Days of Hope in Bitola

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Days of Hope in Bitola

Rev. Mircho Andreev, director of WorldShare partner MMB, reports on this Spring's outreach in Macedonia's historic 'City of Consuls'...

Once again this spring, we decided to have days of evangelism, this time held in Bitola. We call the event 'Days of Hope'.

Mirce Andreev with music team in Bitola

Bitola is a town of more than 100,000 people. We have two local churches there, one Macedonian-speaking, and one Roma-speaking.

Right at the time we were organising the event, many problems happened. First of all, after much trying, we were not allowed to put up a big tent. It seemed we were not welcome there.

We decided we would do what we could without the big tent. We rented a playground where we put several smaller tents. Different activities were held there, and the stage was used for songs, testimonies and short messages from God's Word.

Most important of all, we were able to speak with people one-on-one, and there were many!

Another problem in those days was the rain, all day long. But just in time for the big event planned for the Friday, it stopped, and the time was good.

There were some 600 people who came, and among other things we provided 120 medical check-ups (blood sugar and blood pressure tests). More than 30 people had free hair-cuts. We distributed around 220 New Testaments, and more than 200 children were able to enjoy games, sugar candy and pop corn.

I was in the tent where people could come for prayer. This was a really blessed place. People were coming, and for the first time in their lives they encountered someone who wanted to pray for them. They shared their needs, and were prayed for. God's presence was powerful! Once again I was able to see that people are in desperate need of God.

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I was struck by how many teenagers came. Maybe the reason was that nearby was a high school, but all of them were very open for discussion and they all took New Testaments for Youth.

I believe that for Bitola and Macedonia there is a bright future, because I can see more of this generation are open to God (than) with the prejudices which the older communistic generations had problems with.

Besides the volunteers from our churches, there were also two groups from the USA with the Assemblies of God, who were very dedicated in their serving. On the Saturday, they had a drama for children called 'The Puzzle'. Women of the church in Bitola organised a 'tea meeting' for other women - time for fellowship, coffee, tea and cake. Only 20 could come due to the heavy rain.

However, the fellowship was great and many of them asked for personal prayer - the first time something like this has happened in Bitola! We want to do it again. It was a great encouragement for the local believers, and for the pastoral couples Josip & Biljana, and Tefik & Anita.

Please pray for the blessing of all those who were touched by all these activities.

Please pray for my health, and for my family. My wife, Nada, is of very great help to me, as wife and as companion in ministry, together with our daughters. Alongside her secular work, Elisaveta is very much involved in worship ministry, as is Anastasija, who is in the high school for nurses.