Back Home and Last Days of Summer MLO

Hello Folks,

Arrived back to the states safely and gladly! The last of the team from the 2016 Mission Learning Opportunity, myself and Heidi, arrived safely yesterday afternoon along with all of our luggage! After a ride home, brush of teeth, Texas Sized Burger, haircut, shave and shower, I felt like I was home again! After an over 5 week stint, in 4 different countries throughout The Balkans and Eastern Europe, it feels so good to sleep in my own bed! 

I will try and write down all that has happened over these past four days, since the team left last Sunday, but to be honest it will not be easy! God blew open so many doors of opportunities for the future that it is so hard to capture on paper. Pictures do a pretty good job of telling a story and they say they are worth a 1,000 words, but even those could not possibly capture all that occurred and give it justice to the impact for the future! I will try and capture as much of it as I can and prayerfully the Spirit will complete the image for me! This year's team did such an amazing job across the many different ministries we had going on and that "loving them where they are and loving them till they ask why" is reaping benefits today! Thanks to the many teams that have come and gone throughout these past 11 years.  Without each of you, the impact that HiS PRINT has today would not be what it is! This ministry has grown so rapidly and the impact God is creating across the city of Sisak, the region of Croatia and the countries across Eastern Europe is increasing as a result of each of those efforts! From a library program that has grown to include close to 80 children (children who stick around the city, begging their parents to wait to go to the coast on holiday until the American's come and do their program!) to making connections with a ministry that reaches out to those less fortunate through the Food Pantry and being able to feed 12 families and pray with each of them as the team comes to personally deliver each of those items; to God opening the door to a nursing home, handicap center, blind association and orphanage in and around the city of Sisak! God has used this ministry to affect change in the hearts and lives of each of those places and these teams He continues to put together has been a blessing to be a part of.  I know He has even greater things in store for us in the future! That was never more evident than what He revealed in the quiet and connected time I was able to have when I stayed back the additional 4 days after the team left!

I had an opportunity to visit with many of the city officials and share with them our pleasure and desire to continue to come and put on the programs every year. They shared their excitement and desire to see us return and the joy that the Texas Day Carnival brings every year to the people of Sisak! I was asked by one city official to pray before I left his office! I quickly agreed and said I would pray for the upcoming election and he immediately said no, he wanted me to pray for the people of Sisak and that he would lead with integrity and warmth! 

God brought tears to my eyes in so many instances and through so many heart warming experiences and meetings with people, that I cannot possibly list all of them and not make this longer than any book you have read this summer! I will say that HiS HOUSE will not remain empty long after our HiS PRINT team left. On the books for arrival already are a mission team from Germany who will be coming to share tracts and street evangelism, and the American football team from Ljubljana Slovenia is coming August 22-28 for preseason camp and preparation for the up coming season! We help build this house to be used to share His love with others and not so sit empty! God is creating opportunity after opportunity to do exactly that and we are actually doing a live devotional and coaches corner, through Skype, with the team from Slovenia! Blessed to see God's hand working in so many ways!

I will close with this, a story of the how Little League came into existence this year in Croatia and how HiS PRINT was able to play a small role in it! The attached story was written by the Little League secretary and if you have the time to read, I will guarantee you will not be disappointed.  A friendly reminder, you may want to go grab a tissue or two! Thank you to each of you for your continued support of our going every year and helping us grow this ministry in a region reaching ministry over several thousand miles, reaching many countries across those miles and affecting the hearts of many with the love of Jesus!

I have been working on this closing blog for the past two days with many interruptions and one that caused the biggest delay occurred yesterday when I received a call from the Head Football Coach at Clear Brook HS and he told me he had some shoulder pads he wanted to donate! Two trips back and forth to the warehouse later, God provided 98 pairs of shoulder pads and 10 shoes, with more to come in the near future! God has a great plan for all of this equipment and I am just happy to be a part of it! 

Hanging on to the robe of Jesus has never been more fun!

Remember Jesus loves you and so do I!

HE DID IT!

Mossman

"...Going down this path we have made something great, something great for the kids,
parents and our aching society..."

"Baseball was first played in Croatia in early 1920’s when American sailors came to port of Split. There were teams organized in Split in  1930’s but it wasn’t until 1980’s that more teams started to play baseball. On the organized level, baseball is being played in Karlovac, Sisak, Split, Zadar and Zagreb. The teams are organized usually from kids age  to senior (first) team. Croatian kids never had Little League program. There were ideas before, even the league got charted, but there was never a real official Little League season played. So far, our kids played baseball through club competition organized by Croatian baseball Association, the competition that is just few games a year and competition that often carries over senior style of baseball and adult topics that should not exist in kids programs.  

I was looking across the room as we are sitting around table, ready to start the meeting.  There were guys from different towns, different teams. The guys that have battled on the baseball fields for years, who were ready to take out each other while braking up double play but the guys who love and respect the game of baseball. 

“Little League, we need Little League. We have to overcome our team barriers, we need to raise above team competition and start teaching kids fun and wonders of the game. We need to get parents involved as well. “Everybody at the table agreed. It was a January of 2016. 

Month later head people of region Europe/Africa and Little League International gave their thumbs up for District Croatia. In March we have elected the board and our Croatia North Little League got charted with 6 minor and 5 major league teams.

Last year we have introduced “BeeBall” baseball to school. BeeBall is three base version of the coach pitched minor league game, with teams 4 to 7 player. The game is fun, quick and kids get to hit every inning. The rules are simplified so any kid can learn rules in few minutes. For this kids use spongy soft balls, and Kenko rubber bats. No gloves, no helmets no catchers equipment. It is played during the late fall and winter in gyms. This proved to be good base for starting the Little League program. But at this point you need to start using gloves, baseballs and other baseball equipment, equipment you cannot go to the local sports store to buy here in Croatia. With first games approaching quickly we had almost 200 kids ready to play, we had fields that they can play on but we did not have enough equipment to support that number of kids. 

We have set up our goals high. One of our goal was take the All star team to regional tournament Europa/Africa to compete for the spot in Little League World Series. On one of our meetings in March we were going over official rule book trying to get a picture on official Little League equipment that we will have to use in order to play on tournament. Let along troubles that we have with finding the gloves and balls to start the league, to play in Kutno we will need District (in our case National) uniforms with Little League patches, pants, belts, hats and sox, spikes, official bats, helmets, right catcher gear.  The coaches cannot wear uniforms but shirts preferably team color. We needed all kind of equipment. “David Moss and HisPrint Ministries can help”, said Neven from The Nest.  

From there on, we exchanged couple of e-mails with David and arranged to meet him and rest of the crowd at HisHouse in March, after the coaching clinic that took place there. We had a nice and friendly talk about what we are trying to do and what we need in order to achieve it.  We left HisHouse with prayer and the hope that we will be able to get enough equipment to start our minor and major league play and send the All Star team to Kutno. 

After few weeks, just before our first exhibition Little League games were played the set of gloves for each Little League team came in as well as enough balls to cover whole season of league play. Pure kindness of HisPrint Ministries, with perfect timing.  Now we had everything ready to start the program.

As we started to play and move our Little League caravan from city to city, the parents got more involved. They were driving the kids to the games and actually watching the baseball game their kid was playing and not soccer game on the neighbor field. Baseball moms were making cakes, we have organized fundraising, fun zone for kids, carnival hitting and throwing games.  

Kids vs parents games were organized as well. What is great about these games is that kids in Croatia know more about baseball than their parents so kids get to step in coaching shoes as they are showing their parents how to hold bat and how to run the bases.  It is great exercise for the kids and for the parents as well, because once parents find out how hard and complex is to play baseball, they stop commenting negatively when their kid does not reach the base safely or makes an error and turn to more positive approach of supporting the kids.

We managed to spread the little league spirit around the country. The senior players and some ex players stepped inn and volunteered as an umpires, scorekeepers, announcers. Since we do not have official little league field,  for every game we have to measure bases, make the outfield fence. The parents were helping on setting up field, kids from all the teams were helping dissembling the field, clean the dugouts. It was such a blessing seeing kids and parents from different teams working together on the baseball field and with the smiles on their faces. During the season, kids were great. They had fun, played great games and got to know each other well. One of our biggest fear that in major division the kids will not be able to throw strikes and that we will have endless games proved wrong as  half of the games were 5 runs or less wins, 5 of them were one run games and only few games ended on time limit. The kids passed the biggest test when they picked the player for the All Star team fairly, not based on from what team is coming but actually the player that left the positive mark during season. The coaches picked the rest of the candidate rosters. 

During the season we kept contact with David so we knew that shipment of equipment was somewhere in the middle of the Ocean, in God’s hands, traveling to its destination. Uniforms pants and the rest of the clothing needed was in David and Joe hands as they carried unis on the plane, making sure we have something to play in on the tournament in Kutno. 

We have split the All Star team candidates in two camps. HisPrint Ministries were so kinds and took our little leaguers under their wing during traditional baseball camp at The Nest in Sisak.  They have organized special program for Little Leaguers in order to get the kids ready for the regional tournament in Kutno. 

As we were approaching the end of the camp, rest of the equipment came in. And it was a true blessing. We got it all. Spikes for the kids, cups, catcher’s equipment, official bats, helmets, bags, team bags, portable nets, baseballs, everything down to pitch counters and line up cards. And all this as a gift, as a pure act of good in people. 

Organizing the whole infrastructure for Little League program was not easy task.  In 5 months’ time to come from idea to actually having the bus filled with All-star team all dressed up and ready to go to Regional tournament in Kutno  had it’s bad hops along the way. However, we stayed on the path that we choose to take and on this path we have found the kindness and support of HisPrint Ministries. On this path we have made some new friends, we got some old friendship renewed and strengthened. 

Our kids played and behaved great in Kutno, Regional office had nothing but good words for our kids, coaches and documentation we had to present before the tournament.  The Croatian team had an honor to play opening game of the tournament on the Little League Stadium Edward J. Piszek. Our catcher caught the first pitch and our player got to read Little League Pledge in Croatian. And yes, not to forget. The kids won that game, the first ever Little League tournament win for Croatia. 

As I was in Kutno listening to the kids sing as one in the dugout, cheering for one another, playing the game with such a joy, the happy tears ran down my face. Going down this path we have made something great, something great for the kids, parents and our aching society. I can’t thank enough everyone involved for putting their hearts into this wonderful story, spreading the kindness among all and helping us get of the ground. It is amazing how game of baseball brought the good side of people from all over the world together. It is amazing how game and faith connected together and created this wonderful path, the path we will strive to stay on in the years to come. 

Play ball !"