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Students’ Stories

Hearing the stories of the students of the Bible School is a great encouragement and often a challenge.  Here is Amir’s story followed by Snezana’s – we will send more over the next week…

Amir:

I’m from a Muslim Romany background – my home town is Bosnia.  I heard about Jesus in 2005 when my middle brother – who had heard about Jesus through his wife – sent me on a camp.  The camp was by a lake and there I heard good teaching – I was really impressed too by the way that I heard people worshipping.  On the last night of that camp, they asked, “Who wants to trust Jesus to be their Saviour?”  I said that I did.

Four months later I was baptised and two days after that, my oldest brother died of a heart attack.  I found this a great challenge to my faith but I have learned to trust Him through those hard times and the good times.  I am here at the Bible School to study God’s Word – I am enjoying getting to know others here.  I want to be open for God to use me as He chooses.

 

Snezana

I am 19 years old.  When I was 3, my father became very ill.  When I reached 6 years old, it became clear that he had cancer.  Half of my extended family are followers of Jesus Christ and they wanted to pray for my dad and because of their caring concern, my mum started to go to church.  Near the end of his life, my father was declared clinically dead and my mother prayed that he would live just a little longer so she could prepare for him to go.  One month later, he died.  But in this time he too had trusted Jesus.

My mother looked after me.  When I reached 12 years old, I was on a camp, I dreamed about my father.  I also sensed God’s preparedness to complete and fill me.  I gave my life to Him on this camp and was baptised shortly afterwards.

I pray that with this that life God has given me, I would serve God and be a blessing to others.  I particularly love to work with children.

Two years ago, I came to the Bible School to help to look after children during a conference.  I was so impressed by what I saw that I began to pray that I would be able to one day come to study here.  Almost all of my church is praying for me as I study here and I feel that it’s definitely God’s will that I am here.  It’s been a great blessing so far.

One of the Bible School team, Marijana, taught me when I was 7 years old on a Christian camp.  It is great to be now in the Bible School with her involved in the team.

Last week was the 12th anniversary of my father’s death, I pray for God to take away my brokenness and to have that sense that God is my father.  I have a great peace that I will meet my earthly father again one day with Jesus.

As I look at the future and the mission fields of my town on the Croatian border, I am greatly encouraged by this verse

“Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.  For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.”

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Dubravka’s story…

The students of the sixteenth generation of the Bible School continue to share their stories.  This is Dubravka.

 
I am from Veles in Macedonia.  I used to pray and read the Bible but I didn’t understand it.   I even wrote some verses and stuck them in my bedroom.  As I searched for Him, I always felt I hadn’t done enough… My heart said, “There must be more”.

Then, last year I heard about an evangelical church in our town – one of the things that drew me there was that they met in the evening.  When I went there for the first time, they were teaching about the Holy Spirit.  Some used gifts, others sang – it was strange for me.  It was their love for me that drew me to their message…

During the three years before my visit to the church, I couldn’t sleep.  I was afraid of the dark.  I always felt like something was watching me.  I never allowed the light to be turned out at night.  On the evening after hearing about Jesus at the church, the fear was so strong that I expected something to attack me.  In this fear, I began to call Jesus and as I called Him, I repented from my sins and I prayed.  I knew that I needed life, I needed something that was different from the world that would fill me: I needed Jesus in my life.  After my prayer, I fell into a sleep that was deeper and more peaceful than I had ever experienced.

Since then I have been growing in my walk with Jesus…

So many people are in the dark around me and I am still learning to forgive those who have wronged me.  I don’t know the details about what God wants from me when I go home after the Bible School but He has been encouraging me that He has a plan that is good and cannot be stopped!

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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.

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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.

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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.

 

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New Term Beginning at the Bible School in Belgrade

Please pray for Sladjan and his wife Jaroslava as they head up the team and lead the work of the Bible School in Belgrade.

This week the new term has begun at the Bible School in Belgrade…

Studying the dynamic Gospel of Mark with visiting teacher Roger Pearce from the UK, this will be another week of clear and helpful Bible study combined with practical experience in communities around Belgrade.  Roger has been involved with the Bible School since its beginning and has been a blessing to many who have now graduated and are communicating the Good News of Jesus Christ across the Balkans.

Please pray with with the students and team that the Lord Jesus would be honoured as each student prepares for mission to their home communities following their studies.

Thank you for your vital role with us all as you stand with us in prayer.