Holiday of a lifetime!

For the past 12 years, Ljilja, Sina (our friend from Finland) and I have been going on holiday together. We even managed to find ways to go on holiday during 2020 and covid rules changing every day. We have had a lot of fun adventures, but also just able to relax and enjoy movies and games and looooong discussions about our lives. We also usually celebrate all 3 of our birthdays on Ljilja's birthday in July as I am in June, and Sina in August... 

This year, with both Sina and I were turning 50, we wanted to go somewhere extra special. Sina has also travelled to over 90 countries, and originally she wanted to go somewhere new, but that is quite hard for her! She wanted to go to do an island holiday - and her first suggestion was Fiji! We looked at ticket prices and it was a hard NO from us. After that she thought about Seychelles, but again it looked expensive. She had already been to the Maldives for work, but as that actually looked like the best option price-wise, she was happy with the island holiday there as she had not done the "vacation" side of things there - just visiting projects for work. 

So, in the end we managed to get her "down" to go to the Maldives. We found some reasonable airline tickets ourselves via Doha (with a stopover on the way back) and Ljilja did a phenomenal job of contacting local travel agencies to see if we could get a deal on accommodation. We had decided on a resort near the capital called Kurumba. 

We would just get breakfast included and then go out for dinner, making it cheaper (and healthier!) than a full board/all inclusive option. We got a good deal through an agency in Bosnia, and were about to pay the deposit when Ljilja received another offer for the same exact booking from an agency in Serbia which was even cheaper!! Love it! (we found it it was cheaper in July as it is the "rainy season", but other than a 1 or 2 times of rain during the day, it really didn't bother us at all as it mostly fell at night). 

We stayed in two adjoining rooms upstairs in a condo with four rooms. We didn't have anyone downstairs for most of the time which was nice. It included a fun "outdoor/indoor" bathroom - so you could shower outside... or in the rain - which was a fun experience! 

Being on the top floor meant we had a lovely view from the windows/balcony:

And most of the creepy crawlies kept out of our rooms (which was helpful to those with a fear of creepy crawlies of which there were a few!) We did get to see lots of bats in the evenings and our friendly heron, which we nicknamed Harry the Heron, was always around: 

We had loungers (with our room numbers on!) on the beach which were sort of secluded as they were surrounded by trees, so we felt like we had our own private island getaway. Such a blessing! This is the view from the balcony towards "our" beach and our loungers are in between the trees! 

And this is the view along the beach! 

We mostly spent time at the beach, but did do a couple of snorkelling trips, which were amazing!! It was also lovely just to snorkle around our beach too! And we could also take out the kayaks for some good exercise: 

One of the reasons we chose this resort was that they had different themed restaurants, and one of them was THAI! Which happens to be the favourite food of all of us. We have usually managed to find a Thai restaurant in the places we go to on holiday - there is no real Thai food in Bosnia and it is expensive in Finland! We did go there 4 times during our stay and got to the know the staff, including the chef (from Thailand) and so when it was time to go, they even gave us a special send-off and insisted on taking pictures with us - so sweet! 

The whole time we were there we were all saying everyday, "Thank-you Lord that we get to experience this beautiful place!" There was one moment when I was in the sea at sunset and just looking at the bats flying around and seeing the sunset from the water and I was just praising the Lord for being able to experience this beauty. I am so glad that Sina wanted to go somewhere like that for her 50th, because it really was the crowning experience of my 50th jubilee celebrations! 

Central European Staff Gathering

It has been 4 years since we last had a staff gathering in Vajta, Hungary. Because of other commitments, this time I was only minimally involved in the organisation of it - and the team did a great job! It was weird not being as involved and I realised that I had been helping to organise YWAM Central Europe events since even at the first one I attended in 2008! We met beforehand as our leadership team for the Central European Area of YWAM. There are about 20 of us on that group and it was great to get together and share and pray for our area of YWAM before the rest of the people came:

There were over 260 people at the gathering, including over 60 children and teens! We had a great children's program for the kids - where they had their own mini-conference, being challenged to go out and be world-changers.

I am also stepping down from my role in our "Core Team" for Central Europe - 4-5 of us help lead the bigger team or ACT as we call it. I have been in this role since 2015, so it is time to step down (I will still be in the ACT) and let others have a chance to lead. Below is them praying for Ema (also stepping down) and I and the gift that we were given as a "Thank-You" - a lovely wooden box with this inscription inside!

The plan is that I will stay on the core team until the end of the year and in that time continue to hand over responsibilities to the rest of the team. It hasn't been an easy decision, but I know it is the right one! I look forward to seeing what God is leading me into in this next season.

As the conference was open to all those who had ever been in YWAM in Central Europe, I encouraged my former teammate, Janet, to come along. She has been back in the UK for over 10 years now. It was great to see her again! And the best part: I decided to drive the 4 and a half hours to Vajta, Hungary, where the conference was held. It is the furthest I have driven in 2 years because of my issues with my shoulder! And praise the Lord, my shoulder did very well!  So happy!

 

YWAM Central Europe Leadership Meetings

Another set of meetings for me in October, was our Central European leadership team in Krakow, Poland. We hadn't met in person since 2019 (we are zoom experts though!) and had added a few new people since then, so it really was great for us to get together again! Here we are in one of the parks in Krakow: 

We spent a lot of time meeting together and engaging on various important topics. 

We also spent an evening with the YWAM staff from all over Poland, getting to know them and also spending time praying for them: 

It wasn't all work and no play - we did get to enjoy a lovely tour of the city with John Hess, who has lived in Poland for over 30 years! 

And after our evening sessions, we would head out to the pub to hang out and enjoy each other's company in a relaxed way... sometimes too relaxed 😜  It is good to laugh though!! 

A few people had later flights on our final day, so we made it to Schindler's Factory Museum and here we are in front of the last piece of wall for the Krakow Ghetto: Alket and Reli from Albania and Ema from Krakow. I am glad I got to see a bit of the historical side of the city: 

It really was such a great time to catch up and all get on the same page, laying the foundation for good working relationships for our continued monthly zoom meetings and interactions in between... We are overseeing 16 countries and about 30 locations and 200 people in YWAM, so it is good to have our foundations right! 

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! 

Tunisian Vacation

This is the 12th year that Sina, Ljilja and I have gone on our summer vacation together. After not being able to go far during Covid for 2 years, Ljilja and Sina really wanted to go to a "new" country. And as we were so busy with teams in the spring, we didn't really have the time to figure out all the details, so when we discovered a fantastic all-inclusive deal for Tunisia out of Sarajevo, we jumped at it. Tunisia is Sina's 86th new country (and Ljilja and my 46th!). We know we are still not out of the Covid woods yet, but other than wearing masks on the plane, it felt like we were.

We flew to Monastir and got taken to our hotel in Sousse. We mostly spent time there, but we did take a couple of tours - one to Sidi Bou Said, Carthage and Tunis and the other to Sousse. 

This is Sidi Bou Said - so beautiful: 

And Ljilja and Sina enjoying the view: 

They are known for their blue doors: 

It was very hot, so we mostly tried to find shade and something to drink! 

And unfortunately despite all our attempts to stay cool Sina managed to get sunstroke 😞 and so we missed the last stop of the tour (the Tunis old town/medina) keeping her cool, but it was still worth it for what we did get to see. (luckily she got over it pretty quickly, but it was definitely the lowlight of our holiday 😢 ) We got cleverer and went to the Sousse old town/medina in the latter part of the day so it was a bit cooler: 

We enjoyed that tour a little bit more: 

We were taken very good care of by the staff at the hotel. Here we are with "our" waiter, Monta. We couldn't get photos with all of the staff who treated us well, but you get the idea! 

But a good example was for Ljilja's birthday - they organised flowers and provided a cake! 

We got the chance to go to the "fancy" restaurant for a special dinner (we could go once during our stay so we chose her birthday) and they made our table even more special!! 

And all the waiters came in and sang to Ljilja with yet another cake! 

Here are Sina and I ready for watching one of their evening shows, and you can see the pool in the background: 

The shows were fun, dancing and also light and fire: 

And one night there was a "Fakir" show, and Sina was invited to take part... she was on stage the whole time with 5 other ladies and then each were used for different parts of the act as he showed his ability to withstand painful activities. Here is Sina standing on his head while he is facedown on broken glass! It  was pretty cool having her up there. He was pretty amazing... 

We didn't go to the shows every night, but also watched some movies and played games in our room, or headed to the nearest town of Port El Kantoui to get out of the resort for a bit. 

During the day we were either in the sea or the pool, and they had daily aquaerobics, here in the pool: 

But I actually prefered doing it in the sea: I spent a lot of time in the sea which was a great help to my shoulder, in fact it came along so much in the time in Tunisia, that I am so glad that we went there! 

One of the things that Sousse is known for is the beautiful sunrise which was at 5am in the morning... I hadn't woken up early enough the whole time we were there, and then the last morning, I woke up 1 minute before it was due!! Thank-you God! This is the view from our balcony:

And zooming in a bit later... so lovely! 

The whole holiday was a blessing from God, and we were so amazed to get such a good deal. We did book it early to get the early bird special, but even so... But it was only once we got there that we realised that these resorts haven't been working much the last two years and of course their usual customer base are the Russians. And they wouldn't be coming this year because of the war. So, it made sense that their prices would be very attractive (especially early on) to at least get some customers!

So, the whole time I was just amazed at all the blessings and then the last day's sunrise was like a little nod from God... blessing upon blessing! 

COVID-19 Vaccine

A couple of weeks ago Ljilja tried to get me to sign up for the vaccine in Serbia. They were opening up for people who were not residents. At the time I was busy with zoom meetings, and I didn't think it would EVER happen, so I just told her, "If you want to do it for me too, then go ahead...I don't have time..." And luckily, she did. She did it because we don't know when if ever we will get enough vaccines in this country for us to get to the front of the line, and if we do it will probably be one of the Chinese or Russian ones... 

On Thursday, we received an email to let us know that we should come to Novi Sad on Sunday to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine!!!! Unfortunately, when we got the email, Ljilja was 2/3rds of the way to her home in Trebinje (which is about a 6 hours drive away) and Novi Sad is 4 hours in the other direction...

So now, what to do? Do we go? Do we go separately? Does she drive to Banja Luka and we go together? 

In the back of my mind I was thinking about the woman I was talking to just the week before who had had the opportunity to get on the list for the vaccine in Bosnia Herzegovina, but wasn't sure if she should get it. Her daughter has special needs (Down's syndrome) and so that is how she would be able to get it - to protect her daughter. I was encouraging her and telling her "if you have the opportunity, use it!" And then the next day she started having symptoms and fell ill and now she and her daughter (and her mother) are all positive with double pneumonia...such a sad situation. Because of that, I was thinking: "what happens if that happens to me? - If I don't get the vaccine and then I get Covid, and pass it along to others, I would totally kick myself!!"
 
On Friday morning, I had a time with the Lord and was going back and forth with do we go, do we not go. Is it worth it? What to do? Then I felt that the Lord was saying "do you trust me or the vaccine?" He used Jeremiah 17:7 "But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him." It really helped me to completely give it all to the Lord and trust Him whether I got the vaccine and trust Him whether I didn't get it... but it didn't help with the decision making process! 

After going back and forth all day on Friday, we were actually ready to give up going when Sinisa, our pastor here, decided he wanted to come along for the ride and try and get the vaccine and he was willing to drive from Banja Luka so Ljilja wouldn't have to...

(In the end Sinisa didn't come as he heard that if you didn't have an invitation, you for sure wouldn't get a vaccine, but it was actually a big part of why we ended up going... and Ljilja was already 1/2 way back from Trebinje when he decided not to come!) 

When Sinisa decided not to come, Ljilja and I decided to go early so if there were queues or any trouble we would be able to navigate them. (The day before in Belgrade we had friends who waited 8 hours in the line!) We left at 5.30am and made it to Novi Sad by 9.45. We were out of the vaccine place and on our way back by 10! It was amazingly well organised. Well done to the Serbian government and thank-you to them for letting even those who aren't in Serbia get vaccinated! There were lots of people from Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia there! 

The shot was painless. They had to tell Ljilja it was already done as she didn't feel a thing! Hopefully we won't have any big symptoms: so far nothing... We will need to go back in 3 months to get the second shot and they will let us know when... so organised!

A fun fact is that my sister, Astrid, was part of the AstraZeneca trials and so my niece and nephew started calling it the AstridZeneca vaccine, and so I am actually so happy that that is the one that I got. 😁

We drove back in just over 4 hours, and got back through the 4 border controls without problems (we went through Croatia to get to Serbia) and were back in Banja Luka by 2.15! And I am still completely in shock that it happened...  

E-Summit Samaritan's Purse

 At the end of June, the 3 regional teams and the national team of Operation Christmas Child in Bosnia Herzegovina took part in the worldwide E-summit that was held all over the world for all of the volunteers with this project. Most people were in their individual locations, but with our cases way down, we took the risk of getting together... we met at a place in the middle of the country called Cardaci and we had a great time. Here we are all around the map of Bosnia Herzegovina: 

This is a pic of what we did for 3 hours a day - zoom meetings with our region - the Balkans, Baltics and Central Europe: 

We also spent some time doing some workshops in our team - starting with the positive side of OCC: we broke into two groups to do this... my group is the one with the funny man (drawn by me ;) )

After that we spent time looking at the issues that we face and how we can solve them... it was a productive session. After that, as I showed off my drawing skills, I was asked to draw a picture of our National Coordinator, Jelena... and then we all wrote things we liked about her on post-its: we really love her and she was really touched: 

Our mascot was little Aron - and here he is with his best buddy, Ljilja: they are so cute together: 

Here I am with his grandmother, Elvira and mother, Eldina... 

Here we all are again - aren't we a lovely bunch? 

And one more photo for luck... 

It really is a privilege to work with these fantastic people on this project... making sure that we get shoebox packages to where they need to go!!