Happy Fri-YAYYY my people!! I hope you have had a wonderful week and I want to thank you for stopping by my blog today to check out post #21 of my month-long blogging extravaganza! Today is also day #7 of my 11 day country series, which means we will be talking all about the country that my squad and I will have the pleasure of serving in during the month of April… yooouuuu guessed it, it’s SERBIA!!!
GEOGRAPHY & POPULATION:
Serbia is a country of Southeast Europe‘s Balkan Peninsula with a population of 7.057 Million people.
LANGUAGE:
The official language is Serbian, which is native to 88% of the population. Some of the recognized minority languages within Serbia include Hungarian, Bosnian, Slovak, Croatian, Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and Rusyn.
RELIGION:
The constitution of Serbia defines it as a secular state with guaranteed religious freedom. The population is comprised of: Orthodox Christian– 84.5%, Roman Catholic– 6%, Protestantism– 1%, Muslim– 3%
LIFE EXPECTANCY:
Male- 73.2, Female- 78.3, Total Life Expectancy- 75.7
FOOD:
Traditional Serbian cuisine contains a myriad of tastes and smells, much owing to the mixture of influences of various people groups who were just passing through or were living in this region. Some staples of Serbian cuisine include cevapi, pljeskavica, karadordeva šnicla, gibanica, and krone.
FUN FACTS:
*Serbia is the largest exporter of raspberries in the world, almost 95% of the raspberries sold in the world originate in Serbia.
*The only Serbian word that is accepted and used across the world is “vampire.”
*According to international polls, Serbia is the most hospitable nation in the world. Serbs highly implement this custom into their legacy and it can be traced to the ancient Slavic belief that the host wouldn’t gain any favor of the gods if he didn’t show hospitality to a guest.
PRAYER POINTS:
*PRAY for revival that frees churches from empty traction and establishes a powerful witness.
*PRAY for a strong Christian presence among the many humanitarian groups serving Serbia.
*PRAY for healing from centuries-long ethnic and religious hatred.
*PRAY for compassionate ministry toward war refugees from the former Yugoslavia- millions were uprooted and became refugees or internally displaced.
*PRAY for young people, as they are currently the most responsive demographic to the Gospel within Serbia; especially after having seen the destruction wrought by their parents’ generation.
-Meagan
