I'm Back!

Wow! What a whirlwind!

Thank you for your prayers!

*Students came to the party and it was great!
*Our last days were blessed!
*Debriefing was Spirit led!
*Keep praying


THE PARTY
So many students came to our party! God is SO good to us! We called it a "Going Away" party and it was the best going away party I've ever had! Every single friend we had came! Sydney made tortillas for everyone to try burritos. We played games, talked, and just enjoyed good company. I think we counted over 30 people in our one living room! We had great last conversations or arranged our last meetings for the next day. We showed them we cared about them and had fun with them. It was super!

OUR LAST DAYS
*We went to the Evangelical Church's prayer meeting and had our last meal with our amazing cooks, Djemka and Drazena.

*Then 5 students went to the Refugee camp bringing them food and supplies with the Humanitarian Aid organization in Zenica. That was a hard experience for their last day in the city but also very powerful. They shared with the rest of the group that night about the families they met, the one room, run down "houses" without running water. I pray this will continue to impact them and transform the way they live.

*Others of us spent the day with our friends. There's nothing more I wanted to do than sit and have my last coffee with Amela and Senad. And that's just what I did. Jimmy and I spent the whole day with them. We had fun daydreaming about them coming to visit us in California and me coming to live in Bosnia. We talked about politics and justice and Zenica and life. The best last day I could spend in Bosnia. I will miss my friends and continue to pray for them until they know the love Jesus wants them to receive.

*Then our team of 12 had dinner with the EUS team to talk about the summer; great moments and hard moments. It was encouraging to hear how God had impacted each student and worked in the lives of their Bosnian friends. Jan and Anneriet along with Sladjan and Tiffany thanked us and were excited to follow up with the friendships we had made!

When we were at the airport the next day Enisa, the staff in charge of EUS in Bosnia, told me she would find a way for me to serve next summer in Mostar or Banja Luka or Tuzla. I would love to!

DEBRIEFING
We spent 4 days in Austria debriefing the experience we had in Bosnia with all 28 of us. We spent time reflecting on how God had challenged us, what God had affirmed in us, what God had done through us, in our friends. We also tried to wrap up what God had shown us about poverty, justice, evangelism and missions. And together made commitments we wanted to keep on our return. I know the Spirit led me, Nicole, Tina and Adam to shepherd the students, there's no other way things would have gone so well!
We arrived home safely even during the Lufthansa workers strike.

PRAYERS
Thank you so much for all your prayers before we started and throughout this whole time. Please keep praying for us. For me and the staff and students as we learn how to live out the things we have learned this summer.
Please keep praying for the relationships that we started this summer. And especially for my friends: Senad, Amela, Amna and Maja.
Please pray for the EUS staff as they continue reaching out to the Bosnians.
Praise God with us for the way he provided for our funding, bringing a team together, sustaining us through the entire project, for preparing friendships for us, for hearing us while we were in Bosnia and for bringing us home safely. God is SO good!

Thank you thank you thank you!
Puno Hvala

Last days in Bosnia

I dont know when I will return to this beautiful country again. That makes me sad. I have fallen in love with so many people here and the spiritual oppression here. The poverty, lack of hope and lack of opportunities.

It rained today so no one wanted to hang out. :( I only have a day left with them. I hope and pray many will come to our party tonight. If not for good conversation then just so I can see them once before I leave without knowing when Ill come back.

I dont like rain here.

Camp

Camp so far was amazing!

Praise God for Maja, Meliha, Rijad, Sanela, Amila, Amna, Amela, Senad, and Goran from Zenica came! Students also came from other cities but ours was the best represented!!!! We prayed and prayed and you prayed and prayed and God answered our prayers! Nine students are more than we expected! Each Bosnian shared a two-person tent with one of our American students. We all had great late night conversations!Amela shared a tent with me and I love her! She is Senads girlfriend and very sweet and fun!

Every morning we had and inductive manuscript like Bible study. In my small group Meliha and Amela had great insight into the prables we looked at. We enjoyed fun each afternoon at the lake or on the soccer field or throwing an American football. Then after dinner we had a speker teach on some part of relationships. Dating and Marriage, Friends and family (focusing on forgiveness) and Relationship with God.

We prayed every morning at 8 and expected God to move! He did. We had great conversations. But it was also very hard.

The last night 6 of our Zenica friends left to hang out with their other friends who were at camp. Those of us who had been investing in them the last 3 weeks (or for me year) cried and prayed in the back. Not because we were mad at them for leaving but sad because I want Senad to know Jesus. I want Amela to know the love and forgiveness he offers. I want them all to spend eternity with the one who created them and loves them. But they rejected even the idea of listening to what God might have to offer them.

That led to a good conversation with Amela about her relationship with God and what that meant to her. It ended up being mostly a conversation about the Muslim rules she follows with no purpose behind them but it was a good conversation. and in the morning I took my sadness to Gods word and found once again that he must know what he is doing. He has perfect timing and its not for us to know that time. Isaiah 55 was also a great encouragement to me because it says Gods word wont return without fulfilling its purpose. They had studied the Bible even if they didnt hear that last night they had heard from Gods word. So I was reassured. But I did get to taste a bit of what dissapointment looks like in missions such as this. its hard soil with many rocks.

On a happier note. Maja shared deep things in ther life with me and i feel our friendship is very strong.

Thanks for your prayers.

Coming up

There are many things coming up that I would love you to pray for!

Tonight
We are having our last class and a party afterward at our house. Pray for good conversations and lots of fun with our friends.

Saturday
We are having a BBQ at Bistrićak. Pray many students come and we have lots of fun and good (maybe last) conversations. Also pray for our students because we are tired.

Sunday morning
We go to camp and we currently only have 4 Zenica students coming. Praise God for them and pray for more! We would love to take 12 to match the number or americans. Pray for the Gospel to be clearly presented and for the Bosnians to respond to Gods love. And also that they would have fun and connect with EUS students.

THANKS!!!!!!!!!
Hvala!!!!!!!

So much! So good!

Last week was great! So many new relationships started! So many new experiences!
It was also really hard at the end of the week because it rained. It wasnt hard just because we were up on a hill and had to walk through the city in the rain but because there was so much rain that only 3 students came to our classes combined. It worked well becaue we just played games and then went bowling but it was hard because we wanted to have a bbq at our house on Saturday but didnt have everyones phone numbers. :( We also wanted to have coffee with friends during the day but didnt have their numbers. :(

So Saturday kind of sucked. It was good for us who as Americans want to be productive every second of the day and our worth many times comes from what we produce and we couldnt produce anything. Even how hard as we tried, no product at the end of the day to feel like we were worth the money people had given for us to go. That I think is a great lesson for us to learn- as hard as it was. Saturday night we did have a bbq and 7 or more of our Bosnian friends were there (there was 12 of us so 7 of them felt small) but it was great to minister to them individually and connect with them.

Monday the tides seemed to change. OH- it was also hard because many of the students felt like they didnt have a real bosnian friend yet and my co-leader, Nicole, was the first to voice this to me. I had sensed dissonance but after talking to her we were able to talk with the whole group about waiting for Gods timing while still giving all we have. We prayed monday morning for good conversations and that night God provided!
Good conversations about life!
Mandy, Kat and I talked and walked with Maja and she shared about her family and the war and her hopes and dreams. (I want her to know Jesus)
Good conversations about spirituality!
Miranda has been building a relationship with Sanela and her friend Dino and his girlfriend Alisa. They asked good questions and wanted to follow up with her the next day, which they did and they are in a great place to keep seeking God and asking good questions.
Good conversations about life as a Christian in Bosnia!
Nicole and Ali have befriended Medina (a friend from last year) and she shared the persecutions and hardships and loneliness of being a Christian here in Zenica.

God is so faithful!

And i havent had time to write sooner because ever second is filled with great conversations with Bosnians!

Pray for Senad and Goran (who just came back into town) and pray for my coffee with Amela right now. And that so many people would come to camp!

Thanks!!!!!!

God is great!

Senad and others

Much has happened here and it feels as if we have been here for weeks already though it has not even been a week. (That is a good thing) I ran into my friend from last year, Fedja, and later Senad. I introduced Senad to Sladjan and Jan (christians) and they have spent time with him this year. Now he is teaching our Bosnian language class and coming to my english class with his girlfriend. I want him to know the love and acceptance Jesus offers. Please keep him in your prayers.

Also we have met great people from our first day of class. Ena and Dražen are very open to Jesus and the way he comes to right wrongs and cares about injustice. They both come from mixed marriages so are open to reading about God! Pray that would happen.

Many students are interested in our camp in 2 weeks because of its great location. please pray they would actually come and receive the words that bring life.

Pray for us as we continue to learn how to live together as a team. We have had great conflict resolution so far-I am so greatful to God for that. Pray that would continue.

Oh and pray for Meliha (a teacher from a city an hour away) who is in my class. She will be staying at our house 3 nights this week becasue she doesnt want to travel so far. Pray this will be a great ministry to her and she would respond to the Gospel we live.


Yeah for second day of English class in an hour!

We are here!!!

We left Bakersfield at 1pm (right on time) and then got a flat tire on the bus... just my luck. I dont know what it is with me and flat tires on my way to a mission project but everything worked great! Tina had us schedule plenty of time to get there and we had time to eat dinner, go through security and wait for the plane! our plane in munich was delayed so we arrived in Sarajevo late and thus got to Zenica at 1am the next next day! (Left Tuesday got here 1am Thursday) We have a great house and are getting mattresses from a church today. We are tired but blessed! We have a great team! Just wanted to let you all know Im well and ask you to pray this week for 2 things specifically. First for my legs, hips, feet and back... Im not doing so well with bones and joints and theres a lot of walking here. Also that 20 more students will sign up for english class. We have 20 and want 20 more.

Hvala

Thanks for your prayers!

Hallelujah

We made phone calls as a team tonight and God provided us over $6,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!

Praise God!

Orientation Day 1

As the students came in the energy in the room grew and grew.

I sat at my computer and updated where each students funds were. I was expecting God to answer our prayers but never imagined he would provide so much! I was just praying that we would get close to making our original budget. We didn't get close we surpassed it! God gave each student a little more than expected and at the end of the night we had over $32,000 (we needed $30,000)!!!!!! Praise God for providing so much!

Now we still have about $10,000 to go because of the dollar loosing value but God has amazed and wowed us tonight!

YEAH GOD!!!!

Day Before Orientation

Praise God!

We're going to Bosnia in a week! Orientation for staff is tomorrow so we can prepare for the students coming the next day. It's been so fun to work with Tina and Adam and Nicole! We're going to have a great summer leading together!

God provided housing for us and food cheaper than I had planned! Half of our team has raised their full support! That's both a praise and a prayer request.

I feel like I'm in a strange time warp, spinning around with many thing to do and seemingly nothing getting done. But I am getting ready to go and I just can't wait to be in Bosnia!

I'm finally getting over my cold and have been to the chiropractor twice this week (my SI joints are out of place and my 5th lumbar spine thing is not moving like it's supposed to (?) ).

Interestingly, on my way home last week a rock hit my window in the bottom left corner. An hour later there as a line crack 3 inches long. Sitting in Fresno 5 hours later the line was 7 inches long. It's just been sitting in the driveway and daily gets longer and longer now almost all the way across the window. :( My mom said she'll take care of it when I'm in Bosnia Praise God because I can't think about it right now and don't have time to fix it.

The end.

Discipleship Disappointments

When you've poured your heart, blood, sweat and tears into the life of someone you love and think has potential to do great things but they then choose to do nothing with it, that sucks.

I was talking with a friend today and that was her recent experience. Looking back I find i too have had disappointing outcomes with people I invested so much in. The first person I discipled and others along the way along with someone quite recently have all rejected the words I shared with them and the example of my life lived with them.

An amazing book, "The Masterplan of Evangelism" is actually about discipleship (you should read it). The first task in discipleship, it says, is Selection. Selecting the right person will make or break the deal. But as my friend and I discussed, how do you know if they are good soil? How will you know if they will use the resources you so lovingly give? It's the hardest and most important part.

I need better discernment from God to know what to do with that.

1 Month until Bosnia

YIKES!

I'm so excited to go to Bosnia again! I met the team of students that are coming with us... 24 of them. They are all really great students and excited to serve this summer but I'm not going to lie, it was a little intimidating to see them all together and wonder, "How am I going to get all these people through the airport, and feed them all, and care for them spiritually?" But i know God will take care of us. And the other staff coming with me are so great too!

I'm praying God will fund us all in time to go. Most students have less than $1,000 and they all need $3,600. So God will have to be working hard on our behalf. Plus did i mention we're already $3,000 in the red because of plane ticket prices jumping up $200 and the worth of the dollar is decreasing steadily making everything in Europe close to twice as much as it would be here. Well that's what we're up against so pray for our funding, that God would provide.

I'm not afraid because I know God is faithful. For example, I was praying for more students to come to our leadership training and there are 28 students, half are from the predominantly Black fellowship (which is an answer to recent prayers) and half are men (which is an answer to our prayers 2 years ago!) so God is faithful!!!!!

Our Spring Leadership Retreat is the last weekend in May and I'm thrilled to be with all our new leaders and the old to plan and vision for the next year!

And did I say i'm so grateful God is sending another staff, my friend, Marissa Newman, to UCSB? Well it's happening! YEAH! Pray for her funding so she can get here as soon as possible!

It can't be April already

So much is happening at the same time! I can't believe it's April!

Re-affiliation of a predominantly African American group on campus with us, Spring Leader's training and Bosnia team meetings, support letters, staff planning stuff and prayer. Ahhhhhh!


Once there was a IV staff named Glory he invested in Josiah and lead a small group for Black students on campus. When Glory left, Josiah continued the small group and invested in Brandon but didn't consider themselves part of InterVarsity anymore. And Brandon, with all the passions and gifts God has given him, gathered together a whole fellowship of students and they called themselves BAM (Born Again Ministries). It's been really exciting to work with Brandon and the other leaders of BAM. They are hospitable, word loving students! As Paul and Brandon have built a relationship over the last 2 years Brandon shared he and his whole leadership team was graduating and there was uncertainty in the future of BAM. After months of talking and planing and preparing and praying some BAM students are going to join our leadership team, lead Bible Studies and help us plan what our Large Group could look like to serve the whole BAM fellowship. They'll do this in partnership with the InterVarsity leaders so that we can integrate well to reach and serve as many students on campus as possible. YEAH GOD for bringing unity to campus and reconnecting us to a great group of students!!!

We are starting training tomorrow and I'm thrilled that over 6 BAM students will be joining us, along with hopefully over 10 InterVarsity students!!!! I am praying this training would bring us together and would help us prepare for the coming year. It would be great to have more Small Groups available on campus for students to come to next year. I also would love to have the leaders who are helping with training grow in passion for their own small group and investing in younger students. I think the hardest thing this year has been getting leaders to see God has given them skills he wants them to use to invest in others. Discipleship in its simplest form has been so difficult. So hard. But I'm praying this training will help them use the talents God's given them.

Oh and Bosnia! So on top of all my regular campus work I get to prepare for Bosnia! Pray for our huge teams!!!!!! Last year was the most students we've ever brought to Bosnia 4 in Zenica and 7 in Sarajevo. But there was such a draw and a movement of the Holy Spirit that 30 students applied!!!!!!!!! WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? I know! We talked with the EUS Staff and decided to bring 10 students to Zenica and 14 to Sarajevo. Such huge teams makes everything really hard. Travel, loosing people, luggage, finding housing, and places to meet all together, trips in country, outreaches in country, the camp at the end of the trip, debriefing, orientation location. EVERYTHING!!!! I know God will get us through all of those worries but it's daunting to have to see them all at the same time. If you have a place near LAX you think could house 28 people PLEASE TELL ME!

Yikes!!!!!

But in all the busyness there's so much joy to be right where God wants me and working for him!

LOVE IT!!!!!!

Flying February!

God is So GREAT!!!!

I just wanted to send out some praise to your prayers from the previous weeks. If you don't want to read any further: God showed up in every situation/event and showed once again that he is a provider and gave me great refreshment as well. Thanks for your prayers.

For those who like stories:

1) Sophomore girls.
More than one instance in the last 2 weeks was a hard conversation with sophomores- and each was very emotionally draining. The one I was specifically referring to when I asked for prayer did not go so well. I listened but they didn't feel heard, they were bent to have things their way and that was hurtful to me. We prayed after a long conversation and I left feeling defeated and worse than before. But after Winter Conference they came up to me individually and apologized. PRAISE GOD! I can only show people truth I can't make them change their hearts. God can and that's what I prayed for! Praise Him for healing relationships and bringing truth to light.

2) WinterConference08!
AMAZING!!!!! I was so blessed to be in the first track where students are challenged to see God as the Lord of their WHOLE lives- not just a piece of it. It was a great weekend to see God at work in their lives and among us all! One UCSB student said he wanted to start following Jesus for the first time! Pray for Eric! And another UCSB student said he wanted to get back on track with God- because he's been off for so long and wants to take Jesus seriously! Pray for Jason! At the end of the conference students shared what they had learned and it was so encouraging to hear how God had been moving uniquely in each student's heart. Some to reconcile with roommates. Some to share their faith more with their friends. Some to embrace their ethnic identity. And some to take steps to really invest in other students' lives! PRAISE GOD FOR ALL HIS WORK! And that I got to be a part of it! YEAH!

3) Staff Interviews.
This process is actually still in process so I can't tell you all the results yet but I can say that God was present in each interview. One staff prospect told me that this was the best interview because "They wanted to really understand me and they made it clear my worth was not in getting a job as a staff worker but in who I was in Christ and they were just assessing if I would fit well on Staff." Praise God for always being with us! You can be praying also for how everything will work out for each applicant. Especially Mariah, Kat and Marissa (my students). The process wont be over until mid April but I'll tell you then what happened! Yeah God!

Oh and then lastly I just had a really refreshing time with God, no time constraints and nothing pleading for my time and attention. I was reminded how hungry I am for God and his word and time with him. After 2 weeks of busyness it was nice to receive from God! Thank you so so so so so much for your prayers! You are such a blessing in my life!

What do you do when students feel guilty?

That's a question I asked my supervisor Joseph today. I don’t know if the words I say sounds accusing or if the way I say it sounds accusing or if just the topics of life I choose to talk about are more convicting but I hear I make people feel guilty.

There is history to this...
I once had a roommate, let's call her Bertha. I discipled her during her freshman year and then we became roommates. Everything was great until she really wanted to have a boyfriend. I tried to encourage her and pray with and for her but all she could think about was having a boyfriend. She became good friends with a very nice, non-yet-Christian man. She wanted to date him and I advised her that would not be a good idea with scripture and others' life experiences. Others in here live were encouraging her to date him and eventually she did. I told her I didn't think it was a good idea again but continued checking in with her and the spiritual health of the relationship and her own health as a friend but not again telling her to stop dating him. Yet after a few months she stopped talking to me about him and would avoid any question I asked about him. She eventually broke up with him, met a nice Christian man and got married. I asked what happened to our friendship and she said she felt guilty, or that I wanted her to feel guilty all the time.

I realized the way I communicate things can come off judgmental if not followed up with love-if others can't see that it comes from love and not care and concern. At the same time though I wondered if it was her own guilt imposed on herself because, after I realized she would continue to date him, I just wanted to love her anyway. I didn't judge her I advised her and loved her and she felt guilty. Much later she admitted that she should never have been dating a non-Christian...

I wonder...
Is there good guilt and bad guilt? Does a guilt trip mean one person is manipulating the other? Or can someone really feel guilt because they are struggling with it internally and would rather think it was brought on by an outsider?

Currently...
I learned how I say things makes a difference and that how I approach a topic and with what love I portray all makes a difference in how what I say is received.

Today I praised the FT Bible study saying they had great connections with many students in the dorms because the leaders were spending them there, and I think that's really cool! The other leader I was with said, "Thanks for making us feel guilty."
Halt. That statement was to praise FT and the great things I saw-not directed at any other leader to make them feel guilty. Perhaps they would be encouraged to hear of the great things happening in FT and want that to happen in their own study but not feel guilty about anything. We talked about it a little more but the leader maintained "some people would take that as guilt."

By chance does that mean that my leader feels guilty about not spending more time in the dorms? By seeing the great things done by others are they jealous? What did I say wrong? I shall ask them that when we're alone and feel it out more but really,
What do you do when students feel guilty?

Finally

We have been praying and asking that God would move and reveal himself to students at UCSB and through InterVarsity.

Well it finally happened. Last Friday.

Noemi came to speak and gave a good talk about Identity and at the end ask students to respond. She had them close their eyes and then asked if they wanted their identity to be based in Christ Jesus and not in the world, all the other things she talked about for the previous 30 minutes, they just had to raise their hand. Now... we've asked this question many time at our Large Group meetings and no one ever responds. The leaders thought we should stop embarrassing oursleves, the young Christians didn't understand what we were doing and the non-Christians in the room didn't know what to think BUT... Last Friday was different. TWO STUDENTS RAISED THEIR HANDS!!!!!! Eric has been a part of our community this whole year and finally made a committment. Josh had come with his friend once and arrived this Friday alone but God was calling on his heart and revealing to him the dark parts of his life and his heart.

Welcome to the Kingdom of God! It's a great place to be!

Now our leaders are encouraged and want us to continue asking. The young Christians know they can bring their friends to a place where they will be challenged to look at a real and active God. And the other not-yet-Christians in the room maybe now think there is something more about this God, he really does change lives and convict hearts.

YEAH GOD!!!!!

Let us continue to teach and disciple and love these new brothers! And may God bring many more students to himself!

Drowning in Applications

I thought we only had 25 but no, alas, there were 30 applications. YIKES!!!! I mean YEAH!!!!

I'm so encouraged that God is stirring in students hearts to serve and go!
I talked with Jan and he said we could increase from 14 students to 18. Well I'll talk with the Bosnia Staff team on Friday and we'll see how many quality students God has called us to bring and then talk with Jan from there. Maybe they could take more students in Sarajevo? We'll see. Please be praying for our decisions and that whatever students come and however many they are that we would be a blessing to EUS staff and nothing less. We don't want to be a burden!

I'm excited to go back. Jimmy was in town yesterday with Kari and we all went to coffee together for 3 hours :)) They are both really great and I would love to spend the summer together with them again- but we'll have to see how the Lord leads. It was fun reminiscing with Jimmy about storieds and fun times we all had together and t to talk about our friends from English class and all the updates we had on them we shared. So fun! Volim Bosne!

30 applications..... yikes.