I have been living in Bosnia for nearly three weeks now. It's been eye opening, exciting, sad, surprising, beautiful--some of the mountainous skylines take my breath away...But there's an emptiness that dims the beauty here.

The blood of the land cries out for redemption; it has never been blessed. Good things have never been spoken over it, only curses. The young people seek to escape in droves to the west where things are "good"--or so they want to believe. They've completely lost faith in their land--they never had a love for it.

I don't know what to do with this--I come from a nation rich with blessing, one that loves and takes pride in itself. I can't understand the despise of one's own country, the lack of hope for any future good. It affects me deeply; it angers me, it frustrates me, it makes me forever thankful for the blessing of a nation I've taken for granted, and it gives me a heart to pray for mercy and salvation to come here and redeem this people and this land.