We have the privilege this year of sending four missionaries to the Balkans. We will also be sending several teams to work alongside local churches and evangelize throughout the entire Balkan region. Here is a testimony from Samuel Thoor, one of the missionaries:
“Just before we were about to leave Sweden for North Macedonia, I was sitting in the café at Word of Life in Uppsala. Together with Jan Marek, who was also going to North Macedonia, we were eagerly planning, praying, and laying out visions for the coming year. While discussing housing, rent prices, and how and where in Skopje we would live for the year ahead, Ingrid Lilja—who works in our church’s international department—came up to us and said: ‘You need to stretch your faith! Believe God for a house!’”
At first, we weren’t quite sure what to do with that word, since there are hardly any affordable houses in Skopje. But in faith, we started searching for houses online. Some time later, as our departure day was approaching, we received a response from one of our inquiries. A man in his fifties replied and apologized for the late response, explaining that our email had ended up in his spam folder. But for some reason, he had just checked his spam—something he rarely does.
His house was available for rent starting the very same day we were set to arrive. Everything looked great, and the rent was much cheaper than the previous apartment our missionaries had in Skopje. “Fantastic! We’ll take it!” was our response.
When we arrived, we realized what a gift from God this house was. It was a house with Scandinavian design, donated by the Nordic countries as relief housing after the 1963 earthquake in Skopje, which destroyed 80% of the city’s buildings. The house had two parking spaces, a front and back yard with grapevines soon to ripen, and a gigantic fig tree! It had everything we needed to live there, and it was located right in the area of the city where we were going to work—just a three-minute walk from the largest shopping center in the area.
God provided for us! Within the first two days after arriving in North Macedonia, we were able to sign the rental contract and also begin the process for our religious visas, which are crucial for our work. This process usually takes a long time, but we felt that God had already prepared a way for us. Jan and I had been praying together for weeks before coming to North Macedonia, and we could sense how our prayers had gone ahead of us. This was a much-needed boost of faith for our mission here in the Balkans, where we have a vision to equip and strengthen the next generation of workers and leaders in God’s kingdom.
Even though long-term mission work is not entirely new to Jan, who has been in the Balkans for several years, it is something completely new for me. And by witnessing God’s faithfulness and care in such a short time, I am reminded of the words God spoke to Abram in Genesis 12:1:
“The Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.’”
Let us continue to pray for our young missionaries! God has so much more for the Balkans, and it is a great privilege for us to be part of this.”
/Ville Männistö & Samuel Thoor
