All That Jazz!

Language
In a country where there are so many people, especially the young, that speak English really well, why is it they aren't working at the international bus and railway stations? Anyway, I am learning Macedonian to overcome this problem (and others!). The truth is that although many do speak English, it's not the language people use amongst themselves, and as I'm a guest in the country I feel I should know it. After 5 months of being here I think I should be able to speak it better than I do, so I made a decision to only speak Macedonian with Macedonians. I've only been partially faithful to my decision...

Visitors
I've had many visitors in the last month - I had 10 house guests over a period of about three weeks, with one night where I had four people at the same time! So I have been learning about "showing hospitality to God's people" (Romans 12:13).

Jazz
Of these visitors, three of them were with a Jazz band. The band, called "Next Exit", were very good indeed. Skopje is quite a centre for Jazz music, with a festival just 10 days ago, but it is often expensive for Macedonians to go. Next Exit, however, were giving concerts for free; they mixed telling about their experiences of God with Jazz, Blues, Latin and Fusion. Through these gigs I have met a number of people who are open to knowing more about God, so that rates as a success.

Mount Vodno
I have been living 300 metres from the foot of a mountain for the last 5 months, but I only finally climbed it last weekend. We arrived at the top at 5pm and watched the sunset and then had to walk back down in the darkness! But we survived.

Students
At the beginning of October the first year students started and we organised a tour of the town. One new student turned up. Although I felt a bit disappointed, the others did not feel like that - they pointed out that she was someone God had brought to us and that was what mattered. And they were right of course - she really enjoyed it and one of the girls on our team is keeping in contact with her.

We arranged a meeting a couple of weeks ago to ask God for direction with the student work. The team has been steadily growing and I was impressed that all eight people who had been invited came; two of them were even early! We settled down to listen to God to find out what He was saying for us to do: if several people all believed God was saying the same thing, we made a note of it and are gradually putting it into practice. We have received a lot of direction and it is exciting to see God guiding us.

Travels
I haven't been travelling so much lately, but I did manage a trip to Greece about 10 days ago. I had been invited to go to visit Tommie and it coincided with the expiry of my visa. Two others involved in mission work here went as well: Diane (who's from England) and a girl from Sweden. We all had a great time - everyone had a good sense of humour!

During the summer, when I had been in Ohrid (by the lake which is the main tourist resort in Macedonia), I had met two girls who were sisters, one of whom had a little boy. A few weeks ago I got a text message from Emilija saying that she and her husband had become Christians! She said: "It was the most important thing what happened to me in my life. We go to church and listen about God"! It was great news to hear.