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)

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

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

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

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)

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.

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.

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

"Old" New Years

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!

Snow Cream!

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!

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

Candy Canes

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

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!

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

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

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

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

Turkish Wedding

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 ;)