Tuesday morning, Ed and LaJuana, Natasha and the girls won the “On Time Is Late for Leaders” race to breakfast. 🙂 Since LaJuana is writing the blog, I get to highlight that small win! It *was* the first time this trip that we won, and we have the shortest distance to walk to breakfast, just for full disclosure.
After breakfast, we again met for prayer and worship at the church before heading to the school for the second day of Children’s Club. Word is getting around the mahala, and there were more children there today. Marabeth taught the lesson on The Good Samaritan, and Bethany shared a storybook that showed the children practical ways to be a helper.
We had a game that was a lot of fun for everyone. Ed, William, and Rodja had to lie down in the grass with an empty soda bottle on their foreheads. The children were split into three relay teams, and equipped with a large sponge and a big bowl of water. The winning team squeezed the most water into the soda bottle on their leader’s forehead. There was plenty of laughing, serious competition, and Rodja’s team turned out to be the winners, bringing that team up for a win from behind!
After lunch, we all did different tasks. Ed, LaJuana, and Rodja worked on some Linking Partners’ planning. William and Marabeth helped Marijan and Slavica in the second-hand shop where they work part-time. Caitlin and Bethany prepared supplies for tomorrow’s Children’s Club.
At 8:00 pm, all of the team except Caitlin and Bethany (who were still helping Caca “tsatsa”) met at the church. We met so late because the young people who are the upcoming leaders in the church had gotten up this morning at 4:30 a.m. to work in the cherry orchards, and had just gotten back from the orchard in time to clean up and meet at the church for discipleship training.
We started again with sweet singing and prayer. Rodja opened the meeting with an introduction on the absolute authority of scripture in all we do, including the principles Linking Partners bases our work upon. LaJuana followed with an explanation of the values Linking Partners has and how those affect our ultimate vision for Serbia, and which projects we choose. William closed with a Biblical lesson in being a disciple. A disciple is a disciple maker whose disciples also make disciples. Everything we do follows this pattern, of changing lives in an ever-widening circle. It’s a serious purpose, but we all find great joy in pursuing it together!
A late supper with Marijan and most of the leadership team from his church followed (a few had to go home because their jobs in the cherry harvest are even more involved than others’) and we finished the day full and satisfied on every level.
