 Kids
of all ages, their parents, and teachers in Mostar and
surrounding areas in Bosnia-Herzegovina had the opportunity
to hear the message that they are special to God. It
does not matter what others might think about them,
or whether or not they feel talented. The puppet team
from the Evangelical Church of Mostar traveled around
and shared this message during the past Easter season.
The show was called "You are Special". It
is set in the town of Eliksgrad, populated by wooden
people called Eliks. They had a strange custom in this
town. If one of their citizens did something that others
thought was good and special, that person would receive
a star, but if that person did something they thought
was dumb or bad, they received a brown dot.  Although
many had stars, or a mixture of stars and dots, one
of the inhabitants of Eliksgrad had only brown dots.
His name was Bukvorelo. He had a speech impediment and
felt sad with all the dots upon him. He sang about how
pitiful he was, until he met someone who didn't have
any stars or dots. He found out that this was because
she had spent time with her Creator, Eli.
So, Bukvorelo went to the workshop
where Eli was, and learned that he had been created
especially by Eli and didn't need to depend on the opinion
of others to know that he was special. Bukvorelo allowed
Eli to polish him and so his brown dots fell off. Then
Bukvorelo and his friend who had pointed him to his
Creator went and told the others that they were created
special, regardless of what others thought of them.
The other people went to Eli and their stars and dots
fell off, too. Then everyone could sing the town song:
"Hakuna matata", which means "no worries".
 The
team clown, Bepo, was on the scene again, but this time
joined by a friend, Slatkica (Sweetie). Bepo tried to
help her friend Slatkica who didn't want to be a clown
anymore. Bepo suggested she try sports like tennis,
boxing, and soccer, but Slatkica kept falling down and
hurting herself. Obviously, she wasn't the sporting
type, so she tried to be a singer. All those around
her had to plug their ears when she sang! She ran off
crying, saying she didn't know how to do anything. But
after watching the puppet show, Slatkica realized that
she was created to be a clown, and that as a clown,
she can make people laugh and make balloon animals for
them.
The team distributed beanie babies,
knapsacks with school supplies, and Christian literature
for children which included a card for them to fill
out to receive Bible lessons.
This year the set-up was a little easier,
thanks to BGMC* which funded a new
puppet stage. It was much quicker to assemble than the
homemade plastic piping used before. It was also possible
to hang scenery on the back of the stage, whereas before,
someone would have to hold it up.
Fifteen shows were presented to kindergartens
around Mostar, a kindergarten in Neum, a children's
hospital, an orphanage, to the church in Mostar and
in Rodoc, a suburb of Mostar. The team was asked to
perform in a Muslim section of town, and in Blagaj,
a Muslim town outside of Mostar. Praise God for these
opportunities.
*BGMC (Boys and Girls Missionary Crusade)
is a fund-raising project by the children in Assemblies
of God churches of America. These funds provide a variety
of materials for ministries around the world. To find
out more about BGMC, click HERE.
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