"I Will Always Stand Amazed"

I know Laura already blogged today, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this blog that I wrote earlier this morning.

In my perfectionism, I have hesitated to write a post to the blog because I was waiting for some great epiphany to come to me in order to share something really special. The fact of the matter is that every day in Croatia has been filled with epiphanies—about God, about myself, about the faith and faithfulness of others, and about the heart of the church here in Varazdin. There is no question that God’s hand is at work here.

So many of those whom the church have touched are on the cusp of their belief in Jesus as a savior. I am amazed at how they are enveloped into the everyday activities held with the regularly involved church members. People who are coming to read with Rod and Morris for LST have begun to bring their children to our evening activities. When they come, they are naturally accepted into the “clique.” It seems as though the progression into the church family is nearly seamless. I believe wholeheartedly that this is because God is working in the hearts and minds of everyone who is hard at work here to show the love of Jesus to others. Even as outsiders who do not speak but a couple of words in Hrvatski, we were accepted with warm and loving hearts.

Thank you all for your prayers for our work here, they are being answered every minute of every day. We are a blessed group to have such loving Christian families in two countries. As you continue to pray, please consider the remainder of our trip and the upcoming trip to Brezje for a day filled with baseball. Also, please pray for our team to have encouraging interactions as we meet with the women and men—that the language barrier can somehow be broken and we can communicate effectively.

I am attaching more pictures (for Mom of course!) because I know everyone enjoys seeing our story as much as reading it.

The kids racing each other to find the English word to match the picture.

Matching the word to the picture

The girls won the wedding challenge. They had to walk down the aisle spreading "flower petals," line up for a wedding photo, fill the punch cups with water using water blasters, make flowers out of construction paper, and build a wedding cake with marshmallows. The girls completed these tasks faster than the boys.

Matt, Molly, Rachel, and Kristin at Trakoscan (I think only Rod knows how to add accents, but imagine a hat over the s and an accent on the c). This is a 700 year old castle about 12 km from the Slovenian border. Unfortunately, only Matt had his passport, so we couldn't cross over the border for a stamp.