The following communication was passed on by a friend from church. It
was mailed from a missionary to Serbia, who gives a moving first-person
account of what's going on over there....
Hey Kim -
Wild hey? I have been working in Serbia of which Kosovo is a province. I
stayed under three days of bombing and then was forced to leave due to
the rapidly growing anti-american sentiment in the country. I have
drawn up an account of my last few days in the country. I'll attach it
here, send it to whoever you want or think might be interested... it has
been a difficult time. I'll write again when things calm down a
bit....Greetings to Ed, here is my little story
RE: Serbia
I am currently writing you from Budapest Hungary where we arrived safely
last night. I started writing this e-mail three days ago and could never
send it due to the telephone lines being closed... so here are some of
the events of the last few days...
Hi all,
Wednesday March 24th - 10:00 pm - Please pray. The bombs are already
hitting Pristina. Sirens have gone off in Leskovac (a town just south of
us) and in Nis tonight. So far the people have not panicked but with the
sirens and the beginning of bombing in Kosovo - people are very
frightened. I was in two separate prayer meetings today and people were
crying out to God with all that they had; for forgiveness for their
land, for peace to be restored and for God to miraculously intervene.
Please stand with us in this hour. We are in desperate need of the peace
of God.
Wednesday March 24 - midnight...I couldn't send this message earlier, so
now I'm tacking on. It's midnight of the same day and they have just
signaled through the air raid sirens that the bombing has finished for
the night. It went on for four hours. They hit Pristina, Montenegro,
Novi Sad, Panchevo, Uzice, Kraljevo, and Prokuplje (a town just 10 miles
south of Nis towards Kosovo). They did not hit Nis tonight. Thank God.
Pray for some kind of intervention tomorrow - this is horrible.
March 25th - 7:30 am - We made it through the night. After my last
message, the sirens went again, all night until 5:30 am saying to be
prepared at any moment for bombs on Nis. We all tried to sleep together
in the basement of our house, watching the news and tossing and turning.
I am expecting that tonight it will be here. Nis has several key
military bases. They hit Novi Sad (where Nesa is) last night - they
showed it on TV, it was like Bosnia... They also hit Pristina,
Podgorica, Prokuplje (a city just outside of Nis), Danielo, Panchevo,
Uzice, Belgrade, Kraljevo, and Kraguevac. The fear is almost
overwhelming - please keep praying for these precious people. I will be
at the Baptist church praying with people all day and then with my cell
group in the early evening. We all have to be home around 8:00 pm as
that's when it starts all over again. My emotions are on the edge, but
my spirit is strong.
March 25th - Well, I still can't send so I will keep adding on. It's
7:17 pm on Thursday night and the day has been filled with sirens and
alerts, neighbors gathering around, police visits, etc... we are
expecting Nis to be hit tonight. I have been at Bata and Sladjana's
house all day. Sasa and Woody, two good friends from the church have
been called into the army. They were with us for several hours this
afternoon writing last minute letters and praying with us. Saying
good-bye to them was so hard. Knowing that two of my dear friends
were going away to possibly die at the hands of my countrymen made me
sick inside. As I hugged them, we promised that we would be friends
forever, no matter what came.
The police also came to visit me today. They said that it was time for
them to take me - there was several moments of tense silence until they
said - they were only checking to make sure that I was OK. They have
been good friends to me throughout this crisis and I am praying for
their safety as well.
8:41 am - March 26th. Last night was the scariest night of my life. I
had to stop writing last time because of the sirens, all electric plugs
have to be unplugged. The sirens came steadily until 8:00 when the bombs
started coming. There was a black out in the city. I was with Bata and
Sladjana, the pastors here, and their children. We were all on one couch
against a wall with blankets and pillows over our heads. There was a
blackout in the city. With all the lights out, with our shoes on, with
our passports in our pockets in case of hasty retreat, or death, we kept
the children between Sladjana and I. Bata knelt over us shielding us
from possible broken glass and debris that would come with the bombing.
Nine rockets hit Nis.
One came within 200 meters of our house. It was
horrible, you could hear the planes coming, then the rockets and then
you didn't know how close it would come - the children would start
crying, we were praying and then they would hit, one after the other
after the other. The windows shook violently in the house, but we had
them open so that the pressure would not blow them out. Then, after
the bomb would come a deadly silence and just when you thought you could
get up, another would come. All of us were sick to our stomachs - the
fear and anxiousness just ties you up inside. Then we got phone calls
from the church members in Leskovac, a town just south of Nis that was
also hit last night. A whole neighborhood was set ablaze by a rocket.
Downtown buildings - all the windows shattered from the blasts. Friends
of ours have homes where the doors and windows have been blown out. The
church members huddled in the church basement throughout the night
without electricity.
They showed news clips on TV of a lot of other cities in Yugoslavia.
The damage is not just military sites, there are houses, coffee bars,
downtown areas, totally destroyed. One Serbian village in Kosovo was
bombed, there is nothing left. From the time the sun goes down there is
nothing but fear and terror, sirens and the horrible anticipation of the
bombs.
I have come to believe that this is not simply about a
humanitarian problem with the Kosovo Albanians - this is about
destroying a sovereign nation. This is about NATO gaining a foothold in
this country. Again, Milosevic appeared on TV last night saying that
they were ready to start talks again, that they had been ready for a
political solution - that they would even allow international soldiers
in to police the agreement, just not NATO.
There have been
demonstrations all over the world against the strikes in London,
Toronto, New York, Moscow, Italy, France, etc... Please continue to pray
with us. Write your congressman, call your Senator, get in touch with
your Parliament representatives and speak up for these people. I know
what's happened in Kosovo, I know it's wrong but to bomb villages,
towns, homes, of people who have in many cases been the ones protesting
these very problems - this is not the answer. And please please pray
that some kind of intervention will take place today with the Contact
Group or another body - if this continues this whole country will be
gone. Physically, emotionally, mentally.... Please pray and help in
anyway that you can in this hour. May God be with all of you.
March 26th - 7:45 pm. I am writing you from Sofia Bulgaria. After last
night, I went back to my house to do some things and to get cleaned up.
I had been home maybe one hour when the landlady where I live said,
"come quickly - the neighbors want to burn your car!" I ran outside and
was faced with about 10 angry young men who live just a few houses down.
I know them. I said, "Vlada, - why?" He said, because your government
is killing our people - I hate Americans!! I had the chance to say to
the whole group - (by now, many neighbors had gathered around), how much
I loved Serbia and the people and how sorry I was that it was my country
that was doing this to them. After I spoke, they walked away in silence.
By this time, my landlords had called the police. After 10 minutes the
police arrived and basically a riot broke out in the neighborhood with
people threatening my landlords because of me.... Just after all of
this, Bata and Sladjana called me and said they were going to the
village for a few days and they thought it was best for me to leave. The
whole church has dispersed - everyone is with their families in their
basements... At this point I realized that for me to stay was actually
endangering the lives of the very people I was there for. I had always
said that as soon as my presence was harmful and not helpful - I would
go. So I packed the van with a few belongings and as the sirens were
signaling another attack - I fled the city.
I had to leave my jeep and many other belongings there with my
landlords. As I hugged and kissed them good-bye, there were tears all
around. As I drove through the city, huge convoys of military
personnel were preparing for the nights activities. As I drove out of my
city, my body convulsed with tears and physical pain in my stomach and
my heart. What pain must God feel over this; for the Albanians, for the
Serbs, for His world that refuses to turn to Him but pursues violence
because of an unresolved anger and hate that they are enslaved to. And
Oh how I wish that the window of time had lasted longer.... there are
still so many that have not heard of the only ONE who can free them from
this pain and hate. Where were the missionaries? Where was the church
ten years ago when we still had time....
The border crossing from Yugoslavia to Bulgaria was extremely tense.
The Yugoslav guys gave me a really hard time and I just kept telling
them how sorry I was about all of this. I think they saw my heart and
they let me go. As I drove into Bulgaria, the sun was setting in my rear
view mirror over Yugoslavia. I knew the night was coming again and with
it, the nightmares and the fear for everyone there. I cried and cried
as I drove away, my heart breaking more with every kilometer that
separated me from them. Even as I write, my hands are shaking and the
tears won't stop.
Please, please, please keep praying. This has to
stop. We are destroying a country. We are destroying a people. A people
who have continually protested this war, who have spoken out against
their government time and again, only to be silenced. These strikes are
only entrenching Milosevic as the savior of the people once again....
These same people who desperately need Christ, who need to be discipled,
who are waiting with hunger for the truth of God, are the ones that we
are destroying. God help us, what have we done.
March 27th - 4:35 pm. I am still in the hotel in Sofia, Bulgaria. I
tried to sleep last night but with every airplane sound, with every
sharp noise, I jumped. I was able to talk to my parents, my brother and
several YWAM leaders from the region by telephone - I was encouraged by
their calls and was able to release some of the tension by talking
things through. Hal Young and Steve Johnson from the YWAM Budapest
base are flying into Sofia tonight to drive the van with me back to
Budapest. I just wish that we could drive back into Yugoslavia and take
everyone to safety... I hate that I feel safe right now.... there are so
many who don't have this privilege. Tonight the bombs will come again
- as night draws closer, let us continue to remember them in our
prayers; Albanians, Serbs, and the foreigners who have remained.
March 29th - Budapest. Angie and I will be working together over the
next few days to put a human face to the situation in Yugoslavia. We are
contacting as many english news sources in the city as we can. I will
continue to try and get news out of Yugoslavia from the church there and
pass it on to you for prayer. As news of the attacks continue to haunt
our screens, let our prayers continue to fill the screens of heaven
until this horrible time is over. As you lie in the comfort and safety
of your own home and family today, please continue to remember our
brothers and sisters in Yugoslavia. For the sake of the Albanians and
the Serbians, "Remember those who are mistreated as if you yourselves
were suffering." - Hebrews 13:3
