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The picture above is of the Novi Sad bus/train station. On November 1, 2024, twelve people lost their lives, and at least three others were badly injured when a roof fell down on them as they were gathered there in the morning. Later, one more person lost her life due to her injuries. Two young lives are forever changed, one of them a Christian young lady who lost both her legs and part of her tailbone. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning of the story – due to high corruption present for many years now, we constantly face poor quality buildings and roads. The money is mostly used for personal interest instead of for the good of the people.
As a response to this, since November 1, students of our country have said, “Enough!” They are organizing strikes and walkouts in Belgrade and Novi Sad, and other cities have joined them as well. On February 1, all the bridges in Novi Sad were forced by protesters to close for the whole afternoon. Students are demanding no corruption and a better future for all of us. Marko, our son, is also part of the protests.
Please pray for Serbia, and for NEW and GOOD things to come from this.
My dear friend Marija
Marija’s sarcoma is very small, only 1.7 millimeters, but dangerous! Doctors had to decide to add radiation to her regular immune therapy to try to beat this sarcoma. Marija’s lungs are in a very bad state, and recently a doctor found out Marija has a thrombus on a heart valve.
Marija and her husband Adrijan have been students of the Theological Evangelical Seminary in Osijek, Croatia, since October 2024, and they enjoy their studies very much.
Christmas Camp: Like every year, we did a Christmas Camp at the Donja Petrovski Roma community we are working in. In January, as Serbia is celebrating Christmas (according to the Orthodox calendar), we were celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ. We had between eighteen and twenty-eight kids, age 1 to 20 years old. I love seeing their faces, asking questions: “When we will come again?” “Are we going to make sweets like every time?”
First story: Vukica is 19 years old. She got married last year and is pregnant now. Since her pregnancy, she has been making sweets we taught them at one of the Christmas Camps several years ago.
Second story: in this village, none of the people know how to read and write. Parents don’t believe in education; kids start working when they are around 10 years old. One boy came to me last year telling me that he is sad, as his father is not allowing him to go to school anymore. I told him that he needs to be persistent in learning and not giving up. A t the beginning of our camp, he came to me very happy, saying that he is back in school. When I asked what happened, he told me: “I have decided to go to school, not asking my father if I can go. My father never resisted my decision.” So now, he and his friend have a math class at the camp every day. By the way, on the first day of camp, his friend greeted me with the words: “Why don’t you come to our village and open day care so that children can have everyday activities, and we can learn together with you?” My heart melted.
We had Lexy from Oak Hills Baptist Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, serving with us for five weeks, helping and supporting us as a family and ministry. The two of us led our Christmas Camp as we also prayed for the future of the ZZ North Serbia ministry. New and old ideas were shared as we supported each other on our ministry journeys.