So much has happened on this trip!\u00a0\u00a0So much has happened just today!\u00a0\u00a0I wish I could tell you minute by minute all the amazing ways God has been working!\u00a0\u00a0But since I\u2019m writing a blog post and not a book, I\u2019ll just give you the highlights with a little Marabeth commentary!<\/p>\n
This morning Caitlin, Bethany and LaJuana and I attended a women\u2019s bible study.\u00a0\u00a0We worshiped together, studied Acts and had lunch.\u00a0It was amazing to worship with women of four nationalities, to see women with very little common ground worshipping one God!<\/p>\n
After the bible study we headed to the Ana and Vlade Divac Foundation.\u00a0\u00a0Vlade, a retired NBA basketball player who played for the LA Lakers and the Charlotte Hornets, returned to his homeland after his retirement and began a nonprofit organization.\u00a0\u00a0Serbia has few social programs so the foundation is an organization that helps refugees, single parents, special needs children and other people in need.\u00a0\u00a0We met with a representative of the foundation and shared information about our organizations.\u00a0\u00a0Please be in prayer as we explore ways to come alongside this organization and possibly partner together in our efforts to aide the people of Serbia.\u00a0\u00a0Pray especially that more doors will open to share the gospel.<\/p>\n
Upon finishing the meeting with the foundation, we headed to a village near Novi Sad to attend a Roma church.\u00a0\u00a0Okay folks, here is where the Marabeth commentary comes in!\u00a0\u00a0Better pick up your feet, because I\u2019m about to stomp some toes.\u00a0\u00a0(Don\u2019t say you weren\u2019t warned!)\u00a0\u00a0I expected a home church.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s usually what you find in the Roma villages.\u00a0\u00a0However, we pulled up in front of a church building.\u00a0\u00a0Now, before you get too excited, let me explain to you what this means.\u00a0\u00a0When I say church building, I do not mean nice brick building with a beautiful steeple and comfy padded pews.\u00a0\u00a0I mean a half finished brick and concrete structure with concrete floors, bare light bulbs, a few decent padded chairs and a bunch of molded plastic chairs.\u00a0\u00a0Oh, and the bench that had nails sticking out and was pretty rickety that three people sat on.\u00a0\u00a0There was a chair for everyone, but only because many people were working in the fields.\u00a0\u00a0In fact in the church in Prokuplje, the pastor had to ask some members not to come to the service because since we were there, even the standing room was full. The people working in the fields made this unnecessary tonight so all who wanted to attend were welcomed.\u00a0There is no heat or air in the building so, being summer, it was HOT!\u00a0\u00a0I prefer that to cold though so I was happy it was July and not December.\u00a0\u00a0By the way, they meet regardless of the weather.\u00a0\u00a0So there we were, in the hot unfinished building with two bare light bulbs.<\/p>\n
We sang and the preacher said a few words.\u00a0\u00a0Then he asked us to come and sing for the church!\u00a0\u00a0Ok, if you know me, you will know that no one has ever asked me to sing in public!\u00a0\u00a0I think some would probably pay me not to sing!\u00a0\u00a0So we sang.\u00a0\u00a0I know I don\u2019t sing well, actually I am a bit tone deaf, but somewhere in the middle of the second song, I forgot to be embarrassed.\u00a0\u00a0I found myself just worshipping my Savior.\u00a0\u00a0Right there in front of all those people, in an unfinished building it was just me and my Jesus. I realized that I rarely allow myself to be that free. We have that amazing building with air conditioning and padded pews.\u00a0\u00a0The building is safe and there is no graffiti on the outside.\u00a0\u00a0I don\u2019t know about you but I in my church I have never had to stand or hold my 15 year old on my lap during the service.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve certainly never been asked to stay home to make room for visitors or unbelievers, have you?\u00a0\u00a0Yet I find myself complaining and making excuses.\u00a0\u00a0I am irritated that I have to sit on the plastic chairs in the fellowship hall or that it\u2019s too hot or cold in the sanctuary.\u00a0\u00a0I like things to start and end on time.\u00a0\u00a0I prefer that my bible be the same as the one the preacher is using\u2026and I\u2019m not changing my version. I like to sit in the same spot on my padded pew. In fact, sometimes I\u2019m so caught up in my comfort and the irritation that comes with discomfort, that I forget why I\u2019m at church in the first place.\u00a0\u00a0Tonight, in a hot half finished building, I remembered.\u00a0\u00a0I sang with my whole heart:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m coming back to the heart of worship, cause it all about you, it\u2019s all about you Jesus.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m sorry Lord for the thing I\u2019ve made it, when it\u2019s all about you. It\u2019s all about you Jesus!\u201d<\/p>\n
I have pictures of that church on my phone as a reminder of what\u2019s important.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ll have my phone with me on Sunday and I don\u2019t mind to share\u2026.in case you need a reminder too.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So much has happened on this trip!\u00a0\u00a0So much has happened just today!\u00a0\u00a0I wish I could tell you minute by minute all the amazing ways God has been working!\u00a0\u00a0But since I\u2019m writing a blog post and not a book, I\u2019ll just give you the highlights with a little Marabeth commentary! This morning Caitlin, Bethany and LaJuana…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/banner1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5139,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2724\/revisions\/5139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linkingpartners.org\/sr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}