Divine Voyagers

Tom: As I was chatting with one of my mates at church tonight, I realised that it is less than two weeks until we fly out to Europe. What felt like a distant possiblility when Patty and I first started dating has now come to be a reality. What has always seemed like a far off plan is now about to have it’s first major step. Soon and very soon we will visit three potential teams that we may eventually join, God willing.

In our previous post, we said that we were thinking of Albania, Bulgaria and Czechia. This has now shifted a bit. Czechia just didn’t end up working for practical reasons but God opened up a new window. We are now going to visit Kosovo! For those not up to speed with Eastern European politics, Kosovo is what was once southern Serbia. They declared independece in 2008 but, as one of the missionaries we are visiting said, “Kosovo is not deemed a country by many countries.”

Very much Albanian in culture, Kosovo is nominally Muslim. They have a pretty young population with an average age of 31 (Australia has an average age of 38.5). The city we are visiting is in the south of the country, and is considered one of the most beautiful in the Balkans. The team is only a few families, focused on classic church planting. There is oppurtunity there for me to join this effort, while Patty helps out the the homeschool co-op.

All of this is extremely exciting and nerve racking. Patty called it a three week long job interview. We will meet dozens of people, travel to manyh different countries, all with unique cultures and languages. We will be exhausted by the end of it but there is no other way that I would rather spend the first three weeks of 2024.

In Romans 10:14-15 Paul writes, How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 
Oh, how I wish to have beautiful feet!