Croatia Update

An update from Rachel (8-6):
Hey Everyone,
Renewing Our Minds (ROM) has officially started and it is great. I liked EDS but I really had to stretch to find out how what was being taught related to my life. ROM just makes sense. It is all about communication and philosophy this week and introducing what we mean by the strategy of Jesus.
Personally I have been having a great time getting to know as many of these great people here as I can. There are a couple of girls that I really have clicked with, Neda and Nera. They are from Belgrade and Sarajevo respectively and they both get along with one another wonderfully despite the potential ethnic bias that they might have. Nera is having a really tough time here and she recently found out that her best friend’s dad died, so if you would pray for her that would be great.
I have also been getting to know some Albanian politicians. I don’t know if anyone has kept up on recent Albania politics, but the former prime minister attempted to punch the speaker of the house upsetting the whole parliament. That party (communist) is now going on strike from political action until corruption is ended in the majority party. And this person is the cousin of Dorian who is here at ROM. Dorian himself started a smaller third party, which is also communist. His friend, Blendi, is of a different political persuasion but they still get along. It is amazing to me that communist parties and democracy seem to mix so easily in Albania. They are both very fun and interesting and have cornered me and needled me until I told them whom I voted for in the previous election. They are a ton of fun. But the most interesting point that I have found out about Albania is that they have
monthly prayer meetings from people on all sides of the political arena, which I think is very cool.
My small group is very cool too. The people who organized the small groups wouldn’t tell me what group I was in until the very end. And luckily I got to be a part of a group that has fun leaders, Mirta and Samuil. Our group has people from all over, Armenia, Northern Ireland, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Germany, and Romania. We have been having some good conversations. Last night we had a skit night and we did blind date ROM style which was pretty hilarious, and I think that our flag was a group effort and turned out pretty awesome. I will have to get Nera to take a picture of it for me so that I can show you all it. Life is hard with out my digital camera, but I am managing. I still need to try and get it fixed, but not today.

Prayer Requests: My health, I have come down with some sort of cold and I would like to be well again soon so that I have energy; For building new relationships and maintaining old relationships that I have built here; For strength for the leadership team here because we are all getting tired, and especially for Tihomir because he is carrying some big burdens; finally, I would like to pray for the participants and just that they will be inspired and encouraged by their time here. Thank you for your prayers.