Charlene's Visa!!!!!!!!!!

Please praise God with me!
Charlene got her visa TODAY! This was the last day to get it without causing travel plan changes and all sorts of fast thinking.

We’ve been praying and fasting and praying. I was woken at 6:30 this morning by the sun and was wide awake so I just started praying for Charlene’s visa. I was looking in awe at God’s creation and how amazing His work is, SO huge! As creator of the universe, getting a small visa is a very simple task. But getting Charlene’s visa is impossible for us so it would take an act of God, a miracle!
We had to start thinking this morning, “If they don’t have it today here are our 5 options A, B, C, D, E?” And, “What is our last day before we just have to send Charlene home without coming to Croatia?” :( very sad thoughts…

Our plan was call the Croatian embassy in Sarajevo all day until we knew if we could get it and if not Nicole and Charlene would stay in Sarajevo until they could get it. So we prayed this morning, I prayed last night with every student I met and kept praying.

I was leading a Bible study this morning on Acts 2:42-47 and it was going really well. I just said, “It is great to be in community to share each others joys and burdens like if someone gets a new job or if someone is waiting for a visa.” As I said “visa” Nicole’s phone rang and the lady said come pick up your visa! What a testimony for our students! YEAH GOD!!!!! Thank you Jesus that Charlene is here now, at camp, with her Croatian visa! Now we don’t have to buy her a different plane ticket or change any travel plans! God definitely loves and provides for his children!

I’ll tell you more about camp when I return to California. Please pray for our debriefing and reentry time to go well and for the staff to have energy, we are tired.

Thank you for your prayers! Praise God!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodbye Zenica, Hello Camp

We are on our way to Borocko tomorrow!

Please pray for more students to come!
Pray for the Bible studies to speak individually to each student and the we would have discernment to know what to ask and what to share
Continue to pray for Charlene's visa: Zelko is a great advocate and working hard to rush the process for us.
Pray for out time at debriefing in Croatia, for safe travel, that staff would lead the students well, and things God taught us would be solidified.
Pray for energy and patience. Everyone is tired and that leads to more conflict.

Fun stories from the week!

E & M my 2 good friends asked me to meet them for coffee at 4pm. Now let me paint you a picture. It was the hottest week and i had been sweating all day. To go out again at 4 meant more sweat. I wanted to sleep before our party and when i'm tired my leg seems to work less. But i love them and the coffee shop was only 15 minutes away so i went. When i got there they reminded me that in Bosnian "Go to coffee" Doesn't mean you have to drink coffee, you can drink, lemonade, coke, fanta, whatever. It also doesn't even mean sitting down and drinking it can just mean meeting and hanging out. So they wanted to walk... in the hot sun... to the shopping center. Thankfully the shopping center has some sort of air conditioning. We eventually decided to get pizza because E was hungry. M decided to get fries because we were getting food. Her fries came but our pizza never did :( E was very mad but you have to imagine her voice as the voice of Pollyanna saying, "It's not fair, really!" and i said, "It's okay at least we get to be together" and she (in Pollyanna voice) said, "I very much like being with you too." We've gotten so close and i'm very sad she & M will not be joining us for Camp :( I gave them cute pens from UCSB and they gave me the bracelets they were wearing after much protesting on my part. They are so generous and sweet and I'll miss them. (but i wont miss sweating all over Zenica, though the time with them was worth it)

Did i ever tell you that we got a fish? Just a little goldfish. We named him David because we are going to give him to David, the Staff in Banja Luka. But he might die soon. Every time we come home someone says, "Is David dead?" It's quite funny. Today we took him on the train with us.... our train hit a van... and we were 2 hours late. But David is still alive :)

This isn't really a story but we had our last going away party on Friday night and many many people came to our house. It was fun and sad all mixed together and when they left around 11:30 we had to clean the entire house, pack up and try to sleep to wake at 6:00 to catch the train! Whew! We are tired!

When I arrive in the states I'll tell you more about camp and debrief, until then please keep me/us in your prayers.

Great times in Zenica!

Charlene is still waiting for her visa but with the express process she should know by Friday (tomorrow) if she gets it or not. Dear God please get her visa to Croatia!

Our team is still having a great time! We get along really well and have been dealing with whatever small things come up right away! Its so great! Well i almost wish there was conflict that they could learn and grow from but really they just know themselves and love each other.

It has been SO hot this week. I started sweating at 9am and its 9pm and Im still sticky. :( Yuck!

I went to my friend Amela's house today just to "hang out" and she had made us a full meal, at 3pm. We just finished lunch at 2... it was so delicious and i love spending time with her and Senad! The are great friends of mine! I am now stuffed to the top!

Pray for students to join us for camp on Sunday. There have been many barriers like parents, money, other friends not going. I just want students to be blessed as they spend time with us and encounter Jesus in the Bible. Pray with us.

Healthwise I have been okay. Praise God for not so huge headaches even while its been hot. My leg has gotten more and more tired. I dont know how to make it better but to pray.

Pray for tomorrow, our last day in Zenica, that we will be led by the Spirit in conversation and connecting our friends to EUS to continue the work.

Saturday we are joining the other half of our team in Sarajevo, pray for our travel and time in Sarajevo, that we would be prepared for camp.

OH praise God with us that the sleeping bags we had to buy were half price today and i was able to finally understand our landlady so we went to buy them and bought out the stores supply. Thank you Jesus!

Fun story:
It was just going to be Jenni and I at lunch on Tuesday because the boys went to Armins house and Charlene was in Sarajevo. So we invited 4 girlfriends to come over, 2 replied to say they could come and 6 showed up! It was a great time but our amazing cook was very surprized, "Četri, Osam?" (four, eight?)

We also had a girl-guy night on Tuesday. Girls tye-dyed upstairs and did girly stuff while the guys made tacos (including the tortillas)! We enjoyed their food and it was just fun to be together. One girl even tye-dyed her head scarf :)

I love being here and i love Jesus for being with us and at work and i love you for praying for us!

Last week!

This is our last week here in Zenica then we go to Boroćko for a week of camp, including morning Bible studies and evening talks and afternoons filled with fun at the lake.
We have had a lot of fun but i cant tell you all about it until later. I have to go teach english class. Just know we are having a great time in class, playing baseball, having bbqs, parties, going to the pool, and just enjoying coffee.

Charlene needs to get her visa for croatia tomorrow morning in sarajevo, pray for save travel and favor with the embassy. Pray she can come with us.

Please pray for Pray for:
• Please pray for students to keep coming to class. We have a consistent 15.
• Praise God for good, non-awkward conversations with new and old friends this last week! Pray that continues!
• Please pray with us for all our students to encounter God in a real way in the next 2 weeks and that they would come to camp with us.
• Pray for camp July 26-30, that 10 students from each city would come. We have a list of 15 students we would love to come from Zenica, pray they would.
• Continue to pray for good communication and energy on our team. Pray for Jenni, Scott, Chris, Charlene, Sean and myself. Charlene as a Kenyan citizen has run into prolems for getting into Croatia for our debrief time. Please pray that God would do something to get her there and affirm that she has been doing a great job so far in Zenica.
• Please keep praying for healing for my spinal cord, strength for my leg, and decreased cerebral spinal fluid pressure to be free from my headaches. Praise God that yesterday when I TOTALLY twisted my ankle it didnt hurt after 10 minutes

God is great! May his name be glorified!

Tired but giving our all

This has been an eventful week!
This is long but I have so much to say! Summarized in 6 points for stories and prayer:

English classes lead to deeper friendships!
Our team encourages each other and continues to serve boldly through tiredness!
Students are having spiritual conversations every night!
I’ve reconnected with more old friends!
Ode to David
Walking has been hard and my headache still unceasing
(read below for details on each of these points)

Pray for:
• Please pray for students to keep coming to class and engaging in conversation.
• Pray for good, non-awkward conversations with new and old friends.
• Please pray with us for all our students to encounter God in a real way in the next 2 weeks and that they would come to camp with us.
• Pray for camp July 26-30, that 10 students from each city would come. We have a list of 15 students we would love to come from Zenica, pray they would.
• Continue to pray for good communication and energy on our team. Pray for Jenni, Scott, Chris, Charlene, Sean and myself.
• Praise the Lord with me that we live so close to the city! Please keep praying for healing for my spinal cord, strength for my leg, and decreased cerebral spinal fluid pressure to be free from my headaches.


English classes lead to deeper friendships!
I love teaching! English is not my subject so I’m very thankful this is a conversational class! We have a lot of fun in class and are also able to have deep conversations about life. Last week we talked about family, friends, country and life experiences. For life experiences they drew time lines and shared them with their table group and I heard how the war affected my friend E and how the death of S’s father in 2001 through her into a pit of bad stuff. S thinks that her boyfriend will make everything better, I pray she’ll let Jesus make her well and healed. I’m blessed for these English classes because without them we might not get to know each other so well so quickly.

Our team encourages each other and continues to serve boldly through tiredness!
We are very tired and need prayer for more energy because we’ve spent so much time with our new friends! Friday was a very hard day for me. We had bowling in the morning, coffee to follow, people over for lunch, a staff meeting, class, and a party at our house until after midnight. It was non-stop and non-stop with people. I was very drained by the end of the night and was glad for the weekend to come (though it didn’t slow down much). When I asked the team to pray for me to continue engaging with students and have energy to be around people they also said Friday was a hard day for them, but you never would have known. At the party they were smiling and laughing and talking with their friends. They are great! We haven’t had much conflict, I think because they are so self-aware. We had a small conversation last night about a girl in our class and how one on our team was interacting with her differently than would be acceptable in this culture and that was hard to hear for that one but ended up being a good conversation. They are so teachable and such a blessing to me. Continue to pray for good communication and energy.

Students are having spiritual conversations every night!
Sean and I had a great conversation with two girls from our class E and M. It started in a café called Manuel. There was a Michael Jackson song on and I mentioned he had died. Then E went off about how strange he was but how she thought he was a believer. Sean jumped in and asked if she was a believer in anything. She shared about being atheist, then choosing Islam and hoping that her good out weighs the bad and the Muhammad will stand on her side on judgment day. Sean shared the Gospel and invited her to study the Bible with us. I shared my testimony and how God spoke to me through His Word and through reading and prayer I realized how important Jesus is.
Jenni and Charlene have spiritual conversations every night, sometimes with people they just met! Last night my old friend Sanela brought a friend with her and that girl talked with Jenni for a few hours about God as we walked around the city!
Scott and Chris have been spending their time with very devoted Muslims. Scott has had really great conversations with a girl who is covered! She even teaches at the mosque. We’re praying for her to have a dream that would direct her to Jesus because in Islam dreams are very important. Please pray with us for all our students to encounter God in a real way in the next 2 weeks and that they would come to camp with us.


I’ve reconnected with more old friends!
I saw Sanela and Dzenana last night! They are dear friends and I pray they will spend time with us and grow closer to God! I am awaiting the return of Amela and Senad, they went on vacation and I miss them. Pray for good, non-awkward conversations when they come back.

Ode to David
David is a missionary from Czech and serves in Northern Bosnia in a city called Banja Luka. He would like to have an InterVarsity team come to his city next year so he stayed with us for 10 days to see what it would be like. It was great to have a Bosnian speaker with us and he blessed us with his car as well! He would play games with us, eat meals with us and attend church with us. He is so much fun and we will miss him. He left us Monday afternoon. We will see him again at the Evangelistic camp on the 26th-30th. Pray for him and his ministry.


Walking has been hard and my headache still unceasing
I praise the Lord daily that we live so close to the city! It only takes 10 minutes to walk to the center of the city and 15 minutes to the classroom! From the classroom to the center of the city is 15-20 minutes (depending on how tired my leg is). Thank you God! My right leg has gotten to the point that I can only walk about 7 minutes before getting tired and weak. Then I can go about another 10 before I need to stop and rest. It’s really hard at the end of the day to walk home, even on flat land. I’m afraid of little bumps in the sidewalk and walking up our little hill at the end is very strenuous and takes much effort.
I still have my headache each day but some how I feel like it hasn’t been as bad as it could be. I just asked my students and they said I have a bad headache at least once a day, some times three times a day. It doesn’t often last for long though, I think. I guess I just try not to think about it. But I guess I do sometimes think to myself, “Can I afford to stay home today because my head hurts?” Then the team prays and it feels better by the time I have to leave.
Please keep praying for healing for my spinal cord, strength for my leg, and decreased cerebral spinal fluid pressure to be free from my headaches.

When God Works, He Works!

God is so great!

I am having a great time and have reconnected with many old friends!
I met with Maja, Amela, Goran, Senad, Medina. Have talked to Amna, Sanela and Anela. I was going to meet with Selma today but she had unexpected company so we rescheduled.
&&& Pray for deep conversations with all of them and that i would see others i havent yet.

My team is great!
Sean is a great coleader! He is insightful and can make quick decisions
Jenni is a great initiator and is full of energy
Scott is so genuine and up for anything
Chris is so easy going and caring
Charlene is so bible based and sweet
It is a true blessing to work with them!
&&&&Pray for continued good times together that we could encourage and uplift each other.


My health as been alright
We have 28 students in class! from 10


Pray for no headaches, better sleep, good weather and deep conversations.

We are here!

After a day and a half of travel we are in Zenica!

Yeah God for getting us here safely with all our luggage and with out any problems with Charlene!

Please pray for students to sign up for class which starts on Monday. We passed out fliers today and 2 students already signed up that we just met, i think that makes a total of 15 students. Pray for more.

Pray for rest and no jet lag.

Thank God that we are here and my team is doing great so far!

Thank you for yours prayers! Im so blessed to be back in Zenica, it feels like my second (or third) home!

Pray for my leg to work well, its kind of tired (was when i woke up too) which is difficult when i have so far to walk each day. Also pray for me to not have a headache. This morning was bad but now is not so bad.

Thanks for your prayers!

God bless you!

Melissa