Dearest Friends,
NOT ONE MOMENT
I do not want to forget a single moment of today! It was an especially sweet day for several reasons. Every summer , they have a camp for very poor children that come from many different backgrounds. Today was the camp reunion day and I was able to tell the children 2 stories about God’s rescue plan for them. The room was packed and best of all, some of the children were from one of the gypsy camps that we had visited. They recognized me and greeted me with such enthusiasm . They were really happy to see me which shows that they had enjoyed the time that we spent with them the other day. The Gospel had made them happy! Praise God!
It was also encouraging because my translator especially enjoyed the stories. Jelena is our new puppet director and it is really important that she enjoy these stories so that she will want to tell them. This style of storytelling is new to our team so I was really happy to see the way she is embracing these ideas. I have been teaching almost every day and it all seemed to be coming together today in a clear vision for our new team.This is another answer to prayer!
I took the team out to dinner tonight to celebrate all of their hard work over the last 10 days. Jelena had worked especially hard organizing this trip and making sure all of details were covered. She has been a constant blessing to me. The team has been very faithful and are very tired. Dinner was in the most beautiful place! We sat on a deck that was perched over a river. There was a waterfall near us and cliffs beside us that seemed to be reaching for the clouds. The food was good, reasonably priced, and was forgotten as I stared at the caves that were sprinkled across the cliff walls.
The splendor of God’s creation awed me.I kept thinking of an old hymn from my childhood. The words say, "He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths of His love and covers them there with His hand." To our far left was a tekki, a four hundred year old house devoted to prayer and mediation by an Islamic sect. There was no light in that place, but so much light in all of us. It was a
spectacular finish to an amazing trip! Please keep praying for "Little Stream Puppets". Ask the Lord to make them light in this dark place.They are
serving in a hard place!
SANELA’S STORY OF FAITH
I have been staying with the most delightful Lady. Sanela shared with me her story of faith and gave me permission to share it with you. You will be blessed!
Sanela grew up in a Moslem family though they were not practicing believers. Before the war, she would have described herself as an athesist. Then the war came and her world exploded. Sometimes the memories still invade her dreams as nightmares. Her family’s home burned. Her whole family was always hungry. She saw so much death and still remembers the burned bodies.No one knew anything but suffering. On day she spoke to God and said, "If you are really God, then give me just one meal a day." It was the start of her search.
Many people …most people lost their homes and so much more. Once, desperate for food, her family walked many kilometers to a village that had been burned. The potatoes in the house had roasted in the fire and they were grateful to find them.
During most of this time, her sister was separated from them and they did not know if she was alive or dead.When she finally came home, 2 and a half years later, they could tell she was different. they just did not understand what had happened. The reality is that you cannot hide the light that lives in you when you love Jesus.
Fear was ruling people’s lives during the war. They never found out what happened to many people. They were simply lost. Maybe they lived and left the country , but there are still so many questions. Sanela’s family had questions about her sister’s odd behavior, but she would only say that she believed in a living God. She was wisely letting God guide her into how to reveal Jesus to her family. They noticed that when she prayed, she seemed to personally know this living God.
She was given a New Testament and really liked the verse that said, ‘Come to me all you who are weak and burdened and I will give you rest." When she read 1 Corinthians 13, she learned about God’s kind of love. She asked herself, "What kind of love is this?"
One night, my friend had a dream. She saw Jesus on the cross with a huge rainbow that appeared over His head. Much later, she would learn that this was God’s sign of a promise that He gave to Noah after the flood destroyed the earth. It was a banner of hope! Something happened. A man asked her a few weeks later if she could say that Jesus was in her heart? She answered yes and felt changed inside…warm. Sanela found her hope in Jesus!Then she understood what had happened to her sister. Her whole family walks with Jesus now, except for her father. Please pray for him!
When they finally returned home, there was nothing left, except for the walls. Their basement had become a home to cows and chickens. I have spent a lot of time with Sanela over these days in Bosnia. She does not hold to things, but holds onto Jesus! I watched her last Sunday as she was praising the Lord as part of the worship team and I saw joy .
If you are reading this email and do not know joy, please visit our website at www.theagapepuppets.org and click on the "Who Is Jesus?" option. Please feel free to write me. Please seek Him!
In Jesus, Linda