Food Pantry & Dance Camp Updates

Thursday, July 5

This morning was cool and foggy but it has turned into a lovely day. It was also nice and quiet as our girls spent the night with Ana and her parents. There were no planned ministry events for the morning so we used the time to finish shopping for the food pantry distribution. A team of 9, with 3 cars, shopped for 25 families!  Each family receives 2 kilo (2.2 lbs) of flour, a kilo of rice, salt, coffee, sugar, and pasta, 2 liters of oil, a liter of milk, juice concentrate, dish soap, dishwasher detergent, shampoo, body wash, hand soap, yeast, canned meat, canned fish, toilet paper, toothpaste, fresh fruit, and wafer cookies.  We filled 7 carts to the brim; 

then we got to the cars...

After filling the trunks of all 3, we piled inside and stacked the last of it on the laps of everyone except the driver. Fortunately the food pantry is only a mile or so from Interspar so we weren’t uncomfortable for too long. Once we finished unloading the cars, they invited us inside to help Vishna celebrate her birthday.

It felt like we crashed their party but they seemed reluctant to let us leave.
We did not eat much so there was plenty left for them.

We headed back to HiS House with a gaggle of girls for lunch and fun until time for dance camp.

After dance camp, many of the girls, including all from the team stayed in town and hung out together. They had great fun and we met back up with them for ice cream before heading back to HiS House for the night. Please pray that the relationships we all develop will lead our new friends to be open to the gospel and pray that we’ll see the opportunities to share as they arise. 

God bless,
Herb

Friday July 6

It’s hard to believe we’re already to the last day of the week: our last day at the library and what turned out to be our big day at the food pantry. In addition to separate teams for distribution, we were able to meet the new employees and I was asked to pray over them. We also met one of the founders of the food bank. He is a disabled veteran of the Balkan wars and carries a fluffy white therapy dog with him.

Three of the Croatian girls went along on the food distribution and did the translation for  us. They worked together and were very helpful. I think it was pretty impactful to see the folks who are receiving the aid, and also to see our hearts for sharing love simply because Jesus loves us. 3 of the 4 visits were to widows. The apartment buildings are depressing, Soviet era concrete boxes that reek of smoke.

It is sad to see these widows who have no hope and live for the monthly visit from the food pantry people. I realized that the only hope we can give them is the hope of eternity that comes from salvation by grace through faith in Jesus.

The girls are making great progress with the dance camp participants and have even included a break dance into the beginning of the routine in order to include the boys who have been there all week. After initial reluctance, Emily is actually petty excited about the way it turned out. 

She and Rachel put a lot of work into this week and it’s been such a blessing to see their relationships with the Croatians blossom.  We have seen a shift in several relationships and pray that hearts will soften and allow Jesus to make them new.  Europe is mostly post Christian and needs revival. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will shine the light of Jesus in an explosion of revival in the Balkans. 

We’ve been jamming 8 people in a 5 seat car all week and thought you’d want to see it in action: here are Ashlyn, Rachel, and Ana crawling out after the trip home from dance. 

Please pray for good weather, no mosquitoes, and many opportunities to show Jesus’ love during the Texas Carnival in downtown Sisak tomorrow. 

God bless,

Herb