Croatia 2013 - Day 9

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 evening most of the bags were full to the top.

The camp in the morning went really well and the kids had a great time playing baseball Olympics. It is so wonderful to have baseball coaches here, so they can run the baseball events on the field while I stayed home to work on the carnival. Thanks goes to Chris Hill, who has become the baseball coach handling the camp and Dalton, Brandon and Robert to help out with all the activities. I needed to stay back at home and work on all the carnival booth events and get prizes out and the girls and women helped out with that. Without this huge team effort we would have never been able to accomplish what we did and pull off a night of fun that we had. Our joy was fulfilled when we saw the happiness in the people of Croatia! It will be neat to see all those jerseys and hats for years to come on the adults when we walk around town.

After the carnival a middle aged man who had been participating in the carnival with his son, was getting on his bike and called out to me and told me how much fun he had and that what we did was incredible. He told me that we were genuine people and that they had such a great time and that he would see us next year. Without this event, our paths may have never crossed and he would not have had the opportunity to witness the love we were able to share in putting the carnival on. After we cleaned up and picked up trash, a mother from one of the cadet campers brought us pastries to show her families appreciation for coming. They were tremendous and enjoyed by all. Incredible outpouring of love back from the people of Croatia and having the conversations with many gives us the opportunity to share and pour into their hearts. God has blessed us richly and we are thankful to be a part of it.

Working on my sermon for Sunday morning and allowing the Holy Spirit to give me the words to convey. We have invited many people and most have promised they would come. Our prayer is that we fill the church this morning. Please pray for God's truth to be said and for ears to not only hear, but listen and that hearts would be receptive to the Holy Spirits bidding!

Take care and God bless!

Your Friend

David