"Stara Ama Kavalitetna"--Old but Quality

This week, we have been celebrating Christmas Macedonian style. Their Christmas falls on the 7th and doesn't involve Santa (he comes on New Years), and is really more "religious" than our Christmas. There is a lot of visiting to be done this week. You basically go see everyone you know and drink coffee and eat kifli (yummy bread), ham and cheese and pacha, a gel with pig leg cartilage, joints and bone in it (yep, it's about as good as it sounds). I have been forced to eat it in the past, but praise the Lord, no one has forced it on me this year. On Christmas day, K, M and I went over to A and L's house to visit for a little while. We ended up dancing the oro with their neighbor, and her two cousins.



The older lady, leading the dance, made a comment about the how she was old. The girl beside me responded, "You're old, but quality." I thought that was cute. We had a blast, and I am happy to report that our relationship with them, their neighbors and their whole family is growing.


We have been in homes pretty much non-stop for three days now. Fun times.

A Belated Christmas Party and SNOW!!!

After a whirlwind of a few weeks, we were finally able to get together with our team to have a Christmas party last night. It was SO much fun!
Here we are after chowing down on some yummy Mexican food.

K and M with their Christmas presents.

K and I went out in the massive amount of snow to collect some for snow cream.

YUM!!!

Brian and I went out today after another full night of constant snowing. It was beautiful.
This is our town covered in snow. How beautiful!

This is the giant mound of snow in the center. It's not so beautiful, but it calls to me to climb it.

That's our car behind me. I think we need to start shoveling.

Brian, scraping the snow off of our neighbor's yard roof (not sure what else to call it). He was busy helping our neighbors dig their way out of the snow most of the day.

And after 12 inches of snow, it's still snowing! WOW!

Trust

Christmas brought twinkling lights, pretty ornaments, presents under the tree, stockings full of goodies and good smells from the kitchen. Christmas came as it always does and it wasn't that much different from Christmas stateside. Sure there were no candle light Christmas Eve services, no Christmas cantatas, no extended family (well, if you don't count Skype), no Christmas carolers, no rush to beat the crowds at Walmart, no... But it came as it does every year. Christmas is one of those things we can trust will be there every year. It is the holiday that children start looking forward to the day after Christmas, and the parents also recognize, the day after Christmas, that they better start saving for next year's big day, because it's coming with all it's wonder and fun, hustle and bustle. It will be there. We can trust that fact. I have spent a lot of time this Christmas season thinking about trust, steadfastness, hope, fullness of joy.

About a month ago, we found out we were pregnant for the second time. We were thrilled! It seemed to be the perfect time to be pregnant. It would mean that we would be able to have the baby while we were stateside next year and that our precious family would all be there to welcome the arrival of our new little baby. Our hope of this fact began to be crushed over two weeks ago. We had many ultrasounds and blood tests to check the pregnancy hormone in my blood and things weren't looking good. It looked as if we may not carry this baby to term, and then my levels went up and I was sure everything was going to be ok. The Lord had answered our prayer! But the doctor told me my levels had not risen enough and that it could be a hetero-ectopic pregnancy (one normal pregnancy, one tubal pregnancy), but that neither would survive. She had me meet with the surgeon who would do the operation if indeed I had a tubal pregnancy. To make a very long and emotional story short, the doctors told me Monday night, 4 days before Christmas, that I would miscarry in the next few days, and as sure as Christmas came, so did the miscarriage of this little life.

There has been a rising and falling of emotions all week. Of course we have been sad, and at times overwhelmed with grief that we will not meet this precious baby in 8 months, but then there has been comfort, hope, joy. There is comfort in the knowing our Lord, the one who holds life in His hands, the one who creates and sustains, the one who loves us with an everlasting love. He is our Savior. He has called us by name. We are His. There is comfort in knowing that He knows me altogether. I have committed Psalm 139 to memory over the last couple of months, and His words to me in this chapter are so full of hope. He has not only hedged me behind and before and laid His hand upon me, but He has also hedged our unborn baby behind and before. He has laid His hand upon it. His thoughts are precious toward it. They are too many to count. That I can trust. He, my great Savior and Sustainer, is more trustworthy than the coming of Christmas. He is steadfast. He is good, and all that He is does is good even if we don't understand it at the time. I can hope in and abide in Him and there is fullness of joy there, in His presence.

Pray for us. Pray that our focus will be on our Lord and not our loss. Pray that we will remember His goodness and that we will trust Him. He is faithful and worthy of praise.

What's New?

We wanted to keep you all in the loop on some things that are going on here in Ohrid:

It is wood-cutting season, and Brian has been around helping neighbors and friends with their very large piles of wood.


We had a great Thanksgiving and hope you did as well. If you would like to see pictures of our Thanksgiving with our team, you can click on the Kirkpatrick's blog link to the right. Jackie has posted pictures of some of the festivities. Yes, Brian did get to play football with the guys and had a blast.

Brian is going through team leader training which is requiring a lot of reading and writing papers. He has an assignment to read every week and report due on it every Friday. We will be going to Prague for three weeks in February for the final part of his training. He is encouraged at how much he is learning. Pray that he will remain diligent for the next three months and that he will learn all that God has for him to learn through this training.

I am currently working on a cookbook to be given to the Macedonian women. It seems like every time I make something for Macedonians, they want the recipe, and my other American friends say the same thing. So, we decided to compile our recipes and put together a book of American recipes in Macedonian. This project has been more than overwhelming for me because I am not so proficient in Macedonian kitchen words and I am not at all computer savvy, but I am excited to see what God is going to do with this project as we give this book out all over the country. A couple of the ladies who contributed some of their American recipes, like American pancakes, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, have also submitted their testimonies to be put in the book. I am currently working on adding Bible verses, Bible stories and the Gospel presentation to the book. Pray for this project to be completed to God's glory and in His timing, and pray that many women, and maybe even men, will come to know the Lord because of this.

As for other things, we are still keeping up with contacts and trying to meet with them to build our relationship stronger and stronger. Our relationship with A and L is growing and we are beginning to meet many members of their extended family.

On a sad note, you should know that our small group Bible study, or what we sometimes referred to as "church" is no longer meeting. It has been a very hard road for us and the cause of much discouragement, but the Lord is teaching us so much through this time. We feel very much like we are starting over from scratch here, but God's grace is more than sufficient to give us the strength we need. I, personally, have struggled with resting in the Lord and finding joy solely in Him during this time, but He is restoring me and teaching me so much of Himself through this. I am overwhelmed at His great love for me, and assured now more than ever that He is GOOD. Pray that Brian and I will cling to Him and His word. Pray that we will not grow weary in doing His will and that He will be glorified in our lives. And do pray for the church here in Ohrid.

Thank for keeping up with our lives and for praying.

Interesting Article

I found this article on google news. Very interesting. I would say that about 95% of his list is right on target concerning this beautiful country. But there are some things that are debatable. Take a read and let us know what you think or better yet get on the next plane and come see for yourself.

Learn more about your country, you'll love it more
I ran into a great article on Macedonia, conveniently titled “Do Macedonians know Macedonia?”. One can wonder what the answer to this is going to be. If it leaned towards “No”, it did so, rightfully.

After dissecting the information in the article which was in Macedonian, I must admit, for several of the things there I was not aware of.

Only two years ago, under the Gruevski Government did Macedonia started protecting its national treasure, specifically archeological finds, who for years were illegally dug out with the artifacts sold outside the country.
I can't forget a conversation I had with a Houston Archaeologist who had worked in Macedonia for a week, back in 1995. She had been kicked out from the country by the Macedonian police for not having a license to conduct archaeological research. According to her, and I quote 'in Macedonia you can dig half a meter and uncover priceless relics that go back thousands of years'. Don't get any ideas.

What is the first thing Macedonians say when a foreigner asks “What can I see in Macedonia?”
The response given to them is short, usually two or three words - Go to Ohrid, Mavrovo.
If someone asks “What is Macedonia unique for” some may say “Churches and Monasteries” but wouldn't be able to name a few, or give a specific number or locations. In other words, foreigners have to be very lucky to meet Macedonians who know even the basic things on their country.

How many of you have been to the Berovo or Debar lakes, the Strumica waterfalls, the incredible church Joakim Osogovski in Radovis. Have you ever visited our old cities, villages, monasteries, who judging from the numbers, we could export them.
Did you know that the most expensive coin collection ever sold was from Macedonia? The coins were dug up (stolen) from Macedonia and sold without any consequences to the seller at a Sothebys auciton.

The commercials about Macedonia, financed by the Government, produced and directed by Milco Mancevski are shown across the world. Good, but instead of being shown on CNN and the likes, these commercials should first make the rounds on Macedonian television.

It has become increasingly evident that Macedonians don't know the basics on their culture, riches, even the history.

Time to start with the basics, though I won't follow any particular order.
Macedonia is the only place in Europe to have rubies.
How many of you have known that the city of Prilep has rubies, precious gemstones who can be seen on world catalogues. And how many of you knew that foreigners are purchasing these rubies at dirt cheap prices. Decades ago, the people in the Prilep region had been told (lied) that the rubies found near Prilep's dolomit marble mine were not gemstones, rather a low quality mineral called corundum.

The Macedonian mine “Alshar” on Kozuv mountain is the only world source of Thallium, and a potential 'mine' for ecological clean energy. Since 2004, the Alshar mine is a member of the “Emerald” network, an organization for protection of nature's rarities.

The highest quality of opium is the Macedonian. Second is Pakistan's opium who has seven morph units. Third is the Columbian with around 3.5 M.E. The Macedonian opium has an incredible 14 M.E., doubling that of Pakistan.

The most famous of all Roman roads has its largest part in Macedonia – Via Egnatia.

The cave “Peshna” in Makedonski Brod is described in the New York Times as identical to the 'imagined' caves in the Lord of the Rings.

Parts of Jesus' Crucifiction cross are layed in the foundations of the monasteries of St Bogorodica Precista (Kicevo), St. Jovan Bigorski, and St. Georgij Pobedonosec in Rajcica (Debar).

The tomb of the famous Greek “Zorba” is located in Skopje's city cemetary “Butel”. Alexis Georgios Zorba was the inspiration behind Nikos Kazantzakis work “Zorba the Greek”. He had remarried and had children in the Macedonian capital. His tomb is on prominent display at Skopje's cemetary.

Apart from Mother Theresa who is born in Skopje, the founder of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk was born in Bitola.
The father of the modern military engineering is Dijad, from Alexander the Great period. He invented the catapult among many other things.
Music in Macedonia dates back to the 11th century. The Bologna psaltir is written in Cyrilic in the Ohrid village Raven. If you visit the Ohrid Musem you can find written songs and music notes dating back from the 10 to 14th centuries.
The most famous song in Palestine and today treated as an anthem of Palestine and the Arabic world is written by a Macedonian. Bitola journalist and writer Pande Manojlov wrote the theme in 1982 and published it in the Skopje daily 'Nova Makedonija'.
The oldest tree in Macedonia is the Platanus Orientalis in Ohrid. Whether a coincidence or not, the tree is growing since St. Kliment Ohridski time, in the 9th century.

The nuns at the Macedonian church of St Gorgjija Pobedonosec hand make the special archbishop clothing worn by the head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, as well as the heads of the Russian, Greek, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Serbian Orthodox Churches, including the ones in North America and Africa.

The world famous Manaki brothers of Bitola won the first golden medal for cinematography in the Romanian city of Sinaia in 1905.
The Macedonian capital Skopje has been continuously populated by people for over 8,000 years. The Skopje fortress, the neolith areas of Madzari and Chair are among the oldest in Europe.

The Macedonian city of Ohrid is the oldest on the planet, most recently featured on ultra famous US show “Jeopardy”. The Ohrid lake itself is over 3 million years old. It has over 200 endemic species not found on any other place on the planet. Apart from its ancient theater (which is still in use today), the ancient Ohrid (called Lychnidos : the City of Lights) boasted a classical agora, gymnasium, civil basilicas and temples to the Gods.

One of the Titanic Survivors was a Macedonian. Stojko Dodolovski, from the village of Chucher (Skopje area), made a last second purchase of a ticket to the Titanic from a British priest. When the ship started sinking Stojko jumped into the ocean. He swam towards few of the rescue boats, but was not allowed to climb aboard. Stojko stayed calm and floated on the ocean until one of the rescue boats came back to look for survivors, several hours later. Stojko was one of the 12 survivors picked up.

The first ZOO in the Balkans was opened in Skopje.

The 120 stone dolls in Kuklica, Kratovo, who are 10 million years old, were almost accidentally flooded by the Macedonian Government in an attempt to create an artificial lake in the area. The legend behind the stone dolls who are lined up next to one another is that they were guests at a wedding, but were turned into stone, cursed by a forsaken bride.

According to NASA, Macedonia's Kokino is fourth on the list of oldest observatories on this planet. The number one is Abu Simbel (Egypt) , Stonehenge (England), Angkor Wad (Cambodia). Take a moment to connect the dots on a map.

Macedonia has 34 mountains, 53 lakes, with the oldest of course being Ohrid lake, also deepest in the Balkans.
Macedonia annually produces 135 millions liters of wine, 150 million liters of rakija, and 850 million liters of beer.
The first railway route in the Balkans is between Skopje and Solun, in the 19th century.
Anastasie I (Anastasius Flavius), Bysantin king (491 – 518) is someone who should be credited with good portion of Macedonia's infrastructure. Justinijan gets the credit for Samoil's fortress, Marko's Tower, the Skopje fortress.

The first Church in Europe is the Macedonian Church. 50 years after Jesus, Paul had a vision of a Macedonian man asking for help, as written in the Bible. Paul does come to Macedonia, and pays a visit to Filipi, Ber, Stobi and Ohrid. His symbolic trip if looked on Macedonian map, forms a cross. The first woman in Europe to be baptized was Lidija, a Macedonian from the town of Tiatir who in nearby Filipi was selling RED textile fabric. The Red color has always been prominent in the Macedonian folklor, materials and fabric, on the flags of all uprisings throughout the centuries.

The Lesnovski Monastery was the First Monarchy in the Balkans. Until the 1940's the Lesnovski Monastery had the largest library in Southern Europe. The books were later taken out and distributed throughout Macedonia.

According to Archaeologists and Geologists, traces of life in Macedonia date back to the Pliocene, i.e. before the first ice age. In the city of Negotino, bones of an animal are discovered that date back between 2 and 10 million years, while the man found in Aegean Macedonia is believed to be older than the Neanderthal found in Germany (30,000 – 100,000).

This is only a small part on Macedonia. Get to know your country, you will love it more. //Gorazd V.

St. Mary Day 2 of 2

In order to understand this post, please read the last post, St. Mary Day 1 of 2, first.

So today was a completely different experience than yesterday! They still had all the same things going on, but add about 1000-1500 people and it gets crowded! Here are a couple pictures:

Just after we parked the car it was Mandy, Karen, and Kate's turn to get in a picture.

While we were climbing up to the monastery, many people were coming down. It was a constant flow in and out the whole time. When we got there, we went into the church first and the priests and the bishop were singing. It just so happened that they finished and were going outside to conduct one of the three communion services. There was one in the church, one behind the church, and the one in the common area was the big one. Below are pictures of the people in the common area. The priest are the group of white robes in the middle. The ceremony was about one hour!




This last picture below is the soup tent which was being made the night before. After the communion service had finished, it was a race to the tent. They were serving hamburgers and sausage outside of the monastery on the road, but they were insistent that we eat some of the soup because it was made by the church and therefore it would be "for health"


Today was not much different than yesterday, but the line for the hole and the amount of candles was tremendously longer and bigger. It was good for Mandy and Karen because they got to see it for themselves as well. I was able to record this video which shows clearly what people try to do to receive blessing and health. I thought of this verse as I was watching it and decided to call the video "Praising the Bishop" instead of praising the King.

Matthew 14:35-36 (NKJV)
"And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well."



Sorry about the shaky camera, but it gets settled.

St. Mary Day 1 of 2

The month of September has given us a great opportunity to meet and become friends with two other couples in Ohrid. As our relationship has grown, they both separately invited us to go with them on a trip this weekend. Why?

This Sunday is the day they celebrate St. Mary and everyone will go to a church or monastery named after Mary in order to celebrate. Nearly every single church or monastery in Macedonia is named after some kind of saint and almost every single day of the Orthodox Calendar is given to celebrate a saint. The days on which you celebrate the saints who are the most honored in Macedonia have become holidays and a good reason to party/get together. Since this weekend we are talking about Mary, the mother of Jesus, it is a big deal and nearly everyone will be celebrating. There is a monastery named after Mary about 6 miles in the mountains outside a town called Kicevo and it is one of the few areas where everyone in the western half of Macedonia will go if they want to go somewhere outside of their local church named after Mary. Both couples invited us to go to this monastery and fortunately one wanted to do it on Saturday night, and the other wanted to do it Sunday morning. Tonight Mandy and Kate stayed home and I went with the first couple. It turns out it was a great night to go because tomorrow they are expecting over 10,000 people to visit the monastery throughout the day and there was practically no one there when we got there. The absence of a lot of people gave me a good chance to look around and take pictures. First let me show you a couple of pictures of the monastery:

This is the entrance to the monastery. The compound itself is not that big, but it is high in the mountains which makes for a beautiful view.

This tent is where they have three HUGE vats of soup that they are making for Sunday. The table one the left is covered with bowls that they will use to serve the people.

Here is a picture of the church right after you come through the main entrance. The church is so tall that this was the only spot on the compound where I could get a picture of the whole church!

Here is a picture of me with L and A in front of the entrance of the church. I made a mistake when I smiled ... you are not supposed to do that in pictures over here.

This is what I always call "the money changers table". When we got there, this table had not been set up yet. You will notice the box in the background and the person on the very right is unwrapping more candles. In the period of about 20 minutes, they had already made over 10 dollars in sales from candles. The reason this is so sad is because they believe that by lighting the candles they are actually giving good health to others as well as helping the dead by honoring them. I almost recorded the conversation I had with a couple of these people, but that would have been strange to them. We all pray for peoples health and it doesn't matter to me how you express that, but the people I talked to distinguished between the prayers and the candles as if the candles themselves did something

This is the living quarters of the monastery

This is a spring and above the spring is an icon of Jesus and the Woman at the Well. (This picture is going to become a tool!)

Here is the backside of the church and the end of the living quarters. This is a beautiful and well-kept compound.


While we were there, the "Vladika" or bishop of all the churches in the area came to the monastery along with an escort of other priests. The bishop is the second black robe from the right with the white beard. You will notice a the head of a man who is returning upright after kissing the bishop's hand.

We ran into one of the friends of L and A and were invited into the kitchen for coffee. We spend about 45 minutes in the kitchen talking with about 20 people about life in the villages in the area. It was one of the best experiences of the year for me because I learned a lot about their life and a lot about their beliefs. They are in many ways different than the people in "big-town" Ohrid and it gave me a huge heart for them.

I was able to enter the church and inside the church was much bigger than most churches, but still was nonetheless normal. They had several stands for lighting candles, several icons for kissing and gifting, one special area where there was "Blessed (literally "crossed") water, and a hole. A hole? Yes, see below:




This woman was a part of a LONG line of people waiting to pass through the hole under the icon of Mary three times in order to be blessed by Mary. People were lined up for so many different reasons, but they all believed that passing through the hole three times would give them a better chance of getting what they wanted/needed. Some people were passing through for relatives, some people were passing through for friends, but most were passing through for themselves to get health as well as something else. This was one of the saddest parts of the day for me. This old lady was complaining about her knee hurting (and she touches it at one point in the film), but she had to do it the third time to be heard. At the same time (at the beginning of the video) you will see a beaded necklace/loop passed three times over the body of the lady on the right. This is supposed to represent the transference of blessing from Mary to her. That is why she kisses the necklace as well as crosses herself to Mary at the end. I am sorry for the dipping camera, but although I was allowed to record this, some people were offended that I was recording this very serious event so I made it look like I was reviewing pictures.

We traveled about an hour to get the monastery and while we there, the crowd started pouring in. I sat in the corner of the church and watched people light candles, kiss saints, drink holy water (after they paid for it), and climb through a hole 3 times. There were many people there who were doing it because others were doing it or it was tradition without meaning, but there were also several people who really believed in what they were doing. The reason this is so sad is because although they desire to please God, they are far from understanding Him and knowing Him. God is not reached through lucky charms and dances, and candles are not rabbit's feet. While I was there, they marched a sheep around the church three times and people were touching it for good luck. When everyone had touched it, "for health", they released the sheep into the herd to bless the herd that it might prosper... again "for health". The crowd had dissipated by the time I took this picture. A hireling for the sheep and these two women were the last to touch it.

I prayed hard for these people that someone would tell them that they could know God, that they could talk with Him personally, that they could know His will, that they didn't have to climb through a hole three times to be blessed or any other sort of hokus pokus. I really prayed that someone would explain to them that it was too late to do anything for the dead but it was not too late for them. I wanted to read Luke 16 and harp on the fact that their is no warning from the dead and the dead are fixed in their place, but there still is a chance for us. I also prayed that if God would allow us, we would come back here when our work in "big-town" Ohrid was done ... but I also prayed that people from Ohrid would already have carried the message here before we got the chance! It was a wonderful experience in terms of meeting people, drinking coffee, and learning more about their view of the faith.

Pray for the villages and villagers of Macedonia!

Fun Days

Yesterday was a GREAT day at the coffee house. The team finished handing out the 700 packets of school supplies that they had made and enjoyed some fun times with the kids in the coffee house.
Elley was the official capuccino maker for the day. She has mastered the art.

Jeff manned the "ball toss" for awhile and did a great job letting kids throw a hackey sack at some cups.

Liz did a great job of face painting and "tatooing" the kids.

Mrs. Magaret did a great job at the craft table. I caught her taking a break. :0)

Here is a little girl making a craft with Mrs. Magaret.

All so that Brian and I could have conversation after conversation with the parents who came in with their kids.


Bradley, Misty, Doyle and Wilson were all out with M and K handing some supplies out to the kids in front of the schools. They have some good, exciting stories from their day.

The team has been absolutely phenomenol this week. They have adjusted without complaint to the many changes we have had to make, and they have done it all with a smile. Today is their day off and Brian is taking them on a little site-seeing tour. Tomorrow morning they will do a little more prayer walking and literature distribution, and Friday night they will be giving a concert at the coffee house. We are planning on a BIG crowd! Pray for Wilson, Elley, Liz and Doyle as they prepare to sing. Pray that God would use this concert for His glory and renown in this city.

Thanks so much for praying for this team. God is doing amazing things in the people of Ohrid because of their faithfulness to go.

Assembly Line

This is a group of hard workers. They put together 700 bags full of school supplies in 3 hours! WOW!



We had an overflow of bags all over our house when they finished. Here they are lining the steps of our basement.


They are all currently at the coffee house giving out the bags and doing prayer walking and literature distribution. In the last 2 hours, they have already had about 30 kids with parents come in. Brian said all the parents have sat down and had coffee with them and the kids are busy making crafts with Mrs. Liz. Great! Continue to pray for a good response!!! And we will keep you all updated!

Treats from America

Bradley and Misty brought me some great stuff from the states. Blow Pops, cheese-nip crakers and Cheerwine. OH BOY!!!! What a blessing! Thanks so much guys!

Update

For an update on the trip stay tuned to http://missiontomacedonia.blogspot.com This is a blog that Jeff, the team leader, put together to keep their prayer partners updated, and we thought you might want to take a look at it too.

School Supplies Part II

The supplies.

We are gearing up for the team from NC to come in Saturday night to distribute school supplies, (see post below) and I wanted to make one correction. The team is made up of 8 people: 6 from Stanly County and 3 from Philadelphia Baptist Church in Connelly Springs, NC. We are so excited about their arrival. Their first flight leaves from Charlotte tomorrow at 3:45 PM. Please be in prayer for safe travel and a wonderful experience for them here in Macedonia. Pray for the many people they will meet. We have already had several people come by the coffee house to ask about the group with the school supplies. Pray that we will see spiritual fruit from the labor and sacrifice of this precious group.

School Supplies

Please be in prayer now for a group from the Stanly County Baptist Association who raise money to hand out school supplies for kids from September 1st to the 6th. Our plan is to hand out school supplies to 700 children along with the first part of a seven part children's magazine. The magazine is the main point of the distribution and is a translation of The Mailbox Club in America. Each magazine has a very simple Bible lesson working all the way through to salvation. On the last page of each magazine is a test of 4 questions and when they answer the questions they cut out the test and mail it in to receive the second magazine. We are offering more school supplies after 4 lessons and a surprise after the last one. This is good because each parent will read through the magazine and learn as well. Hopefully through this distribution God might call more people to himself! We'll let you know how it is going as the week progresses!

With Delight

"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's shop, preached from a little fishing boat, sat down tired beside a well and conversed with a courtesan, ate and drank and walked 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."
--Jim Elliott

"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love... These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."
-- Jesus Christ; John 15:9, 11

"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."
--Paul; Colossians 2:6-7

"Behold, the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be unto me according to your word."
--Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ; Luke 1:38

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!

Chilly

So it has gotten cold this week. Last night we had to close the windows, turn off the fan and get our big comforter out. I am enjoying it though. I keep forgetting it is July. The tourists are all pretty mad. They come to Ohrid to swim and get a tan. There can be none of that this week. Although I did see people sitting on the beach yesterday with sweatshirts on. One lady was wearing her bathing suit bottoms and a sweatshirt. :0) I guess when you want a tan bad enough, you'll freeze to get it.

Campus Crusade is here doing beach evangelism (well now they are doing street evangelism cause its too cold to go to the beach). There are about 60 students here from 4 or 5 countries including South Korea! Pray that God would guide their time here, and that we would see people come to know the Lord this week.

Stomach Virus: Rakia, Coke, and Tea

Last week, 2 days after we got back from our annual meeting, we got the worst stomach virus I have ever had. I got it first and then, the next day, Brian got it. Kate stayed healthy. Praise the Lord!!! Let me preface the following with: from our bedroom (where we were camped out) our doorbell is the loudest most annoying sound you have ever heard, and people like to lay on it like a car horn in New York. Doorbell ring #1: the wonderful JW's. SMILE. They're not my favorite people in the world, and every time I see them I have to remind myself that God loves them and so should I. Try it when you are ready to fall over from exhaustion and dehydration... Doorbell ring #2: K brought us over some juices to keep our fluids up. I asked her to do this so it was ok. She was being a great friend, and yet the when the doorbell rang, I still mumbled under my breath. "Stupid doorbell." Brian rolled over and watched me leave the room only to go right back to sleep. Doorbell ring #3: Our neighbors, who are really great, heard that we had the virus and came over immediately with their home remedy.

Rakia, the strongest homemade alcoholic beverage you have ever even dreamed of. They put a little in a bottle for us because they know we don't drink it and brought it right over. He insisted that we both take 2 shots with some Coke a Cola. "You will feel better immediately." He said. I mustered up as much thanks as I could find inside and let him know I appreciated his gesture (just please don't ring the doorbell again). I set it on the counter and proceeded up the stairs to join Brian in trying to sleep it off (the virus, not the rakia). A couple of hours later, doorbell ring #4. This time it was our dear teammate, K, again. She had just been visiting with these same neighbors, and they sent her with some homemade tea for us. Very sweet, but by this point of getting up and down out of bed to do more than change my wee one's diaper, I was ready to find a big stick and beat the doorbell to a pulp. Thankfully, by this point, Brian was able to get out of bed to do more than run down the hall to the bathroom. So he got the door.

The tea came with instructions: rakia, coke-a-cola, and then tea. About 2 minutes after K left, he called (this was the 3rd time) to tell us the instructions again just to make sure we understood what to do. Oh! All the bells: doorbells, cell phones, house phones, and we didn't even touch the rakia or the tea, except to take a picture of course. :0)

More Fun in Greece

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet???"

Kate did beautifully on the 8 hour drive down. Good baby!

We recently had our annual meeting in Greece. We have written about these before (every June since we have been here), and this year was just as wonderful as others, maybe even better. We enjoyed fellowship--real biblical fellowship--that was much needed. We heard awesome stories of what God is doing among our coworkers and their people groups in neighboring countries. God is working. And while no one in our region is seeing people come to know the Lord in droves, God is moving and we give Him all the glory! We had a wonderful praise band come from Apex, NC--yeah that was cool. I met people who knew people I knew and places I knew. The pastor for the week was Pastor Rob Zinn from Emmanuel Baptist Church in California and boy did he preach! He preached every morning, and every morning I thought he was speaking directly to me. Many of my friends said the same thing. God used him to encourage us and spur us on in our call. Plus he gave really great hugs--like my PaPa used to. Kate had her first experience in daycare. There were people there to keep our kids. What a job?! I am so grateful for them as I was able to sit in a worship service and focus on worshipping and not on keeping her quiet and occupied. I needed that SO much! We came back feeling revived and pumped. Sure we have a ginormous task ahead of us, and we are so unworthy of the calling before us. But God is with us. "Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9).
The herd of sheep hanging out outside our bungalow. They had bells on. :0)

Swim time.

This is where we spent most of our afternoons. See the net on the left side of the picture. It was the cause of many bruises on my hubby. But he so enjoyed the competition in "WATER POLO!!!"

Mt. Olympus

Last week from June 4th to June 6th, several friends and I from the occupied territory of Northern Greece (explain later) climbed Mt. Olympus. I have posted ALL 258 of the pictures on my website: http://flickr.com/photos/brispics which Mandy gave me as a birthday present. But because I need to have some picture on the blog, here you go!

This is me at 2918m or 9574ft (the highest point in Greece and slightly higher than what is in Macedonia)

Spine Anyone???

We were recently in Skopje for lunch with some friends. We all met at the Cuban restaurant which was pretty exciting and random (Skopje has a Cuban restaurant?!). And Brian ordered this. He obviously had no clue what he had ordered, but ate it anyway. As he began to scrape off some of the very bright sauce, he discovered he had been served a spine. Yuck!!! Don't look directly at it. You might puke.