Spring Brings Sunshine and New Opportunities

After the long winter, we have been anxiously awaiting spring’s arrival along with it’s warm rays of sunshine, new life, and blossoming flowers and plants. As I type this blog, I am sitting by our window in 64 degree weather with the sun streaming in on my face, catching a little Vitamin D- it feels great! It felt like the sun had been hiding for the majority of the time since about November, so we are hoping it sticks around for a while! J

The past couple weeks have also brought a few different opportunities our way. Hope and I were able to go to Samobor with an American missionary friend and two Croatians as a part of the work of Love in Action (the nonprofit organization we received our visas under). Samobor is a village not far from Zagreb. We started out the trip by going to the store to buy groceries and evenly distributing the goods in about 8 huge bags. Then we took the food and other goods to several impoverished families throughout Samobor. I was glad to get a different view of Croatia from the village instead of in the city. I enjoyed seeing how the people that we went with who had been involved with the ministry for a while had established relationships with the people whose houses we visited. It was nice to be able to have a small part in those interactions.

Also, this past week on Wednesday, Betsy, Hope, and I went to a high school in a village about an hour away to teach a workshop in English. There were different workshops offered throughout the week and the administrators of the school like to find native English speakers to teach some of the workshops since all of the students are learning English at the school. We were told to pick a topic and that we could integrate God/the gospel into the lesson. We chose to speak on respect. We taught a different aspect of respect, having each different topic correspond with each letter of respect. Some of the themes included the golden rule, living by example, self-respect, choosing to be a positive influence, and respecting and caring for others. We encouraged the students to get involved by asking them what respect meant to them and how we can show respect. Then we split them into groups and had them present what they came up with. Some wrote short stories, poems, and we even had some perform songs with guitars. I really enjoyed interacting with the two different classes of students we had and seeing them engage in the workshop. Our friend, Vlado, who is involved with Exchanged Life Ministries and is the connection we had with the school also invited us to be involved with some other opportunities with students. We were thankful to meet another brother in Christ serving here faithfully. He was incredibly hospitable and offered to be a helping hand in any way possible.

There are other things we have been working on as a team with our life and ministry here and we will keep you updated as they continue to take shape. We appreciate your involvement and for keeping up with us! We are thankful for what God is doing and are excited to see what He continues to do. I feel blessed to be a part of this team here in Croatia and am thankful for God’s continued faithfulness.

Love and blessings,

Brittany

Life in Croatia

Hello to all!

This past month has held for us a continued process of shaping.  Each one of us are continuing to learn what it means to be faithful in so many aspects of life.  For me personally, I can't really even begin to put down how God has been transforming me.  I've really been learning more and more to allow everyday, every situation be a means of God's transforming love and grace.  Just this morning I had to remember the great love of God, and that no matter the chaos or peace my life is--God loves me.  That love led God to change his identity forever--the Son became flesh.  Through the resurrected Christ we (humanity) can truly find a home in the life of God because God has truly embraced humanity.  Amazing.

On a different note, it has been a good transition with the Scotts being here, and we are excited about the possibilities.  We are building community together and from that we are dreaming of what the roots of the church is going to be about.  I remember a Croatian telling us that as the Nazarene church we will be known for something.  What is it that we'll be known for?  How will we contribute to God moving here in Croatia?  We are praying through what that could mean.  We invited you to pray with us about that as well.  It is great because we are also doing these things on more of a ground level.  Each of us are investing ourselves into different things and people.

I also recently moved in with two Croatian guys--Marko and Darko.  It will be interesting as we continue to learn more about each other, our respective languages and the differences of our culture.  I truly believe we can move forward in grace, patience and love with each other to learn.  I'll tell one story that is already precious to me.  Warning...this story may make zero sense to some of you, but I ask you to suffer through it ha :).  Marko recently acquired a bread baking machine.  When the machine is on it makes a continued noise for a period as it is stirring the ingredients--like a ruh ruh ruh ruh.  (I know that makes a lot of sense ha).  I decided it sounded like a cool beat, so I decided to begin dancing in my chair as we were already eating bread together late at night.  Marko and Darko joined.  I stood up and began dancing as if I was a puppet on strings.  They lost it!!!  I think we were laughing for a solid 20 minutes as we deemed the new bread baking machine "D.J. Baker."  Yes, he takes requests.

I hope this has been enjoyable for you to read, and we really need to get better about this blogging thing ;).  Sorry for the long pause.  Hope you have a good day, and as people here say "Vidimo se (pronounced veedeemo say)".  Literally "we see ourselves"...but "see you later."

Blessings

Dobro Došli (Welcome) Scotts!

Hey everyone! A new update for you:

The Scott's are here! Dave, Betsy, and JJ Scott arrived in Zagreb on Monday! After months of preparation and anticipation, the Scott's have finally been able to join us here in Zagreb. The Scott's were previously living and serving in France for nearly a year. Now they have committed to living and serving in Croatia for the next several years. Dave, Betsy, and JJ, their five year old son, are awesome and we are so glad to have them here with us.

Remember the Scott's in your prayers as they are getting settled here in Zagreb, entering into language school and kindergarten (for JJ of course), and transitioning into life and culture here in Croatia. Pray for us as a team as we begin to figure out what it looks like for the seven of us to serve together and to support one another here as a team.

That's all for now.

Hope

I often write prayers out in a journal that I keep. I enjoy going back and reading over journal entries/prayers that I wrote in the past. It's interesting to see what was going on in my life on a certain day or during a particular time period and to see how God has moved/is still moving. I love reading over prayers that have now been answered or situations that have now been worked out. Of course there are some prayers that continued to be lifted up, but God is ever-present even in those and still teaching me as He walks beside me. 

Sometimes I read over prayers in which I see that my mindset has shifted because of the place to which God has now brought me. Sometimes I find myself struggling with the same things or asking the same questions I was a year ago, but I have found God revealing himself in new ways and helping me view things from different and refreshed perspectives. I am so thankful for the way in which God reveals himself to me, whether it's through His Word, silent reassurance, another brother or sister in Christ, or any of the other creative ways God steps into our lives and makes himself known.

I was thinking about learning Croatian and trying to make myself use it as much as possible. It seems as though we have to teach ourselves to think differently as we learn a new language, to try and get to the point where we think of things in the new language instead of our first language. Maybe as we learn how to be God's people in each changing season, he molds us to think differently, to the way that He would view life instead of the way that we would view life before we were transformed by His love and mercy. 

I thank God for His patience with me and for the way that He can take any situation, whether big or small, difficult or pleasant, and use it to reveal Himself to me and shape me for His purpose. May we see the things/situations God places in our lives as learning experiences in which God teaches us more about Himself and transforms us. Let us passionately seek Him even when we may not realize for what purpose we are in each season of our lives. 

-Brittany

p.s. Speaking of prayers, we just want to thank all of you for each and every prayer that you have lifted up for us and let you know how much we appreciate them! It is evident that we have people around the world praying and that God is present and working. So thanks again and keep 'em coming! :) God bless.

Jezik!!! (Language)

I wonder if there is an expression for trying to pack your brain full of a new language.  Maybe it is something along the lines of "Wow!  Calm down language!"  or even "Smiri se jezik!"

As Hope mentioned, we have started a three week intensive course to help us in the process of learning Croatian.  We have such a deep drive to learn how to communicate with the people here in their native tongue.  We hope that in our continual process of learning it (and speaking it), it will communicate love to the people around us.  I thought it would be good for you to have some pictures of us in language class since that is taking up a lot of our time which you can see below.

Other than that, we are preparing for the Scott's to be here.  The official green light for their new home should happen on Monday!!!!  Isn't that crazy?  Thank you so much for all the prayers.  We ask that you would continue to pray for their arrival here, the process to get registered, figuring out life here for them and just being a part of what's happening here in Croatia.

I would also like to say I had the honor of preaching at one of the church communities we are a part of here.  It was special for me because I had the opportunity to share about my dad.  It was special because God is able to use that story, and the continued process of it, to reach into the hearts and minds of people.  I'm thankful God redeems all things.  Please if God has moved in your life, share your story, rather God's story, with others.

May you live into the life God gives to us through Jesus in a new way this week.

Jerry

The Break Is Over

During the holidays and as the new year begins, Croatia takes a kind of hiatus. Many things, places and businesses slow down, if they do not come to a complete stop all together. People take a break and slow down from their usual routine. They take a break and take time to rest so that they are refreshed and ready for what the new year will bring. Our team decided to follow suit over the past few weeks and took time to rest, to enjoy the holiday time, to be together and with friends around us, and to study language in the free time we had.

This week is the first week of everything beginning again and daily routines being back in full swing. Students are back in school, businesses are open, and the city is busy. So this week has meant the same for us. This week is the beginning of a busy time for us of school, language classes, volunteering, research, and visitors. This week began with us beginning a three week intensive Croatian language course at a Language Academy. And already, only two days out, we are realizing that the class is allowing us to learn a ton but is pushing us to think and to take in as much of the Croatian language as possible during each class. Also, in the next few weeks, each of us will begin to again plug into the different places that we are serving and volunteering in the community here. And next week, the Scotts, will finally be arriving to be here with us, and we cannot wait to be able to help them get settled in! 

As I was thinking through the time of break and rest that just ended and got ready for and entered into the normal busy routine of daily life, I have been thinking about how awesome it is to be here in Croatia, and to be able to be a part of life here in the different seasons, times, and rhythms of life. To be able to more fully learn about the culture and life here in Zagreb, by having the opportunity to be a part of life here and to share life during the different times of life. We get to be a part of the busy times of life, the restful and refreshing times, the holidays and celebratory times, and the day to day normal routine times of life. We get to be a part of and understand what life is like here in its many different times and phases. We are experiencing some of the different times of life for the people here and get to live in those times with them. And I am thankful to be able to be a part of life here, in all its different seasons.


Hope

The New Year

Well, there seems to be a lot to make up for. We hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas, or Sretan Božić and Happy New Year! (Sretna Nova Godina). We apologize for our long absence on the blog and promise that it is not going to become a habit. The Christmas season was just as busy here as it is for all of you in your part of the world. However, through all the running around, we also had some good time to relax as most of the city and families have "holiday time" for about 2 weeks. 

So, things have been busy. We've all started to find things to plug into here. Some of us are volunteering with a few different organizations. Brittany and Jerry are both involved in sports clubs, frisbee and soccer, and have been able to really begin establishing great relationships through doing things they love. We are thankful for all the doors that God opens here. We're also still becoming more involved with the existing missionary community and amazed everyday but the way in which they interact and treat each other as a community of God's people. We are incredibly blessed with great supporters and mentors here within the missionary community. 

We finally got our visa situation all worked out and have official visas in our passports! This was a huge answer to lots of prayer and a lot of time and paperwork. It's kinda the last step to starting to feel settled. We also begin an intensive language course tomorrow for the next few weeks and are excited to see how that goes and hoping for the best. Also, the Scotts (see there website here ) will be arriving in the next couple weeks as they transition from being in France to Croatia and we are so excited to work with them and have them here with us. 

So all in all things are going really well. We've still had our days of frustration and craziness, mixed in with a little sickness over the past few weeks for a few of us, but we are still amazed everyday at how God is so faithful and provides for us. We appreciate all the prayers and ask you to continue praying with us as God leads us and shows us what he has in store for us for the next 7 months or so. We've spent this past week talking as a group and spending time one-on-one just talking and praying about being here and how to best be apart of what God is doing. The phrase we said a lot was 'God is doing something in Croatia and we want to be apart of it ' before we came. And I think we'd all be in agreement that God is doing something great here and while somedays we aren't positive about our role in it we are still seeking and learning everyday what it means to be used by God and surrendered to his roles for us here. He is doing something here and we feel privileged to be apart of it. So please continue to pray with us and thank you so much for all of your support. We can't wait to see what 2011 looks like here in Croatia. 

'The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.' Isaiah 55: 10-11