25 year Celebration/Bosnian Tea

While I was in South Africa, I held my usual event at my Home Church, but also decided as it was 25 years since I had gone to Bosnia and Herzegovina, that I needed to celebrate that event as well! And despite the heat, there was a lovely turnout:  

We started with some good Bosnian treats and Herzegovian tea. And I also had a powerpoint going with pics and some information on it. Also a photo wall with a whole lot about what I do in Bosnia. So people could eat the treats and also learn something about Bosnia and what I do there! And also hang out with each other ☺

Then it was time to hear a little bit from me: 

Besides sharing about what I do, I also shared about the importance of Celebrating - 

Celebration reminds us what it will be like in heaven one day! This is so true in this day and age of wars and grief, which reminds that it was NOT supposed to be this way, but taking time to celebrate is a picture of what it will be like one day... where there will be no more tears or pain!! 

At the end, instead of having a Quiz, I just had a lovely "door prize" - where I had put "coupons" under 10 people's seats and they either won Bosnian wool socks or Bosnian chocolates. It was a really fun way to end the afternoon! 

I like being able to bring joy into people's lives in big ways and small. And I think this event not only showcased what I am doing in Bosnia, but shared that joy as well!

💕Thanks to everyone who helped make food, or helped on the day... I really couldn't have done it without you! 

Taste of Bosnia 2024

 On Saturday, I hosted a "Taste of Bosnia" event at my church. It was great fun! 

I had 6 ladies in the church who helped with making the cakes (and I made some as well!) so we had a wonderful spread! Here is Sarah about to dive in! 

Martin helped to make the Bosnian coffee, and many people had a try of that or the "Herzegovinian tea" (herbal tea made with 9 different kinds of herbal teas): I also had a lovely crew of helpful people in the kitchen - so grateful to everyone who helped out!! 

Here is little Ivanka showing how to use the coffee grinder! Her Dad is actually Bosnian (and her Mom South African), so she should know how to use one!:

Here she is with her Mom and Dad and others from my church: 

Everyone had a lovely time enjoying the tea or coffee and the lovely eats! 

It really is lovely seeing people enjoy the eats! My Bosnian friend said they really tasted amazing and gave compliments to all the makers - he thought we had bought stuff from a Bosnian bakery! 

And here are some old friends reunited - I love being the reason people get together! 

Talking of old friends - Nils on the right is my oldest guy friend and I haven't seen Rory since my last Bosnian event in 2019. 

After a little bit, I did a presentation of what I do in Bosnia, followed by a QUIZ!! Each table got to answer as a team against the other tables.

We didn't get a pic of the winning table (mainly because the photographer was on that team!) who got all the questions correct, but here is table number 2 who only missed one question!

It is no suprise that the teams that won or came second had those who are longest standing members of my prayer support group on them!! Here we are together!! 

We ended the afternoon with a time of prayer:

It really was a lovely event, and everyone that came had a lovely time! 

What have I been up to!?

Here is a little video which shows more of my ministry in Banja Luka, Bosnia Herzegovina and beyond... Enjoy! 

 

Roundtable meetings in Mostar

I was supposed to have a week at home between Copenhagen and my next trip to Poland, but then the opportunity came up for us to go for 3 days to Mostar to take part in a Roundtable of local pastors and missions leaders. The topic was on how to work better together as locals and foreigners. It was such a great opportunity that Sinisa, Ljilja and I decided to go together. Here we are with the 40 or so delegates: 

Even though we decided to go last minute, Sinisa and I were both asked to take part in the "panels" where we gave our thoughts and suggestions, lessons learned in a short 20 minute talk which would be the fodder for the discussions afterwards altogether and in groups. Here I am sharing:

And here is Sinisa: 

I ended up going last in my group of 3 and the others had gone long, and it was just before coffee break, so I thought "oh boy, this is going to be fun!" I had planned to do it in English, but that was being translated from the front and the translation into the local language was similtaneous into headsets, so I thought it would be better to just do it in the local language as it would give me more time... and thankfully it went way better than I thought it would... I could see people were tracking and I am so glad I had the opportunity to share my heart and contribute to this important conversation in this way! 

Thanks to the Evangelical Bible Institute in Mostar and Organisation "Good News" for organising such a great event! 

InterVarsity Utah Team

In early 2020, my colleague, Ljilja, was contacted by a team from InterVarsity Utah who were supposed to be going to China, but they couldn't go because of the virus that was happening there. Things still hadn't exploded everywhere else, so they were looking for somewhere else to go... and somehow heard about Bosnia as a possibility. Even though the team was huge - over 40 people - somehow Ljilja felt it was the right thing to do to host them! Of course, then Covid happened, and they couldn't come for 2 years - but finally this summer, they came!!! 

So, at the end of May, 29 students and 8 staff (and 2 teenager children of the main leaders), came for almost a month to Banja Luka. They had a time of orientation where we helped them understand more about the country and people, and also some teambuilding... including rafting on the Vrbas river: 

Then it was time to meet local students - we held events at different colleges and other places where they could share about the states where they were from (Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Idaho) and connect with the students. Here we are at the American Corner, and Amanda is sharing about Colorado. 

We also held different fun events - here they are teaching people 2-step: 

And in true cultural-exchange style, they then learnt the Serb "Kolo" circle dance:

They held quiz nights, a Karaoke night and they and all the game nights were well attended! 

We had very full church services while they were around, which was very fun. I also had the privilege of translating into English for them: 

And they helped out in leading worship too, and it was so fun to have a bigger team! 

We know some crazy people, and no one is crazier than our friends Damjan and Tanja, who decided it was a good idea to host the WHOLE team for lunch. They made wonderful bean soup and we somehow managed to all fit outside... The team loved experiencing Bosnian hospitality (including the part where they "had" to try the local alcohol 'rakija'): 

We were so grateful to Tanja and Damjan for having us all over - here you can see how many people they fed!! 

Despite the size of the team, everything was so well organised and they were so wonderful, so when they asked if they can come again in the future, we all immediately said "yes"!! The staff (below with our team) were amazing and each of them had a small group of 5-6 students and so communication (mostly) flowed really well and we were able to work well with the team through the staff. The students were also so engaging and full of energy and so fun to have around. 

The month flew by and we were really sad to see them go! 

South Africa 2021-2022

 I came to South Africa in November 2021, 6 weeks earlier than originally planned to try and get surgery for my shoulder. I managed to get an appointment with a surgeon on the 29th of November and he was able to perform the surgery on the 1st of December. (For those who are interested it was a MUA/ACR with acromioplasty - a key hole type surgery). Here I am with Mom about an hour after surgery - they gave me a nerve block so I had no pain for the first 24 hours! 

I spent most of December recovering from surgery, and then Mom and I got Covid (Omicron) just before Christmas... So it was just "us" for Christmas day, but we still made it festive! 

I started with physio already in December, but changed to another physio in January and she was absolutely fabulous. She found ways to make the exercises fun for me, and having access to the pool at my Mom's has definitely been a key ingredient in moving my rehab along quicker than expected. But that said, even with the surgery, there is a long road of recovery until my shoulder is completely recovered. Thankfully, now, the good days are far outweighing the bad, and I am in much less pain than I was before. Here are two videos I made along the way - in January and in February

I was able to enjoy being at my home church, and even got the opportunity to preach while I was here: Click here to see it on Facebook

I did enjoy my time in South Africa, spending time with my Mom and with friends and other family. Here are just some of the things I got up to: 

With Mom at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens:

Out for a show with the "Awesome Aunties" (My mom's sister and oldest friend):

Hanging with my friend, Keren, in Kalk Bay: 

Hosting a braai (barbecue) for some of my YWAM friends from Europe who just happened to be in South Africa for a YWAM training: 

Hanging out with some of my oldest friends at another braai at my mom's place: 

Mom and I also hosted the "Smith" side of the family for our family reunion, which was lovely:

While I was here I was doing some digging on my genealogy as I did a DNA test last year along with my friends, Sina and Ljilja, and I discovered that along with being 25% Polish (my mom's dad) and 30% English/Scottish/Irish, there was also 27,8% German! I didn't expect that at all. So I went sniffing for the German relatives... Early on, I was told that on the Smith side (so Dad's mom side), my Great-Great-Grandmother was German, but that wouldn't give me that high of a percentage. So there was definitely someone else. In chatting to my Aunt Pam, she told me I had a "French" Great-Granny who had died before my Grandfather was 4 years old. I immediately suspected that she was not French but German as I don't have that much French DNA. And I was correct, she turned out to be very German,  but obviously when she died (in 1914) it was better to propogate the story of her being French rather than German... so the mystery was solved. 

In the meanwhile I discovered a family tree that had been made for the German Great-Great Granny online... and it goes back to the 1600s! Our family tree goes back to the first Dutch settlers in the Cape and also to the first Hugenotes (French settlers)! So there is French blood, it is just further back and on the other side. It was a fascinating walk back in time and we talked all about it at the family reunion... 

And one of my favourite things that Mom and I did a lot this time, was to go on the walkway from Muizenberg to St James and stop off at Bailey's cottage (about half way). We scattered Dad's ashes there so we would stop off and have "lunch with Dad" before heading back to Muizenberg for a jump in the waves (when my arm as better enough and if the wind wasn't howling too much!).

I am always sad to leave South Africa, to go back to Bosnia Herzegovina, but I can't complain - this has been a lovely time with family, friends, and my church. And I am glad that I had the opportunity also to rehab my shoulder so well to go back much better than when I came!