Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 22: Stalni Boravak

At the beginning of July, I celebrated 20 years of living in Banja Luka. And at the end of July I celebrated another milestone - finally getting my permanent residence (in America this is called a Green Card) to stay in Bosnia Herzegovina. 

So, for story 22, and after 22 years of living here, I am going to share some of the ways God has shown His faithfulness to me in the area of visas and now, finally, I am able to stay without having to apply for a visa each year! 

In order to get a permanent residence permit, one has to be here for 5 years with no breaks in your visa. After my first two years in Zenica, when I moved to Banja Luka, I inadvertantly had a break. I was then in Banja Luka on a volunteer visa for 4 years and 9 months (so 3 months shy) when they changed the law so that anyone on a volunteer visa couldn't get permanent residency. (I did hear of someone else who had it worse than me - he had collected all the paperwork necessary and came to hand it all in on the day AFTER the law changed... ONE day! So 3 months shy seemed better than that, but still it was a blow...) 

I would pray each year, asking the Lord if I should keep going on the volunteer visa or change the visa I was on, and each year felt peace to keep going on it. After a while of doing it, the volunteer visa became fairly easy to get each year. In fact I made it a game: I started on Monday morning and then had to get it in by Friday afternoon! And the people in the visa office got used to me coming in each year like clockwork with everything in order. 

Then in 2016, they changed the law again and made it that volunteer visas could only be renewed one time. So, I now needed to change the visa I was on. I had a few options - I could get a work permit and work for our NGO or buy a property and live in it. I didn't have enough funds to be able to buy the property, so the work permit was the best option left. 

Now, the work permit is not that easy to get as they want to make sure that no Bosnian can do your job. In fact, in 2005, when I had previously applied, I had actually been rejected as my undergrad degree was deemed equivalent to one that 10 000 unemployed people also had, and so one of them could do my job. This was also another reason I just kept going on the volunteer visa. In 2017, amazingly enough, I finished my Masters in Community Development. And now I could apply for the work permit with that degree!! God's faithful timing! 

I applied for the work permit and was approved, and then had to renew it for 5 years before I could then apply for my permanant residency. Somewhere in the third year I found out to my horror that I was only allowed to be out of the country for a total of 10 months in those 5 years. I do travel a lot for work and also go to South Africa a bit, so I was worried that I would be over this limit. In the end I found out that it is according to the scans they do of your passport (not the stamps) and they luckily don't always scan, so I thought I would be ok. 

Then of course Corona happened in 2020 and all travelled stopped anyway. But then, in 2021, I had the frozen shoulder and ended up going to South Africa for the operation and was there for over 4 months. I kind of hoped that they hadn't scanned my passport for that time and I would get away with it... 

In 2023, when it came time to get all my paperwork together, I went for a couple of weeks to South Africa to get two of the documents (my birth certificate and a police clearance certificate, both of which you need to apply for in person). I then collected all the other documents (of which there were quite a few as always!) and in April of this year was wanting to hand in everything. 

In the meantime, I had managed to get one of the more relaxed and helpful inspectors in the visa office to agree to help me with my case. It was a good thing that I did, because of course they had scanned me in and out for those 4 months, and it meant I had 10 months and 23 days officially, 23 days over the limit... 

And this is where having him involved in the case was amazing - he had already come up with a reason to give me an exemption and a way to get the extra 3 weeks overlooked. And praise the Lord, it worked with the commission who looks at the applications!! God's faithfulness again in action? 

So what does this mean? It means that I don't have to ever apply for a yearly visa ever again! I am waiting to be given an ID Number, and then I will be able to get an ID card (which does say "for foreigners" on it, but still...) I won't be a Bosnian, but I will be as close to one as you can be! 

I am not sure what life is going to bring... am I going to stay in Bosnia forever? I don't know. I do believe that He told me to come here, and I am committed to staying until/if He tells me to leave. One thing I do know that God has been faithful all the years I have been here, showing me what steps to take when, and I believe that He will continue to show me where He wants me in the future as well. 

God is faithful even when it is H.A.R.D | Both here and there

Living between Bosnia Herzegovina and South Africa, it is like I am half-way between two worlds... I wanted to write a book called "Neither here nor there" once, but then realised that Bill Bryson had already used that title. Now I realise that it isn't neither here nor there, but rather BOTH here and there... I have two places I call "home". I go “home” to South Africa and connect with my church and my family and friends and then go "home" to live in Bosnia and beyond again... it is not easy, and sometimes like now when I can’t travel to my other home, it has been H.A.R.D.

I have a dual sim phone - with both a BiH and SA sim card in it. And the symbols I use are the 🏠 and the ❤️ - when I am in BiH, I represent the BiH SIM with the 🏠 and the ❤️ is for the SA SIM and vice versa for when I am in South Africa! And to carry the analogy on: I will also ALWAYS be in roaming on one of my SIM cards. So, when I am in Bosnia, my ❤️ will long for SA and when I am in SA, I will miss Bosnia! I realise that I am really blessed to have both a heart and a home in both places...but at the same time it is hard to never really be at home in either place. 

Another analogy is that Cape Town is like a square culture, and Bosnia a round one. I came here as a square and slowly but surely started picking up bits of the “round” culture here. It is like I am now a hexagon: I don’t fit into the square culture anymore but am also not completely round to fit into the culture here. Coming to terms with being a hexagon hasn’t always been easy, but actually it has helped me grasp a deeper spiritual truth... 

As Christians, followers of Christ, here on this earth, we are both HERE… and THERE... We believe in the Kingdom to come.  We believe that Jesus died and rose again and we believe that right now we are living in between the time of His ascension and his return. I was reminded of this the other day in a little verse in Hebrews 13: “For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”  We are looking for that city that is yet to come… We are all hexagons in this world, with our hearts in two places – here on earth, and in the heavenly places with Him. Both here and there.

I read a great book recently: “How to Pray: A simple guide” by Pete Greig. And in that book, he uses the story of the Thai youth football team who were caught in the caves by the monsoon rains in 2018. The boys were there for 9 days before the rescuers found them. And then it took the rescuers another 7 days to even start getting them out. It was so dangerous to dive through the different sections of the caves. In fact, an experienced diver lost his life in the rescue effort. 

He used the story to illustrate the time we are living in now. That 7 days when the boys had been FOUND, but still hadn’t been RESCUED. The in between time. The neither here nor there time. We have been found. Jesus has died. He has risen. But Jesus has still to come again. We are waiting for the return of the King. We are looking for the city that is to come. We are living in a both here and also there time… our hearts are in two places at once.

And the wonderful news is that our Faithful God sent His Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us and comfort us during our waiting time. We are not alone in the cave. And one day we will be rescued and live for eternity with Him. 

This is the fifth in a series of blogposts about God’s faithfulness when things are H.A.R.D. They follow the series of 20 short stories celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it was 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

God is Faithful even when it is H.A.R.D | Singleness part 1

I just spent 20 days celebrating God’s faithfulness over my 20 years in Bosnia-Herzegovina, but I wrote only one story about the faithfulness of God when it is H.A.R.D.: about surviving the winters here in Bosnia. However, I realised there were many other things that were “hard”, and so I decided to continue these stories of finding God’s faithfulness even during the difficult times. 

I am not writing these blog posts as a way for people to feel sorry for me, but rather trying to share lessons learnt along the way. Or should I say lessons I am still learning along the way as I haven’t got there yet in many of these areas. 

I wanted to start with the topic of singleness. And as it is such a big topic, I am going to do it in parts, so welcome to part 1! 

A big part of being a single living cross-culturally is the area of loneliness. We don’t have a built-in social network of family and so sometimes it can be very lonely. I remember back to my days when I lived alone for two years in Zenica. I was in a team with two other couples and no singles. It was very lonely at times. I was hardly ever home by myself - I made friends with locals and fellow cross-cultural workers, got involved in many activities, all just to keep away from all the loneliness that would happen at home. 

Even with local friends and other relationships, I realised that I wasn’t cut out for living on my own, so I realise how faithful God was to bless me with a local housemate almost all of the time I have been here in Banja Luka. You can read how that came about here

In January, my housemate was visiting her family and so I was alone in the house for almost 3 weeks. Granted because of Covid, this is the first time I have been in the house alone for almost a year, so I was the one that decided to stay and be here by myself for what was supposed to be 10 days. Then we had some heavy snows, so she stayed on longer... and I started to feel sorry for myself that I was all alone…

*cue pity party music here* 

And then, faithful as always, the Lord reminded me once again of the idea, 

“Alone, but not lonely”. 

One of the spiritual disciplines I am learning to embrace are times of solitude – when we are alone, but conscious of the presence of the Lord with us always – so NOT lonely. Spending quality time with Him these past weeks has reminded me that loneliness is really a state of mind. Self-pity is a dangerous tool of the enemy and loneliness plays into his hands. Realising that ‘solitude’ is not ‘lonely’ means that I can embrace alone time and even look forward to it.

Another thing that has helped me all these years in single cross-cultural life was when I first came to Bosnia someone told me “get your main heart relationships with the locals, don’t just make friends with the foreigners”. This has been a huge key for me. Foreigners tend to come and go but locals are mostly around for the long run. Having local friends with whom I can hang out and have fun and it not be about “work” has definitely been one of the reasons I made it to 20 years here in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Another key aspect of this was learning the local language, but that is another whole story. 

When I ended up being the only YWAM worker here in Bosnia-Herzegovina, what became key was finding online fellowship with people at a heart level. I have a mentor, a peer mentor and a spiritual director with whom I meet online on a regular basis. This has helped so much during Covid when going to live gatherings was not possible. I was so grateful to already have set regular times with people to whom I could be vulnerable and they get me!

However, nothing can take the place of live, in person times with other people who are able to feed your soul. This is something that you have to figure out how to do or else you will not last long cross-culturally. (As I said, in these Covid times, I have managed to harness the online version of this, but I long for the days when we can once again gather in person and do it live!)

The main reason that I wanted to start my series of God’s faithfulness in the hard times on the area of singleness is that I realised that so many of the lessons that I have learnt about God’s faithfulness were BECAUSE I am single… and frankly, I wonder if I would have learnt them if I were not!

This is the first in a series of blogposts about God’s faithfulness when things are H.A.R.D. They follow the series of 20 short stories celebrating 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it was 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful!

Celebrating God's Faithfulness | 20 Years Celebration Event

What a wonderful evening! I am still overwhelmed by it all. I had planned what I thought was a great event, but friends conspired to make it even greater. We had over 50 people on the zoom call, from over 15 countries from Vancouver, Canada to Hong Kong! So many of them made the effort to wear silly hats or make Bosnian food to celebrate alongside me. So fun!

I made a lovely quiz, which 5 people got 10 out of 10 for, so we had a tie-breaker to determine the winner. And luckily, Kate, the winner is a friend in South Africa, so she will actually get her prize this week (as I had some "prizes" that my Mom took back to South Africa in anticipation of a Bosnian Evening with a quiz with prizes there...). I did have a consolation prize for everyone on the call - a pdf copy of all of my 20 Stories of God's Faithfulness in one place!

During my preparations, I had asked 3 friends to help me with ideas and make sure that what I was thinking was going to be ok for the zoom event. Little did I know that they had already planned a BIG surprise for me. Before I asked them for help they had planned to reveal it on a separate zoom call on the day, but because I had asked for their input, they saw the opportunity to put the surprise into the actual zoom event! 

I suspected nothing. I mean, even on Saturday afternoon when we met up on that previously arranged zoom call and they had dressed up in silly work out outfits and made me do some exercises "to relax me" before the big event. I didn't think back to when we set up that call in the first place, and they had said to me "we have a surprise for you". I just thought... "oh that's cute, they want to help me celebrate today by making me laugh" - which they did! I would put the pic of them in those outfits, but they would totally kill me. So here is a photo of us, debriefing the event afterwards: Andreja, Ema (with Sara), Ana and I.

One of the things they insisted on putting in the program was an "open mic" time where people could share what they appreciated about me or funny stories. I didn't really want this in there, but they insisted... And the reason was that they had been organising for people to send in video clips to congratulate me from all over the world... I was overwhelmed by how many people sent in clips (and I am getting them still...) and the video was a COMPLETE surprise. Here it is... (minus one clip)

The stars of the video were definitely the last clip of some of the children at the Children's Home who came on and made us ALL cry, they were so sweet. But unfortunately, we can't put them on a public forum, so you will just have to take my word for it...

We ended off with a time of prayer for Bosnia and Herzegovina and then for me, and I truly am still riding on a cloud of love and emotions from that time. When I set about celebrating 20 years, I really wanted to celebrate God's faithfulness to me over the 20 years - I didn't want to make it about me at all. But in His wisdom, He knew that I also needed to know what an impact I have made, and how precious I am to so many people - and ultimately to Him. 

The 20 stories have been such a fantastic exercise for me to look back and see how faithful He has been over the years, and yet I realised at the event that even today He is still faithful, giving me exactly what I need even when I don't know that I do... 

Thanks to everyone who helped me celebrate God's faithfulness over the 20 years I have been in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thanks to Ana, Ema and Andreja. Thanks to the rest of the wonderful people who came on the zoom call and all those who contributed to the surprise video... love you all!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 20: Sacred Corner

There are so many more stories I could tell. Including about how God used me with Business training. Or when Nick Vujčić came in 2019. But as I am writing these stories in 2020/2021, it is in the context of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. And so for the last of my 20 stories, I wanted to share how the Lord has even been faithful during these strange times. 

Here in Banja Luka, we have had to shut church down, and stop most of our group activities. We were also supposed to have 7 more teams from March to August, and they all had to cancel. But I have kept busy online: everyоne has discovered zoom, so there are lots of online meetings instead of the conferences I would normally be going to/organising. I also got involved in the editorial team for the European Leadership Leadership Community for Youth with a Mission (YWAM), and that has been a lot of fun. 

I do miss the travel, and seeing people in person, but it hasn’t been all bad. I was finishing up a life coaching course in the spring and was able to get in my coaching hours online during the strict lock-down. Looking back, I don’t know how I would have managed to get all of that done if we hadn’t had Covid. I am also able to be a part of my home church in Cape Town on their Facebook Live services, which has been fun – “going to church” with my mom in the comment section. I have also managed to record and preach a couple of times "in Cape Town" as well!   

In April, we finally repainted our apartment and I made some adjustments to the layout to my room. I wanted to make a space in my room for spending time with the Lord. A little sacred corner (or as my housemate, Ljilja, calls it my “secret corner”) where I can spend time reading, reflecting and just being still with the Lord. 

I used to have a very uncomfortable couch which I had inherited from some workers who left. In fact, if you stay a long time in another culture, you tend to get a lot of stuff when other “expats” leave. I have a huge number of books as well for this reason, but I digress. The couch was a pull-out, and it was horrible for sleeping on (just ask my mom) and even worse for sitting on. I decided to just give it away and “blessed” a needy family with it. I turned the room around and made a lovely space in the corner. Now, I needed a chair to go in it. 

Some YWAM colleagues in Croatia were getting ready to leave. I had worked for 5 years with the husband on our YWAM Central European leadership team, and the family was very dear to me. I decided I needed to go down to see them one more time before they left. 

Hanging out before saying goodbye :(

They had a lovely rocking chair which had come from the US and faithfully gone with them from Holland to Romania to Croatia. I really thought they would transport it on to their next place. When I was heading to their place, they said, “hey, maybe you will leave with something, we are wanting to get rid of stuff.” I was just kidding when I said, “well, all I would want is the rocking chair.” It turned out that they weren’t planning on taking it with them, and were so happy to give it to me!!

I was blown away that God not only provided a wonderful place in my room, but also this lovely rocking chair to complete my sacred corner (and a wonderful way to remember dear friends). I look forward each morning to sitting there and enjoying His presence during these crazy times. And to remember that He is faithful to us in BIG things and small! 

Recording a sermon from my sacred corner

I hope that you have enjoyed these stories of His faithfulness, His goodness and His love to me during the 20 years I have been here in Bosnia and Herzegovina… And the best part is that I know He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, so I know He will continue to be faithful! I look forward to what He will do in the next 20 years!

This is part 20 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 19: A Giraffe and a Nativity scene

Each year our church gets involved in distributing Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child shoebox packages. Siniša was doing it even before I arrived on the scene. We have done so many different programs along with the handing out of packages – ranging from using puppets to plays to Vegetales videos. So many different fun ways of creatively telling children that actually the Greatest Gift is not the box, but Jesus.  

Once we had the church building, we decided to do the Christmas package distributions from there. I can remember thinking that I didn’t want to do the traditional Christmas play as that had been done (and really well) by my Finnish colleagues each year until they had left. I took Max Lucado’s “You are Special” as the main message, but with the help of a local friend, we managed to add the Christmas story into it. I found kids in the sponsorship project or from my friends who were interested in being a part of it, and found that I actually loved being a director/ script writer/ set designer/ costume designer/ everything. 

So, over the next few years, I would find a script and adapt it, or sit down and write one with our actors in mind. And then we would get together in October and start rehearsals with the kids. By December we would be ready for the slog of 3-4 performances per day on the weekends and the joy of seeing so many children enjoying the play and of course receiving the shoeboxes! 

One year, I remember writing the play on a train on the way to Budapest. It is amazing where God will strike me with inspiration. Another year it was already September and I was just not sure what the play would be about. Some friends in another city in Bosnia had done a play the year before with a giraffe costume. I asked to see the play and asked if I could use the costume. They were happy to lend me the “costume” (basically a giraffe “onesie”), but the play had too few parts and needed some adapting. At the same time, I was given a beautiful nativity set by a friend of mine and as I sat down to adapt the play inspiration hit. 

I took the Giraffe suit and the Nativity set and put them into a story that shared the powerful story of Christmas. The poor lost giraffe was taken home by a girl to get warm, and he would spot the nativity set and ask about it. The parents would then explain the whole story of to the giraffe (who miraculously could not only speak, but speak the local language!) and we would learn the true meaning of Christmas.

It worked really well, and the only person who didn’t like the play was the actor I made be the giraffe as he didn’t like being the only animal. He was happy the following year when everyone was an animal – all in the barn learning the story of Christmas from Mama cow 😊 

Now, all my actors are no longer children, some are no longer even in high school. It has been so great working with them each year, and each year I think they won’t want to do it again next year (it is hard work!) but they kept coming back. 

I am amazed at what God has done through this ministry – it is kind of like the Giraffe and the Nativity set – we need to take what we have and work with that, and God is the one who is faithful to create something beautiful every single time. 

This is part 19 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 18: Sponsorship Project

Starting in 2008, we have had a project out of Finland where children are sponsored by people in Finland. We call them “Kumovi” or “Godparents” as that is better than “sponsors”. We started off with 50 children here in Banja Luka, later on expanding it to 80. It has been so wonderful to work with these children and their families over their school years. We ran workshops, both for the kids and their parents, day camps, outings, and seminars, and of course, sponsor anything they needed to help with their schooling. With the “Godparent’s” money we bought the needed schoolbooks, supplies, clothing, etc each year. 

While Rami and Katja-Maaria from Finland and their family were with us for 5 years, we ran a Kids camp (and some years a Youth Camp) each year for the sponsorship kids. We had a fantastic time each year with between 50-100 of us with a fun program and lots of mosquitos… There was the year when I managed to get lice from one of the girls in my room or the year where we had to send two boys home because they got up to too much mischief. 

Kids Camp

The first year at camp, little N was aghast that we made them each go and shower each evening. “All you do at this camp is take showers,” she said. And she told on her friend: “I washed my whole body, but M only washed her feet!” At the next year’s camp, N and M were taking more than one shower a day at camp. It felt good to be clean. 

Years later, N ran away to get married at 13 and when the police were called, they didn’t want to get involved as she is Roma, and it is common in their culture for them to get married young. Only with us advocating for her did they go and find her and bring her back. She is now almost finished High School! 

When we met P, he was in first grade, we could see that he was already very independent. He and his mother lived in a tiny one-roomed place, barely making the rent each month. His mom worked long hours in a café to make ends meet, and so P learnt to come home from school and make himself food, and generally look after himself. 

When he was in high school, his mother met someone, and got married, and their financial situation completely turned around. His mother came to us with a proposition – she wanted to sponsor children just like P had been. She said we were the ones who helped her when no one else did, and she wanted to help others just like we did her. P was one of the two boys we sent home from camp – and his mother wanted to help us out! She said that was one of the best things that we could have done, as it shocked him to realise that his “naughty” ways were so bad that he was sent home. 

This past year many of the children who started with us in 2008 in first grade left school. It was amazing for us to read in their final letters to their Godparents the impact that the project had on them. And so many of them also want to pay it forward by helping others just as they were helped out by the project. This was so encouraging to us, impacting their lives so they want to help out others just as they have been helped!

First and last photos put side by side

There are so many more stories I could tell, but you get the idea – God has been so faithful in using us and the “Godparents” to impact the lives of these children and families over the years. As this project continues, I am sure He will continue to do so into the future as well! 

This is part 18 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 17: Peugeot

One of the things I tell people about the difference between South Africa and Bosnia is the fact that it is so much more secure here. The crime situation in South Africa is quite bad, and I do have to switch on my security brain when I go back to South Africa. So, it is definitely the definition of ironic that I have had not only my car, but also my bicycle stolen here in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Both from behind a fence. 

We were away at camp when my landlady called to tell me that my car had been taken during the night. When we went to report it stolen, the detective literally laughed when he heard that it was a Peugeot 206. He told us he had been working in car theft for 10 years, and this was the first stolen Peugeot he was dealing with. He knew for sure that it was some sort of inside job, because no one in their right mind would steal a Peugeot, let alone from behind a fence!

He asked us who had access to the key and who knew we were away. My mechanic had had access to the key, and he had called me when we were on the way to camp so knew we were gone. They brought him in for questioning. 

It turned out that my mechanic was heavily in debt to his loan shark and so gave him access to make a copy of the key and gave my address and then told him we were out of town. In the end the loan shark was found guilty of the car theft, and my mechanic who was from Montenegro skipped town and never came back. 

The Lord provided for my housemate/colleague to buy a car, and we managed to make that work for a while, but after a few years it became clear that I needed to get my own car. Ljilja was looking to sell hers and so I offered to buy it off her. Unfortunately, the first time I drove it anywhere it blew its gasket on the highway in Croatia on a SUNDAY leaving me stranded on the way to a conference in Hungary. 

But God was so faithful, I got taken to a great little hotel and the manager helped me get the car to the mechanic the next day. And others coming from Bosnia to the conference were heading right passed me, so they picked me up, which was good as I was the one running the whole conference. The organising team did well without me, but they were happy to see me once I got there!

However, when we got the estimate from the Croatian mechanic, it was about what the car was worth to fix it. Luckily, Ljilja organised for our (new!) mechanic in Bosnia to go and collect it from Croatia and fix it at 1/5 (yes, 1/5!!) of the price. But from then on it kept giving issues. Never buy cars from friends! Ljilja felt so guilty.

After years of lugging it to different mechanics, and none of them able to figure out what was wrong I realised that I was done with it, and really needed a car that was more reliable. Here the second-hand car market is a complete rip-off and so I was really praying for enough money for a new car which would be under warranty. 

Ironically, after I had made that decision, I managed to find a mechanic that could fix my old car, so I got a decent price for it in the end. And then others gave me donations specifically towards me buying a car! And guess what I ended up buying – another Peugeot, this time a 208! It really felt like things came full circle. God was faithful to provide for me a NEW version of the car that was stolen. Now, hopefully for a few years, the only mechanics I will need are the ones who do the service for my car!

Nala - which means "gift"

This is part 17 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 16: Bosnian Visas

Even though I have been here in the country for almost 20 years, it comes as a surprise to many that I still don’t have permanent residency. There are many reasons for this, including that along the way I had “breaks” and you need to have 5 years in a row. Or that they changed the law that volunteers couldn’t get permanent visas 3 months before I was eligible. The paperwork needed, as you would imagine in a former communist country, is always considerable, but year after year I have managed to get every piece of paper required, even when it has sometimes been quite tricky.

I remember one year I had to get a background check from South Africa. I found out I could do it through the South African embassy in Greece, but I needed to send my fingerprints to them. It was simple for me to get my fingerprints done at my local police station, but no one would certify that they were mine. We went all the way up to the Minister of the Interior looking for permission. And his reply: We do not have an agreement with the South African Government that we can make those kinds of certifications…

I found out that the British Embassy in Sarajevo would do it for me. I took fingerprints that were taken by the Bosnian police (and could have been anyone’s!!!!!) and got them certified by the British embassy that they were mine. So bizarre! But we got it done! And I got the police clearance certificate!

The last part to this story is that I had to pay 80 BAM (about 40 Euros) for that certification in the British Embassy. The South African currency had been decimated that month (luckily it bounced back again), but my salary coming from South Africa was cut by two thirds. It was crazy. I literally used my last 100 BAM to get to Sarajevo and then pay for the signatures.

I was overwhelmed by my wonderful colleagues and Bosnian friends who found ways to have me over for dinner and lunch and kept me fed until I could get my next salary. I will never forget the reaction of one of them though… when I was complaining to him about having no money for food, he looked up and down at my very overweight body and said after a pause: “maybe it’s good?”. Talk about rubbing salt on a wound! But you’ve got to love the Bosnian sense of humour!

It was fairly straightforward to get the volunteer visa, and so each year I prayed about whether just to continue using that one or to try and get the work permit visa which meant after 5 years I would be eligible for the permanent visa. The work permit was not that easy to get as you had to prove that no one in Bosnia and Herzegovina who was on the Unemployment Office’s files would be able to do your job. Each year I felt to just keep going with the volunteer visa.

In the meantime, I was working towards my Master’s in Community Development through the University of the Nations and finally finished it in 2017. That was also the year they changed the law and you couldn’t renew your volunteer visa more than once, meaning I had to switch to another way of getting my visa – the work permit option.

When I went to apply for the work permit there were 10000 people in their database with my undergrad degree who would have been “eligible” to do my job, making it much harder to prove that I was needed. But only 12 had a Master’s. Along with other qualifications (like the TEFL for teaching English for instance), I was clearly the only one who could do my job.

I started the Master’s in 1999, and did the TEFL course in 2008… and had them both in hand when I needed them in 2017. Once again, God was faithfully going ahead of me and making sure everything was in place, just at the right time! Now I have less than 2 more years and I will be able to apply for my permanent visa! 

This is part 16 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 15: Surviving winter

When writing stories of God’s faithfulness, it is so easy to get caught in the trap of only writing about the good times, the good things, everything that worked out fantastically – oh look at how God did that or that. But, if I am to be completely honest, there are many times when things are not all that rosy and it is H.A.R.D. to be here. No matter how well I speak the language, I will always be a foreigner. I miss familiar home comforts like biltong and Ouma rusks. I miss family and friends. 

You also have to realise that I am from South Africa, and cold snowy winters are not something I have ever had to deal with. I didn’t even realise what they meant by “Sunny South Africa” until I left and realised that it wasn’t sunny almost every day in most places in the world. Here winters can be harsh with temperatures up to -20’C and there have been weeks when the temperature doesn’t get up above freezing. Now you know why “good heat” was one of the things on my list for my accommodation needs. 

It is interesting, when I was growing up in South Africa and it was going to be "mild" - that meant it was "cold" and I had to wear a warmer jacket: this was because I was used to the weather being "warm" or "hot" and so "mild" temperatures were colder than was I was used to. Thus, in relation to my normal temperature, "mild" was in my head another synonym for "cold". Now, in Bosnia, the temperatures in winter get down to "cold", "very cold", "freezing" and "I can't breathe...", so "mild" is now, in my head, a synonym for "warm", "put your short-sleeves on", "enjoy yourself outside while you can"!

I still remember my first winter in Bosnia. The snow started on Thanksgiving (so end of November) and stuck around until the end of January. It was a bad winter, not all of them are like that! I had just bought my first car from a Dutch colleague, but it was such a small car that there were no snow tyres available for it. I was slipping and sliding around all over the place until one of my Bosnian friends suggested I put the snow chains on. And so I did - and drove around with them all winter. This was ok where there was snow on the roads, but where they had cleared it, I was like a tractor! To say that people looked at me funny is an understatement, but I was happy I could drive!

As time has gone on, I have learnt to adapt and realise the Scandinavian mindset “there is no bad weather, just bad clothing”, and learn to dress according to the weather. But still, if I could, I would sleep through the winter like a bear! 

One thing I have learnt through this is that it is part of this journey of life to have hard times. We can’t avoid them. Winter is going to come. But, I truly believe that in the winter times, in the wilderness, in those hard times, is when the faithfulness of God comes through to an even greater degree. I would be remiss in my "Stories of God's Faithfulness" not to point out that He is still faithful even when times are tough, when the snow is piled up deep.  It has only been through learning to trust in God's incredible faithfulness even when things are hard that I have been able to keep going and survive the winters: looking forward to the eternal spring that is to come. 

This is part 15 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 14: Teams Teams Teams

Over the years, there have been countless short-term teams who have come through both Zenica and Banja Luka. I say “countless” literally as I tried to count them and gave up. We had at least 1 or 2 a year, and then there were years when we had over 10. It has become easier to host teams since we have a building for them to stay in, but even before that, we would find a way to host them also! 

In the beginning I would faithfully take each of them of a tour of Banja Luka, but after a while I realised that they didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t really enjoy it and so I made up a scavenger hunt around Banja Luka for them to do. They had to answer certain questions about the sights around Banja Luka – some were self-explanatory, but others had to be answered by a local. This meant they had to find people to help them and so their first lesson is usually that the local people are incredibly hospitable and helpful. Even if they don’t speak English, they will sometimes just grab them by the arm and take them to where they need to go. One person even called and English-speaking friend to help translate! 

One of my favourite stories is when one of the teams came in really late from the scavenger hunt (it is a competition to see who can do it the fastest, and then they have to come back by a certain time even if they haven’t finished). One girl was limping badly, and they had done just one of the ten taks, but they were all smiling ear to ear. It turns out that the girl had fallen down and sprained her ankle in the middle of the marketplace. The whole marketplace scrambled round to help: one person ran and got her ice, another brought the bandage and bandaged her up. Someone who spoke English asked if she needed to go to the hospital. They stayed there the whole time talking to these amazing locals and were just blown away by how helpful they were! What a great lesson – more than I could teach on any tour! 

I try to make sure that each team knows a bit of the local language so they feel a bit more comfortable, but are also able to communicate a bit with those who don’t know English. One time the team had already spent 3 weeks in Sarajevo, so I figured they knew enough of the local language and didn’t even give them any language instruction. It turns out they hadn’t been given any instruction in Sarajevo either. I figured that out one day when one of the team asked me, “What does ‘Izvolite’ mean?”. When I told her what it means, she went completely red-faced. She went on to tell me embarrassedly that she thought it had meant “Hello” as all the shop assistants were saying it as she went into stores, so she started saying it back to them. She realised something was up when they looked at her funny – so thought she better ask me what it meant! I still giggle when I imagine what the shop assistants were thinking with someone coming in and say "Izvolite" (Can I help you?) back to them! 

There have been teams from all over the world, all coming here to help us out, and doing amazing things, from teaching English to doing concerts and from helping with Kids camps to doing craft/fun evenings with local ladies. I have already shared about the “worst team”, who, even though we had a hard time with them, brought us into the Children’s Home. 

I really find that every team has done something unique or special and contributed in some way. In fact, Siniša always tells them that they are placing a brick in the wall of what we are building here. Each person on each team has contributed something in their own way. God has been so faithful in sending us all these amazing teams over the years! 

This is part 14 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 13: Teta Belinda

I always jokingly say that it was through one of the worst teams that we ever had that we started going regularly into the Children’s Home in 2008. This team had a lot of internal fighting going on, but could agree on one thing: they wanted to work with children. Coincidentally (?), I had just met someone who worked at the Home, so she kindly arranged for me to have an interview with the director, and we were invited in with the team to “teach English”. 

As we needed translators, I invited members of my English Club to come and help translate. After the team left, members of the English Club came to me saying that that we could continue going in without the team. This was something I had never considered before, but I was more than willing to continue to go with my English Club members into the Home to teach English. 

We started going in weekly and playing games and singing songs and having a good time with the kids. After about 3 years, we decided that although it was fun for the kids, not a lot of English was being learnt, and so we asked the Expert Team at the Home what we could do that would be more helpful for the children and for them. 

Their educational specialist suggested that because some of the children had started reading books from the new Children’s Library, that we start a sort of Book Club for the kids. As I grew up reading and love it as an adult, I thought this was a wonderful idea. The reading club consisted of us taking the kids to the library one week and coming in the next week to do “after reading activities” with the children. 

The educational specialist who suggested that we start the book club came back from long maternity leave after over 2 years of us running (successfully) the book club. She took me aside and told me that when she suggested it to us, that she thought that we would never be able to make it a success. She doubted the kids would be interested or that we would be able to keep finding the volunteers to help. So, she was completely surprised when coming back from her maternity leave that the club was still going! And it is still going strong over 10 years later!

The project not only impacts the children, but also the local volunteers, as they are given ways to serve others and make a difference in society. There have been over 100 volunteers who have come through this project over the years, and currently over 20 are still involved. In the beginning it was just the English Club members, but as we continued, we included others as well, and now advertise at the start of the school year for new volunteers.  They are locals, ranging from high-school students to mothers, and many of them have gone into NGO work or work with children, having experienced it first-hand through working with us. 

Lion and Mice masks for one of Aesop's fables

Now, here in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the polite way to address someone who is older than you is “teta” (or “auntie”) and then their name: so I am “Teta Belinda” to these kids. Usually at the height of some guessing game I have 4 or 5 kids with their ‘two fingers’ in front of my face screaming “Teta Belinda, Teta Belinda” in order to be heard. Around town I can hear the delight in their voice as they see me and come running over shouting “Teta Belinda”. Even though God hasn’t given me any kids of my own, I am “Teta” to so many of them at the children’s home.

And I see that once again, the Lord was faithful to open the doors through that team that was otherwise not so easy to work with – and I believe I will continue to be “Teta Belinda” to these children for many years to come! 

This is part 13 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 12: Church building

About 5 years after our registration, we were still in our rented Church location. We were using the restaurant across the road for an Educational Centre called “Ihtus”. Then one weekend all of us were away at a seminar in Macedonia when I got a phone call from Irena who had been left behind. Irena was the new Croatian wife of the previously single Czech, David. She had gone to the church to find a really horrible situation. The toilets were basically overflowing all over the whole bottom floor. Luckily, one of our church members is a jack of all trades and knows everyone that is anyone, so we called him to come and help her out. 

When we got back we had a BIG clean out of everything, but it was still pretty horrible. I think we would have continued to make the best of it, but our landlord blamed us and kicked us out. (It turned out later on it had to do with the river level and flooding and not with stuff we had put down the toilets… and he asked us to come back, but by then we had had already moved everything and so didn’t want to go back!)

We moved into the Educational Centre and started using it as a Church on Sundays. We managed to find place for all of the equipment from the church in various places, and then we really started to pray and seek the Lord. Is it time to try and buy something instead of keep renting? Rami and Siniša started looking at properties. They looked around the far edges of the city, not believing that we could afford anything close to town. But then they found a lovely huge house which was about 800m from downtown Banja Luka, not believing that we could ever afford it! 

However, amazingly, the owner wasn’t asking a lot for that size of property (400m2) as she needed to sell it. There were huge taxes that had come due on some additions they had made to the property and she didn’t have the money to pay them, so the only solution was to sell. It had been on the market for a long time as no one wanted this kind of property, other than us! So, when she gave the price, they thought she was quoting in Euros and not the local currency BAM (Euros are about 2:1 to the BAM)

In the meantime, a group from the UK contacted us and asked us if we thought it was time to buy a church building. When we said that we were busy praying and seeking and looking in faith, they said that if we had a place in mind, they had some money put aside for us to buy a building if that is what the Lord was saying. When we told them about the price of the house we were looking at, they told us that was exactly the amount of money they had set aside! 

As this group only gives money to registered Churches to buy buildings, we were only able to buy the property as we had previously registered the Church. We didn’t even know that was the first step that was needed to buy our building! The second step was getting out of the place we were currently in and looking in faith for something better. I wonder sometimes about God using that sewage to get us out of the building where we were comfortable, to get us to where He wanted us to be… He is faithful to use everything to bring about the good that He intends - sometimes even a pile of poo! 

This is part 12 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 11: Church registration

When I first came to Banja Luka, the Church was registered as a Humanitarian Aid organisation as it wasn’t possible to register small churches as religious societies. As I shared previously, this is how I got my visa to be here. Then, amazingly, the law changed, and we were able to start thinking about getting the church registered as an actual Church. 

You need to realise that in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are only four main recognised religions: Islam, Serb Orthodoxy, Catholicism and Judaism. Anything else is kind of lumped together and considered a sect or a cult. I have a book in the local language which explains about all the different cults, like Jehovah’s Witnesses and Hare Krishna’s and then Baptists and Pentecostals are the last two chapters in the book. 

So, this law recognising us Protestants/Evangelicals as an actual church was a huge deal. As part of our registration, to prove that we were legitimate and not some flaky cult, we had to have 300 people who supported our registration. 

At the time we started doing the registration, 2008, we had quite a big team working with our church – there was a family from Finland, a family from the Ukraine, David, a single from Czechia and then Siniša, Ljilja and myself. Between all of us and all of our church members, we managed to find the 300 people who would be willing to sign (and give their id number) in support of our application.  We were so happy when we finally got the signatures. Siniša gave everything to the lawyer, but when our application made it to Sarajevo, the Ministry rejected it. 

We were devastated. It turned out that the name we used was already used by another Church denomination, so we either needed to join that denomination or change the name. We made application to join that Church and at their Church Council they agreed, but later on told us that some people who weren’t at the meeting objected and so we needed to wait until the next Church Council which was in 6 months. 

Once again, we consulted the lawyer and she told us that we could apply with all of the same paperwork, but just change the name of the church to “Protestant Church: Christian Fellowship.” As some of the paperwork would expire in a month, if we waited we would have to start from scratch, so we decided the best course of action was to register under this name. 

The worst part of the “re-registration” was that we then had to go and get the 300 people to sign again on the papers with the right name on, and now we had a deadline - one month! In the end, we actually went out and found other people to sign as it was tricky tracking down those that signed the previous time. After taking almost 11 months the first time, this time we managed to get it done in less than a month! 

Finally, we got the paper that told us we were registered as a legal Church in the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina. God had faithfully made the way for us to be legitimate here in this country and this opened the door for the next big step in our adventure… more on that in tomorrow’s story!  

This is part 11 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 10: Chance Encounter

In 2005, I was travelling back from a trip to South Africa via Frankfurt and Zagreb. We were on the bus on the way to the plane in Frankfurt and it was taking forever! I heard a gigantically tall American say loudly in English “hey do you think we are going to take the bus to Zagreb?” and a few of us English speakers giggled. Then one guy, another American, asked him “so why are you travelling to Zagreb?” and his reply was “to play basketball there for a club”. Which made sense with his height. By now, however, my interest was piqued, so I turned to the other one and asked him “so why are you going to Zagreb?”. Now, I don’t know why I asked or why I got involved in the conversation, but his answer blew me away: he said, “I am going to a place called Banja Luka in Bosnia.” 

It turned out that Michael, an American, was coming to Banja Luka to intern through USAID for 3 months with a local company, a tea company called Plantago, to help with their marketing strategy. It really was a God encounter as he had been praying to find local believers – and here we meet in Frankfurt on the bus on the way to the plane! 

It was so amazing to meet up with Michael in this way, and he helped start me on a ministry path which I didn’t expect. While he was in Banja Luka, I decided to try and start up an English Club of some sort. Up until that time, I had not really wanted to teach English, mainly because I was hesitant to start as the only “native speaker” in the group. Now, as there were two of us, I felt that I could do it. And he was game.

We started with word of mouth and flyers and got a lovely group together of people to learn English through conversation. And through that group, I realised that I was able to do it and quite enjoyed it and was able to continue even once he had left. 

As I continued, I realised that although I enjoyed doing what I was doing, I was not equipped to teach the grammar and more technical sides of language learning, so I did a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course and completed some Cambridge exams. After about 5 years of running a weekly English Club, we decided to instead have blocks of English Conversation Classes where people would be able to get a certificate for attending. So, that English club morphed into the English Conversation classes which we still hold today. Out of it also grew the Book Club at the Children’s Home, but more about that in another story.

One more funny story about Michael – when he left after 3 months, I helped him clear out his apartment and he gave me the stuff in a big shopping bag. He had been getting his laundry done at a local laundromat and he had told me how amazing it was that they always knew which stuff was his when he came in – because it was always different people working. He had obviously used this big bag for his laundry as at the bottom of the bag was a receipt from the laundromat and it was made out to “Stranac” (or “Foreigner”). I had a good laugh – now we know how they always knew it was his stuff!! 

Looking back, I also love to see the firm that he worked with and how well they are doing – and a lot of the marketing stuff they are still using to this day – and every time I see a Plantago van I think back to that chance encounter on an airport bus and how God used it to get me to try something new. And I am reminded once again that God is faithful in His leading every single time! 

This is part 10 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 9: Journey of Understanding

Part of my vague idea when I first came to Bosnia and Herzegovina was to try and bring needed reconciliation to the people of this country. This is a much-needed area in this post-conflict country where Muslims, Croats (Catholics) and Serbs (Orthodox) have a deep-seated hate and mistrust for one another. People here are often not able to distinguish between their ethnic identity and their religious background, so the mixed-background Evangelical/Protestant models a unity that is so needed in this country.

During my time in Zenica, I participated in a ministry with women who had been taught how to quilt by a Dutch lady. Once I left Zenica, and moved to Banja Luka, I continued my relationship with the group in Zenica, thinking I could maybe use it as a vehicle for reconciliation between the predominantly Muslim city of Zenica and the predominantly Serb (Orthodox) city of Banja Luka. 

Zenica Quilting ladies

Taking 3 of the ladies in our church in Banja Luka who had experience with sewing, but did not have steady employment, I started up a group here in Banja Luka. Our two little groups started marketing themselves under the motto “Peace Crafts: ‘sewing’ the seeds of reconciliation”.  The group in Zenica mainly worked on quilt production, and we tried to produce little Bosnian dolls for sale to markets overseas.

Unfortunately, over time, the ladies in Banja Luka eventually all dropped out for various reasons, and although the group in Zenica kept going, we decided to shut things down in Banja Luka. The group in Zenica work successfully for another 3 years or so, but in the end the 2008 financial crisis put an end to what they were doing. It provided employment for those ladies until it ended, but it didn’t really do much in the way of reconciliation. I was of course disappointed by the way things turned out, but trusted that the Lord would continue to guide me, and He did... 

A few years went by, and in 2014, an opportunity opened up for me to facilitate the first Faith and Conflict conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Ireland came and brought the content, and I facilitated the local speakers and logistics. 

Now we have run four of them, and over time it grew from us trying to teach reconciliation to the local people and instead has become a vehicle for foreigners to come in and learn from local people. We take people on a journey of understanding, listening to locals’ stories of faith in the midst of conflict and learning from them the true meaning of forgiveness. And each one has been unique and wonderful. 

Faith and Conflict 2019 in Mostar

And these Faith and Conflict journeys of understanding are an echo of my own journey of understanding since I came to this country. Coming as a white English-speaking South African, I thought I had learnt so many lessons through growing up in South Africa and how we overcame apartheid. I came with a sort of “white saviour” complex, thinking I would save the Bosnians from each other. My experience with the Peace Crafts group and then the Faith and Conflicts showed me that instead I had a lot to learn from the incredible Bosnian people. 

And the lessons I have learnt about reconciliation and forgiveness come straight from the heart of God. He is the one who forgave us first so we can be reconciled to Him. And He is the one who is faithful to teach us lessons if we are willing to learn from Him!

This is part 9 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 8: The Microwave

When I first came to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I had already been working in Cape Town with Youth with a Mission (YWAM). YWAM does not provide salaries, so each volunteer worker needs to raise their own “support” from individuals and churches. I joined YWAM as staff in 1998, so by the time I got to Bosnia I had been living on support for about 3 years. 

I remember when I was first processing with God about working with YWAM, that this was one of my biggest barriers to join as staff. I heard my father’s voice in my head: “I didn’t pay for you to go to University for you to turn around and live off begging people for money”. Even when I decided that it was part of God’s plan for me to join as staff and raise my own salary, I had just spent a year working in the UK, so I had some money saved up. I thought: “I have enough money for 3 months, and so I will try and raise support, and if that fails, then I will say, ‘I tried’, and then go get a real job”. I always have a backup plan!  

Unfortunately, I have a wonderful home church, Claremont Methodist Church in Cape Town. I say “unfortunately” because when they heard that I wanted to raise support, they asked me how much I needed. The leadership then unanimously decided they would give me that amount in full until I could raise it up through individuals!! Once again, my Faithful God came through even though I had had other ideas!

For many years, my home church would have a yearly Mission Sunday and people would be encouraged to give as the Lord led, and they would be able to give to the church “earmarked” for me and they would collect it together and each month put it into my bank account. And they are one of my biggest supporters even today.

I am so amazed by God’s provision over the last 23 years I have been with YWAM. Not only through my wonderful church, but through so many unexpected ways. He has had many special surprises over the years. One of them happened when I first got to Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

In the year before I came to Bosnia, somehow one of my supporters’ payments coming through the church had not been given to me. He gave electronically and had given instructions that half was for me and half for the church, but somehow that instruction was forgotten, and so his money for me had stayed in the church pot. 

This mistake was picked up when a new administrator came in and found it and a few other discrepancies in my support. The church decided to give me all of this “missing” support in one lump sum. And it just happened to be given to me 3 months after arriving in Bosnia. Up until then I had been house-sitting for various missionaries that had been on furlough/home assignment and so I was given this lump sum right when I was moving into my first “own” apartment. 

I really don’t think it was a coincidence that right when I needed money to buy things for my new place, there it was! I bought some bedding and cutlery and crockery etc, and one big purchase was a microwave. And now almost 20 years later, that microwave, still working great, stands as a reminder of God’s faithfulness and how He always provides just at the right time!

This is part 8 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!

Celebrating God’s faithfulness | Story 7: British Passport

The miracle stories from yesterday about border crossings with my South African passport are amazing, but there are also stories of when I didn’t get the visa, or the time I held up the entire bus for an hour and a half getting a visa for Croatia, so it really wasn’t always fun and games… Also, sometimes because of the hassle of having to go to Sarajevo to get a visa, I often decided it was better to not go on that trip or to that conference. So, I need to share one way that the Lord was amazingly faithful: providing a British passport to make travelling easier, at just the right time. 

I found out through a friend sometime in 2004 that the law had changed and that if my Mom was a British citizen, I could now get citizenship through her. Mom was born in Britain and travelled to South Africa when she was 3. When she needed to get a British passport at age 18, her mother told her it was too expensive, and to just get a South African one. So, she thought by not getting the passport then, she had renounced her British citizenship. It turned out after a little bit of investigation, that this is not the case, and she was eligible for one if she could just get the documents together to prove it. She managed to track many of the documents down, even going to Somerset House in London for paperwork to show that she was born there, and her mother was British. 

I helped her with her application for proof of citizenship and then her passport, which she finally received in 2007. And then it was time to work on mine! Luckily, Mom, being the forward thinker, had got enough copies of her paperwork, so I could use those for my application. I applied and received word that it was all approved in early 2009! I needed to go to Sarajevo and take part in a citizenship ceremony which was actually quite sweet (and you can read more about it here). I also learnt some lessons along the way about being a Royal subject, which you read about here.  

At my British citizenship ceremony in Sarajevo

But the reason that I am celebrating this obtaining of a British passport as an act of God’s faithfulness is this: I got the passport, making it easier to travel the same year that almost all of the other YWAMers, for one reason or another, left the country. I was now in a place of needing to stay connected to YWAM in other ways, and the ability to do it. In 2006, when there was a conference in Romania, I found out I need 3 visas to get there… so I just didn’t go. Now, I didn’t need any of those visas, so travelling and staying connected to others in my organisation was suddenly possible… right at the same time that there were very few people in the country to connect up with. 

Just to give you an indication: in 2007, we had a gathering of all of the YWAMers in Bosnia Herzegovina, and there were almost 20 of us (with children). By 2009 when I got my passport, there was just one other and I left… so a bit different! I am still so amazed that I even got the passport as it has made my life so much easier, but in looking back I can see how God’s timing was just so perfect and how faithful He is. This was something that took my whole life to engineer: I mean, as I got it by descent from my mom, I was technically British from birth, but just at the right time I was able to get the passport for me to be able to connect to others!

This is part 7 of a series of 20 short stories to celebrate 20 years of God's faithfulness to me in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the 16th of January 2021, it will be 20 years since I arrived in the country "for 2 years". I hope you will enjoy hearing some of the ways that God has shown me that He is faithful over the past 20 years!