HUB students, Zeljko and Marija’s explain their stories…

Zeljko:

My family are Orthodox – I grew up a religious man, praying every night… 

Two years ago, a man called Daniel, who had studied during the the eleventh year of the Bible School here in Belgrade, invited my sister to a group where they talked about Jesus. She came home delighted about Him. I knew that Jesus is the great King – but I had never had any personal connection with Him. When my sister talked to me about Jesus in a personal way, I was very intrigued and asked to come with her to the next meeting…

I realised that I needed to respond personally to His sacrifice for me and this is when everything changed… I was later baptised and am now committed to helping Daniel and others in my church to share the Message of Jesus with our town!

I am here in the school to grow spiritually, to know God’s Word better so that I can share this Good News in turn with others around me.

 

Marija:

I’m from Negotin in Macedonia. I came to know Jesus only in January of this year.

In my home town there were some public lectures in the theatre about spiritual themes. I came and heard the story of Zachaeus. I was struck by the words, “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost…”  I felt lost – one reason for this was because I had not known my father – he left us before I was even born and was then killed in a car accident when I was eleven. I spent my life trying to find a father’s love in my friends or in my boyfriend but I never found it. I was searching for what I was missing but didn’t know where to look.

At this lecture, I received a Bible as a present and began to read it.

I worked in a bakery and the owners talked with me and encouraged me to respond to what I was reading. I went to meet with this couple’s church where the Message of Jesus brought me to tears. I prayed – I wanted Jesus to forgive me and clean me and I wanted to follow Him.

I began to help my church by telling others about the fulfillment that Jesus brings to a person’s life, travelling to the towns around our own.

I have now come to the Bible School now because I want to know God’s Word better and to mature spiritually. I sense that I am growing and changing here.

We are Isa and Elza… from Macedonia

Over the next few days, you will meet a number of the students currently studying at HUB…

We are Isa and Elza… from Macedonia – the area of Prilep.  We’re from Romany Muslim families…

Isa: When I was young, my uncle told me about Jesus and took me to a church.  Because my family was a Muslim family, my father eventually banned me from going with my uncle.

As a teenager I made many mistakes and problems – yet I knew that God could see everything.  One night, I had a dream of Jesus coming from the East in great glory and I was not good enough to say “Let me come with you”.  At that moment, I awoke and said, “God thank you that this was only a dream…”  I knew that I needed to experience change.  I started to read the Bible in secret and go to the church in secret too.

After a year, my father saw a change in me – neighbours no longer came to complain about me!  The money I earnt, I gave to my family instead of spending it on myself.  Finally, one day, my father asked me, “What is with you?  What has changed?”

I explained that I had become a follower of Christ.  I expected that I would be rejected by my family, told to leave my home and lose everything that I had but because of the positive change in my life, he said, “It’s better that you go to church than you create havoc in the neighbourhood.”

I felt like the happiest man in my county – I could now freely meet with others who love Christ.

Elza: The pastor in our local church is my cousin.  He came to my home for family events and he took these opportunities to tell us all about Jesus.  Each time that he spoke about Jesus, my older sister would listen but I would go and switch on the TV or the radio…  He thought I would never be open to the Message.  He gave me a little brochure with questions about Jesus and I used to take this and leaf through it…

A friend of mine invited me to come to church with her and there I heard Christians worshiping together, it was very good to hear. Over the next week, things changed very fast as I entrusted my life to Jesus.

My mother was a very religious Muslim and began to make problems for me because I went to church.  My father said, you are now 21 and no one will want to marry you because you go to that church.  I could see that they were trying to control me but I said, “If the day comes that God wants me to marry, He will provide a husband for me.”  The whole of my family and community rejected me as insane becasue of my growing faith and accused me of many things.

After a year, I met Isa…

Isa: We met each other and for three months I prayed that Elza would be my wife…

Elza: Meanwhile, I was praying that Isa would be my husband!  When we finally spent some time together, we knew that we would be together for always…

Isa: After 18 months of our marriage, we went to Veles to serve as missionaries alongside a local church.  We went to particularly work amongst Muslim Romi people.

Elza: We now have three children – Sara and twins Aron and Arona…

Isa: We have come to the school after these four years of mission work in Veles.  Throughout this time we have been praying that one day God would open the way for us to come to this Bible School.

We pray that this time at the Bible School would be one of refreshment and study.  Our hearts are with our people and although we don’t know exactly where God will lead us after our studies, we pray that He will use us among them.

Teaching at the Bible School in Belgrade

The Bible School has welcomed the 16th generation of students.  They are a wonderfully diverse group of people who are passionate about returning to their home towns following their studies to share with others about Jesus Christ.

The course that they are studying takes them – in a carefully structured way – through the whole of the Bible in year.  This teaching is shared by about thirty different teachers who come to stay at the Bible for a week to a fortnight each.  Around half of these teachers are from outside the Balkans, and around half are from this region.

This week I am here at HUB to teach through Acts chapters 1-8.  It is a deeply relevant book as God takes weak, ordinary people and uses them, by the power of His Holy Spirit, to bring the life-changing Message of Jesus Christ, first to their neighbours and then on to “the ends of the earth”.

The programme at the Bible School is also carefully designed to give each person exposure to the needs on the mission fields of this region.  Over the weekend, one team has been in Bosnia and another in South Serbia visiting graduates of the Bible School who are already putting into action the principles found in Acts.

Over the days that I am here, I plan to introduce you to as many of the students as I can…

 

 

“Hi, I’m Dejan…”

 

I’m Dejan from Veles in Macedonia and I’m 19 years old.

When I was seven, my father became very ill with cancer and then he died.  I was so shocked by his death that I began to have difficulty even to speak.

We lived very simply together as  a family – in a poor situation.  Six of us slept in the same room.

It was during this time that my oldest sister who was then sixteen years old met and trusted her life to Jesus Christ.  As a result of her connection, I started to meet with her church but as I continued to grow older, I did not live in a way that would please God.

One day, listening to talk in that church, I was struck by a new and a deep sense of my own uncleanness before a holy God.  It was then that I began to seek Him and call on His Holy Spirit to rescue and change me.

I have come to this school to learn how to share the Message of Jesus more effectively.

I want my life to be used to share His Message with others wherever I go.

 

Message from children in a refugee camp…

Darko and Lidija write…

“When I read this, tears came to my eyes.  This message came from some young people who, because of the war, were displaced from Kosova and now live in a collective centre (refugee camp)…”

“Jesus Christ very lovingly tells us:  

“‘So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.’ (Jn 16:22-23) 

“At that moment we will understand that everything has worked for our good and that the many difficult paths led us to salvation. ‘We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.'”

To read on, please click here.  If you would like to receive further information about supporting the many projects that Darko and Lidija are involved with, please get in touch through the contact form.

The Sixteenth Year of the Serbian Bible School Begins…

Sladjan and Jaroslava write:

“What a fantastic beginning of the new school year! The students of the 1st and the 2nd year, 21 of them, came from different parts of Bosnia, Macedonia and Serbia.

 
“So much diversity at one place, with so much enthusiasm for studying the Word of God and for preparation for the ministry is something that we believe will make this year in the Bible school an unforgettable experience for them…”

::READ ON BY CLICKING HERE::