Alright party people! Here we go with the first week, I'm not sure how well this will work because the first week of being in Serbia feels like it was ages ago. The picture to the right is from our first hotel in Belgrade, the Excelsior. I was just being silly, as you can well see. That's not the point though...
In our first few days in Belgrade we did a lot of exploring around the city and getting familiar with it, as well as team building. When we arrived the Stint team (Stinters are students, or former students who have been staying over seas for a year doing ministry) showed around the city a little bit and took us to an Internet cafe to e-mail family, friends and supporters to let them all know we had arrived safely. It was a bit of a long day because we were all so tired and trying to stay awake so we could adjust to the time. There were a lot of first impressions that day with our team. There were a few people I met that day that the first impression I had of them was not truly how they were, or it was and God changed them drastically.
The second day we did a scavenger hunt around the city. We were given clues as to where certain things were but we had to ask the Serbians where these things were at. So there was a lot running around and asking complete strangers for directions several times in order to get to a certain destination. It was a hot day, and I was with Aaron, Barry and Debbie, which made things interesting. Barry and Debbie were ahead most of the time asking for directions, but Aaron had the map, so they couldn't stray too far. We did learn a lot about the city that day though and where things were located. It made things easier through out the week as we went to the faculties (University campuses are called faculties in Serbia, and they are usually spread out through the city. The psychology faculty, for instance, might be on the north end of Belgrade, while the law faculty is south and the philosophy faculty is west etc.). At the end of the day there were prizes for the team that finished first, I don't remember who won though.
We had a couple "Family Nights" when we played games that involved a lot of team work. In one game we had to cross the room as a team on pieces of paper that were taped to the floor. The catch was that we each had a handicap, each paper we touched had to be occupied at all times or it was destroyed, and we had to alternate hands and feet with every move we made. That probably doesn't make any sense, but it was awesome and difficult. We learned to trust each other though. We also played sardines, which is a lot like hide and seek. We played at the fort, which was a lot of fun. My partner and I won that one, it was fun =)
Midway through our stay we had a day of prayer and fasting. We spent time in worship and prayer and reflection. Trying to prepare our hearts before God and really wait on him to hear what he had to say, grasp his vision for what he wanted to do here. It was a really awesome day. We watched a video, which I think I talked about before, that had all these old preachers sermons. The one that struck me was one who said that he had gone to Africa as a missionary and had intended to help the people and bring the gospel to them. When he got there he realized they already knew about Jesus, they were just content to sin, they wanted to sin, they loved their sin and didn't want to give it up. He was so angry and asked God why He had bothered to send him to these people who simply didn't care. God responded that He didn't send this man for the people and He didn't send him for the benefit of this man either, He sent the man for Himself. "I didn't send you here for you, I didn't send you here for these people, I sent you here for ME." And at that point I realized that I didn't want to be in Serbia for any reason other than God. It was a very good day. God gave me a vision of his excitement and his joy, his desperate passion for the people of Serbia. I've never experienced God like that before.
Then we had our blitzes. We split off into pairs and then went in groups of four to the various faculties to talk to students about the gospel and to promote the Speak Up! camps. I went to the Economy Faculty twice and then to the dorms. The faculty was interesting and difficult. Most of the students couldn't talk very long because they were in the middle of exams. There wasn't much success over all, it was really difficult. We definitely experienced some of the things we had be told about, such as that when you present the gospel to them they nod and agree with everything you say. They don't see the difference between what they believe and what we believe, which is a hard difference to understand. I still don't fully grasp it myself. Still, we did have some good conversations. I met a lovely young woman names Aleksandra at the dorms. Debbie and I talked to her for about an hour and a half, got the gospel out there and were able to really just love on her. At the end we had trouble saying good-bye even. She was a sweet woman, and I think we gave her some things to think about. It wasn't like she got saved on the spot, but she was thinking. Serbians really don't think about God, so for them to start thinking about Him and considering Him is an awesome thing.
During all this there was much praying going on. There are definite spiritual barriers to overcome. There is a lot of anger and loneliness in Beograd (White City), a lot of pain. There are still buildings there that are bombed out and haven't been repaired. They've been there so long that plants have started to grow in the rubble, which is actually really cool when you think about it. That life can still grow in such a hard place. That's what we're praying for in Serbia, that there would be growth and life in the hard place. It's all kind of underneath though. You wouldn't know about the anger and pain by the way people talk or act. You have to get deep with them to notice it, or hit on the right subject. They're friendly, and willing to talk to anyone about anything, although God is a very tough subject for them. They are a truly beautiful people, it hurts me to know that they are under oppression from those things. I can't wait for them to be free from it! It's coming =)
After the blitzes we went to Novi Sad, another beautiful city where God was doing beautiful things. But we'll talk about Novi Sad (New Hope) a little later =)
