Jennifer Mitchell » 05 Croatia

A Look At Croatia

Jennifer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:01:14 +0000

This month our ministry in Croatia was awesome!! I knew pretty much nothing about Croatia when we arrived in Osijeck with no contacts and no place to stay. Needless to say, I learned quickly that our month would be filled with lots of adventure and tons of amazing relationships. Within one day half of us packed up and went off to a small town four hours away. For a week we built relationships with a pastor and his wife, as well as a missionary couple there from the states. We got to work a lot on the church they are renovating, so I got my paint on for sure. Here are some pictures from that week.

This is the church we painted, dusted, swept, and pretty much did everything else to.

Meet Bojena. This wonderful woman is truly the Proverbs 31 woman. She cooks, cleans, sews, paints and pretty much everything else you could possibly think of. One day I commented on her beautiful outfit and she told me that she sewed it all herself.

Our whole group for the week.

The Pastor and his wife invited us to a barbecue where we ate roasted lamb and had communion.

The church in Osijeck that the other World Race team partnered with.

After reuniting with our teams we all packed up and traveled to Pula, Croatia – one of the most beautiful coastal cities I have ever seen. Our week here consisted of pouring into the youth of the area and helping out local foster families in the area.

Dez leading worship with our wonderful friend Matija on the beach. It was a beautiful moment.

Yes, this icecream was only $3. Thank you conversation rates.

After cleaning a playroom for a foster organization, our group decided to have a silly hat, stuffed animal team party.

Our group really knows how to relax after a long day’s work.

Meet David, our wonderful new brother from Osijeck.

David has been a missionary in Croatia for a year now.

He has an amazing story and the most wonderful heart we have ever seen.

We were so blessed to get to work with David for the month!

This is Pula, the dock right outside of the church we worked with. It was absolutely beautiful.

From Pula we learned that our groups would be splitting up yet again and we would be in four small teams for our last week of ministry in a different town.

Meet team BEST (Best Ever Small Team). Lauren was our leader for the week and we had the assignment of packing up, and going into the unknown. We had no contacts and no place to stay, we just knew God was calling us to minister to Vincovci for the week. We unloaded at 10am on a Sunday morning and just decided to start walking to a church to see if we could make contact. Through some amazing God intervention, we had a place to stay less than 2 hours later and had met our wonderful contact, David.

David and his wife leading worship for us.

We met with David and talked about the possibility of other World Race teams working with him in the future. I really felt like we were tiling the ground. David also gave us the opportunity to speak in church, so I got to preach twice for the first time on the Race!

It was an awesome month of ministry for us. We got to make lasting relationships and really poured into the existing churches that were there. There is a huge need for youth workers in Croatia, so if you or anyone you know has a heart for being a youth pastor, Croatia just might be the perfect fit for them!

We left Croatia and now I find myself heading to Ephesus, Turkey in a few minutes for a month. I am very excited about the opportunities there! Please be in prayer for us as we seek out divine appointments. I hope to update on Turkey soon!

While we were in Croatia, I made a video for the church in Pula to say “Thank You” for everything they did. Enjoy!

Our Time In Pula from Jennifer Mitchell on Vimeo.

A Not-So-Typical Travel Day

Jennifer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:51:20 +0000

So I just read this blog post from my friend Dan Snyder from another team in Montenegro. I laughed out loud for at least 20 minutes. Not only because of the absurdity of their situation, but also because I have been in their boat numerous times on the race. (Well, not exactly in their boat, or rather, bus in this case). My teammates and I often find ourselves saying, “is this really our life?!” From sitting in a random women’s conference in Serbia to giving our testimonies at a moments notice to eating roasted lamb in a park with a bunch of Croatians – we are learning to expect the unexpected at all times on the Race. I love this post because it gives you a look into a travel day for us. While Dan’s post is the worst case scenario, I will say that our last travel day was 13 hours long and consisted of us going train, bus, train, bus, train, van to our destination…only to sleep for 5 hours and then get on another train to our final stop. So I hope you enjoy a look into the life of a World Race Travel Day:

*** As written by Dan Snyder*****

so team seven camels and unwritten took a 24 hour bus ride from bar, montenegro to istanbul, turkey. here is a recap of the events (thanks to my boy don brensinger for this idea):

4:11 AM: i surprisingly wake up before my alarm goes off

4:13 AM: i go into the girls room and find that two of the girls have explosive diarrhea…awesome

5:00 AM: our ministry contact, micah, picks us up in the alley…after she turns around using the ever-so-famous 9 point turn we start loading the van

5:35 AM: we all make it safe to the bus station (thanks micah)

5:45 AM: anna realizes that she stole a lid and plate from micah (sorry micah)

6:00 AM: our bus fails to show up and we realize that it must’ve been day light savings time or something…because all the clocks are an hour behind

5:15 AM (yeah, i know i know the time went backwards): i begin a nice conversation with an elderly serbian woman

5:23 AM: while trying to figure out daylight savings time the nice lady tells me that her daughter designs bras in NYC

5:25 AM: i offer the nice lady a bite of my swiss cake roll and she politely declines

6:00 AM: (the real 6AM): our bus shows up

6:10 AM: we take off and the first cigarette is lit in the bus

6:11 AM: we are yelled at in some foreign language that we need to sit two in each row…but we are the only passengers in the bus

6:15 AM: i fall asleep

8:13 AM: we pull over on the side of the road

8:13:15 AM: a few of the bus workers jump off the bus and start loading boxes of shoes onto the bus

8:14 AM: we quickly realize that the boxes of shoes are all being stacked under our chairs

8:27 AM: we stop at a bus stop. we pick up the montenegro national smoking team

8:27:53 AM: i get off the bus to use the bathroom and find that it’s a squatty potty.

8:28 AM: i realize that the last 4 guys that have used the squatty potty before me have poor aim

8:28:05 AM: i decide i don’t have to pee that bad

8:30 AM: i get back on the bus and am overwhelmed by a cloud of cigarette smoke from the MNST (montenegro national smoking team)

8:36 AM: rebecca now looks like michael jackson. she is wearing a red bandanna over her nose/mouth and has black sunglasses on to protect her from the plume of smoke that has overcome the bus

8:42 AM: i fall asleep

9:05 AM: callan witnesses the MNST gather the shoes from under the seats and secretly stack them under blankets in the back of the bus

11:13 AM: we stop at a bus stop and the shoes are offloaded. yeah, we have no idea either

11:37 AM: we stop at another bus stop and change out bus drivers…our driver is no longer purple shirt guy, its brown argyle sweater guy

12:15 PM: lunch time. i make a PB&J with no utensils while carefully balancing it on my lap the whole time…quite the skill considering brown argyle sweater guy’s driving ability…or lack there of

12:17 PM: i put my sandwich together successfully and smile

12:17:20 PM: my sandwich falls off my leg and rolls down the walkway and i frown

12:17:25 PM: i am able to rescue my sandwich within the five second rule and eat it

12:36 PM: we stop at a bus station and several of the MNST start running around. they begin loading unknown items which are stashed all around the americans…yeah, sketch

12:42 PM: i begin to drift asleep but am awoken by a cat meowing

12:42:08 PM: perplexed, i begin looking around for the cat

12:42:10 PM: i hear the cat meow and begin to suspect that it’s fake and that it’s coming from purple shirt/blue argyle sweater vest guy

12:47 PM: i confirm that the cat call is coming from purple shirt/blue argyle sweater vest guy after he lets out a gentle meow

2:17 PM: purple shirt guy, who was once our bus driver and is now our barista, offers us nescafe…for the 7th time…i suspect that it’s a bribe so that we won’t tell customs about the sketchy stuff goin’ down in the bus

2:20 PM: chad, who is translating for the bus manager, yells at me for having my foot up on the seat…i should’ve known that the red no smoking signs really meant “no feet on the seat”

5:13 PM: rebecca hands holland a bandanna that will easily function as a smoke mask

5:29 PM: holland asks if we’re getting punked and asks ashton kutcher to stop the madness

6:00 PM: we stop on the side of the road and pick up two guys. one of the guys, whom i will call “big guy” looks exactly like the “gas guy” from dumb and dumber

6:00:15 PM: i am kicked out of my seat so that big guy has a seat and i cuddle up with patch

6:00:20 PM: big guy lights up his first cigarette which will remain a constant until he falls asleep several hours later

6:00:25 PM: big guy starts passing out cigarettes like they’re candy to his friends on the bus…we are now having an ol’ fashioned smoke-fest

6:01 PM: i decide to ask the bus manager why we have to sit in pairs and no one else does. as i should have known, the language barrier presents a slight problem and patch and i go back to cuddling
8:09:45 PM: we enter the serbia/bulgaria border checkpoint

8:10 PM: i have to ask holland to take her red bandanna and aviator shades off so we can get through the checkpoint without getting shot

8:25 PM: we make it through customs

8:34 PM: rebecca, still wearing her mask and shades, gets into a standoff with an elderly woman over whether or not the overhead vent will be shut. the woman is smoking her 42nd cigarette and loses to our MJ look-a-like, the vent stays open

8:39 PM: i fall asleep

9:01 PM: i am awoken by big guy snoring loud enough to wake up an entire bus…literally

10:30 PM: we stop at a gas station for a bathroom break. i ask adam if it was just my imagination or if the big guy was snoring. adam kindly reminds me of how i kept the entire mens room up three nights ago with my snoring…and tells me that he didn’t want to hear my complaining

11:00 PM: the bus leaves the gas station suddenly

11:02 PM: bread falls out of the overhead storage compartment. i take it as a clear sign that i should fashion a piece of bread into a gas mask…but i hold out

11:30 PM: big guy falls over in his sleep and head butts the window. holland starts laughing uncontrollably. i have no idea how big guy’s head didn’t go through the window

11:32 PM: big guy starts to lean over into the walkway while sleeping. he nearly falls into robin’s lap on several occasions

11:32:29 PM: jen shines her headlamp onto big guy in an attempt to keep him from falling over into the walkway and/or robin’s lap. its successful…big guy leans back into his chair

11:40 PM: we go off-roading in the bus.

11:40:15 PM: we stop in front of a shady shop that sells stuffed animals, barbies, liquor, pastries and cologne so that the guys can offload the second load of smuggled goods

11:48 PM: we leave the SS (shady shop)

12:55 AM: big guy exhales and spits saliva all over as if he is a whale

1:20 AM: we make it to the bulgaria/turkey border checkpoint and park in front of the burger king sign

1:24 AM: the bus manager stares at beks’ foot, which is on the arm rest, until she moves it

1:30 AM: brown argyle sweater driver guy decides he’s tempted the americans long enough and leaves the burger king sign and drives to passport control

2:00 AM: we make it through customs with only one bag being searched, sorry anna

2:10 AM: we drift off to sleep again

2:13 AM: purple shirt/blue argyle sweater guy meows while walking down the isle

2:13:02 AM: jen barks hoping to scare the cat into silence

3:19 AM: i’m jarred awake by brown argyle sweater guy jamming on the brakes, i think it’s because he knew we were all finally asleep

4:10 AM: the lights on the bus come on waking us up

4:10:30 AM: the bus manager tells me that we are in istanbul as the bus stops on the side of the road

4:11 AM: we decide that the side of the road is better then wherever else the bus may take us

4:15 AM: we get off the bus and hear a loud muslim prayer being played over a loud speaker

4:20 AM: the bus pulls away to reveal that we are standing across the street from a mosque which is playing said loud prayer over a loud speaker. we begin to pray and look up to see a street pole that says “TRUST” in plain english on it…coincidence? i think not. pretty amazing.

12:24 PM: after a long day of walking, talking and trying to find a place to sleep we are sitting in the lobby of a hostel that our logistics people found. it’s super cheap and it’ll get the job done! god is great!

Laying Down My Expectations

Jennifer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:09:07 +0000

This month has been one of the most trying months for me so far. It has been wonderful, yet very tough at the same time. This month our teams were given the assignment of Asking The Lord (ATL) about which country we should go to next. We were supposed to be in Egypt this month, however, we were not able to get our whole squad to the Middle East until December. So Petra Asked the Lord and we felt him calling us to Croatia. We went with Kingdom Unity and arrived in Osijek, Croatia with no place to stay and no contacts. We were blessed to find a church that was willing to house us for a night, so we all packed into their youth center. The next day we learned that another church about 3 hours away was in need of a small team for a week. So Petra and Kingdom Unity decided to merge and then split up again, so I was with Tim, Liz and Lauren from Petra and Matt, Heather and Lauren Williamson from Kingdom Unity. We worked at a small church for the most wonderful old couple who are so in love with God. It was wonderful to get to paint, cook and serve them. It was a great week for us.

We went back to Osijek and joined up with the others who had been doing youth ministry for the week. We all went to Pula next, a beautiful coastal city on the Adriatic Sea. Even though our teams were in the same location, the squad leaders felt that we should continue to be separated. So I ended up the same team, but Liz and Tim were traded for Tamica and Joel. So we had our new teams, and then set out to find contacts and build relationships with the people of Pula. This part of the month was hardest for me because I did not have a tangible ministry to work on. Each day we were not sure about what we were doing until we were actually doing it.

The first expectation I learned to lay down was my expectations of having the same 6 people around me for a year. Petra had just begun to act like a family, and then we were all separated. Being apart from them helped me see how much I was relying on them for support and comfort. I was blessed with so many new and wonderful relationships because of the separation, and I am so thankful that we were able to do that. I learned a lot about leaning on those around me, whether they are on my official team or not. I also learned to lay down my expectation of the race in general. Coming on the race I thought I would either have a clear ministry objective for the day, or would be given an entire day free to ask the Lord what he wanted us to do for the day and then do it. This month was neither, and it was hard for me to adjust to that. Instead, I learned to be very flexible and stay in the Spirit at all times. We had to be ready at a moments notice to give testimonies, pray, or speak life into someone. There were not many moments that we had “off” (as if Christians ever really have an off day). Because of this, I learned how to draw my strength from God alone and how to submit my will and all of my desires to him, no matter what.

While this month was a difficult transition for me, I am thankful for it and excited about the next steps! Right now I am on a train back to Osijek then on to a smaller city. They split our teams up again and I am with Danielle and Lauren Williamson is our leader. Our entire objective for the next 5 days is simply Ask the Lord and follow his leading. I am really looking forward to what he is going to lead us in! I am so thankful for the hard lessons that I learned this month, and I look forward to our next step of ministry.

May we all continue to lay our expectations down, and in return allow the Lord to move freely in our lives.

~ Jennifer .

Oh, and, speaking of expectations, I guess I should have laid down my expectation of only going to 11 countries a long time ago. It’s only month 3 and we’ve already been to 6 countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Romania, Hungary, Croatia and Serbia for those who are counting). We had the opportunity to go to Serbia for a day, and here are some highlights from our trip. You can view the whole album HERE.