In October, we went to Montana, but not in America! Linking Partners church planters from Serbia and America met in the Montana hostel which is at Kopaonik. It was a beautiful time in a real family atmosphere, with good and instructive meetings where we learned a lot of good things from a lot of different experiences, and also shared with one another what we have experienced in our church planting activities in all parts of Serbia. I think these things are useful for service and we think there should be more gathering like this, and share experiences we all go through.
Arandjelovac
From our returning from Kopaonik we had opportunity to come by to Arandjelovac after one month away. We have been unable to go to there because we don’t have traveling costs covered. Our first plan while moving to Belgrade was that we split with our coworkers and that we go, 1. group in Vladimirovac, and 2. Group in Mladenovac and in Arandjelovac every Saturday but it became impossible. Currently in Arandjelovac the parents asked for us and asked when will we have class with kids, they thought we gave up, so we plan to start in Arandjelovac visits to families of kids with who we spend time and on that time we can make good contact and we can find a man of peace in that town. Also we will visit the families of the kids with disabilites who were in our camp camp. We want to talk to them about God because the parents had a chance to hear Gospel. We had two clubs with kids in Arandjelovac.
Mladenovac
Mladenovac had troubles with floods again, few times people were flooded and nobody went to visit them. Whenever there is rain everything from sewage comes out and floods the village. This month we could be two times with them and it was great. I went to visit family by family, I listened to all they had on their heart to say. A lot of times while we were bringing them humanitarian aid I thought it was a load for us and for others, of course not for those who accept it, and I wanted to have quick results on what we share, but our God is amazing God and He knows the right time for everything and every situation. Some families told that the only aid they got was what they received from us. We are thankful for Sasa from Kucura who sent us humanitarian aid for our people in Mladenovac.
Our way to come to those families is through childrens work and till now it is very successful. We have a lot of opened dors and calls to gather which we plan to do this month. Every children’s meeting with us, there are their parents and grandparents and in that way it is not only children’s class, but it is also for adults. A few of them were even involved in quiz questions and we saw they followed what we spoke about. In November Danijela set two meetings with women in different places about “Abortion From a Biblical View.” Pray that the Lord touches the hearts of these women and to begin serious work with them.
Belgrade
October was for me such a busy month in every sense, but I am happy the most for my first baptising. After I came back from Kopaonik, we had scheduled baptising. Sabrina, Danijel’s wife wanted to be baptised and in that way to confirm her belief in Lord, and with that to testify to others that she belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thought to be in some church which has baptising spot but we decided to do that outside on a field so that everyone and friends also could see how it looks. There were around 30 people at the service and baptism, and it was nice to see how people were ready to ask and know more about the Lord. Brother Vladimir preached while I was leading service and baptised Sabrina. After the service we had refreshments and I spoke to Emil’s father (Emil accepted Christ). We had really nice conversation and I see he changed his attitude and thoughts. I pray to God that He uses Emil like a sender of God’s word in his family. I am thankful to God for honour that I had to baptise Sabrina, and I pray for a lot of more baptism in our country. In Belgrade we have meetings at Wednesday and Sunday, and rest of the time we use for visits to families where we plan to work with.
What we confront the most is, mass leaving of Roma to Germany to asylum – a lot of our friends/relatives also left, some of them plan to go, and between them are Danijel and Sabrina. I told him to stay faithful to God. We still pray for them, and continue to visit the “pink house mahala”. We meet at Danijel’s brother in law’s house and move forward. Emil is a boy who accepted Christ few months ago and we see how he grows, we pray for them to grow in the Lord’s hands.
Obrenovac
We had opportunity to visit Obrenovac, after their visit to our church, we had nice time and talk with them. Zoran, man who gave us his house and garden for use, prepared nice lunch for us but what surprised us after it, was when his 11-year-old daughter said, in fron of all children and parents and parents of other children who were there: “I have to say this, and I cannot be quiet about it anymore, you can laugh at me if you want but I love God, I know how to talk with him. When I am afraid in night I pray and I feel peace and I can sleep”. This was big “booom!” for us, and I was encouraged by her statement. Every time when we go to Obrenovac, there is a lot of parents who listen to our message. I plan to start work with women and to get things wider step by step. We start with planning Christmas evangelisation, and we pray that God leads us so we can be in the centre of His will and that He is in the centre of our will.
Pray for:
- Female class we have to do in November – Mladenovac
- For Obrenovac and work with woman
- For Sabrina and Danijel
- For new leaders, so we can recognize them
- For parents and children in Arandjelovac
