A Divine Passion

Balkan Summer 2006

I am traveling in Croatia, Serbia, and hopefully Bosnia, Montenegro, Hungary, and a few other places this summer. I will be posting updates and photos on this blog: http://hhbalkansummer06.blogspot.com/

Croatia is off!

June 25, 2006

Rachel and Jessica are off to Fužine! They left this evening and should get to Zagreb Monday night (Croatia time).

Departure photos on: http://hhbalkansummer06.blogspot.com/

Belgrade is off!

The Belgrade deputees left Seattle on June 11th.

The team: Erin, RJ, Drew and Annika

The team & a few supporters!
Erin, RJ, Jessica Lazdins, Brandon Bleek, Annika, Drew, me, Danielle Legault

Erin and me (tfj!)

And they're off! Heading through security at SeaTac.

To read more about the Belgrade deputees, look for their posts on the World Deputation 2006 blog.
http://worlddeputation.blogspot.com/

Balkan Dancing at Folklife

Liz and I had fun at Folklife this weekend. And we got to dance, which was fun. But, unfortunately, we discovered that while we may be good at ballet and Scottish Highland dancing, we are not so good at Croatian or Albanian dancing... Oh well.

http://www.nwfolklife.org/

The Renaissance Cafe

Crystal and I had dinner at the Renaissance Cafe in Tukwila right before she left Seattle. The owner, Sloven, is from Bosnia.

A Taste of the Balkans in Seattle

My favorite section at the University Bookstore, and the Eastern European section at TOP.

Samuil and Nada visit Seattle

May 15-23, 2005

Samuil and Nada from Belgrade, Serbia visited Seattle to attend the Ascent Conference. Ascent is a network of college ministries around the USA, and now has its first international member: EUS in Beograd!

For photos, see http://samuilnadaseattle06.blogspot.com/

Bojan Ruvarac visit fall 2005

Bojan Ruvarac, an intern at EUS in Belgrade, visited Seattle in October, 2005. Here are some photos from his visit.

Lunch with Crystal

At pastor Allen Belton's office - UPC Urban and Global Missions

Bojan, Hillary, Allen, and Linda Quist, chair of the UPC Balkan Task Force

Dinner = Thai food with the BTF. Allen, Linda, Bojan, Hillary, Crystal Johnson, Lindsay Axelson, and Ana Elfers

At the BTF meeting - ROMmies Hillary, Bojan, Crystal, Lindsay & Allen

Deputation 2006

May 2006

Jess, Jessica & Rachel

Serbia & Croatia teams w/ Brandon & Linda

May 21, 2006
UPC Celebrates Deputation Sunday!

Jessica West (Croatia 2006), Jessica Lazdins (Bosnia 2004), Nada and Samuil Petrovski (from EUS ministry in Belgrade, Serbia), me (Croatia 2005), Rachel Lewis (Croatia 2006), Rachel's mom

The Belgrade Team

Brendan, Erin, Samuil, Nada

Family brunch

Belgrade team 2006: Erin Shields, Nada and Samuil Petrovski, Annika Lider, RJ Spees, Drew Wolverton

The Belgrade team and their poster

The Croatia Team

Rachel Lewis and Jessica West

Jessica and Rachel with the Croatian flag

The Croatia team and their poster

It has been my honor to help the Croatia Deputation team get ready to go for this summer. We have had some awesome team times, and are loving language lessons with Zorica!

Visiting Beograd and Osijek in March 2006

In March, I had the privilege of visiting many friends in Serbia and Croatia, and made new friends, as well.

For details and photos, see http://serbiaandcroatiasp06.blogspot.com/

Me in Zemun, Serbia

Me and Mirta, in Osijek, Croatia

UPC Balkan Task Force

When I was preparing to go on Deputation to Croatia, I was invited to go to a meeting of the UPC Balkan Task Force. They are a group of amazing people with hearts for the Balkan region. The BTF supports ministries and our brothers and sisters in the region. It is a privilege to call the BTF members my friends, and I have thoroughly enjoyed participating in activities and events of the BTF.

http://upcbalkantaskforce.blogspot.com/

Party

December 1, 2005

Okay, here's the pictures I promised of the party we had at my house.

Crystal, Sandra and me, making musaka

Jamie, Mike, me, Crystal, and Sandra with our palacinke. (Malia took the picture - the newest member of the BTF!).

This one is from a UW volleyball match. It has nothing to do with this party, but my Croatian/Serbian friend Sanja Tomasevic is #21 (on the right side of the court, with her back to the camera).

Andrej visits from Rijeka

November 2005

Andrej Grozdanov came to Seattle (actually Redmond!) in November to attend a Christian music summit at Overlake Christian Church. He stayed with UPC member Lynn Collela at her home in Redmond, near Overlake. He also met with the UPC Balkan Task Force, and we had the opportunity to celebrate his birthday with him. :) Since it was November, my mom prepared a Thanksgiving dinner and several friends from UPC and the BTF joined us. The best part was the birthday present he got himself - a brand new custom-made guitar. For more photos, see http://andrejinseattle.blogspot.com/