A City Divided // Stories from Mitrovica, Kosovo

A City Divided // Stories from Mitrovica, Kosovo

My team spent 2 weeks in Mitrovica, Kosovo. Here is a little background on the culture and atmosphere of Mitrovica. This city is represented by two people groups. The Albanian people make up about 80% of the people in the city and they live on the south part of Mitrovica. In the north part of the city resides ethnic Serbian people. In the center is a bridge that separates “the sides” of these two people groups. To put it into perspective, in the south part of the city people speak Albanian, they are culturally Muslim, are proud to be Albanians living in Kosovo, and use the Euro, but if you cross over the bridge they speak Serbian, they are culturally Orthodox, claim to be Serbians living in Mitrovica, and use the Serbian Dinar. These two people groups are enemies of each other which stems from the war that happened between Serbia and Kosovo for Kosovo’s independence from Serbia’s rule in 1998-1999. Family members from both sides were killed by members of the other side, making this gap harder to bridge as the memories of loved ones lost is a constant reminder of their enemy’s actions. We were told that many times Serbian’s would mark their atrocious war crimes with the image of the Orthodox cross. When talking to Kosovar Christians, this was one of the hardest images to redeem because of their negative connotation to the Serbian’s actions in the war. “Christianity” is the religion of their enemies, so for these Albanian Kosovars, the mere idea of Christianity is a huge obstacle that they associate with Serbians. This bridge is constantly monitored by Italian Carabinieri or other NATO enforced peace keeping officials to prevent any conflict from happening at this location. There are many things that divide these people; religion, language, and ethnicity.  

(View from the Mitrovica Castle overlooking the city)

(Mitrovica Bridge)

Praying Over the Bridge

Part of the vision that our Squad Mentor gave us was to cover the city in prayer. This city is hard ground spiritually. We had the opportunity to connect with some American Missionaries who have been working in Kosovo for the last 17 years. They shared with us the need for worship and prayer to cover this area because of how difficult this area is spiritually. This area is very affected by a spirit of division, depression, and suicidality and we could feel the heaviness in this city. Part of our ministry for the 2 weeks we were in Mitrovica was to cover the city in prayer. One of the sections of the city that we decided to focus on was the bridge. This bridge represents a place of division between these two people groups. So just like the story of Jericho, we went to the bridge to pray everyday for 7 days straight, and on the 7th day we walked around the bridge 7 times and each worshiped from a different point on the bridge declaring peace, fruits of the Spirit, hope, and the Lord’s character over this place of contention. We are believing that “walls” of hostility, bondage, hatred and other spiritual strongholds were broken through prayer and worship. 

(Looking onto the Albanian side from the Serbian side of the bridge)

The Woman on the Bench

One of the days we were returning back from the bridge, we ran into a Christian couple from the small church that we were working with. As we were talking, I looked up and saw an older woman sitting on the bench. I felt like the Holy Spirit spoke and asked me to go over and pray for healing for this woman in her legs. At first I was resistant to this, but eventually went over with one of my teammates. As we were walking over, I saw her rubbing her knees and I saw some walking sticks that she had laying next to her on the bench. We walked over to her and started talking to this woman named *Maria and I found out that she knew no English. I was thinking to myself that this was going to be a long Google translate, when one of the men who worked at the church who we had just ran into, walked over to help us translate. I asked if she had any pain and she said yes that she had knee pain. We asked if we could pray to Jesus for her pain and she agreed. Both Madison and I prayed for her healing of her knees and for inflammation and pain to leave in Jesus’ name. While Madison was praying, she prayed that this woman would no longer need to use her walking sticks again. After we prayed, she told our translator that her pain was gone and we got to share that Jesus knows her every need and cares about her. A few days later, we were walking in the same downtown area and Madison pointed out the same woman to me. She was walking around the center without any walking sticks! God is good and He delights in revealing his individual care towards people. Through this experience the Lord has been teaching me about how I can live an interruptible life. This is still something that I am learning, but I want to continue to grow in my willingness to follow the Lord no matter what it looks like, even when it is uncomfortable, out of my way, or inconvenient. Thank you Jesus for touching this woman’s knees and for revealing yourself to her. Please pray for Maria, who is Muslim, that she would know that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and that He is the only Way. (John 14:6)

*Name replaced due to privacy

(Mitrovica, Kosovo City Center)

Thanksgiving on November 9th

For the two weeks that we were in Mitrovica, we had the privilege of staying above the church that we were working with. The missionary couple that we had connected with had agreed to let us stay there since they have hosted teams in the past and have a lot of space to do so. We felt privileged to be able to use such a nice space that was equipped with a full kitchen. We had the space and the permission to host an event and we thought that it would be fun to make a Thanksgiving dinner where we could invite people who we had met from the city. We decided to plan this event with an international twist since we couldn’t find everything and most items we had to completely make from scratch. Since turkey is hard to find, we decided on doing a main entree of creamy chicken and rice with sides of mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, deviled eggs, fruit salad, veggies, and mac & cheese. For dessert we made 2 apple pies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, and apple cider. We planned for about 25 people to come and ended up with a group of about 20. We talked about Thanksgiving/ American culture and living a life of gratitude to the Lord. It was a special night to continue to get to know the people we have met during our time in Kosovo as well as meet some new friends from a nearby city who also came. This was a fun way to start to celebrate the holidays on the Race and we are praying for the young adults who came that they would read the Bibles/ Gospels given and fall in love with Jesus.  

     

(Our Thanksgiving table and desserts)

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We are beginning to start traveling again! It is crazy how fast our time in Uzhhorod, Ukraine has gone by. We are leaving Uzhhorod tomorrow and our next country is Jordan! Will you pray for smooth travels and for wisdom and guidance for our time in Jordan!