Entry for the Sunnyside Paraish Magazine - been a while since i've posted a magazine piece.
I've always believed, with my head at least, that mission was bigger than just sending people to African villages, but I've also been firm that my kind of mission involved lots of youth and didn't involve me leaving England. Sometime in the summer of '08 all that changed. I started hearing about mission everywhere. Mission in the traditional sense, where you go for a long time, a long way away, and you didn't always know what you would be doing. So I started to pray, I explained to God that languages was a weak point of mine, that my bank account was finally not overdrawn for the first time in ages, and that he had told me to be a youth worker in CofE churches. Somehow I think I heard God laugh. Every excuse I threw at him came back answered. Starting with him reminding me of the £1000 i'd saved of Grandma's money which I said i'd use for something big, what could be bigger than his Kingdom? I found the eep program jointly run by the Methodist church and USPG (Anglicans in world mission), they found me a placement where there would be English speaking people to help me out and, though slowly, things started falling into place.
So February sees me leaving these shores for Serbia. It's not quite the place you associate with mission, more with old news reports of Balkan wars, but it's a placement that seems perfect. EHO (ecumenical humanitarian organisation) is quite a sizeable operation, with a youth centre for me to get involved in. Most of their work is connected with community building, peace and reconciliation. Serbia is still a new country, still forming itself and trying to deal with it's scars. Many of it's residents are struggling and the church often finds itself handing out firewood and giving people a place to wash clothes. EHO organises days where school children Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina meet together to share games and recognise that there are 'no borders' to humanity. EHO takes the same approach to churches, bringing Methodist and Orthodox and well as others together. Other projects are involved in healthcare, work with disabled and Roma groups, face HIV and Cancer, help refugees return, and more. While there I will be teaching some youth English and getting involved in as many projects as possible, especially the youth ones!
So the flash of auburn hair falling out mid song will disappear from the chairs of Sunnyside, but hopefully not from your prayers. I'd especially love you to pray for the people receiving me, they have opened wide their arms of welcome, for which I am so grateful. Please pray that I can find many ways of giving back to them and sharing the skills I have as a youth worker. I'd also be thankful for prayers about the language, with a different alphabet I'm finding Serbian quite difficult to get my head round. I need to fund my way through trip myself, paying rent and bills, making sure I don't leave anyone out of pocket. I have the beginning of the funding but not enough to take me through the whole 6 months. If anyone would consider sponsoring me a set amount each month while I'm out there I'd be immensely grateful for the support, and thank you in advance. Hopefully, I'll get an update to all the magazine readers part way through my stay. (Details about EHO can be found at ehons.org)
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Filling in the digits has been my job for today. I've bought insurance, booked flights, made budgets and balanced accounts. Plans always seem more real when they hang on facts not theories, dates not vague times. Serbia looms every greater upon my horizon and somehow i know that I'm walking in the footsteps on this one, aligning my tread to the trail he has set me, the wandering meandering pathway he has already trod in preparation. and though my feet don't fit his tread exactly, and my mind is distracted by the foliage along the way, I'm dancing down this route today, running with my arms stretched wide, abandoned to the bigger picture and greater adventure. I'm hurtling towards a different landscape, a bigger church, a greater gathering, a mind and history and spiritual emergence. how little i am prepared and yet with such recklessness i skip towards a place i am yet to understand, the people i am yet to fall in love with, the sounds and smells i will call home, and the shaking of my soul that will occur. I'm resurrecting my digital ghost, breathing life back into plastic square buttons and byte markings. I'm trailing through long dormant e-mails and new years greetings to fight myself back into a world. I'm facebook updating and e-bay feedbacking, blog feeding and eyestrain creating. Illness robbed me of these unnecessary moments and illness gives me to recuperate them. |
The other siteWho is GfeefGfeef is the name that my writings have been under for some years. As far as I know it's unique to me. Originally from the UK, I now live in Serbia but continue to have a passion for childrens and youth ministry. Archives
October 2014
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