15' High Snow

I just completed a week-long driving tour of Bosnia Hercegovina. I took the Field Director-elect couple to meet our personnel as well as their national coworkers. It was an excellent week for all of us.

We ended up the trip in the Serb Republic part of Bosnia Hercegovina (there are two halves to the country after the Dayton Peace Accords). This part of Bosnia is just 30 minutes from the Montenegro border. Traveling this way back to Macedonia is much faster, though potentially much more hazardous as the roads are always subject to rock slides and snow in the winter months.

We had to decide if we wanted to chance going through Montenegro and Kosovo taking us about 10 hours, or retracing our steps through Bosnia and then through Serbia which would take about 16 hours.

We chose to go through Montenegro, as the weather looked OK. The further we drove toward the high mountain that separates Montenegro from Kosovo, the more snow we began to see on the ground. As we began to slowly ascend, the snow got as high as 15 feet on either side of the car! The small two-lane road became a very small one lane tunnel. We did not see a single car going up the hill with us and we got a bit nervous to know if the road was even open. A couple times we had to pull over to allow for vehicles coming down the mountain. One time a front end loader had to make a new path in order for us to navigate around him.

When we got to the top of the mountain and the border (with Montenegro), we were still the only vehilce headed in our direction. Six miles later, we reached the other border (with Kosovo) and discovered that the pass had been closed for the previous 4 days and that it had just reopened within the past two hours. We were one of the first cars through!

We are thakful for God's protection as we traversed this Balkan mountain pass.

Thanks to you too for praying for us. We rely on your prayers! Keep them coming!

Trent

Transmission Troubles

One of the hardest things for me serving overseas with college-age chidren in America is the sense of helplessness when they have times of crisis or health issues. I just survived the first one of these.

Our son James flew from Wheaton with his fiancee (thanks to a cheap Southwest one-way airfare) to Albany, NY to visit my side of the family as well as to pick my mother's old car. They had a great weekend and Bethany felt welcomed into her new family.

Three hours outside of Albany, the car's transmission decided it was time to go the way of all old transmissions. Stuck at a rest stop, James called a tow truck who towed it to the next exit on the NYS Thruway. $150 later he and Bethany were stuck in Geneva, NY without a car or a place to stay. They booked two rooms at a local hotel and began making phone calls.

Forunately, one of our colleague's father lives only 20 minutes from where they were stranded. They called him and he stepped in to help in any way.

After a night of rest they were escorted by this man to the place where the car was towed. The news was not good. To replace the transmission would cost more than the car was worth.

James then chose to sign the car over to the garage man and rent a car to get back to Wheaton.

The good news in all this is that James had a credit card to use and probably maxed it out with expenses for the tow, the hotel rooms, the car rental and the gas to get back to Wheaton. The bad news (besides paying back the charges) is that now James does not have a car to use for his student teaching that starts in a couple weeks.

This incident is stressful anytime. But when you are separated by thousands of miles, it seems that much more difficult. Compounding this problem was the $1,000+ that my mom put into the car before signing it over to James.

We all feel sick about this. Please pray for James to secure alternate transportation.

Thanks.

Trent

Kingdom Business & Monkey Business

Over the weekend our Field Leadership Team met in Kosovo to carry out the business of the mission. Preparing budgets, assigning personnel, allocating vehicles and discussing strategy all consumed our time. We pressed through some boring moments and certainly had our funny moments too.

While we were doing mission business, the small group meeting in the Resurrection Center in Gjilan, Kosovo was doing Kingdom business. At the conclusion of the Sunday evening service, three men prayed to receive Christ, including two husbands/fathers. This is incredibly important as Kosovo is a patriarchal society.

Please pray for the growth of these new believers as they face opposition from theri famiies and friends.

Sharon and I leave for Bosnia tomorrow (Tuesday) for a week. We will take the new Field Director elect (Mark and Pattie Brinkman) on a tour of the country to introducd them to our missionaries there as well as the pastors. Please pray for a safe trip.

Mission Accomplished

After five straight days of going to the department for foreigners and climbing 180 steps to the 9th floor of the Macedonia Radio and Television building, Sharon and I have our residency and work visas. I think I finally wore them down.

For all of you who have joined me in this epic struggle against red tape, thanks.

Post Script: On my way back from the building, I had to take some different roads due to some blocades in the city (that's another story). I drove right past the bulding where I needed to get an international permission booklet to drive the car out of Macedonia. WhenI indicated what I wanted the lady told me I first had to go the 9th floor of the Macedonia Radio Television building to get a document. The irony of it all made me laugh and cry at the same time. I thanked her and told her that would be another day.

Trent

Didn't Find Anything

Hey. Well, I am not often surprised in a pleasant way living in the Balkans. But going to the doctor at this new clinic was great. Aside from not being able to communicate too well :-) the experience was excellent. A total of 1 minute elapsed from the time I finished filling in the medical form until I was ushered into the doctor's consultation room. When was the last time that happened to you?

I told her my symptoms and then she did a thorough ultra sound to see if there was anything abnormal. At first I thought she said there's "nothing there." Now that can cause a person to sit up and take notice. I mean even I know there should be SOMETHING in there. But what she meant was nothing abnormal in the abdomen. She said all internal organs looked fine.

The culprit, apparently, is my lipoma. Lipomas are these disgusting fatty encapsulated tumors that grow in my family like weeds. I have alreqady had two removed but they keep growing. I guess this one is pressing on some of the other organs.

As she finished the ultra sound I leaned over to Sharon and rejoiced that I was not pregnant! She laughed. I mean that was my first ultra sound.

Thanks for praying.

Trent

Gotta See the Doctor

Every now and then a man has to do what a man has to do. And for me that time has come. I need to go to a doctor. For several months now I have been having some abdominal "pressure" or pain. I've praying about it but believe it is time to see a doctor.

Normally that is no big deal. However, contemplating this in another country is another matter altogether. And Macedonia is not exactly known for having "cutting edge" technology in medicine. So, to a very real extent, going to see a doctor over here requires as much faith in God as trusting Him for divine healing does over there. :-)

Anyway, would appreciate a prayer for this.

Trent

Almost Legal

Well, after months of waiting, we are just one day closer to being legal once again. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we will receive our long-awaited residencey and work visas for MAcedonia. Thank you all so much for praying for us about this matter. It looks like we will get them just in time for Trent to go to the FLT meeting in Kosovo. PTL!

Visa Trip

Can you pray with me about a trip I need to take? I was called this morning to go to Sofia, Bulgaria to get our preliminary visa papers that we need for living here in Skopje, Macedonia. So, tomorrow, Thursday the 2nd, I head off to Sofia. I am a bit unsure as to where the embassy is located and would appreciate some prayer support.

Thanks. Trent