Batteries and Babies

Many things were certain from the beginning of this trip. 1) Eventually, it would be cold and there would be snow. 2) The Van is Old. 3) The Van will Break. 4) The Van will probably break down IN the snow.

All of our dreams and prophetic visions came true this week when on the drive from Croatia to Bosnia the weather changed from a pleasant 13 sunny degrees Celsius to -2 degrees blizzard. Nice. We found ourselves driving through a massive swirling snowstorm. It was lovely...well, what we could see at night anyway. Which wasn't much. It was ok though, because who needs to see when you know your surroundings? And we knew there was a mountain to our left and a cliff to our right. No problem. We arrived safe and sound in Sarajevo for our second time and last week of Transit.

The scenery in Sarajevo has changed from orange to white. The leaves are gone, and all of the children under 4 are wrapped from head to toe in those giant one-piece snowsuits. Like the kind in the movie A Christmas Story. The one with the kid and the BB gun...Anyway it kind of makes you want to run up and push one over and watch them roll around helpless..."I can't move my arms!" Except of course we would NEVER do that. We just push each other. :) And throw snowballs.

So the van almost made it...who are we kidding it hasn't "made it" until Kyle, Witte, Silja, and Mimosa drop it off in Belgium. BUT, the van was doing well considering its delicate 21 yr old condition... until today when the battery died. Luckily Witte, Yong Min and Erin were there to push while Kyle steered. With a little help from the local OM team and their jumper cables, Billy (the Van) was up and running in no time. Go Billy Go...at least for 8 more days please!

Relax, take a coffee, think...

The Balkans, what amazing place. The people is cool, the vew is cool, the food is cool, the weather is... well, kind of interesting, but the Van is complete, so is cool, and also the Coffee, because the people from The Balkans LOVE (and is not an exageration) to take coffe and hang out with friends. Lovely.

Long time ago we don't write in this blog, so will be a resumen about everything, and in a few days (we hope just a few) we will give more details.

After a few changes in our team, we was prepare for almost everything, except the main ministry in the Balkans: hang out and drink Coffee. Well, if we think in how is the people: friendly, the most of them don't have a job because there's no Jobs, they speak very good english (is almost a shame for most of us see and listen kids speaking in english) and like to hang out... so, is a perfect ministry for them. Interesting, but fun.

So, in the last month and days, we have drink more coffee than in ALL our life (a few of us don't like coffee), and we must say that this coffee, iS VERY special, and strong. But that is not the complicated part but to contact the people...

Situation 1: You go outside full of energy and courage, with the purpose of talking with 10 or 15 people, and see many of them become christian and cry and go to church... But after 10 minutes, everything is gone when you see how HARD is talk with people from the nothing. So, your day or night) is gone.

Situation 2: You go outside complicated and thinking that your are waisting your time because will be the same than yesterday and you will not meet anyone... But in the end you recieve a few lessons of "How to talk with yong people", and after 10 minutes, you are in a Coffee Shop with a bunch of youth having fun and talking about life.

In Bihac, Bosnia was difficult start, but after meet the people you just meet ALL the town. The Bosnians are like that :). Was the same in Sarajevo for our Open House,we didn't expect people, because we did the promotion just the day before. But, with just one friend who ask to another guy, who ask to another guy, who say to many people, in the end was FULL.

The other thing is the time. Half an hour in a western country is half an hour, in Latin countries can be two hours, in The Balkans can be ALL DAY. One of the activities in Montenegro was to move boxes with bibles, and supose to be just "Half an hour"... but was from 11.30 til 17.00... WOW. Also, one day we work with concrete, and we supposed to finish around 15.00. Well, just was until 18.00 :) The cool thing is our skill of improvisation is almost perfect now.

Well, a few Open Houses, worship services, give books, play with Roma Kids, paint walls, prayer walks, play music in Pubs, and the most important thing, COFFEE. Practically, this was our time in The Balkans... well, it's not finish yet, just one week more.

Cheers :)