Croatia 2013 - Day 18 Closing Day
Hello Folks,
Well today marks the end of Croatia Mission 2013 as we head back to Texas tomorrow morning very early. We are tired and for the most part spent, but are delighted to be a part of God’s mission team to Croatia. So many neat things happened tonight at the send off and goodbye party we held at Janko’s. Most of the Storks came, Neven and Mia stopped by earlier on their way to the coast, and other people from town. Coach Daniel and his wife Marina stopped by and we had a nice visit together. I love my brother very much and it is neat to see our friendship grow bigger every year! Barbara, the librarian stopped by to say our goodbyes and to kidnap Shannon for awhile so she could ask her some questions about faith. Shannon knew this was coming and she asked me for prayer earlier in the afternoon. Barbara has been touched deeply by this trip and her friendship with Shannon is deepening as she draws nearer to God. I hugged her before they walked away and she whispered her thank you for bringing people to Croatia to help her country and people and I just held her tight and prayed for her. I just asked God to reveal himself to her and by the time I finished we were both with tears in our eyes. I am praying we will have a new sister in Christ, if not tonight very soon!
The Storks were their usual funny selves and the warm hugs and heart felt thank yous meant the world to us! Each one of them is so special to me! They have reached a place in my heart they will be forever etched. Marko stopped by just before we finished and we had a wonderful talk together concerning our trip and how things went. From our previous talk together I had asked him to read Esther and he promised he would. Tonight he told me he had read it and actually made several comments about what he read and wanted to ask me why I had asked him to read. It I told him to go back and look at chapter 4 and especially verses 10- 20 and see Esther’s response to a call of duty she had been asked to do. She will go to the king and risk being killed because he had not summoned her and if she perishes, she perishes, she just knew it was right! He smiled and said he was carrying God with him every step of the way and that he didn’t talk to may people about his faith and I told him that was okay, when the time is right God will reveal it to you and at that time he will have no problem expressing his faith. Marko has not come out and professed faith in Christ to me yet but his answers and questions sure do point to the fact that he has! Keep praying for Marko, our vice mayor of Sisak! That God will use him in a mighty way here in this part of the world. As we said our goodbyes I told him one of my highlights was having the families at the carnival this year and seeing the smiles on so many of the children and their parents participating together and having so many people there. I asked him if we could have it on the river walk next year, that it has been a prayer of mine for quite sometime and he answered consider it done! Next year the Texas Carnival will take place in the park along side the Kupa. What an awesome opportunity to touch this city! God is truly opening doors and we are just so excited to be a part of it.
We visited several families today and when we went to visit Pastor Vladimir and Stana it was incredible to see their smiles and to listen to their joy at serving the Lord. Stana shared me a story about a cross I had made her many years ago and I saw it hanging on her wall. It is late now but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to have time to type it up and share it later.
Blessings to everyone and remember Jesus loves you and so do I!
David
Well today marks the end of Croatia Mission 2013 as we head back to Texas tomorrow morning very early. We are tired and for the most part spent, but are delighted to be a part of God’s mission team to Croatia. So many neat things happened tonight at the send off and goodbye party we held at Janko’s. Most of the Storks came, Neven and Mia stopped by earlier on their way to the coast, and other people from town. Coach Daniel and his wife Marina stopped by and we had a nice visit together. I love my brother very much and it is neat to see our friendship grow bigger every year! Barbara, the librarian stopped by to say our goodbyes and to kidnap Shannon for awhile so she could ask her some questions about faith. Shannon knew this was coming and she asked me for prayer earlier in the afternoon. Barbara has been touched deeply by this trip and her friendship with Shannon is deepening as she draws nearer to God. I hugged her before they walked away and she whispered her thank you for bringing people to Croatia to help her country and people and I just held her tight and prayed for her. I just asked God to reveal himself to her and by the time I finished we were both with tears in our eyes. I am praying we will have a new sister in Christ, if not tonight very soon!
The Storks were their usual funny selves and the warm hugs and heart felt thank yous meant the world to us! Each one of them is so special to me! They have reached a place in my heart they will be forever etched. Marko stopped by just before we finished and we had a wonderful talk together concerning our trip and how things went. From our previous talk together I had asked him to read Esther and he promised he would. Tonight he told me he had read it and actually made several comments about what he read and wanted to ask me why I had asked him to read. It I told him to go back and look at chapter 4 and especially verses 10- 20 and see Esther’s response to a call of duty she had been asked to do. She will go to the king and risk being killed because he had not summoned her and if she perishes, she perishes, she just knew it was right! He smiled and said he was carrying God with him every step of the way and that he didn’t talk to may people about his faith and I told him that was okay, when the time is right God will reveal it to you and at that time he will have no problem expressing his faith. Marko has not come out and professed faith in Christ to me yet but his answers and questions sure do point to the fact that he has! Keep praying for Marko, our vice mayor of Sisak! That God will use him in a mighty way here in this part of the world. As we said our goodbyes I told him one of my highlights was having the families at the carnival this year and seeing the smiles on so many of the children and their parents participating together and having so many people there. I asked him if we could have it on the river walk next year, that it has been a prayer of mine for quite sometime and he answered consider it done! Next year the Texas Carnival will take place in the park along side the Kupa. What an awesome opportunity to touch this city! God is truly opening doors and we are just so excited to be a part of it.
We visited several families today and when we went to visit Pastor Vladimir and Stana it was incredible to see their smiles and to listen to their joy at serving the Lord. Stana shared me a story about a cross I had made her many years ago and I saw it hanging on her wall. It is late now but hopefully tomorrow I will be able to have time to type it up and share it later.
Blessings to everyone and remember Jesus loves you and so do I!
David
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