Miracles in Croatia

We're so blessed to have Bro. Sam Ward as our co-laborer in Croatia. He just celebrated his 1 year of service in Croatia. Since his arrival in Croatia we have seen God do great things through his life. We praise the Lord for Bro. Sam.

He is a great blogger and posts often about things happening in Croatia. Take a moment and go have a look-see and see what great things God is doing in Croatia.

The national pastor in Croatia led a lady in New Hampshire to the Lord on her death bed. 

Big-wig protester gets saved in jail!

Hey God is really moving these days and we're glad he didn't forget about Croatia. He's doing a great work there and I'm glad He's using Bro. Sam Ward and the rest of the team there in Croatia to do it.

Make sure to post a comment if you go to Bro. Sam's blog, I'm sure it'll be an encouragement. 

Awesome time in Council Bluffs, IA

What a great time we had with Pastor and Mrs. Shipman at Eastern Hills Baptist Church in Council Bluffs, IA. Wow, these folks are great and a little crazy at the same time. We loved our time there. We made fast friends of both church folk and missionaries, 

The missionary group+kiddos

We had the privilege of getting to know Bro. Ben Leaf, missionary to Brasil. His sweet wife Lucianna was an extreme blessing to me and a fresh breeze of honesty. Bro. Leaf is actually a veteran missionary kind. Born in Brasil to missionary parents. 

Oh, I included this photo of Cory and I because we keep getting mistaken for a couple. Yea I know I don't look young enough to be his wife but several times people have come up and told us that we are a sweet couple. HA!!! Cody gets a kick out of it and has told his brother more than once that he is grounded.

The Ruby Family was also a sweet blessing. They are going to El Salvador and are so sweet. Those two little girls do most of the support raising, i'm sure!

Oh yea and a great blessing, Sunday morning the Associates wife walked the isle and got saved, WOW!!! God sure is good!

This is Mrs. Straw, she is making eternal investments in Croatia. She has faithfully been giving $10 a month to the Croatian Bible Project for some time. Wow, what rewards she will have one day. Thank you Mrs. Straw for loving folks you've never seen!

 Oh yea and we went to the zoo, always a classic fun. It was a little chilly but we enjoyed it. Here are a few photos the kids took. 

Okay so enough monkeying around, I better get busy. We're in a wonderful mission apartment in Harrisonville, MO. Bro and Mrs. Keighan are a great blessing and have been for 12 years that they have supported us. Grace Baptist Church is a great place and we always enjoy our time here. 

Tomorrow, bright and early we've got to get on to Salina, KS, we're starting a conference at a church there. It's a blessing to be co-laborers with so many different churches. Some of them you tend to forget if it's been 12 years and for the church in KS it has been twelve years so we're looking forward to that meeting. 

Oh yea I have some great stories from Croatia but I guess I'll tell you those in the next post! 

A little fun with Sioux City Baptist Church

Well we finished up another mission conference in Sioux City, IA last week and it was great. We love Bro. and Mrs. Pointer and their church is so gracious.
On one of the days we all went out to Pizza Ranch (yes that's a real place) and then we went to a transportation museum in the area. It was fun and actually we actually got to get in some of the different vehicles.

Here are just a few of the photos we took.














The boys really enjoyed the Tommy Gun.







Big bad Josh!





Johnny love!





Joshua, Cody and Bro. James Pointer, pastor of Sioux City Baptist Church in of all places, Sioux City, IA.








What a blessing it is to spend time with good friends like Bro. Pointer and his dear wife Mary. What a large family in the Lord we have.

Just Stuff and an I LOVE CROATIA post

Before we were missionaries, way back when, I remember missionary families coming into our church and presenting their field. I remember sometimes when they would be speaking they would forget the English word for something or they would talk about how much they wish they were "home" on their field. I used to think to myself, "Yea right". I was for sure it was one big put-on for the sake of the congregation.

Years later, I'm that missionary. We all are. It's the craziest thing. We are the ones who sometimes forget the English word for something or even catch ourselves talking about how it's better at "home".

I remember the first few years of living in Croatia and how hard it was, yes, it was very hard. I remembering wishing we were called to pastor in the states or really anything other than missionaries. All sorts of things went through my mind but I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Croatia and those people were the will of God for my life. I went to Croatia following my husband knowing that in that I was obedient to God.

When we were young and only married a few years Johnny told me that he wanted to have 7 children. WHAT? 7 children, I couldn't believe it but soon figured if I was going to have to be the mom of 7 children then I was going to like it. I was young in the faith and didn't know what a blessing children could be so I had decided that ONE was the magic number for us. After I realized I was going to be the mom of 7 kids I decided if I had to I was going to enjoy it. So I purposed in my heart to like it and I did. Later Johnny changed his mind when we became missionaries but it was okay because I knew I would have been happy either way.

When life got hard in Croatia in the early years I purposed in my heart that since this was the will of God for my life then I was going to enjoy it and maybe even learn to love it. God gave me a real love for Croatia. Not only for the spiritual side of life there but also for the daily life. I love the people. I love the small town squares. I love the coffee houses and sitting on the terrace. I LOVE CROATIA. God is so good to give us the desires of our hearts.

Anyhow I said all that to say this: I'm ready to go home!!
Life in the states is so fast and so noisy. Wow, is there still a quiet place anywhere in the US and if it still exists, where is it?

I will say that one of the nicest things about being in the states isn't Walmart contrary to popular missionary belief, no it's getting to spend time with dear pastor friends. We're in Sioux City, Iowa now and were starting a mission conference tonight at Sioux City Baptist Church. We're looking forward to spending some time with our good friend Pastor James Pointer. He's one of the most gracious pastors we know.

Anyhoo, we're out on the road until the end of April and then we'll be home for Cody's graduation. Things are sure changing in our lives but it's all good 'cause He's all good!

Wasting a little time in Iowa

We have been in Iowa at Grace Baptist Church's mission conference in Marion Iowa. It was great and now we're on the run again. We are in Burlington for the last two days and took some time today to go see the town. Burlington actually sits on the Mississippi River. 

Johnny and I tried to get a photo in front of the little Statue of Liberty but ran into some interference.  Check out all the distractions on the photos below. HA!

finally, success!!

We went down town to see Snake Alley. Snake Alley is the crookedest street in America. 

See it up there at the end of the street.

The homes in Burlington were beautiful. I love old homes. Here are a few that I really liked. 

I absolutely loved this house. Check out those brightly colored chairs in front of that monotone house. LOVE IT!

The ol' Mississippi. 

Hannah

Cody

Joshua

Yea I guess he snapped that photo a little late!

We're gonna be in Iowa for the next two weeks. It's been wicked cold here and today it got to 60, thank you Lord!