During June 13-16 we again held our annual Champs Camp outreach, for children 6-12 years old from neighborhoods in the city. This year we again had two different camps in different parts of the city, but this time we held them at the same time. We had a larger than usual group of American volunteers (Thank you Crestview Church of Christ, in Waco, Texas) that enabled us to offer the two camps simultaneously. Between the two camps, we hosted 120 children. These kids enjoyed four days of Bible lessons, singing, games, crafts, and lots of fun. We again had a barbecue on the last day for the families. As has become our pattern, we also had two days of activities after camp to pour some more into the lives of the Croatian teenage volunteers, many of whom were campers in the past. Please pray for this continuing outreach to our community. This year we have four families from Champs Camp who are coming to our church family Bible camp on the coast in August!

 

I am pursuing building a house in Croatia. It will look something like the photo above, except with a garage in a basement, instead of the ground floor as in this photo. This is a quite common house design here. This is another big project (although more personal) that I have been working on. In Croatia you have to be your own contractor and get price estimates and hire all the subs. I am learning a lot through this process. This school year I have been working on the house plan with an architect, as well as interviewing installers and getting estimates for everything from electricity to plumbing to the heating system. I have come to the decision to build here for several reasons:

To have a place to host small groups of people who come to help us with various ministry projects.

To have some room to entertain, as well as provide fellowship events for church members and institute students.

To have enough extra space to host visiting teachers, as well as institute students who need a temporary place to stay from time to time.

To be able to host personal guests, as well as other missionaries who are passing through and are in need of some hospitality.

My building site

Because I cannot get a loan from a US bank on a house in a foreign country and mortgages are uncommon and risky in Croatia, I have decided to raise the funds for the initial construction. I also will avoid long-term debt this way, especially good as I live on the generosity of other people. Once I get the house finished enough to be able live in part of it, I will gradually finish the house around myself with money that would otherwise have gone for rent. This is also the way Croatians build houses, gradually over a span of several years. Donations toward the initial house construction can be made at right on this blog.

In addition to my regular administrative duties at Biblijski institut, I am working on two important projects:

The first is coordinating our 6th annual Champs Camps for neighborhood children, which will happen next month. We are planning for 130 children at both the Jarun Lake in southwest Zagreb, and also at our building in the east-center of the city. We have a group of 16 American volunteers coming to help with the camps, as well as many Croatians who will volunteer. A lot of advance planning and logistics go into this event.

 

The other project is working on the start of our distance learning program. The institute has had a donation of some high end video-teleconferencing (Polycom) equipment. I am working with the donor of this equipment and our staff, to get it shipped and through customs. We also have an expert in the usage of this equipment in educational settings coming the third week of June to train our faculty and help us get the equipment set up. We will make one permanent installation of this equipment in our main classroom in Zagreb, as well as temporary, mobile installations, initially in two other cities in Croatia.

I have been leading a small group of youth and singles from our church this school year. We meet weekly as a group, to study something from the Bible and pray for each other. Today I had them out to my property for the afternoon and evening. We enjoyed a barbecue dinner together, a hike on the surrounding hills, and wrapped up with smores around a fire. It was a great time together. Looking forward to more.

Something that has taken a good bit of my attention this spring is helping my family with a major transition with my father. My Dad had a stroke five years ago. He does fairly well, he just can’t live by himself. In February when I was with him it became apparent that we needed to make a change in his living arrangements. My sister and her husband are buying Dad’s house and moving in with their family, and Dad is building a new apartment for himself attached to the garage. So he will still live on the property with my sister and her family, but have his own living space. In April, I went back to Texas for two weeks to help get the house cleared out and ready for my sister and family to move in. It meant going through 75 years of Dad’s life and 51 years of his marriage with my mother. Some days it was working 12-14 hours. When I returned to Croatia after this trip, I was two weeks behind on various aspects of work here. So it also has meant working long hours since I have been back. After Dad selected what he wanted to keep in his new apartment, all the siblings came to get the things out of the house that we wanted. All of my selections went to storage, awaiting a container that will be shipped to Croatia, probably sometime next year. Then we sold, threw away, and gave away what was left. It was a combination of a lot of hard work and a lot of various emotions. Below are photos of the house in process, and Dad’s new apartment under construction. One serendipity in all this was that it was bluebonnet time in Texas, something I rarely get to see now.

In March we were once again on the coast for our spring spiritual renewal retreat. We had a great group of guests from Lexington, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee. These dear friends came to share great preaching each evening; as well as to share Jesus, and themselves, with our youth. They shared with the youth about life in Christ and finding our identity in Him. This group connected well with our youth and were a great blessing to them. A particularly meaningful activity with the youth is pictured below. Each one was given a puzzle piece, with a “paint by number” on one side. They then colored their puzzle piece and put their name and “Imago Dei” (Image of God) on the other side. On the last day we put the puzzle together and Jeremy talked about what it means: How we are connected to Jesus as people who wear his image, and that we are connected to each other, and that we all have a part to play in God’s Kingdom. Many thanks to Jeremy and Suzanna Stewart, and Amanda Jones, for coming to pour into the lives of our youth, and for encouraging and loving them so well.

So much has been happening that I have not updated this blog in a long time. I am going to attempt to correct that oversight in several posts over the next few days, and starting here:

In February, we at Biblijski institut received a candidacy visit from representatives of the European Evangelical Accrediting Association (EEAA). They are an organization that accredits theological seminaries throughout Europe. Their report as a result of the visit was overall positive, with improvements needed in just a few key areas. The accreditation visit will likely happen shortly after the first of next year. Below are some photos from our first meeting together as a faculty and staff, after this candidacy visit. This was the beginning of our work in three different groups. One of the areas we are working on is becoming more collaborative in our work, in such a way that everyone is familiar with various goals and processes, and so can explain the key ideals and learning outcomes of the school to anyone who may ask. Over this year, these three groups will work through the areas identified by EEAA that need improvement, coming up with recommendations and concrete plans for implementation. We are meeting frequently in these groups, and monthly together as a faculty and staff to share our progress and conclusions with everyone. In this way we hope together to become a better and closer learning community.

Another great way I started the New Year was by helping to lead, and participating in our winter Champs Camp at our church/institute building on January 8 and 9. As usual, the kids enjoyed Bible lessons, singing, games, and crafts. Almost all of the kids that came were ones from the first summer Champs Camp that we actually held at our building last summer. Several of the parents also stayed around talking to us, and asking questions and expressing interest in programs and activities of the church. Please keep praying for this ongoing outreach to our community.

Last week, on New Year’s Day, I started the day by driving up into the mountains west of Zagreb to my friend Zoran’s house, who lives out there. We hiked to the top of the hill above his house and then enjoyed a visit over coffee and cake in his home, along with his mother. From his place you can see all the way north to the Kamnik Alps in Slovenia, and south into Bosnia.

Then, that evening I went to a candle light evening of worship at the International Church of Christ in Zagreb. I frequently spend time with friends at this congregation at their midweek service most weeks. It was a great way to welcome in the New Year!