Yesterday I joined the group of Christians to pick up trash around the hospital. Part of the time there was a cold rain, but thankfully they had brought some lightweight rain ponchos. Nearly 100 people s
howed up, representing at least 4 churches from Prishtina and 6 churches from other cities. I got to meet guys from several other cities. Then we all went back to one of the churches to have hamburgers! Two of the pastors were picking up trash together, and one told me later that they overheard two Muslim men comment that they would never be able to get a group of Muslims organized to do such a project. They seemed a little embarassed about that and then told the pastors that they hoped God would bless them with heaven for their work! Tomorrow we are supposed to go to one of the border crossings into Serbia to pick up trash there, but with the snow, I suspect it may be canceled. Sunday they have scheduled an open air joint Easter service in downtown. Pray for the sun to come out!
howed up, representing at least 4 churches from Prishtina and 6 churches from other cities. I got to meet guys from several other cities. Then we all went back to one of the churches to have hamburgers! Two of the pastors were picking up trash together, and one told me later that they overheard two Muslim men comment that they would never be able to get a group of Muslims organized to do such a project. They seemed a little embarassed about that and then told the pastors that they hoped God would bless them with heaven for their work! Tomorrow we are supposed to go to one of the border crossings into Serbia to pick up trash there, but with the snow, I suspect it may be canceled. Sunday they have scheduled an open air joint Easter service in downtown. Pray for the sun to come out!Easter Week 3/22/08
Today we went to downtown Prishtina and cleaned the area around the national theatre, where the Easter ce
lebration/service will be held tomorrow. Others handed out flowers and invitations to the Easter program. It is such a joy to see these young Christians for all over Kosova working together and really enjoying the fellowship with each other. I also got to meet more of the missionaries here, from several different mission agencies. There really is a love, cooperation and unity among the protestant churches and missionaries here, and that is such a joy to see and participate in! I have had so many offers of help. Praise God for His body here---small but growing in love, unity and influence.
Yesterday some of them went to deliver food and clothes to some of the poorest families in the area. I was surprised to hear that most of the food an clothes were donations from businesses here---most non-Christian! O
ne business gave 5000 Euros, which is more than $7500! The business eople here are beginning to trust and respect the Christian community. What a wonderful witness! The evangelical church here is less than 1% of the population.
The government of the newly independent Kosova put up a large sign to celebrate the birth of their new country. The sign says: NEWBORN. I wonder if believers can use that to bridge into spiritual conversation?!
Easter Sunday, 3/23/08
Praise God for the beautiful weather He gave us for the Easter service/celebration! It was warm and sunny with
only a few fluffy clouds. It got cool later and today is raining again! The service seemed to go well, though of course I could not understand any of the speaking. But they had a drama of the resurrection, a children's choir, a worship band, Script
ure read, and a pastor gave a simple explanation of the meaning and importance of Easter (at least I was told that is what he spoke about!). It was a good crowd, though evidently the number of non-believers was not large. But a number of people walked by and paused a few moments to see what was going on. And it was great for so many believers to be in one place at one time (a few hundred, which is a lot here). And it was fun for me to see many people I knew, including one of those we had sponsored to Urbana whom I had not yet seen since he lives in another town. Also got to say hi to other missionaries I have met. So it was a beautiful, joyous day.
lebration/service will be held tomorrow. Others handed out flowers and invitations to the Easter program. It is such a joy to see these young Christians for all over Kosova working together and really enjoying the fellowship with each other. I also got to meet more of the missionaries here, from several different mission agencies. There really is a love, cooperation and unity among the protestant churches and missionaries here, and that is such a joy to see and participate in! I have had so many offers of help. Praise God for His body here---small but growing in love, unity and influence.Yesterday some of them went to deliver food and clothes to some of the poorest families in the area. I was surprised to hear that most of the food an clothes were donations from businesses here---most non-Christian! O
ne business gave 5000 Euros, which is more than $7500! The business eople here are beginning to trust and respect the Christian community. What a wonderful witness! The evangelical church here is less than 1% of the population.The government of the newly independent Kosova put up a large sign to celebrate the birth of their new country. The sign says: NEWBORN. I wonder if believers can use that to bridge into spiritual conversation?!
Easter Sunday, 3/23/08
Praise God for the beautiful weather He gave us for the Easter service/celebration! It was warm and sunny with
only a few fluffy clouds. It got cool later and today is raining again! The service seemed to go well, though of course I could not understand any of the speaking. But they had a drama of the resurrection, a children's choir, a worship band, Script
ure read, and a pastor gave a simple explanation of the meaning and importance of Easter (at least I was told that is what he spoke about!). It was a good crowd, though evidently the number of non-believers was not large. But a number of people walked by and paused a few moments to see what was going on. And it was great for so many believers to be in one place at one time (a few hundred, which is a lot here). And it was fun for me to see many people I knew, including one of those we had sponsored to Urbana whom I had not yet seen since he lives in another town. Also got to say hi to other missionaries I have met. So it was a beautiful, joyous day. Jon and Harriet Askew summarize:
We had a good Easter service with all of the churches of Kosova participating. There were perhaps 500 people in the open air service held outside the national theater and on the pedestrian mall. So, there were people walking through all of the time and being curious. Though it wasn’t the best venue, it was the culmination of the cooperation of all churches in a weeklong list of service to the people of Kosova. We’re thinking that some unity has developed in the process, as well as some witness to those affected. AND we had perfect weather for those few hours. It was not so nice before and after. Now we’ve had a couple of days of snow and rain.Pray for ongoing witness from the lives of Christians.
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