Life in the 'Ham

Well, as many of you know, Guy and I are now living in Birmingham. While spending the summer in Europe, Guy got a coaching and teaching offer at a local high school here in Birmingham. We really felt like God opened the door, considering this is not one of the jobs he even applied for. As soon as we flew into Atlanta, Guy came to Birmingham and I went to South Carolina to pack up all of our stuff (luckily we don't have a lot of stuff). Thanks to the help of my sister and cousins, I packed it all up within 3 days and the next weekend we made the move.

Being a home-body and very close to all of my family the move wasn't easy. But after being in Europe for 2 months with hardly any way of communicating with my family, it made it seem not so bad. I rest in the fact that I know that God opened this door for us to be here and I trust that His plan is perfect.

After being here for about 2 weeks, I got a job at a daycare/preschool. Although it's not my dream job (still trying to figure out what would be), I am so thankful that God has provided for us in this way. I love the children and I also think God is showing me that we have plenty of time to wait on kids of our own :)

The week after I started my job, I got a phone call from my grandmother saying that my aunt was back in the hospital and it wasn't looking good. So I packed my bags the next day and headed home. My aunt passed away that Tuesday with family by her side. It was hard to see her leave this life, it was hard to know that she won't be there as I always thought she would. Always having pictured her as a mom like figure and with hopes of her being a grandmother figure to my kids, it's still hard to believe that she is gone. Watching her kids grieve the loss of their mom, watching my grandparents grieve the loss of their 2nd child was truly heart wrenching.

Heartbreaking things happen, and life is really short, but I know God is still good and is still in control. He comforts His children when unimaginable things happen. He allows people to be taken away from this earth to give them peace and although our hearts are broken here, they are rejoicing and praising Jesus. I'm so thankful that Julie is in the arms of Jesus and no longer suffering here on earth. I'm so thankful that God has comforted our family. I'm so thankful that our family knows Jesus and can trust in Him through the hard times and that one day we will all be able to worship Him for eternity.

With all that said, it makes it even harder to be away from family with all that has happened but life in Birmingham is good. Guy's family being here makes it easier and having some friends here also helps. Church shopping is not so fun, and we miss our church in SC, but we are excited to see what church God allows us to get involved in and the ministry that He has planned for us here in Birmingham.

All you prayer warriors: Please pray that we are a light to the kids we work with and our coworkers. Pray that we will be able to quickly get plugged into a church and call it home.

Week 7: UNA Festival, Children's Home & Our last Sunday

This week on Sunday and Monday we spent time preparing for the UNA Klub Kids Festival in the Roma village.  We cut out and prepared crafts, and also made nametags. Since they were preparing for 200 children, there was a lot of work to be done. It was a lot of fun and we got to fellowship with other missionaries from different countries that had come to help with the festival.

A missionary couple, Andy and Lim, leads the UNA Klub along with a Croatian woman named Želka.  Želka and her mother, Zlata, have done all of the translating for us during the Klubs we have done this summer.  It’s great to see them pour out God’s love on these children—the Roma community isn’t typically treated well all throughout Europe, especially here in Croatia.  We get to see the Parable of the Good Samaritan lived out before our eyes.  Most people here walk by the Romani people and completely ignore them.  Želka and Zlata go out of their way to show God’s love.  They are a great example of what Jesus said in John 13:35:

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another

The festival was from Tuesday to Thursday. There were a lot of kids that came out and each day we would split them up into 6 groups of about 20-30 kids. In each group they got a coloring book of different Bible characters and stories. A storyteller, either Želka or Zlata, would come around to each group and tell the Bible story of the day.  Musicians would then come to each group and play guitars and the kids would sing songs.  After the songs the children would get to do a craft that was related to the story.

The neat thing about the UNA Festival, is that it is specifically designed for Roma children. A lot of Roma people believe they’re cursed by God and this view is passed down to the children.  One of the main points that the UNA Klub tries to concentrate on is that “God is for us, not against us.”  This is in the mission statement that all the kids say at the beginning and it is also in one of the songs that they sang at the festival. It was a blessing to hear them all singing at the top of their lungs that God is for them, not against them.

Katarina

Me & Durda

Please pray for the Roma people and children. They don’t have an easy life-they are looked down upon, a lot of the family situations are bad, and a lot of the kids are mistreated. It was a blessing to get to love on the children this past week, and see smiles on their faces, but there is such a need for the truth and hope of Jesus in this village. Pray that God will open their eyes.

Thursday morning we were able to visit a children’s home here in Brod. We were able to play some games with some of the children that live there. Most of them are children with a rough home life, and a couple of them are orphans. We weren’t able to stay long, but it was a lot of fun getting to fellowship and play games with them.

Children's Home

Matija having fun with the volleyball

Friday afternoon, we had another baseball practice in Nova Gradiska. There were not a lot of kids there this time, but the ones there seemed to really enjoy playing and learning new drills.  Guy enjoyed it too, as he got to not only teach the kids, but he was right there doing the drills with them.  He said he wanted to show them how to do the drills the right way, but I think he just wanted to get out there and play.  The missionaries that live there permanently are planning on continuing this ministry to reach out to the youth there.

Saturday, we went back to Nova Gradiska to have another Kids Klub. Some of the same kids came out from the last Kids Klub we did there. We were able to play more games and tell them the story of Jesus feeding the 5000. The kids really enjoy singing all the songs and making the crafts. The missionaries there also want to continue this Kids Klub once a month, so that they can continue to connect with these kids and parents.  A lot of the parents of the children asked the missionaries in Gradiska if they would continue these Kids Klub.  This is obviously encouraging, but also very surprising as most parents look down on the Church.  Pray that connections with youth and adults are met and the church in Gradiska continues to grow!

Guy preaching

Sunday was our last time to be at the church here in Slavonski Brod. Cindy, Melissa (2 girls from VA) and I were able to share our testimonies. Everyone who knows me, knows that this is a difficult task to stand up in front of people, much less make it through my testimony without tears. There were tears and it was difficult, but it was a blessing to share my heart with the church, and hopefully it was an encouragement to them. Guy was able to share the message at church with the help of our translator, Maja. It was a blessing for me to see God speaking through him to the church. He spoke about how we as Christians should be different from the world around us, so different that people notice. We should be different in the way we love, different in our generosity, different in what we worship, and our purpose in life should be different.

My challenge to you and to myself: Do people notice a difference in you? In what ways are you too much like the world and need to be more like Jesus?

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20

Kids Camp, Basketball, & a Salvation

We just finished our 6^th week, and really can’t believe we only have two weeks left. It’s exciting to think about coming home, but we are also excited about our last 2 weeks here.

This week we helped out with a kids camp and a basketball camp that the Blessed team from the UK put together. The kids camp was pretty similar to the previous ones, but we had it in a different location, so a lot of new faces were there. They had memory verses every day and were able to see skits about Jesus being the good shepherd, the light of the world, and the true vine. The kids seemed to really enjoy their time playing games, getting their face painted, and getting hair wraps. But it was truly a blessing at the end of the week to see the kids reciting all the memory verses from the week that they had learned. Hopefully they will remember the truth of them all and one day put their trust in it.

Kids Camp with "Blessed"

We also were able to participate in the basketball camp, mostly Guy; of course. He really enjoyed helping with the different stations and getting to know a lot of the boys that came out. I was not as much a participant in the camp, but I was able to take pictures for one of the coaches running the camp. Some of the kids were really talented in basketball, because they play on a regular basis, but some it was somewhat of a new sport to them. At the end of each day, one of the coaches would share their testimony or a brief message about the gospel.

Guy coaching the defense station

More defense lessons

"For HIM" cheer after each day of camp

Guy, Garret, and 2 of the basketball coaches were able to have a Bible study with some of the Croatian guys from camp this week. They studied Genesis 2 and 3, about creation and the fall of man. Most of the youth here have never really read the Bible or even own one, so it’s cool to see God open doors for us to study it with them. They said that there was a lot of good conversation and hopefully God will continue to open their eyes to His word and truth. The Croatians teens have asked more than once about playing basketball with Guy and Garret and doing another Bible study.  They will jump to John and share with them the Gospel.  Pray that God softens their hearts and opens their ears to His word and truth!

The girls and I were supposed to have another Bible study this week also, but it fell through. One of the girls that couldn’t come met with Melissa (one of the girls from VA) later that night and made the decision to accept Christ! It was so cool to see God working in her the whole time we have been here. We were all so excited, and hope to continue studying the Bible with her for the next couple of weeks. God is good and even if this is the only fruit we see, we are so excited. My prayer is that God will use her to impact other youth girls and that God’s kingdom will grow here in Croatia through her testimony.

Melissa, Adriana (Our new sister in Christ), Cindy and Me

It’s been a lot of fun this week hanging out with the people from England and also the American basketball coaches that came in for the camp. Friday night they did a talent show, and a lot of people came out to watch. The last talent was one of the leaders from the Blessed team sharing the gospel using a tea bag. It was such a cool analogy of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and 3 days later rising from the dead so that we may one day join him in heaven.

Sunday, with all the guests, we were able to worship God with people from 8 different countries and 3 different continents at the church service. It was so cool to see a tid bit of how heaven will be.

 “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”  Revelation 7:9