thanksgiving Fun

Thursday evening was a a lot of fun. We had 12 people in all. We had a good time. Brian was able to share a little bit about what Thanksgiving is and he also shared some scripture about being thankful to the One who gives us all good gifts. We then went around the room and everyone told something they were thankful for. It was a good time.
Our turkey wasn't as pretty this year, but it tasted good.

Here is the whole crowd.

M and K with their new friend.

Kate's First Birthday Party

Last night we went to a birthday party for Pavlina, one of our first tutors. Her family has been with us since the beginning. Her mom was very excited to meet Kate.

Progress on the Coffee House

The coffee house is shaping up. Brian has put a ton of work into building shelves and a bar. And the journeymen helped him put up some pictures in there to make it look much better.



We have a lot more books and literature in there now, and a few more people have come by and shown interest. Continue to pray that this place will draw people in who will in turn hear the Gospel and come to know the Lord as their Savior.

A Good Month

The last month has been so good. Kate will be one month old tomorrow, and it is hard to remember what life was like without her. Oh yeah, I remember now--a full nights sleep. :0) In spite of the lack of sleep, we are loving being parents. Kate is eating and sleeping well. And she is so much fun to play with. Please continue to pray for her health and growth.

The journeymen, K and M, are doing great! Praise the Lord. They are plugging away at language and scoping out the coffee houses in town to get some ideas for our coffee house that they will be in charge of running at the start of the new year. Please continue to pray for their adjustment to the new culture.


Thank you so much for your intercessions on our behalf. Continue to lift up the people of Macedonia as a whole. Pray that God will move mightily through this land that many will know Him for His glory.

Mashala. Mashala.

When a baby is born here, Macedonians come bearing gifts of chocolate and sometimes even money. Kate received her biggest group of visitors thus far on Sunday afternoon. They each held her, said “Mashala. Mashala,” and spit on her. Only the baba (grandma) really spit on her. The others just pretended to spit. “Why?” you ask. “Mashala” is from the time when Macedonians were under the Turkish rule. It literally means “blessings from Allah.” And they spit to ward off the “evil eye.” The people here are very superstitious, and so they do this to ensure the baby’s good health.


Slavica knitted Kate a little jacket and insisted that we put it on her while she was there. It is a little big, but cute. Slavica promises a hat and boots to match in the future.

It would be good for you to know that everyone we meet in town, people we know and people we don’t know, do this little ritual with her. Kate has been quite helpful in meeting new people. :0)

Granna and Poppa

Mom and dad arrived safely into Skopje last night. They are enjoying loving on their little grandaughter in spite of my dad fighting a severe kidney stone. He has been to two doctors thus far and may end up back in the doctor's office in the morning depending on how he is doing. Please pray that he will pass the stone so that we won't have to make a trip to Skopje tomorrow and so he can enjoy his time with his grandbaby.

Wedding Day

Marija and Aleksander, our friends that left for America in the spring, just got back and decided on their three weeks of leave from their job in the states they would get married. They are believers and so chose not to get married in the Orthodox church. Brian was asked to be their best man which is a really big job here. He came through with flying colors though. He gave a speech in Macedonian and led a traditional Macedonian dance (the oro, much like a Greek dance) in honor of the bride and groom. We are well on our way to becoming Macedonian. :0) The wedding was interesting and definitely a learning experience. We are so happy for the couple. Please pray for them as they prepare to leave for their job outside of the country again. They will be gone for another 6 months. Pray that they will grow in the Lord while they are gone and that they will grow in love for each other as well.

Journeymen

K (left) and M are our new teammates. We spent the day with the them today and had a great time. Please pray for them as they continue to try and get used to their new life here.

Exciting, Busy, Overwhelming

The past 10 days have been quite a whirlwind. We have had a baby (praise the Lord, she is healthy), gained two new teammates to help us here (praise the Lord again), returned from Skopje with our llittle one, and haven't stopped since. We are both exhausted, but I am sure we will stay tired for the next couple of years. :0) We are so grateful for all that the Lord has done in the past week and a half. His timing has worked out perfectly in all things.

Kate is doing wonderful. We are learning more and more about how awesome our Lord is through her. Our love for her just overflows and grows every moment. What an awesome privilege to know her and watch her grow. She now has her own blog: http://katejoy.blogspot.com The link is to the left so you can always access it from here. Check out her pictures, and let us know what you think.

And yes, we have two new teammates that arrived last week while we were in Skopje. K and M will be here for about two years to help us run the coffee house. We are so SOOOO very grateful for this. They couldn't have come at a better time, and we are thrilled to have them. Please pray for their adjustment to this new culture. Also, pray for their language studies.

Brian has been running nonstop all week, and when he has been home, he has been working on something. Please pray that he will find time to rest and relax.

My parents come in on Tuesday. Please pray for thier safe arrival.

Thanks for all your prayers, support and encouragement.

Kate Joy Davis

Well, we were planning on coming up to Skopje today for our last check-up and from here on out wait for Kate. Here arrival date was supposed be Oct. 22nd and we figured a week would be more than enough time to come up in advance. Well yesterday Mandy was starting to have consistent contractions so we thought it would be wise to come up just in case we needed to get to the hospital quickly (in Ohrid, we were 2 to 2.5 hours from the hospital). About half way to Skopje we thought it would be best if we dropped Cloud off by the Kirkpatricks and headed to the hospital to see if everything was okay. After we got to the hospital at about 9:00pm, they hooked Mandy up to a fetal monitor which showed that she was having real contractions. Then they told us it would be about 4-5 hours before she would be born. Well, at 1:25am on October 15th, Kate Joy Davis was born at 3360g (7 pounds 7 ounces) and 50cm (19.7 in). It all happened so fast and the doctor said it was textbook example pregnancy. Here are some pictures of her below.





And for everyone who has been trying to get in touch with us through email. Since Wednesday of last week we have not had internet due to changing our plan as well as Orthodox holidays. When we return from Skopje everything should be back to normal.

About 3 weeks and counting

We had another doctor's appointment yesterday and all is looking great. Her heartbeat is still good and strong and she is measuring at a normal size. We go Skopje in a week and a half to await her arrival there. Our due date is the 22nd. Please pray for a healthy end to the pregnancy and a healthy beginning to her life outisde the womb. Here are some more pregnancy pictures if you are interested...

The Leaky Sprinkler

On a search for a baby stroller the only one that was affordable and to our liking was a floor model. Since it was on the floor it had its reasonable share of dust. Naturally one day I took it out on the back porch to clean it off. While cleaning it, I noticed a very strange acoustical occurrence which happened every time I leaned over to clean the front of the stroller. I could hear something in my neighbors yard that sounded like a leaking hose or sprinkler but that is strange considering that sprinkler systems don't yet exist in Macedonia and I didn't see any hose. However, without fail, I would hear it every time I would lean over to clean the front. Anyway, as I was wrapping up I turned around and found the leaking hose 12 inches from my face!



Needless to say I took an opportunity to exercise my camera and got this picture. On this picture, due to the wide angle of the lens, I was about 6 inches from him. Mandy and the neighbors practically ran inside and only Cloud was there for support. This snake was about a 2.5 feet long.



And to bestow the appropriate honor to my side-kick, Cloud, here he was watching my back...but at the same time chillin'. He is striking a pose here and saying "Was' up" to all of you who read our blog




P.S. I have about 5 posts that I need to make, but for about 2 months I have been having nonstop problems with Windows. One day, I got 8 blue screens of death in 12 minutes (Mandy will testify). Every time I do anything but open Firefox it crashes. (It already crashed once will writing this post). I don't know the solution to the problem other than to set aside a lot of time to do my work!

Update on Baby

We went to the doctor yesterday, and all is looking great! Her heart rate is about 150 BPM which is really good, and she is measuring at about 4.5 lbs. She is beautiful from what we could see of her. Looks like she may have her mother's shy gene; she always hides her face when we try and get a picture of her. :0) We are just about ready for her arrival. Brian has been insulating the windows and doors in the apartment we live in, and he has also gotten the heaters ready to go for the first real cold day. And I have been sterilizing pacifiers and bottles and washing toys and baby clothes.

We will go to Skopje to await her ariival around October 15th. Please continue to pray for her growth and a safe and healthy delivery. Its almost here!!!!

Brian is Awesome!!!!

So we have been readying ourselves for the arrival of the Lil' Davis (about 6 weeks to go). Brian has been incredible!!! He has...

painted the baby's room,

put a crib together,

moved in new furniture and...

bought me a very VERY special prize!

For my "thanks for having our baby" prize he bought me a dryer! It was a huge surprise!!! I know a dryer doesn't sound that spectacular, but clothes can take days to dry in the winter, plus hanging them all out is very time consuming. So I am super excited! I never even asked for one because I figured the majority of Macedonians don't have one, and it wasn't in our budget. Well, lo and behold, Brian the money manager found room for it in the budget. I am psyched. I even shed a few tears (which isn't that weird these days).
Life before the dryer...

Getting ready to give this baby a spin.

Short Vacation

Last weekend we took a short vacation to Sofia, Bulgaria. We went with some of our friends who live in country with us. It was super fun, and much needed. Sofia is not that impressive of a city, but for us, it was spectacular with good up-to-date movie theaters (we saw three movies in 2 days), Pizza Hut (ate there once, Meat Lover's ummmm!!!), KFC (ate there twice), and a Dunkin Donuts (oh yes, sugar highs all around). It was a blast.

Brian had an enjoyable time navigating around the city with his co-pilot, Jeff. And Amy and I had a good time looking in shoe stores and having girl talk! Take a look at Jeff and Amy's webiste for pictures of the trip:
http://jeffandamywilliams.blogspot.com

Also check out the prayer slideshow that Amy put together. Its great. She included pictures from all over Macedonia to encourage prayer. It is their first post right now. Check it out!

Ooooo!!!!! Ahhhhhhh!!!!

This is the sound of women at a baby shower. Last Friday night, some American friends of mine got together to throw me a baby shower. It was great!!! I was so excited!!!! The food was very tasty. We had pigs in the blanket (very appropriate, don't you think?), cookies cut out in cute shapes, chips and dip and a very delicious Betty Crocker cake mix cake with canned frosting. Umm! Umm! Umm! It just doesn't get any better. It was so nice not only to have a shower but to have tasty American treats to go along, every pregnant woman's dream. I got lots of cute stuff and enjoyed time speaking English and fellowshipping with some women who speak my heart language.

Pregnancy Progress

Thought you might want to see some pregnancy photos:

Breath of Fresh Air

Ahhh! The heat wave is over, and I have actually been chilly the last few evenings. I am not complaining though. The breeze is back and it is lovely out!!! Whahoo!!!

Baby Update

We went to the doctor yesterday for a check-up on the baby. Everything is looking great. We were able to see HER little face and she is gorgeous. The doctor says everything is looking great and developing perfectly. I am doing great as well. Please keep praying for our continued health and growth.

Here is a picture of me and my best friend from the states. We went out on the town one night while she was here and as we stopped to pose for a picture, we were attacked by a clown. He insisted on dressing us in some of his.... umm gear.

And getting a coffee

Apex Come and Gone

I tried for three days to get pictures of the Apex team loaded while they were here so you could praying for them. The internet was not cooperating so we are going to try again...

They did a great job and were such an encouragement to us as well as the people of Macedonia. They went to the beach everyday and tried to build relationships with people using volleyball, their good looks and their attractive personalities.

They also hosted an American party Monday night and had a great turn out. They were able to share with just about everyone that came as they treated them to yummy homemade chocolate cookies and chips and dip. My favorite comment of the night came when one of the Macedonian girls asked "What's in this white stuff?" (referring to the dip) and a very wise American, Amanda, answered, "ranch." I had to intervene and explain that to a Macedonian "ranch" translates as the place where you store your horses and cows. Despite some langauge barriers, the party was a success, and the team was awesome!!!

Enjoy the slideshow.

Team from Apex, NC

We have a team coming in from Apex Baptist Church this evening. In fact, they should be arriving in the capital city any minute to catch their bus down here. This team is bringing my best friend, Amanda, and I am so exicted. They will be doing some work on the beaches, ie, playing volleyball and badmitten with people and just hanging out trying to build relationships to help further the Gospel. We are so excited to be having them. Pray for their time here.

On Saturday we will be having a baptism service and then a big party afterward so expect lots of pictures.

AGM and Greece

We did not post this BEFORE we left (which would have helped), but we spent the last two weeks in Greece. Every year we have a meeting with other people like ourselves in Central and Eastern Europe. Last year it was in Poland and this year it was in Greece. We stayed on an island about 60 miles from Athens for the week and it was great. Two days before AGM, we stayed in Athens and did some site seeing. Below are a couple pictures of the Acropolis. Of course, I have about 200 more pictures so if anyone is interested in more, send us an email.

The Parthenon is under construction so there was as much support structure as there was stone!


This is a view of the mountain top from the very end of the plateau.


And this is a picture of theater of Herod Atticus. It is most known nowadays as the place where Yanni plays.

After AGM, we spent 4 days camping on the Peloponnese peninsula below Athens in a town name Tolo. It was borderline too hot to camp, but since we were at the beach during the day it wasn't so bad. One day we found this spot outside of Tolo farther down the coast:



Tolo is a town on the beach but as the town ends, a "real" beach begins. This is a picture of the beach just beside a restaurant.

Overall it was fairly relaxing, but definitely hot. It made us appreciate the air conditioning that we had had at AGM.

English Classes -- Georgia is Rockin'

The English classes are going great! The team couldn't be doing better. They have been able to get to know some wonderful Macedonians and have been so patient with them as they practice their English. Here are some pics of the what the English classes look like for us.



Tomorrow night, Saturday, we are planning on having an American party. There will be dancing (Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance and Electric Slide) along with yummy American treats like chocolate chip cookies and pigs in the blanket. We may even get wild and crazy and do the limbo. Pray that we will have a good time and that we will have many opportunities to share the love of Christ with the people who come.

It's A...

OK. OK. I guess we have kept you waiting long enough. But we have only waited because we are not 100% positive. The doctor seems pretty sure it is a GIRL!!!! Brian and I have already had quite a few laughs at that cause we never thought we would parent a little lady. To be sure, she will be well trained in soccer, hiking, and rock-climbing. We are so excited and blessed. What an awesome gift from the Lord! We'll let you know if the doctor spots a new development at the next visit.

Sorry, still no pics although we have some really good ones. I can't get the scanner thing to work, and bless Brian's heart, he just hasn't had time to help me. Maybe one day...

Evangelistic Bible Study

Tomorrow night we will be having a Bible study for non-believers who are interested in what the Bible says. Please pray for that to go smooth, and again for our language to be supernaturally understandable. Thanks for praying!

Baby Update

We went the doctor in Skopje for our 20 week check-up yesterday. May I say how grateful I am for good health care there. It was such a blessing to be able to speak to the doctor completely in English, have all of my questions answered and feel like I could trust her report on everything. Praise the Lord!!!
The baby is growing beautifully. She measured the heart and looked as closely as she could to it. It looks perfect as do the kidneys, spine, lungs, etc. Praise the Lord again!!! She was able to take some 3D pictures of the baby, and so we have a beautiful picture of our baby's little face which is only about 2 inches big right now, and we have a great picture of the hand. It was waving to us, and we are both sure it gave the "I love you" sign with its hand. I know, sappy, sappy. But we are pretty excited. Brian sat beside me like a proud father with a big smile on his face the whole time.

We did find out what the doctor believes to be the sex of the baby. We will post on that shortly. We want to keep you in suspense. :0) We are also going to try (emphasis on try) to get the pictures up. We have to scan them in and haven't the time for that right now. Keep praying for safe health.

"For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:13-14

Broken Windows

I use my phone as an alarm clock and it went off earlier than normal Wednesday morning. I picked up the phone to shut off the alarm and I noticed it was not the alarm, but the landlord of the coffee-house. He told me that some of the neighbors called him to tell him that two windows of the coffee-house had been broken and I needed to get there immediately because Police were on the way. So I got dressed and rode my bike to the coffee-house. When I got there, this is what I saw (there is one small hole in the door that doesn't really show up in the picture).

Of course in my hurry, I forgot to grab the keys so I had raced back home grab the keys and the camera. When I got back, I took some pictures, and learned that our neighbors called the police an hour ago and we were still waiting. So as I was waiting for the police many people walked by on their way to work. Since both the window and the door were broken we knew it had to be intentional. By the end of the day, just about everyone who came by said they were sorry and they apologized for "our people." Although things like this happen from time to time, everyone knows this was specificly targeted at us because of what were trying to do. One guy came in and said, "Everyone in this town goes to a church or a mosque and all of them say they believe in God, but when someone comes in to teach what God says, they get all mad. It doesn't make any sense." Needless to say, our presence at the coffee-house is quietly known around town and unfortunately a lot of people don't really understand what we believe. They see us as a sect or "new faith" like Mormons and Jehovahs Witnesses, forunately people are learning the truth as time progresses.

So we got the glass fixed by lunch time and by the time we opened at 5 we had gotten all of the mess cleaned up and we were back open for business. It was the best night that we had. All of the tables were full that night, and we were able to share the Gospel with 6 people, give out 4 tracks and 2 Bibles! What someone may have intented for evil, God worked for his good. Here is the mess before we got it cleaned up:




Here are two pictures of the rocks that they used to throw through the window. We took the four biggest pieces that were left and kept them on top of the shelf for when the culprit(s) return.



So pray for the person(s) who threw the rocks and for all the people who misunderstand why we are here.