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