Karen in Macedonia

2009-04-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is Lupco's house in the village and also another house. Slatino has about 70 citizens. People come visit for holidays and weekends and summers. But sadly, many people are moving out of the villages and into the big cities because there is no work for them.

Skara in Slatino (BBQ)

2009-04-17T12:22:00.001-07:00

Today we spent the day in a village called Slatino, which is about 30 minutes outside of Ohrid. We went with Lupco, Bilijana, and their 3 little boys. It was an amazing day! We grilled some meat, drank some coffee, and just enjoyed being in the beautiful Macedonian mountains with some good friends.

Embracing Winter

2009-03-29T13:41:00.001-07:00

You know how sometimes your life seems to have a theme? Like the same topic will keep popping up over and over?? Well anyway, my life's theme for the past eh, year and a half has been "seasons". We all got 'em. No, not like fall, winter, spring, summer. I'm talking about romance, joy, passion, pain, loneliness, singleness, rebellion, repentance, brokenness, etc. Those wonderful, awful things that make up our life. A few days ago I read an article called "Winter Gifts" about the season of "winter" in our lives. Pain. Betrayal. Loneliness. Death. Depression. Uncertainty. Darkness. It's the most misunderstood season I think. People don't know what to do with it. We usually just try to hurry through it asap to get to spring time again. At least I do. I hope I'm not alone in this. So I thought I'd share this, and hopefully it'll shed a little light into someone's "winter"...

I am not sure that any sight or sound on earth is as exquisite as the hushed descent of a sky full of snow. Winter is a reminder that times of dormancy and deep rest are essential to all living things. Nature is not dead in winter-it has gone underground to renew itself and prepare for spring. Winter is a time when we are admonished, and even inclined, to do the same for ourselves.
But for me winter has an even greater gift to give. It comes when the sky is clear, the sun is brilliant, the trees are bare, and the first snow is yet to come. It is the gift of utter clarity. In winter, one can walk into the woods that had been opaque with summer growth only a few months earlier and see the trees clearly, singly, and together, and the ground they are rooted in.
Winter clears the landscape, giving us a chance to see ourselves and each other more clearly, to see the very ground of our being. Our inward winters take many forms, -failure, betrayal, depression, death. But every one of them yields to the same advice: "The winters will drive you crazy until you learn to get out in them." Until we enter boldly into the fears we most want to avoid, those fears will dominate our lives. But when we walk directly into them-protected from frostbite by the warm garb of friendship or inner discipline or spiritual guidance-we can learn what they have to teach us. Then we discover once again that the cycle of the seasons is trustworthy and life-giving, even in the most dismaying season of all.
-Parker J. Palmer

Party People

2009-03-01T12:24:00.000-08:00

As I said in my last blog, my friend Corrie came to visit me on my birthday. When we got to Ohrid we were welcomed by a full coffee house of people come to celebrate my birthday with me. I was overwhelmed with gifts and lots of friends. What a great birthday! And how blessed I am to have so many people to celebrate with!

Corrie in Macedonia

2009-03-01T12:17:00.000-08:00

Oh what a wonderful birthday! If you remember last year I was at home sick all day on my birthday. As a matter of fact, all week. However this year was a total turnaround. I went to Skopje to pick up my good friend Corrie. We were room mates in college. She got to stay for a few days. It was such a blessing and encouragement.

Sakash Marama?? (You want a scarf)

2009-02-16T09:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to a group of hard-working ladies in North Carolina, we received 83 hand-made scarves. As a team we brain-stormed how to hand out the scarves, should we give them to our friends? Do we have 83 friends? Haha. But we all decided that what we should do is hand out the scarves to the ladies who work at the pazar (open market) because that would reach a whole new group of people who would probably never come into our coffee house. And many of the workers at the pazar are from nearby villages, which we would probably never get to visit. Along with the scarves we handed out a tract and a book called "Isus, Nasha Sudbina" (Jesus, Our Destiny) as well as a flyer for the English classes at the coffee house. Much prayer was put into this whole thing. Melanie and I really had fun. And now I kinda feel like I know everyone at the pazar! I'm excited about the seeds that were planted today. We may never see the fruits of this day, but I have faith that people will hear the Gospel through the scarf/book hand-out.

2009-02-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

The ladies were so greatful to receive the scarves, although some of them couldn't understand why we were giving them away for free, even after we explained.

2009-02-16T08:56:00.000-08:00

At one point, a group of people practically surrounded Melanie asking for the scarves.

"Old" New Years

2009-01-17T14:28:00.001-08:00

According to the Old Orthodox calender, New Years is celebrated on January 14th. So I went with my friends Milka and Robert and 2 of their friends to Vevchani. We hiked in the snow to visit the famous Vevchani springs and also joined a crowed of masked gobblins for a concert to ring in the "Old" New Year. It's a Macedonian tradition to wear a costume on New Years eve. No one really seems to know how this tradition got started, but they carry it on. It felt a little like Halloween but without the candy.
One interesting tradition which is also similar to Halloween is on Christmas eve, children go door to door with little wooden hammers starting early in the morning to collect candy. This is also to remind people that Jesus is born. Sadly, we didn't have any kids come to our door :(

More Snow! Ah!

2009-01-04T12:15:00.001-08:00

Snow Cream!

2009-01-04T11:50:00.000-08:00

So last night we had our team Christmas party. It has been snowing non-stop! So we decided to look up a recipe for snow cream. snow+milk+vanilla+sugar=delicious icecream-like goodness! yumm!! Mandy and I went out to collect snow off the car (which we though should be relatively sanitary) and then Brian stirred it all together like a mad-man haha.

Snow Day!

2009-01-03T13:45:00.001-08:00

Wow! It started snowing last night and snowed ALL STINKIN' DAY!! It was so much fun! It's supposed to snow all weekend. Thankgoodness we have that wood-burning stove in case the power goes out and we get snowed in!

Candy Canes

2008-12-20T03:17:00.000-08:00

Candy Canes

2008-12-20T03:12:00.000-08:00

We had our last English classes for the year this week. I incorporated some Christmas songs and the candy cane story. Everyone loved it! No one had ever heard that story before. We had lots of fun. Thank you to all who sent candy canes :) We are also giving one small candy cane to every one with their coffee and offering "Peppermint Mochas". One candy cane+hot chocolate mix+milk+espresso=goodness in a mug!

A Sleepless Night

2008-12-09T20:31:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 (NRSV)
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord
has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to
bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the
prisoners;
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of
vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
to provide for those who mourn in Zion -- to give them a
garland instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of
praise instead of a faint spirit.
They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, to display his glory.
They shall build up the ancient ruins, they shall raise up
the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of
many generations.

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and
wrongdoing;
I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their descendants shall be known among the nations, and
their offspring among the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge that they are a people
whom the Lord has blessed.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall
exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he
has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a
bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to
spring up before all the nations.

I woke up this morning at 4:30 am and immediately God said "You need to open your Bible right now and read". Not in a voice, but more in a knowing. I don't know how to explain it. So I read Psalm 91 over and over and then 92. And then I checked my e-mail for my "daily devotional" i get from Goshen college and this was the scripture of the day. It was such an encouragement because as of late, specifically yesterday I've been struggling with "Why am I here?" "Is 2 years here even effective at all"? But I KNOW I am called here. And this is why!!! Praise God. THE LORD GOD WILL CAUSE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PRAISE TO SPRING UP BEFORE ALL THE NATIONS! Which is the same verse Melanie pointed me to yesterday, which is confirmation of God's plan for Ohrid and for all nations!! My sister also reminded me to prayer walk more and just pray more! If anything happens here it will be THE PLANTING OF THE LORD. Not of my great words or good deeds or even because of my love for the people. If any place has been devastated on the inside and outside, it's Ohrid. Even in the architecture, so much renovation needs to be done. This is a reminder to me of the people. They need restoration from the "devastation of many generations". Praise God for a fresh word. And for sleepless nights!

Lichna Karta!

2008-12-04T04:27:00.001-08:00

Yay! We finally finished getting our visa! And we got our "lichna karta". It's like an identification card for Macedonians. I know it's a backwards picture. But if you look closely, you'll see they TOTALLY misspelled my last name haha. They don't have a "w" in their alphabet. So they just used 2 "v"s and then forget the "L". Hahahahaha. That's just how it is sometimes!!! Oh and the first time they took my picture I smiled. And they told me I wasn't allowed to do that. So I took another one and you can see I"m trying REALLY hard not to smile. I'm just a smiley person!

Bikin' with Fetiyeh

2008-12-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

Ok so I know this is a little late. But this is some photos of Fetiyeh and I the day we biked to Struga. And just a side note: trying to take a picture of yourself while riding a bicycle isn't a good idea ;) But it was fun and the view was beautiful. I caught a dad and his 2 little kids feeding the birds too.

Starbucks and good friends

2008-10-13T07:03:00.000-07:00

Yes! I got to visit Starbucks 3 times in Prague :) Plus I got to hang out and catch up with people I went through training with

Prague

2008-10-13T06:58:00.001-07:00

I got to spend 5 days in Prague with some great friends. What a treat!

Turkish Wedding

2008-09-07T15:13:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege of attending a wedding with some friends. It was really fun! They like to dance! The bride and groom wore ribbons around their neck and people came by and clipped money onto them! I like that idea ;)

Prilep

2008-09-07T15:09:00.000-07:00

Melanie and I used on of our free days to visit our friends at their new home, Prilep. It was really good to see them, just to hang out with them. They just finished language school in Skopje and are now starting something new in Prilep. I can't wait to see how God uses them in this city. Tobacco is huge in the city. I took a pic of just a small sampling of the dried tobacco. And the other picture is their dog, Zlatka (goldie)

Game Night!

2008-09-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

What a fun night! We have some neighbors who love to sit outside the coffee house on a nice night and play cards. They're funny old men and they have lots of friends who walk past our coffee house. It's kinda cool cause their friends come and sit with them for a little while and sometimes drink coffee too. So they're a help to making us seem not so strange to Macedonians. Also, there's a great picture of Igor and Brian playing chess. Igor is our "Man of Peace". He has introduced us to soo many new people! Plus he speaks English like and old British lady :) And then there's little Maria. She is always hanging out with us. Her mom, Yordeh, owns a botique next door so she's always around and she is such a little sweetheart.

Beautiful Ohrid, Wonderful friends

2008-08-21T14:50:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I made a new friend, Irena. She is a believer from Bitola who was on vacation in Ohrid. We became good friends and I was really blessed by her. We had pizza, drank coffee, went to the beach, and hiked up to Plaosnik(the excavation sight where you can also get a great view of the lake). What a good weekend!

Tanya and Olga, Igor, and Beautiful Melanie

2008-08-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Marko, his mom, and a couple from Skopje

2008-08-11T10:50:00.002-07:00

People at the concert

2008-08-11T10:50:00.001-07:00

Friday Night Concert

2008-08-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

We had another great concert this Friday night. Lots of our friends came and even some new people we didn't know. But everyone had a good time, even Christo, the guy with the dark curly hair who I met on the street the day of the concert and he agreed to play some songs too. It was a great night!

I'm an aunt!

2008-08-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

On August 5th my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Benjamin. She and her husband Kyle are gonna be great parents.

Disaster Reliefers

2008-07-14T06:41:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I got chosen to go to the Disaster Relief training class. Haha. It was kinda fun. But we got badges and yellow caps! Me and Suzanne are standing with Cindy Smith, the wife of our trainer.

The Lottie Moon Auction

2008-07-14T06:37:00.000-07:00

OK. Every year there is an auction where people bring special things from their country and we auction them off. All of the money goes to the Lottie Moon offering. Also the volunteer teams bring special things from the States that we can't get here like Dr. Pepper, Splenda, Moon Pies, BBQ sauce, etc. It was a lot of fun :)

Our Greecian village

2008-07-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

2008-07-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

The Jgirls

2008-07-14T06:28:00.000-07:00

Doing a little souvenir shopping in Greece

Bike Ridin' with the Girls

2008-06-02T07:59:00.000-07:00

It's become a Sunday afternoon ritual for me, Dafinka, Angela, and Anna to take a bike ride by the lake on Sunday afternoons. I love hangin' out with all 3 of them! They have really been a blessing to me. The girls are hillarious! I wish I could understand them more!

2008-06-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

2008-06-02T07:57:00.000-07:00

Alien Carrotts

2008-05-26T12:19:00.001-07:00

These were the weirdest batch of carrots i've ever seen! When I bit into them, the middle had this strange texture. So I tried cutting one open, and the outside came off kind of like a shell and on the inside were these spikes! I don't know what happened. I still ate the outside and just threw away the insides...I'm doing Ok

2008-05-26T12:15:00.000-07:00

Angela and Anna's 7th Birthday Pary

2008-05-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Baby Kate

2008-05-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

She was just so cute in her stroller with her little umbrella on top!

Fins!

2008-05-26T12:08:00.000-07:00

Maria and her 2 Finish friends from Finland. It was Maria's last day in Macedonia :( She was here for one month on vacation. But WoW! She had a huge impact on the coffee house. She was able to learn the language just as well as me only from conversations! And in about 2 months! Amazing! I hope she comes back again soon

Presidential Parties

2008-05-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday night as Melanie and I were walking to Brian and Mandy's to feed Cloud, we happened upon a huge concert! The whole city was flooded all day with charter buses from all over Macedonia. There were large groups walking around carrying flags and wearing hats to represent their presidential party. When i asked some one what was going on, he said this is the new presidential choices. Ohrid was on fire that night! There was a huge rock concert! Flags flying! Everyone celebrating! I even heard some fireworks going off around midnight.

Goodbyes

2008-05-13T00:05:00.000-07:00

This Sunday was our last day with the Zaevs. They have been such a blessing to all of us! They were here for a month from America visiting Zoran's family. Now they are back in West Virginia. They have been working with the Macedonians here who speak both Enlgish and Macedonian fluently, to translate more materials for evangelism. They will be having a Macedonian family live with them for 6 months. They plan to come back for another visit next year :) It's hard to say goodbye, specially to people that you see every day and share the same heart with. But please pray for Angela and Zoran as they continue their ministry in the states. Of course this isn't a picture of everyone from the church because Brian and Mandy are still in Greece with Brian's parents. We hope they have a great time and a safe return!

2008-04-27T12:54:00.000-07:00

We all went over to the Dudanovski's for an Imen Den. Pavlina and Marija (our Macedonian teacher and her sister) showed us how to correctly break open the eggs. One of their traditions is to dye eggs red and then at midnight before Easter, the crack them together. If yours doesn't break, you're supposed to have good luck all year. All of ours cracked. Good thing we don't believe in luck!

2008-04-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

The finished products! Just a note: it's good to rinse and dry the eggs before putting them in the dye ;)

Velik Den. That's Easter for all of those who don't speak Macedonian :)

2008-04-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

Me and Melanie dyed Easter eggs. My mom sent me an egg-dying kit :)

Snow Day!

2008-04-24T15:29:00.000-07:00

This was back in March but we had one day of thick snow! It was really beautiful!
And this is my friend, Ana, from Austrailia. I met her randomly one morning when I was going for a run. We ended up having coffee a few times during her visit and we plan to get together when she comes back this summer

2008-04-24T04:12:00.000-07:00

The rock show! My cousin Ashley (the one with the yellow mohawk) plays back up guitar and sometimes sings

Janine's dad made me try raw, salted herring. It's a favorite among some Dutch people. I thought it was kinda like sushi but not as good

2008-04-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

While I was with Janine and family we visited a concentration camp. There was no intentional killing her, but this is the barrack of Anne Frank
I was on the radio! I got a short interview to see how much I knew about Holland. I passed the test :)

2008-04-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

Windmill, of course!
Me and Amy getting stuck in the mud

2008-04-24T03:58:00.000-07:00

Me and Janine at an old village in Holland. Her mom and dad took us there one day :)
Laurel training her horsey, Vodka. She's so good! I got to ride too, but there are no pics :(

Holland!

2008-04-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

I got to spend a week with my amazing cousins in Gronigen, the north part of Hollad. Here are some highlights from the trip :)Yay! Starbucks for the first time in 5 months!
Me, Amy, Janine, and Mambo at the graveyard of this really old protestant church

2008-03-17T17:06:00.000-07:00

Women's Day. These are some of the ladies that came into the coffee house to celebrate Women's Day with us on March 8th. 4 ladies from the ESL classes and also my friend Maja and her mother, Lilijana. What a fun day!

2008-03-17T16:47:00.002-07:00

For Women's Day we gave out 100 carnations to ladies all over Ohrid. The post office, the minimarkets, and also to ladies who came in the kafich.

2008-03-17T16:47:00.001-07:00

2008-03-17T16:40:00.000-07:00

The tower of muffins for the ladies at the kafich

2008-03-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is Melanie tying notes to the flowers. One side has the verse "Charm is deceitful and beauty is fading, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised". The other side was a coupon for a free cup of coffee at the kafich :)

2008-02-17T05:36:00.000-08:00

Friday night we had a packed house! A German missionary who lives in Bitola (about an hour away) came to give a concert. It was so much fun! Although we didn't have many new people to come, the coffee house was filled up. Alex and Peter played a mixture of hymns, Johnny Cash, and some German music.

2008-02-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

Another Great Night!

2008-02-17T05:14:00.001-08:00

Well this picture isn't from the concert. It's a picture of me, Lorraine, and Li Li at our first Macedonian football game! Go AMAK!

More pictures of the cross throwing

2008-01-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

The Cross Throwing

2008-01-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

January 19th is the day on the Orthodox calender when John the Baptist is celebrated. To remember him the priest takes a cross, purifies it in some water, and then throws the cross into the lake, blessing the lake. Whoever is the first to find the cross is supposed to have good luck for the whole year. He goes around with his friends, carrying the cross on a silver tray and people can give him money and kiss the cross. This gives those people good luck for the year as well. It's a big event! There were about 15,000 people by the lake to watch and hundreds of people jumped in the icy-cold lake, young, old, men, women. It was quite a sight to see! Even people who go swimming are said to be blessed because the cross purifies the lake for that day. I wonder what John the Baptist would have to say about this tradition...

Opening Night

2008-01-13T12:07:00.001-08:00

Friday night was the Grand Opening of the coffee shop, Ima Vreme (There is Time). Some college kids from the church in Skopje came down. They were so great! They played for about 2 hours and then sat and talked with the customers in the kafich. We had about 50 people come out! Everything went so smoothly! No major mishaps. And the best news of all, a teenger, Angela, prayed to receive salvation! Praise God! And her cousin, Christian, said he had already prayed to receive Christ but was asking for God to show him the truth. Please pray for these new decisions and all of the seeds that were planted. A few of the college kids shared their testimony and all of the songs were about God. So hopefully we will get to see the fruits of that night!

Nam's Imen Den (Name Day)

2008-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

Every Macedonian man who is named after a Saint (which is quite common) celebrates an Imen Den. For instance, on January 5th Saint Nam is celebrated. So on that day, every man who is named after this saint has a big party with lots of food and wine. They invite their whole family and all their friends to come by their house and celebrate. Melanie and I have gotten to be good friends with Nam and Nade, our landlords. Also, the lady holding the bowl of chocolates is Nade, Nam's wife. As soon as you come in and get seated, she hands you a piece of chocolate :) I like that tradition. Nam's son, Ilche even came down from Skopje. He is in the picture with Melanie and I. And I must say, Kate and Nam have become quite the pair!

Never Play on a Broken See-Saw

2007-12-31T05:18:00.000-08:00

Well yesterday I went to the playground with Filip. He is only 8 years old and much smaller than me so I thought it would be ok to play on the see-saw with him. Apparently he is more powerful than I thought. I went all the way up in the air and had nothing to hold onto because the handle was missing. I landed directly on my shoulder and had to get it xrayed. No break, but severely swollen, which causes a lot of pain. So Melanie has been my in-home nurse :) She has really taken care of me! Brian and Mandy have driven me all over the city from doctor to pharmacy, and I have had people calling to make sure I'm ok. My parents somehow found a florist here that would deliver on New Years Day!! That's pretty amazing! So even though I feel a liitle helpless, I have lots of help and lots of love :)

Celebrations

2007-12-21T10:53:00.000-08:00

Team Ohrid spent most of this week in Skopje, with the rest of team Macedonia. It was such a good time! Melanie and I stayed with Gef, a retired English teacher and now a missionary in Macedonia (her parents were both Macedonian but she grew up in the states)who has more energy than most people I know. Let me tell you, hanging out with her is always an EXPERIENCE! That lady has spunk! She was so gracious to us! She took us to an amazing concert with an orchestra and some traditional Macedonian music too. Plus we got to hang out with all the other Americans like the Kirkpatricks and the Williams who we just never get to see as much as we'd like. Our last night there we got together with all the American missionaries for a huge party with lots of food and games.

REAL Snow!

2007-12-16T01:32:00.000-08:00

Saturday night as Melanie and I were sitting by the wood-burning stove, we got a text message from Brian saying "look outside". And what did we find? Snow! Thick enough to make a snowball and a mini snowman!

Confetti? Shrapnel? No. It's Snow!

2007-12-14T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well he had some snow flurries this afternoon. As I was walking to the town cetner to meet Mandy for coffee, I saw these white peices of something floating around in the air. And I thought to myself, "What is that stuff? Shrapnel? Where is it coming from?" They were teeny tiny snowflakes whisping around in the air. This Florida girl still has a lot of learning to do :)

Rockin around the Christmas Tree

2007-12-02T12:10:00.000-08:00

Melanie and I found a great deal on a Christmas tree and few decorations! We had so much fun putting it up! Yay! Christmas time is here! Time to celebrate the reason for our hope!

Ok these are the last ones

2007-11-25T11:12:00.000-08:00

More Pictures of Turkey Day

2007-11-25T11:08:00.001-08:00

Blagodaram Den (Thankyou Day)

2007-11-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Explaining the American holiday of Thanksgiving was fun. We had traditional turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and even pumpkin pie! I volunteered to make the GB casserole and substituted onion rings for the friend onions! Haha. It was still pretty good. We invited 2 families and Jane over for dinner. They were all very skeptical of the new dishes. But I think they ended up liking them. While I was at Top Shop buying frozen green beans, I got to share with Roza, one of my fav ladies there, about how Thanksgiving is a day when we say Thankyou to God for all of the ways He has blessed us through the year. Well, I was kinda embaressed cause I got a little emotional. But she was really touched. It was cool how all day long I got to share with people about this day. Just one more way we can share our faith :)

Another Great Night!

2007-11-22T04:27:00.000-08:00

Well tonight was interesting! Daphinka came by with her two 6 year old daughters(we nicknamed them the "Little Terrors" Ha ha. They are really cute and like to play board games without any rules. Then Tamara came by. She and Melanie tackled some tough Bible passages. Then Petar came in and talked to Brian. Jane came by! Yay! And at one time the back corner was full of people. Later, around closing, Nedan, a guy I met while I was taking a walk last week, came by. He talked mostly about this museum in Struga he went to where they have a lot of dead, stuffed animals. Ha ha. Oh and I got to meet the shop owner next door. I didn't have a key to the bathroom but she did. And it was an emergency! So it forced me to use my Macedonian or else... But it was great. She totally understood. And she is really nice. Well that bout sums up the night.

Ubava Struga!

2007-11-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Marija, our language tutor's sister, took Melanie and I on a trip to Struga! It's a small town, much like Ohrid, about 15 minutes away. She took us to a great underground kafich called the Republica, shopping, and to the beach. It was a fun day. Macedonia is just a beauitful place!

Pancakes with Tamara

2007-11-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

Tamara and her son Philip joined Melanie and I Sunday morning for some American chocolate chip pancakes! Yum!

SNOW!

2007-11-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning Melanie and I awoke to find tiny white snowflakes falling outside our balcony window! What a surprise. We couldn't help ourselves. We turned on the Christmas music! What a great surprise :)

Kafichot, Ima Vreme

2007-11-09T07:17:00.001-08:00

Yay! The kafich is up and running. We are now open Tues-Thurs 6-10. And it looks great with the new book shelves and some new pictures on the wall! Melanie and I will be in and out, because we are still focusing mostly on language.
The other picture is me, Melanie, and Philip. Tamra and Rumen invited us over for coffee and cake last week. Tamara is quickly becoming one of my best friends! She is so sweet and she speaks great English. Philip is her son. He's a little shy around girls ;)

Boza Grossa!

2007-11-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

Part of the Scavenger Hunt Brian and Mandy put together for us was to try "boza". It's a favorite among Macedonians. I don't know why. It's a yeasty, unsweet, bitter drink. Bleh! But atleast we can check that one off the list! And the sweets we had to eat afterwards were delicious!

Okrid! We made it!

2007-11-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Melanie and I have been in Okrid now for about a week and a half, and it's even more beautiful than the pictures! Every day I am amazed at how beautiful this place is and even more amazed that I get to live here for the next two years! A wee bit of culture shock has set in. People smoking in our apartment without asking, the washing machine nob is broken so you don't know which cycle to put it on, and neighbors playing obnoxiously loud music just as my head hits the pillow to sleep. Oddly enough, these are all things that Melanie and I laugh about now! Right now we are still just getting to know the city, learning where everything is, and visititng as many kafichi(coffee shops) as possbile. Other than that, we are busy trying to learn Macedonian! Which is coming along but I still have a long way to go.
About the pictures:
Melanie and me trying sharska(hamburger patty with onions and cheese. yum!), at the duck cafe (theduckcafe.com.mk), and us again at the top of Fort Samuel(fort on my prayer card)
Also there is a picture of our living room :) and a picture of the lake on a really pretty day

I Made It!!!

2007-10-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm really in Macedonia! Other moments I feel at home already. I was a little nervous about traveling overseas by myself. But it turned out to be a piece of cake. I had a stop in ATL and one in DC. Then I had a 6hr layover in Vienna. Well I couldn't just sit in the airport for 6 hrs. So I found a train downtown and walked around for an hour or so and then found aother train back to the airport. I slept most of the way to Vienna. When I got through customs, I was shocked to find a man loading my luggage onto a cart. He asked me if I spoke German in German. I didn't know what to say so I just smiled and looked confused and then we continued communicating through hand signals. I was met outisde the airport by Jeff, Amy,(missionaries in Skopje) and Jovan. They somehow loaded all of my "heavy" luggae into their van/station wagon. We saw some cows chillin on the roadside one we got there. Jovan left after he got his Dr. Pepper, haha. Jeff and Amy took me downtown before dinner to walk around. A very famous singer in Macedonia died 2 days ago so almost everyone is mourning and playing his music in their stores. We went to this awesome Macedonian restraunt for dinner. After dinner we walked by "Coffee Row" which is just this street with coffe shop after coffee shop where people get together and drink coffee on couches and chairs. It was so beatutiful! Next we went to see Brian, Mandy, and little Kate at the hospital! She is so beautiful! The Davises are great people! I can tell they are going to be great to work with. They have been working so hard, even with the baby on the way, to get ready for Melanie and I. Well, I went to bed at 9pm and didn't get out of bed till 11:30 am! ha ha. I guess I needed it. That's all for now. More pictures and stories to come!

O, FPO!

2007-09-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my small group in Williamsburg, VA

Zdravo! Well, we are well into our sixth week of training! It has FLOWN by but I have learned so much and I am still discovering how much I have to learn. Ha ha. And having a blast doing it. Last week we completed "contingency training". Basically they put us in hostage-type situations and give us helpful information about how to deal with these things. Just incase. It was actually really fun. Keep us all in your prayers Friday as we hit the streets of Washington D.C. to share our fatih and hopefully find people from our people group. Which for Melanie and I is Macedonians.

Training thus far

2007-08-10T15:01:00.000-07:00

Well so far training has been really fun! and sort of relaxing. But I have a feeling things will pick up next week. We're learning about spiritual warfare so everyone please keep us in your prayers!