28 January 2016 | Novi Sad, Serbia [tedNEWS] When you see a good thing you want to bring it home. That, at least, was the case for Marijana* who has been involved with the Relay youth club in Novi Sad, Serbia, since it started in September 2012. She had seen the positive effect of the club on local children and how, working in cooperation with ADRA, the team were even able to give them special New Year presents. For 2016 she decided to do the same in her local village, just over an hour’s drive south-west of Serbia’s second largest city.
The village has around 3,000 people with a small Adventist church with just 10 Adventist believers. Most of the villagers are Orthodox and a lack of connection between the two faith groups soon led to some major problems. While Marijana had planned well, talking with the local school, a private kindergarten and a local group who teach children ‘folklor’ – the Serbian national dance, things soon started to fall apart. One week after agreeing to participate, the owner of the kindergarten called to cancel, stating that she had received several threating phone calls. Marijana states, “I didn’t want to make any unnecessary problems so I continued to plan our own event.”
However, just one week before the event, things started to go from bad to worse. First she was invited to a parents’ meeting with the ‘folklor’ group. The local Orthodox priest had told the parents that they were selling out their kids just to receive a gift. “My task was to talk with those parents and explain to them who we are, and why we are doing this event.” She explained why she wanted both their children and those from the church to participate in the programme. She says, “It was my first time standing in front of so many people and talking about my faith and beliefs, but I was determined not to take ‘No’ for an answer.”
Marijana continued her planning including placing five posters in local stores, the pub and the school. Two days later only one remained. Not even the one in the school was allowed to stay. It was a low point for Marijana. She still had the support of the officer in charge of the local Cultural Centre were Relay was to be held, but even he confessed to her that he had discovered there were a lot of people in the village trying to stop it happening. This included someone calling the Serbian Ministry of Religious Affairs, and even the BIA (Serbian Security Agency) to check on Marijana, Relay and ADRA.
Expressing his trust in the project, he met with Marijana, got a clearer picture of her plans, and took one of the packages so that he could show others what was inside. Marijana says, “He promised me that everything would be solved and fine, but I insisted we inform the local police station so they would send someone as a security officer at this event.”
That same afternoon she met a local priest from another village. She says, “We talked about the Sabbath and he was trying to convince me that my beliefs are wrong. He was very loud and people around were listening.” However, by the end of the conversation she was able to give him a surprise ‘thank you’ as he stated categorically that, according to the Bible, Sunday is the first and eighth day of the week. Her thanks recognised that in his making that statement, he acknowledged that Sabbath was the seventh day.
That same evening she met with the local village priest. What started as a difficult conversation ended up in a positive consensus. The two-hour meeting led to greater understandings for both parties. “We should be strong in our faith and find good ways to spread our missions”, was their conclusion.
The priest recognised that he had made a mistake when he tried to convince parents not to bring their children to Relay. He then suggested that the Adventist church organise a panel discussion that he would attend along with an Adventist pastor and some other priests from other churches so people could ask questions and prejudices could be broken down.
“For the second time in one day, I had the feeling that God had a plan and that I was in the right place, even with all the problems, all was just as it should be”, Marijana says. “At the same time I felt both weak and strong, but I knew, I would finish what I had started.”
Marijana concludes, “This was the biggest event, in my eyes, in my life… ever!” However, you can be sure it will not be the last. [tedNEWS]
*Not her real name.
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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