Texas Comes to Macedonia

This past weekend, we had the joy of hanging out with some good ole’ boys from Texas. They came decked in Texas Longhorn gear and everything. They were here for just a short time exploring the possibilities of God using their church here in Macedonia. Although, there entire time here in Ohrid was rainy and dreary, we were able to show them around and give them some ideas of ways they could pray and be physically involved. We spent some time in prayer at the fort, which is one of our favorite places to pray as you can see the whole city and its surrounding villages. They were a great encouragement not only to us, but also to Aleks and Marija.

Sights and Sounds of Fall

Wow! The season change certainly has been beautiful. How awesome that God allows us to enjoy His creation in so many different ways. The leaves are changing on the mountains around us, and the array of color is amazing. And the smells. OHH!!! There is definitely a harvest season in Macedonia that doesn’t exist in America anymore (at least not in Raleigh). A vast majority of people have some sort of garden that is filled with anything from corn to apples, peppers to kiwi. At harvest season families come together and make tomato sauce (they call ketchup), pinjur (with tomatoes, onions and some spices), and ajvar (a red-pepper sauce). The smells that come from these tasty treats have been wafting in our windows all month which has made the fast that much harder. But we have learned to appreciate our sense of smell. After they have made their sauces on their huge grill/stove thing, they jar them for the winter. They also jar pickles, small peppers, mushrooms, you name it, they jar it. This is a must for them as they don’t import as much in the winter as the good ole’ USA. So, this is how they get their nutrients during the winter. We have already received a few jars of traditional sauces from some friends, and we are excited to break them open for a taste.

Spend some time praising and thanking God for the smells and sights of His creation. He is such a creative God. Praise Him, for every good and perfect gift comes from Him.

Fall has just about arrived...

Well, the weather has been absolutely gorgeous here lately. The temperature has been hanging around 73-75 every day And let me tell ya, we aren't missing the NC humidity at all. We have been out and about enjoying the weather as much as we can. I have tried several times to study language outside, but I find I get way too distracted by the people and the beauty of the city to focus on the conjugation of all my verbs. So, my during my study breaks, I try to head out for a prayer walk and then a quick seat on a bench to enjoy God's creation. Isn't it just awesome that the Lord allows us to enjoy the beauty that He created for His glory. I am reminded with every look at the mountains and then out at the lake that God is more than sufficient for all my needs. He is the creator and sustainor of life, and He is more than faithful. He offers us more than we could ever even comprehend, and my cup overflows!!! My new favorite scripture is Psalm 18:35. It says "Your right hand sustains me, you stoop down to make me great." WHOO!!! He, the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords and King of all kings, the one Who created me, formed me in my mother's womb, and from Whom I cannot hide no matter where I go (Ps. 139) bends down to make me significant. WHOOHOO!!! Abundant, joy-filled life is what He offers. I know full well that some of you think I am crazy for getting excited about something so "illogical." My prayer is that one day you will know this Love and Truth through the blood of Jesus, and that is my prayer for the people of Ohrid, Macedonia as well. Pray that they will be open to the Truth. Pray that they will turn their hearts from "religion" and traditions to a relationship with the Savior. Pray that they will be broken over their sin. Pray that we will see fruit from our labor.

We Love You guys, and we pray that you are living abundant-joy-filled lives, that you are abiding with the Lord and that you are bearing much fruit.

Greece

After our summary post on August 3^rd it became apparent to us that we needed a short getaway to recover from an encouraging but somewhat exhausting month. So in a day and a half we planned a 5-day trip to Greece. We went to the northern part of Greece on the “three fingers” called Halkidiki but on the way we spent a night with our friend in Thessaloniki. It was good to spend the day together and encourage one another. The trip overall was very relaxing because in the remote part of Halkidiki where we stayed there was nothing to do but to relax. By the third day we noticed our shoulders loosening up and by the fourth day we realized how much we needed our break. We came back refreshed and ready to get back into the swing of things.


Above is a picture of us outside an authentic Greek restaurant in Thessaloniki:)

Fun Times ...

The month of July was busier than our 4 previous months here. Campus Crusdade for Christ came for the whole month of July and the 65 people (some from Balkan Countries and the majority from America) that came stayed in the Student Dorm across the street from our apartment. This was good because we were able to either be involved in or at least hear :) everything that was going on. About 4 or 5 times a week, Campus Crusade would go to the beaches from 2 until 6 and share the gospel with those who were interested in hearing. Afterwards they would all come back and we would either end up playing a game of volleyball or soccer. Then at night we would go to town to a cafe-bar and talk about the day or continue to share with friends that we made during the day. After 4 months of no contact with believers, this was a shock to our system. Our apartment also became a gathering place for people wanting to hang out, check their email, or watch TV which meant constant guests ... and when we say constant, we mean we can't remember an hour when someone wasn't in our apartment. It was fun though, but on top our normal routine, it was very busy. We have posted pictures of the things that happened in the last month Brian with two Macedonian believers from Skopje, Slatko and Alec. He had a blast with these guys. They are on fire for the Lord and are passionate about telling people about Christ. And Alec drinks more Coke than anyone I've ever seen.

These are two of the girls that stayed with us for 10 days. Marina (left)) Elena are believers from Skopje who came to hang out with Crusade for a while. We had a great time.

These are just a few of the people who were hanging around our house the last week. Rulay, in the red shirt, cooked us an amazing Macedonia meal consisting of Musaka, taratyr and shopska salad. Musaka is basically a good old fashioned meat and potatoes kind of dish. Taratyr is cucumbers clothed in sour cream with loads of garlic and shopska is chopped cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese mixed together with a little drizzle of oil and vinegar. So good!!!

One day while Crusade was here, they rented out two of the biggest boats and invited tons of people to go to St. Naum (about an 1 hour ride across the lake). It was a blast and many people were able to hear the Gospel. Right before we arrived at our destination they stopped the boat for a quick swim. It was great. The water was so cold, but so clean. It was beautiful.

This is from a volleyball tournament that Brian and some of the Crusade kids entered. Brian and his partner, Stefan, in the flowered shorts, lost, but I think they had a great time. We met a lot of people from Ohrid here who are interested in hanging out sometime. Great!!!

Ohrid Marathon

Yes, there is a 30 Km (19 mile) swimming marathon called the Ohrid Marathon in the clear blue waters of lake Ohrid. Since 1998, the Ohrid Marathon has been one of the 12 worldwide marathons held by FINA - The World Swimming Association. They start at one end of the lake at Sv. Naum and swim to Ohrid. The event takes all day and is definitely a spectical. This year it was amazing because after 5 hours and 33 minutes of swimming, it came down to a PHOTO finish!!!! Here are the results. Two people swam neck and neck for 19 miles and Petar Stoychev from Bulgaria won by 7/10ths of a second!!!!! I was fortunate to have a great spot and my camera for the end of the event. Here is a picture of the two swimmers approaching the finish line

Updates coming...

Please excuse the lack of posts on our website. These last two weeks we have been trying to balance our personal language study, working with Campus Crusade for Christ in their ministry here, talking and spending time with new believers as we try to start our first Bible Study, and hosting many guests. Since the 13th and until the 30th, we have had or will have someone in our home with the exception of two days. We will try in the next few days to update you on what has happened, but with our door always open, the constant stream of guests makes it difficult to sit down and gather our thoughts.

Please be in prayer for the many many new believers that Campus Crusade has been able to reach and especially for those who live here in Ohrid with whom we will be following up.

Campus Crusade for Christ

We are happy to say Campus Crusade for Christ arrived while we were in Poland. We have already been able to participate in a few of their activities, and Brian has enjoyed playing football (soccer) with them a few times. There are about 80 students from several different countries here. We had some of the Macedonian students over Wednesday night to watch the World Cup game. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to practice our Macedonian a lot. They will be here doing beach evangelism and throwing outreach parties for the whole month of July. We will be working with them as much as we can while maintaining our language studies.

Maybe too Much...

Is it possible to have too much fun??? If it is, I think we were there this past week at AGM (annual general meeting). The meeting was in Mikowajki, Poland, which is absolutely beautiful. We spent the week with about 400 other m's from around the Central Eastern Europe region. It was great. We had a time of worship and preaching every morning and then trainings in the afternoon. The worship times were wonderful. We knew we needed them, but we didn't have any idea how much until we got there.
Brian really enjoyed himself. He is half Polish and I am convinced we saw his distant cousins all over the place. The Poles really did resemble his family. He loved the food: kielbasa and perogies for lunch and dinner every day. He couldn't have been happier. He was even able to beat up on some guys on the basketball court.
We also had a blast reuniting with friends from MLC. It was so good to hear that they are struggling with some of the same things we are. We were able to encourage one another and spur one another on. We spent a lot of time laughing together and praying together. We were certainly renewed and refreshed, and we came back home with a deeper love and passion for our Lord first and then for the people of Macedonia.

Baptism in Bitola

We know of a church in Bitola and this weekend they were going to a nearby lake to perform a baptism and we were invited. Here (or at least with this church) is more of a celebration where you go and have your service at the lake, perform the baptism, and then go and have lunch and spend the afternoon hanging out or in my case playing football (soccer). Anyway it was a extraordinary service and although I understood 10% of what he said, someone later walked me through what he said and his testimony was fantastic. It was very encouraging not to only see a baptism, but to see everyone else so excited...genuinely.

This picture to the left occured at the party. I was able to stimulate an interest in playing soccer but the field next to the house was grown over ... big time. Someone asked me if I wanted to help cut the grass and of course I said yes. This lead to a lesson in cutting grass with a Scythe. This is actually how the majority of Macedonians cut their grass. Most have lawnmowers, but for those who can't afford it, this is the alternative. It was fun but it took me a row to get the motion down ... it isn't as easy as it first looks.
On Saturday, we got to spend the day with some good friends, Ethan and Jan. It was a good day of walking around Bitola and conversation. While we were there I also got to hang out with my good friend the World Cup mascot ... he is cool.

Politics in Macedonia

Mandy and I were relaxing at the end of the day and we heard the sound of honking horns and throngs of people and we knew what was going on. In Macedonia, you are only allowed to campaign 20 days before the election … can you imagine that in the US!!! So needless to say when we hit the 20-day countdown there is a barrage of campaigning. A couple of days ago, we heard drums, dancing, horns honking, singing, and cheers (we have a video which I am working on getting up here). We did have a couple nights of silence, but this night they were at it again and we stepped out onto our balcony to see a crowd of people moving towards town center. We decided to see what was going on and headed to the center to find a platform where two speakers gave their speeches. Naturally, we do not get involved in politics so we kept our distance, but we did get to be spectators... and of course I brought the wrong lens for the occasion. Apparently the two parties distinguish themselves between red and orange. Politics is VERY big here which is why we have to be careful, but we will have to learn for what each of them stand. I imagine it will be hard to avoid until the elections on July 5^th. Fortunately we will be in Poland for AGM the last week of June so at least we will be able to sleep undisrupted for that week!

***UPDATE June 18, 2006***
I learned from the guy who came to give us our internet that orange is just what people wear around election time. He kind of shook his head at it and made it sound like they are fans at a game. However there are two politcal parties and Red and white/blackis the color of one and Blue and something else is the color of the other.

World Cup

It has been enjoyable to be here during the World Cup … although it wasn’t very much fun watching the US play last night. All of the cafiches (café bars) have TVs and when it is game time, the cafiches get full and the streets begin to empty. It isn’t pandemonium but people seem to always have one eye on the TV and the other on the conversation. Macedonia “never” (according to locals) gets in the World Cup otherwise I think you would see more enthusiasm. We look forward to the next World Cup in 4 years when we can spend time with people and discuss the game as well as why we are here. This is what most of the cafiches are like when it is game time!

Sacrifice

About 3 weeks ago I had a string of bad personal time with God and I distanced myself from Him. Whenever that happens you know that things will start to go poorly. All the thoughts of what I am missing in America start to come out and dwell. I never got to the point that I wanted to get on a plane and go home, but if at that moment the IMB decided to send me home than that would have been okay with me. Of course I miss my family and my cousins, but I also miss parts of the American Dream that I had wanted for nearly all my life. Having a nice car and motorcycle along with a home in the Rocky Mountains so I could go rock climbing, backpacking, fly-fishing, and picture taking whenever I wanted. I also would have the money that comes from being an engineer to spend on the toys needed to do those things and keep me “happy” (and of course it would be near a big city so Mandy could shop J). It is one thing to sit in America surrounded by everything and realize that you will be leaving it, but it is a completely different thing to actually get over here and to have left it behind you. The pull of the world is very strong and it would be so easy to compromise.
When you start entertaining the thoughts of going back, you start to justify things and compromise your relationship with God, the truths of the Bible that you know are there, and the things which God has shown you/convicted you with the Holy Spirit. You meditate on the things that you want for yourself (the flesh) and find out how far you can follow God before it interferes too much with the those things. When you find the point where those meet, then most people will settle there. As for us, we could go back to America and get the job and toys that we want along with a house in the Rocky Mountains. Realizing that there is a need for missions and giving everyone an opportunity to hear about the sacrifice of Christ, we could make our ministry the local people around us, the friends that we make along the way, and truly be the best witnesses we could be while we pursue what we want in life. In that week, about 3 weeks ago, I had it all figured out: how I could do everything I wanted and try to do some of what God wanted.

But that wasn’t going to work…

After spending extended time with God over the weekend to correct myself, the truth that I already knew grew bold in me again. That when this life is over, it isn’t going to matter what job we had, how much money we made, or if we did everything that we wanted in this life. These things aren’t necessarily bad, but rather gifts from God. But when we die, we will be judged on our relationship with God. The first thing will be if you have one: if you have believed in the truth of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and placed your faith in that work to restore your relationship with God. If you do have a relationship with God, the second thing you will be judged for is how you have lived your life for God and your stewardship of what he has given you.

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work, which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” - 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 (NKJV)

The believer’s life will be tested for the good work of the faith. The house, the car, the money, and everything material in this world does nothing. Advancing the gospel, being and ambassador for Christ, being the fragrance of life unto life … everything that God asks of us and asked specifically to each one of us is what will be judged. If I went back to America I would be walking away from what God specifically asked me to do and at the end of this life I would have a map full of places that I have been, but it would all get burned away when standing before God. And the truth is that although my flesh would be happy, I would be miserable because I know that I was compromising in the only area where I can find contentment and in the only area that truly matters in life. Now the path of a missionary is not everyone’s calling, but it was mine and that is what I must follow. Three verses came to my mind at the end of that week about 3 weeks ago. The first:

“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (NKJV)

Inspiration from Paul just before his death:

“For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” - 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (NKJV)

So ultimately I realized that I am either going to live my life for God or live it for myself. Those are the only two possible roads. Although I would very much like to live it for myself, I know that true contentment is in following God. My sacrifice to God for the salvation He gave is to live my life for Him and not the one of the flesh.

And I close with this:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” - Romans 12:1-2

There is A LOT more to this than what I shaved off to put in a post. If you want to know more about what I have said, just send me an email.

We Finish Today!!!

Well, today is Lesson 36 in our White Macedonian Book. This is the last lesson of the book, but we are not done. We will spend a week reviewing vocabulary and the lessons to make sure we have them down. After that we will work in the Red Macedonian Book which is an intermediate book which will help us refine our grammar as well as help us learn how Macedonians compose sentences. Above is a picture of our Tutors. Maria is on the left and Pavlina is on the right.

My Hike through the Mountains

There is a chain of mountains that runs right next to the city and the part the runs next to the city is apart of a National Park. Every time I walk around town you can see the mountain chain and in particular one fairly tall part of it that is about 5 minutes from our apartment. I decided that my mission is to find a direct path from the city to the top. My landlord was the director of the National Park for 30 years and his son is now the director. I called the son and asked him about any dangers I might face trying to get to the top and other than snakes there were no serious threats. He also told me that a group was going to the top last Saturday and I was invited. Thinking that it was a group of park rangers, I got very excited because I could scour the mountains with experienced people. I called him Friday night just to make sure that I had everything I needed and I learned that 160 High School students were going as well and that a bus was leaving at 8:00 in the morning out in front of our apartment. Really confused I got up at 8:00, caught the bus and on the bus I met Al Yates with the Peace Corp who just came to the city as well. Al told me that the mayor was opening a new trail and they wanted as many people to be there as they could to celebrate.

The busses took us on a 40 minute trip to the top of the National Park and we were dropped off on a dirt road and then left. This dirt road lead us past the open pasture that you see in the picture and to a mountain house. It is basically a house with no electricity that they keep in the National Parks for events such as this. We were served lunch our first stop would be a 300 yard long cave that they had open to the public. It was big and worthy of the 20 minute hike from the house up an over a small ridge. After Al and I got out of the cave we headed back over the ridge and waited on the other side and take some pictures.

Hiking a little bit faster than everyone else we asked some people where the new trail was located so we could head on over. After 3 people scratched their head we knew were in the wrong place and hiked back over the ridge to the cave. After meeting the director he told us that the trail continued on after the cave and went down to small village where we could catch a bus on its route, but the group had already left. We were able to double time it and catch up to the group. The key point in the trip took place in the picture below.

The trail hit the road after about 2 hours and the road that goes to the left is the one that goes to the village and the one that goes to the right is a 25 kilometer (16 mile) trail all the way back to the town which we left this morning (yes if you squint you can see it right on the lake)! Well that is the way we went. So after many many many hours of unexpected hiking, Al and I finally made it back to town. Although it went not as expected, it was a fun trip full of beautiful pictures and good conversation ;).

Language and Life

“Let us not forget that any relationship whatever between God and man rests today on the fact that God lived the life of a common man—was born in a stable, sweated in a carpenter shop, preached from a little fishing boat, sat down tired beside a well and conversed with a courtesan, ate and drank with ordinary men, and submitted to an ignoble death—in order that we could recognize Him. Nobody called Him a hero or a martyr. He was simply doing what His Father told him to do, and doing it with delight…”

J. Elliott

We hope you are all doing well. Things here in Macedonia are great. It is finally warm and absolutely beautiful. Brian has started exploring the mountains every morning for his exercise. He bikes about five minutes to be at the foot of the mountain, and then he starts his trek up to explore the mountains and village life of our town. He loves it.

We have two more days in our first language book which we will finish Tuesday. We are really excited to be finished with this first book, although there are many days when we feel like our proficiency hasn’t improved since day one. We still have a long way to go! Next week will begin our new schedule where we only be doing three days of language with our tutors and the rest of the days we will be learning and practicing on our own with neighbors and people in the community. We will spend our afternoons prayer walking the city and getting to know it and its people better. We are certainly not finished with language school yet, and so while we do all of these other things, we will still be learning the language. So please pray for patience and remembrance as we continue to shove a mass amount of new words into our head everyday.

We have AGM, Annual General Meeting, for all of our colleagues from Central Eastern Europe in Poland at the end of June. It should be a great time of rejuvenation and fellowship, and we are very excited about it. Please pray for all of us that we will have safe travel.

July 1 will start a huge project by Campus Crusade here. They will be here for the whole month of July and will be doing a done of projects with the tourist, but they will also be reaching locals. Pray that we will see much fruit from our labor as we join in with their work.

Great Time

We had a wonderful and very renewing time at the prayer retreat with our teammates. We were able to prayer walk our city and have a time of Bible study and prayer as a group. It was great!!! We also had a great time hanging out with other English speakers. The girls went shopping and the boys hit the pool hall. From what I understand Brian may have ruled the table. The last night we were all together, we watched this thing called Euro Vision. Its like American Idol except all of the countries of Europe participate. Talk about interesting. We were pretty excited at the finale of the show… Macedonia made it into the finals. Whohoo!!! Go Macedonia!!!

We were so grateful to have everyone here. The fellowship was wonderful and the prayer time was very rejuvenating. Thank you for praying with us for the people of Macedonia.

Happy Mother's Day

We just wanted to send a rousing Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms out there, but especially to our moms, Kathy and Lee. We love you both, and we thank God for you. Thanks for raising us with so much love and patience. We learned so much from you, and you are still teaching us new things (like how to make a decent Polish Bobka (still working on that one) and how to cope with things 5000 miles away). We Love You!!!

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also and he praises her: Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all." Proverbs 31:26-29

Prayer Retreat....

Team Macedonia will be going to Ohrid for a prayer retreat next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Pray that the Lord will bind us as a team. Pray that He will teach us how to pray for this lost people around us. Pray that we will be an encouragement to one another. And as we pray and ask God to reveal Himself to the people of Macedonia, we ask that you pray with us. Although you will not be here for the retreat, we ask that you will be praying along side of us. The Lord works mightily through prayer.

“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite heart.”

Psalm 34:17-18

Pictures!!!!

I don't know how I missed it, but I finally figured out how to put pictures on the blog!!! Now all I need is a speedy connection so it doesn't take an hour to upload. Expect pictures soon!!