HiS PRINT Ministries Updates

Hello Folks, Just when you didn't think it could get any better than the day before the Lord goes and proves you wrong. Saturday's carnival was a huge highlight of this years trip. To witness over 170 people, not just kids, but most importantly, the kids along with their parents enjoying the time together. To see the parents encourage their children and to witness the smiles was priceless. Not to mention that Marko had the city bring out 5 house booths for us to use which made it even more special.  After the 3 hours of carnival, which ended when all the hats, jersey, candy and prizes ran out. When the last jersey and hat were won, there were still people in line to try and win it. We are all very tired from the event, but were blessed beyond measure with the smiles and joy we witnessed in those faces! We also had a booth that we gave away gospel tracts in English and Croatian and also the HiS PRINT bags to hold all their goodies. By the end of the eve...

Hello Folks, Our God is an awesome God and he continues to amaze me every single day. When I think it can’t get any better than the day before, he just goes and proves me wrong. Today was no different and although today didn’t have the mass impact as in days past it still was an incredible day of new beginnings and victories. The first observation was God is using our two youngest ladies to impact the girls of Croatia. Rachel and Erin have made many new friends and to watch them spend time one on one with these girls just learning the language and laughing and having fun is incredible to watch. Rachel has invited one of her new friends Carla to church on Sunday and she agreed to go! I have invited the Storks and many of them have agreed to go so we will see how many show up. I am going to be preaching so I am very excited about the opportunity to pour into their hearts God’s love and truth through his word! Shannon and the crew continue to impress the library workers and the chil...

Mission 2013 – Day 7 This was an incredible day and a day we will all remember forever. Our prayer is those here in Croatia that were part of it will also never forget and be as touched as we were.  We were blessed beyond measure. The camp went extremely well and we had several more show up to play. There were close to 50 campers in the afternoon and we had a great time in both the morning session and the afternoon session. God is great and we are extremely excited at all the opportunities we have to show and share God’s love.  Prior to the afternoon camp we packed up some softy balls with scripture verses written on them, jersey’s and Croatian New Testaments! We took two car loads so there were 10 of us going and when I pulled onto the road to the village I drove down the road a ways and we saw 4 young boys sitting beside the road. I pulled over and Brandon spoke to them in Croatian and told them he was looking for them and that he had gifts for them. They just loo...

Up front I want to apologize for the length of this update, but really wanted to share with all what is happening and all that God is doing here! It was incredible to witness and each of you are as big a part of this as we are, because of your prayers and support. So please take the time to read and see how God is using you to change lives here in Croatia. Man did God provide the perfect day today and we had the luxury to be involved in it! First off the weather could not be any more perfect than it was today. It was sunny with a slight cool breeze and 78 degrees. I know that is hard to imagine but it is like October in Texas! Sorry to those who are reading this in Texas! We love you and miss Texas but can’t say we are missing the heat of June, July and August. Knowing we have the potential to have this kind of temperature should make more of you have the desire to come and join us one year here in Croatia! Second, the camp has incredible attendance and the kids are so anxiou...

The past day and a half has gone by in a flurry and I only hope I can remember most of it.  For starters going up to Zagreb to watch the Bears play made them very happy and gave us the opportunity to come and show our support and prayerfully God's love through our coming! They got beat but it was good to see them play hard and encourage one another! We left the game and made it barely in time for Dalton's plane. We picked him up and he had his luggage so we were good to go. We headed back home packed up some equipment and changed clothes and then headed to The Nest to go practice with the cadets. That was an incredible time and they worked very hard. It was so encouraging to see the new kids come to play with enthusiasm and a desire to learn. There is some real talent on the team and with everyone's eagerness they will all improve. We really need to develop some pitchers so we will work hard on that tomorrow! After the cadets we practiced hard with the Storks a...

WOW What a day and the events surrounding it make us realize that God is in complete control and knowing that and allowing His plan and purpose is the plan and purpose we are to follow, makes you realize how important patience is! Today was supposed to be the first day of camp in Zagreb in the afternoon and we were going to practice with the cadets in Sisak in the morning. Well we woke up to rain and the practice got washed out and from the looks of the radar the rain was here to stay and was pretty much over the entire country of Croatia. (Supercell tornadoes or water spouts??  Amazing!   Courtesy of  @anitavanroorst on Twitter) We came home and spent the morning going through all of the equipment and inventory we had in the garage and that was a real blessing! The entire mission team worked together to move boxes, sort jerseys and pants, look through and label carnival prizes and God provided the wonderful blessing of cooler weather! I hate to tel...

Well folks, I appreciate the prayers for Mike and the kind thoughts and words that were sent back to me. I am forwarding those along to his friend because I know it will encourage him to know his friend is being lifted up! So if more of you would like to say something I will make sure he gets it! Rachel got her luggage today and that was a huge blessing for all of us but especially for her since she has been wearing a baseball jersey around the last few days! Thanks for the prayers there as well! Today was a great day of church services, relaxing and team building! We got up had devotions and then headed to church at Moscenica . It was a wonderful service with our Christian brothers and sisters. They asked me to get up and talk about what we were doing on this years trip and it was great to share with them. After the service, the Pastor came up and asked me if I would preach next Sunday. I was excited and honored to be asked and am going to try ...

Well Day 2 has come and gone and we are super tired but grateful everyone has arrived for the first two legs and we don't have to go to the airport till Tuesday to pick up Dalton our last baseball coach. The second group made it in and the only trouble is that Rachel's personal luggage did not make it to Croatia and when we went to take her tags to the baggage claim they have no record of it leaving Houston, so it could be that it is in the lost and found in Houston. We will keep checking and please pray that the luggage would make its way here. If not we are prepared to go and buy her some new clothes to make it through her 2 week stay! Her attitude about it is incredible and she was a witness to Barbara, Shannon's friend the librarian , when she couldn't believe Rachel was not upset about not having her bags. Rachel's response was that all things happen for a reason and that she knew God was in control. The Storks played their game against the second place t...

Hello folks, Well we made it safely and all but one bag made it. We finally got it but had to drive back up to the airport to pick it up this evening. It is 10 minutes till midnight and I am beat. Between the flight, drive back to the airport, unpacking and going through gear we had in storage, having practice with the Storks and cadets and throwing batting practice for an hour, <i am shot. <not to mention the Croatian keyboard that has a mind of its own. Things are great and everzone is well. I will write more later on the specifics in the morning and after <i have had a good nights rest. Blessings to you all and thanks for the prayer and support. David

Well the packing is done, the bags are ready and we are preparing to head out for the airport for our flight to Croatia! So excited at all that God has planned and the open doors he has created! Below you will read about another new opportunity I will be exploring while there in Croatia! God is awesome and the people he has brought along side HiS PRINT to accomplish his tasks is incredible. Croatia Mission 2013!! I would like to share a development that was finalized this past weekend after a couple of months of investing and answering some key questions. I will be traveling to Poland on July 5 -7 while I am on this year’s mission trip to Croatia. I am going at the request of Coach Robert whom I met last year in Sisak. Coach Robert coached the Poland National team that participated in the European National Qualifier Tournament we hosted on The NEST last summer. Coach Robert was real inquisitive on what we did for the Storks and the baseball camps we conducted and why we were ther...

A neat development has occurred to HiS PRINT and I wanted to share that with you prior to my leaving on our Croatia mission trip on Thursday. I need to share an email I got this past week from a friend who introduced me to the Dominican Republic and the possibility of having HiS PRINT come to the DR in the future to do baseball camps there as well. Thomas Glenn was introduced to me by a mutual friend and he shared with me his desire to go to the DR to do baseball mission trips. He had heard what we do in Croatia and was interested in having us do the same thing in the DR. He had a missionary friend, Rod Davis with TEARS Ministry who was in the barrio of LeVega. In February I had made contact with Rod, telling him I would be on a church building mission trip to Sana Domingo with The Gathering of Men and if he could come and meet me, I would bring 200 pounds of baseball equipment with me for him to use in his ministry. I also wanted to discuss with him the possibility of HiS PRINT ...

Well, after a solid day of thinking and a night to sleep on it, I have come to the conclusion that in order to keep everyone informed and to insure I don’t miss anyone, it’s best just I send the updates from this year’s trip through email. For those who have signed up for the blog, you will get them twice, but will have the added luxury of going back on the blog site and rereading previous blogs without having to look through old emails and on Facebook! When I started to look at who had actually gone through the sign up process to receive the blog, I realized there were not that many and instead of asking you to go and complete the process, I will send them via email! I do appreciate everyone’s support and it gives me added confidence knowing there are people back here in the U.S. who is concerned and excited to hear what is happening on the mission trips! One of our team members, Shannon, left yesterday and is there preparing the last minute details and spending time with friends ...