2022 Fall MLO - Blog 2

 

Fall '22 MiLO - Day 2 Acts 11:26 47 men came to HiS House this past Friday through Sunday, representing  9 churches from  6 countries - Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Russia, Ukraine, USA for  1 Reason - Jesus

Worship

We broke bread, worshipped, studied God’s word, prayed, took communion, enjoyed fellowship with one another; and encouraged one another to share Christ. all because of their love for Christ. It was beautiful to see the cross culture, young and old from all walks of life worshipping together. I was blessed beyond measure.

Group Listening

Group Listening That was my experience from being at the men’s conference here at HiS House. It began on Friday and when I arrived on Saturday evening, I was welcomed with open arms. It was so refreshing and on Sunday, the worship, prayer and fellowship were such a blessing. They love coming here and Janko is the best host a person can have. That is why we love coming here year after year. I believe this is their third-year meeting here and they simply love it here and the joy they having staying at HiS House and now with the new kitchen and café, it can house a lot more people comfortably. Acts 11:26 “The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.”

Janko and me

Lordan & Martina I had the opportunity to spend some time with Lordan and Martina and actually spent the night with them on Saturday night. HiS House was full with the conference going on and when I went to visit with them on Saturday, it was easier for me to stay with them, so that I could visit until I couldn’t keep my eyes open and then just go fall asleep and not have to try and drive back out into the country to HiS House. Huge blessing and a great time of catching up and talking about what we were going to be doing in this MiLO. Lordan and Martina are always are boots on the ground in making the connections necessary around the city and scheduling meetings. We laughed and talked into the evening and at 9:30 I couldn’t keep my eyes open or my brain focused on the topics, so off to bed I went. I would have taken pictures but I completely forgot!

Barbara I had the opportunity to visit with our sister Barbara, the former librarian of the children’s library. She recently turned her life over to the Lord and has been growing in her faith and knowledge ever since. Janko has been a huge help in mentoring her through Bible Studies on Wednesday nights at the Emmaus Center and she has been sending me emails asking questions to deepen her faith. Those emails have been great and have made me dig deeper into the Word and study to answer them and it has been a blessing and has grown me in the process. We had the chance to have coffee together on Monday and discuss some of those questions in person. It was so refreshing seeing her eagerness to learn and grasp God’s love. We sat there for nearly two hours and actually had a 3.4 earthquake while sitting there, that shook the table and made everyone stop for a second and get their bearing. If you haven’t read previous blogs, this area of Croatia has been devastated by numerous earthquakes and many people have lost their homes and no money to make the repairs. There are many living in shipping containers and not sure when they will ever return to the home they had. To make matters worse, is almost impossible to get the permits and gain governmental approval to make those repairs. It is sad to see and we hope to go visit a few of those later in the week to deliver food and say a prayer with them.

Barbara and Janko at a concert

Neven I also was blessed to have the opportunity to go and visit Neven and Maja and their family, including their new addition, Lukas. Neven was one of the first baseball players I met here in Sisak and our friendship has deepened over the 17 years we have known each other. His faith in the Lord has grown and he has become a great husband and dad to this bride and 3 children. He is now coaching the Storks along with Coach Daniel and they are keeping the team alive by sharing their love for the game!

Neven and baby Lukas

Wurzburg Family Since we are taking a team up to Zagreb to help local missionaries Daniel and Kate Wurzburg with some home improvements, I took the time on Monday to make a trip to their home to inspect what will be happening. The group will be working on expanding their three story home by putting up sheetrock and some plumbing projects in the unfinished attic space. I spend the entire afternoon with them just catching up on life and hearing more about their ministry. I have known them since 2013 and they are such a delight. They have 4 children with a few extras who are staying with them periodically for one reason or another. But that is what they do, open their hears and home to those in need.

Wurzburgs and Me

Phillip Lastly, I had the opportunity to meet Phillip, a college student in Zagreb who is from Split on the coast. I have known his father for years and actually had both of his younger brothers in baseball camp a couple of times in Split. He encouraged me by telling me that several girls at his university are from Sisak and they speak of HiS Print often and the great times they had in camp. He said that they pray before everything that they do and that they remembered that from us in camp. That was quite an encouragement. I told him to forward me hello’s to them.

Phillip and me

So far the mission has been fantastic and the rest of the team starts arriving today, so I will be busy traveling to the airport and the construction portion of our purpose is about to begin. Excited to get started and to help Janko out here at HiS House with some renovations and to help Daniel and Kate out at their house in Zagreb. Cane in one hand and a paintbrush in the other, is going to be me moving forward. LOL God bless and remember Jesus loves you and so do I! HE DID IT! Let’s Do IT! David