Scenes from the week

English class: We wrapped up class on Friday. It was a great time and the kids are hoping that the class can continue through the summer.

Slovanski Brod sunset

Dinner with our new friend Novica (2nd from the right). We met him and his girlfriend at the ska concert last week.

Slovanski Brod daily market

We went to Bosnia for a few hours yesterday. There is still so much war damage everywhere you look.

If there is one food you cannot escape eating while you are here, it is chivapi. Here's a sample.

Near a Lake outside of Brod

Out at the Korzo

Closing Conference Service

The church conference wrapped up on Sunday with a beautiful celebration service for all that God has done in Croatia and specifically in Slovanski Brod over the last ten years. The gospel was clearly given (well, not clearly to us since it was in Croatian :) and we pray that some made a decision to follow Christ that day. Sunday afternoon we participated in orientation for the college girls who recently arrived. We listened in our some of their cultural training and are hoping to connect with them the rest of the time we are here since college students are one of our passions!
Sunday night we were privileged to spend time with a missionary couple who lives here--Andy and Lim-- as well as a visiting missionary couple from Romania--Addy and Simona. Addy and Simona are friends of Dave (the speaker from Tennessee) and they brought news of revival happening among the youth of Romania. It was exciting to hear what God is doing and how he is using this couple's ministry. Simona recently led a girl to Christ who is the chess champion of Romania. Lim cooked Chinese food for us that night. I have to say that Asian food is something we have missed while we have been here. It hit the spot.

Dinner with Andy, Lim, Safet, Addy, Simona and Dave F.

This week we have spent the mornings at our kids English camp. It has been really fun. The kids are pretty advanced in their speaking ability so we are able to converse well with them and are going to tackle teaching grammar later this week. The Edge girls have been so helpful in teaching us how to teach and we really love it. In the afternoons, we have had the chance to get some rest as well as prep for the following day.

English camp converstion exercise (a form of speed dating :)

We celebrated Safet's 29th birthday at his home in his Roma gypsy village and followed the celebration with worship and a Bible study. Incredibly, Safet's family (none of whom are believers and who hold some Muslim beliefs) both participated and listened. We chose the topic of "Who was Jesus Christ" and talked about who the world says He is, who He said he was and who we say He is. We were able to finish the study by directly asking the family members who they say Jesus is. The question wasn't answered but we think thoughts were provoked. A hightlight of the night was watching Safet translate the gospel to his family. You can see his deep faith in his eyes and his longing to see his family accept Christ. Please pray that they would.

Happy Birthday Safet!

Bible Study

After Bible study, we went and met three adult English students in Nova Gradiska for a coffee. We were able to invite them to hear Dave preach on Sunday. Please pray that they would come.

A home in the Roma village

Here's how you can be praying:
+ For the people who we have begun to form relationships with while we have been here. Pray that this week we would be able to connect further and connect these people to local believers so that the gospel can continue to be shared with them.
+ English camp--that we would teach well and that this would begin relationships for the local church with these families
+ Perseverance for us as our days are long and full.

We've hardly had time to even think about updating these past few days but here is what we've been up to...

Sunset outside of Brod

We celebrated our second anniversary on Wednesday. We can't believe it has been two years. What a joy it has been to be married. We highly recommend marriage based on our experience thus far!

Nova Gradiska

On Wednesday we went to Nova Gradiska--a town about 45 minutes east of here and the site of the next church plant. Our new friends the Ljubvics live there (Kruno, Betsy, Tayla and Jack) and we helped them pass out fliers for the English classes they are beginning there. They used to live in Brod and are now starting over in Gradiska. Kruno is Croatian and Betsy has been a missionary for the last ten years or so. She met Kruno when she came to Croatia. We love them and their kids. They have sacrificed so much to be here and their heart for Croatians to know Christ is inspiring. I was able to have coffee with Betsy earlier in the week and felt immediately connected to her.

Betsy and MeLearning how to hand out fliers...I look confused

On Wednesday night, two of the speakers for the conference arrived form Tennessee: Jevon and Dave. I was able to cook a meal for them (I have missed cooking!) before they hit the hay due to jet lag setting in.

Jevon, Dave and Garrett

On Thursday we did a second round of poster hanging since posters have a way of being covered or torn down within hours of being hung. We have also been giving alot of rides to people to and from the conference. Dave has been picking up our friend Safet from his Roma village nearby. He has an incredible story of coming to know Christ through English classes taught here. His family lived as refugees in Germany for several years and now live as Gyspsies outside of Brod.

Dave and Safet

The conference kicked off on Thursday afternoon. We provided child care which is good practice for us!

The Church as the conference begins

Tayla and Me

The church again

Jack...precious

On Friday, we did some more babysitting for the conference attendees and had a chance to spend some time with our new friend Jim, a 19-year-old British guy, here to serve for a few months. We talked about politics and faith and everything in between. We passed out fliers for the Christian ska concert taking place Saturday night. We then hung out late into the night with the team at a cafe. We love the outdoor cafes here. People literally sit for hours just talking. Your table is yours as long as you want it and a coffee is much more about the conversation than the taste--although the taste is incredible :)

The Cafe night life

Safet, Kim, Me and Jim

Today we had lunch and did grocery shopping with the American girls who arrived from the program "The Edge". They are here six weeks to teach English to the adults and to help us with the kids camp. We are so happy to have some college students around (Kim, Ramsey and Emily). I've missed my RAs and students a lot!!! Ramsey and Kim go to Moody and Emily just graduated from UNC Wilmington.

Beautiful Lightning storm

Tonight was the ska concert and we were able to really connect with a young couple who we had passed out a flier to last night. We are meeting for coffee in the morning before church and are hoping they will come to church too. They said they aren't ready for that yet but they are very open to talking about God. They have catholic background and a lot of pain from that experience.
Please pray for Carolina and Navica--that their hearts would be softened to the gospel
Please pray for stamina as we are beginning to feel tired
Pray for the evangelistic church service tomorrow morning which will close out the conference

Talk to you soon!

Digging In

River in town. Right across lies Bosnia.

We now have a more clear picture of what we will be doing during our time here. This week is mostly devoted to helping with the church's 10 year anniversary celebration and seminar which is being held Thursday through Sunday of this week. This includes community outreaches such as a Croatian ska concert, seminars open to the public on practical topics such as finances and raising children and a kick off of the summers' English classes put on by the missionaries here. Our roles will vary throughout this week. Yesterday we helped with cleaning the church. Today we hung posters to advertise. It is not either of our spiritual gifts considering that we spent most of the time trying to get the tape unstuck from us and on the bulletin boards :).

Hanging posters

Tomorrow we will hand out invitations in a nearby town. We will be hosting the conference speakers at the home where we are staying and helping transport them wherever they need to go. We will also be providing child care at the conference. In the meantime, we are beginning to read through the curriculum we will be using next week to teach the kid's english camp. We are excited to meet a few American girls who will be arriving this week. They are Moody Bible Institute students, majoring in TESOL, and will be assisting us with the camp as well as teaching english to adult classes over the next six weeks.

Team Meeting

We were able to be a part of the Pioneer team meeting this morning. We spent time in worship and prayer as well as working out the details of the conference and upcoming events. As I looked around the room, I was struck by each member of the team and how incredibly different they are from one another, yet unified by their love of Christ and of each other and of the ministry that they are pouring themselves into. It is a beautiful picture of the body of Christ.

We wanted to let you know some ways that God has already answered our prayers in regards to this trip:
- We have felt both unified with and connected to the team since the moment we arrived and have had opportunities to both give to and receive from them
- We have had deep joy and peace in being here
- God has already shown us reasons he has brought us here this summer

Please continue to pray for:
- The church conference this weekend: that people in the church will be discipled and those outside would be brought in
- The english camps: for students to come and for wisdom in how to prepare
- Dave will be speaking on the Body of Christ at the church next Sunday (the 21st). Pray for him as he prepares.
- The Pioneer team: for unity and endurance during this busy time of the year

The River Walk

We are so excited about what God is doing here. We can't wait to tell you more in person when we come home.
We want you to know that we have felt so loved and upheld in prayer by so many of you. It is humbling and encouraging.

So much to say...

Glurns, Italy

Varenna, Italy at Lake Como

Well, we will try to sum up what the past week has been like during our travels to Croatia and our arrival here yesterday morning. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were great days of retreat during our travels from Milan through Northern Italy (Lake Como and Glurns) as well as driving through Switzerland and into Austria (Pfunds). We were able to rest and enjoy the beauty of these places while spending time with the Lord and connecting with one another after a busy time leading up to this trip.


On Thursday, we began to both feel what we can only describe as spiritual warfare. We both felt overwhelmed and anxious and I ended up at the hospital by that night in Salzburg with a bad urinary tract infection. As many of you know, going to a hospital in another country was probably my worst fear but God was so gracious to provide exactly what I needed each step of the way. We had an English speaking doctor who was able to prescribe an antibiotic which we picked up at the apothecary that was still functioning like the 1600's (see picture:) and we were able to leave Salzburg as planned the following day.
Me at the Apothecary

On our way to the train in Trieste, Italy which we would take to Croatia, we got to stop at Dave's old Bible School Tauernhof, located in Schladming, Austria. It was so good to reflect on God's faithfulness in our lives during our time there.


We thought we may not be able to catch the train that night to Croatia and with how ill I was feeling (especially having not eaten for two days due to my sickness) this was a scary thought! But we caught the overnight train to Slovanski Brod and arrived here on Saturday morning at 8:30 am. We went to bed by 3pm that day and woke up at 7:30am today feeling refreshed by rest and a relief from the oppression we had both been experiencing for the past few days. Today, Sunday, was a great day. We already love Croatia, both the missionaries we have connected with and the many lost people we walk by in this city. It was so good to be in church this morning and sing in Croatian many familiar worship songs. The message was actually given in English and translated to Croatian and we both felt so encouraged by the guest speaker. He spoke on the characteristics of the church of Thessalonica and all that Paul loved that he saw in them (the speaker mentioned the Paul was only with the church for three Sundays--the same amount of Sundays we will spend here :). The message made us so grateful for our home church and also excited about the work that God is doing around the world. There is so much more to say, but I think we are still absorbing so much and wanting to just learn and take things in.
Please pray that we would be able to serve diligently out of the power of Christ and that we would be able to express the love God has given us for this place in tangible ways. Also, pray for protection from the enemy and my continual healing. May God be glorified in this place!

Salzburg, Austria

And We're Off!

As we finish packing our bags and trying to eat all of the food in our fridge, we are beginning our blog! We leave tomorrow morning at 7:45 am from John Wayne Airport in Orange County. We will stop in Atlanta and then fly to Milan, Italy. We will arrive in Milan at 10 am on Monday, June 1st (1:00 am California time).
Thank you for being sources of support to us in so many ways.
As we leave, here are some ways you can be lifting us up in prayer:
- Health and safety as we travel
- That we would abide in Christ in the days leading up to arriving in Croatia
- That we would be unified as a team