“Fairy Tale Characters” in Osijek

In the second half of February, we went on a study trip to Osijek, Croatia, with the lecturers of the Seminary. Our first stop was the House of Hope in Zagreb – a building used as a community center to serve people. On Sundays, the local congregation gathers there. We also visited Zagreb’s oldest Baptist church and enjoyed the old town of Zagreb with local friends.

Then we headed to our main destination, Osijek. During the long drive, we discussed the work of the Seminary, had fascinating theological conversations about heaven, and bombarded each other with the best recent book recommendations. The study program of the trip hadn’t even started yet, and we had already experienced significant personal growth!

In Osijek, we were warmly welcomed by the staff of the Osijek Theological Seminary. Participants came from Slovakia, Romania, Lithuania, and Croatia, while the trainers were from the Netherlands. This time, the Blended Intensive Course (BIP) focused on the holistic development of learners and was conducted by Dutch lecturers.

The program was varied: we attended lectures, independently read academic articles, engaged in group discussions, and exchanged experiences based on the unique characteristics of our schools. During our conversations, we often realized that even though schools and cultures differ, the challenges of teaching and learning are quite similar. After the lectures, we also had the opportunity to experience the local culture.

One day, we took part in a guided tour and explored Osijek’s parks, squares, and old town. On another day, we visited the Macedonian Cultural Center, where we were warmly welcomed. We were introduced to traditional clothing, folk dance steps, and local cuisine. Heglis even had the chance to try on beautiful traditional attire. It was a wonderful opportunity to share and learn about each other’s cultures.

Although February in Croatia was quite cold, the daily warm sunshine provided physical energy, while the knowledge we learned and reviewed, along with both old and new collaboration partners, gave us refreshing mental strength for the Seminary’s work. As I jokingly told my colleagues: “It’s so great that I finally got to meet some of the fairy tale characters in real life!” In other words, our valuable partners truly exist, and meeting them face-to-face made them even better friends than they seemed from our colleagues’ stories.

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