Camp at Smetovi

This was our last week in Bosnia and we helped host an evangelistic camp for the EUS students and their friends.

1) Who was there
2) What is Smetovi and I wouldn't recommend it
3) First look at a Bible
4) Jesus and Break-ups
5) Meliha's Response to the truth about Jesus!!!!!!
6) My love for my Muslim Friends


1) This was our last week in Bosnia and we helped host an evangelistic camp for the EUS students and their friends. There were students from Zenica, Mostar, Banja Luka and Sarajevo, Christian and not-yet-Christian, and also the other half of our InterVarsity team which had been teaching English classes in Sarajevo. In total there were about 50 of us.
I was a little disappointed because only one of my students from the advanced English class in Zenica said they could come. Adis came with us, which was great since I was praying for him even before I met him. He's Mario's friend and has been on EUS' heart and ours for the last year. Amna (from melody's group) and Senad (from my group) had said they would come later in the week but Bosnians are indirect communicators and I had found "maybe" means "probably not". I still prayed that they would come every day and almost every hour. There were 2 students from our Intermediate class that did come Emina and Najra. Najra brought her 21-year-old daughter, Meliha and her 8-year-old daughter Amina. When I met them I prayed, "God would you bring a whole family here to come to know you?" And I continued to pray for them all week. Also our EUS students Mario, Sladjan and Tiffany came to camp.


2) Smetovi is about 20 minutes drive from Zenica up into the hills. In the winter it is a small ski resort, in the summer it's just green and beautiful! There were 3 large rooms with bunk beds, 2 rooms for girls 1 room for guys.
FUNNY STORY: It's not that funny. I slept on the top bunk over Layla because i wanted to be by the window (because it's really hot) and no one had taken that bed. I put my sheets on and got it all ready and as I was climbing up the girls were making fun of Mandy because the springs on her bed were weak and as she laid on her bed it sunk down almost to Emina's head. Ha ha so I swing my leg over the ladder on to my bed and step on to my bed, and my foot goes all the way through and i almost squish Layla's head. Now everyone is laughing at me and also trying to help me get unstuck. I didn't have a strong mattress or good supports on my bed just a few poles so I stepped from pole to pole until I could lie down. As the night wore on the mattress started sinking through the poles in the middle and I ended up with a pole in my back. I shoved my pillow in the hole (where the mattress was sinking and tried to keep sleeping. This was the most uncomfortable sleep of my life! The next day the girls helped me take a mattress from an empty bed and shove it under my mattress. That worked much better. (by the way: since I was by the window I got to see the sun rise every morning)
I wont go in to how old the carpets were or how gross it was cleaning so many Turkish toilets and I wont even mention the guys bathroom in the basement but lets just say I wouldn't vacation there. But God's spirit was there so it was well worth it.


3) The camp was about Identity and what the Bible has to say about our identity. We had Bible studies each morning from the book of Mark and they were mostly about Jesus' interactions with people. We were separated into small groups and I was glad Meliha was in my group as it was her first time looking at a Bible. Alex (she's an IV student from Bakersfield who came last year too) led the first Bible study on the Jairus and the Bleeding woman. It was really powerful for me to see our Muslim and nominal friends participate with the Bosnian Christians and us Americans in studying God's word! Magnificent!


4) In the afternoon we had free- time until dinner, which was great for playing and praying and conversations. One afternoon some students went for a hike and I was feeling sick so stayed at camp. I was looking at the mountains and praying for God to reveal himself to the students and that Senad and Amna would come when Elvis came up to me. He is Mario's brother and he talked about faith and what it looks like to really live a life as a Christian here in Bosnia. It was really insightful and then he asked me what I thought it meant to live a Christian life and I told him my thoughts. It was just really cool to encourage each other and have a real conversation. He walked away and I started praying again when Emina walked over. Some how we got on the topic of boyfriends and she said she just broke up with her boyfriend 6 months ago and shared the pain of that in such a small community. I was able to share about my break up and how God has been meeting me thought it and the promises that he's given me and how my I'm so glad my worth is in Him and that I'm special to Him. Basically in all that I shared the Gospel and then asked her how she saw God working in her break up or who God was to her. She's Muslim and it was really great to listen to her and share more of the hope that I have from a loving father and savior God. No, she didn't decided to follow Christ that day or the next but I am so blessed to know that God uses me and my willingness and my experiences to help others like Emina take one step closer to Him.


5) Wednesday night at the camp Don, a missionary in Sarajevo, came to give a clear Gospel presentation and call to respond. It was very clear and I was praying the whole time. At the end he invited everyone to respond to the invitation that God was offering them through Jesus, all they had to do was respond and they would be included in God's family. Najra stood immediately and went to pray with Zoran (Sladjan's brother). I was standing in the back and I saw Meliha and I was just crying for joy for Najra and begging the Holy Spirit to call Meliha to stand too. AND SHE DID! She prayed with Jenny and I and some of my stood in the back praying for the other friends we had there who hadn't responded. Later i asked Meliha what it meant for her to stand and she said, "That man said if I wanted to be included I should stand and I wanted to be included so I stood. But I'm still figuring things out." After talking to her I would say she's been looking and looking and seeking and the Holy Spirit put it on her heart to respond to him but she doesn't know what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus yet, her first encounter with the Bible was with me Tuesday morning so she still has a lot of room to grow but she does desire to know. She is going to church with Mario and wants to go to Tiffany's Bible study. I'm so happy that she has a strong Christian community to teach her and her mom. They will be well taken care of, i know.


6) Thursday Amna and Senad came!!!!!!!!!! Praise God!!!!!!! All six of us from Zenica were so excited to see them because we have grown to love them (and the rest of our students even though they didn't come)! They came in time for half the Bible study and stayed until 11pm. During free time Amna asked Melody some more questions she had about the Christian faith and Melody said it was a really great conversation and a great place to continue the relationship and Amna's understanding of God. Jimmy, Senad and I were on a soccer team during free time and when we sat out I felt the spirit really heavily pressing on me to say something and I wasn't sure what so I just asked what he thought of the morning Bible study and if he had read it before. (Thanks God, good question) He is very tolerant of all faiths and is Muslim because his whole family is and he's never studied the Qur'an or the Bible. After they both left that night I felt closure and hope and that our relationships could continue to draw them closer to Jesus. I will keep praying for them until they know Jesus as their savior. I love them so much and I want that they won't have to worry about how many good things they do or how many times they pray a day or wonder if God will accept them into heaven but that they would know him as their loving father who came to Earth to die for their sins so they would be assured of their acceptance into God's family and kingdom.


Praise God for His word and the work of His Spirit in our lives!

So blessed to be used for his Glory!