What is Kosovo
So before I start this update, please let me first share a bit about Kosovo. Kosovo is almost their own independent country, they used to be part of Serbia and in 2008 they declared independence, but since Russia that has a veto vote in the UN does not recognise them as an independent country they are still not fully independent, but under European Union curatorships. On top of that Turkey also claim that Kosovo is part of Turkey because of the battle of Kosovo in 1389 where the emperor of the Ottoman empire was assassinated and his heart is still buried in the fields there. Serbia also still thinks that Kosovo is part of Serbia and on top of that the USA that helped Kosovo become independent still is heavily involved and most of the population is Albanian and some believe that Kosovo should be part of Albania. So all in all one very confused country.
Getting there and what we did
Our time in Kosovo started strange with us being almost 2 days late due to some transport problems and flash floods on the way. But we were greeted warmly and taken to a house in a village just outside Pristine where we had rooms and beds, a kitchen and to top it of warm water (warm water always makes me happy). The next day we had time to sit down with the pastor who shared with us the history and current situation in Kosovo, it was so good. That afternoon we went to help some American missionaries move into a new home not for from where we lived, this turned out to be a very divine appointment and the Fry family would play a much larger role in our lives in the 5 weeks to follow. The following day was a Sunday and I helped out the worship team by playing guitar in church for worship, it was the first time in 10 years that I played in front of church. Our time was quite relaxed in Kosovo since it was holiday time, so we largely ended up helping out with odd jobs around the church where it was short handed and helping the Fry family clean up their old house and moving some more stuff and helping them settle in. We also spent some time in the second hand clothes stores that if run from the church helping unbox and sorted donated clothes from Germany, Sweden and other countries.
Highlights
There is some highlights from the time there that is worth a mention. The Fry family have a 1990 African specification Land Cruiser and we had the opportunity to drive it a few times on our travels round the country, it was so much fun. We even made it a South African flag that we put in the front window since about all the other heavy duty vehicles on the rounds were military KFOR and it always had the flag of the 37 different countries that makes the Kosovo military on it. Vilandre and me also had the opportunity to go to Albania for a day, we would have liked to go there for longer as a team, but felt that we should not. The funniest thing happened on the border going into Albania, the officail had a look at our African passports called his superior and after his superior checked to see our if our visa is valid he looked at us and went “you from Africa? You have that ebola thing?” we said no and they let us through. We also had a puppy for our last week in Kosovo, dont ask how but we did, it was fun for about 2 days and then taking care of it with our schedule became a bit difficult for those who wanted to adopt him.
The biggest highlight must be the people though, the local people at the church took us in so warmly and took us out for coffee and bowling and more. Also the Fry family that took us in and made us part and counselled us as a team and as individuals.
Team
As a team we had some major breakthroughs in Kosovo, it started a bit wobbly, but after an explosion we got to a point with the help of the Fry to open up and share, work together and forgive each other.
Personal Journey
My time started out very difficult in Kosovo, the first few weeks were intense on a few levels and I had to make some difficult choices. At a point I felt very cornered and if there is no hope or way out, but I got a real sense of revelation of how I got there and that there was a much bigger hand guiding the process and that even if it felt that I am fully screwed or that I screwed it up beyond repair that there was a way out. I felt God calling me to make some illogical choices and called to just trust Him on a big scale. It was a very humbling process, but it came with a fair element of freedom. From that point on it has been an up and down journey of trusting and waiting to see what is happening and being patient with the whole process. It had been good for me, quite a few personal viewpoints have changed on a few things and it is still an interesting journey that is going on at the moment. I was also in a place of feeling like I failed leading the team on a epic scale, but it has been battled by reflecting on some successes and battling some expectations of what this year should look like and what I wanted to achieve rather than what God wanted to achieve. Also coming to point where I realised that I interpreted some of the word we got in a wrong way and that it looks different than I thought it should. It was a difficult but good time and by the end of it I could feel the difference, I am a bit tired but stronger in Him that gives me life.
F