Mission to Montenegro newsletter

We will be working with the college student group (EUS) to distribute approx. 500 Christmas Shoeboxes on Mon. Jan. 29th.  This year the program will include a new skit that focuses on Christmas and the reason for Jesus's coming (vs. an overview of Jesus's life from birth to resurrection).  

We are all excited for the outreach but the number of believers able to help is small and the project large. Because the month of January tends to be a holiday month (not week!) for many, it continues to be a challenge to keep momentum for continuing outreach. Please pray particularly for volunteers able to commit to the 12-week follow-up program and for children to faithfully come each week.  

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Doručak za Dame (Ladies' Brunch)

This past Saturday, we had a good group for the last Ladies' Brunch outreach of the calendar year. The overarching theme for 2025/2026 (School calendar) is Spiritual Disciplines.  Vicki was privileged to speak on Biblical Meditation which certainly enriched her heart and (Lord willing) equipped the ladies for deeper, richer Bible reading and heart meditation in the coming year.
 

Bits & Pieces:

• Christmas cookie baking has commenced! We have to pace ourselves because our Christmas season extends from Dec. 24 all the way til Jan. 8th. 
• Stan will be taking a very short (~10 day) trip to the US in late January for some medical follow-up.  He has good days and more challenging days wrt his balance.  He will also be checking in on his sister who needs some help. Please pray for him as he will be traveling solo.

In closing, we want to say once again how truly blessed we are to be co-laborers with you all in seeing God establish His church here in Nikšić. We truly could not be doing what we are doing without you.  

We appreciate your earnest prayers, your sacrificial support, your quick notes and cards, and the blessing of working together for God to be exalted here in Montenegro.

One with you in Christ,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
 

Vicki's Snapshot:  Another Cultural Difference 

Thinking to continue on with last month’s Snapshot theme of describing some of the cultural differences we’ve experienced, I was reviewing what I’ve written about Christmas traditions. I’ve actually covered a lot over the years—the Badnjak tree, the fasting and feasting, the role of sons to be first visitors on Christmas Day (Jan. 7th), and more. So, I thought I’d pretty well covered it all but then… due to some unfortunate circumstances of some dear friends, I remembered another one.…

Like many places, Christmas Day (and the day after locally) is an official holiday so all businesses —apart from essential services—are closed. What’s different is what is considered ‘essential’. The hospital is open, of course, as are hotels. One may or may not find any gas stations open. Far fewer restaurants will be open. No stores are open.

None of this is surprising but one year—long ago when our youngest daughter was flying home for the holidays after her college finals—I was in for a shock.  

Between a late scheduled exam and losing a day in traveling east, she was due to arrive on Dec. 24th. Her itinerary: NY — Germany — Zagreb —Dubrovnik, Croatia. In those days, we regularly flew in and out of Dubrovnik, a 2.5 hour drive from our house, because it had much better connections. And Croatia, although part of the Balkans, is a “Catholic” country (due to Italian influence) and as such, celebrates Christmas on Dec. 25th, not Jan. 7th like we do in the rest of the former Yugoslavia.

 However, not atypical of winter travel, bad weather delayed her take-off and she arrived in Germany too late to make her Zagreb flight. The good news was the airline was able to put her on another one leaving shortly. The bad news was they couldn’t guarantee a flight from Zagreb to Dubrovnik—there was only one more (fully booked) flight that night to Dubrovnik—they could put her on stand-by but not anything more.

“Well,” I encouraged my daughter, “worst case is they put you up in a hotel, put you on the first flight in the morning, and we pick you up tomorrow. We’ll still have most of Christmas Day together.”

“Uh, Mom. If I don’t make the flight tonight, there is no flight tomorrow. *Everything* is closed on Christmas Day. I won’t be there til the 26th!” 

I honestly thought she must be mistaken because since when does an entire country shut down— including airports??!!!—just for a holiday, even if Christmas. However, she was not mistaken. On the one hand, I could applaud dedication to true breaks and lack of commercialism. On the other hand, I *really wanted* my daughter home for the holidays.

So, we prayed and prayed. And while the odds of her getting on that last flight were slim, our God is not beholden to odds and she did get a spot on it. What a time of rejoicing we had!

(Note, since then, as Croatia has joined the EU and become a very sought-after tourist spot, the airports are now open even on December 25th).

But, to the present day. New Year’s Day is the big holiday here (bigger than Christmas, actually) with Christmas following it on Jan. 7th. Our friends are currently in Bosnia waiting for the first of the year to be back in Montenegro--a requirement for them to enter in on their tourist visa. To their (and our) dismay, the bus company that runs between their city (Trebinje) and ours (Nikšić) takes the holiday/vacation time so seriously that no buses will run from January 1st til January 9th! More than a week!  

I find that *amazing* because lots of people have family in both cities—we were all one country not that long ago. I would think that “regular bus service” was an essential service—perhaps allowing for fewer runs on a holiday—but no runs? For a week? 

As we often joke around here, We are not in Kansas anymore! But we are in God’s good care and fortunately, we now have a car that can freely go in and out of country, so we’ll be able to pick our friends up and have a nice outing as well. Soli Deo Gloria!