We are nine days away from leaving for Croatia. Seems this time would never arrive - yet here it is; time to pack and hope we don't forget anything! I want to give you an update on our work, fundraising, and plans.

Our focus has shifted a little since our original plans were ensued. One of Mladen's dreams is to have an "LST-style" camp for children in the village where he grew up and where his parents still live. For those who don't know, LST is a program where adults can practice their English skills using a workbook based on the book of Luke. It has been a very successful program all over the world, and it is how our church was originally connected to the Varazdin church.

Originally we planned to do a week of lessons for children in the Varazdin church. Our theme was "Walking With Jesus". We had activities centered around maps, passports, suitcases, and some of the events within Jesus' ministry. All of these materials and activities will still be used. Renata will take them with her to camp to teach children from all over Croatia later this summer.

Given Mladen's dream for his village and his desire for us to teach children baseball while we are there a new plan has been formed. We will be spending five days (10 am to 1 pm) of our trip in the village teaching bible lessons and the game of baseball. We are all excited about this, especially now that there is a general plan established. We even discovered a children's devotional book based around baseball. Since Mladen has assured us all the kids know the basic stories of the Bible (they have Catholic-based bible classes at school) we have focused our lessons on Christian living, actions, words, and being an example to others. The children will be creating books with the bible stories, the baseball terms, etc. These will be in English and Croatian in hopes of improving their English. Our plan is to have four days of learning the basics of the game with the final day being a "real" baseball game. Should be a great time!! Oh, and I almost forgot, Mladen has also asked us to bring cowboy hats. In his words, "it will be a great hit, they love cowboys here!" Should be some comical pictures! Thanks to Dave and Jan Vanderbilt for donating hats for us to ship and wear.

We have not forgotten the Varazdin children! Michelle and Laura will be teaching the children during three worship times at the Varazdin church. We are looking forward to this as it will give the women who ALWAYS teach the children a deserved break. And, of course, we still plan to build a play structure for the church yard in Varazdin. We will probably spend most afternoon and evenings on this project.

Time to pray: please pray for us this week that we are patient with each other. I know as the time nears tension may be high as Ray wraps up things at work and I try to plan for international travel with two small children. Pray for dad and his migraines. He's had several in recent weeks. It would be a blessing if he did not have any while we are gone. Pray we remain united as a Team and that Satan is not allowed a foothold in our attitudes or communication. We will try and update this blog while we are gone. I hope we have internet available so you who have so generously supported us can know how things are going.

With such a focus on children, I keep being reminded:
Jesus loves the little children,
All the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white
They are precious in His sight.
Jesus loves the little children of the world.