Macedonia

We have been home from our trip to Macedonia for just under 2 weeks. Just long enough for the whole experience to marinate and the flavor of our journey to be at its peak…..

I have not written thus far since I have been consumed with a paralyzing fear that my simple words and thoughts would be a gross injustice to the reality of how incredible our trip was. But then God reminded me in that tender way that only He can.

Holland! Get out of park and Move It!

The song with the line “You’ve got to Move It, Move It” comes to mind…. If I would just move it, get my pride out of the way and let him work. If I would just write instead of remaining frozen in self absorbed fear, He will be glorified…..with or without me.

So with that resolved here is the beginning of our Macedonian Story.

Before leaving for Macedonia I was asked why I would waste my money on helping people from another country instead of helping the people in our own back yard, and then told to stay at home instead of butting into other people’s business.

At the time I was completely shell shocked and dumfounded, not only by the question but by the doubt that it stirred up inside of me because of it.

….Had I surrounded myself so much so with “yes men” that I was blinded by all the positive feedback?

….maybe it’s not the best time financially.

….most likely there is a playground here that needs our attention.

….maybe the people there don’t even want us there, we are just forcing our “Christian Love” on them.

…and of course my biggest, most reoccurring worry of them all,” What if something happens to us while we are there”?

          Which by the way brings with it a whole other pile of doubts and worries with it, ones like wills, bills and pills, oh my! Of course, with our trip behind us, these thoughts all seem ridiculous now, but at the time they were easily believable.

It took me far longer than I care to admit to realize who I had so easily let creep in and eat away at the foundation of trust that I have in Jesus Christ. God reminded me of his purpose for me being on the other side of the world so many times along the way on our journey. One of my favorite verses is

 Isaiah 41:9-10 
    ⁹You whom I have ^(A)taken from the ends of the earth,
         And called from its ^(B)remotest parts
         And said to you, 'You are ^(C)My servant,
         I have ^(D)chosen you and not rejected you. 
    ¹⁰'Do not ^(E)fear, for I am with you;
         Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God 
         I will strengthen you, surely ^(F)I will help you,
         Surely I will uphold you with My righteous ^(G)right hand.'

And Philippians 4:6-8

^6(A) do not be anxious about anything,^(B) but in everything by prayer and supplication^(C) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And^(D) the peace of God,^(E) which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
 ⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

After reading that, my head was back on straight, and fully engaged in the journey ahead. Little did I know God would use these reminders throughout.

We arrived in Macedonia after a pretty uneventful flight. As soon as we gathered our luggage we realized that 1 of the 7 pieces was missing. My lesson in being anxious for nothing barely lasted across the ocean. Immediately I began to come unraveled yet trying my best to hide it. Because of course the most important piece, the one with the actual swing set parts was the one that was missing!

…..how could we come all this way to not build a swing set! That’s the best part!

After reporting it missing and making our way through “customs” which amounted to an empty hallway therefore equaling no customs, we found our friend Brian and told him the grim news.  To which he replied “only one? Well it will show up sometime”. Wow! It took a minute for me to realize he was truly living out the being anxious for nothing life. And right then and there I knew I was where I was supposed to be. He went on to explain his goal for this project was not necessarily to complete a playground but to get the community to work together to build this playground and meet as many people as he could. He said if we were the only ones working on the playground then he suggested we all sit down and rest until the people came around to pitch in and help. It took a bit for my task oriented brain to soak in this “backward” way of thinking. And I still struggled with it, because I was still holding onto some foolish prideful thinking that we 3 were there to build a playground. That is what we traversed the earth for, wasn’t it? Besides who’s really going to pitch in and help. It was like 150 degrees out!

I’m not a big fan of being proved wrong let alone being proved wrong in a big way, but that is exactly what God did.

We arrived on Sat the 5^th so the next morning we got up and went to an international church that spoke English, where I learned more about football than I ever have before. We are to make deliberate and practiced plays in life. Doing what we are supposed to be doing doesn’t just happen in the moment. You spend your whole life preparing and drilling for that one moment where every muscle is strained with precision for the goal.

Then in the evening we went to a Macedonian speaking church in the upper room of a home…..just so you know there are no main floors in Macedonia, you must always climb at least 3 flights of stairs to get anywhere.  I have no idea what’s under those first 3 flights if anything at all.  We enjoyed the sweet spirit of people worshiping the same God we worship even if we could not understand a single word. The bond of Christ was so apparent there, I did not want to leave.

Monday morning came and went, and then a sweet, sweet voice awakened us from our deepest of sleep, bellowing out the words to Its time to get up you sleepy heads ….thank you my dear Elizabeth you made us feel so much at home, and miss you immensely! We arrived at the playground site with a flurry of activity everywhere you looked. I was stunned at the sight! There were people everywhere doing everything! I could have never in a million years been prepared for such a sight. From the youngest child to the oldest man, all worked away with an excitement about them. As though they were wrapping presents for their children the night before Christmas. The anticipation of what was to come bubbled out of them.

This never stopped for 4 days straight more people than I could count showed up to do some serious labor with a smile on their faces! Had I not known that God’s hand was in it all I would have thought it a very bizarre scene.

Boys that had covered the school walls in graffiti were eagerly and painstakingly working to remove it. People were everywhere and we were able to get to know just a piece of many of them. One that continues to amaze me to this day is Igor. He would work all day as a helicopter mechanic and then come and be relentless in his generosity and diligent help. When the day was done he would always invite us up for coffee and a chat. Before we left he made us promise to make a return trip to Macedonia, but this time we were to play instead of work! He gave of himself like I have only begun to dream of myself doing.

While we were there something else incredible happened, our little Grace grew up. She went from timid and clingy to taking a taxi home from school with her friends and navigating the airport terminals on her own! She blossomed into this amazingly confident and bold girl. She loved her time there so much that she informed me after day 3 that she no longer wanted to be called Grace but rather Mila (the Macedonian word for Grace) God definitely planted a seed in her heart on this trip, I cannot wait to see what springs forth from it. I pray that we as parents will water and nurture that seed into fruition and not just let it dry up.

Just as Brian had said the parts for the swing set showed up. Sometimes I am convinced that God is just smiling and shaking His head at my ridiculous doubt. I have no reason whatsoever to doubt, He has never come close to letting me down. Yet doubt is always what I am so quickly prone to. So the parts arrived in time to be installed. God is so good. He knew we did not need them before then. An opportunity to trust…..

The playground was finished enough, in time for a Grand Opening Ceremony Thursday night. The playground was packed full of people come to see the performances their children put on, and the new playground. The mayor of Skopje even came and delivered park benches and trash cans for it. Brian got to have his starbucks and drink it too, because not only was the park in a state of completion but so many people worked together to ensure its success. We made friendships along the way that took less than a week to form but have the foundation to last a lifetime.

I know without a doubt why I did not stay in my own backyard, and each of those people is part of that reason. I love that He has a bigger picture in mind than my dinky imagination could ever muster. So many hearts touched mine that week. We may not speak a common language but our hearts will always understand that a simple miracle took place on a little playground in the middle of the world.