Bekah's Extreme Creek Jumping - Summer 2009

I just wanted to show this hilarious video of Bekah we shot this summer. First the Massey boys started jumping off a little drop off into this creek (seen in the 1st video). Well, Bekah decided she should do this too (seen in the 2nd video). Enjoy our funny daughter!

Lucia's Baptism

Yesterday our dear friend and sister was baptized. She's a college student in Zagreb who is from Zadar (on the coast). She has been attending our congregation while in Zagreb, but was actually converted in Zadar and attends a congregation there when she's back home. It was a beautiful day complete with perfect weather, pine trees swaying in the wind, the sea gently lapping the shore, and 3 girls displaying their love for Jesus (2 others were baptized). The event was watched by both our congregation (Transforma), the congregation in Zadar, along with other random beach combers and tourists who happen to be at that beach at that time. (Afterwards I was able to share the Gospoel with an on-looker and explain what just happened there!) Enjoy the pictures! God is on the move in Croatia!

English Camp August 2009

Last week we had an "English Camp" in our teammate's village, Mala Gorica. The camp consisted of 3 mornings (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday) where we played games, had a short talk, did a work sheet, spoke in discussion groups, sang songs, watched a movie, and did a craft. The kids LOVED it! We too had a great time as leaders. Our main objective in having this camp was to start to build a bridge into more people's lives. On Friday night we had a big reception at the Massey's house with the parents where we presented to them a few songs from the camp, a slide show of pictures, and a brief explanation of who we are. They were all thrilled and wanted to know when the next event would be.

Please pray with us that these small "buds" of relationships would grow into a full-grown friendship giving us more of an opportunity to share Jesus.

For all of you who prayed, thank you! We had a completely successful week and we plan to do more camps in the future.

Enjoy the video...and as you see their faces, pray that they'll have the opportunity to know Jesus personally! You're looking at the future of Croatia!

Thoughts on Justice & Minsitry

Just had a few thoughts I'd write down after distributing humanitarian aid today in some villages near Karlovac (40 min. west of Zagreb). My co-worker and I distributed basic groceries to 14 households. With the exception of a few new additions, these are the same households we've been working with the past 20 months.

One of the great aspects of the job is that we get to distribute justice in 2 different ways. One, is the obvious way of giving food to people who otherwise would not be able to afford to feed themselves (or they'd barely be able to feed themselves) in a given month. This is a phenomenal privilege to be a part of meeting their physical needs. As trust has grown in our relationship with people, we've seen them open up to us as they see that we seek nothing of them...just to help. It's also beautiful to see how they love to give back. Most of the time we return to Zagreb with full hands (squash, zucchini, corn, dried mushrooms, household and outdoor plants, horse radish root, etc.) They too want to give to us and have this relationship be a "2-way street".

The 2nd way that we are able to distribute justice is spiritually. We take the opportunity as the Holy Spirit leads us to pray for these people. Every time we run into multiple people who are depressed, struggling with their health, have relationship problems with family or friends, act crudely, or who struggle with alcohol abuse. We love to pray for them and remind them of how God loves them. On a wider scale, as we drive down their roads, walk the paths to their homes, sit and drink coffee with them in their homes, in our hearts we bless them, their homes, and their village in the name of Jesus. We believe these types of prayers, combined with sharing the love of Jesus for them will change the spiritual atmosphere of the place. Our hope is that as we continue to work with them, we'll see less and less depression, alcohol abuse, crude behavior, relationship problems, and even health problems. We pray that the land will produce magnificent crops. We pray that it would be a place free of binding religion and full of freedom found only in Jesus. God wants this for Krnjak and Catrnja! Here are 2 villages we went to today that you can not even find a map (at least you can't find Catrnja...maybe Krnjak), and God loves these people and knows them intimately! Wow!

May we become more and more aware of God's longing to distribute justice among His creation.

A Call to the Church for Change

I pray that my life does and will continue to on an ongoing basis embody this call Bono gives the church. Notice the last line of the interview:

"the world is more malleable than we think...and we can wrestle it from fools..."

Wow, what a quote we need to remember on a daily basis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grBByc7t3Fs

Dancing for joy!

We have these little eggs that when you push them, they start singing a song in a duck's voice. Mimi (Laura's mom) got them for us a few years back. The past couple of days Bekah has pulled the eggs back out and with pure joy and soul has been bustin' some moves that would make Michael Jackson jealous. I thought you'd enjoy a couple slices of her dancing.

Lizzie's Brown Bear Reading