Invisible

Well, we are back from our week of rest and relaxation at Budva, Montenegro. We actually stayed at a beach called Becici (bay-chi-chi). It was a very good week. I definitely took advantage of not having time constraints and a schedule to spend some time reflecting through all the ways the Lord has been teaching me things so far this summer. I learned a lot of things and feel a bit more rested and relaxed for going into the crunch time of these last 2 ½ weeks here in Serbia.

I am unbelievably excited for this upcoming week. We are going to engage for this first summer in a Service Project Week. It is a new thing Campus Crusade is trying for all international summer projects. For our service week we will be spending 5 days in the largest Romani (also known as gypsie) community helping rebuild a play structure while investing time playing with the gypsie kids. The Romani culture is such a different culture over here and is prevalent all throughout Europe. It exists of people living in the uttermost poorest conditions. When these families pass by a full garbage can, they see a beautiful grocery store. The ocean right outside their cardboard, dirt floor homes in which the city’s raw sewage is dumped is a refreshing bath. The Serbian culture has made these families and children completely invisible. If they pass by you on the street you don’t make eye contact, and nobody dares touch these children for fear of any “diseases” they may carry. But the hearts of these Romani children is unshakeable. Their sense of hope for their lives (until they are old enough to see the reality of their existence) is set at such a high level… but at the same time they step back if you reach your hand out to shake theirs because the bridge that connects their culture with ours has been broken and shattered since before their farthest ancestors were even born. It tears my heart into pieces to think these children are subjected to this life without even a choice. They don’t have any other options, Serbia has determined that for them without any type of debate. We have such a privilege to go and invest our love and time into these children for a full week. I am excited to share with you all the experiences we will have and the things we will learn while over there.

This is a picture of the park we are going to be working. We will send a picture of the results.
This summer is also unique in that half of our team is helping with the Serbian English camp. We don’t know all of the details but we do know that it is like an English speaking retreat where we talk to them about American culture, our language and most important our beliefs. I pray that we will also see amazing things in the lives of these Serbian students when they get to hang out with Americans for an entire week.
With that said we are hearing stories from back home and we miss you all very much. Congratulations to Justin and Ragen Pepper with their new born baby girl!