Thursday, August 2, 2007

Debriefing and Safe at home

I'm back from Bosnia and it was amazing! God has really taught me a lot about faith, prayer, friendship, servant hood and Muslims.

Praise God for everything he's done these last weeks and all He'll continue to do because of these last weeks.

We had debriefing in Austria, in a castle owned by Christians. I lived in the tower of the castle like a princess : ) Debriefing is a time for missionaries to think and process through what God was teaching them on the mission field. To remember experiences, remember their love, and also prepare for re-entry into their home culture. It was sad to leave Zenica and Bosnia and our new friends. It was hard to go from a state of poverty to a beautiful castle. I was hard to travel to Austria and know we would be in the states in a few days when most of our friends have never been further than 20 miles from their home. Or that with our American passport we have access to virtually any country at any time and our friends have to jump through so many loops and pay so much money even to be considered to travel to surrounding countries.

It was good to hear stories form the Sarajevo team and share with them the stories from our Zenica team. I loved hearing how God had been answering Alex's prayers. She was in Sarajevo last year and met Adnan and Mirza. Adnan was very antagonistic and cold last summer but over the year God has been doing something in his heart and this summer he was warm and spent every day with them (like Adis spent every day with us). He came to camp even though he knew it was about the Bible and came to see us off at the airport because he fell in love with their community. Alex's love and prayers for him are being answered and I'm excited to see what God will have done in him by next year.

It was also encouraging for me to see that our Zenica team have really bonded so much so that we were still looking out for each other and making sure everyone was taken care of and spending time together.

The last night I led a time of prayer for sending us back to our campuses and cities and realized God hadn't only grown my heart for Bosnia and the people there but also for my teammates. I'm looking forward to see how God will use them back at their schools and life at home.

Or trip home was safe and direct Munich to LA. Praise God for safety all around!

Please continue praying for the relationships that were started in Bosnia this summer and for the work God is doing in each of their and our lives. Pray for the commitments we made to live a simpler life and continue to learn about Islam and God's hand in the world.

Thanks for being a part of this process with me.

God bless

1 comment:

Rob Sr. said...

Welcome Home Melissa!! Good to read the good news of your trip.