Macedonian Travels - Week 2

After a week, my jet lag was finally gone and I've adjusted to what life could be like if I lived here all the time. Can't believe it's already been two weeks!! Sunday, we went to two church services, one downstairs in the church where we're living and one in the city of Strumica, where the youth usually hangs out. One of the things I was looking forward to most on this trip was experiencing their church and both services were really good. The pastor had the same message, which was about making sure we're listening for God's voice because it's so important, but the worship songs and singers were different. My favorite part was the worship because some of their words sound so pretty and combined with the voices of everyone singing in a small room, it was an experience I can't describe and I wish everyone could be a part of.

Monday, we relaxed at home because we were leaving early the next morning. We ate some more great food, hung out and talked, and enjoyed the day. Tuesday, we took the 6am bus from Strumica to Skopje, about a 2 hour drive. It was Bethany, Lindsey, Filip (Zivko's 18 year old brother), and I. We went to the church building there since that's where we stayed for the next 2 nights. We got to meet the secretary of the evangelical church in Macedonia and he talked to us about the history of the churches here. Then Anastasia, one of the girls going to the youth camp, took us around the city for the day. We walked to the center with a fountain and a giant statue of Alexander the Great, went to the Holocaust and history museum, ate lunch, went to the mall, and visited with Filip and Zivko's sister and her husband.

Wednesday, Zivko drove us to Ohrid, a city and lake in the bottom left corner of Macedonia. We parked by the lake and the first thing I saw besides the water was all the little houses on the side of the mountain. It was so pretty from the bottom, but it was absolutely beautiful from the top. We walked through the town first and stopped to look through an old house that used to belong to a rich family. Then we walked up to a few old churches and an old fortress on top of the mountain where we could look out over the town and the lake. We spent the most time up there because the view was so amazing. On the walk back down, we saw an old amphitheater, where they still hold concerts today. Then we ate lunch right by the lake and the food was delicious like always! After we left Ohrid, we drove to a monastery that was really close to the Macedonia-Albania line. There's a river that flows directly into a natural springs lake and we went on a small boat on the river. The water was so clear that you could see the bottom, even 12 feet down, and so clean that you could drink it. That was one of my favorite things that we did. After the monastery, we went to a museum that showed old wood pillars they found from before Jesus came that the people used to build houses on the lake. They built a replica of what the houses would have looked like inside and outside. The whole day was super busy, but it was something I'll remember for the rest of my life!

Thursday, we went to the mall to shop for gifts for our families and then we had to get back to the church to grab our stuff before we got on the 5pm bus back home. When we arrived in Strumica, we went to Filip's house for dinner and a movie with some of the youth group. Friday, we were supposed to go to Greece, but Zivko's car is broken and still hasn't been fixed yet. (On a side note, please pray that he will be able to find the right part and get his car fixed quickly!) So we spent the day at home and after Zivko and Stephanie got back from a wedding later that night, we had some girl time, which always means lots of good talks and laugher.

Saturday, we had the day to relax again and at night, it was my turn to share some of my life story/testimony during youth group. I was a little nervous and not as prepared as I could have been so I wasn't very confident, but they told me that I did a great job. We hung out for a while before and after the worship and speaking time, which is always really fun. To be honest, I wasn't that excited about going to youth group tonight, but as soon as I got there, God changed my attitude and I enjoyed the rest of the night so much! I'm really thankful that I get to hang out with some awesome people and they're already becoming great friends.
This week I learned a lot of things but these were the most important: how to still worship and focus on God even though I couldn't sing along with the songs at church, how important quiet and alone time is talking and praising Him, and how to not let exhaustion and sickness stop me from experiencing the amazing things i did this week!

Macedonia Arrival - Week 1

The hardest part of the trip is over, at least until the journey back home. After 15 hours of travel, Lindsey and I arrived in Macedonia! Our first flight was delayed by an hour which made us very nervous about making the rest of our flights. Once we landed in Washington, we had 30 minutes to get to our gate that was in another building. We accidentally got on the wrong tram that took us to the wrong building so we found a train that took us underground to the building we needed. With 2 minutes to spare, we actually sprinted to our gate and the flight attendants helped us get our boarding passes. After a 9 hour flight that was exhausting and uncomfortable, we landed in Vienna. We had a short layover for our last flight and then we were off to Skopje, Macedonia! When we landed, we went to find our bags and we realized that they hadn't traveled on the plane with us. We talked to one of the airport workers and he got our information to let us know when our bags would be delivered to where we're staying here. They figured out that they were still in Washington and after 4 days, we finally got our luggage.

The whole situation with our bags and almost missing our flight was frustrating, but God already taught me to not take my own things for granted and he continually is teaching me to rely on Him for guidance and peace. After our friends (Zivko, Bethany, Filip, and Tushe) picked us up from the airport, we drove for an hour and stopped at an old Roman city that is now mostly in ruins because of an earthquake a long time ago. It was cool to see and hear about all the history there that happened in the houses and the old church buildings, right when Christianity became the prominent religion. After walking around the ruins for a while, we drove for another hour to the city of Strumica and the village they live in was about 10 minutes from the city. Our friends, Stephanie and Zivko Barbutov and their two young daughters, live in the top of the church building since he is the youth pastor.

For the rest of the night and the next day, we just rested and hung out together. Friday, we got to relax during the day and at night, we met and hung out with the youth group. We played a game, practiced our skit for the youth camp, and got to know a little bit about some of the teens. It was a little overwhelming trying to know what to talk about since they talk in Macedonian most of the time, but it was also fun to finally meet some of them because I had talked to a few on Facebook already. We were all pretty tired when we got back, but us three girls stayed up and talked for a little bit. Saturday, we hung out around the house during the day, still getting used to jet lag, and our luggage finally arrived! We were really happy and it was a relief to finally have our own things here with us. I know a lot of people were praying about it so thank you! Saturday night, Lindsey and I took a taxi with one of the youth guys to the church in the city and we practiced our skit before youth time. It was a pretty good night and I felt more comfortable even after knowing them for one day. I've been tired and still getting used to being here, but I've tried to not let it get in the way of the new, great friendships I'm making and the many things God is trying to teach me. Tomorrow, I'll get to meet the rest of the people at church and I'll get to experience a Macedonian church service! I'm excited for this next week!