Our awesome web designer has been able to put a media player on the left panel of the website.  Now, we can continue to record some songs for you and add them to the playlist.  I will add a post each time we add a new song.

We have just added “Preko Planina i Mora.”  You know this song in English as, “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever.”  Please remember that we are working on our language and we still miss up on the songs at least once every time.  But, I’m sure you don’t mind.

Here are the words in Bosnian:

We hope that you enjoy the song.  We love you all and always love to hear from you.  Also, our web designer has added the option to add comments to the posts, so feel free to talk back (however, we get to approve the comments, so make your comments wisely

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

We had the opportunity of getting to spend some great time with our new “family” here in Mostar.  There is another couple with our organization that lives here in Mostar, and they are from the U.S.  We were able to go to their home and have a wonderful meal (chicken, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and even pumpkin pie), play games, and watch a few videos (including the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special).  We even got to watch a little bit of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade…technology is crazy.

We are so very blessed and thankful for so many things…especially each and every one of you.  We love you all and miss you very much…especially on the holidays.

Blessings,

Billy and Jess.

It is time for a couple of light-hearted stories for you.  I (Billy) am not really sure how this happens, but I always find myself in funny situations.  Don’t get me wrong…I don’t mind.  I think life is more fun when you are thrown situations that make you laugh.

1. Jess and I were studying in our coffee shop.  We happened to be studying “mesni proizvodi” (meat products) at the time.  In the middle of our conversation about spicy sausage and luncheon meat, I look out the window and see the words “mesni proizvodi” on the building across the street.  There just happened to be a butcher shop right there!  I decided that I wanted to go study with the butcher…Jess told me to go for it.

Well, I entered the butcher shop and began with a few conversation starters…”hi,” “how are you,” and “what is your name.”  So far so good.  I went on to point to different meats and get a visual picture in my head along with the words.  Then, we got to the “teletina.”  I had already been told that this was veal, but the butcher decided to help me out.  He pointed to the “teletina” and said, “baby beef.”  Well, I remembered something when he said this.  I had just recently wanted to learn what the Bosnian word was for “baby.”  So, I ask, “Kako se kaže…’baby’? (How do you say…’baby’?)”  The butcher took a couple of steps back while shaking his head and said, “NE NE NE…BABY BEEF!”  It was obvious that he misunderstood what I was asking for since I had still been pointing at the “teletina.”  Apparently, he thought for a moment that I was asking how to say “baby meat.”  I decided to ask one more question before I left to practice my language a bit more…”Gdje radiš? (Where do you work?)”  He gave me a quizzical look and pointed down to the floor.  Now, every time I see him walk into our coffee shop to get a drink, he smiles when he looks at me and I wave and say hi.

2. There is a persistent issue that used to encounter in our language class.  The rug on the floor was not big enough for the tables and all of our chairs to rest on.  So, the back legs of our weak plastic chairs were on the slick hard floor.  At least once a day, one of us would experience the back legs of our chair slide just a little…enough to give anyone a little scare.  Well, the day came when I became the “chosen” one.  Casey (one of our teammates) and I had been cutting up in class the whole day.  This had caused me to not pay attention to the slight movements of my chair…until…the BIG slide.  I fall silent and my eyes pop wide open.  Casey looks at me and sees me drop a couple inches to the left…then a couple inches to the right.  Oh, how badly I wanted to hop up and save the chair, but it was too late for the back legs.  My momentum (notice my word choice there…it helps me feel better) snapped those puppies clean off.  The rest of the class turned around just in time to see me hit the floor.  Once they all noticed that I was laughing, everyone joined in the laughter and we shared a few tears together.  Our language teacher has now put down a larger carpet piece so that all of the chair legs have better traction.  However, someone still has a leg occasionally make a small slip, and we all wonder, “Who will be next?”

3. We were having a team meeting last night and we were all eating together.  I was one of the last people to get my food and the cook finally mentioned that he had a small packet of parmesan cheese to accompany the main course.  Well, the last shall be first, right?  I picked up the packet and saw that all of the cheese was at the top of the packet.  Thinking that the packet was unopened, I wanted to get the cheese to the bottom of the packet so I could open it and enjoy this tasty accompaniment to my main course.  So, I grabbed the top of the packet and gave it a good fling.  I fell silent, and the cook finally looked over at me to find an even layer of parmesan cheese from my hair to my plate on the table.  The packet had already been opened for me.

So, know that good times are happening in Sarajevo for us.  God is opening doors and allowing us to build great relationships.  He is also allowing us to have plenty of opportunities to laugh.  We love you all!

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

So, we made it!!!  We are sitting safely in the OM Bosnia office right now finally getting some time to let you know how we are doing.

We have met almost everyone on the team, and they are amazing.  It is so good to already have a “family” in this place.  Everyone is so welcoming.  Much thanks to Trev and Leah for giving us their room for a couple of evenings (and thank you, Trev, for answering so many questions).  We already have an apartment waiting for us in which we will move into very soon.  It overlooks a market street.  We also made our first grocery trip with Trev today.  So different, but what an amazing opportunity.

We met with members of the team this morning for a time of prayer and worship.  It was fun trying to sing worship songs in Bosnian.  I (Billy) actually got to lead a couple of songs as well…which was very refreshing.  It was great.

Here is a little culture plug for you.  We learned a word today that I love…polako.  It means “easy,” but it is one of those loaded expressions (like Americans saying “word”…it sometimes means so much more than just the word).  It is an expression meaning to “take it easy,” “relax,” “don’t sweat it,” etc.  It supposedly represents the culture pretty well.  I love that!  Good word to know as we move into this new territory.

Well, we love you and miss you, but we are excited to be here and begin our new journey.  We are going to lunch now to try out the cuisine for the first time.  Hopefully, we will be telling you ministry stories very soon.

So that I may know,

Billy and Jess.

Honestly, I cannot say that it feels real just yet.  Right now I just feel like I am at a camp/conference center with a bunch of other believers. It feels entirely possible that we could be going home (to the US) at the end of the conference. In reality – we’re not going home, we’re going to our new home in Bosnia.

Our experiences over the past week have been wonderful and exhausting and challenging all at once.  The people we have met, their passion for the gospel, their knowledge of the Word, and their desire to share it with others is astounding!!  Our speaker last night, Chip Kirk, truly challenged me to read more.  I must ask the Lord for discipline in this area and that He would give me a new passion for His Word.  Here are just a few of the thoughts that have convinced me I must be more diligent in reading:

• How can we share the Good News if we do not know what it says for ourselves?
• How can we communicate the entire story if we have not read ENTIRELY through from Genesis to Revelation?
• How can we share with anyone at any moment if we do not write the Word of the Lord in our HEARTS?

I am convinced.  I want to read through from Gen. to Rev. in the next 3 months.  Please feel free to ask me about this in the future, so I can tell you how it is going.  You can also ask that the Lord would give me the perseverance and diligence I need to accomplish my goal!  Actually – WPC – I may just join in w/ you on the 90 days…

On a totally different subject, I have been trying to practice my Deutsch (German) a bit, but my most frequent phrase is “Wie sagt Mann..?” which is, “How do you say…?” Sometimes I get a surprised reaction that I am even trying, and sometimes I get a “That was terrible” look.  You never know.  I am hoping that practicing my German here will give me more courage to practice my Bosnian over the next several months.

OK, I need to go. Love you all and thanks so much for your love and support!!!

Mach’s Gut!!

Jess

I thought I would start out with that since most of you are sound asleep in bed right now (unless you are currently in this part of the world with us).  Jess and I just got done eating breakfast.

So, I think we are coming up on the final stages of our jet lag.  It finally feels like we are getting adjusted to the new time and place.  I finally slept all the way through the night, and Jess (while still somewhat restless) had her best night of sleep as well.  Please continue to pray for rest and adjustment for us.

If you ever got to listen to Jess and I give our presentation, you might remember us talking about our excitement for this conference we are at now.  We talked about how we were excited to see a different picture of the Body of Christ (the church).  Let me tell you what…it is amazing!!!  The praise and worship band includes 3 people from Holland, 2 from New Zealand, one from Germany, and one from Switzerland.  They had never played together before this week…yet, they are amazing.  It has been an incredible picture to see all of those parts of the “body” fitting together and making beautiful music.

We are staying in a cabin right now with a couple from Holland and a couple from South Africa.  We had a good conversation with a man from Ireland last night.  One of the missionaries here is a former Muslim from Albania going to Kosovo (check out the current history of Kosovo right now and you will see how amazing this is).  We have become good friends with a couple from Singapore who have lived in Australia for the last 14 years.  We have also become good friends with an American couple who travel the country doing a unicycle show to present the Gospel.  He believe he was once the Unicycling World Champion.  Sorry for that stream of consciousness, but I am in a hurry.  Those are just a few of our experiences.

And even better, God is truly preparing our hearts for Bosnia.  Keep us in our prayers that God would truly fill our hearts with zeal and fervor for ministry.  We love you all and will talk again soon.

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

P.S.  I received my bag (woohoo)!!!  Also, I will post a couple of pictures soon from one of our worship services and tell you the story of it.

Jess and I just wanted to let you know that we have officially made it.  I am making this post in the dining hall at the conference center outside of Amsterdam.  It is all very exciting.  However, jet lag is real!  We are currently working on staying awake right now so that we can get normal as soon as possible.

Also, you may have already read, but my checked bag has not made it to me yet.  When I talked to the guy at the airport, he said that my bag hadn’t left Washington D.C. yet.  As of now, it is supposed to be delivered to me tomorrow morning.

Well, here are a couple of pictures to show you that things are for real.  These are pictures of us with the Field Leader of OM Bosnia and another couple that is joining the team along with us.

Okay, we will leave it at that right now.  We love you all and look forward to sending you updates.

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

So, we have had some big final moments over the past couple of weeks.  Like one last Wal-mart run…haha…we actually weren’t too sad about that one.  However, there were some other sad ones.  Jess said goodbye to her family.  I am about to say goodbye to mine.  It is such an incredible blessing, though, to know that they are supporting us and backing us up all the way.

Please be praying for our hearts.  Pray that the Lord continues to break our hearts for the Bosnians and continues to prepare us for effective ministry.  Pray for safe travels.  This one is kind of trivial (but, kind of not)…please pray that my guitar makes it all the way to Sarajevo.  Also, keep praying for whatever the Spirit lays on your hearts.

Well, let the real updates begin.  We will post as often as we can and hopefully we will be able to get a newsletter out this month.  We lost some data when our hard drive crashed, and that has slowed us way down on the newsletter.

We love you all very much and couldn’t ask for better blessings and support.  Please continue to trust in God’s promises and believe that He is reviving hearts to Himself everyday for His glory.

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

Sorry it has been so long for us to update the website.  Life has definitely been crazy!  We are currently stuck in the Lubbock Airport right now trying to get to New Orleans to see Jess’ parents.  We have already not made two flights, but the rest of them are looking a lot better.  I’ll tell you what…we are beginning to know the LBB and DFW airports very well.  They almost feel like home.  But, it is worth it.

We were able to make it to Portland to see my sister, Kristi, and her kids, Zoe and Fox.  It was such a blessing to see them before we go.  It would have been terrible to come back and have Fox not even remember who we are.

The northwest is also one of my favorite places on earth now.  Kristi took us to Seattle one of the days that we were there, and we had my good friends, Kara and Andrew Schein, show us around their ‘hood.  Also, while we were there we ran into Josh Cleveland and his new wife the day after their wedding as well as my cousin, April West, and her husband, Ed, in which we have not seen in about 10 years.  Talk about freaky, but it was awesome.

Finally, we are officially out of our apartment.  This was a gruesome task, but it is very refreshing to have it done.  We still have plenty of stuff to get done before we go, but we think things will be more relaxing now and should be able to get some more rest.

Please pray that we continue to keep our eyes on Christ and the work that He is leading us into.  It is very easy to get distracted by all of these details (apartment, packing, airplane tickets, saying goodbye to family and friends, etc, etc, etc…).  We can see the enemy trying to take our eyes off of our passion and joy in working for Christ.  Also, continue to pray that the Lord prepares us for ministry, compassion, new culture, new language, and unity with the team we are joining with.

We love you all and we will continue to try our best to keep you posted on our journey.  Please feel free to communicate with us through Skype, Facebook, or worldstreus@gmail.com.

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.

As of planes, we have officially booked our flight to Amsterdam.  This was very exciting for us and just continues to make everything a reality.  I just have to dote on my wife for a little bit here.  She did a lot of research on plane tickets and found a fantastic deal.  I am really proud of her.  Now, just continue to pray for all the rest of the details we have to get done (i.e. selling cars, finding a place for all our stuff, etc).

As of automobiles, we just completed our final road trip last weekend.  We got to speak at The Vine in Oklahoma City at their Sunday morning service to tell them about what God has laid on our hearts regarding missions and ministry.  It was a great blessing and we were very encouraged by the response of that church.  God is doing great work through that congregation and it was great to hear Treb Praytor preach again.  It definitely felt like old times in some ways.  Thank you, Treb and the Vine, for inviting us to share with all of you.  It was great to see you, Praytors!

Also, we got to make a stop in Spearman, TX on our way to Oklahoma City to spend time with one of our favorite families, the Schoenhals.  Just in case you know Mickey and Reagan and didn’t know their newest news, they have a beautiful baby boy, Beckett (whew, that was a lot of “B” words).  He is smiling, cooing, and mastering the art of being cute.  It was so much fun to see our great friends being parents.  Beckett is truly blessed to have such a great mom and dad.  Mickey can definitely do some dead on impressions of his son (hilarious).

I can’t forget to mention how wonderful it was to see my other set of “parents” one more time before we go.  We love you, Mark and Margy!

Finally, I am writing this post in Fargo, ND right now.  We are getting some wonderful time with Jess’ family.  Just one more of a few more trips we plan to make before heading out (did that sentence make sense…oh well).

Okay, that’s all for now.  Love you guys!

So that all may know,

Billy and Jess.