Pancakes and Monasteries

здраво! (Zdravo) This means hello in Macedonian!

We have hade an amazing few days in Ohrid!  Yesterday we started out our day with a tour of Ohrid with Hannah and Ginna.  We went up to a really old fortess at one of the highest points in the city.  On the way there, we saw an old amphitheater that was turned into a gladiator stadium during the Roman rule.  Then, as we made our way up the hill towards the fortress we were able to tour some ruins that were located just around the fortress, such as the oldest university in Europe that was founded by the patron saint of Ohrid, Saint Clement.  We also had the opportunity to visit the monastery where he was buried.
Then, Hannah and Ginna took us to eat traditional Macedonian food and gelato, it was delicious!  They eat a lot of meat and bread here.

Then, last night we had pancake night at the coffee house!  The team taught Macedonians how to cook American pancakes!  It was so much fun and a great way to build relationships.  Mandy, the team leader's wife, shared with us during orientation that it is important to share "Gospel chips" with the people here, because with chips you just can't eat one.  This concept became obvious throughout the night as we began to have conversations with the people.  When God was mentioned, it was typical for the conversation to be steered in a different direction.  This is an important concept for all of us to learn.  Sometimes we want to force others to understand and know the whole Gospel all at once, and sometimes God has not brought them to that point yet.  So, it is important that we learn to sew Gospel threads, in other words, speak the Truth in any form possible throughout daily conversation.

Today was a new adventure!  We hiked 10 miles or maybe a little more while you were sleeping (it was about 2AM central time, haha).  One of our Macedonian friends led us on a journey to visit 3 monasteries, but we were only able to visit two of them because we discovered how out of shape we are, some of us anyway....that would be me (Amber).  We hiked way into the mountains and saw the beautiful city of Ohrid.  It was amazing to see the natural beauty and know that our God was the artist of this masterwork.  

So, we still have work to do this evening, but we wanted to update you on the recent happenings here in Ohrid!

Please continue to pray for our conversations with the Macedonians here, pray that God would give them ears to hear and give us wisdom in what to say.  God is good and is at work here..God bless!

Here are some verses we wanted to leave you with:

Luke 9:23-24~ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it"

Here are some other pictures of our adventures yesterday and today: