Update

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting in a while! Outreach has been picking up speed these last weeks but I wanted to share some pictures and a quick update as well.

We left Marseille on may 2nd. The last week we helped with a VBS for Roma kids. I am going to miss the people we worked with a lot, they have a special place in my heart because I found Marseille a very difficult missionfield, a place I would never want to be a lifetime missionary in. But the missionaries we met are so amazing and we were so lucky to get to work with them while we were there. 

I had no idea what to expect from Bosnia when we were packing up and getting ready to leave Marseille. We had an overnight stay in Istanbul in our 11 hour layover! But magically we arrived into Sarajevo and I have been loving every minute so far here in Bosnia. 

Its much more relaxed and rural than France and reminds me a lot of Cambodia- Which I love! We arrived during a heat wave and it was 33 degrees! A German missionary who we had been newly connected to met us in the airport and drove us to his home, where his wife and 4 kids (soon 5) live. We stayed in their basement suite. For 3 days we hung out, explored the city, met another ywam team, ate street food, and participated in this family's prayer/worship meetings they run. A very powerful moment I want to share was that there was this woman who had been wanting to come to this fellowship time but hadn't yet. This fellowship time that we attended with other Bosnian Christians was the first one she had come to, because the very same house we were in was where she was held captive in the war in '95. She was very emotional and shared some of her story with the group and it was a powerful moment of her taking a step to overcome her incredibly painful memories, and a great opportunity for others to pray for her. The history here in Bosnia is very real and everyone has been majorly affected by the war, if that makes sense. Its so interesting to hear young and educated people talk about the state that their country is in, with the economy, unemployment, healthcare, you name it. Bosnia got ruined by the war in the nineties. Thankfully God wants to restore hope in this place and we get to be a tiny part of what he is doing.

We took a 6 hour hot sweaty bus ride to Banja luka where we are now. Here we are working with a South African missionary who has been here for 12 years. We are doing practical things around the building like helping clean out storage, and also with an orphanage where we hang out with kids. On Friday nights we run a conversational English class. It has been awesome so far. I love so many things about Bosnia. 

Sunday it was my 19th birthday. I blew out candles on a cake with the fam via Skype! My day was also special here with brownies made for me, a cake, and a cupcake given to me during the church service as everyone sang!

Yeah! So I hope that gives you a good idea of what I'm up to. Here's some pictures.

 

Picnic in Marseille

 

 

One of our last beautiful days in Marseille.

 

 VBS in the last week of Marseille.

 

Skits for the kids! (I was the official photographer)

 

Welcome to Sarajevo.

 

Public transit = those super old trams!

 

Cheap Pekaras (Bakeries) everywhere! You can get a fresh loaf of bread for .75 cents Canadian!

 

The team!

 

Went up to some ruins and had lunch with an awesome view.

 

AMAZING Bosnian food! 

 

I got some beautiful shots of some of the VBS Roma kids but not really allowed to post them on the internet, unfortunately. They were a blast! 

 

 Met some other people who volunteer and fly in from the US to help with this VBS! The left is Hanna on our team.

Yeah, so that's just a few pics of the trip up to now. Thank you for your prayers! Keep our leader, Timo, in your prayers because he's come down with a virus and has been MIA the last few days. He is on the mend though thankfully! 

Thanks everyone