Hallelujah!

We prayed the weather would clear and give us an opportunity to pass tracts to all the school kids in Varazdin during this first week of school.

Praise the Lord the weather cleared at precisely the right time and  we were able to give out 1300 tracts in 2-½ hours.

The photo shows a large group of the kids standing at the bus station.  We position ourselves between the school and the buses and offer a tract to everyone that passes by.

Praise the Lord for this wonderful opportunity!

Just Imagine...

Just imagine if there was a Gypsy village in Croatia named Trnovec
Just imagine if there was 70 kids in the village that want to come to church
Just imagine if you only had transportation available for 30 and had to leave 40 standing there with no ride
Just imagine if that was breaking your heart and you were praying for a solution
Just imagine if you wanted to start a service very near the village so everyone could walk to church and no on would be left out
Just imagine if you found out a relative of a church member owned a building (not yet finished)  a few hundred yards from the village
Just imagine if that relative was already saved and had a desire to help spread God's word
Just imagine if that man was willing to allow the church to use his building to hold an afternoon service on Sunday
Just imagine if he would do this at no charge

Well, there is no need to imagine. We will have our first service there Sunday at 2:00!

Just imagine our rejoicing!

Praise the Lord. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

Bibles Have Arrived! Praise the Lord

August 26th, 2010 was a historic day for the nation of Croatia. The Word of God arrived in the country on that date. Pastor Rajko Telebar, Bro Johnny Leslie and others have labored for years to translate an accurate New Testament for the people of Croatia, and this is the day we received the printed New Testaments from the shipping company. We were overjoyed.

To be able to sit in church and read the same words the pastor is reading is such a joy. To know that we have God's words in the language of the people God sent us to reach is very moving.

We can't wait to see what God is going to do.

Bro Scott Holcomb and Bro Kevin Brown

Here they come!

Nothing like anticipation.

One van loaded up.

Another one packed up.

The vans are just the right size.

Ahh yes.  Satisfaction!

And we're heading home.

This is better than any birthday gift!

Wall to wall people - Hallelujah!

Praise the Lord!  We have wall to wall people in Varaždin for ten days for an annual event known as "Spancirfest".  This gives a lot of opportunity to put the  gospel message into the hands of thousands from all over the country.

We had a large group out passing out tracts on Saturday morning and Saturday evening Brother Johnny Leslie, Scott Holcomb and I returned for a two hour stand from 7:00 to 9:00.  I was overjoyed.  People were everywhere!  The three of us passed out nearly 3000 tracts in two hours. 

This is a Street Ministry Extravaganza - Croatia Style. 

A Great Blessing For Me At Church Tonight!

I was greatly blessed tonight to have an opportunity to sing a special with my good friend Bro. Scott Holcomb.  We sang The Old Rugged Cross in the Croatian language in our church in Cakovec - Stablo Života. 

I love to sing and this was a great opportunity to me.  Thank you Lord!

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. Ps 89:1

Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD. Ps 150:6

Split

I recently had the privilege to travel to the ancient city of Split on Croatia's Adriatic coast with our Croatian pastor, Rajko Telebar.

The trip was a long one - approximately 7 hours each way.

The main purpose of the trip was to deliver thousands of gospel tracts to one of Bro Telebar's converts who makes use of them spreading the gospel in his area.  While there, Bro Telebar and I had the joy of speaking to a number of people on the streets and sharing the gospel.

This is a tourist city and the main attraction is the ancient palace of Diocletian. We walked through it and took the photos below. He was the emperor of Rome from 284 AD to 305. This was a summer palace for him. Diocletian is known for orchestrating a violent and fierce persecution of Christians.

I would just like to say: "Well Diocletian ("Cleetus"), your persecution didn't work out. We are standing on the ruin of your empire sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The thought came while we were there that one of our group should possibly rent an apartment or hotel room during the offseason to use as a base to spread the gospel all over that region. During the winter months, there will be a lot of snow in Cakovec, keeping people from getting out and about, but not in the area of Split, Dubrovnik, and Zadar.  Pray with us that God will give us wisdom to know exactly what to do. All of Croatia desperately needs the gospel message.

Sisak

In my quest to reach all of Croatia with the gospel of Jesus Christ, I have created a list of the cities of Croatia, with their populations and distance from my home base of Čakovec and have begun to work my way through the list. I plan to go to each city and spend a day witnessing and planting seed and then make the circuit over and over.
Having already been to Koprivnica, Bjelovar, and Đurđevac, this week I made it to Sisak, which is about 2 hours from home.

Arriving there at 10:30 Tuesday morning, I began witnessing a passing tracts to people on the streets. Within about two hours, I met a young man name Stjepan. After we talked for about an hour, Stjepan happily bowed his head and asked Jesus to save his precious soul. Glory Hallelujah!
Throughout the day, up till about 9:00 PM, I was able to share the gospel with about 24 people, and give tracts to hundreds. 
It was a glorious time - glorious because God saved Stjepan, and glorious because God's name is glorified when the gospel is preached!
As has been the case in every city, I met a group of teens and presented the gospel to them.  They now have all the information necessary to know how to receive Christ as Saviour.  I pray they will.  My heart is broken for the teens of Croatia, and they receive me and listen to me.  I just know God is going to do great things with and for them. 
On this day, the weatherman had predicted rainstorms.  God had other plans.  As you can see from the photos, it was a clear and beautiful day.

During the heat of the day, while people retreat indoors, I took a break at the local castle.  This castle was built in 1544 with bricks from a cistern that the Romans built 2000 years ago.  I was told the castle was built in 6 months and was used to repel an invasion by the Turks in 1593.  Enjoy the view.

Built where two rivers come together, it is a natural place for defense. (And beautiful too.)

Some of the old cannonballs from the period.

I was hearing a noise downstairs and decided to check out the basement.

Of course, the noise is coming from the bats in the basement. I should have known. (An added point of instruction: Flash photography tends to aggravate bats. Please don't try this at home.)

The view from behind the castle. Croatia is so beautiful!

Seed planted, soul saved, God glorified. It doesn't get better than that.