The End is Near

 "As the priest came out from the altar, he reached up to close the heavy curtain behind him and it caught and then the whole rod came tumbling down!"  In a frenzy they tried to rehang it, then eventually had to call someone else to climb up with a ladder to return the curtain to its place separating the people from the holy altar.

A typical Orthodox Church has an ornate iconostasis behind which is the altar.

Eva told the story with animation as we sat in our Ladies' Bible study tonight.  We were continuing our study in 1 Corinthians 15 and had reached verses 24-25 about the end of the world when Jesus will destroy "all dominion, authority and power."  We should always be ready, we agreed.  How?  By helping others get ready -- by telling others what we're learning in the Bible.  Eva had been on a field trip with a retired women's group touring a monastery and old church when the curtain fell.  And she jumped at the opportunity to share.

"I didn't say anything when it happened; we all just waited in silence," she continued, "but once we were outside sitting on a bench I told [my friend], 'We read about this in the Bible and how when Jesus breathed his last breath on the cross the curtain in the temple tore open from top to bottom.   It means that the door is now open for us to approach God directly through Jesus.  There should be no curtain.'"  She said her friend, whom she described as one who presents herself as very religious, said nothing and only changed the subject. 

Eva with her niece (who now comes to Bible study) and Jackie

Eva has been coming to our group for almost two years now and she laughs to recall that she was warned by neighbors to stay away from us because we are surely with the CIA!  On our first meeting she tearfully accepted her very first Bible and then showed up at her first Bible study with hand-made tabs carefully taped on the first page of each of the books of the Bible.   By November she was able to tell us with confidence that Jesus now lives in her heart and she knows that He will never leave her.

Pray for Eva as she shares with others what she reads in the Bible.  Pray for her to continue to be bold and enthusiastic, always ready for each opportunity -- and pray for hearts ready to hear the good news she's sharing!

Indian Springs comes to Prilep

A team from Little Rock, Arkansas, (pictured above with three Macedonians) arrived Saturday night and are here renovating a preschool playground by day and leading seminars by night.  Russell (the guy who taught our kids to play a song on the harmonica a few years ago) is back for the third time, and has brought Mark & Christi Cox and four youth from their church to spend their Spring Break in Prilep!

We hiked on Sunday (not everyone made it to the top!) then had Bible study with our usual group on Sunday night. 

Last night we had a party during our normal English class time to let our students practice their English with real Americans (if you can call Arkansans "real!"  Tonight the seminars begin.

 

Get Along, Little Peacock!

A peacock and four pea-teenagers (not quite chicks anymore!) came a'calling a few days ago!  They live in the yard of a blue jean factory that is about two blocks from our house and the weather was so lovely, they decided to take a walk on the wild side!  They waited so patiently at this neighbor's door but no one was home!

Daniel helped to round them up and send them back to the factory.  He discovered how hard it is to chase a peacock without stepping on his tail-feathers!

Women's Day, 2011

March 8th is Women's  Day and it is celebrated across Europe, especially in the Balkans.  It is similar to Mother's Day in America except that you don't have to have children in order to celebrate!  Friends give friends gifts and often women co-workers go out together for dinner and an evening of folk dancing.

Last night we honored our ladies by hosting a cooking class just for them.  (Many of you may be wondering what kind of an honor that is, but they WANT to try new dishes!)  Our teammate Amy organized us with three different types of American cookies to mix up and then the PLAN was for us to have a speaker while they were baking.  Unfortunately the oven kept blowing fuses, so we mixed the batter and then listened to our speaker -- and never baked the cookies!  (Thankfully we had other food we could snack on!)

We had a great turn out and were so pleased at the wide range of ages that came.  The cooking class was a great way to have people of all ages mix and get to know one another. And it was a lot of fun -- would have been more fun to eat them too, but we'll work that out for next time!

Our guestspeaker was Lile Toevska, a believer from our church in Skopje.  Lile gave her testimony and God really spoke through her.  Several of the women came up afterwards, some with tears in their eyes, to talk with her.  In her testimony, she mentioned a book that had been integral in her decision to follow Christ -- it was unplanned (by us, but certainly planned by Someone Else!), but we had copies of that book and were able to offer them to those who wanted them.  Many women were pleased to accept it.

Both Amy and I commented this morning that we were so excited that we had trouble sleeping last night!  But it was a good opportunity to pray for the seeds that were sown!  God is so good.  Thank you for praying for the people of Prilep to "Taste and see that the Lord is good!"

Light Shone in the Darkness, and the Darkness Could Not Overcome it!

Sunday night we had gathered in our living room for Bible study as usual.  There were nine plus me and the kids (Kyle was in Bosnia).  Suddenly, about half-way through, the lights went out -- as far as we could see in town, the lights were out.  There was no storm; just no light!  We lit some candles and then our teammate Jeff, who was leading the Bible study, asked what everyone wanted to do.  It was unanimous: continue!  So we continued another 45 minutes and finished by candlelight.  It was such a blessing to see that darkness could not deter them!  Thank you, Lord, for Your Light that shines in the darkness!

Daniel hits double digits!

Yesterday was Daniel's birthday and he is now TEN years old!  (How on earth our youngest is now ten, is beyond me!)  Unfortunately, Kyle is in Bosnia for a conference, so we celebrated with presents before Kyle left, we celebrated with the traditional pancake breakfast yesterday and we will celebrate with cake and friends after Kyle gets back!  We know how to have a marathon celebration!

Daniel, you were a surprise but now we are so glad you are part of our family!  We are so proud of the young man God is forming in you.  We love you so much!!!

Thanksgiving

We had two Thanksgiving celebrations again this year.  The first was on Thursday night when we invited some Macedonian friends: three other couples and their children to join us for dinner. 

Since it isn't a holiday here, dinner was at 8:00 pm, after all our guests got off of work!  We had a great time introducing our friends to traditional Thanksgiving dishes; they particularly love our sweet potato casserole (though we make it with pumpkin since sweet potatoes aren't available here) -- but they eat it for dessert since Macedonians do not eat sweet and savory together!  We shared a verse from a Psalm and ask everyone to write down what they are thankful for; then we read them aloud and try to guess whose is whose.

Then on Friday our teammates from Ohrid and a few other friends poured in for our American (post-)Thanksgiving celebration!  (Lee and Brandon came from Albania and Jan & Ethan came from Bitola.)

 We were twenty all together and watched football games, played some football, and ate lots of food! 

It was so great to be together.  Our Thanksgiving celebrations have become really special as we are family for one another, when our own families are so far away. 

Thank you, Lord, for such blessings!