Summer MiLO Blog 5

 

Summer MiLO Blog 5 Catch Your Breath and Hang On When you pray for God’s direction and prepare to execute those plans, you need to write your plans in pencil and hand God the eraser and see if He has any changes that need to be made. Writing those plans in ink will almost always end in frustration when they need to be adjusted or changed; but writing them in pencil and giving God the eraser reminds you those plans are His and He has control of them.  “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps” Proverbs 16:9 As week 3 began, July 7-13, several team members headed back home and we had one new member join us. The mission team was down to three, when Hugh Poland flew in on Wednesday to join Robert, Joe and I. I asked Hugh to come in and handle the announcing of the tournament games on YouTube, which is a requirement when hosting a European championship. The games would be starting on the 15th through the 20th, but we had plenty to do before then.  From July 8-12, the Croatian 15 and Under (15U) team came to stay at HiS House to work out on the field twice a day and come together as a team. They had one player from Texas and another from Canada that joined them for the tournament, so they had to spend that time working as a team. So eighteen 15 year-olds and three coaches stayed with us. The Croatian Federation provided the food and we provided the place to stay. I was asked to drive the team to and from the field every day, twice a day. That took two trips each way each time so I got to know that 3 mile stretch of highway between HiS House and The Nest pretty good. Although in my 18 years driving that stretch of road many times, I never noticed the things I did driving it so many times back to back. Being the taxi driver gave me the perfect opportunity to get to know the players and coaches and to serve them in a way they never expected. I really wish I had the time to share the stories of what I experienced and how I observed ice melting off coaches through the love shared in that serving. If you want to hear about how love melts ice off of an iceberg, then reach out and I’ll line up a coffee with you to share that experience. Or if you want to hear the story of the coach who felt so much peace being around HiS House that he had never felt before and couldn’t explain, let’s grab lunch!

On Sunday the 7th I received an email from a librarian at a children’s library in the small village of Lekenek asking if we would consider coming to their library to share with their kids. We worked out a day and time, 11:00 on Thursday the 11th, and the 4 of us from HiS Print headed that way. When arrived there were 4 kids in the book section and we were asked to come into the office to drink coffee, visit and wait till 11:00. We had a beautiful time visiting and them thanking us for coming to their village. We told them we had a history in the village with the SOS Orphanage where we came to play and serve the kids there for several years, but had not been there since Covid.  When we finished visiting we walked back out to the book section and surprisingly there were 27 children sitting there anxiously waiting for us to share. Our newest member Hugh got out his guitar and all his musical instruments and played several songs before they read to us and we read to them. Afterward we enjoyed teaching and helping them make paper airplanes that we threw all over the library. I forgot how much fun paper airplanes were and the kids had a blast. Once we finished we lined up at the library entrance to get a high five from each as they left the library. The librarians immediately asked if we could make this happen more next year. Praising God while we said yes was an understatement. Love how God creates those open doors.

It is always a blessing to have new team members join us and experience what we’ve felt over the years. This year was no exception. We had four first-timers and each of them were blessed by their time here.  Their experience of how we love people where they are allows them to see missions in a new way. Hosting a new group of people at HiS House and serving them is always an experience you can’t explain, but we love to witness their contentment through their smiles and hearing them explain what they felt warms our hearts.  Thank you for taking the time to read about what God is doing here in Croatia and across the Balkans.  We appreciate your support, and recognize that we could not do this without you. Have a wonderful, God-filled day. HE DID IT! David