Where in the world is Nagpur, India

I'm leaving for Nagpur, India on Tuesday...thought you might like to know where it is.
Click the map to see a larger version.

Gina's Bosnia Trip Summary

Dear Family & Friends,

I‘m home safe and sound from a wonderful trip to Bosnia-Herzegovina! The trip exceeded every expectation I had. We were able to build great relationships with the students and continue relationships with the church. Thank you so much for making it possible! I want to take a moment to share a few stories with you and show you how your financial support and prayers are making a real difference in Bosnia.

Our team of three went to teach English at the Evangelical Church in Capljina. The church is the only one of its kind in the area. It’s tiny by our standards, with the typical attendance only around 35. People in the city think it’s a cult because it’s not Catholic or Muslim, the two predominant religions in the region. The pastor wasn't even sure anyone would attend the classes. We were very excited to have ten students, five of whom didn’t attend the church.

We quickly realized the students were too advanced for our lesson plans. Fortunately, they wanted to practice conversational English, so we shifted out attention to question and answer sessions. We’d ask them about life in their country and help them work through the answers in English. They were delighted to share both the positives and negatives of their lives. We were amazed at their openness. It was the perfect way to build relationships, much more effect than a traditional class would have been. God knew just what he was doing!

Now for a couple of stories…our driver for the week, Skippy, became a believer just ten months ago. He had been a soldier in the war and experienced the atrocities of the genocide firsthand. After the war, he used heroine to cope but still felt empty. He turned to a traditional church for help. He said he only found the same politics that had fueled ethnic hatred, prejudice and ultimately war. He was eventually introduced to the Evangelical Church and risked his reputation to attend...finish reading here

Click the image below to see pictures from the trip.

Gina's home!!!

She's tired and without luggage (again), but she's home. She'll give you an update soon.

Gina's back in the USA...

Just got a call from Gina. They are working their way through immigration in NY. They should be in ATL by 7:00pm.

Bosnia Trip Report #5

Gina called this morning. She doesn't get really excited about many things, but she sounded really, really excited about a few of the relationships they’ve formed and the potential for life change.

The students have commented that they've never heard that God loves everyone. One of the Muslim students said he didn't think the Muslim church he attends has anything for him, but he could see coming to the Evangelical Church of Capljina. Pretty exciting! They're hoping all the students will attend church with them on Sunday.

Today is their last day of classes. Gina said they are ready for a break. They're going to Croatia for a little R&R on the Adriatic Sea before starting the journey home Sunday after church. They'll be driving to Sarajevo Sunday afternoon (3-4 hours), spend the evening in the city and then start the flights home Monday morning. They’ll be back in the ATL Monday night!

Jason

Bosnia Trip Report #4 - Email update from Gina

Hello,

Things are continuing to go well. We invited Acmet, the Muslim boy (who is 20 :)), to go to dinner with us tonight. He is excited.

We had a bit of an interesting conversation this morning about the difference between believing in God and going to church. I was able to share a tiny piece of my testimony about how my church at home had helped me understand who God is and made Him personal to me. Don't know if they understood, but they were adamant that there is no such thing as an atheist, that even if a person doesn't belong to the church as an organization, EVERYONE believes in God.

Acmet got a little impatient with the conversation and wanted to ask us about Iraq and what we thought about Bush building a wall between us and Mexico (news to us :)).

We had a great dinner with a local missionary last night, who explained more about Bosnia Herzegovina.

We were also invited to come to one of our student's office for coffee. She is one of the church's invest and invites, so we are excited that she wants to spend more time with us and the church members.

I am not homesick at all, very comfortable and feel at home, but do miss you and wish you all could experience this place.

Gina

Bosnia Trip Report #3

Gina and I had a quick conversation this afternoon. She sounded really good (even though it was 11:30pm there). She said to tell everyone hello and to thank you all again for your prayers. I think she's enjoying the trip...she said she could definitely see coming back someday.

They had dinner tonight with a missionary, Pat Heffernan, from the town of Trebinje. I met Pat when I was in Bosnia last year and have gotten involved in a project to raise financial support for the local women that she helps manage. I'm glad Gina got to meet her. It's neat and insightful to get to spend time with a missionary in the field.

Gina gave me an update on the two guys from the first trip report, the Muslim and Serb who had argued about soccer. During one of their conversations, the Muslim guy asked about race relations in the United States. Gina said that Roger explained that there were definitely issues, but the church had helped change things. They told the class that one of the things they loved about the church North Point (and Capljina) models is it's love for everyone. The church tries to see everyone as God sees them, equally loved and pursued, regardless of race or ethnicity. She said the guy commented that he could see that.

They found out the Serbian guy had called the church earlier and asked if he, being a Serb, could attend the classes. They told him he was completely welcome, and he was brave enought to attend. Now, both a Muslim and a Serb are in a little church in Capljina, Bosnia commenting on how they both feel welcome and safe. It's pretty amazing that in that culture, the church has created an environment where that can happen. Wow! If you don't feel like your financial support and prayers for our partner churches makes a difference, here's proof they do!

Keep checking back for updates...

Jason

Bosnia Trip Report #2 - A quick email update from Gina

Got this email from Gina this morning...

All is well here. The weather is beautiful and mild, like summer in
Colorado. The people don't like it - they want HOT weather for summer. We
are having a good time, with class in the morning, then break for lunch and
a short nap, and class again in evening from 5-7. We had dinner with Bernard
and Nada at their apartment last night. They live in the square so we could
hear the soccer game and cheering.

The land is beautiful and we wake up every morning to roosters, birds
singing and a creek nearby. The older couple we are staying with are so
sweet. They don't speak english but we are able to communicate a little.
He heard me talking to Jason last night outside and asked "america familiar
dobro" - which i think means is your family well. He said he is our family
while we are here. Very sweet and loving.

I am doing well and feeling great. No jet lag and stomach is fine. The
food is very heavy, with lots of meat and fried things, but we have asked for
salads and fruit for lunch today. Bernard thought we were crazy and that
we would die from starvation if that's all we ate. He found it very funny,
but the fruit and veggies are wonderful.

I hope you are all well and not worried - we are perfectly safe and fine.

Love you all!

Bosnia Trip Report #1

I got a call from Gina earlier this afternoon (about 11:00pm Bosnian time). All is well. She sounded really good (not tired and almost energetic). I even heard her say goodnight to their hosts in Croatian! Not bad for just over 24-hours on the ground. Their luggage had arrived, so they were relieved (and freshly clothed).

They had their first English class today and she said it went really well. The students were a little more advanced, so they were changing up their lesson plans for the rest of the week. They had four people with no affiliation to the church come to the class. This is a huge deal for a small-town church considered by many to be a cult.

She also had a couple of telling cultural experiences related to World Cup soccer. First of all, if you've ever been to Europe, or any other part of the world for that matter, you know how insanely popular soccer is...and World Cup is a notch above that. Capljina is on the boarder of Croatia, so it feels as much like Croatia as Bosnia. In fact, they speak Croatian and it's pretty common to see the Croatian flag flying around town. Well, while they were in town this evening, Croatia was playing the premier team of world soccer, Brazil. The town was electric. She said people everywhere were cheering and blowing car horns. Croatia lost 0-1 but scored a bit of a moral victory in playing Brazil, the last World Cup winner, and the holders of an 8-game World Cup win streak, to a goal.

On the flip side of the excitement, in one of their classroom discussions they asked about favorite soccer teams. She said a heated debate/almost argument broke out between two guys. One said he could cheer for any of the teams in the region: Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia. The other, an ethnic Muslim, couldn't understand how a Bosnian could be for any team other than Bosnia. Context: just over 10 years ago the Muslims in this part of Bosnia were under siege from both Serbian and Croatian Orthodox Christians and Catholics. Thousands of Muslims were killed and tens of thousands were forced to leave Bosnia...not too hard to see why someone wouldn't be excited about Serbian Soccer. Gina said you could sense that this was about more than soccer. She quickly changed the subject.

I can't help but smile when I think of Gina realizing she's got to defuse the situation, knowing how nervous she was about leading classes. I know she's doing awesome.

Gina said she could definitely feel all of our prayers and that they were excited about the rest of the week.

Her teammates, Roger and Gayle, are also doing great.

I'll post another update when I get one.

Jason

Oh, and the weather is great...cool nights and warm days. They're also resting well.

Gina arrived safely in Bosnia this morning...

I had a quick conversation with Gina this morning at 6:00am (1:00pm Bosnian time). The trip over went well (except the team's luggage hasn't arrived yet :(). It was just over a 12-hour trip, including a layover in Milan. I'll post another update as soon as I get one.

Where in the world is Bosnia? (Gina's going there tomorrow)

I thought it might be worth pointing out where Bosnia is, since Gina's going there tomorrow. She'll be teaching English in the city of Capljina for the next eight days. I'll post trip reports as/if I get them.

Click here to see the full map. (It's a Word document, so it may take a minute to download.)

Follow Alan Arnette's K2 Climb

Alan Arnette is at it again...this time on K2! He's a regular guy from Colorado who has been on some amazing adventures. He's posting dispatches from K2 now. His website has a TON of useful mountaineering info and some fabulous photos. It's a must for anyone interested in expedition mountaineering. And Alan is an awesome guy...I emailed him a few times when I was getting ready for Nepal and he always (and promptly) responded with great info and insight. I would love to see him make the summit!

Here's a link to his dispatches. He's even got audio and video clips! It's the next best thing to being there: Alan Arnette's K2/Broad Peak Climb

K2 - The second highest mountain in the world - widely considered the hardest high altitude climb, even harder than Everest (photo from Alan's website)


Alan on Everest (photo from Alan's website)


Alan (photo from Alan's website)

Good luck Alan! Climb strong!