“I need to find a baka!” (Croatian for grandmother) I told my friend Lucia.
Most young people speak English because they learn it in school, but the government did not implement this policy until the 1980s, so many older adults do not speak our language. When people speak English to me, I find it too easy to forgo the struggle and converse in my native tongue.
For months, I dreamed of meeting a retired woman with time on her hands and no knowledge of English, whom I could befriend, forcing me to speak Croatian to communicate. I had taken several trips to the retirement center next door, hoping to meet someone there. But it was not to be. The staff was quite skeptical of a young American woman visiting merely to practice language skills. I even offered to sing songs and play my guitar, but they had never heard of such a gesture.
Recently, the choir with which Teddy and I sing (loosely connected to the local church) went on an excursion to a cave and a lake. Most of the choir members do not belong to the church, and although we sing Christian songs in Croatian, we have so far only sung at various local events. Within this club is a 72-year-old woman whom I have rarely spoken to in the past because we could not understand each other.
After months of hardly speaking with this woman, we happened to sit next to each other at a restaurant after our excursion. As she spoke about being a pensioner and having a bit more free time, all the bells started going off in my head. She could be my baka! In my broken Croatian, I asked her if she would like to get together to talk at a cafe during the week. She said she would be delighted to.
How we manage to sit and sip a drink for three hours, speaking solely in Croatian, is beyond me. But we do! She is so patient with me as I struggle with speaking and listening.
I have since learned why God had me waiting for this particular woman. She grew up in the Orthodox church and has never read her Bible before. When she lost her husband 10 years ago, she became very angry at God. Yet, being in our choir, meeting people, and witnessing a baptism have changed something in her life. She is now open to God, His word, and prayer, and she wants to know Jesus as her personal Savior.
Amazingly, I never planted any seeds or did any watering, yet I am here for the harvest. God is working, and it is an honor to play a small role. We have shared our testimonies and encouraged one another. I call her “Moja baka od Boga” (My grandmother from God).
Please join me in praying for this amazing woman as she begins her intimate relationship with Jesus and discovers Him as her Friend, Lord and Savior!
