July 2, 2011

Thank you Debbie!

Dear Prayer Team - lots of news this time and it must have really been a chore for David to type this - especially late at night, with a big, sore finger.

Praise God for all He is doing, both through and for our Croatia missionaries.  What a wonderful Father He is.  Please keep praying.  He hears you and He is answering.

Earl

Earl, I talked to David briefly on Fri. and he sent me this e-mail which I have tried to retype as best I could. Between the wierd keyboard and the hurt finger, it was a difficult task at 1:00 in the morning! Some of the things he wrote about may be duplicated from my e-mail yesterday. Debbie The camp is going well and we had an additional 21 players with the national team coming to join us this afternoon. That gives us 46 players at the camp. That is great and we are very excited about the chance to share the love of Christ and play baseball. I have led devotionals every morning and have shared some of my testimony.We have prayed before and after practice in the morning and evening. We went over to the gym where the teams are staying and walked around and spoke with them and developed friendships. It was great to talk with them and share with them. Last night after camp the girls brought up some watermelon to share with the boys, I think they brought 2 whole watermelons and they ate almost all of them. This was a wonderful experience because we got a chance to sit with them and visit with them and the ladies got a chance to show them love by coming and spending time with them. I sat with two boys who were brand new to baseball and they told me this was the best day of their lives. It was really neat to see their smiles and to hear the joy in their voices. I also sat with Mario who is a player from Zadar who just graduated. He and his teammate had taken the bus from the coast to come to the camp. He is 19 and trying to figure out what he is going to do next with his life. He has a chance to go to San Francisco to a school for web design but it is to expensive and he is not sure he will go there. He does not have a university to go to and there are no jobs. I asked Rusty to join our conversation and we started talking to him about some options. To see the joy in his eyes just because we were interested in him and his future was priceless. Without the watermelon break none of these conversations would have ever happened. This was also something that wasn't planned or on the schedule but Shannon and the ladies took it upon themselves to do that for them. Gods plan at work. We also need to remember that for future camps to plan that in the schedule. Friday was great as Chris, Joe and Stefan took over the leadership of the camp and I took some of the Storks with me to finish the mound. We sank the pitching rubber and finished off the first dirt mound in Sisak!! It really turned out better than I could ever hope for with the clay and utensils we had to work with. After cmaps we took the boys back to the gym and they could go eat and then go rest for the afternoon. As soon as we got there for the afternoon camp, Neven came and told me that the backstop net was in and that we needed to go pick it up in Zagreb. I prayed with Chris, Joe, Wyatt, Grant and then Neven and I took off to get the net. This gave us a great time to talk and share with each other. Neven was in tears many times expressing his dissapointment in the things that happened to us. Leaving me at the airport, not having the field done and some of the kids not showing up for camp. I shared with him my thanking God for allowing us to have this time and even before we left to go pick up the net, Neven said I should pray that there would be no problems picking it up. Neven said good thing we prayed for Gods help! God is really growing him and shaping him into a great Christian man! Please keep him in your prayers as he begins to take on more leadership of the storks and his desire to serve Christ in the progress. Chris and Joe were awesome and I am so thankful they are here to take up my slack for being injured and having to spend more time with the planning of the field and with the Storks. They have allowed me to do so and that has been incredible, having the ladies do the carnival prizes and seperating all of that out was a huge asset to me and allowed me to have some rest and not have to worry about that as well. God is growing this ministry in so many ways and to see that has been and incredible experience. Rusty had to be in Zagreb today to meet with McKenzie & Company and Shannon took him along with the girls to see the city and do some sightseeing. They got lost and when Shannon stopped to ask a man at the gas station for directions he explained it to her and then actually told her he would lead her to it on his moped. Good thing he did to because Shannon said she would have never found it. Rusty's said his meeting went well and although we haven't had time to debrief entirely he said he was encouraged with the visit. They didn't get home until after 7 but got home safely. I went over to Janko's to pick him up and take hin to the gym to see the boys and we got a chance to visit then. The ladies stayed home to work on the gospel bracelets to hand out to the campers and to those who would be coming to the carnival. Marde spent the day with Ann at her home here in Sisak and then came to camp in the evening. She really enjoyed herself and is developing a great relationship with Ann. I am so thankful for all those who have come on this trip and their willingness to be flexible and desire to be a part of this ministry. They have truly blessed me! I have so much more I could write and share but my finger is to thick to peck on the keyboard without pushing more than one letter and the keyboard is not like ours with letters in different places. I do appreciate everyones prayers and their help in making this trip a success. Without you this trip would never make the impact it is today. I appreciate all who have donated financially to purchase the lawn mower. I can tell you this, everytime they use it they are washing it down and drying it off. They have been blessed with this gift and I wish you all could be here to see the joy in their hearts and feel the warmth of their hugs. Must turn in for the evening. It is 1:15 and I am extremely tired. I hope this all made some sense and thanks again for praying. Loca noc, means good night in Croatian God bless and have a wonderful God filled day! Your friend, David