Saturday June 27
I love teaching this evangelism course. Talking about the Gospel never gets old. Tonight we did the "bucket theology" activity. After going through it we asked people to quote their favorite verses that they had memorized and then to share the Gospel from that text. You could realy see people getting more and more confident in their ability to "tell the story". David and I got some practice thursday night as well. We visited the Nikovic family, Ana, Ratko and their daughter Darja. Ana wanted us to explain the Imprecatory Psalms. Ask Charlie which "bucket" they belong in. It's a good exercise. The conversation we had with the Nikovic family connected some dots for them and we expect to see them tomorrow morning at church ready to hear more.
There is so much more to tell. We will be seeing you in person soon. We have border crossings tomorrow at 8am your time so please keep praying. Lord willing, we will be back home Monday night at 8:15 I think.
Thursday June 25
Sorry we haven't been posting as frequently. We have been so busy during the day, exhausted at night and the internet is in and out. Here are a few highlights. We've been doing alot of work around the house. The Surbatovic family is almost covered on wood for winter. However we've been burning quite a bit lately as it has gotten cold again. David and I have been crawling around in the storage spaces under the roof line finding big draft holes and filling them with insulation. We've also been crawling around in all these passages around the house trying to close in all the holes that the cats are getting in. It's a huge house and all the cats in the neighborhood want to hide their kittens inside. Monday night we took the Surbatovic family out for supper at Cudesa od Mesa (Miracle of Meat). They have been great hosts and when we came here we were determined to build up the church and support without being a burden on this missionary family. Hopefully we haven't been a burden but they certainly have served us just as much as we have them. Tuesday we said goodbye to Rada Simunovic and her youngest daughter Andjela. Rada was like a mother to us this month, feeding us every Tuesday and encouraging us. She and Andjela are heading to the coast for a week. The good news is that Rada's second youngest daughter Masha has come to keep the house while they are gone and we are getting to spend some time with her. Rada informed David that Masha, who is 20, is the only available Christian girl in Montenegro.
Wednesday we hiked nearly to the highest peak on Durmitor. It is covered in snow still. We went with Peter Stonelake, Filip, and Filip's friend Petar. We tried to use the opportunity to direct Petar and Filip to look past the glory of these mountains and consider the glory of the Creator they point to. David had a similiar conversation with a guy from the Czek Republic that we met along the way. He said he was an atheist scientist who traveled the world hiking and kayaking in these exotic places. David was very bold and directed him to keep looking and that he would have to acknowledge our Creator.
We are about to go to the thursday night prayer meeting and then on to Ana and Ratko's house. They are a couple who have been attending off and on over the last two years or so and at least Ana has shown interest in learning more about the gospel. We are also sharing the house now with another guest named Njemenja, who is from Serbia. He is staying here for 2 months to see if he can make money working in the wood shop while he continues his courtship with another of Rada's daughters, Jelena. It is realy encouraging to see courtship in action among the Christian youth here. Keep praying for us and that we use our short time remaining wisely.
this is the part of the hike that was not snowy. that's peter and petar. there is a flock of sheep below.
This is the ice cave. It is pretty much a vertical descent all the way down.
Sunday June 21
We have had our time here filled with working around the house and then going to visit with the local believers. Today was the church barbecue, which was held at the Surbotavic house. So tuesday, wednesday and thursday were spent getting the house ready. Adam, myself, and a guy named Vajo have been cutting and stacking wood. Which was hard work, but we were able to work and talk with Vajo. Friday, we spent the day at the lake with the Surbotavic family and a girl from the churh named, Andjela. It is good to minister to the missionaries who are already here. And we had a great time doing it. Friday night we met with an English student of Dragan. Dragan goes to the church and teaches English out of the church. We met Vasco, who is learning English from Dragan for military purposes. Vasco was very interested in us, and we hope to meet him again this week, and to discuss the gospel. Saturday night we had our class. This week we had it at Goron's house, who was a great host. We went over the hopeful part of the gospel. After that we got into a great discussion about what it is like to evangelise here in Montenegro. We were told that it is very difficult to tell anyone the gospel here. If you give any sign that you take God or the bible seriously people think you are weird. If you try to tell them the true Gospel and point them to anything but the Orthodox Church they think you are part of a sect or a cult. So we discussed motivation for evangelism. That the motivation to tell someone the gospel isn't that they are going to listen to you, or just love for that person, but rather it will come from a knowledge of the Glory of God. This will motivate someone to break through any barrier in order to preach the gospel. So, it doesn't matter if we are made chided, or if people don't listen to us. We do it because God is glorious and He deserves our worship. We encouraged them to study about God, and His attributes, to see how glorious the bible describes Him to be. This will propel someone to tell others the gospel not matter what the consequences are. Today we had a great barbecue at the Surbotavic house with the whole church, though we had to move it inside, because of rain. Thank God for the rain here. We had a great time fellowshipping with the brethren. Most of this trip has been about spending time with the brethren and building them up. We are glad we could do this. Adam preached during the evening service about guarding your testimony from any reproach from unbelievers. His main focus was fulfilling your God-given roles in the family. Using this testimony to be able to preach the Gospel.
Pray that we will be able to further enourage the believers here before we leave. We are planning to go on a hike this wednesday with some of the believers here, but also Petar, who is not a believer is coming with us. Pray that we will be able to disuss the Gospel with him. Also we plan to meet with his father, who we met two years ago. We hope to be able to discuss the Gospel with him and his whole family. Pray for more opportunities to preach the Gospel, and that we would present it clearly.
Wednesday June 17
We've spent this week continuing to work around the Surbotavich house wherever we are needed. Then in the evening we have been going to visit some of the people in the church. We are thankful the time that we have spent with our brothers and sisters. Dragana, a girl who is 15 years old, and whose family has been attending the church for about 1 year, has made a profession of faith at a youth camp, and is now thinking about baptism. We had a chance to talk with her, along with Stan. We are very excited about the work that God may have began in her. She has decided to go to Serbia for about a week to visit with her cousin who attends a protestant church there. We pray that she will find encouragement in the faith. It is so exciting to watch God just begin to work salvation in someone's life. We are continuing to pursue the contacts that we've made with some of the unbelievers here in Niksic. Our goal is to connect them with some of the believers who live here in Niksic. Please pray for our efforts concerning this. That God would lead all of this. That what we plant and the churc here waters, God would make grow.
This evening Adam and I, along with Josiah Surbotavic and Filip went to watch a game of "Handball". It was Montenegro vs. Poland. Handball is an interesting mixture of basketball and soccer. There was a huge crowd there and very lively and excited. We cheered for Montenegro of course. However Poland won by 8 points. It was good to spend some time with Josiah and Filip. After the game we took them out for Pizza and icecream. We plan to spend more time with the Surbotavic teenagers. We ask God to lead us in the conversations that we have with them, and that the time we spend with them will be glorifying to Him.
Handball competition. Montenegro vs. Poland. very exciting.
Sunday June 14
Saturday was a restful day. We got up late after staying out so long on Friday night waiting for a chance to meet back up with the guys from the "rock cafe". It was a very unfruitful time. The schools and university just let out here for the summer and the people in town all seemed to be celebrating a little to hard for us to talk with them. We spent much of the day preparing for the evangelism class. The class went great and we are getting alot of feedback from the folks who are taking it. I can already tell that they feel more confident in sharing their faith. At every point in the outline people are giving testimonies from their own salvation about how they remember when they first realized the truth of that particular section. It's making them excited to be the ones who could be used to share this with someone else. We left off at "the dilema" this week and will more fully explain "the solution, faith, and lordship" next week. We have a couple people taking the class that have not yet been baptized and may need to have their eyes opened to see the truth of the gospel for the first time. We are excited about getting to go through this with them so in depth.
Sunday we went to the two worship services. Stan saved the message on baptism for next week because some people he felt particularly needed to hear it were not there. We spent the day worshipping and fellowshipping. I preached on family tonight. The focus is still on avoiding sexual sin as it seems to be a big problem here. We looked at God's design for family and the call to Biblical manhood and womanhood as a deterent to engaging in sexual activity before marriage. After the service we went to visit with the son of a woman in the church. His name is Slobo and he is 26 years old. His mother is a faithful member and is depending on God to bring her son to faith and life. It is often hard to find work here and most jobs are very physical and pay very little. Slobo has at times considered getting in with the Mafia here in order to make some easy money. We made plans to meet up with him again and hope to be able to clearly present the gospel to him.
Friday June 12
Another couple of very full days. Thursday I worked on the sermon for Sunday evening while David hoed the Surbatovic's huge garden. We then went to the Thursday night prayer meeting. After the meeting we got together at Daniel and Martina's with Peter and Dragan. We all worked together on translating and rewording the material for the evangelism class which will be a huge help. The class has been extended to every age group and we are excited to see the results of the clear presentation of the Gospel and the confidence the class should give these young believers.
Everywhere you go around the city there are huge piles of wood on the sidewalks almost spilling into the streets. It's time to begin cutting wood and drying it in preperation for winter. Everyone here heats with wood and neighbors seem to take turns helping each other prepare it. Friday David and I went with Rade to take wood to an elderly lady in the church named Stanojka. Stanojka owns here own apartment on the seventh floor of one of the buildings in town. The elevator is broken making Stanojka nearly homebound even though she seems to be in good health for her age. We were blessed by being able to encourage her by carrying saks of wood up the seven flights of stairs. Afterwards we helped Rade unload a dump truck full of wood at his family's house. We got to spend some time with Rade and his wife who is not a believer. Rade has just finished reading through the entire Bible and is passionate about sharing what he has learned from it. While his wife is not yet comfortable with or interested in coming to the church, she is beginning to read the Bible for herself. Please pray that Rade can be used by God to explain the Word to her in a way that will be powerfully used by the Spirit to open her eyes and bring her to faith and life. Later we went to visit the Golubovic family again. We went on a hike with their 5 children to the top of the hill Trebjesa that overlooks the city. We spent most of the time talking to Dragana their oldest daughter who is 15 about her profession of faith and if she had considered baptism. Stan will be teaching on baptism this Sunday and we pray that its meaning and importance would be made clear to Dragana. The Golubovic family will be one of our practice families for those going through the evangelism class.
Vesko Golubovic playing the Gusla, an instrument unique to Montenegro meant to accompany epic poetry
David has been following Mark 16 in preaching the gospel to the "whole creation".
Wednesday June 10
Well, we've had another fun filled week. It seems like we've been here longer than just a week and a half. Every day and night has been filled with work in the morning and meeting people in the evening. But it has been great. We have definitely been sent here by God, we continue to pray that God would lead us to the people that we should meet and that we would be clear and timely in our presentation of the Gospel. Adam has had many chances to share the Gospel, simply because of interest in his tatoos. This has many times resulted in relationships, like last Friday. Yesterday evening we went to Rada's house to eat dinner and pray for the Gospel to reach the young people of this city. Many of the younger members of the church came and prayed, and we prayed with them. Today, Adam, myself, and some of the other young people in the church went to Lake Krupic, to go swimming and to play with some of the students of Peter Stonelake, who is a Professor of English at the university. We had a great time there, and while we were swimming with some of the students they asked Adam about his tattoos, when he was able to share the Gospel with them. One of them, Luka, invited us to play a mixture of Rugby and American Football. Neither of us really knew how to play, but we went along, because it was a chance to meet some of the students. One man hurt his hip, another may have dislocated his knee, and I got a good cut on my knee. From this we exchanged phone numbers with one of the students and hope to meet up with them again. Continue to pray for us to be able to meet people here, and to present the Gospel to them clearly. Also pray for our class that we have on Saturdays where we are teaching the local believers about evangelism. Pray that they would be encouraged by this class to go and share the Gospel boldly and in love. We miss everyone back at home, and will pray you while we are here.
This is a picture of one of the men being sent to the hospital because of a dislocated knee during the Rugby game.
Sunday June 7
Both worship services today were great. Stan is preaching through Genesis in the morning and another book in the evening although lately the evening services have included topical preaching because of a particular situation affecting the church here. The church in Niksic has some oversight over the gathering of believers on the coast in Kotor who are without a pastor. In the morning service a brother from Kotor came and confessed before the church about a sin that he had fallen into and repented of and it was really encouraging to see this kind of repentance worked out before our eyes. The church was very loving and immediately accepted him back into fellowship. After the service we went out for coffee with some church members and then around 1:30 we all went to the Surbatovic house for lunch which is the main meal of the day. Several people from the church typically spend all Sunday together at the house.
Sunday night Stan preached on sexual sin and temptation, focusing primarily on what to avoid. Next Sunday night I will be preaching on what to pursue positively in order to fight sexual sin. It will be a message on God's design for family and I hope that you will pray for me to deliver the Word faithfully.
Here is a picture of Peter Stonelake, the Brittish English professor, Martina , who is married to Daniel, and Gordona, a local who is also a professor at the university here in Niksic. We are at a fairly typical outdoor cafe. Filter coffee is not found here so you normally have really sweet foamy Espresso called Deutch coffee or some incredibly strong Turkish coffee. In the background you can kind of see a modern looking concrete building with blue windows. That was the town shopping and business center that was built 30 years ago but never opened because it is built on top of several large caverns and sink holes. They won't tear it down and it remains a depressing reminder to the people here.
Saturday June 6
Yesterday we started the day with unloading a truck of concrete blocks. We are preparing to build the privacy fence. I am still sore and have trouble bending down. Then we put the last coat of finish on the stair landings, sanded the sheet rock, and headed out to eat dinner with a couple here, Daniel and Martina Petkovski. We took them to a restaurant on the Corzo (walking street) called, "Miracle of Meat" They did have miraculous food. We had a great time encouraging this couple in their tasks for the church. Then we went to a place called "rock cafe". There we met some guys who were very interested in Adam's tattoos. God used this to open a door for us to begin talking about the gospel. These men were more open than most people here. One of them had dreadlocks, and called himself a buddhist. I asked him if he had heard the christian position. He said he has not, but would like to. Adam was also able to talk with some guys, and hope to meet up with them again. Today we spent our time resting and going over the material for the class, which we began today. I spent some time in the Corzo, where I was studying. There I met a a boy that we had met last time. His name is Peter. He is only in highschool but is training for the national basketball team. We sat down and talked about the bible, since that was what I was reading, and we talked about the differences between the Orthodox Church and our church. I talked with him about the Gospel until I perceived that I was making him angry, because of the difference between the Orthodox Church and the bible. We hope to meet with him again. Our class today went really well. Adam began the class by talking about who is eligible for evangelism. He asked for testimony from anyone's personal heart transplant, revelation, and obedient response. A brother, Goran, gave us a great testimony about his being freed from drug addiction. This brother is very encouraging in his zeal for God and the gospel. Pray for this group of believers, because although they love God, and have a passion for the gospel, they are also very shy. It is very difficult for some to engage the culture that they live in, because this culture is very closed to the Gospel. We are hoping that with this class they will feel confident enough to share their faith with others boldly and in love.
Thursday June 4
We've been having some problems with the internet and updating the last couple of days along with some power outages because of heavy rain and lightning storms. The weather is so much different this time compared to last. It's very cool and rainy everyday. The locals say that it's strange and that it felt like full summer the week before we arrived. We've been working at the Surbatovich house quite a bit, mostly finishing wood floors and hanging and finishing some sheet rock. Before we leave we hope to also build a block privacy wall along the back of their property to help cut down on burglary which is common. Another project is building a large wood shed. Everyone heats with wood here and it's already time to begin preparing for next winter.
Wednesday after working we went out with our friend Filip who we spent a lot of time with two years ago. He's recently stopped going to the church and has disassociated himself with most of the believers here. He told us some of how hard it is to be a senior in high school here and live a Christian life. He has experienced being cut off from friends and classmates because of his testimony. It's strange because if most of us were living what we call a Christian life here, we would not be outcasts at all because our "christian" life is no different than the world. It's good that Filip understood what living for Christ means but because of his seriousness about the Christian life and his great temptation to fit in at his highschool he feels like to much of a hypocrite to even attend the church. It's all or nothing and he feels terrible guilt and depression right now because of it. He has the link to this blog and may read this himself. I hope that he can feel our love for him and that all of our prayers for the Spirit to move can encourage him to reconsider the great worth of Christ so that he might "sell all that he has".
Thursday after work we went to the weekly prayer meeting. We showed pictures of our church family back home and told them of how you are praying for this fellowship and the entire country of Montenegro to experience revival. The folks here were reminded again to invite us out or to their homes in order for us to meet friends and family who are unwilling to come to the church.
Here is a picture of the typical pizza in Montenegro. Instead of ordering a pizza with certain toppings you order pizza by name. Kapricioza is most common and is cheese, ham, and mushroom often with an egg baked right in the middle and ketchup and mayonaise on the side.
Tuesday June 2
Today was the first day that we got to work on the Surbotavic house. David and I put up drywall and insulated the wall with wood shavings. Tonight we ate supper with the Simonivic family. Rada Simonivic is a widow with 4 daughters. Unfortunately the three older daughters were away at University in either Podgorica or Belgrade so we couldn't start David courting (joke). The supper was great though. We had three different translators over the course of the meal: 1 Goran who works with a Christian Drug Rehab Program 2 Peter Stonelake who is an English professor at the University in Niksic 3 Andjela Simonivic the youngest daughter who is 14 and whose mother was forcing her to practice English with us. Rada was a huge encouragment and told us her testimony and about many experiences sharing her faith with family and coworkers and the cost associated with that in this culture. We read from Isaiah 55 and prayed with the family encouraging them that God's word will accomplish what He purposes. Here is a bad picture of David, Miljiana, Andjela, and Rada and a picture of me freezing to death between the borders of Montenegro and Bosnia:
Monday June 1
Today, we went with Rade back to Dubrovnik, Croatia to pick up our luggage, which was lost on the trip over here. We had a great time of fellowship with this brother. We had to go back through Bosnia, which was nice because I have not been through Bosnia during the daylight hours. It's actually quite nice. We went to the old city of Dubrovnik where we were thoroughly drenched as we walked down the old city streets. It was great to spend some time with a brother though. Rade is a brother who was actually part of the congregation two years ago, but is now more involved and seems to share his faith with everyone. Pray for all of the Christians in Niksic that this desire to tell the Gospel would grow and that the Holy Spirit would lead them into evangelism. Tomorrow we start working on the Surbotavic's house. Pray for Adam as he has become sick because of his sinuses. Pray that we would have the strength to do what the Lord has before us. Also pray that the believers here would be encouraged by our visits with them, as a number of them have invited us to their homes for meals. We praise God for the brothers and sisters here in Montenegro. It is a great encouragement to think that though we are Americans and they are Montenegrins we are actually part of the same nation with Christ as our King. They have been called out of the world, just as we have been called out of the world. And this is to worship God, this we do together. Thanks to everyone back at home for your prayers on our behalf.
Sunday May 31
I can't believe that we have only been here 2 days. We've done so much already. We have met much of the congregation here in Niksic at the Young People's meeting last night and at the two worship services today. There are several new faces from when we were here two years ago and it seems that those who are attending now are quite faithful. David and I have been out in the community meeting some of the families in the church and have asked them to try and connect us with some of their unbelieving friends who would not typically go to a church but would like to meet some new American friends in their home or a cafe. Going to the member's homes is very important because many of them live with family members who are either against their "unOrthodox" faith or simply not at all interested. Pray that the novelty of two American guests will give opportunity for us to again share the gospel with these folks and at least encourage them to come to the church to hear more.
The worship service was excellent and we are blessed to have a young local named Jelena, who graduated from a college in Georgia (she can even do a southern accent), translate for us. It is so encouraging to worship with these brothers so many thousands of miles away and feel right at home. Their service is just as Scripture driven and saturated as ours! Stan's sermon tonight revealed to the congregation a situation of a brother from the small fellowship at coast falling into sin. Please pray for this group of believers in Kotor who have no pastor and may have recently had their witness among the people tarnished.
Our bags arrived! Tomorrow David and I will cross back into Dubrovnik, Croatia to pick them up. A fairly recent believer named Rade will be driving us and we plan to spend the day in the Old City with him. Pray again for the border crossing. Here is a picture of our new friend Daniel. He's from Serbia but works for a European youth ministry organization and is helping at the church here with his wife Martina. Here he is playing blues harmonica in his apartment:
Saturday May 30
Thank you for your prayers! The trip went very smoothly. We made all of our flights and our driver was waiting for us in Dubrovnik, Croatia when we got off the plane. Unfortunately the only bags that made it with us were the ones full of books, coffee, peanut butter, etc. for the Surbatovic family. We will have to take a day and cross the borders again and go back to Dubrovnik after our luggage arrives. David and I went to bed right on time and are pretty much already on schedule here which is 6 hours ahead of our time. During our trip we got to have a few conversations on the plane with fellow travelers about our trip and the importance of sharing the gospel. Hopefully God will use these brief conversations. We also got the opportunity to get out and see some of Dublin Ireland during our layover. Pastor Stan has some work lined up for us here at his home which also serves as a base for mission groups to stay. We also have the opportunity to teach the evangelism class that we just finished back home. Pray that we will be a help and encouragement to the Surbatovic family and the church here and also that we will make new friends that we can share the gospel with and connect with the church. Here is a picture of David on a bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin: