Tuzla--Not an Easy Life

By Dr. Nik

The war in Bosnia has been over for six years, but hatred, prejudice and fear remain. Muslims in the city of Tuzla make up 97% of the population. Believers in Christ are a very small minority. Unemployment is over 70%. The few jobs that become available are offered first to Muslims.

Medical care is also limited. A stay at the hospital requires advance payment. A patient needing antibiotics will not receive medicine unless he pays for it up-front. Some doctors treat minority patients poorly. Many, especially the elderly, fear hospital care of any kind.

Angelina, a believer in her 60's, had an advanced form of cancer on her forehead. I asked her to have her surgery in Budapest or Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. I told her we would cover the cost of the surgery, but she refused to go. One day, Angelina fell in the street and hit her forehead. We were sorry to hear this, but pity turned to praise after we heard her story. The tumor broke open and Angelina had to go to the hospital for emergency surgery. After the tumor was removed, doctors found no cancer on her forehead. The Muslim doctor knew Angelina's church and family were praying for her. He believed that if the tumor had been allowed to grow any larger, the cancer would have spread too deep to be removed. When she came home from the hospital, Angelina said, "God allowed me to fall because I was afraid to have the surgery."

We are thankful God spared Angelina's life. She is needed to minister to the people of Tuzla and to continue encouraging the people in her church. She was the first believer in a church that now numbers around 40 people.

Though life is difficult for Christians in Bosnia, Tuzla Baptist Church continues to grow spiritually and numerically in the heart of this Muslim stronghold.