nConnect 2024

Every year in the autumn we are part of an nConnect somewhere in the Balkans. This is for the volunteer teams who help make sure that the  Operation Christmas Child "shoebox" packages are given out in the correct way. This year it was our opportunity to host the Croatia and Montenegro teams here in Bosnia Herzegovina. Last year it was held in Serbia with 7 countries, and I was at the conference, but got sick after one day, so I missed out on much of it 😞 

So, I was so happy to have the opportunity to be a part of this conference and get to know the teams from the other countries, and to hang out with the Bosnian team. Here we all are: 

Here is our Bosnian team around the "map" of Bosnia: 

And all standing on one of the bridges in the Ethno Village where we were staying: (Our team adopted Mila who came from Croatia with her mom as she was super cute!) 

And here are some more pics from around the place where we stayed...

It really is very quaint - and you feel like you have gone back in time: 

And it also has some fun quirky details - like these loving lamp posts! 

Besides being able to connect with others, and learn some of the new ways of reporting and helping in worship, I was also priviledged to share the devotion on the first day (we were in a bigger room as the smaller was being used on the first morning by another group). Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it was a good way to kick off the conference! 

The best part about it being in Bosnia is that we only had to drive 2 1/2 hours - the last two were in Montenegro (11 hours drive) and Serbia (9 hours drive), so this was very nice 😁 Now we are ready to start the next season of giving out shoebox packages!! 

Triplet to Ireland and the UK

I was invited to go to Enniskillen in Ireland in August, to be the speaker on the YWAM Ireland gathering. I was really blown away by the invitation, but as I had already been playing around in my head with maybe making a trip to the UK to see people and also get my UK passport sorted out, it seemed like a lovely way to combine the two.

I spent 3 lovely days with the wonderful people who make up YWAM in Ireland. In reflecting for the talks I realised that my relationship with YWAM in Ireland and all the good things that have come out of it (including 5 "Faith and Conflict" conferences), started because of two conferences that I went to. One was in 2007 and on the way back from the conference I "happened" to take a train with then YWAM Ireland leader, Jonny Clark. We also happened to get lost and took the train in the wrong direction... but that is another whole story! And the other was in 2014 in Lyon when I sat next to Alex Atwell, who is now leading YWAM Enniskillen, on a flight from there to Manchester. Random? Coincidence? I think not!  

It really was a privilege to share more of my story and what the Lord has taught me along the way and I really enjoyed sharing on how to persevere and press on into what the Lord is calling you into. We are the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth which this saying from St Teresa of Avila reminds us of! 

And some other reflections the Lord has been showing me about how to bring a little bit of His joy and life and celebration even when things are not going the way we wish they did...

And a case in point - why let a little bit of rain stop us from having a fun outing to Lough Erne together... crazy people! Group pic using the car as a tripod:

Here I am warming up by the fire with my fellow South African, Musa, who was crazy enough to jump in the lough...

Along with other crazy people - Alex and Martin. In the background you can see the ruins of Devenish Island Monastery... very eerie in the fog! 

And this time a selfie-stick pic with the monastery in the background as well...

I also managed to finish up my passport by going to Belfast before the conference and fast tracking it. My old one is not up until 2026, but it is almost full! And why is it almost full?? Because silly border guards in Bosnia and Croatia mostly don't care where they put their stamps. I only have 3 in my new passport and look at how much space they already take up!! (And if I fly from Zagreb, which is my closest airport I get between 4-6 stamps each time depending on if I am going to Schengen or not!)

I used my new passport to travel to the East Midlands Airport and to hang out with my godson, Christopher and his wonderful family. 

And I say wonderful, because on the day I was supposed to get on a bus and travel on to my next place, I felt horrible and recognised the feeling from the time I had covid... and they have some old tests hanging around and I took one, and guess what!! Yip. I was positive...

Thankfully, they were ok with me staying on, and we tried to isolate me as much as possible, but Trevor and Carol had already got it from me, but luckily the kids didn't get it! So yes, not my most successful trip ever... thanks to them for being so fantastic!! 

On the day that Christopher got his A-level results, they had scones to celebrate and they sat outside in the garden and I was upstairs talking to them through the window and enjoying my portion!

Then it was time to try and figure out my further travel. I had planned on going to a few people, but with not feeling so great after covid, I just narrowed it down to my sister and her family and changed my flight to come back a bit sooner. My nephew James had returned from a gap-year trip around Asia and it was wonderful to hear all his stories in person! 

And also enjoy time with my sister and brother-in-law, and their wonderful garden!!

Then it was time to be back in Banja Luka, getting ready for the new school year! 

Holiday of a lifetime!

For the past 12 years, Ljilja, Sina (our friend from Finland) and I have been going on holiday together. We even managed to find ways to go on holiday during 2020 and covid rules changing every day. We have had a lot of fun adventures, but also just able to relax and enjoy movies and games and looooong discussions about our lives. We also usually celebrate all 3 of our birthdays on Ljilja's birthday in July as I am in June, and Sina in August... 

This year, with both Sina and I were turning 50, we wanted to go somewhere extra special. Sina has also travelled to over 90 countries, and originally she wanted to go somewhere new, but that is quite hard for her! She wanted to go to do an island holiday - and her first suggestion was Fiji! We looked at ticket prices and it was a hard NO from us. After that she thought about Seychelles, but again it looked expensive. She had already been to the Maldives for work, but as that actually looked like the best option price-wise, she was happy with the island holiday there as she had not done the "vacation" side of things there - just visiting projects for work. 

So, in the end we managed to get her "down" to go to the Maldives. We found some reasonable airline tickets ourselves via Doha (with a stopover on the way back) and Ljilja did a phenomenal job of contacting local travel agencies to see if we could get a deal on accommodation. We had decided on a resort near the capital called Kurumba. 

We would just get breakfast included and then go out for dinner, making it cheaper (and healthier!) than a full board/all inclusive option. We got a good deal through an agency in Bosnia, and were about to pay the deposit when Ljilja received another offer for the same exact booking from an agency in Serbia which was even cheaper!! Love it! (we found it it was cheaper in July as it is the "rainy season", but other than a 1 or 2 times of rain during the day, it really didn't bother us at all as it mostly fell at night). 

We stayed in two adjoining rooms upstairs in a condo with four rooms. We didn't have anyone downstairs for most of the time which was nice. It included a fun "outdoor/indoor" bathroom - so you could shower outside... or in the rain - which was a fun experience! 

Being on the top floor meant we had a lovely view from the windows/balcony:

And most of the creepy crawlies kept out of our rooms (which was helpful to those with a fear of creepy crawlies of which there were a few!) We did get to see lots of bats in the evenings and our friendly heron, which we nicknamed Harry the Heron, was always around: 

We had loungers (with our room numbers on!) on the beach which were sort of secluded as they were surrounded by trees, so we felt like we had our own private island getaway. Such a blessing! This is the view from the balcony towards "our" beach and our loungers are in between the trees! 

And this is the view along the beach! 

We mostly spent time at the beach, but did do a couple of snorkelling trips, which were amazing!! It was also lovely just to snorkle around our beach too! And we could also take out the kayaks for some good exercise: 

One of the reasons we chose this resort was that they had different themed restaurants, and one of them was THAI! Which happens to be the favourite food of all of us. We have usually managed to find a Thai restaurant in the places we go to on holiday - there is no real Thai food in Bosnia and it is expensive in Finland! We did go there 4 times during our stay and got to the know the staff, including the chef (from Thailand) and so when it was time to go, they even gave us a special send-off and insisted on taking pictures with us - so sweet! 

The whole time we were there we were all saying everyday, "Thank-you Lord that we get to experience this beautiful place!" There was one moment when I was in the sea at sunset and just looking at the bats flying around and seeing the sunset from the water and I was just praising the Lord for being able to experience this beauty. I am so glad that Sina wanted to go somewhere like that for her 50th, because it really was the crowning experience of my 50th jubilee celebrations! 

InterVarsity Athletes and Center Church Teams

Two years ago, we had a visit from some of the leaders of the InterVarsity Surf and Turf region (they cover campuses in central California and southern Nevada).  During that time we dreamed about having a group of InterVarsity Athletes come and help us run Sports Camps for kids. Last year a team failed to come together, but this year we had a group of athletes wanting to come. At the same time we were asked if a small group could come from another church and we decided to combine the two teams, and it was a great combination! 

We ran 3 camps which were "Day camps" just coming together each day, and the kids had a blast learning new sports and playing games they had never played before! We also had many new volunteers joining us to help translate (always a blessing) and join in the fun themselves! Below is a pic of our last camp, with kids from our sponsorship project, local volunteers and the American teams: 

One of the camps was at the Children's Home and that was so much fun! At first the kids were reluctant to even start playing and making all sorts of excuses, but in the end they didn't want to stop playing when it was time for us to go! We aren't allowed to show the faces of the Children's Home kids online, but you at least get the idea: (and many of the kids didn't want to be in the photo which is their choice!)

The kids got to enjoy flag football which was totally new to them... and so fun! 

Even for the smallest kids who joined us at the home, so cute: 

The teams also held a fun "Cultural night" for students with a quiz on flags... no prizes for guessing this flag! 

The Center Church team left before we got a group pic, but the Athletes took us out for a thank-you dinner at the same restaurant where the "dreaming" started - a full circle moment! 

As usual, it was very hard to say goodbye to these wonderful teams, but I look forward to the day when we will meet again - if not in this life, then in the next! 

InterVarsity Rocky Mountain Region team

Once again we were honoured to host 28 students and staff from the Rocky Mountain Region of InterVarsity for one month. This is the 3rd year in a row, and we think this partnership will continue for many years to come. It has been great for them to have their students learn about other cultures and for us to have extra people coming to teach English and work with students. 28 is a LOT of people, but some had been previously and they are also very well organised so we don't feel like it is too many people! 

One of my major roles is to help with orientation to the country, history and culture. Here we are in the church figuring out who had won the "Scavenger Hunt" around Banja Luka! They have to go around and find answers to questions about different places in the city. It is a lot of fun for them, and means I don't have to take each team on a tour of the city! 

Here is our team with the staff team - they had 4 staff members and then 5 student leaders who had already been previously and were helping to lead the different small groups that the team was divided into. 

While the team is around, we have different events for students - ranging from Dance nights to Trivia Quizes. We also had some outside speakers come to do some 3 events while the team was here. One was on "Where is God in Suffering?" and here is a pic of that event - with our speakers Michael Ots, Andy Mayo and Piyush Jani are in the front left. 

Michael Ots has written a few books, and we also gave away copies of them, which have been translated into Serbian. 

And Andy played a few songs for us and gave away copies of his CD. 

This year, I insisted on having nametags during the 3 days of orientation, and because I could see the names, I was able to make sure I remember all of their names! I enjoyed hanging out with them here and there and after a month together it was really hard to say goodbye to all of them when they left!

On turning 50! | Party in Banja Luka

 After celebrating early with friends and family in Cape Town, it was time to celebrate my actual birthday in June in Banja Luka... and despite having a team of 28 people in town and a planned full week of activities, we still managed to make it happen! And it was even better than I could have imagined! It started earlier that afternoon with a full makeover from my wonderful friends at my beauty salon - their special birthday present to me! 

Ljilja did most of the organising and planning, and even a last minute change in venue (because of torrential rain, we decided the original plan of being outside wasn't possible) didn't dampen the mood.

After welcoming everyone into the new venue, we started off with a special way of doing the toast. Choose a glass and you get either strong liquor or water/juice, it was really fun, especially when people got the strong stuff, thinking it wasn't! 

But luckily, most people got just what they wanted!

This was followed by some phenomenal food: 

Along with catching up with so many special people from my time here in Banja Luka: 

Then it was time for the real fun: "Open Mic:Telling stories about Belinda" 

Some were really touching: Gaga is one of my oldest friends, I met her 3 months after moving to Banja Luka: 

Others getting a good laugh, Nina is one of our longest standing volunteers: 

And Sanja shared how I taught them all about the local language grammar!! 

And Sinisa wishing me all the best! It really was such a lovely part of the party! 

After this, I was led outside and a surprise was organised for me: A 50 candle cake! 

And oh so many sparklers: 

I got sung to in 2 languages and they even did the hip hip hoorays! 

Then it was time to blow out my candles: 

And to eat the cupcakes the sparklers were in: 

Or put some of the icing on the party girl... as is the tradition! 

We had to take a group pic to remember the wonderful evening by... 

Then it was time to party!!! What made it even more fun was when some people figured out a better use for the helium in the balloons Dijana, Tanja and Sanja showing us how it is done!: 

Instead of presents, I asked everyone to bring a donation to help with my work with children. In the end I spent most of the money on needed "summer supplies" for the children's home - suntan lotion, balls, armbands, towels, etc. Going on a shopping spree to bless children was definitely the best present! I will also plant some trees at our friend's forest which is being used for their work to educate children on all things nature (and that was the place the party was supposed to be held...) 

I also have to say a HUGE thank-you to Ljilja who in the midst of hosting a team of 28 decided to organise and bring together the party the week when we also had 3 visitor speakers coming to share every night! It was an amazing party and the change of venue last minute didn't make it any less special! 

I really felt celebrated and it was such a blessing to enjoy it with so many fantastic people - here's to the next 50 years!