Reflections: The Arrival

Two months from today the Stevens family will be back in America for the first time in nearly four years.  God has completely blessed our time in Belgrade and as much as we look forward to getting home to the States with friends and family, we will miss this place and these people very much, but will return in August of 2014.   Over the coming weeks I'll be posting some reflections on events and people that have shaped our time here.  Today we will start from the begining with THE ARRIVAL


THE ARRIVAL

If you look at the blog archives the story of our arrival is conspicuously missing.  At the time I figured if I wrote about my parents and Jen's parents my become unnecessarily worried.  Nothing bad had happened it was just so foreign... we had no idea how to frame it.  So here goes....

Dec. 31 2009

After 20 hours of travel time a very worn out Stevens family of four arrives at Belgrade airport.  Little did we know at the time that that is the busiest part of the day at the airport, so as the frosted doors slide open, their are hundreds of people standing there, but no one for us.  Jen and I push our carts loaded with 12 suitcases, 4 carryons, and 4 backpacks through the throng of people as our senses are assaulted with new sights, sounds and smells, and huddle in a corner waiting for someone to come get the shocked American family.   A few minutes later our supervisor showed up and all was well.  We loaded up his van as well as a colleagues and headed to our new home.  It was cold and rainy, not quite cold enough for snow, but that would come. 
We pulled up to our apartment and well I had no idea what was happening.  There was no parking lot, it was gravel, and a mud pit.  Since people did not want to park in the mud pit, they parked everywhere else.  After moving past the parking situation I noticed our building.  GRAY, DINGY and covered in Graffiti, then I noticed everything was covered in graffiti.  I silently prayed the first of many times "Ok God you're in charge".  (on a side note graffiti is not a big deal here, its everywhere, not gang related and we learned not to judge a building by the outside). 
We got all our bags up, entered our new apartment and loved it.  Like I said cant judge a building by the outside here. 

We stacked our bags in the corner and went exploring (after a quick stop at MacDonalds where we learned no free refills and you had to buy your catchup).  After some exploring and another bite to eat - not at MacDonalds- we returned to our apartment.  Our supervisor left us and headed home to a different country.  So here we were, new years eve, new country, alone.  It was pretty overwhelming. Luckily we had Disney channel and English and were able to watch Hannah Montana and feel kind of normal.  Then the fun began... a city of two million people began ringing in the new year. 

Mixed between what I call American fireworks (light up and are pretty) Serbian fireworks (make loud explosions that sound like bombs) and actual gunfire we tried to sleep.  I remember laying in Bed thinking "the bags are still packed, I could find a taxi and get to the airport" then I said that prayer again and you know what...

God is in control and his plan is perfect!