Friday

So today both Ryan and I are at the church working outside and it's a hot one so we are making sure to drink water and take frequent breaks. Today we will be laying more tarp and more gravel underneath the playground. We are also working on building a roof structure over the sandbox so that the children can play in there and not get too hot. 

We have continued to build relationships with the locals and I am so enjoying learning about their lives and history. I have gotten to know a girl named Matea, or "Teky" is her nickname. She is currently taking exams at college and is 19. She and her brother Tony are both involved with the church. Their father Zoran has also been working hard with us this week. Zoran was actually saved in Mobile Alabama, back in the US- how cool how God works in peoples' lives. I have also met Becca, who comes from England and works at Novi Most, and Sony, a local who also works at Novi. Ivitsa has also been around a lot. He helps with Novi Most computer classes and is "searching" they say. He has a parent who is Croation(Catholic) and one who is Bosnian, so I think he is trying to figure out where he belongs. Last night, we also met some people from the Novi Most ministry in Mostar ( it is a bigger operation than the one here in Capljina.) They did a prayer walk around the city and then we went back to the church's backyard and sang some praise songs which was pretty cool (although they were all in the local language, so we didn't really know them.) 

Please be praying for Bernard and his church. They are having a hard time as the rumors in the town are just so strong and they have had some members leave in the past few years because of it. We know he is doing such a great job leading the people here, but they become discouraged as so many people have a bad attitude about the evangelical church and they really just want to love and reach out to them. We have also talked with Emil (not sure on spelling.) He is 30 and he and Ryan have had a fun time playing foosball and working together. He asked that we pray for him in his effort to quit smoking, so if you all could be praying for him in that, it would be great. He also has a girlfriend, Sonya in Serbia who "is not in Christ" as he says. He hopes that she will get to know Jesus and hopes to marry her someday. So you can also be praying for Sonya and their relationship too.

I have also met a really cute little puppy at the place where we are staying with Andre and his wife. The puppy seems to be a mix of chihuaha and jack russell terrier maybe. They don't really let their dogs inside here, so she wanders all day. Aaron and I picked off probably about 50 ticks from her a few days ago, and I did it again yesterday. Paul now calls her "ticky". I threw the ticks in the water, so the waterbugs and fish got to eat them for dinner. We also met the chickens and wild turkeys at the house today, and Andre showed us some fish that he caught. Andre is really funny and we try to communicate with him how we can (he doesn't know much English) so I have used some animated expressions and stuff to get through- we're working on it. Andre's most common phrase is "Slava Boga" which means "Praise God!" Someone told me that he came from a pretty rough life before Christ and now he is just living to worship Him- how great!

Tomorrow, we will get to visit Mostar with Bernard and Sunday we will get to worship here and then begin our journey back home. It is crazy to think it is already Friday! We so appreciate your support and prayers and we pray that we are truly being effective and loving the locals in assisting this community as it continues to rebuild.