Ammunition

He met us at the door with a wrapped parcel. Holding 30 Bibles. "We bring you ammunition!" he said with a smile.

We had an amazing opportunity to meet the folks who are responsible for bringing the first Bibles to Macedonia. About 15 years ago, the only Bibles available were in Old Slovenian language (which wasn't the common language spoken) and only the Priest could read the Bible. Still, when people would go to church to hear the priest read, most of the time the ordinary lay person couldn't understand Old Slovenian. This is another reason why Icons are so important to the Orthodox Church. They tell the story in pictures what the people couldn't understand in words.

Lucas Foundation has provided Bibles translated into Macedonian for free distribution throughout all of Macedonia. The neat thing is, each Bible has a picture of the specific city to which it has been given. These "City Bibles" have been distributed throughout all of Europe, and have been for many years, even during the Communist years. How interesting it was to hear their stories of smuggling Bibles into former Communist Yugoslavia (which Macedonia was part of), and how their hearts still race upon approaching the boarder with their van and the precious cargo it holds. Their motivation and determination to continue distribution and production and working their way into closed areas was so encouraging to us. They brought a message of "Jesus says COME TO ME but that He also says GO AND TELL." What a pleasure it was to meet such mighty warriors for Christ.

On Thursdays, between Spanish classes, we have been conducting a "spiritual" type discussion for about 15 minutes. This time is called 2nd Coffee, where the first class' students stay and the second class' students come early if they'd like. The first discussion was about love, and the second was about truth. I (Janae) was able to give my personal testimony in Macedonian and afterwords we gave out 25 City Bibles. The following week, a man who had been hesitant to come to any Bible Studies or outreaches asked for one of the Bibles. He simply asked, "Can I have one of those books?" Isn't God good? We look forward to many more Thursday 15 minute-ers to follow!! 25 Bibles handed out, 475 to go!