Still here...

Okay so I'm still here in Croatia. We are two weeks away from flying out for furlough and Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Not having the internet is about to KILL me. I am so addicted. Maybe this cold-turkey time is good for me.
Furlough this time around should be great. We will be leaving the work in the hands of the national pastor Bro. Rich and 3 other missionaries. All the different works should still go on. We did have to do something really sad and postpone our kids meeting in one of the Gypsy villages. It's getting cold and with half these kids not wearing any clothes anyhow and having no building to meet in we're gonna have to wait until Spring to start it back up. Well at least our partners will.
Anyhow, 2 more weeks and we'll be in the states and I'll have internet again, can't wait!!!
Miss reading all your blogs and can't wait to get caught up.

Back from the dead...

or at least I'm sure some of you thought I may have fallen off the edge of the world. Nope, I'm still here. Things are going so fast and furious that I rarely have time to blog and now I have added hurdles. Last week we moved to a new house in the same city but a house that we have a 5 year lease on. Now at least we won't have to move to a new house every furlough. The really sad thing about our new house is that there is no internet or phone!!! EKKK!!! No I'm not joking! I am currently sitting at the old house using the wireless that's on until the end of the month.

In 6 weeks we fly out and head to Texas for furlough. This furlough will be different than any other we have ever had. Our oldest son is finished with school, getting his liscense when we return and he'll start college in the fall. We'll be returning to Croatia without him so this furlough will be a bit different. Gonna need LOTS of grace!

Anyhow, I'm totally busy with life here in Croatia and preparing for the upcoming change. I have lots of share but the lack of internet makes that a little difficult.

As soon as we make it to the states, I'm sure I'll be back to blogging again. Until them I'll leave you with a recipe I made today and LOVED.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Cream-Cheese Filling

INGREDIENTS

Makes 12 whoopie pies.

• FOR THE PUMPKIN WHOOPIE COOKIES
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground cloves
• 2 cups firmly packed dark-brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 cups pumpkin puree, chilled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• FOR THE CREAM-CHEESE FILLING
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1.     Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.

2.     In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves; set aside. In another large bowl, whisk together brown sugar and oil until well combined. Add pumpkin puree and whisk until combined. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until well combined. Sprinkle flour mixture over pumpkin mixture and whisk until fully incorporated.

3.     Using a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism, drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of each cookie comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely on pan.

4.     Make the filling: Sift confectioner' sugar into a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and beat until well combined. Add confectioners' sugar and vanilla, beat just until smooth. (Filling can be made up to a day in advance. Cover and refrigerate; let stand at room temperature to soften before using.)

5.     Assemble the whoopie pies: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Transfer filling to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end. When cookies have cooled completely, pipe a large dollop of filling on the flat side of half of the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, pressing down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edge of the cookies. Transfer to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate cookies at least 30 minutes before serving and up to 3 days

Check out Martha Stewart for more great recipes

Please Pray

for missionary wife Jaynee Lockwood in Mexico. She is in serious condition and in a lot of pain. I don't personally know her but that's not a prerequisite of prayer. 

Gypsy meeting or what??

Praise the Lord! We had a wonderful meeting out in Trnovec on Sunday. We had at least 100 show up counting all the adults in the street listening. We had a great response and it looks like this will be an ongoing meeting. You never know how they are going to except you until the fact but praise the Lord they were very welcoming.

On a sad note, it was hard to tell our 30 kids who usually rode the vans to church they we could no longer come and get them. They were really sad and I wish there were some other possibility but sadly there isn't.

We're hoping this will turn into something lasting and we're praying that the work will be established enough to stand while we are gone of furlough in less than 3 months. We have great co-laborers here in Croatia and we know that they will do everything in their power to keep it going. Pray for the missionaries here that thy could quickly learn the language and be able to preach soon.

Since the Gypsies in Croatia mainly speak Romanian or some mixed version of Romanian, many of the people in the village including the young and old don't speak Croatian. So, Johnny preached in Croatian and Deon translated into Gypsy (Romanian) . Praise the Lord for Bro. Deon. This man is Gypsy and has lived a life of misery until he found Jesus. He was a cutter for many years and bears the scars up and down his body. He now has such a desire to serve the Lord and I can see maybe a possible Gypsy preacher in the future. He lives with his 8 children and wife in a 12x12 room. No running water or heat other than a cooking stove. They all sleep in that room and live on nearly nothing. Please pray for Bro. Deon, he could be the key to the future work with the Gypsies.

The meeting started out very orderly with children sitting on the tarp and people stand a ways off and by the time it was over, Johnny and Bro. Deon had about 3 feet of moving room up there.

We are considered a cult in Croatia and the Catholic church is sure busy spreading lies about us. The Gypsies have been told that we Baptists have very strange practices; eating hair and allowing our children to marry each other are just a couple of the wild ones. Anyhow, I'm doing my part to get to know they ladies. Maybe if we become friends they will be at least some voice on our side, to at least defend us on this crazy hair-eating rumor! :0)

Yea, giving out candy afterwards was a big goof! They went wild. It was impossible to keep them off of us and before it was over the decision to no give out candy was easily made.

We gave away a hawk-eye award to the best boy and girl. the bags were full of school supplies since school just started. They were more than excited!

Bro. Kevin Brown (new missionary in Croatia) and the Holcomb's son Matthew. 

Singing, Every Day With Jesus is Sweeter Than the Day Before

Bro. Scott blessing us with his talent.

Bro. Sam Ward, our co-laborer from our home church in Arlington. This man is amazing. Gave up job, home and family and came to Croatia to live. His desire is to live here the rest of his life. He was been responsible for more souls being saved than anyone. He is a soul-winning machine. If you want to invest in eternity through the winning of priceless souls, you would get huge dividends by supporting this man. 

Josip (in the middle) is the man that allowed us to use his yard. He is a saved man and was happy to let us use his property to spread the Gospel. 

They were all very eager to help. What's funny is that the boy on the left was a little monster. He was so mean to the other kids. It's normal in Gypsy society to have abusive relationships. The adults and very abusive to the chidlren and to each other. These children learn to scrap from the time they are very young. If you will notice in many of the photos the children have very angry looks on their faces. 

We played some games and had a good time before the preaching. 

Sang some songs.

Pray with us about this meeting. It never fails that as soon as we start something in a Gypsy village the Devil really goes to work. The first little church plant we started that was actually only in the Bible study phase ended rather violently when the man in whose home we were meeting was killed when his son shot him in the chest with a shotgun deliberately. 

These villages belong to Ol' Slew-foot and he's not going to give them over without a fight. Please pray!!

***Also let me ask you to pray for something else. We got a call today from Bro. Rich, the national pastor of the first church plant in Čakovec and he was at the hospital. He has been having a lot of problems with what seemed like his heart but today he started coughing up blood and he's not at the hospital. Please pray for him and his family. Pray for God's will in his life. Pray for healing within God's will. 

I really want to thank all of you who have an interest in the work here in Croaita. I know that we are far away and sometimes it seems like another planet altogether but you still pray and follow the work here and that means so much. 

One busy day!

Okay so it's Sunday and the fun begins. Today's line-up is gonna be a bugger but we'll make it though.



10:00 church in Varaždin

2:00 meeting in Trnovec (Gypsy village)

4:00 kids meeting in Čakovec

6:00 evening service in Čakovec

8:45 take everyone home

10:00 PASS OUT!

Pray for this first meeting in Trnovec, that it won't rain and that we won't have too much opposition from those that don't particularly like us Baptists, we're a cult ya know!


Is all this rushing about really worth it??? This little girl one day may think it's worth it, ABSOLUTELY it's worth it!

HOW AWESOME!

Okay so you HAVE to go take a look at Mila's Daydreams, this is one of the most beautiful blogs I have been too. Mila's Mama is awesome!!
Check it out!

Just Imagine...

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.

This post was copied from Bro. Sam Ward's blog and I couldn't help but share it. Bro. Sam is from our home church and is our partner in the work here in Croatia. He is a soul-winning machine and has blessed us weekly since he came. Please take some time and check out his blog. He came to Croatia by faith and is slowly raising enough support to stay in Croatia permanently.  Please pray for Bro. Sam, there's not another like him in the world. 

Merry Christmas missionary ladies!

Okay yea, I know it's not Christmas but if this post surprises you like I think it will for many of you, then, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Okay so several months ago someone told me about  Fomny TV, okay so it's not actually TV but it is awesome.

One of the things I missed from America was HGTV and 3 or 4 years ago I could actually watch whole episodes on HGTV.com but then they started giving me the the message. If you ever try to watch American programming from out of country you know what message I'm talking about.

 Thank you Hulu for making Andy and Goober available to all Americans but us overseas Americans. 

Okay so anyhow, I found Fomny TV and guess what is available on there... No really, guess! 

HGTV, I'm not kidding, it's actually the streaming HGTV from the states with Poptart and Lysol commercials! If you have highspeed then the quality is as good as it is in the states. 

Okay so if you go to Fomny TV and make sure that the little American flag near the top is clicked then scroll down a little then you'll see the HGTV icon; click the icon and give it a second to pull up the feed and you're ready to go. You can upsize it to full screen and BE INSPIRED!

WARNING!!!

 Be very cautious about your time consumption. A half hour show can turn into a who day wasted on the couch eating peanuts and drinking coke of you're not careful. 

Enjoy Y'all!