Lace-making in Croatia

It's an Outhouse Miracle!

2009-07-08T03:24:00.004-04:00

So, thank you everyone for your prayers, and thanks ESPECIALLY to Michael McEntyre, FBC's youth group, and the John and Jean Cooper Fund administered by the East Tennessee Foundation: the villagers of Sveti George have ten brand-new outhouses. I've needed to write about this for almost two weeks, ever since the project was finished, but I'm still processing it myself. This project has been on my heart and mind since last fall, so I'm going to need a bit more distance from it before I can write about it! Bob is planning to come down tomorrow so we can go over there and check out the situation, so in the next couple of days hopefully I'll get some closure and be able to write about it.

But God has been doing some amazing things in my own life in the past two weeks as I wrap up my year here in Croatia. My last day is July 28th, technically, but this week is the last five-day club Karmen has planned until August, after I leave. So, in many ways, this is my last week, and appropriately, club this week is in Sitnice.

I HATED going to Sitnice last year. That's the village where a baby bit me and a 6-year-old boy tried to put a curse on me and threatened to kill me. After going there for a year, though, that's all over. The kids swarm me when I get out of the car, and the little boy who tried to curse me asked me yesterday if he could go home with me. The kids are still wild, and yesterday a man walked through the yard where club was with one of the local prostitutes over his shoulder...but God has been working there, and more children have accepted Christ there than in any other village.

Week after next, I finish out my work year in Croatia teaching an English class at the seminary in Osijek. Then I pack, put as many of my things in storage as I can part with, move out of my apartment, and leave for Texas on August 5th.

But THIS Saturday, I finish out my year in Europe another way: meeting my brother for a week in Greece!! He's making his first trip to Europe, and since we don't have club next week, Karmen said I could take the week off. I leave for Athens on Saturday night. I don't know what he plans to do for the week, but he said something about a couple days in Athens, a trip north to some Greek Orthodox monasteries, and then visiting some islands. It's been such a cold, rainy summer here in northern Croatia--overnight lows tonight are in the 40's, and it's not getting much above 60 during the day--that I can't WAIT for some southern heat and sunshine!

To WC or not to WC

2009-06-18T03:07:00.007-04:00

I was in Zagreb on my way to the notary at the American Embassy on Tuesday when I got a phone call from Karmen saying that her cousin had gone out to Sveti George to dig the holes for the outhouses that the youth group will build there, and someone was there who called himself the "gypsy king," and this "king" forbade the cousin to dig or us to build outhouses. We've already bought the lumber and had it cut out, and the youth group will be here on Saturday!! Karmen is in Zagreb at a VBS, and Bob Hitching was about to drive to England to pick up his wife who's been studying there....

But, bless him, Bob managed to make time to drive down to Croatia "on his way" to England, and we went out to Sveti George with a translator, a Roma named Danijel.

Karmen had given me the phone number of this "king," so we called him on the way and he told us that he doesn't want us doing any good in that village: that's HIS village and HE has a non-profit foundation and HE is in charge. Evidently the truth is that he IS running a crooked non-profit organization, using Sveti George for advertisement, and taking the donation money for himself. He's threatened the villagers and the mayor, and everyone's afraid of him. This is small-time gypsy mafia.

He came down to the village while we were there, pulling up in a late-model Mercedes with two young thugs in tow, and threatened to beat us up and forbade the villagers to talk to us.

They took off, and we called the police, who came out with a couple of officers and a detective to take our statements.

The upshot is that we can't put outhouses here because the villagers are afraid, this mafioso would tear them down, and, more importantly, I can't take a group of teenagers out there to be threatened. It makes me so angry because we prepared everything in advance: Bob had checked with the county, who said we could do anything, we had coffee with the mayor, who was happy to have us help the villagers, we asked the villagers, who really want outhouses. And then this small-time crook swoops down out of nowhere, and the villagers and the mayor are afraid of him, and the police and the county don't really care. So, after the supplies are bought, the workman is hired, and the team is coming, some evil man ruins a gift that those people really need....just so he can exploit them a little more.

Such injustice....and the authorities here really could not care less.

Back from the sea and ready for FBC!

2009-06-11T04:11:00.005-04:00

I had a great week at Cinta, and then a great overnight stay in Split to scope out FBC's youth group's excursion there. It was too bad that it was too cold to swim at Cinta: after that one day I wasn't brave enough to try it again! The Croatian men there are indefatiguable swimmers, but you can tell from the hesitation and the high-pitched yelling in this video--and from the wind!--that it was a bit on the chilly side, even for them! (sorry about the wobbliness, btw. I don't know what my problem was!)

But it was a beautiful camp, and I hope to go back someday with an actual retreat! Their outdoor amphitheater would be such an amazing place to sing praise and worship songs!

After my first couple trips to Split, I thought I hated the city because it was so hot that you just bake walking around on the white rocks and so crowded that you get crushed on every side by crowds of tourists. There's so much there that's amazing to see, and so much you have to suffer to see it! :D But my short visit there after Cinta won me over. To get to the tourist office to price boat excursions, I had to walk into Diocletian's palace, so I descended out of the baking waterfront into the pillar entry-hall of a 1700-year-old Roman emporer's retirement home. That night, looking for a particular traditional Dalmatian Konoba (a Konoba is a tavern/restaurant), I wandered in and out of narrow windy stone streets and finally found the konoba that looked like a total dump from the outside but inside had an incredible atmosphere and one of the best plates of prsut I've had in Croatia (prsut is wind-dried and salt-preserved Dalmatian ham, similar to proscuitto). And here was the view from my hotel:
Tomorrow, Karmen and I are going to the lumber store to buy materials for the outhouses the youth will put up in Sveti George. Then, next week, we will be in Zagreb every day doing a 5-day club. A week from Saturday, I'll meet the youth group at the airport!

whew! (first day at Cinta!)

2009-06-03T10:19:00.008-04:00

I have a renewed respect today for people who labor outdoors all day. I was on rake duty today, raking all the winter accumulation of sticks and heavy, damp pine needles into piles and sweeping off all the pathways and cabin porches. After a day of that, I have blisters ON my blisters! :) After just a few hours I'm embarrassed to say that my back and arms were SCREAMING, but even so, it's a great job to get to do. Lots of groups have worked at Cinta in the past, and tons of names, dates, and nations are written in the concrete I was unearthing. It was really cool to rake off some old debris and see "Iowa, 1984" written underneath! Plus, Toma and Ksenija were married at this camp, and it was fun to think about that as I was raking the amphitheater where the wedding took place. Anyway, it's hard not to enjoy a job when you can look over your shoulder and see this:

After work was done for the day, I went for a little swim in a REALLY cold sea! I'd seen people swimming all day, but I realized when I got in the water that Croatians must have some layer of blubber under the skin or something that keeps them warm. I will never understand why it is that they believe walking on the floor without shoes will give you a cold, and sitting on the bare floor will freeze a woman's ovaries so she can't have children, but swimming in sixty-degree water on a windy evening AFTER dark is perfectly healthy! No, in five years I'll probably be the same. The thing about the Adriatic Sea is that once you see it you just HAVE to get in, no matter how miserably cold it is...and that sea had been luring me all day! So I swam, and huffed and puffed, and ran for a hot shower! Funny thing was, a little while later I saw a golden retriever rushing into the sea, and HE must have been cold because he was making the same huffing and puffing I was!

As I'm watching the sun set over the bay, I can't believe how blessed I am. You know...only 8 people, counting the owners of the camp, showed up for the work group. The problem is that Croatian schools aren't out yet. But TENNESSEE schools are out...I wonder if FBC could ever bring a work group over here?

Clothes in Sitnice

2009-06-01T07:27:00.004-04:00

Today was the official "last day" in Sinice, and instead of having club, we took bags of clothes to hand out to the kids! Here's what Karmen's office looked like while we were packing the clothes up:

The other picture is of us passing out the clothes.

And that's it for my year helping Karmen with Good News Club. We walked around and visited the homes of the kids who come to clubs and heard a couple of wonderful things from the parents! One father said that the kids have been behaving so much better ever since we've been coming, and all the other parents around agreed. Another man said that the kids make their parents pray with them before going to be every night!! That's really the best thing I've heard all year: Club has instigated daily prayer among some of the families.

And tomorrow I am off to the Baptist camp on the island of Ugljan. What I hear is that we'll be helping to install some showers and a septic system. Unfortunately, it may not be quite warm enough for me to enjoy swimming. Mom and I swam in Dubrovnik, but since then we have had some rain storms and a cool front, and I've been wearing a jacket every day since Wednesday. Quite possibly it will suddenly get hot, so maybe there's some swimming ahead, but at least if it stays cool working outside will be much nicer. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to getting to see this camp that I've heard so much about, and getting to do some hands-on work outside. I'll put up pictures as soon as I can!

Rainbow over Sveti George

2009-05-28T05:12:00.003-04:00

Yesterday Bob, Karmen and I, as well as one of Bob's daughters, went out to Sveti George to meet with the villagers. Unfortunately, they were celebrating the christening of one of the babies, which means that all the adults--including the pregnant women--were drinking. So, it wasn't really the best time for discussing serious matters. But when as we were leaving, one of the kids asked me, "when will you come back?" I said, "Two or three..." and paused, trying to remember the right case ending for the word "weeks," and the boy said hopefully "days?" It was heartbreaking to have to say "weeks," and Bob said as we were leaving that our visits are the only real bright spot in those children's lives. But after we made it out onto the highway, I noticed a bright rainbow, arching in a perfect semi-circle from one spot on on the horizon to another. Bob said that it was in the direction of Sveti George. Even if they have nothing else to hope in--and they really don't--they can hope in God's love for them.

We went to a coffee shop to wash and to come up with a contingency plan in case the villagers don't dig the holes...which they probably won't. Bob thinks we can rent a machine and a workman for $200, which may just be the way to go.

Also, before going to Sveti George, we stopped off at Joka and Lila's to see the work that's been going on in their downstairs room, and it's really wonderful.
Not only the big room for club, but the two smaller bedrooms are being finished, and also....an indoor bathroom with a bathtub and hot water heaters!!!! I'm so excited for their family: especially now that there's an eighth baby on the way, I'm so happy that their home will be a bit more comfortable.

Pictures at last!

2009-05-27T06:48:00.004-04:00

Well, I put my mom on the airplane very early yesterday morning , and by now she's back in Texas! I don't know how it is, but a week's vacation seems more tiring than a week of work! Still, we had a wonderful time, and I really enjoyed getting to see more of this country I live in, especially Dubrovnik and Plitvice Lakes!! Plus, Mom got to meet everyone I know here, visit club in Sinice (the kids loved getting to meet my mom!), and go to church in the Pastoral Center. This past Sunday there was a baptism service there, the first since I've lived here, and three of the youth girls that I know, including one from my English class, were baptized that day. And here are the long-promised pictures:

Dubrovnik and Kolocep:

Northern Croatia, Cakovec, and Plitvice:

Today it's back to Club in Orehovica with Karmen, and also Bob Hitching is driving down from Budapest so we can go to Sveti George and talk to them about the outhouses that FBC's youth group will build. Our arrangement is that the villagers will dig the holes and FBC will build the structure for everyone who has dug a hole. But what if no one digs! I think it's good for them to participate in the project, much better than just giving them a free handout, but I am just praying that at least some of them dig the holes! Be in prayer about that.

Before Karmen and I left for Hungary and Dubrovnik, we had our last Good News Club for the year in Kursanec, and today is our last in Orehovica. Sadly, I missed the last day in Sitnice because Karmen decided at the last minute to have it Monday--while I was away--instead of Thursday. There's a group of Canadians here, and a group of girls really wanted to go to club, so I guess it was a good decision. I'm sad to miss the last day there, but we'll have 5-day club there this summer.

So, after today, Karmen is taking a much-needed rest before we start preparing for 5-day clubs and the groups that will come this summer, and I....well, again, I have to say, what a tough life! I am spending a week at Cinta (pronounced Chinta), the Baptist Union of Croatia's beach camp on the island of Ugljan! There's a lot of cleaning and repair work that needs to be done there to prepare for the Croatian Baptist's retreats there this summer: unless I'm reading the schedule wrong (it's in Croatian) there are nine retreats/conferences being held there this summer, including young families, youth, and a pastor's conference. Mine will be a week of grunt work in the hot sun...but I am REALLY looking forward to working outdoors, being at the camp, having the sea nearby, and so on.

Gallivanting

2009-05-21T04:23:00.002-04:00

With a sunburn, a rental car, and some souvenir mugs, and WITHOUT my lost set of housekeys, my mom and I are back from tootling around Dubrovnik! What a beautiful city, and I'm really enjoying relaxing and hanging out with my mom. She swam in the Adriatic, hiked around an island, examined old churches, sampled Dalmatian cuisine, and basically soaked up as much of Europe's joys as possible! I'm still working on uploading pictures, but I'll get them up here as soon as they're done.

Today we're taking it easy and doing laundry, and tomorrow we're going to drive around northern Croatia to visist Trackoscan and scout out a new-to-FBC castle for the youth group's day trip next month.

Karmen the Miracle Worker

2009-05-07T12:12:00.003-04:00

In many ways Karmen is an impressive woman, but last Thursday I was totally amazed by the way she managed to change what could have been a very bad situation into a very good one.

We were finishing up club outdoors in Sitnice. It had been a really good day: attentive children, lovely weather, welcoming adults who hung around listening.

But as Karmen was finishing up the story, this man approached the fence with his guitar and started strumming it. The kids snickered a little, and told Karmen what a good guitar player he was, but she still managed to keep maybe 50% of their attention. But then the man started SINGING, louder and louder, and all the kids erupted into laughter and couldn't pay attention anymore.

Karmen eyed him and finished up the story in a few sentences. Then she told the man he could play for us while we sing songs. She got out the words to the kids' favorite songs, and commanded the man, "Give me a D!" He did.

I'm not sure the man was really accompanying us, but 15 singing gypsy kids can drown out a guitar, easy. After we'd sung a few songs, we gave the kids popcorn, and Karmen struck up a conversation with this man. It ended with him inviting us to his house for club next week!!

Back to Orehovica

2009-05-07T09:13:00.005-04:00

Ever since I started teaching that English class two nights a week, I feel like I don't have a minute to catch my breath! So, naturally, I'm behind on blogging. This will be a quick summary to get things back to speed.

On Tuesday, Karmen and I started up club again in Orehovica. We didn't have a place to meet, but luckily the weather was nice, so we met outside in the yard of a house that's under construction. It was a little chaotic, with cars driving by, kids jumping rope in the street, and boys having a fight ten feet away or strolling over to inspect the construction. But it was still a good club, and it was great to be back in that village. A girl named Valentina asked us to meet in her home next week, so if her parents agree we won't be back in the yard again.

I'm very excited to say that my mom is coming to visit me in Croatia on Tuesday! She has never been outside of the continental US, so this is a huge adventure for us both. The first week she's here, she'll get to come to club with us, and the second week, Karmen is going to be at a conference in Hungary, so Mom and I will be doing a little sightseeing around the country, including a couple of days in Dubrovnik!! Suffering for Jesus, right? I'm pretty excited and praying for sunny weather!

God is continually teaching me lessons about trust. I felt like having a mini-meltdown on Tuesday when I checked my email and found out that my "other" job might be in jeopardy. I got a part-time job teaching English for an online university to supplement my CBF salary, and it turned out to be a huge blessing. In fact, I make more from teaching online--working no more than 7-10 hours a week-- than I did at UT, so I will be able to keep this job next year while I write my dissertation. But because of some internal upheaval, there was a possibility that my teaching load--and salary--would drop drastically. That's not a problem this year, but next year it would put me in a very bad place. I kept reminding myself that God never leaves us helpless, and later in the day I found out that my job will probably not be affected at all. To drive the point home a bit more, I got an email on Wednesday asking me to take on two MORE classes because of another instructor getting ill.

And I needed that reminder of God's faithfulness too, because life sent me two other curveballs that I can't write about here--one for legal reasons and the other because it involves someone else's career problems--and that there is no help for in sight. Well, I say "no help in sight," but the events of earlier this week remind me that God will resolve them both: I just can't see how! But, of course, that's why it's called "trust."

Also "of course," if I need any other reminder of God's graciousness and goodness, I can look forward to next weekend in sunny (I hope!) Dubrovnik!

English class!!

2009-04-28T02:33:00.002-04:00

Last week, Karmen and I started a 5-week unit in club about the early Christians. It's the last unit of the year! It's hard to believe, but at the end of May my months of working in Good News Club are over, and it'll be time to start preparing for summer Five-Day Clubs, like the ones FBC's youth group will be coming to participate in.

But first, Karmen and her friend Vesna--a future Child Evangelism Fellowship missionary--are going to Hungary for a CEF conference the third week in May. The conference will be conducted in English, so Vesna asked me to help her brush up on hers, and last week we started a bi-weekly evening English class here at the Pastoral Center! Right now I just have three students--Vesna, her daughter Ana, and a lady named Rosana who lives here at the Center--but the small group works really well because I can talk to each of them individually.

My Croatian isn't nearly good enough to be able to lead a class in, so the only students I can work with are those who have at least a beginning speaking knowledge of English. That means that what the students really need is practice (just like I do in Croatian!), so the interesting things that we can do with language are endless: on Thursday I asked them to describe exactly what they would do if they went down the hall to the restaurant and made a cup of coffee. Rosana raised her hand and said, "Please? Do you want a coffee?" :) In case you can't tell, I'm really enjoying teaching an English class again!

Busy week, part 2!

2009-04-18T11:50:00.008-04:00

The FBC folks headed home yesterday, and the conference ended as well, so this morning when Karmen and I met, it felt a little strange to be just back to the two of us! With Bob's group here at the beginning of last week and then having the Pastoral Center packed with people for the conference it really feels like an eternity since we've had a normal schedule--although it's only been a week!--so although it's a bit of a day-after-Christmas feeling today, it's also nice for things to get back to normal. We only have six more weeks of Good News club before the school year ends and we start training and preparing for summer Five-Day clubs. Hard to believe the school year is about over.

Preparation for the youth trip in June really got underway this week. On Saturday Karmen, Michael, Zeb Evans, and I headed out to Sveti George where we will build the outhouses this summer. We met with the village men to talk about the toilets, and then we sang with the kids for a while and passed out candy and diapers. Michael took this little panoramic video of the village, which really gives a good idea of what the locations looks like:

After we met with the villagers, we loaded up and headed to the nearby Croatian village to meet with the mayor. Most of the Roma villages I have been in share the names of the nearby "normal" Croatian village and have the same school system. The best I can tell, the Roma villages are essentially the ethnic "ghettos" of the Croatian villages.

We had coke and cookies with the mayor and his family, and he was really happy to hear what we plan to do in the Roma village. In fact, he is actually planning to build a playroom there for the village children!! I really feel like this is a big step: the BEST thing we can do for the Roma, in my opinion, is build connections between people who want to help them. This outhouse enterprise is absolutely fantastic, to my mind, because it connects FBC, Bob Hitching, Karmen's ministry, and the local village government. Yay for networking!!

After our visit to Sveti George, we all headed back to the center so Karmen could practice with Mega Zbor, this HUGE choir of Baptists from all across the country getting together to sing for the conference. I went up to the balcony to hear them practice, and they were just amazing. This video doesn't do them justice, but it's the best my little Olympus can do :D

That night I got to go to dinner at the Rustica with the FBC group and Johannas's German contingency. Then I headed to the Magda's apartment in the center to steal a few minutes to hang out with Kristian before I went home and collapsed into bed.

The next morning I got a bright-and-early phone call from Karmen: she needed help with the children during the Sunday morning service so she could leave for 20 minutes to sing in the choir!
I have to admit I was really disappointed to miss hearing the choir myself, but Ivana and I had a really good time with this group of kids. A few of the them were American: missionary's kids! So we had a bilingual Sunday School, which was a rare treat for me. I still have to teach in English and have a translator, so it was really cool to know that a few members of my audience knew what I said exactly the way I said it. Also, of course, I do love getting to talk to Americans.

Okay. Now, I think I actually have some time for a much-needed afternoon nap!

Busy week, part 1!

2009-04-17T08:30:00.007-04:00

This is quite a week here in Cakovec: today Bill Shiell, Matt Evans and Zeb, and Michael McEntyre arrived for the Croatian Baptist's national conference that's going on this weekend. But I still haven't quite recovered from the group we had here earlier in the week, Bob Hitching and some students from Vienna!

These twentysomethings are from the International church in Vienna, and they did represent quite a number of countries! There were four Romanians, a few Americans, and people from Indonesia, Guatamala, Canada, Bulgaria, and South Africa!

After lunch at Poleve, our first stop was Sveti George, the village where the FBC youth group will be building outhouses this summer. First we sang and had a VERY short Bible lesson, and then the students made balloon animals and painted faces! The kids are a little shy in that village, but the balloons broke the ice right away! Then we made hot dogs and passed out presents, and everyone was old friends. I made the mistake of holding one kid's hands and swinging him around in a circle, and suddenly I was mobbed!! Some of those kids are sturdy little guys and girls (although I'm not sure how they got that way), so I gave everybody two turns and protested that they're too heavy!!

I have to say that I was really impressed by this group of young people. It's really easy when you go to a place like Sveti George to worry and worry about whether or not you're going to get too dirty or if you're going to catch something from these dirty children living in a village with 40 people and one water spigot. Bob even warned them beforehand to NOT touch their faces at any
time until they left the village and got washed up because they really could get sick if they weren't careful. I warned them to wear their hair tightly pulled back to avoid lice. But I noticed that not a single one of those students--many of whom had never been on a mission trip before--took a "hands-off" attitude towards these children. In fact, I was humbled and amazed by two girls in particular. Kelly, the girl in the picture on the right is wearing the only pair of jeans she brought with her and holding two girls with no diapers on. You can imagine what eventually happened...but Kelly didn't seem to mind at all and kept the girls on her lap anyway. Another girl told us later that she was holding a toddler that couldn't breathe through its nose because it was full of dried mucus and no one had cleaned it. So, the girl pulled dried snot out of this baby's nose with her fingers.

Personally, I'd have tried to find a kleenex. But I was so moved to realize that this girl--wearing Diesel jeans, no less--was willing to do something "disgusting" out of love for someone helpless and needy. To me, this is what being a Christian should really mean: taking the snot and urine of the world on yourself in order to show love.

Ivana

2009-04-09T08:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was quite an eventful day. It was International Roma day, a holiday celebrating the day when "gypsies" met in London and decided to name themselves the "Roma." The public school in Kursanec had an evening program that a couple of Joka and Lila's daughters--and many other village children--sang at.

Karmen and I found out about it at club in the morning, and we planned to go, but as we were leaving club we got a call from Bob Hitching who was on his way from Budapest to meet with us! He is arriving this upcoming Monday with a group of American and Romanian students from Austria. We will all go together to visit some villages, including Sveti George, Sitnice, and a couple others I've never been to before.

But just as Bob was leaving, Ivana started having a seizure. She's got epilepsy, but I had never seen her have a seizure before. She seemed fine after a minute, and Bob headed back hom, but then Ivana started getting worse and worse and finally passed out. Karmen called her father, and we loaded Ivana up in the car and drove her to the emergency room in Cakovec. I sat with her in the backseat to keep her from rolling onto the floor, and she kept asking for her mom.

But her whole family was already at the emergency room when we arrived....because unbeknownst to us, Ivana's mother had been admitted to the hospital that afternoon for an emergency apendectomy! Karmen and I waited at the emergency room until the doctors told the family that Ivana would not have to stay at the hospital overnight but could go home.

As if these two emergencies weren't enough for one family, Ivana's father is leaving for the US on Tuesday to do some fundraising, and he'll be gone for six weeks! Ivana's sister is also finishing up her last few weeks in high school.

Obviously we didn't make it to Kursanec that afternoon, either for club or to hear the singing. We visited Ivana today after club in Sitnice, and she's fine now, but she and her family really need a lot of prayers right now.

Because Americans like numbers!

2009-04-07T07:19:00.005-04:00

Ivana's father, Vlado Hoblaj, is heading to the US next week to speak at some churches, so yesterday and today Karmen, Ivana, and I have been working on a brochure describing the ministry in hopes of getting some funding for Ivana. I fired an email off to Bob Hitching--my dependable information fund!--and he sent me some statistics for the Roma population in this area. There are 18 known villages, and these population estimates are conservative.

Village names and populations

Sitnice 500

Marti Kuvec 150

Viktoroc 50

Hlapičine 20

Škarije 600

Goričan 50

Kortoriba 1000

Pribislavec 700

Kušanec 1000

Orehovica 750

Trnovec 2000

Strmec 700

Varaždin Bamfica 50

Kuzminec 40

Sveti Đurđ 40

Podravski Karlovec 30

Ludbreg Klaonica 50

Ludbreg Vinograd 15

Home and family

Less than 10 % of mothers have two or fewer children in their life time.

Approx. 20 % have between two and five children in their life time.

60% of mother have more than five children in their life time.

10% of mothers have more than eight children in their life time.

99% of Roma are unemployed in any official work.

50% have some kind of black market occupation that produces a supplement for their main income.

The main income is welfare assistance for each child they have.

90% of families have at least one chronic alcoholic living in the home.

75% of wives are physically abused.

80% of children start school.

Less than 1% graduate from High School

Less than 20% graduate from Elementary School.

a good trade!

2009-04-02T14:29:00.002-04:00

Today I was a little grumpy about going to club in Sitnice. Ksenija had invited me to go to Prague with her and Tamara, Ksenjia and Toma's second daughter, for a couple of days because she has a meeting at the Baptist Seminary there. I've always wanted to go to Prague, and this was a chance for an almost-free trip with two of my favorite Croatians...not to mention a beautiful springtime drive through Central Europe. But if I went I would have had to miss club, so I just told myself there would be other Prague trips.

Needless to say, that was the right choice! Yet another girl was saved in Sitnice...I think her name was Martina, but this was her first time in Club, so I may have the wrong name. Counting Martina, two other girls--Antonija and another I don't know--were counseled for salvation, but weren't saved.

Let me interject something here that has been bothering me ever since I have understood enough Croatian to follow when Karmen counsels children for salvation. If the child doesn't admit that he or she is a "sinner," Karmen tells them they can't be saved until they understand. Without even getting into the theological questions surrounding "what you have to do or say in order to get saved," the Croatian word for sin, "grijeh," means something a bit different to the Roma, according to something Joka told Karmen. It means you put a curse on someone else, or that you committed adultry. So, children who want to follow Jesus are turned away because they don't think they are "sinners."

To me, this issue is about semantics. To Karmen, it's the difference between going to heaven and going to hell. Regardless of who is right, she's the one who has been trained by the Child Evangelism Fellowship, and if she departs from their doctrine on this point, she's departing from her committment to CEF. I respect her conviction on this point, but it absolutely breaks my heart every time I hear a child tell Karmen that yes, she or he believes in Jesus, and then answer that no, she or he is not a grijeshnik...and then be told that she or he can't accept Jesus. Pray about this.

On a happier note, while Karmen was counseling Martina, I managed to get the other kids outside so they wouldn't interrupt (they like to be spectators!). And I had a more or less successful, sustained conversation--in Croatian--with two girls, and eventually they asked me to pray for each of them!!! Of course...then I had to try to pray in Croatian....this is unbelievably hard to keep a spirit of prayer when I'm racking my brain for words! Then we all turned cartwheels. Really!! One girl said, "gledaj!" (look!) and turned a cartwheel, and i said, "gledaj MENE" (look at ME) and turned my own. Then, of course, all of them said, "Teacher, again!!!!" I said I was too old, so only one more time! :)

All in all, I think it was the most blessed I've been at club. I'm a verbal person, and it is very hard for me to bond with people--even children--without words. This whole year, I've just thought HOW much more I could do if I spoke Croatian. I could teach without an interpreter; I could counsel children for salvation myself....it's very frustrating to be silenced. Of course, being forced into silence is a valuable learning experience too :) But to understand when children ask me to pray for them, and then to be able to pray....that was a blessing worth passing up a free trip to Prague.

a couple of problems solved!

2009-03-31T05:16:00.006-04:00

This morning Ksenija, my landlady, and I went to the Police station to turn in one last paper, and I'm supposed to go and pick up my visa tomorrow!! My rent wasn't raised, and no problems cropped up.

Also, I've been having some technological issues: my laptop no longer wants to have anything to do with the memory card from my camera...which incidentally, is why pictures have been pretty few and far between on this blog...I can only upload pictures when I can steal a few minutes on the office computer in the Pastoral Center. But this past week my mom sent me a care package with a Netbook in it!!! So now I have a little mini-laptop that gets along with my camera, so look forward to a more picture-full blog :)

God has blessed Club in a number of ways lately. There in the picture above are some of the girls in Sitnice. Doris--the girl in red--and Jasna--the one next to Doris--have both been saved since we have been going to Sitnice, and two others, Karolina and Antonija, are interested.

In Kursanec, Joka and Lila's basement is still in the process of being remodeled. Here it is after one of the dividing walls has been torn down. When it's finally done, we'll have a huge room for Club or any other activities that Karmen gets the inspiration for. Not to mention that Joka and Lila's family will have this huge heated basement as well as the heated kitchen/living room upstairs, so all 8 of them won't have to sleep in the little living room in the winter. I had to giggle at Joka the other day: after the roomful of little unwashed youngsters had left after club, he got out the air freshener and sprayed it around his living room!! Their good-natured hospitality is really a blessing, and I'm happy we can help them out in some way too.

But there's one more blessing that Karmen and I are praying for: the salvation of Kristijan, the littl boy in the picture on the right. He's always in Club, attentive and smiling, and he always knows the answers to the quiz questions afterwards, but he hasn't accepted Jesus.

Busy day

2009-03-21T10:14:00.007-04:00

This Thursday I wasn't able to update this blog like I normally try to do: it was a little busier than Thursday's normally are!

Bob Hitching drove down from Budapest to meet with Karmen and I and with Joka and Lila. He's working on a translation of the New Testament into Bayash, and he wanted to work with them on the Gospel of Mark. Here they are working in Lila's kitchen:

We had club today in both Kursanec and Sitnice because Joka's uncle's funeral was Wednesday afternoon, so we had to postpone that Club in Kursanec. In Sitnice we were moved--amicably, this time--to our fourth house, which is where the daughter of the LAST family we met at lives with her children. This family is Catholic, and they are very friendly and welcoming. Nino, one of the boys who was saved a few weeks ago, is the son of the mother in house number 3. Here we are in house 4:

The face on that one little boy--Brendon--is priceless!! Another little girl, Jasna, was saved that day. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of her.

Then that afternoon it was club in Kursanec, and I got this video of the kids singing a song that should be familir to all my American readers:

The kids love this song, and so do I because it's easy for an Amerikanka to sing! This little girl in pink is Zdenka, one of the girls that Karmen has counseled for salvation but who didn't really understand yet. Keep her in your prayers!

After both clubs, we went to Sveti George, that terribly poor village I visited with Bob in the fall. We met with the villagers about how they feel about getting outhouses--they currently have no toilet facilities of any kind. Hopefully when FBC's youth group is here in June, they'll have time to build the structures here at the Pastoral Center. The villagers agreed to be reponsible for digging the holes. And Bob talked Karmen into having club there, for at least a few weeks! I'm really happy about that...that village has been on my mind ever since I first saw it.

As you can see, I've been more responsible about taking pictures :D Karmen and I recently finished her Winter newsletter, and we really didn't have enough pictures to choose from, so I really need to take more. Hopefully I'll have some next week from Sveti George!

Visa Update!

2009-03-17T13:02:00.002-04:00

After almost two months of having to consciously NOT worry, my visa problems are almost resolved! At the police station I was told yesterday that my renewal request has already been approved, but I can't get my visa until I officially change my address from the Pastoral Center to my house. And, naturally, that requires that I get a notarized lease from my landlady, with whom I still don't have a language in common!

So, Toma, or someone, will call my landlady for me and say I need a lease. She won't want to give me one because then she'll have to start paying taxes. It's possible I could get kicked out of my house! I think that's not likely because my rent is pretty expensive by Croatian standards (although I haven't lived anywhere this cheap since I got my first apartment back in 1999), so my landlady should realize that a replacement renter may not be immediately available, especially in a recession.

Anyway, everything having to do with changing one's country of residence is complicated, but the good news is that apparently I won't get kicked out of the country. Thank God for that. Like I said earlier, it's really been a struggle for me not to worry for the last couple months. I know that it's wrong to worry, and I know that if God wants me to stay here there will be a way....but still I struggled with feeling afraid and insecure. I shouldn't put that in the past tense: I still DO struggle with feeling afraid and insecure! I'm the sort of person who wants to know where I'll be living and what I'll be doing in six months. I have a five-year plan with preplanned adjustments for unexpected contingencies. And I put myself in a situation where I could get thrown out of my house and country and stranded alone on a strange continent! What was I thinking?!?!

It's true that there's nothing like getting out of your comfort zone for learning who God is and what your relationship to him should be like. This whole experience has not catapulted me into some higher spiritual plane where I no longer struggle with things like worry. But it has taught me a bit about how to live one of my favorite verses, Psalm 27:14: "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Another urgent prayer request

2009-03-12T03:50:00.002-04:00

I have some more sad news about the family of baby Filip, the little baby who died last month. His twin sister, Marina, is now in the hospital with pneumonia. How heartbreaking her sickness must be for a family who has had months of difficulty. Remember that before the twins were even born, their mother Sanela was in the hospital for several months, and Nedjeljko was home alone with the other three little boys, ages about 1, 3, and 6. Then Filip's sickness and death, and now Marina.

Please pray for them all. Some of you sent gifts and money back with me at Christmas for this family, and I haven't gotten a chance to give them. Karmen has not felt as though it's appropriate for us to go and pay a friendly visit at this time, and I agree. But please pray that God will be merciful to them.

Reflections, Prayer Requests and a question

2009-03-09T10:45:00.004-04:00

I occasionally take Toma and Ksenija's family dog, Charlie, out for a walk: he gets lonely on the days when they go to Zagreb for Ksenija to teach her classes in Zagreb and he's home alone, and since I'm here at the Center working anyway, it works out for me to take a 15-minute break and take him out.

I enjoy it because it makes me get outside and see the weather and how the seasons are changing. Today I noticed that the cherry trees in the park across from the Center are budding. I must admit, I have never been so thankful to see that spring is on the way. In the mornings I've been waking up and realizing that I'm NOT cold, and there are flowers in my yard instead of snow, and I just have to thank God for making seasons and for what those seasons teach us.

That's one thing that people in this part of the country are very good at: staying in harmony with the natural seasons. Last summer when I got here, the corn and tomatos were ready, so wherever you'd go, there were corn and tomatos at meals. In the fall, Karmen said, "I don't know why Ruben [her youngest son], always wants me to buy bananas at the store when we have apples growing right out on the trees." Now Karmen has little tomato and bell pepper seedlings sprouting in containers in her kitchen, and I realized that if I want to plant sunflowers here and have them bloom before I leave, I'd better get crackin! So I now have Dixie cups planted with sunflower seeds and lined up on my windowsill.

It's a good lesson to learn, and one right out of the Biblical Wisdom literature, of course! Plant early when it's still cold and everything still looks dead. When the harvest is ready, eat it, give out of your abundance to people who need it, and be thankful. Don't crave after exotic fruits when there are apple trees in your front yard. As Job said, "shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" And, I would say, vice versa: "shall we accept trouble from God, and not good?" Give thanks for everything...and realize that whatever it is, another season is coming.

Ok, enough reflecting. My prayer request is this: Karmen and I are hoping to return to Pribislavec and Orehovica for Club. Please pray once again that God opens doors for us, and that he provides us time and energy to expand.

And my question: Do any of you know of any movies about Baptists, or that have Baptists as main characters? Positive or negative portrayal. Ksenija is looking for some for a seminar, and sadly I am just not much of a movie buff. If you guys think of any, let me know

Good news

2009-03-05T06:28:00.002-05:00

We have really had a wonderful week at club. Yesterday in the afternoon meeting in Kursanec, we had FORTY children in Joka and Lila's living room! Well, i THINK it was forty: I counted several times, but they kept moving around, so there may have been 38 and there may have been 42! Two girls, Zdenka and Jelena, came forward after club to accept Jesus, but neither one really understood, so they ended up leaving without being saved. Zdenka has come forward before, but she's pretty young: seven or eight. These kids' first language is Bayash, and so they usually don't speak Croatian well--if at all--until they've been in school a few years. I think that's what's going on with Zdenka: she doesn't speak Croatian well enough to answer Karmen's questions, so we can't really tell if she doesn't know what it means to be saved or if she just doesn't speak Croatian. Pray for her, and for Jelena (pronounced Yelena).

The news from Sitnice is even better: both Martin and Nino accepted Christ this week! I had thought for several weeks that they were JUST on the brink of doing so, and it looks like everyone's prayers pushed them over the edge :) Today in Klub Karmen asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ as their savior, and before she could even finish the sentence both Martin and Nino's hands went up and they started yelling "JA!! JA!!!" (ME!!! ME!!!) Martin prayed with Karmen after club, but Nino was actually saved a few days ago in religion class in school. (Croatia has different policies regarding religion and school than we do in the US). The teacher told the kids they would all pray, and that was when Nino prayed to accept Jesus into his heart.

Thanks to all of you who were praying for these boys. Keep praying for all of these kids. I've realized over and over again this year that although a child might think accepting Jesus sounds like a good idea, the spiritual understanding of who Jesus is and why we need to accept him is something that only God can give. Please pray that God will give that understanding to Zdenka and Jelena. While I'm at it, let me also mention two boys in Kursanec, Benjamin and Kristijan. Both of them come to club regularly and listen closely, but neither is a Christian.

one more Addendum!

2009-03-03T07:58:00.002-05:00

I just got an invitation in the mail to American Citizens Information Night at the US embassy in Zagreb. It's two weeks from today. It's an event that American citizens can attend to find out more about the legal ramifications of living in Croatia. Should be interesting: I've never been in an embassy before.

But the funny part is that when I looked at the flier I realized that my food cravings must be par for the course for Americans living in Europe: the bottom of the flier says--in large boldface print--"American snacks and drinks will be provided."

Addendum: the ONE thing I requested

2009-03-03T03:36:00.002-05:00

Toma Magda is in Washington DC this week for a Baptist World Alliance Executive Committee meeting and to preach at Vienna Baptist church. I edited his sermon before he left--and warned him that, in the United States, Baptists expect sermons to be short enough to allow them to beat the Methodists to the restaurants--and asked him to bring me back ONE THING if he happened to make it to a grocery store.

What was it?

Salsa.

I've been craving Tex-Mex like a crazy person, and although you CAN buy salsa here, it just doesn't taste right. Maybe in a Zagreb specialty shop I could find something acceptable, but in rural Croatia a Texas girl just can't expect proper salsa (There IS a Mexican food restaurant in Osijek, but after my experience at a Chines food restaurant in Eastern Europe, I haven't worked up the courage yet!)

And I think God must have understood and sent the big snowstorm to Washington DC that has the meetings postponed for two hours--plenty of time for Toma to find a grocery store!

In keeping with my resolution :)

2009-03-02T13:29:00.003-05:00

I'm updating more regularly! Even though it's 7:30 and I just want to leave the Pastoral Center and go home for dinner.... :)

Sorry, I just had to complain for a minute. It's Monday, after all!

BUT it's a Monday that started off right: When I left my house this morning, I noticed some yellow flowers just starting to push their way through the dirt in my garden!!! That means that spring is on its way!

I don't have much blog-worthy to write about the ministry today: since Friday I've been working steadily on editing Ksenija Magda's forthcoming book about how the Apostle Paul's sense of place influenced his global missionary strategy. I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but her doctoral dissertation--written in English for a London theological school--was accepted by a German publishing house, and they wanted her to find a native speaker to edit it. Of course, that's what an English teacher loves to hear! I'm basically done now, with a few seentences to polish up.

Karmen and I met this morning with Ivana and Rosana--another lady who sometimes goes to Kursanec with us--to have our devotional and plan for clubs this week. Karmen has had the growing conviction that we REALLY need to do something to help the children's education. Education is a serious problem among the Roma: to give you an idea of the enormity of the problem, Joka and Lila--our host family in Kursanec-- have four children over the age of 15, and not one of them has finished the 8th grade. So Karmen, Ivana, Rosana and I are trying to find a block time when the four of us can all go for a couple hours a week to help the kids with schoolwork. Of course, I won't be able to do as much as I would like, but MANY of the kids study English, so obviously I'll be able to help in that one subject! And probably I could teach younger children the Croatian alphabet. That will be fun, and probably teach me as much as it does them!

I just realized today that it's March and my year here is more than half over. Being transplanted to another language and culture and country is a strange experience, but what has surprised me is that there was no decisive "culture shock" moment when I felt like I just couldn't take it. Instead, there have been stages of adjustments, and stages of homesickness. I'll close with what stages I've been at for the past ten days!

Little Victories

My Croatian is still almost noexistent, but yesterday at church here at the Center a lady told me--in Croatian--that I sing beautifully in Croatian! That was nice to hear, and it came at the end of the first week that I felt like I'd been able to communicate with the kids in the villages at any real useful level. My "conversations" are still nothing to brag about, but if my goal is being able to communicate with these children--and it is--then I'm improving. I know people have been praying for me about that, and they'll be happy to know that I can see some results!

What I miss about life in the US

It was hard for me to imagine what I would miss about life the US, but now I have some specifics. Obviously, what i miss most are PEOPLE: my family, my friends, my church. But if I'm just focusing on the details of day-to-day life, here's what I miss:

Being able to listen to a sermon in a language I can understand
Cheetos
Twizzlers
Tex-Mex
sushi (why are these all food?)
bookstores
organic frozen meals (okay, i must be hungry!)
having a cat
teaching English at UT (never thought I'd say THAT!)

I PROMISE to update more regularly from now on :D

2009-02-26T12:59:00.002-05:00

I'm so terrible about updating this blog, and I'm always thinking: "I should put this or that on my blog," and then I'm so ready to hit the showers when I get home that I slack off. From now on I promise to post at least every Thursday and Monday. Hopefully a schedule will help motivate me :D

You know, I've never been that kind of Christian who focuses on what evil spirits might be doing, or the devil's attacks, or angels, and so forth. It isn't that I don't believe that those beings exist, but I have always thought of it as a cop-out when people talk about the devil or evil spirits doing this or that. Human beings are bad enough on their own, and focusing on otherworldly influences tends to displace responsibility from the perpetrators of evil acts--who could make the decision to do right instead of wrong--to the forces that only inspired those evil acts.

But every time Karmen and I go to Sitnice to have club, it seems like everything is three times as difficult as it should be. When we first had five-day club there in the summer, we stepped out of the van into a patch of nettles, and it's just gone downhill from there. I've been both bitten and pinched by children in that village, and a six-year-old boy (Brendon) put a curse on me and threatened to kill me because I wouldn't give him a piece of candy in the middle of club. Our original host family was less-than-welcoming, and finally they just weren't at home when we got there for club. Our second host family constantly had a drunk and/or disruptive adult in the tiny one-room house, and in that environment the kids were out-of-control to the point that even I could barely hear Karmen's lesson. Finally a man showed up with a belt and threatened to beat the children, and then actually tried halfheartedly to beat a couple of them before they escaped behind the stove. After that, one of the other boys invited us to his home for club. We went to visit his parents and walked into a huge family fight: one of the daughters is in the middle of a divorce, and she and her mother were having a disagreement that led to the daughter grabbing up her things and her little daughter and leaving. Also, last fall a young woman from Sitnice was tricked into going on a "shopping trip" to Italy with 4 gypsy men from local villages (one or two from Sitnice) and sold to an Italian man for 5000 euros to be his concubine and housekeeper. Fortunately she eventually managed to steal some money and escape back to Croatia.

I hate to admit it, but I literally dread going to Sitnice. I have an uneasy feeling in the car as we drive there, and I have to say that at that point I am NOT a cheerful giver of my time and energy.

However, and this seems contradictory, more children have been saved in Sitnice since this summer than in any other village. A couple of boys who come to club (Nino and Martin) seem really deeply interested in the lesson each week, and they answer questions and memorize verses and remember the story from week to week (they aren't saved yet, btw, so keep those names in your prayers). A number of children have asked us to come to their homes and be introduced to their parents. They seem proud to have us come. We went this afternoon to see the mother of a boy named Kresho, and a couple other boys asked us to come visit but Karmen didn't have time, so we have to go next week. Brendon followed us to Kresho's house, and as we were leaving he asked us to come to his house and visit.

As soon as club gets underway, my feelings of dread tend to dissipate. But going to this village is without a doubt the hardest thing I do: the atmosphere is just downright oppressive. So be in prayer for our protection and also for our ability to make a difference in these kids' lives.

Some sad news

2009-02-16T09:45:00.002-05:00

In spite of all our heartfelt prayers, Baby Filip died in his father's arms in the hospital in Munich last week. He got a bacterial infection, and the poor little thing just couldn't recover from it. His funeral was here in Croatia on Friday.

One blessing is that Nedjeljko was able to be there. Karmen said to me that, as a parent, it would be so hard to believe that your child was actually gone unless you'd actually seen it. So, I'm happy that Nedjeljko was there. I hope it will help him to recover.

But keep this family in your prayers. In addition to their grief over Filip's loss, Nedjeljko's trip was expensive, and the family had to go into debt to pay for it. We don't know what they will do now, but as you can imagine, the cost of a trip to Germany would be an immense sum for a family that raises their own chickens for food.

Bad luck again!!

2009-02-08T08:42:00.003-05:00

Remember all those important things I had to do last week, like editing Ksenjia's book, going to Klub, and attending the Child Evangelism conference that Karmen organized? Guess what I did instead? Spent Wednesday through Saturday sick in bed with some sort of flu imported from Germany. Toma and Ksenija came back sick with it, and on Wednesday I came down with it. Fever, muscle aches, headache, nausea, the whole 9 yards. I lost a kilo (that's 2.2 pounds) in 3 days.

I guess it's poetic justice: back in the States, I almost never got seriously ill, and I kind of snickered behind my hand at people who would rush out for their flu shots every year. I'd get the occasional cold, but I was almost never actually sick in bed, except the time I got chicken pox when I was 22 and last January when I got the flu. But this is the second time in two months that I've been sick in bed for at least 3 days in a row. I just don't have immunities for these European sicknesses!

I'm better today--although still a little weak and queasy--and I should be able to carry on with all my normal activities this week. But it's SO FRUSTRATING to be completely unable to carry out my responsibilities, and also a little worrying to think that it looks like I'm going to get everything that comes around. Please pray for my health, so I can quit getting sick and be able to do the things that I CAME here to do in the first place!

Shest mjeseci

2009-02-02T07:32:00.002-05:00

I just realized yesterday that I have been in Croatia now for six months. I commemorated the day by doing two unusual things: NOT watching the Super Bowl for the first time in 17 years and watching Croatia play in the final game of the World Handball Championship. They lost :(

Karmen has returned safely from Switzerland, and this morning Karmen, Ivana and I met here at the Pastoral Center. Usually we begin our meetings with a devotional and prayer. Karmen and her family really like the Oswald Chambers book My Utmost for His Highest, so we read out of that every day. I had never read it before--although I'd seen the book on my mom's shelf since childhood--and I'm enjoying it.

Today we were joined by a woman who has been staying at the Pastoral Center since Friday. She can only speak a few broken sentences of English, and that's about where my Croatian is, but Karmen translated for me. This woman--whose name I won't mention--was married in her teens and has since then experienced domestic abuse, mental illness, her spouse's alcoholism, divorce...and recently her ex-husband tried to kill her. They had been living together again with their two teenage daughters. This lady has attended church in Puscine and been saved, but she's struggling with many hardships and with learning how to trust God through them. I am SO happy that she could come to the Pastoral Center...I'm proud that a building that FBC helped to build can now shelter battered women.

When we prayed together, I managed to form a THREE sentence prayer in Croatian...my longest so far!! Praying in another language is REALLY hard...but it is completely necessary...how else could this lady have known that I thanked God for her and said that we know nothing is impossible with him, unless I had managed to say it in Croatian?

Anyway, keep this lady in your prayers. And remember Karmen, Ivana and I: this week we are having Klub in Kursanec and also preparing for a Child Evangelism conference that will be held at the Center on Saturday. I also have another "little" job that I'm really looking forward to: editing Ksenija Magda's book! Her doctoral dissertation--written in English--was accepted by a German publisher, and they wanted her to get a native speaker to edit it. The book is about Paul's missionary journies. That's the kind of work that I really love doing, and I'm glad that I can help out this family that has done so much for me since I've lived here!

Sumrak: sometimes, Croatia doesn't seem that different...

2009-01-31T13:19:00.005-05:00

Sometime living in another country than the one I grew up in feels like living on another planet: the little social cues that we take for granted in a familiar culture do not all cross oceans very well. Because of that, sometimes Croatians seem like a whole other species, and sometimes I get the awful feeling that I've just unknowingly transgressed some unwritten code and made a total jerk of myself! But then sometimes the strangest things will happen to remind me that certain fundamental characteristics transfer from one country to another....

I was walking through the city center of Cakovec today, and although most of the pedestrian walkway was pretty deserted--most stores are closed on Saturday afternoon--there were droves of young teenage girls standing around outside the building that houses the Cultural Center. From what I could see through the windows, the center itself was crammed with them too.

I was curious until I saw the movie poster hanging up:
It would seem that Twilight has come to Croatia...I looked it up when I got home, and today is the opening day for the movie in Zagreb...and evidently in Cakovec too! I haven't read any of the books or seen the movie, and I know absolutely nothing about them, but for some reason it made me really happy to see all these crowds of Croatian girls just DYING to see this movie the first chance they get!

COLD!!

2009-01-30T04:26:00.004-05:00

I think I don't write enough on here about my ordinary day-to-day life and how it's different here. One good example is that there's been snow on the ground here for three days, and this is the second snowfall in January! Before I moved to Croatia, Knoxville, Tennessee was as far north as I had ever lived, so real winter weather just carries a whole slew of new experienced. I've learned what a great workout shoveling snow is! I helped Toma and Ksenija's son, Kristian, shovel a path from the Pastoral Center to Toma's snow-covered car that you see here.

People from FBC who had been here in winter had told me how COLD it is here, and I've found that to be true! And I really get the full experience because I don't have a car, so I spend a fair amount of time outside walking: walking to the grocery store, the Pastoral Center, the copy shop and the stationary store to buy supplies for club. But you know---and this is a real miracle for a Texas girl--I've gotten to where I don't much mind the cold. I just kinda had to learn common-sensical winter things: don't go outside with wet hair, wear layers, own plenty of ski socks and long underwear, make sure everything is tucked into everything else so no cold air seeps in anywhere! My brother--bless him--gave me fluffy shearling earmuffs for Christmas, and my ears have been toasty warm ever since!

And yesterday, after at last growing tired of snow seeping through my shoes and melting into my socks, I bought my first ever pair of real winter boots! I feel so hardcore now. They're knee-high and waterproof with thick rubber soles and thick fleece lining. I put them on IMMEDIATELY in the department store where I bought them, and then I ventured out into the snow, cold-proof.

With Karmen in Switzerland, I've spent this snowy week studying irregular Croatian verbs and going back and forth to the police station with my backpack full of papers. I'm trying to get visa paperwork all done this week before Karmen gets back, so I won't have to mess with it while we're trying to have club. Yesterday I had to go get my picture taken to go along with my visa renewal form, which is now in process. Today I have to go to the Health Office to get a form for my health insurance, then I go to a second office to get another paper and to arrange how many months at a time I'll pay for, and then I go to the post office to actually pay the bill. Then I go back to the police station with proof of health insurance.

Thank God for my new snow boots!!

Back from Spain

2009-01-29T03:11:00.002-05:00

This past weekend I went to Spain for my Gypsy team meeting for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Out hotel was right on the Mediterranean Sea, and I got to spend a couple days in Madrid before the meeting, sightseeing. It's a tough life, right!? Spain was green and springlike...and when I got back to Croatia it was snowing!!

The meeting itself was really encouraging as well. Everyone there understands exactly what it's like to worry about visas, and to struggle with learning a new language, and to care about a people group that is really downtrodden and in need! So we had a good two days of fellowship and work.

Particularly encouraging to me was finding out what stage of language-learning everyone else is in. I have been a little down on myself lately because I still can't really communicate in Croatian. People said I'd just "pick it up," and I expected that by now I'd be able to have a conversation pretty easily, and I'm nowhere NEAR that stage. But I learned at the meeting that the only couple who was really fluent in the language of the country they live in were Keith and Mary, who have been in the Netherlands 11 years! The other couples who have been overseas 3-5 years said that although they can communicate, sermons and the news are still hard to follow, and they still preach with an interpreter. That was so wonderful to me to find out that I'm actually NOT just slow, like i had feared, but that adults don't just "pick up" languages. I'm even more encouraged now to keep working on it. I'd been feeling like, "I'll NEVER learn this, what is the point of all this study?" But now I realize that I just have to be a persistent and patient learner!

I'd like to give you a good report on Baby Filip, but I haven't heard anything. Karmen is in Switzerland for a seminar, so be in prayer for her. As far as my visa is concerned, I went to the police station yesterday, and they said that I can submit a renewal request and I won't have to leave until it's processed. Then, even if it gets rejected, I can leave the country and return for a 90-day visit. After THAT I'll have to get out for at least 3 more months. I get a different story every time I go, so who knows what will happen. But, thank God, I don't have to be out by Feb 18th!

A day for bad news, but a good verse to go along

2009-01-20T07:43:00.004-05:00

First off, sorry for the long hiatus from this blog. First it was Christmas break in the US and then it was resettling in Croatia. But last week we finally started back to Club in Kursanec. We were slow about starting back because there was another Musical at the Pastoral Center, and Karmen had a role in that one! And we're about to have to take another break because I have to go to Spain tomorrow for my CBF team meeting with other Baptist missionaries who work with the Roma. The next week, Karmen goes to Switzerland for a seminar in fund-raising. I have been using this slow start for language study: I faithfully learn my 12 words a day, and read in my little children's Bible, which is the best I can understand so far!

Anyway, Baby Filip was doing well: he is now in a hospital in Munich, but his heart condition is stable. He was supposed to be transferred to Zagreb soon, but we learned today that he now has a stoppage in the bowels, and in a few minutes he is going in for another operation. I actually spoke to the doctor myself because Karmen couldn't understand his heavy German accent over the phone. This operation is just to see what the problem is, but obviously there is a serious problem. Karmen has the painful task of calling Filip's parents to give them the news.

As for myself, I went to the police station today to turn in my papers for my visa renewal. It expires on February the 18th, and it was supposed to be renewable for six more months. Then at the station today, they told me that when my visa expires I have to LEAVE the country for six months before I can return.

This, obviously, is a serious problem. I could find work to do here in Europe in other places, if necessary. I could probably do a month here and there with other CBF missionaries, and at least make myself useful here or there. But I wouldn't speak a word of those languages. And Karmen said today she's going to have a fight with the Lord if I have to go. And I have a house here, and friends, and I am getting to know so many of the kids in Kursanec by name, and I'm slowly learning to actually talk to them a little. I don't want to leave Croatia.

In club today, I taught the memory verse, He who called you is faithful, and he will provide. 1 Thessalonians 5,24 (That's a misquotations because I only know it in Croatian :P) So. I can trust that God will keep me here in Croatia if he really called me here for a whole year; if he only called me for 6 months, then I suppose he has a better use for me elsewhere.

Anyway, pray for baby Filip, and for me, that God will work out his plan for me, and if I have to leave, then I'll be able to go happily.

Urgent Prayer Request

2008-12-05T05:06:00.004-05:00

for
You may remember that our host family in Orehovica was expecting twins: well, son Filip and daughter Marina were born early yesterday morning. Yesterday Karmen sent me in her car to pick up the father, Nedjeljko, and three other boys, Marino, Nedi, and Luka, to go to the hospital to see the new babies for the first time. I loaned them my camera to take pictures, and here's one.

But little Filip has a heart problem, and he was just rushed to the hospital in Zagreb for surgery. Please pray that he will be all right, and pray for the family as they face this hardship. Nedjeljko and Sanela aren't Christians, so they don't have faith in God to help them through.

Another Shamefully-Late Update!

2008-12-03T02:15:00.009-05:00

I really have been getting behind on my blogging. Sorry, faithful readers! (all seven of you! :D) There has been a lot going on, so much that I can't even remember where I left off!

Sitnice Update

Our host family in Sitnice kept giving us the cold shoulder, so to speak: even without speaking the language I knew that we weren't really welcome. Then one day we showed up for club and no one was home! Karmen called their cell phone, but no answer. So what could we do? As it was growing dark, we walked around the village until we had collected a squad of children around us, and finally one of them, Karolina, invited us to her home. When we arrived, we found that it was a small one-room hut--no more than 200 square feet, I'd guess-- with no running water. It's heated by a small, wood-burning stove. Karolina lives there with her mother, brother, and two sisters. Her mother is younger than I am--only 26--but her oldest child is 10. She divorced her husband because he kept beating the children, and now he lives in Pribislavec. The home is filled with smoke from cigarettes, and Karolina's uncle hangs around drunkenly and yells a lot. When one of the kids is thirsty, Karolina dips a glass into a bucket that holds their drinking water. I suppose they get it from a pump.

What's funny about it is that we've gone from one of the nicest homes in the village to one of the more squalid. The other family was a Christian family, still married, with a large home with running water and an indoor bathroom--with a huge whirlpool tub--clean, well-dressed children etc etc....but they couldn't welcome us. Our new host family lives in abject conditions, but they are happy to have us. The grandmother of the family told us that she was so happy to listen to the Christmas story: she'd heard it before a long time ago, but she loved to listen again. The uncle--yes, the drunken one--told Karmen last night that he wasn't afraid to go out alone at night because he knows now that God is with him. I don't have any "moral" to draw from this story, but it wonderful to see God work.Last night was our last club in Sitnice before I go home for Christmas. We go back in January. But we were able to hand out Christmas presents last night! Thanks to the RAs and GAs back at First Baptist, we had some nice things to put in the gifts: stickers, bookmarkers, etc. Also, I dug around in the storage area in the basement of the Pastoral Center and turned up a number of things that First Baptist and other groups have left there: rubber balls, Play-Doh, Crayons, etc. Karmen put an old stuffed animal of Ruben's in each present. I won't lie, Karolina did say to Karmen, "Samo to?" (Is this all?) These kids can be ungrateful, disobedient, violent, mean...and the list goes on. It's easy to be angry or discouraged. But it's a good thing that God didn't wait until we were "good" to send Jesus, right?!? :) Like Jesus said, it is not the healthy that need a doctor, but the sick.

Pribislavec Update

I still don't have lice, thank God. But we still aren't allowed back in Pribislavec. Karmen spoke with the mother of the family--I think her name is Ljubica--and she said she was thinking about Club and would call us. But even if she doesn't call us, I think in January we'll do what we did in Sitnice and just walk around the village until someone asks us in.

Ruben Update

I wrote before that Ruben had had a fall and was in the hospital. It turned out to be only a slight concussion, and he was fine in a few days. Thank you all for your prayers!

Bible Study Update

I thought that the Bible Study I had started at my house was going to have to be postponed until January because most of the youth in this are involved in a Christmas musical that rehearses every night. This musical is organized by Richard Montez, the same Texan who directed Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat back in September when the FBC group was here. But last week I found out that the ONE girl who's not in the musical--Jelena--still wants to have the Bible study, even if only Ksenija, she, and I are there! So last night we met again and studied the first chapter of the book of Job. It's a wonderful thing for people just to sit down and talk about the Bible. And it's great for me because it really makes me get some commentaries and scholarly works and study the Bible instead of just reading it. I hope that the study grows in the spring, but even if it's only the three of us, that's still a blessing.

Culture Update!

Thanksgiving is not a national holiday here in Croatia, of course. I had hoped to go to Hungary to spend Thanksgiving with a few other CBF missionaries from the States, but I would have had to miss a week of Club. So, Ksenija Magda made Thanksgiving dinner, and I dined with her and Toma! It wasn't exactly like an American dinner--no dressing or cranberry sauce!--but I think it was the Thanksgiving dinner that I have been the most thankful for because there was no way for me to take it for granted! How many missionaries get to have a Thanksgiving dinner prepared for them by a preacher/theology professor and served by the president of the European Baptist Federation, especially during their first year overseas? God has blessed me so much, that I came over here and found such hospitable and loving friends.

We had turkey rolled up with fresh basil, Brussel sprouts with garlic and cheese, potatoes, salad, new white wine from a local wine-maker that Toma patronizes, and I don't even know what else. The crowning glory, of course, was the pumpkin pie. You can't buy canned pumpkin here, so Ksenija searched out a pumpkin, baked it, and mushed it up, and made what seemed like the tastiest pumpkin pie ever! (No offense to my mom and grandmother...but unexpected pies are the sweetest! :D) Toma seemed to feel very American afterwards: he moaned about eating too much and stumbled over to the couch to recline. Ksenija and I sat inert at the table awhile before we managed to clear the table!

That reminds me, I have a funny story to tell on Toma! When we were at the sea this summer, Toma and Zeljko Mraz decided to grill some fish and squid and mushrooms. So, the six of us--Toma and Ksenija, their son Kristian, Zeljko and his wife Svjetlana, and I--sat down on the patio to a delicious grilled meal and a view of the Adriatic Sea and the city of Split in the distance. Toma stood to serve some local Dalmatian-made red wine. (It would seem he's kind of an aficionado of the local vintages! :D) I don't even know how it happened, but he dropped or knocked over my wine glass, and my lovely green sundress was doused in red wine!! He was horrified!! Svjetlana told me to run up to my apartment and soak it in cold water. When I came back in different clothes, Toma was still a bit chagrined: he couldn't quit apologizing! Kristian told me later that Toma never spills things like that. So the next night, when he and Zeljko grilled AGAIN (it's their hobby, apparently), I made sure to wear the same green dress so everyone could see it wasn't stained!

And one Final thing...

This month the grace period for my student loans is up, and I have to start repaying. This was something that stressed me out terribly, but God had provided, and I was assigned two more online classes, so I actually have money! For those of you that don't know, I teach English for an online university, Corinthians College. It pays pretty well, so I make enough to pay for my apartment, supplemental health insurance that's required by the Croatian government ( CBF pays for me to be insured, but, irritatingly, I have to pay for it all over again here in Croatia because it goes along with my visa. I had to pay retroactively for three months of health insurance that I didn't even HAVE). Also I'm able to buy supplies for club: nametags, candy, markers, and whatnot. But amazingly, when I was praying for money for student loans, my supervisor emailed me and asked if I wanted to teach two more classes for the six-week MiniTerm! At first I hesitated because it means I'll have to work more over Christmas break, but then I realized it's an answer to prayer! So right now I'm teaching five online classes. Pray that I'll be able to keep up!

But this raises another subject that I need your prayers about. As I think all of you know, I still have to finish writing my dissertation to receive my PhD. I want to be able to finish it up in one year so I can move back here to Croatia ASAP. But how will I pay for it? UT charges me out-of state tuition, and I can't apply for residency because they have a policy that no student who moves to Tennessee in order to go to school can apply for residency. If I have an assistantship from UT, that pays my tuition, but I may not be able to get one, and even if I do, that means I'll have to work 20-30 hours a week and probably won't be able to finish my dissertation in a year. Alternatively, I could keep my online job and borrow money for my tuition...to the tune of about $13,000.

This subject may not belong in this blog because it doesn't directly concern my current ministry, but this is a decision that will have to be made this year, while I'm still here in Croatia working with Karmen, and it is a decision that will affect my life in the long run. What continent does God want me to live on? Does he want me to have a PhD? Which does he want: for me to take longer to finish or to borrow money? What kind of work does he want me to do: a "normal" career, or ministry? I don't know what is best to do. When you remember me in your prayers, please pray that God will give me wisdom to make the best decision with regards to my finances and my career. I am not sure exactly what he has planned for me to do in the future: God had a five-year plan, but I sure don't!

Some musings about the Croatian language

2008-11-19T04:41:00.002-05:00

Last summer I wrote a covenant with CBF that listed my goals for the first 6 months of my stay here, and one of them was that I would be able to manage conversational Croatian by December. I'd been studying my "Teach yourself Croatian" book and CD for almost a year before I got here, and everyone said, "Oh, you'll pick up the language, no problem!"

HA!!!

When I first got here, I met an American missionary who lives not far from Cakovec (and actually, I ran into him and his family at the Rustica last night!), and he told me that it took him five years to learn to speak Croatian. Great. Then when I met Bob Hitching, a British missionary who works with the Roma and lived in Varazdin for 4 years, he said, "You can't learn how to have a conversation in Croatian in just a year."

I knew I was in for it the first week I was here when one of Karmen's volunteers--a lady from Zagreb--said, "You came to MEDJIMURIA to learn Croatian?!?!?! Ahahahahaha!!" Medjimuria is the county that Cakovec and Puscine and all our Roma villages are in, and, come to find out, they speak a dialect that is quite different from "real" Croatian! For instance, in "real" Croatian, the words for "what" and "why" are Shto and Zashto; in Medjimurski they're Kaj and Zakaj. Someone in Osijek would ask '"How do you say in English" "Kako se kaze na engleskom"; in Cakovec someone would ask "Kako se veli po engleskom." When people from Puscine tell someone to sit down, they say Sjedni se; I said this to my Croatian teacher, and she shuddered and said, "Do NOT start speaking Medjimurski: you should say Sjedi." In Dalmatia, which is along the coast, they speak yet another dialect, Dalmatski, in which you say what and why Cha and Zacha.

Then, of course, you have the dreaded Serbian influence. Serbian is basically the same language, but it's written in the Cyrillic alphabet, like Russian. If I move here permanently, I'll probably learn Cyrillic, but now I'm just not even thinking about it. What's more troubling is that in Serbia they pronounce words slightly differently. In Croatian the word for "wind" is Vjetar; in Serbian it's Vetar. I pronounced it the serbian way once, and Ivana said "NOOOOOOOOO, "vetar" is Serbian!! Don't talk Serbian!!" And Heaven forbid I pronounce j's as like in "jelly": in Croatia it's like the y in yes, and if you mess up just one time, your Croatian teacher says "No! Don't talk like you're from Montenegro!"

Tuesday Night

2008-11-11T15:19:00.004-05:00

Tuesday was the first night I taught the Bible study for young people. We just sent out the invitations on Sunday, so it was only me, Ksenija Magda, and two girls, Jelena and Barbara. I'm satisfied with the turnout, though: this probably represents a higher percentage of the local Baptists in this age range than if we got 50 students at a Bible study at First Baptist :) Of course, I'm really hoping that this grows, but Ksenija told me this morning that if we ever have 5 or 6 regular attendees then that will be just fantastic. So my goal is 6 regulars.

The next day, Filip Havashi, one of the youth I'm friends with, wrote me to say that his girlfriend wants to come. And I went to a Jazz concert with Barbara and Ivana (they're sisters, and two of Karmen's sons played in the band--it's a small town!) last night, and Barbara said she invited two friends. So pray that the Bible study will grow. I'm happy that it's begun!

I almost forgot to say, please pray for Karmen's son Ruben: he's eight, and he had a fall and hit his head. Karmen called me from the emergency room to cancel club in Orehovica today, and from her description it sounds like he has a concussion. She didn't sound very worried, and she said we plan to go to Orehovica tomorrow, but keep their family in your prayers.

Oops, didn't realize I went on that long of a hiatus!

2008-11-09T07:36:00.005-05:00

My mom emailed yesterday and said, "When are you going to update that blog again?" I don't have any huge news from club, except that we are now meeting regularly in Orehovica, and we still don't have a host family in Pribislavec. Every time I think about Pribislavec, my scalp starts to itch. Well, I keep trying to tell myself that lice is an occupational hazard: if I get them, I get them. I have to make choices every time we go to club. Am I going to let this kid with dirty hands play with my freshly-washed hair? Am I going to let this kid with a runny nose sit on my lap and kiss my cheek? I have to say yes: I can't push a kid away because I think he's dirty. Of course he's dirty and sick. What did I expect? I've had a cold or a sinus infection almost continuously since September, and I've both bitten and kissed by toddlers. Well. Missions can't all be about beach vacations and train rides!

But I'm so paranoid! Actually, wait a minute...I think I'm going to go get Ksenjia to check my scalp....

Ok, I'm clean...for now....

So, this week we haven't been having club in the mornings because Karmen is going to physical therapy from 8 til noon. I can't ever remember if it's for her neck or arms because her son Ruben goes for his arms once a week, and I keep getting their therapies confused. So it's been a bit of a slow week for club, and next week will be the same. But this has allowed me time to do two exciting things!

First, I moved into my own flat! It's the top floor of an adorable cottage with a garden only a few blocks from the Pastoral centar. Technically I only have the second floor, but no one else lives there, so it might as well all be mine. And, unbelievable luxury, I have a bathtub and a washing machine! Last night I took a real hot bath for the first time since I've lived in Croatia. Also, it's nice to be able to cook in my own kitchen. I enjoyed living at the Pastoral Center, but it's nice to have my own place.

The second thing is a direct development from the first: on Tuesday I begin hosting a youth Bible Study in my new home. Ksenjia Magda has helped me organize it, and we will be studying the Old Testament Wisdom Literature, starting with Job. I taught a series on those books last fall for the college class at First Baptist, and I am really looking forward to doing it again at a slower and more thorough pace. The young churchgoers around here don't have much of a consistent, organized youth group, and one of the goals of this Bible study is to begin building a core group of young people around which we will organize regular services for youth, beginning in January. Last year before I got here, the youth had several of their own services, but since there is no consistent, structured group, and since there is a tiny Baptist church in every village where there might be two or three teenagers, it has evidently been difficult to keep something going consistently.

And....I'm thinking that I really should buy a nice espresso machine for my new home, just to be more hospitable when the kids get there. LOL!!! I have been eying such machines longingly ever since I moved into my new place next week, but I've been withstanding the temptation to spend 1000 kuna on such a thing. But, you know, if this Bible Study takes off, serving espresso really would help make the place feel more homey..... :)

Bad news and urgent prayer request

2008-10-27T07:29:00.003-04:00

Karmen and I were sitting at her home in Pusćine sending out her prayer letter when we got a call from our host family in Pribislavec. His children all got lice, and he is convinced that it's because of inviting other children into his home for club. It doesn't look like we will be able to meet there tomorrow, and unless the father of the family changes his mind, we're back to the drawing board at Pribislavec. Please pray that God will open a door somewhere.

When Karmen heard this, she said "Lila NEVER said that we couldn't come for club." Please pray that God will provide us a Lila in EVERY village!

Orehovica update

2008-10-25T03:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday Karmen and I went to Orehovica to have club for the first time, and before we even got out of the car we were mobbed by a dozen children yelling "Karmen's here, Karmen's here!" But our host family wasn't home! We walked around the village for a while, accompanied by a swarm of chattering children. Some of them told me they study English in school, so they all wanted to sing their English songs for me.

Eventually our host, Nedjeljko, got home: he had taken the kids to see his wife Sanela in the hospital. It was too late by this time to start club, but we arranged to come back on Thursday, once at 10 AM and once at three! I'm so excited that we get to go back twice a week! It turns out that Nedjeljko was hesitant before only because he thought we wanted to come twice a day every day from now on. He said that would be too much for him. No surprise there: it would be too much for us too! As soon as he found out we wanted to come only one day a week, he was relieved and happy to host us. So, we start for real on Thursday.

Today Toma and Ksenija's oldest daughter Speranca is getting married. The wedding starts at 5 PM and they say it will last until three or four AM! This will be my first chance to experience a Croatian wedding--which is evidently quite an event--so I'll write some about it tomorrow if I can manage to pry myself out of bed in time! Tomorrow we go to Sitnice to have club at 3:30...hopefully i'll be rested up by then :)

An amazing answer to prayer!

2008-10-24T03:18:00.002-04:00

For a couple weeks now, as you know, I have felt so burdened for the village of Orehovica. That was the very first village I visited this summer when I arrived. Karmen was holding her 5-day clubs, and the very first day I was here in Croatia, she took me to club in Orehovica. There is not one single adult believer there--that we know of--and yet three children were saved there during club this summer. We were hosted by Lila's brother and sister-in-law, Nedjeljko and Sanela, a young couple with three children under 7 and twins on the way. The twins are due any day now, and Sanela has had to enter the hospital so she can be undisturbed. It seemed like an inopportune time--to say the least--for us to ask them to host a weekly Bible Club.

But the other day their six-year-old son said to Nedjeljko, "Karmen lied! She said we would have club this fall but she hasn't come!" Also, other village children have been asking him when Karmen was coming back!! And amazingly enough, he called Karmen a day or two ago to ask why he had been unable to get Joka and Lila on the phone, and Karmen asked if he could host club. He agreed!! Karmen told me that his heart had been so softened by all the children--including his own--who asked for club, that he was prepared to say yes. So, this afternoon, we are going to have club in Orehovica!

This has been a wonderful week: God has enabled us to begin meeting in two new villages. Eventually, Karmen hopes to start a club for Croatian children in Puscine, and I secretly hope to start one in Sveti George. I haven't suggested it to her yet: she has a lot on her plate right now. But I hope that soon we will be able to go there, or that I will be able to get an interpreter and go there myself. It's funny how God takes one burden and provides another! :) Be in prayer for us as this ministry grows.

Club in Sitnice

2008-10-23T01:59:00.003-04:00

Well, we had a wonderful answer to prayer on Sunday: we found a family willing to host club in one of the villages we've been praying about! We had the first club on Sunday, and even though the kids weren't expecting us to be there, we had 34 of them in the room in only a few minutes! This summer when we had a weeklong camp in this village, 10 children gave their lives to Jesus, and even more expressed interest. A few kids began attending a nearby Baptist church, but that caused some problems both because some Croatians are prejudiced against the Roma and because the kids themselves had no idea how to behave in church. But in their own village, I was amazed at how attentive and engaged they were. Sometimes the kids in these villages seem so badly-behaved to American church-goers who are used to teaching Sunday School: I know I was certainly shocked when I first got here at how rowdy and disruptive some of these kids can be! But on Sunday this thought occurred to me: how many American kids would go to a Bible club for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon when there aren't any parental expectations? I don't think I would have when I was 12 or 13! These kids choose to use their free time on the weekends to listen to Bible stories: they have such a desire for the word of God. Looking into their faces, I was amazed by how much they want to know.

And another amazing thing is that the club in Kursanec grows week by week. We had 35 yesterday morning, and we were really crammed into Lila's living room! Karmen's story was about Jesus calling the disciples, and I taught the memory verse "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." We had made fish-shaped nametags with paper clips on them, and we put them all into a bucket and let the kids fish them out with a cane fishing pole with a magnet attached! Then the person who got "caught" came up to read the memory verse. Karmen really wants them to improve their reading skills because, as she puts it, "If they can't really read they can't read the Bible." As an English teacher, I like nothing better than to try and get kids to read! :) And this game really worked: I went first so they could here me make mistakes and not be embarrassed when they did, and when i "fished" out a name, they all gave a collective gasp of surprise and crowded up to the bucket!!!! They all REALLY wanted to get to come read!

All right, that's enough for now. Keep praying for the village of Orehovica. Lila's brother lives there, and she said she would try and talk to him about either hosting club or finding someone there who will. Pray that God provides there like he did in Sitnice!

I don't even know what to say...

2008-10-17T15:25:00.004-04:00

I've been so busy lately, with so much going on, that I haven't had the energy to keep this blog updated! First off, Karmen, Ivana and I had Good News Club again this week, twice in Kursanec and once in Pribislavec, and Sunday we're going to Sitnice to have one club, and hopefully that will lead to us going there every week! Pray that we'll find a host family there, and keep praying that we find one in Orehovica. Again this week, I taught the memory verse in Croatian, only this time I wrote the talk myself. Keep praying that I will have supernatural language abilities! SOMEbody must be praying a lot, because I even dream in Croatian now, and I'll be the first to tell you that I am not good with other languages! Wow, look at all those exclamation points. I'm trying to convince myself that I'm not tired, lol

This week, I've had the amazing opportunity to get to know Bob Hitching, a missionary from London. Bob has been a missionary for almost 40 years, and for some time now--i don't know for sure how long--he has worked with the Romani people. Right now he's based in Budapest, but he used to live in this area and still has connections with most of the villages around here (that's Bob on the left handing out potatoes). He's visiting here for a few days, and with him is--what a wonderful luxury for me!--a recent college graduate named Kara, from Virginia (that's Kara in the top picture)! When Bob and I first met, he asked me which villages I'd been to, and when I told him he said, "Oh, the high-class ones!" I immediate thought "O really?!" So today, we went to a couple I had never seen. The one that made the strongest impression on me was Sveti George.

I have never in my life seen that degree of poverty. The residents of this village have no electricity or running water, and they haven't even bothered to dig outhouses: they just go behind the houses. The houses themselves are little huts that are very small but well-constructed because a few years ago Bob raised money to bulldoze their old shacks and build something more weather-tight, because the people had had trouble with women and children freezing to death in the winter. Most of the men are in prison most of the time, but since it's Friday they were out for the weekend--don't ask--and in the village drinking. All the men I talked to were drunk: one begged for me to take pictures of him with his friend, either not realizing or not caring that he had wet his pants....apparently multiple times. One man pointed out a new litter of puppies when we went into his home and said that he bred and raised dogs for food. I held one of the babies, only to discover that his diaper was entirely soaked through...as wet as a sponge. It was cold enough that I could see my breath in the air, and yet--as you can see--children were walking around half-dressed or not dressed at all.

I saw one little girl--maybe three years old--napping in one of the houses with dozens of flies crawling all over her skin. All I could think throughout that village was that that little girl deserves so much better than that...but she won't have it. It's overwhelming to me, overwhelming.

As we walked from house to house in the village, people asked for a huge variety of things. 500 kuna so she can pay a fine and not go to jail. Diapers for the baby. Someone to fix his leaky roof. One couple who are both mute and mentally disabled gestured at us until someone else explained that their children had been taken by social workers and they had no one to advocate for them. One older lady asked us to read to her the letter she got from a doctor and explain what she was supposed to do with the pills she'd been given. Unfortunately neither Bob nor I could read it well enough to pick out more than the word "hypertension." One family said their children can't go to school because they failed the medical examination: they have blood parasites.

This village is a horrifying example of how poverty reproduces itself. When you grow up eating dogs, having a father who walks around drunk in urine-soaked pants in the middle of the day, and being unable to go to school because you're parasite-ridden, how in the world can you ever learn enough life skills to get yourself out of that squalor?

Pray for this village. I don't know f I can do anything, or even if anything CAN be done at all, but God can work a miracle there, and Bob Hitching is a great avenue for miracles! Bob plans to come to this area once a month, and I told him I want to be involved in whatever he does there. I'm so overwhelmed, but I know that God's presence improves any life, even the ones that look hopeless.

First week back with Good News Club

2008-10-09T12:17:00.004-04:00

This has been a big week here: Karmen resumed Good News Club for the new school year, and we met twice in the village of Kursanec and once in the village of Pribislavec. One girl in Pribislavec came to know Christ yesterday! We also met with a family in another village, Sitnice, about holding Club there. Although they were very welcoming to us, they were not very open to the idea of providing their home for us to meet in every week. Evidently in this particular village, right now everyone is in a huge fight with everyone else. However, Karmen feels very strongly that she is called to work there, especially because 10 children were saved this summer when we had 5-day club there. As for me, when we've gone around from village to village, this summer and this fall, I feel less of a connection to the village and more of one to individual children. There's one boy named Jasmin who lives in Sitnice [Jasmin is the boy in the left in this picture], and when we were there this summer I felt like he was "good soil" for the Word. I spent the whole week praying for him, and I want the opportunity to go back to his village.

Also, we would like to begin meeting in a fourth village, Orehovica. This summer, we held a 5-day camp there at the home of Lila's brother, but he is not a Christian and is also not very open to having a weekly meeting in his house. Unlike the other villages, there is not one single adult believer in Orehovica, so we will have trouble finding a host family. Joka and Lila are simply a wonderful couple and a blessing from God: we're thankful for them, and every day when Karmen and I meet we pray that God sends us a Joka and Lila in these other villages!

As for me, I taught the memory verse when we held Club: in Croatian!!!! You can imagine what a stress that was, to have to teach in a language I don't even speak! But I kept praying that I wouldn't lean on my own understanding...and if my experiences in this country have taught me anything, it's that I am in WAY over my head, and all I can do is rely on God! I really identify with Peter, stepping out of the boat onto the stormy water, and just plain realizing that it's dangerous and he can't do it. Of course, the goal is that when I have that moment when I think "I'm afraid and I can't do this" I instantly remember that it isn't my abilities but God's that matter.

Anyway, the teaching went well. I got through it, and every time I asked the kids if they understood what I had just said, they immediately said yes! So I think it went all right, and at Pribislavec some parents and grandparents who are believers were listening, and I actually got an amen from an elderly man when I said "Bog je sretan kada se mi ponasamo kao Isus: kada ljubimo Boga sa svim svojim srcem, i volimo bliznega svoga kao sto volimo sami sebe"! [God is happy when we behave like Jesus: when we love God with all our hearts and when we love our neighbors as ourselves]. Even in Romani villages in Croatia there's a good old-fashioned "amen corner"!

It's so quiet around here!

2008-09-29T09:34:00.002-04:00

Today was my first morning to wake up in the Pastoralni Centar since the group from FBC left! It seemed a little empty, and I missed my church family! It was wonderful to have them here for a few days. I love Croatia, and I still look out the window every morning and think again how blessed I am to be here, but I am finally starting to get homesick.

When I did my CBF training, I learned that there are three stages to adapting to life in a new country: first, you just feel like an excited tourist; second, you feel alienated and homesick; and third, you adapt to the new culture. I was going along in the first stage for six or seven weeks, and then the novelty wore off and I started just wanting to hear a sermon in English, have dinner at Cracker Barrel, spend a Saturday watching college football, hang out with my girlfriends, and hug my mom.

The thing I've learned about living in a new country and being immersed in a new language is that everything that I took for granted back home is unfamiliar and challenging. For example, I got a cold this week, like most of the FBC people on the trip! But in Croatia, you can't by cold medication at any ordinary store, you have to go to a pharmacy and ask the pharmacists--who don't speak English--for what you want. Now, not only is there a language barrier, there's a PRODUCT barrier: I don't think they have Advil Cold and Sinus here, and I don't know what the equivalent is, and I can't read labels! Sometimes I'm entirely unable to deal with such basic needs.

Anyway, short story long, having the FBC group here was a huge encouragement. They surprised me with a card for my birthday--which is tomorrow!--they spoke to me IN ENGLISH, they hugged me and gave me little presents--Wanda got me a hat, and Tere gave me a beautiful necklace, and others brought me ibuprofen, a candle, lotion, candy, hair products, etc etc. Other church members--like the Money class and Jess and Joseph Maples--have sent me cards and other mail, and I can't express how grateful I am for those things. I mean, I REALLY can't express it! :) When I wear my new hat or read one of my cards, I remember that even though I feel alone here sometimes, I'm not. And that gives me courage not only for those scary every day tasks like going to the pharmacy but also for the BIG NEW SCARY ones like starting a youth ministry in the Romani village!

Which brings me to my prayer requests: This morning I met with Karmen and Ivana, her assistant, to discuss what our projects are. So, next Tuesday I begin teaching an English class in Puscine! I'm really looking forward to it because I've missed teaching! Also, as soon as I can arrange for an interpreter and a driver, I will begin a youth group in the village. This is a huge, HUGE need for them, and also a big undertaking. I'm entering an entirely alien culture and trying to interact with teenagers across the language barrier, and as all of you who have worked with youth know, it sometimes seems like even AMERICAN teenagers are from a different language and culture...and I guess they really are! I don't know how this will work out or what it will look like, so pray hard. These kids need discipleship badly, and my heart just goes out to them. Pray that I'll know what to teach and how to say it, that their hearts will be opened and that they'll WANT to come to a Bible Study, and that we'll be able to really connect across boundaries of language and culture.

Last Day in the Village

2008-09-25T14:00:00.002-04:00

Before we left home, our granddaughter asked what I would be doing in Croatia. I told her we would be teaching children about Jesus. As we talked about children in the world who didn't know about Jesus, Emily said, "We just need to go an tell them." So, that has been our mission for these days. As we looked into their faces; as we sang and danced with them; as we told them stories and saw their rapt attention, we all felt, "This is it!" None of these twelve will ever be the same. God is up to something here in Cakovec, and we look forward to God's continuing His work in this place.
We also look forward to "coming home."

Wanda

We went to the Romani village nine times in total, and each time the children were waiting for us and ran alongside the van waving. They made us feel so welcome every day, with their smiles and their joy in being with our group. And there is just something about a name! The children loved getting name tags, and they all were interested in our names, and they took such an interest in the names of the Biblical characters. There are some things that are universal, and names are one of those things. That was one way we managed to really connect with the children in spite of the language barrier. They would want to give us their name tags and then take ours. It was like trading best friend necklaces!

It was so touching to see the children read from the Bible themselves, and they seemed to identify with the characters, especially today when they heard the story of Jesus healing the lepers. The Romani people are the "unclean" of their culture, and when they heard Lisa talk about the lepers walking around calling out "Unclean!" their ears just perked up. I had not seen them pay such close attention to any story, and I think they were really connecting with the gospel story, imagining themselves in that role.

Tere Atwater

Wednesday

2008-09-24T14:45:00.002-04:00

On our way back from the Romany Gypsy Village, we encounter a friendly surprise --- the Croatian Policia. Yes, Carol and her Van Go crew were pulled over by the Croatian Police as a
random checkpoint. The police, speaking only in Croatian, asked to see Carol's driver's license and passport. Carol looked over to Kristian to help translate and then the police officer said, "Americanci". While the police is checking out Carol's ID credentials, I asked, "Can we take a picture of the police?" Carol replies, "Let's make sure I'm not going to jail first." The police gave Carol her passport back and said good-bye. She didn't ask if we could take a picture, so I smiled at the other handsome police officer and motioned through the window if I could take a picture. He smiled and motioned for me to get out of the van. As I was getting ready to take the picture, he said, "No, group photo!" I then motioned for everyone to get out of the van for a group photo. I think the Croatian Policia enjoyed it as much as we did.

Carla

During the past few days in the gypsy village God has given me a particular insight into our activities here. We have operated on many people. Most of our surgeries have been on the
gypsy villagers young and old, male and female. We have also operated on two others outside the village. One was a young man who is a videographer from Zagreb. He was here to videotape the performance of the musical production of "Joseph". Another surgery taking place today was on Karmen. She has started the mission work in the gypsy village and continues to persevere daily in spreading the word of Jesus throughout the village. It occurred to me that we have been operating on people from all walks of life, however, we are all bound together by the word of God. May God bless.

Michelle

Tuesday

2008-09-23T13:07:00.003-04:00

Today is Tuesday and we woke up to another day of anticipation and excitement as to what the Lord would bring our way today. We had another breakfast and early fellowship which is a good way to start the day. We drive down the dirt rode to Lilaand Joke's home and again were greeted by 40-50 children jumping for joy. What a blessing!!!!! We entered their home with greetings from all those that we came in contact with. The ladies proceed to the designated area and began the program with song. The children were all so happy and excited. The program today was about Zacchaeus the wee little man. It was so amazing how the children seemed to know everything that was said!! Julie and Lisa did a great presentation. --Wanda Coker

Still tues. We hit the Pastoralni Center at the same time as the director and part of the cast of "Josip & Kricave boje Njegovih Snova". A Mexican-American from Texas [Richard] was the director. Richard is an evangelical Christian. He put the entire show together in 3 weeks with only locals, some of whom had never been on stage before. The production was wonderful, obviously "Joseph and his technicolor dream coat." One of the crew (Sasa) had a lesion on his neck that the medical team excised for him in their "operating room"in the Gipsy Vilage. I think that Sasa was impressed with the abject poverty. The show drew about 4000 for all performances. Richard travels the world with /christian shows. He will be home in the US for only 2 weeks of this yr. The med team has done only one other surgery, but has treated 20 other minor problems. More tomorrow. fred

Day 4

2008-09-22T10:48:00.004-04:00

Hi all: Today was our first day to work in the gypsy village. We are meeting in Joke and Lila's house, and in one room we have Dr. Fred's clinic, and in the other we have day camp for the kids. This morning I worked in the day camp, but this afternoon our interpreter couldn't be at the clinic, so I did my best to fill in. I'm a long, long, long way from fluent, but I can usually speak enough to make the basics understood. Dr. Fred mostly checked blood pressure and either cut or burned off moles. The village mayor is coming tomorrow to have a large mole taken off his face. This was the man who only last year wanted to keep Karmen from coming to the village at all, but when he saw the work Dr. Fred was doing, he said he wants to partner with Karmen and help build a much-needed building in the village for us to meet in! This is an amazing answer to prayer.

Day 3

2008-09-21T14:58:00.004-04:00

Today the group joined the church in Puscine for worship, and then we had lunch at my favorite local restaurant, Katarina. Afterwards we prepared for our week in the gypsy village. I was sent to buy goldfish crackers and little loaves of bread to use in the loaves and fishes story tomorrow! It has been such a blessing and an encouragement to me to have this group here: I've been so excited to see familiar faces that I have been getting lost and tripping over my own feet because I'm talking so much that I'm distracted! They've been teasing me about being a natural blond, but I keep assuring them that I'm not really ditzy at all; I'm just so happy for two of my worlds--Tennessee and Croatia--to be brought together, and I'm so thankful for my church family that has made all of this possible. I asked Lisa and Barbara Woodard to share their impressions of the last couple days, so enjoy!

What an experience it has been already- within only two days! Yesterday we met with Karmen to review our plans for day camp (which begins tomorrow), and it became clear that we needed to see the gypsy village before our plans could be formed very well. As we drove into the village, all the children rushed out to our vans to see who had come. Later, we walked around the village, following Fred as he made consultations on what procedures he would need to perform in the coming day. And as we walked, more and more children spilled out of their homes to see who was there. It was a crazy experience. I've never really been in a situation where I had absolutely no idea what the children were saying. I was far enough behind the rest of the group that our translators were no where nearby. The children wanted to talk to me so badly, and I had no idea what they wanted. There were two smaller children who I picked up and held for a few minutes, and all the other kids started laughing....perhaps that's not done in that culture?

More than anything else, the excursion into the village made me ask so many questions. I wish I understood more about the gypsies position within Croatian society and how they function. Why do they not have gardens? Why are they without jobs? What are the realities of life that complicate their situations? What does it mean for us to work alongside Karmen here?
There is much more ahead for us in this week- please keep praying that we will put aside our own fears and agendas so that we can be sensitive to be encouragers to Karmen & Elaine in their work. Also pray that we will listen to the leading of the Spirit. -Lisa Williams

First, I just want to say what a privilege it was to be in this church this morning. I was so impressed that the sermon was translated into English for us so we could understand. The music was wonderful: both the instruments and singers were so good, and it was such a new experience to be in a church without being able to understand the language.

The whole experience thus far has been a real eye opener: we see first hand how much these gypsy families need people who care. I was prepared for it to be bad but i had no idea it was as bad as it was. I was so impressed by Joke and Lila's home, and I told Elaine that the village was much better than I'd expected. But then I saw the rest of the village, and I couldn't imagine how people could live like that. I hope someone smacks me in the mouth if I ever complain again about what I don't have. I wish everyone could experience a day like yesterday: it just made me feel like I wanted to do more.

Dr. Fred is going to do some minor surgery on some of the gypsy children, taking off moles and so forth. To help them be less afraid, I offered to be the guinea pig! Tomorrow I'm going to have a place taken off my face so they can see what it will be like. Pray for me as I prepare to get operated on in the gypsy village! -Barbara Woodard

Today's update provided by Julie Rice!

2008-09-20T15:10:00.004-04:00

Bok! We had our first look at the gypsy village today and Lila and Joka's house where we'll have camp Mon-Thurs. Unfortunately with the change in the weather, it looks as if, barring a miracle, we'll be doing camp inside instead of outside. I guess the weather is just being Croatian by changing in time for us to cause a change in plans -- LOL! The kids are such beautiful spirits despite the biting cold wind and their lack of clothing. After visiting the village, someone here said we should never, ever complain about what we personally don't have and it's so very true. Even the homeless in Knoxville truly have it better than the gypsies here who may go 2-3 days without eating. It's a struggle not to cry at the sights.

On a less sad note, we're making headway in learning our way around town on foot and by van, and you really should've seen all 12 of us shopping. . . thankfully, the checkers are allowed to sit while they do their job and deal with us crazy Americans trying to count kunas. And the buffet was right next door where we had a great meal together prior to shopping.

The final event of the day was the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat, a/k/a Josip and Kricave Boje Njegovih Snova. Yes, it was all in Croatian, but music is universal. I'm also glad we're familiar with the story! Michelle said it was very much similar to the Broadway version she saw, but it was amazing in any event. And the cast learned everything in just three weeks, start to finish. I'm not sure even the best stars of Broadway could do that.

Please continue to pray as we hammer out revised plans for the camp. And thanks for the prayers you've already lifted heavenward on our behalves. --Julie R.

Arrived safe and sound!

2008-09-19T17:15:00.002-04:00

Well, the group from First Baptist in Knoxville arrived safely today, and it was so nice to see some familiar faces! In fact, I missed my exit and was headed toward Osijek because I was talking too much while I was driving!

So we got here to Cakovec, with all our luggage, and I was so thankful for the Twizzlers and hair products and cards you guys sent!

I'll post updates every day they're here, and pictures as soon as we get some. Keep us in your prayers!

Suffering for Jesus!

2008-09-16T11:20:00.002-04:00

I've spent the last couple weeks on the island of Brac with Toma and Ksenija Magda and their son Kristian. Since I could use the internet to do everything I needed to for FBC's upcoming trip here to Croatia, since I could study the language just as well on the island as in Cakovec, and since there's nothing going on at the gypsy village until October, I lurked around an Adriatic island for a while. Poor me, right? So here's my excuse! It was amazingly beautiful and relaxing, and on that island one of my childhood dreams came true that reminded me of Proverbs 12:11, a verse I've always loved: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

You may have heard of something called a century plant or century tree, a plant that supposedly blooms only once every hundred years. I saw a picture of it in a book when I was a kid, and I LONGED to see one. I thought that would be the most special occurrence of a lifetime. Well, guess what: from our terrace at Brac we could see a blooming century plant. It's actually an agave that takes 14-50+ years to mature, and then sends up a 20-ft bloom only once and dies, which gave rise to the legend that it blooms once in a hundred years. Ksenija said she's been going to that island for 10 years and never seen one before. Every time I looked at that plant, I think I really understood, for the first time, something about God: sometimes He gives extravagant gifts, gifts that aren't useful as we understand usefulness, just for the beauty, the perfection of them. We limit our understanding of God, I think, when we try and justify those gifts by figuring out some way they're useful. Out own creation was not useful: we're a labor of love, a work of art.

That being said, I'm back in Cakovec and it is COLD. I have started making friends with a couple of waitresses down at a local coffee shop, and I found out this morning that I--and Kristian, whom they also know--are the first and only Baptists they've ever met. One of them, Jelena, has asked me to come to her house and visit sometime. It's an exciting opportunity to get to talk about my beliefs with people who have not grown up in a culture saturated with Protestantism: it seems like so many Americans have heard so much about religion that they are kind of callused toward the truth, but now I have the opportunity to start fresh. Please pray for these two waitresses and for me. I would like to be able to lead them to Christ this year.

Kristina

2008-08-21T12:00:00.002-04:00

Thing are a bit slow for me right now: the clubs in the villages are over for the summer, and August is the month when everyone goes on vacation. So Sunday night after church I went with Karmen to help her write some emails to people who help fund her ministry, and I actually learned a lot from writing those messages!

The villages are in dire need of some kind of youth ministry. Karmen has been going to these villages for six years now, and during those years many children have become Christians. But once they get too old for summer clubs and for the Good News club that she leads during the winter, there is no discipleship for these young Christians. The culture in these villages is such that teenagers marry and begin having children at a very young age: 15 years old or even earlier. The children who were saved at some point during Karmen's ministry are not very different because no one has ever taught them another way to live.

There is an existing curriculum in Croatian that teaches teenagers about dating, marriage, and sex from a Christian perspective, but Karmen would have to pay for it to be printed, and there is no money in her ministry's budget for that. Also, her ministry has outgrown her, so to speak: she is in great need of full-time help in order to minister to everyone who needs it. 27 children were saved just this summer during clubs, but there are insufficient financial resources and manpower.

So what happens to these kids after they become Christians? Karmen told me on Sunday that during one of the clubs she met a girl named Kristina who had been saved years ago in one of Karmen's clubs. She is now 17 with a two-year-old child, and she and her husband have recently divorced. She told Karmen that her life is now ruined.

What is to be done about this? I would LOVE to be involved in establishing youth programs in the gypsy villages, but until I can learn the language my usefulness is limited. So, pray for Kristina and for Karmen's ministry, that money and helpers will be provided. Pray for me also that I can learn this language as quickly as possible so can really help teach these kids! The more I learn about the work to be done here and the great needs that the ministry and the gypsies have, the more thankful I am that I'm here and the more overwhelmed I feel. I want to jump in and solve all these problems: pray that I'll have the wisdom to put that desire to the best use!

Finally, an update!

2008-08-16T07:49:00.003-04:00

I've been in Croatia for two and a half weeks now, and it feels like today is the first day I've had to take it easy and spend some time putting my pictures online and updating this blog!

I arrived at the Zagreb airport on July 30th, and Karmen Horvat, the woman who runs the day camps in the gypsy village, was there to meet me. We drove straight to Cakovec, and, after a brief stop at her house where i changed clothes, we went straight on to one of the gypsy villages! Karmen had organized five-day clubs in seven different locations in this part of Croatia, including Kursanec, the village that FBC's youth group visited last year. Each camp is two hours long, and we sing songs, play a quiz, put on a puppet show, and give the kids candy...which in turn allures them enough for them to sit mostly quietly for a Bible story! We have a memory verse every day, and we send the kids home with a piece of paper that has a game and the memory verse on it. Then if the child knows the memory verse for each day, s/he gets a book of Bible stories. On the last day, everyone gets a T-shirt that says "Jesus is the only way" in the Bayash language. For the last two weeks, we've had one camp in the morning and one in the afternoon, so it's been a little crazy! In between the actual camps we had to buy candy and t-shirts, make photocopies and name tags, and meet to discuss each camp, so some nights I didn't get home from Karmen's house in Puscine until 9 or 10 PM.

The biggest challenge for me so far is the language barrier. Because I can't speak the language, my interaction with the kids and the tasks I can do for the camp are somewhat limited. When the kids have questions about the Bible story, I can't answer. I can't tell the Bible story or ask the questions for the quiz. The debriefing meetings are conducted in Croatian. After two and a half weeks, I'm becoming able to spell and pronounce the names, so I can help make name tags, call attendance and hand out T-shirts. I keep score for the quiz, take pictures, hold the microphone for the puppet show, and sit with kids in my lap. One day I found a kitten, and when i sat down with the kitten in my lap i was instantly surrounded by little girls! I know enough Croatian to ask if the girls like cats, if they have any cats, how many brothers and sisters they have, what their names are, etc (Incidentally, I also know how to say, wait, listen, look, no, later, girls should be in that group, and do you want a picture!). So I'm learning, but it incredibly frustrating to have this kind of limitation. I'm a teacher, and I can't teach!

In the fall, Karmen plans to have smaller, once-weekly Bible studies in each of the villages, and because time won't be as constrained and we will have fewer helpers, I will get to teach the lessons and Karmen will interpret. I'm learning fast, too, so hopefully in six months I'll be able to teach in Croatian. Zeljko Mraz told me to not expect too much of myself, however: the US Embassy estimates that it will take its diplomats 18 months to be able to really use the Croatian language! (They estimate 6 months for Spanish and Italian; 12 months for German). But I learned a lot of the grammar last year, so hopefully I'll be ahead of that schedule!

So, be in prayer for me as I struggle with the language. Many people here speak English, but often employees in banks, grocery stores, and restaurants either don't speak any or speak very little, so daily errands have become adventures for me! I took the train to Zagreb alone on Thursday to meet with Zeljko, and consulting a train schedule, asking strangers where to buy tickets or what station we're at, and trying to find my way around a strange city alone was a surreal experience. But so far I've had no disasters! :)

Also remember in your prayers Karmen, the other volunteers, and the kids and others in the village. One girl who became a Christian this week--and there have been quite a few over the last few weeks-- asked us to come back soon and have camp at her house! But the goal, for me, is not only to get these kids "saved" but to teach them what it means to be a Christian, and so, hopefully, over the course of a few generations the violence, inter-family feuding, and child and spousal abuse in these villages can be transformed.

Yesterday, one of the boys in the village stole one of our drums. That night, when Karmen realized it was missing, we drove through the village and asked one of the adults who had watched the club if he knew where it was. He spit, looked enraged, and ran off. A few minutes later, a scared-looking little boy came out to return the drum. We thanked him, and he ran off into the house. Earlier in the day I had watched some of the gypsy men walk around the kids with sticks in their hands. Is that just a scare tactic, or did that little boy wake up this morning covered with bruises? Pray hard for these villages and the work that's being done there.

What this blog title means

2008-07-18T11:43:00.008-04:00

The title of this blog might seem odd because I am going to Croatia as First Baptist Church's missionary, not as a lace-maker. But I'm an English teacher, so it helps me to think of things in terms of analogies and symbols! A passage I read this spring in W. B. Yeats's Autobiographies has been on my mind for several months, and it seems appropriate for the work I'm going to do. The poet wrote that, as a young man trying to make his living in London:

I was always planning some great gesture...More than thirty years have passed and I have seen no forcible young man of letters brave the metropolis without some like stimulant; and all after two or three, or twelve or fifteen years, according to obstinacy, have understood that we achieve, if we do achieve, in little sedentary stitches as though we were making lace.

I like that quotation because I'm a lot like the "forcible young man of letters" who wants big gestures and huge successes. But, in reality, most of life's achievements come about because we make one tiny stitch at a time, and eventually something complete comes out of it.

Coincidentally, I found out that Croatia has been famous for centuries for its Pag lace. Each piece of lace is one-of-a-kind because the lace-maker doesn't use a pattern or a plan: she simply starts work and allows the lace to take its own unique shape. So that's why I think of my year in Croatia as a year of lace-making: I'm going to focus on making tiny stitches and allow the eventual pattern to take care of itself.

I was reminded of the accumulation of little tiny stitches again last Monday when Debbie Hill gave me a log-cabin quilt she had made for me to take to Croatia! I couldn't believe how much time and care she must have put into that quilt: my mom and grandmother both quilt, so I KNOW how painstaking it is to piece those little fabric scraps together. And yet, because of her hard work, I have a beautiful warm quilt to snuggle up in during those cold Croatian nights and to remind me of the Hills and of the rest of my church family. It means so much to me to have the support of such a wonderful church. How could any of us accomplish anything as Christians without the love and care of other believers?

That's a fancy way of saying this: please pray for me on Tuesday, July 29th as I begin my journey! I'm a bit apprehensive, but also just plain excited and ready to get going. I will buy a camera as soon as I get to Cakovec, so I will be updating this blog with pictures and with regular reports for the next year. If you have a google or Gmail account, you can leave comments for me here. I'll miss all of you, so, Blessings on your own lace-making!