Yes! It was a VERY productive day in Prokuplje and beyond! We stopped at a bakery on the way to the church and had a quick breakfast of burek, a pastry of filo-type dough with cheese inside. Then we had prayer at the church and headed to the school for another day of Children’s Club. From there, we split into two groups. Caitlin and Bethany stayed with Slavica and Natasha at the school for Children’s Club.
Marijan, Rodja, William and Marabeth, Ed and LaJuana headed to City Hall. There we met with the governor of one of the five districts of Serbia, and the Director of the hospital. Reporters and photographers were on hand to cover the event for the media. The team members shared the basic concepts behind Linking Partners — working through the local church to raise up leaders in the church and beyond to the villages, and affecting change in society as we do so by being Christ in the community. We explained how we used education and a micro-loan type program to help create opportunities for breaking the cycle of poverty, and that we did so because of the love Christ has for us and the people of Serbia.
We were very warmly received. The Governor said to Marijan, “My door is always open to you.” The hospital director invited us to the hospital tomorrow, and asked Ed to demonstrate how to use the CPAP machines. He wanted him to do this to show the hospital staff the depth of our care and concern for the people of south Serbia. They are both going to join us for lunch tomorrow, as well.
After lunch, we continued down two tracks for the day. Marijan, Rodja, Ed, LaJuana and William headed out to the village of Jasenica to visit a new home church, while Slavica, Natasha, Marabeth, Bethany, and Caitlin worked on diplomas and craft projects for the final day of Children’s Club tomorrow.
In Jasenica, we visited with Zika and Marina and their three children, Danijel, Damjen, and Sara. Zika has a job, but also grows organic peppers and tomatoes for sale. Marina is a new believer, and was excited to tell us about the power of prayer in her life. She was delighted to see pictures of William and Marabeth’s large family, and remarked that some of the children look just like Roma children! Their neighbors also attend their home church, but were not home from the cherry harvest yet.
Next, we visited with Nenad Durmisevic from Bosjnace. He was in Jasenica to work in the cherry harvest. We sat around a small table outside, overlooking the beautiful hilly countryside, and sang “Devla, bical to duho akana” while the music rang out across fields that are truly white unto harvest. Nenad is the pastor of a Roma church of around 70 believers in Bosjnace, and we last saw him in February at the Roma Leadership Conference. It was good to be with him again.
We returned to find the young leaders of Marijan’s church waiting for us at the church. It was 9:00 pm by that time, and they had been up since 4:30 am, and worked in the cherry harvest all day. They were anxious for the second day of leadership and discipleship training, and we were anxious to be with them. We talked about the importance of God’s Word in our lives — reading, studying, memorizing, and teaching. We left them at the church, practicing a drama for our citywide evangelical meeting on Saturday.
After a delicious supper of chicken soup, salad, and bread, we shared some “so tired everything is funny” laughter, and headed to bed. Tomorrow will be here in just a few minutes! Keep us all in your prayers!
