October 20, 2009
Sarajevo Story 6
Zdravo, friends!!!
Sorry that it has taken so long to get another story up on the website, but we have been busy. Also, Billy got a cold or something for a couple of days. So, a couple of things have slowed us down from posting. Anyway, we have another encouraging story for you.
We have told you about our new friends Betsy and Dave. Well, we got the chance to go over to their home again. This time, though, Dave was not there. When we first got there we noticed that Betsy seemed down, and we started our time with small talk and learning some more language. What I have not told you yet, is that I brought my guitar and Bosnian worship book with us as well.
Eventually, Betsy asked about me playing the guitar. So, Jess and I attempted to sing a worship song in Bosnian. Before we knew it, Betsy and Dave’s kids (we will call them Nate and Samantha) were drawn into the room by the guitar and Betsy was singing along with us. We asked Betsy to help us translate the songs. Through doing this, we were able to talk to her about what the songs mean.
Soon enough, our time there took a divine turn into a conversation about Christianity and the Gospel. We have had some other friends here that have shared with Betsy and Dave before. She told us that she really likes what we say and how we live. However, she is afraid to add more commitments to her life. We were able to share with her that following Christ is not about giving more and more time, but about beginning to do and see everything differently (through the eyes of Christ).
We also got to present the Gospel to her again, sharing with her what it is like to be in relationship with Christ. I asked her if she believed that Christ died on the cross for her sins. It was hard to go much further due to language barriers. So, she eventually asked for us to find her a book in Bosnian that can help explain everything for her. At this point, I remembered that I had a New Testament in Bosnian in my backpack. We were able to give this to her and tell her that we would find her another book to help her understand more.
We were very encouraged through this time. Like I told you before, we noticed at the beginning that Betsy seemed down. Well, throughout our time there, we could definitely see a difference in her demeanor and tone of voice. Our time ended with her telling us that she hopes we can come back often. She also had Nate tell us to come back. Praise God for moments like this.
We feel that Betsy is on the verge and very close to trusting in Christ with her life. Hopefully, we will get opportunities to talk to Dave as well. Please pray for Betsy and her family. Pray that God puts a delight for Christ within their hearts and salvation to their home.
We love you all and are always thankful for your support.
So that all may know,
Billy and Jess.
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October 20, 2009
SNOW!!!
We have already gotten our first snow before the middle of October! We have also had a few more since then. Sorry it has taken me awhile to get this posted, but I am still learning how to post videos. I am getting there.
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October 7, 2009
Sarajevo Stories – Part 5
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.
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September 27, 2009
Sarajevo Stories – Part 4
Dobro jutro ili dobar dan (“good morning or good day” – depending on where you live)!!!
Sorry it has been a little while since our last Sarajevo Story. We try to be very intentional about keeping all of you as updated as possible, however times occasionally get very busy. So, we have some catching up to do.
This edition of “Sarajevo Stories” is going to contain several small stories for you. We are about to leave for a team retreat for the next 5 days. Therefore, you need an update before we leave.
First, we have been able to begin a relationship with our “Bosnian care family.” We will call them Dave and Betsy for you (we will be changing names in these stories, but want to give you some kind of names because it makes things more “real”). Some of you might remember us explaining being put together with a “Bosnian care family” during our first three months here. The purpose of this family is to have someone to help us practice language and learn the culture. We have been able to meet with Dave and Betsy a couple of times now, and they are definitely a blessing. A friendship has definitely begun here. Betsy taught us how to make Bosnian coffee. She also speaks a little bit of English and does a good job to teach us the language more. We are planning on going to barbeque with them before too long so that Dave can teach us to do some Bosnian cooking. They have a second home off of the Drina River here in Bosnia and we might get to even go with them some weekend. Dave is an avid fisherman and I am working on making some stuff happen with this.
There was a God moment that we talked about in our first Sarajevo Story about a couple that we got to meet. Well, we got the opportunity to go visit them again one night last week…and we will call them Richard and Sandy. An average visit in Bosnia is about 2 hours. That is how long we spent at their apartment…and neither one of them speak any English! Needless to say, the first hour was very awkward. Then, praise the Lord, something happened over the course of the second hour and a great relationship has begun to be formed. As we were leaving their apartment they were telling us that we must come back (at least we think we interpreted this correctly, thanks to our trusty dictionary that fits in Billy’s back pocket…he carries it around everywhere). Sandy gave Jess a hug and a kiss on both cheeks…giving us confirmation that we are welcome.
Recently in our September newsletter, we told you about our friend from the pizzeria (who we will call Didi). This friendship has continued to grow for Jess. They have started to run together. We actually stayed with Didi the other night until she closed the pizzeria and walked her home.
For Billy, he has been able to build a friendship with Amos, our next door neighbor. We have already given details of their first encounter in the September newsletter. He and Billy swapped phone numbers the other day and talked about a double date in coming days. This is exciting!
Lastly, this past week we have had a short-term team from Atlanta here. They gave a few programs to the children in the neighborhood. We believe that 8 kids made a decision for Christ over their time here. Jess and I were blown away being on the side of the long-term missionaries this time. We reminisced about our times on short-term mission trips and remembered how amazing there were in our lives. However, you have to go back home at the end of the week. This time, we realized that we get to stay here and continue following up with these kids that were reached out to over this past week. We are so blessed and want you to know that this is what you are getting to be a part of as well. Thank you for you support and love.
Well, that definitely gives you an idea in a nutshell of how God continues to provide for us in this place. Continue to pray that the Lord gives us boldness in ministry and more open doors for relationships. We love you all.
So that all may know,
Billy and Jess.
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September 16, 2009
A Sarajevo Story 3
It is terrible thing to get settled into your new apartment having bought all kinds of groceries, and then find out that your refrigerator is no longer frigid. This is what happened to us this week.
We came back to our apartment a couple of days ago and Jess discovered that our refrigerated products were not as cold as before. Also, the light was no longer coming on inside the door. So, we told our team leader and he said that we would call our landlord the next day. In the meantime, we put all of the products that could spoil into the freezer overnight. Yeah, that’s right…the freezer was still working.
Yesterday, after several phone calls (it always takes more than one), our team leader was able to make a plan with our landlord. He called an appliance store to send a serviceman. The bad news was that they wouldn’t make it until at least a couple of days later. So, Jess made cauliflower and rice to go with our leftover chicken…dinner of champions (we had to make use of the food that did not have much longer to live).
Okay…before we tell you the rest of the story, let us rest our case. We may not be super handyman and handywoman, but we knew a couple of things to try. We had pulled the fridge out, taken the plug out and put it back in. We had turned the dial on the inside and underneath. So, please give us a break…we made a couple of attempts of troubleshooting. Now, we can finish the story.
When Jess put dinner on the table, Billy was finishing a conversation with someone on facebook, and she had to sit and wait a little bit. As she was waiting, she looked over at the stove and had a revelation! A miracle had happened (or not). The stove had worked without being plugged in! She ran over and turned the oven dial! The light came on! It was a Sarajevo miracle!!! Or, the plug that we thought was for the oven was in fact for our beloved refrigerator.
The only plug in our kitchen has a place for only one plug. So, when we wanted to use the electric tea kettle we have, we would unplug the oven (we thought) and plug it in. Well, we got a microwave and got a y-plug so we could plug in more than one thing. However, we figured that we did not need the oven for a little while, so we unplugged it (we thought). When we had checked the plug behind the refrigerator and saw that it was fine, we left it at that.
What American would have thought that the freezer AND the refrigerator had separate plugs?! It is one unit. Sure, it’s easy for you to think that you would have thought of that, but you never know. Haha. We hope that this Sarajevo Story gave you a smile and a laugh today.
The Lord had in fact provided for us in the situation. We found this out in time to call our team leader so he could stop the serviceman from coming. How terrible it would have been to have our landlord get the bill from the serviceman and find out that he only had to plug the refrigerator in? Praise the Lord!
The moral of the story: Good things come to those who wait. Just think, Jess…if I wasn’t keeping you waiting like I do so often, you would have never made the discovery. Just kidding (I had to put this in).
Ćao!
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September 12, 2009
A Sarajevo Story – Part 2
So, we have definitely had our moments of culture shock while being here, right? It just goes with the territory. At the beginning of our time here, it was very easy to find refuge in the other couple from America and the other new team member from Germany. Well, our team leader gave all of us an article regarding bonding to the culture you are entering.
The article stated that the first couple of weeks are crucial to separate yourself from what is comfortable to you, dive into the culture, and make local friends. It spoke very strongly about belonging to the new people so that we can help them see that they belong to God. We laughed to ourselves as we realized that our good friend, Max (a missionary friend), had advised us to not worry about settling into our home when we get here. He said that it is best to go out and meet people and embrace the culture. Well, we had made a good attempt to do this, but the Lord really used that article to refresh our memories and give us a little (okay, BIG) push. So, we prayed.
The result: our next day was absolutely AMAZING!!! Billy went to get his haircut and formed a new friendship with the “frizer” (hair stylist). He said that Billy can come by anytime and try to catch him on breaks to learn the culture, learn the language, and talk about Lost (yes, the American TV show). Jess was able to get more practice on the language and talking to the people on her own.
Then, we went to have lunch at a pizzeria/cafe/coffee shop (that will be the best way to explain it) named Rous. We had prayed for a little coffee shop of something that we could make our own…a place to study, build relationships, relax, etc. Well, shortly after sitting at our table, we had the waitress come and ask what we wanted (in Bosnian). After seeing our faces, she suddenly began to talk English (we will eventually become more comfortable with the language). To make this long story short, we ended up spending at least an hour with her sitting at our table saying that we should come everyday. She wants to take us around Sarajevo and introduce us to all of her friends. We were able to tell her to talk Bosanski to us as much as possible so we can learn the language.
Well, the Lord continued to give us another great day. The next day we were able to meet our next door neighbor. He is 30 years old and lives with his little sister and parents. We got to talk to him for about an hour and really enjoyed our conversation. He said that we can come over anytime and would like to go get coffee sometimes.
One last part of the story, we went back to Rous last night. We sat down and got coffee and a sandwich. Our new friend from there came up and we asked her about some of the words on the menu that we had learned in language class that same day. Well, instead of just translating for us, she brought the actual food out for us to try. It was great. By the end of our time there, we were sitting with six new friends (some spoke English, some did not). They are hilarious, yet a little rough around the edges. It was great.
Point of the story: God is good and He hears our prayers. We are definitely beginning to feel like we belong here. Another huge prayer that was answered in all of this: none of these new friends are Christians. The Lord is definitely leading us into opportunities to do His work. Pray that we can help these people see that they belong to God.
Doviđenja! Prijatno! (Good bye! Have a good day!)
So that all may know,
Billy and Jess.
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September 6, 2009
A Sarajevo Story (1st edition)
Zdravo!
So, this is the beginning of a new specialized blog we will post for you…”A Sarajevo Story.”
We have had to figure out which mailbox is ours at the apartment by just trying our key on each one. Then, once we found it, we were able to figure out which intercom buzzer is ours. So, we thought we had it all figured out…
A team member came to meet us at our apartment so we could have coffee together. She got to the outside door and buzzed the intercom we told her to buzz. After receiving several unexpected responses, she finally gave us a call and I went downstairs to let her in. Well, someone else went downstairs as well to see who kept buzzing their intercom.
It turns out that when Jess and I were trying our keys in different mailboxes, I was using the wrong key. Our key works on two mailboxes. So, we were unintentionally able to meet a new neighbor which became an incredible experience and what I believe to be a total “God moment.”
Fortunately, our team member has been here for 7 months and can speak a fair amount of Bosnian. Next thing we know, we are being led upstairs to our new friend’s apartment. We catch Jess and another team member on our way up and find ourselves in our neighbor’s apartment not understanding a word being spoken. The woman introduced us to her husband and brought out a platter of fig newton type cookies and some type of orange drink. Here is what our other team member was able to catch through our hour with these new friends…
I reminded the woman of her son. This made her very emotional. She told us a story about watching her son get hit by a grenade during the war. He is still alive, but lost the bone marrow in his leg. The woman was also very excited because our other team member is from Holland and her son is living in Holland right now. She also told us about when a sniper shot into her living room and almost shot her. She took the bullet out of her purse and passed it around the room.
This is just a little bit of what we experienced, and we definitely have not shared everything with you. It was such an incredible experience, though. The Lord definitely wanted us to meet these people. After reading so much about the war and these people, it was finally made so real to us. Plus, we have some new friends to build relationships with already.
Sorry for the long post, but we just really wanted to share that story with you. I wish we had time to write our every story for you, but there is not the time yet. We will try our best, though. Keep praying for these “God moments” for us. We love you all and can’t wait for another Sarajevo Story for you.
So that all may know,
Billy and Jess.
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September 3, 2009
Updated Requests
We wanted to keep you up to date on prayer requests now that we are actually here, so, as of our first week, here are some new prayer requests:
- That we trust in the Lord through ALL things, no matter how frustrating or difficult.
- That we maintain our daily time with the Lord (quiet times).
- That the Lord helps us to learn the language as quickly as possible.
- That we have boldness to initiate relationships with our neighbors and the shop owners near our apartment.
- That we continue to integrate into the culture of Sarajevo and the culture of the team here.
We cannot thank you enough for your prayers. We need them, and we can FEEL them here, really!
Blessings,
Billy & Jess
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September 1, 2009
We’re Here!!!
Cao, friends!!!
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.
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August 26, 2009
Is it real yet???
Hi everybody,
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