Update from David July 18-19

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 care of the responsibilities needed to run a tournament such as this. They have even taken shifts to spend the night to keep an eye out on things during the night!

For those interested in the baseball games thus far and how things are shaping up, please read on and for those who are not just skip this paragraph and read about the Field of Faith events in the paragraphs below. The tournament is set up in a round robin format with each country playing each other for 3 games, which is what was taking place during these first 3 days and that determines 1 through 4 seeding to start the elimination portion of the tournament. Today the #1 seed-Lithuania will play the #4 seed-Slovenia and Croatia the #2 seed will play Poland who is the #3 seed. The winner of each game will come back on Saturday and play for the championship and the loser of each game will play for third place. Lithuania is the surprise of the tournament and the expected forerunner. Poland is not living up to everyone’s expectations. But today starts the real deal so we will see who will bring their A game to the plate!

On Wednesday night we had some music and then I opened us up in prayer and had Saleim come up and give the gospel presentation and it was marvelous. Although many did not stay those who did were the ones we have been pouring our lives into these past 7 years. The Croatian National team and the Storks stayed and many people from town as well. I would say there was about 75 people there. I wish that the other National teams would have wanted to stay but we could not force them. After Saleim finished he had us bow our heads and raise their hands if they had received Christ and to come forward to receive a Bible if they would like. We had over 15 people come forward and out of those Martin from the Storks came forward. This is a miracle and shows that prayer works. To see Martin do this would have been something he would never have dreamed of doing 2 years! Stefan’s father, Branko, also came and took a Bible. He didn’t come forward but for him to take a Bible and actually open it up and glance through it is an example of God tearing down a  hardened heart that was atheistic 7 years ago! Amen!!

Thursday night we had the Croatian Christian Rock band October Light come and give a concert! They were incredible and with a band of 7 jumping up and down on the stage Rock designed and we built and seeing it not collapse was a blessings and their message was heart felt! They played for about a half hour and then we had Saleim come up and give the gospel presentation. He did an awesome job and to hear the reactions of those who heard the message touched my heart! So many said how they enjoyed his message and how easy it was to follow! A couple of more came forward acknowledging they had accepted Christ as their savior. The band then came back up and played several more songs and we all danced the night away praising God along the way! God has truly blessed us and to see what He has done with the Field of weeds….to Dreams…..to FAITH! Is an honor to be a part of! Shannon invited Barbara both nights to the events and she was asked by Barbara to explain further what we were all about and the reason for our prayers and hugs!! Praise God! He is changing her heart daily! God has really used Shannon in great ways at the library and orphanage! We pray for continued contact with both of those ministry opportunities as well as the nursing home! Speaking of the library, they made a website with all the photos and videos of the events that we did there! If you get a moment please click on the link and see it! www.texas.net16.net

Please pray for the shipment still. It is locked up in customs and everyday a new set of rules or more stipulations are added. Reminds me of the pitching machine three years ago! Please pray we have no more money to pay or palms to grease to get it out! God has laid it on my heart to not give in to their demands since we have already done everything we were required to do! Have a wonderful God filled day and remember God loves you and so do I! 

Our steps leaving HIS PRINT!

David