Home Again
Jeremy here. I am headed back to Croatia. My trip to the Northeast was incredible. Just about everything went as planned - something I'm not accustomed to experiencing with five kids. Petra dealt with the unpredictable in Zagreb, school strikes and all, while I traveled through the News: England and York.
Of course, pleasure was not the reason I visited the States. Still, I've always said that family and friends were the #1 thing I miss about the U.S., just ahead of baseball. I got both on this trip.
What I loved most about this particular journey was meeting many people who are excited about advancing the Kingdom of God. Between churches, pastors and friends and family, there were at least 15 various gatherings in which I was able to share our story and talk about what's going on in Croatia.
So much of that was because many of our long time supporters graciously hosted me, arranged gatherings, and spoke on our behalf. We are so grateful for you!
We don't know whether the specific dollar figure we set out to raise will be met. But throughout the trip I was struck by how the Lord guided the various conversations I had. I love the way Nehemiah says it at the end of chapter two; "...for the good hand of my God was upon me". That's how I can summarize my trip.
What We're Doing
I am leading a Bible Study on Thursday the 31st on the Spiritual Disciplines. Dallas Willard has a tremendous definition of the disciplines which will help me as I teach why they are so important. He says the Spiritual Disciplines are "an activity within our power—something we can do—that brings us to a point where we can do what we at present cannot do by direct effort."
We also have a Royal Rangers meeting on Saturday and Petra has a couple quarterly camp meetings this month.
We're especially excited to be promoting Biblija365 (the first Croatian daily reading app) at the largest book fair in Croatia. There are expected to be 200,000+ visitors between November 12-17.
How you can support us
Please pray for my reentry back into Croatia. I want to be with the kids as much as possible so Petra can get a break. But I will be battling jet-lag and preparing for Thursday evening and Saturday morning.
Also continue to pray for the Lord to provide the necessary finances for us to continue. As I mentioned above, we have no way of knowing yet whether we have reached our goal. We would ask you to prayerfully consider supporting our ministry financially. You can do so here.
Please pray for our relationship with the Lord and our marriage. We believe that what we do flows out of who we are. Pray that we would continue to grow in our love of Jesus and each other.
What we're reading
Books
- Discipling in a Multicutural World by Ajith Fernando. Fernando has a lot of experience discipling in various contexts. This book is practical advice built upon a sound biblical foundation.
- The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Sinclair Ferguson. I'm reading this in Croatian. Ferguson wrote a new introduction for this republished Croatian 2019 edition. It's a classic, and a very handy resource for the Croatian church.
Articles
- Revive Europe: This Christianity Today article talks about an initiative connecting European students in prayer and a conference at the end of the year. We attended Urbana 2003 before we were married. It sounds like the gathering in Germany ringing in 2020 will be a lot like that. One of our close friends is involved in organizing the Croatian chapter.
- Croatia: A Stabilizing Factor in Europe Despite ongoing corruption which reportedly is amongst the highest in Europe, Croatia brings some stability to the region.
Contact Information
We love to hear from you. Please feel free to respond with any questions, comments or prayer requests you have. It is a pleasure to partner with you in ministry. For more information about our family and ministry click here.
We love our missions organization, Christian Educators Outreach. Go here to check out what they're doing.
Grace and Peace,
Jeremy on behalf of Petra and the kids
