14/01/2024
ONE HUNDRED
It was the New Year 1961.Beautiful day in Malmo, Sweden. It is a small city in the south part of Sweden with no snow or ice, where the sun never sets six months of the year, where 6 months of the year, it looks like a dark cloud is covering the sky. The street lights were on 24/7.
We came from a country that had four distinguished seasons. We could not get used to six months on, six months off. We wanted to get away. But forget all that; we were very happy; in two weeks, my mother and I will be buried in a water grave into a new life. What a joy! To make our happiness even bigger, we received a letter from the Australian Embassy to get ready for a long journey to Australia, where there is a lot of sunshine. So we embarked on a long journey on a ship called Castel Felice, which means Castle of Happiness. It was a tedious journey of 30 days where the ocean waves were not kind to my father and me. We were very seasick. Finally, on the 12th of April 1961, we touched Terra Australia. My father and I looked like skinny ghosts, and my mother and brother always teased us as they were not affected by seasickness.
As new 7th-day Adventists, we were looking for our church to connect. Luckily, we found a flat to rent not far from Fishing Hall, where fishes in big glass containers stared at us while we sang and praised our Lord.
Teta Mira Jacovac warmly welcomed us and said: You are 97 and 98. I did not know I would be branded until she explained that we would be one hundred strong with another two people. Watch out, Australia!
Teta Tkalec welcomed us also, then turned to me and said: You are so skinny and look sick nobody will take you. I did not know that I came to Australia to be taken. Where will I be taken? I thought it was a free country!
Anyway, there were people already looking for a big block of land to build the church and a hall and enough space for everything we wanted to do as a church. They were big dreams! But people had fire in their bellies, and nobody would stop them. SO, WE EMBARKED ON A PROJECT. We found a block of land, but we had some problems, and with prayers and a strong belief in God's grace, we went head-on.
Then God sent us Pastor Slavko Manestar. That man caught our fever. By this time, there were more of us. There were a lot of sacrifices, not only financially, when we were giving one week's wage every month. And somehow, we did not miss it. Some people could not give as they had a lot of obligations, having families and mortgages and only one person working, but they contributed by giving their time.
Every night after work we (my mother, Vuka and me) and other women were helping in the building by pushing the wheelbarrows with mortar, bringing bricks, also washing the bricks, sanding the seats and bringing food and keeping the work site clean and tidy.
I remember Sister Biserka Blazina, the only woman digging the trenches for the church foundation. Of course, some men also did the digging, but a woman! That was something!
We must understand that in those days, there were no machines like the ones we have now to dig or move soil. Everything was done by hand. People were saying: If we build Yugoslavia by hand after the war, what is one church?
But was it just one church? The spark that started Seddon Church has grown into a fire that produced the churches in St Albans, Macedonian group, Springvale and Albury, then two churches in Sydney and two in Queensland. I am sure there are many more that I don't know about.
Our Seddon Church has many empty seats. Many people have shifted. Pray for them where they are, to organise more churches. God's People are on the move, preparing for Jesus's soon return. Pray that all the empty seats will be filled and our Lord's return will be very soon.
There is a big awakening when people find the truth about the Sabbath being the day of worship. They worship the best way they know how. Are we ready to receive them and become one in Jesus Christ?
Pray and stay in truth.
Your sister in Christ
Miriam Stoll ( Velevski )
