Spur time in South Africa

One of the fun things that I did this time in South Afirca was going to all sorts of different Spur restaurants (it is a chain of restaurants, and I used to work at one when I was at University!)... I think I worked it out that managed to go 10 times to 7 different restaurants! It was a fun way to catch up with people and enjoy time with Mom as well. Here are some of them: 

With family at the Table View Spur:

With the Bennetts at their neighbourhood Spur in Bergvliet:

With Mom and Audrey at the Rondebosch Spur and Mom at the Waterfront: 

I also went to the Claremont Spur - where the Birthday song was played a record 5 times! And the Pinelands one - where we arrived on a night they were doing a fundraiser for the Pinelands High Waterpolo team - so they had the students "helping" the waitstaff and then about 1/2 way through did a whole big dance route around the restaurant. Only in the Spur!! Both of those visits were with friends, but I don't have pics :(

I went the most to the one at Kenilworth Centre, as Mom and I would go do shopping and then eat there. It also has lovely views of the mountains!! And we also went with some other folks: including with our Minister (pastor), Obusitswe, and one of our Society Stewards (elders), Milly on my last night in Cape Town: 

Mom is a cheap date as she can get the pensioner's special, and we generally then also go on Monday's where there is a burger special. I get to spoil Mom (and myself) with my "Christmas money". And this time it was a fun challenge to go to so many different Spurs! 

Time in South Africa

Since I came to Bosnia Herzegovina in 2001, I have kept to a rhythm of being in South Africa every other year for a longer stint of 2-3 months. This has helped me keep in touch with my friends and supporters and especially my Home Church, which has gone through a lot of changes over the years. It is also a good way to stay fresh and be able to keep going over all these years. 

So, I was in South Africa for January and most of February and it was such a lovely time. My sister and her family were around in January (they live in the UK) so it was lovely to be able to spend time with them...

I also got to hang out with other family in the city - including my Aunt Pam and cousin Tim: 

And I organised another Family Reunion for my Dad's side of the family: Our desert is always Gatti's Icecream - here we are all enjoying it! 

These are two of my Dad's cousins, Cheryl and Shirley - and we do these reunions for Shirley who is amazing at 90, as she lives about 1 1/2 hours from Cape Town, so she can come in and see everyone on the same day... 

And here is the obligatory group photo (luckily, one of the cousins is a photographer!) 

I was also able to serve in my Home church by helping with worship. And I preached one week on my favourite chapter in the Bible, Philippians 3! I don't have a picture of the preach, but here I am leading worship with Norman on that day: 

I got to hang with a lot of lovely friends along the way, but I didn't get many pics of that... other than the day that Keren and I did a "be a tourist in our own city" and spent the day hanging out at the harbour in Hout Bay! 

We also took one of the boats to seal island - something I had never done before! So that was really fun! 

You can also check out my posts on the Bosnian Tea event here, and here is a look at the different times I went to the Spur restaurants while I was home... spoiler alert, it was a LOT! 

It went by very quickly, but it really was lovely to rest and spend time catching up with so many lovely people!! 

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! 

Mom's visit

Mom hasn't visited me since 2019, which is a long time - but I feel really blessed because many parents don't visit their overseas family at all! It was lovely having Mom in my part of the world again. She had already been to my brother in Canada and to my sister in Oxford twice. She has in the past only been here for up to 10 days, so it was wonderful to have her for 3 weeks! 

We had quite a "guesty" beginning to our autumn - Sina was staying with us for the last week of August and on the day she left, Ljilja's mom and sister came to stay. As Mom's flight was getting in quite late in the day we had to stay over at least one night anyway... and when I found a really good option for a few more nights, we decided to hang out in Zagreb for a couple of days... And our adventures were just to the shops: Enjoying the middle aisle in LIDL: 

And found some bargains in the IKEA: 

 And tricked some of our friends and family that we had made it to the seaside... 

But alas, those kinds of beaches are very far away from Croatia and we just took that photo in the lobby of the Decathlon sports shop. Here we are in the shop itself 😉

Once back in Banja Luka, it was mostly "bring your mom to work day" most times I would go somewhere and everyone loved getting to meet her. I don't have any good photos of those situations. She also got to join us when we went to visit a friend in their new home. I think getting to see the house (as an ex-estate agent) was more interesting than any of the conversation we had! 

As she is half Polish (my grandad was from Poland), when I heard from my friends Nada about a meeting of the Polish society while she was here, we had to go! It was learning how to make pierogies - and it was great fun! 

Besides the pierogies, there were lots of other lovely Polish treats! 

And even a bit of Polish vodka to enjoy with some old and new friends! 

One of the fun things we did do was go to the Cyrillic park and check out all the letters: 

Above is NOT actually a B it is a V!! ("false friends" are a real problem!) 

This is an L for Lav (Lion) 

A D for "Dvorac" or castle: 

Ž for Žirafa (you can guess what that means!)

Besides making a cover for one of my chairs, she also managed to make muffins or crunchies almost every day while she was here... It was such a lovely visit that it was really hard to say goodbye when it was time for her to go again 😭 But I am looking forward to seeing her in January in South Africa!

Triplet to Ireland and the UK

I was invited to go to Enniskillen in Ireland in August, to be the speaker on the YWAM Ireland gathering. I was really blown away by the invitation, but as I had already been playing around in my head with maybe making a trip to the UK to see people and also get my UK passport sorted out, it seemed like a lovely way to combine the two.

I spent 3 lovely days with the wonderful people who make up YWAM in Ireland. In reflecting for the talks I realised that my relationship with YWAM in Ireland and all the good things that have come out of it (including 5 "Faith and Conflict" conferences), started because of two conferences that I went to. One was in 2007 and on the way back from the conference I "happened" to take a train with then YWAM Ireland leader, Jonny Clark. We also happened to get lost and took the train in the wrong direction... but that is another whole story! And the other was in 2014 in Lyon when I sat next to Alex Atwell, who is now leading YWAM Enniskillen, on a flight from there to Manchester. Random? Coincidence? I think not!  

It really was a privilege to share more of my story and what the Lord has taught me along the way and I really enjoyed sharing on how to persevere and press on into what the Lord is calling you into. We are the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth which this saying from St Teresa of Avila reminds us of! 

And some other reflections the Lord has been showing me about how to bring a little bit of His joy and life and celebration even when things are not going the way we wish they did...

And a case in point - why let a little bit of rain stop us from having a fun outing to Lough Erne together... crazy people! Group pic using the car as a tripod:

Here I am warming up by the fire with my fellow South African, Musa, who was crazy enough to jump in the lough...

Along with other crazy people - Alex and Martin. In the background you can see the ruins of Devenish Island Monastery... very eerie in the fog! 

And this time a selfie-stick pic with the monastery in the background as well...

I also managed to finish up my passport by going to Belfast before the conference and fast tracking it. My old one is not up until 2026, but it is almost full! And why is it almost full?? Because silly border guards in Bosnia and Croatia mostly don't care where they put their stamps. I only have 3 in my new passport and look at how much space they already take up!! (And if I fly from Zagreb, which is my closest airport I get between 4-6 stamps each time depending on if I am going to Schengen or not!)

I used my new passport to travel to the East Midlands Airport and to hang out with my godson, Christopher and his wonderful family. 

And I say wonderful, because on the day I was supposed to get on a bus and travel on to my next place, I felt horrible and recognised the feeling from the time I had covid... and they have some old tests hanging around and I took one, and guess what!! Yip. I was positive...

Thankfully, they were ok with me staying on, and we tried to isolate me as much as possible, but Trevor and Carol had already got it from me, but luckily the kids didn't get it! So yes, not my most successful trip ever... thanks to them for being so fantastic!! 

On the day that Christopher got his A-level results, they had scones to celebrate and they sat outside in the garden and I was upstairs talking to them through the window and enjoying my portion!

Then it was time to try and figure out my further travel. I had planned on going to a few people, but with not feeling so great after covid, I just narrowed it down to my sister and her family and changed my flight to come back a bit sooner. My nephew James had returned from a gap-year trip around Asia and it was wonderful to hear all his stories in person! 

And also enjoy time with my sister and brother-in-law, and their wonderful garden!!

Then it was time to be back in Banja Luka, getting ready for the new school year!