Update Number Four

Hello friends and family! The last three weeks spent in Banja Luka have been so great! We continued to spend time with kids at the children's home. We went back and hung out with them and also took the youngest set of kids on an outing. We went to a traditional Serbian village which had all the antique building materials, bedding, cooking supplies, etc. It was great to take the kids for a fun afternoon! 

We also spent a few days sanding and painting doors and door frames for the people we stayed with. It took a few days and many coats but we got it all done! It was such a blessing to the people we stayed with. After that came the week of prepping for camp. As a crew we did five skits at kids camp and then each of us had a time slot to teach during youth camp. So the topic of all our talks/skits was the fruit of the spirit. It was great for the kids because it's simple, and for the youth it was really challenging and encouraging to them because we were able to take it deeper than just the classic "love, joy, peace" message. We played loads of games, got so many mosquito bites, and had way too much fun! The place we stayed at was about an hour outside of the city and it happened to be the place with the most Mosquitos in the world. Aside from that, we had loads of space to play soccer and frisbee. We also set up a trampoline and that was also fantastic. A highlight of the week for many was the huge foam/duct tape swords. Many battles took place and many wounds were dished out with those suckers. 

It was interesting for us being involved in a camp in a different language. Each of us had been to or run a summer camp before at home, but when everything needs a translator it makes a big difference. We were still able to build relationships with the kids and youth despite the language barrier. God was able to do some really cool things in the lives of the kids all ages (including us). 

After camp we were able to meet up with some of the skaters again to say goodbye and spent some time hanging out with our new friends from the city on our last night. Our time in Banja Luka was so amazing!

This morning we arrived back at our "home" in Sarajevo. We will be here for ten more days before we fly back to Switzerland on the 3rd of July! Our plan for the next couple days is to reconnect with the relationships we made six weeks ago. We are excited to see what God will do in us and through us throughout these last days in Bosnia.

Thank you to everyone for the love and support. You guys are amazing! 

Love the Bosnia Team.

Update Number Three

Week 7, 8, 9

Hello friends and family! The past three weeks of outreach have been amazing! We spent two weeks in Kaśtela Croatia and this week in Banjaluka (northern Bosnia). 

The small town we stayed in was a 30 minute drive from Split, one of the big cities in Croatia. It is a port for cruise ships, and loads of Asians, and anyone else seeking some beautiful sights and a beautiful culture. We did some street ministry, spoke at some churches, and even visited a high school English class to talk about our travels and what we do with YWAM. We were able to use this as an opportunity to invite the kids to a youth night we held in town at a local church. There were around thirty people who came and went. We played games, had snacks, told them about ywam and our adventures thus far, and our fearless leader Andrew was able to share his testimony which touched a lot of hearts and gave some goose bumps too. 

It was such a great time to be able to bless some local believers and share who God is to some kids who haven't heard about him before. 

We stopped in one evening at a Down Syndrome centre to hang out with the kids and hear a little bit about what they do there! Unfortunately all the kids weren't there, but it was awesome to dance around and do some crafts and love the kids. 

During our time in Croatia we spoke at two churches. One was a very small one and we each shared our testimony and a little bit of what God is doing in our hearts and it was such an encouragement to them! We were also able to attend a little larger service and share with them. It's amazing to see the believers here worship and their expectancy and passion for what God is going to do in their country! 

We were also blessed by some friends with a huge van for while we were in Croatia! So instead of walking or bussing we got to drive and we had way too much fun in our van. 

We had the opportunity to travel to a smaller town called Makarska and do some work for some of the believers there. With one family we helped them clear out their backyard and remove lots of trash to make room for a garden. We later went to an older lady's house and did some cleaning and re-painted her patio set! Her and her neighbour made us dinner and we got to eat some yummy Croatian food and listen to her story. She loved telling us what God has done in her life and the difference he has made for her. 

The YWAMers we worked with are sailors and are working to start a sailing dts in Croatia. We got the chance to sail with two of the guys for a day and it was amazing! They taught us some basics about sailing and we got to be in the sun exploring the Adriatic Sea! We stopped in a small harbour and went for a swim and enjoyed our time! 

On a more serious note, while we were in Croatia we were able to do some personal debrief of DTS so far. We spent some time with God reflecting on all we have learned and where God wants to take us. It was amazing for each one of us to see how far we have come and all that God has taught us! The atmosphere in Croatia is really peaceful and provides a lot of rest. It was a very different pace from Sarajevo. It was cool to worship together in a place were God's peace and rest are so evident. The Holy Spirit shows himself in different ways as we travel to different places. We love discovering how God will reveal himself to us in each new city/country we end up in. 

We are now in Banjaluka staying with a Ywamer who is doing some really cool things in this city! We don't totally know the plans for our time here yet. We spent this week getting to know the city and getting settled in. As well as spending some time at an orphanage/children's home. We played with kids in the sun for a few hours today! We played soccer, basketball, and taught them to skate board! They all loved it and we are looking forward to going back to hang out with them and keep loving on them. 

Thanks for your support and love. We are excited for what God is going to do in our last half of outreach. 

Much love from the Bosnia Team

Update Number Two

Week Four/Five/Six

Hello friends and family! We are still alive out here in Bosnia having an amazing time! 

God has done a lot over the past three weeks. It's been amazing to get some of the things checked off the list that God put on our hearts at the beginning of our time here.

We were able to build and instal a new rail at the skatepark! For those of you who don't know what a rail is...hit up Google. The skaters were all unbelievably thankful! Since we have been here and intentionally praying for the skatepark the atmosphere has really changed! People are more joyful and talkative, and older skaters are helping young kids and teaching them stuff. It's a different place than it was a month and a half ago. God is continually blowing our minds with the skatepark and all that he has done there!

We have been seeking the Holy Spirit and stepping out to pray for people to just see what happens and God has done some cool things. We found out the skatepark is potentially going to be moved to a new location, so we were able to pray with 10 kids and just speak out that God loves skateboarding and loves those kids! 

Another excited thing we did with some people from local churches is go repelling/climbing! It was a sunny, adrenaline packed day! The bridge we repelled from was around 70ft, we got some pretty hilarious looks from the locals and tourists who were walking through the park.That was a great opportunity to hang out and encourage the local believers in the city.

For the last two weeks we have been working with another YWAM team from Denver. They are doing an "Around the World" dts, which means they go to a bunch of different locations during outreach and Sarajevo Happened to be one of them! Worship and prayer times were amazing with this crew. It's so cool how As believers from all over the world we can still come together and worship and hang out with God. 

One thing God put on our heart was to clean up the old fort above the city. Between our two teams as well as our base leaders and their family we had close to 15 bags or more of trash! The coolest part was two university students who run the majority of Bosnians tourist websites "happened" to be there while we were picking up trash. We got to tell them about our ministry in the city, about ywam, and about how much we love this place! It was definitely something God set up for us. They told us they will be writing a story about us in their next update!

The past week we did a bunch of kids ministry in a big residential area of Sarajevo. We went to the park with frisbees, craft supplies, and loads of smiles and excitement and kids just showed up! We set up the crafts and we have never seen so many sparkles strewn around before. We also got challenged by some young Bosnian boys to a soccer game. These boys were twelve, but they were unreal! On day one they beat us 6-5 and then the next day the North Americans came through and we won 10-9 in a real close game. The Bosnians had an advantage because new kids kept appearing and subbing in an out so they always had fresh legs! It was a hilarious time and the kids loved it. At the beginning of the week we really felt like our goal for the week should be to just love and play with these kids and that's totally what we did! God opened up some really cool opportunities for families to hear about the church in the area too! 

As a team God is doing amazing things within each of us as individuals. We have prayer/worship times almost every day with just the six of us and it's amazing to see and hear what everyone is experiencing and learning! God is definitely showing us new and exciting things about his spirit and character that we have never seen or experienced! 

We are now packing up our apartment because we are headed to Croatia tomorrow! We are going there for some debrief as well as ministry with some YWAMers who live there! Thank you everyone for your support, love, and prayers! 

Love the Bosnia Team

First three weeks!

Hello friends and family! You have made your way to the Bosnia outreach team blog! It will be updated every three or four weeks!

We arrived in Sarajevo on March 30 late in the evening after a solid day of travel. In the morning of our first day we ventured through the city and up to an old fort ruin. It was amazing! Wile we were sitting in the fort God started speaking to us about some of the plans he had for our team while we are here for 6 weeks. One of them being cleaning up the fort, it has lots of trash and old bottles surrounding it and 4 out of 6 of us had the same thought at almost the same time that we should clean up the area in and around the ruin! We came to the quick conclusion that it was the Holy Spirit and got so excited! We are connecting with a few people we know in the city and hopefully start on the project soon! 

We also were able to connect with some of the local skaters which was awesome! As soon as we walked up the steps to the skate park they yelled "Look it's the foreigners! You are welcome here!" We thought it was hilarious how open they were and how psyched they were to skate with us! They took us to a skate spot in town which was super fun and continued to show us around and just hang out. We also have been able to connect with some of the people the team met last year and hang out and have meals with them. 

We planned on doing skatepark repairs the second week, but when we went it had actually been fixed up a lot since the team was here last year! So we are working on adding a rail that will be permanent so it cannot be stolen. But when we woke up Monday morning, there was snow. Lots of snow. We got a few centimetres on Sunday/Monday, then on Tuesday morning we woke up to almost five centimetres in the city! Which lead to us being able to snowboard on Thursday! A friend here had tons of extra gear so we went and rode with him on some hilarious retro snowboards!

Then on the weekend we were able to connect with some locals and just build a relationship with them and tell them how we actually do care about them and that we know a God who cares about them too! On Friday night we were able to go to the skatepark and prophesy and declare some things that God put on our heart for the skatepark and city as a whole! After this time we really felt an atmosphere shift. We were floating under the enemy's radar and now that we have made a stand and established the kingdom. The evil spiritual beings now know who we are and have their eye on us and we can actually feel it! Which is a little crazy but also amazing. The enemy now knows that we mean business. 

As a team we have had some amazing worship times and God daily strengthens us by speaking truths or highlighting scripture that is so encouraging. As a team we have noticed that when we genuinely ask God to show us where he is, he will never miss the opportunity! 

We also were able to spend six days in a city called Zenica, an hour north of Sarajevo. We are working with a group of people who run a daycare and a farm. They have two amazing projects that were so awesome to be apart of! The daycare centre is for kids with psychological and social disorders. They are such awesome kids! We also did some work at "the farm". The farm is run by teen and adult boys and it is similar to a half way house. The boys are able to learn to live in community and to work hard.

We took some time to go for a hike to a lookout over the city and pray with some of the core leaders and their families and a few of the youth as well! It was such a good experience to look over another city and cover it in God's love. We have been learning how powerful our words are when we prophesy and declare things with our mouths. We declared lots over the city and could feel God's presence the whole time! 

On Saturday we planned on having a BBQ at the park, play some soccer and just bless people, BUT it rained. So we relocated to table tennis and board games at the church. We also had a bit of worship and heard a message from one of the young people at the church.

This past week in Zenica has been awesome! We were able to bless the kids/young people as well as all of the leaders of the centre and church. We had lots of laughs and totally experienced the true "joy of The Lord." It was amazing to ask the people where they had a need and simply fill it! 

We would love prayer as this coming week we are helping out at a kids program in Dobrinja in Sarajevo. We would love prayer for energy to love the kids and be a blessing as well as for people to open up and actually send their kids to the program! Thank you everyone for your support! 

Love, the Bosnia Crew.