June 29 Update

How to put today into words?  Today was such a beautiful day, an overwhelming day.  Our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude for what God has been doing through our visits to the Orphanage and the Camp - it is just absolutely incredible.

We went to the Orphanage today and taught them baseball.  We also took footballs and kicked field goals, and took some beach balls to play with. Rachel, Bethany & Maneula took some of the girls and taught them Line Dances.  It was just absolutely incredible to see the joy in some of these kids hearts.  It was wonderful. We just pray that we planted some seeds by using our steps to plant Christ's footsteps in their hearts and their lives. We handed out some Our Steps, His Print bracelets, and they just kept asking for more! We also handed out some gospel tracks, different cartoon gospel tracks to the kids. We have about ten different kinds, and took one of each. They would read them and then pass them on.  It was absolutely incredible!

Each one of us was touched by a different orphan.  The kids were ages 7-14; many of us were touched by Christina.  She is a little girl, age 8, who had a smile on her face from ear to ear.  She held our hands and was just a joy.  She loved the game of baseball!  It was really neat to see so many of them come to learn the game of baseball - it was neat to see and have the opportunity to share our favorite game.  Three Storks went with us to the Orphanage.  It was early - we left at 7:30 in the morning, so we didn't get as many Storks as we hoped. 

We finished at the Orphanage at 10:30 and high-tailed it back to Sisak for the 11:00 baseball camp. Dalton, Chris, Elvis & I each took a group with one Stork helper per group.  We worked on running, throwing, fielding, catching and hitting.  We had a great time teaching them the game of baseball, and pouring love into the camp.  The camp was awesome - we had about 33 kids - and we are so happy about that! We finished up around 1:00.

We came back to the house, ate leftover pizza, and took a quick nap.  I got an opportunity to pray with Shannon this afternoon, and we talked about what happebed at the Orphanage.  Her hard work with the trip in January & the connections that she made on her trip has paid off, and we have been invited to come back next year!  The seeds that were planted this year, the soil that was plowed... who knows what God will use with those tracks, Gospel braclets and playing the game of baseball as He reaches out to touch those hearts.

This evening Chris, Dalton & some of the Storks ran practice (I didn't get there until later.)  We had a time of practice with the Storks and took Batting Practice with the Bears.  We prepared for the game tomorrow (game 3 of a Best of Five Playoff Series; they are down 0-2, so they need to win tomorrow to stay in the tournament.)

We got home around 9:00, had lasagne delivered, and we sat around and talked & shared, an planned for tomorrow.  We'll get up around 8:00 for devotions, and camp starts at 10:00.  Shannon will go to the airport to pick up Colin, Rock, Sharon, Wyatt and Erin (our building crew that is coming in to work on the Stork Locker Room lockers) and Rock will work on the stage.  We're excited abou tthem coming!  Tomorrow Chris, Dalton, Brandon & I will move to Nevan's mom's house on the other side of Sisak.  It will be a little more difficult to meet as regularly as we are now, but this many people (16) we need to split up. 

After dinner we went to the gym where the campers are staying.  We played football, basketball & soccer and had a great time loving on those kids.  We had a pick-up game, but Robert rolled his ankle and we had to take him to the hospital.  Pray that his ankle will heal and he'll be able to work on the work crew - if not, he'll have to supervise from a chair!  Keep him in your prayers.

Mike Norman, the football coach, is coming.  We're excited about that!  He'll be here on July 6 for the camp in Sisak, and then for the camp in Split on July 8.  Mike lost his father on Monday and the funeral is on Wednesday, but he wants to be a part of this trip.  He told his dad about the trip prior to him getting sick, and his father was very excited about him coming.  Mike and his family decided it would be good for him to come.  We know that he can use that to share with these young men down here - his dad is in Heaven now, with no more pain.  Mike said he knew his dad would want him to be here.  So, we're excited that Mike is coming to teach American football.

Shannon has been spending time at the library getting things ready for the reading program next week.  Rusty has 2 presentations scheduled for next week (Monday at the Chamber and Wednesday at the library.)  Colin (Shannon's husband who is working on the construction crew) is going to speak at one of the schools about being a Chemical Engineer - a really neat opportunity for him.  Please keep all of these things in your prayers.

We thank everyone for their help & support (both financial & prayer support.)  We  couldn't do it without you all.  We're tired, but we're also excited & overjoyed by all that God is doing and the open doors that He has created - allowing us to use Our Steps to leave His Print.