Europe Update 3 A New Country

New country…who’s this?

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Traveling with the Royal Servants Europe team is a constantly changing experience. As we travel from country to country (4 in total) each location brings its own flavor. After two weeks in Albania we have spent the past few days in Sarajevo, the multicultural capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The environment is an intriguing mix of old world history, communist oppression, modern capitalism, and has more recently emerged as a tourist destination for those in the Middle East. As one can imagine, this mix brings its own energy, so different from where we just were in the village in Albania.

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The streets are filled with people at all hours of the day. Only the early morning brings a bit of respite from the busy employees hustling to work, shoppers looking for treasures, tour groups hearing the history of the war or the ‘84 Olympics, Muslim worshippers at the many mosques found in the city center, or those just taking it all in from the front row seat of a cafe. So many different cultures, sensibilities, and ways of thinking converging for moments at a time as they interact with one another. Insert into this a team of 24 high school students, young adults, and trip leaders. The observations, conversations, and encounters keep us talking each day about what we are seeing and experiencing.

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It is against this backdrop that we undergo the ever present need of discipleship. By placing young people into these environments (safely and with much thought and consideration) ways of thinking are challenged, comforts are stripped away, and strength and patience ebb and flow. As we unpack each day, we LEAN IN to what God is showing us and teaching us. We come alongside one another in our highs and lows, we pray together, and we search the Word for eternal truths. Is this easy? No way. It is stretching and strengthening in all the best ways. It is when we see students come to the end of themselves that we witness the love of God for them. He sees. He knows. He loves.

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We continue to strive to endure in both the comfortable and the uncomfortable, for as the author of Hebrews writes in chapter 10:36, “For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.” He has promised us his presence, and we are so enjoying his presence together as we step into each day in faith.

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Till next time,

Jeremy

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