HiS PRINT Ministries Updates

I was attempting to provide a summary of the trips highlights and give you all a brief overview of all that happened while we were in Croatia for the past month. I have narrowed the highlights down to about 5 with many more that could make it into the list, but didn’t want to make the blog longer than a short story! However, I want to wait on that so that I can send you this email many of the mission team members received this morning from Stefan in Croatia. Stefan is the young man who has been coming to school here for the past 3 years and after graduating Alvin JC is now enrolled at UH-Clearlake as an education major! He and his family have always opened their arms and hearts to us every year and he has a way of explaining his emotions that when you read it, you will feel them also! Please take the time to read this heartfelt thank you from Stefan and know that this is the very reason we travel over 6.000 miles every year to Croatia to share the love of Christ the best way we know ...

Sunday July 22 We made it home and are happy to be reunited with our family and friends. I am extremely tired and ready to shut the eyes for about a great 8 hour night sleep. It is 4 in the morning in Croatia and my body is fighting to go to sleep and I am waiting as long as possible, but losing the battle. Thanks so much for the prayer support and financial support you have provided! I will give you a wrap up some time tomorrow when the body has rested and can better cope with this time zone. Blessings, David

Saturday, July 21 Hard to believe that today marks exactly a month since we left to come to Croatia. Early in the morning we finished separating all the gear. On the paper work that was on several boxes the estimated time of arrival said May 27 th !!  Frustrating but it arrived in God’s perfect timing. Dino from the football team in Split, the Sea Wolves, will be to Janko’s on Monday to pick up all of their stuff. Shannon separated out the library books and things to take to them and to the nursing home. We will have to wait until next year to take the orphanage all of their gifts and games. I took the Storks their equipment and shoes as well. The rest of the stuff we stored up at Janko’s to wait for our return next summer to do carnival and crafts and the many different areas. The for sure thing is that we will not need to collect as many hats, jersey’s and other prizes for next year!   Around 10:00 we headed to field to say our good byes to the Storks. They were h...

Blog – Friday, July 20 History and Baseball was the call for the day on Friday and it was great! The Croatian national team took on Poland to play for the chance to take on Lithuania for the championship on Saturday afternoon. After the morning game where Lithuania beat Slovenia Saleim, Grant, Heidi, Erin and myself walked over to Stari Grad, the old fort to get a history lesson in late 1500 history. Shannon and Brandon went to check on the shipment which was promised to us yet another day! That will make 5 tomorrows since we first knew the shipment was on this side of the pond. It has been frustrating to deal with the government and with a new government in place the rules to seem to have changed yet again but still no one can tell us really what those rules are or how to go about getting anything approved or processed. The history of the fort was neat to walk around the walls and to realize how old it was really was mind blowing! After we finished the tour we got a call from Sha...

Blog – Wednesday-Thursday, July 18-19 These past two days have been a blur with seeing the dream come to a reality, the NEST baseball field being used to play the European Qualifier Baseball Tournament, and the Field of Dreams come to a Field of FAITH-through the opportunities nightly to share Christ’s love through prayer, songs and the message, had been absolutely incredible! To share in that joy makes me speechless and to watch it all come about brings tears to my eyes and love that overflows my heart! Thanks to everyone for your support and love through these 7 years of ministry here in Croatia! The work that God has accomplished is incredible and to see what He has in store for the future is exciting! The games both days went well and although we had a few players end up with injuries, none major, everything went smoothly. It has been neat witness the Storks taking charge of the event. The older players are the administrators and the younger players are playing roles to take ...

Blog – Tuesday, July 17 2012 opening day for the European National Qualifier Tournament! Opening evening for the Field of Faith evangelistic outreach events! Wow, it is finally here! Hard to believe and to see the transformation of the field and the stage is absolutely incredible! In three weeks it is hard to believe all that has changed with everything with all the hard work that has gone into each area, even seeing it everyday and being a part of it all, it is amazing! The Storks have stepped up and taken ownership of all the activities and the responsibility of getting things done! Janko said it best, when came to the game for the opening ceremonies, “This is not the same place that it was 3 weeks ago when I was here to work on cutting the weeds! It is amazing and it is now a Stadium!” Janko had helped me the first day I got here on June 22, by bringing his weed bush hog out to cut down the head high weeds that surrounded the field. He was amazed as were all the city peo...

Blog – Monday, July 16 Started this once and somehow lost it in cyberspace so will try again. Monday was a prep day to get everything done and ready for the European Qualifier Championship that is to begin on Tuesday! We had painting to do on the stage, work on making the stage lower drawers to pull out evenly, scoreboard and projector screen preperations as well as many things to be done on the field. It was great to see all the Storks working together to get things done on the field without my help and many of them helped us as well. We got everything done and completed. Brandon helped me with the drawers and moving dirt for the field, Heidi and Grant painted and stenciled on the stage and front of the clubhouse, Shannon and Erin went to the library and visited with Barbara and the staff there. In the evening the Storks asked me to work on the game mound of which I wasn’t real excited about. I knew how much work it would be to raise it and would need a lot of help to acc...

Blog – Saturday July 14, 2012 You know you are doing accomplishing God’s plan when you have 5 Storks praying without hesitation, in fact one of them suggesting we do it, with several mission team members in huddle on the sidewalk on 2nd Street in downtown Sisak! With arms around Jason and Katie, along with Brandon and myself, Joseph, Mario, Allen, Elvis, Stefan prayed for the mission and Jason and Katie’s safe return home! He and the other Storks expressed their thanks for coming and being a part of this ministry and how much they appreciated their love they showed! This was a wonderful end to a great day and a beautiful evening of walking around the city! The entire day was a blessing of working on the field to get it ready for the European Championship and the Field of Faith outreach events! Jason, Katie and I headed to the field to start working on the building of the mounds for each of the bullpens.  When we got to the field there were several Storks working on many th...

Thursday, July 12 Yesterday was a travel day.  We left Split around 12:30 and headed back to Sisak.  It's about a 5 hour trip.  We took Laurence (one of the Zagreb Patriots players) with us to Zagreb.  He was very appreciative - he was going to have to take the bus.  We had room because Brandon stayed back in Split to spend time with his wife (who is flying out on Saturday), friends & missionaries, and to do some follow-up from the football camp.  We dropped off Laurence in Zagreb, and then got back to Janko's in Sisak about 5:30.  Janko was here, and we got a chance to show Jason & Katy around (this is their first time in Sisak.)  We walked around the city and (of course!) went to Rat Man's to get our dose of sladoled (ice cream!)  We turned in early so that we were ready get a fresh start on the field Friday - getting the field & stage ready for the big European National Qualifying Tournament next week...

July 12 I guess I'll start recording my blogs again since I re-broke a knuckle on my right ring finger.  This is a knuckle I broke 10-12 years ago trying to catch a football! I'm sitting out on the patio in Split before we head back to Sisak this morning.  We're leaving around 10:00 - please pray for our travel there.  We're going to be taking a Zagreb Patriot with us.  Laurence is his name - he's actually from America (from Kansas) so it will give us a chance to share with him on the road trip.  We've got about a 4 1/2 hour trip back to Sisak.  I'm looking forward to that - just praying for safety. Things are going great here in Split.  Yesterday was another incredible day.  We finished up the Sea Wolves Football Camp, and it went very well. We had to go an hour early (6:00 instead of our normal 7:00) because another team had already scheduled the field.  It was a little warmer but still a great time. This morning Jason ...

Wednesday, July 11 Sisak, Croatia Today was an awesome day! We got everything done  that we needed to accomplish. It started to rain this morning but after breakfast the sun came out and there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Praise God for HIS mercy. Heidi and Grant got the dugout painting done while Erin and I painted the seats in the locker room. I just want to say again what a joy it is to work side by side with my daughter and serving the Lord together is a blessing! It is very hot here so we took a long lunch then of course, had ice cream on the way back to the field. Heidi and Grant are hard workers and I enjoy spending time with them.  We had "hot dogs" for lunch with American style buns. They were not like any hot dog buns we have ever had but they were good and we are thankful to Janko for eating lunch with us everyday. It is so neat to spend time with him. He has a great sense of humor and he is a lot of fun to be around! It is a blessing to be able to sta...

Blog-Tuesday July 10      Not sure where to start in the events of the day. The blessings we have received are so overwhelming that it is hard to capture them all in words on paper or in cyperspace, but I will try my best to share all that God is doing through this ministry in the past 24 hours!  From meeting other missionairies who are on the front line of ministry on a regular basis and being encouraged by them and hopefully us encouraging them in the process to playing football with so many eager young men who are open and receptive to listening to every thing we say. We were blessed with God revealing that not only are these young men eager to hear about football  but they are receptive to hearing about God’s love for them as well! Watching all those eyes of the 35 players involved in the camp glued on Jason while he gave his testimony, was incredible to witness! In the morning we went to the town of Truger to help the missionaries, T...

July 10 - Sisak Crew Today we got an early start on the day. We had breakfast and devotions at 7 so we could be to the field by 8. Erin and Shannon worked with Timi putting a second coat of paint on the stage. I really enjoyed working with Erin again and having Timi is a blessing. The extra set of hands are really helpful! Grant and Heidi painted the Sisak Stork's name on the back of one of the dugouts. Grant came up with an amazing idea. We bought parchment paper and traced the letters for the second dugout. That cut the drawing time in half for Heidi. Way to go Grant! We came back to the house for lunch. It was very hot today so we hung out here for a while then went back to the field at 4. Erin and I touched up the stage paint and Grant and Heidi got the letters drawn out for the other dugout. We left the field around 7:30pm and went to McDonald's for dinner. The McDonald's here is so fancy. They have a coffee bar inside and the food is a little bette...

Blog-Monday July 9 If God is for us who can be against us. United we stand together with Him as our leader, protector, provider and strength and man has HE delivered on every occasion and with each step! What a wonderful Monday and the chance to share His truth at the football camp as well as walk through 2000 years of history was breath taking, not to mention the beauty of His creation here in Split. The day was absolutely incredible! Please read on but I must warn you ahead of time, if you move on you may be moved to come and join us next year on this ministry here in Croatia! Having the chance to share in Sisak over the past 7 years has been incredible and now to break through and having the chance to share here is mind blowing! God is showing us his plan on a daily basis and although many of our plans we make don’t come about we realize he is in control and as long as our focus remains on Him he will provide all the direction and strength needed. We all got off late in the ...

From the Sisak crew...Heidi, Grant, Erin and Shannon...   Sunday, July 8th Heidi went to church in Zagreb with Kristina. They spent the day together. Grant, Erin and I cleaned the house and changed all the sheets on 10 beds and did all the laundry. Then we went out for pizza. We had a great time of fellowship and we enjoyed cleaning the house together. It was a quiet night with just the 4 of us here. Timi is visiting from Germany and it's great to be able to spend time with him.   Monday, July 9th   Heidi and Grant have been working on the painting at the field. Grant has been painting the dug outs white and Heidi has been drawing the logos on the backs of the dug outs. The "S" is done on both side of one of the dug outs. Tomorrow, Heidi will finish the drawing of the logos and get the painting started. Grant was putting a second coat of white on the dug outs to get the surface ready for Heidi's artwork.  Erin and I went in to town and spent...