Wonderful New Years Gift

Look what arrived in our town this week; a container sent all the way from our good friends at Harvest Baptist Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa, pastored by Bro. Marvin Smith. Guess what the container contained...okay, yes it contained boxes but guess what is in those boxes...100,000 copies of John and Romans taken from the new translation our men are working on at the moment. Bro. Milan is Roma (Gypsy) and one of the most faithful men in our church

It's an awesome feeling to actually see the hard work they have put into this project in print in our hands. God is so good to give us His precious Word and what better thing could one do than to give a reliable copy to a people in their own language. Croatia has many translations but all are flawed by man's openions or interpretations. The Croatian Bible project will be a mirror image of the King James Bible, when language allows, and the KJB is the final authority for the project. Please pray for the Croatian Bible Project, the devil is working overtime to derail it and everyday is a spiritual battle.

Anyhow, here are some random pictures of the container and the men unloading it. I love watching men work! *Ü*

Our oldest boy Cody checking out the cargo


Bro. Rajko (Rich to his friends and family in Christ) is the pastor of the church in Čakovec and he is doing a wonderful job. He loves the Lord is is a true testimony of how a man can take on the spirit of Christ.
Bro. Alan 1 and Bro. Alan 2, really that's what everyone calls them. Bro. Alan in the red is a faithful soul-winner and he loves the Lord. Bro. Alan 2 is a new Christian and he is trying to do right and get things prioritized. Please pray for Alan 2 and his family, his wife isn't saved. Almost empty!
This is Joshua, our 13 year old. Does he look tired or what?? It was absolutely freezing outside, about 29 when they inloaded, see the red ears.

Oh yea, guess what else came in that container that we were totally excited about; new church chairs!!! YEA!!! Our home church, Trinity Baptist Church have us $1700 to buy new chairs for our church. These chairs are to die for, I'm not kidding. They are the chairs that interlock to form a pew of sorts and they are super cushy! We are so excited. We have been sitting on rock hard kitchen chairs for 7 years and this is like Christmas in the best way. Here are our old chairs that we are very thankful we had and that will now go to the new church plant in Varaždin. If you remember this post you'll remember the whole ordeal with the chairs, well that's over now, praise the Lord!! These chairs are headed to Varaždin and will stay there.

What a mess, a little assembly is required.
Joshua is so enjoying our new, comfy chairs. Now we may have a problem keeping folks awake!

Cody's working hard to get 'em done. There are 50 of those boogers, so you keep on keeping on Cody!

Sunday I'll be posting an "after" picture, with our chairs all in place.

Special thanks to our pastor Dr. Bob Smith and Bro. Marvin Smith at Harvest Baptist for making it all possible. Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

Last year here in Croatia the government passed a law making Croatia a virtually closed country to missionaries. Our hearts dropped as we have waited 8 years for other missionaries to come to Croatia. We were exempt from the change in law since we have permanent residence but for any new missionaries it would be all but impossible to get into Croatia on a permanent basis. We have future partners on deputation now so this law was a major problem. They were busy raising money and we all had faith that our great God was going to change this law, with tears in my eyes I gladly report that the Croatian news channel reported that this law will be reversed this fall for sure!

God is so good! How blessed we are to serve such a gracious, loving, caring God. Praise His Name!!

The Land of Freedom???

Freedom is the great treasure millions of immigrants came to America to find. The freedom to do what is best for us and ours, the freedom from a demanding government.

Where has that freedom gone?? We are banned from carrying a Bible in the halls of our schools, praying in public is all but illegal and witnessing to a fellow worker is means for dismissal.

While the light bulb isn't religious freedom it's still a step in the wrong direction. It's absolutely ridiculous that we are being told how, when, where and if we are allowed to do what we do.

What's next??

Thanks Theresa for a heads up on this thing. Leave it to a Texas to say it like it is!