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!
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