Yesterday was a wonderful day of both rest and ministry. The Cerritos team decided they wanted to rest up before their long bus ride and flights back to the US, but we were joined by Pastor Stefan and 10 youths from his church. We visited Caricin Grad (Caesar's town), an archaeological site where Em porer Justin build for his mother at about 500-600 AD. As we stood in the old baptistery, we prayed for God to send revival to Serbia and praised Him with song. Meiring, Nena, Nena's brother, Daniel (who has been so much help to us in arranging buses and many meals), Stefan and Marshall represented the group to meet the mayor of Lebane, Nena's home town. We then went to Serinjska Banja, a hot springs geyser, similar to Old Faithful at Yellowstone, where we ate lunch (at 3 PM), swam and enjoyed the warm water from the geyser.
We then went back to Lebane, about 30 km from the geyser, to have a special service at Nena's home church. Even though she couldn't walk much, Nena's aging mother came, a real honor for us to have her come. The church was packed (about 80 people) with both young and old, Gypsies and Serbians. One of the youth translated for us while Pastor Stefan interpreted for Pastor Darwin. God's spirit was sweetly felt during the service. Christine shared how she had to yield all her plans to God before God would open the doors for her to find a job after she graduated from Berkeley. Pastor Darwin preached from the Revelations passage about the church at Laodicea, and used the hot springs geyser to illustrate why being lukewarm is useless, but how useful the hot springs is when it is either hot or cold. Praise God, 3 people (and maybe a fourth who timidly half raised his hand) raised their hands to accept the Lord and the majority also responded to become more useful to the Lord. We returned to Leskovic to say good by to the Cerritos team preparing to leave for LA and also welcome the second team who arrived a few minutes after we returned.
During the bus rides, Marshall had a chance to chat with Pastor Stefan and find out a little about our host church. The congregation, both Serbian and Gypsy, is quite poor, and their tithes are barely enough to pay for utilities and the running of the church. They do have some support from churches in Europe and the U.S. to help pay for the staff, but they have great faith and great vision for what God can do. By faith, they purchased their current building twenty some years ago, using the squabbling among the sisters who owned it to buy it for a pittance. They are now raising funds to buy a small used bus (that can seat 18) both as a for profit business and also to use in the evenings and Sundays to take children and elderly and Gypsies to church. They also have plans to buy a large property and build first a large multipurpose building which can seat almost 1000 congregation and later develop into a large church campus with many buildings and a sanctuary. We have learned so much from them what it means to walk by faith.
Tonight is our program at the rented hall. Please remember to pray now. May God prepare hearts to come and receive Him.
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