Over the last eleven days, I had the opportunity to travel to Bosnia on a missions trip. Our church has connections to believers throughout Bosnia, and we had the opportunity to go, and learn about the mission in Bosnia and pray for the people and the believers. We were able to travel all over Bosnia and experience the culture and the country. Follow the map, to see where we traveled!
Our flight from Detroit was in the afternoon and we flew to Frankfurt, then to Munich, then to Sarajevo! At the airport was a van waiting for us, that we would have for the whole time we were in Bosnia. One of the guys on the trip, Aldin, is from Bosnia and could drive us! We named the van Kevin, and she (yes, Kevin's a girl) became a big part of our trip. We took her with us everyday and had so many fun times in her. Once we got on the road we headed straight for our Hostel in downtown Sarajevo. If you need a place to stay in Sarajevo, Hostel Massimo is the place! They had amazing staff, comfortable rooms and its very safe! After we had some time to freshen up, we headed to the downtown area, Bascarsija (Boss-char-see-ya). There are so many people here all the time. There are tons of little shops with souvenirs, jewelry, crafts and lots of Traditional food. We arrived in Sarajevo around lunch time, so we decided to get Döner for dinner! Döner is like a gyro. It was delicious. Then we took a tram (an electric train that runs on tracks through the city) to the Twisty Tower. At the Twisty Tower we took some time to look at the amazing views of Sarajevo and pray for the city and our time here. Then we headed back to our hostel to get some sleep! We were all exhausted!
Our morning started off with breakfast in our Hostel and then we were off for Training about the work in Bosnia. After training we went to get lunch Ćevapi, sausages inside a pita with onions and a sour cream sauce. It was delicious! Then we went around the city to pray. First we went up to one of the mountains surrounding the city to pray. The house on the
mountain was in complete ruins from the war. Everywhere you look in the city and the country, there are bullet holes or
remembrances from the war; it is heartbreaking. Next we went to the White Fortress, a castle that overlooks Sarajevo from
another view. It was beautiful! Then we headed back to Bascarsija for dinner! This time, we got pita, a phyllo pie. There are many different types, Burek, which has meat, ones with potatoes and onions, cheese ones, and spinach ones. Again, Bosnian food is delicious!!
To start off our morning, we headed to the office for training on Islam, to better understand the people and culture here. It was really informative and helpful! Then we drove to Visoko, to meet up with Aldin's family and visit their home. After we got pizza, we went shopping for dinner and went to Aldin's parents house, then we climbed the Pyramid to see a great view of Visoko. Then we headed back to have dinner and a relaxing night with Aldin's family. Aldin's mom even taught us how to make Bosnian Coffee! It was a really great evening, full of laughter and great company!
I was a little apprehensive to go to our training that morning. Another believer was going to train us in talking to Bosnians about God and our faith, and what that looks like practically. It was really helpful and even useful for the states, but also intimidating and scary because we went out to do it that afternoon! After we had lunch we went out and talked to people. We got to meet some really cool people. Bosnians are so welcoming and willing to talk and it was a really good experience! Then we got to do a little shopping and went to a nice restaurant for dinner! After dinner, we walked to a hotel called Hecco, that has a coffee shop on the top floor, with a balcony and amazing views of the city! At night, it was gorgeous! We got crepes, which was also amazing! It was a great way to end our last full day in Sarajevo!
Day Six: Bugojno
Our day started early, with a road trip to Bugojno (boo-goy-no) to meet up with some new believers that have moved there, and to pray for the city and the people. We went to Tim and Rachel's house to hear about our day in Bugojno and to pray for them. Then we made our way back to the city to prayer walk. After our walk, we had lunch. We all went to one restaurant and had an awesome lunch! Aldin's sister also surprised him, which was awesome! After lunch, we got to meet Mina. Meeting with Mina was one of the highlights of the trip. The women just got to love her and listen to her tell us her story. It was really beautiful and I am so thankful that God had that planned for all of us. It was a really special afternoon, one that I will never forget. Then we headed to Jajce (yiey-suh) to see the amazing waterfalls there! It was breathtaking, and we got a little wet! The new headed to a castle that Tito (Yugoslavian leader) used. Again, the view was amazing! It was a beautiful day!
Day Seven: Breza and Vareš
It was Sunday morning, so we headed to Breza for church. Aldin attended the church when he was in Bosnia, so it is his home church. It was really great experience. We got to help with most of the service! Sarah and Aldin helped lead worship, Dustin preached, Katherine and Michael shared some of their stories and Aldin did ALL the translating! It was really neat!! At one point we sang a song both in Bosnian and English! It was beautiful. After church, we headed to get lunch and then went to Vareš (Var-esh) to meet two other believers who are there. This was another of our favorite parts of the trip. One of the needs of the children of Vareš is the need for after school care, and lunch. The believers here have started a ministry, by providing a place for the children to go to for lunch, to hangout after school, and to come in from the cold during the winter. They help them with their school work and help them learn English. This was the first time we heard about the children of Bosnia being reached and it is beautiful. They also do a lot of work in the villages and to help the adults in town! We had so much fun with them and many of us hope to be able to go back and spend some time serving with them! We also got to travel up to see a view of the city, and drive through a huge cave! It was awesome! God's beauty is so evident throughout the country! I was continually blown away!
Day Eight: Olovo and Caves
Again, we started off our morning with a road trip, this time to Olovo. We had the opportunity to meet with a family in their home. It was a really awesome experience. Bosnians are SO hospitable. They fed us so much food. We had a cake, that was similar to a banana cream pie, homemade cheese and bread, and other snacks! It was amazing! Then we headed to check out some caves, Bijam Bare (Bi-yam bar)and then back to Sarajevo. We got to meet up with some old friends of Dustin and Aldin! It was a fun evening! We ended the night with dinner at the believer's in Sarajevo's new apartment. It was really nice to be together and just relax.
Let me start this post by saying this was one of the craziest days of my life! I am going to try to keep this short, but we'll see. The day started off great! We went to a Pekera (bakery) to get pastries for breakfast and to the market for fresh fruit and fresh squeezed juice. It was amazing! Then we had one last training before we left Sarajevo. After lunch, we headed to the market to do some shopping. We all wanted clothes, and the market was the best place for that! After the market, we left in Kevin (our van) for our two day excursion to Foča (Fo-cha)! We were about 20 minutes outside of Sarajevo and we stopped to get gas! When Aldin tried to start the van again, it wouldn't start. It was clear that there was some sort of electrical problem but we couldn't get her stop start. Another thing about our trip was that we never got a phone to use there. So we had to use the gas station attendant's phone to call for help. We got ahold of someone and were told they were on their way with a new van. So we had wait. After two hours, they finally arrived with our new van (the Green Machine/ LaSquisha). Then, we got on the road! One our way we got stopped twice by the Serbian Police. (To end the war in Bosnia, the Serbians required that they have territory in Bosnia that is run by them. It is called the Republic of Srpska. The land is owned by Bosnia, but it has its own rules and police. On the map above, it is indicated as the purple outlined area throughout Bosnia.) We finally made it to Foča, and to the travel agency that would take us to our camp for the weekend! Our driver was a little crazy and was making us all a little nervous. We were flying around one lane, dirt roads in the mountains, praying we would be ok. Then all of the sudden we hear metal scraping on the ground. The driver stops and finds that the front bumper is falling off. So Aldin and he get to work fixing the van and we wait, again for about 45 minutes until it is fixed. By this time it is about 9pm at night and we are all just ready to be at our camp! We get back on the road and have to cross the boarder of Montenegro to get to our camp. Thankfully, we made it through and were on our way to the camp, when all of the sudden we are chasing a brown bear. We chased it for about a minute before it jumped off the side of the road. It was crazy (see the video below)!! We pull up to the drop off point and our driver tells us we have a 2km walk to camp. We all look at each other scared, and he leads us down a path, where we see a few other guys, the river and a raft. Then we realize that we are about to get into a raft with our luggage, and cross the river Tara at ten o'clock at night to get to our camp. And that is just what we did. The stars were amazing and it was completely dark. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. We make it ashore and are greeted with Rakia, and find our way to our cabins. We finally eat dinner around 10:30p and get to bed.
Day Ten: Rafting and Relaxing
We woke up to an amazing view of the river and our camp was awesome! Ince we got in so late, we couldn't really see much, so it was a surprise! We were treated to another amazing breakfast and got to have some time to spend with God processing about the trip. Then it was time for rafting! It was such a fun experience. We got to stop along the way a few times, and hope out of the boat and float! We had to wear wetsuits for the trip because the water is about 10 degrees C because the snow from the tops of the mountains are flowing into it! It was SO cold. We stopped at two amazing waterfalls, and at the second, we got to climb up the waterfall and play in the water. It was awesome! Then we finished the rafting trip and had to cross the border of Montenegro again. It was such a blast. When we got back, we got cleaned up, had lunch and had a few hours of free time before some debris time and dinner. It was such a great day! We got to bed early because we knew the next day would be exhausting!
Day Eleven: The Hike
On our last full day in Bosnia, we got up early to head back to Foča to start our hike! We had to take our stuff back across the river and then waited for our guides to bring the vans for us. We finally got on our way and got to Foča. Then we switched vans and took off for the mountain we were going to climb. We got to the mountain and stopped halfway to look at the mountains, the view was stunning! We continued on in the vans as far as we could go, before the snow prevented us from driving. We were about to climb up to the highest mountain in Bosnia! We hiked 3KM through some snow and finally reached the top...it was breathtaking!