Hello, Kosova!

The practical side of the DTS has begun! Last time I wrote, we were well into the the first half of the discipleship school, and although practical application happens throughout, the focal point of the first half, called "lecture phase" was on the teachings in class. The second half, the half we've just begun a week ago, is focused on applying what the students have learned, and we have the pleasure of applying it first by serving the nation of Kosova for 6 weeks before moving on to work in Romania and Ukraine.

The majority of our time so far has been spent befriending university students, doing prayer meetings, doing practical service like cleaning up the garbage that litters the streets, and helping the local Campus Cru chapter. Myself and a student also had the honor of playing on a worship team for some 700+ believers from all of Kosova on Easter Sunday!

Kosova is fascinating to me. It only just gained its independence as a State sixteen years ago, after a history of being ruled by empire after empire, most recently being under Serbia and Communist rule. A war and the intervention of the UN in 1999 led to the country gaining its freedom, and the signs of it being post-war and brand-new are everywhere. Gleaming high-rise apartments, new within the last five years and covering the hills- as far you can see in some directions- and the shells of bombed-out brick buildings sit side-by-side, with dirt or brick roads littered in garbage winding between them. Wild dogs roam, eating the trash or following people. Construction projects are in action everywhere.

The people are neatly dressed, relaxed, very relational, and very welcoming. I have the same feeling among them that I did in Ireland during my first trip to Europe: "These are my people!!" My greatest pleasures have been getting to know the local people, getting closer to the DTS team my friend/colleague Vicky and I lead, and gaining understanding of the people from their history and what our contacts share with us.