Thursday, June 23, 2011

Today was a somewhat uneventful day. I got up and read and prayed and sang and such. I had a strange dream right as I awoke. As I was getting out of bed I saw someone very clearly. I have never seen this person before and do not know the location at which I saw them either. It was very odd. After I was finished, I took my things to the office and talked with Stole a bit about western administration styles versus eastern administration styles. We also spoke a bit about the idea of the Bible vs. by-laws. After our discussion, Marino and Stole had to leave briefly. I was packed and ready to leave, and so I finished my update for Tuesday. Pr. Yosip Pastor arrived at the office and he and Marion helped me load before we headed to the bus station to purchase my ticket and then head to the conference for one of the week’s final sessions. The conference atmosphere and information wasn’t too exciting except for when Mircho spoke and called out the rest of the religious world to stand up for the rights of the Evangelicals if there were really committed to interfaith dialogue. After that session, the guys took me over to the café and we had a big lunch. I met Sasho, another Macedonian pastor, and he shared with me his desire with the rest of the guys to start a Bible school or seminary of their own, as they all have advanced degrees, a few with doctorates and the rest with masters degrees in theology (topics covering OT, NT, Systematic, ethics and philosophy, history, etc.). After lunch, Marino took Yosip and I to the bus station where Yosip helped me find my bus and get loaded. He was going to be taking a train in a couple of hours, and so he had the time to help me out. On the bus (3-5pm) I read a book about cross-cultural business negotiations as that’s an interest of mine, and started up a good conversation about 45 min. before we arrived at Strumica with the guys sitting next to me. He was coming from Skopje to see his wife and daughter and their family. He’d been working for a few weeks in molding and artistic supplies manufacturing. It sounded like he was doing some seasonal work. When I arrived, Pr. Tony was there to pick me up and we loaded his car and were off to his home. I met his wife and we took some time to hear one another’s stories. Neither of them is originally from Strumica, but came to plant churches here. They have three children: two sons and a middle daughter. The eldest son is Zhivko, and it’s with him that I’m currently living. He and his wife are expecting in a couple months. They live at one of the churches that they’ve been developing, and they have a guest room with four beds. It just so happens that the next day (Friday) was to be the hottest day of the year in Strumica. And, as you’ll read Friday’s post, it was. After our time getting acquainted, Tony took me over to that church and I met Zhivko and his wife Stephanie (26 and 22). I also met Philip, Zhivko’s younger brother (going to be a sophomore in high school). After some time of getting acquainted and hearing about their ministry, we had a service down stairs in the church. After some singing and a message from Pr. Tony, we split into two groups and Zhivko and Tony each lead the groups in some discussion questions about the passage. After the service was over and everyone else left, Zhivko, Stephanie, and I went upstairs and had some food and talked more about ministry and business and some testimonies of what has happened in the past two years in this are of Maceonia. We eventually called it a night and I cleaned up, prayed for a bit, and then I went to bed.