A Report From Our Friends In Bosnia

This month we share a trip report from Mike and Karen Mellison, long time Global Outreach partners. -- Global Outreach Inc

I travelled to Bosnia and Hercegovina for 2 weeks after Easter. This part of the world continues to be a very difficult mission field because of the strong

cultural and spiritual resistance combined with the ethnic hatred carried over from the war. In spite of this, we do rejoice over the small victories and the seeds planted through loving personal relationships. The poverty and high unemployment give us many opportunities to share Christ’s love in practical ways as an expression of God’s love for the people of this war torn land.

Mike at Bible School

An important part of our ministry is to bring encouragement along with prayer and financial support for special projects as well as for the pastors, missionaries and their families. One of our primary focuses is on helping the churches move toward being self supporting by creating a loan fund to help start small businesses. We have had some success in spite of the difficult economic and business environment with corruption and government policies that are not encouraging to what we are trying to do.

Children participate in after school feeding/mentoring program

One of the brightest spots we see in the country is the dedicated work of Mario

and Dejana Opacek in the town of Vares. They moved to Vares as Bosnian missionaries sent from their church in Zenica. They are ministering in one of the poorest parts of the country with 80% unemployment causing extreme poverty. In spite of the difficult situation, they have been ministering joyfully and lovingly to the poorest families with primary focus on the children through after school feeding and mentoring and other programs. The seeds that they have been planting by sharing Christ’s love in word and deed and the relationships that they have developed with these children and their families are starting to bear fruit.

Mario and Dejana Opacek

Our Bosnian brothers and sisters are thankful for the encouragement and support provided by Global Outreach. Please pray for Mario and Dejana and the other pastors and missionaries serving in Bosnia and Hercegovina.