While many people go to Croatia primarily for vacation, God is not like that - He is working on completely different things in the spiritual background. Here and there He gave us little glimpses of His plans so that we could pray, proclaim, and participate in them. This is what we want to tell you about this time.
“Upper Room” Zagreb
We wrote the last GERMAN blog entry shortly after our visit to the Slavonski Brod prayer house at the beginning of the year (Sorry, that one wasn't put out in English. Here it is, in case you like to have it translated automitcally: https://harryundluna.blogspot.com/2023/03/besuch-im-gebetshaus-slavonski-brod.html). We also briefly summarized for you the background and meaning of houses of prayer, how powerfully God works through these initiatives in our time and what opportunities everyone has to take part in them.
In Slavonski Brod the Holy Spirit gave me the impulse that I (Harry) should connect with the “Upper Room” in Zagreb. This small house of prayer initiative was started by Jerry and Zuzanna Low. As a young man, Jerry was an American hippie, then met Jesus in prison and through the “Jesus Movement”, which completely changed him forever. He soon received a burden for the Balkan countries and was later sent to Yugoslavia as a missionary. He served in a community in northern Serbia, where he met his future wife, Zuzanna. When war broke out, they were called back to the United States with their young children and remained there for 25 years, all the while drawn back to their calling in the Balkans. Finally, after raising their children and maturing spiritually themselves, the Lord opened the doors for them to move back to Zagreb in 2014. Here they started the “Upper Room” about two years later, in conjunction with the mother house in Dallas, USA, where they had previously served for many years.
Our friends in Slavonski Brod told us about Jerry and Zuzanna in 2019, so Luna attended one of the prayer times in 2020. At the time, however, the two had just returned to America, because Jerry was now having serious health problems, which were later diagnosed with the “Lou Gehrig's syndrome” (also “ALS”). In November 2021 he went home to be with the Lord, but before that, with Zuzanna's help, he was able to write a book about God's story with him: "Trapped in America." The book was published in Croatian just a month ago. It carries with it a part of God's heart for the Balkans and a powerful anointing of prayer.
Until 2022, mostly just a few people met in the Upper Room Zagreb for prayer and praise, but since then God has continued to send new people, including many young searching souls. Some of them were converted during this time and now need guidance in their life with Jesus, others receive good shepherding in other churches. Some more experienced brothers and sisters in the faith have also joined recently. God seems to be gathering and assembling the people he wants to use in this project.
While we were in Slavonski Brod for a week in February of this year to spend time in silence, prayer and praise before God and to visit our friends, we were given Jerry's book. I immediately started reading it and it didn't take long before I realized God was speaking to me: “Get in touch with the Upper Room in Zagreb. I want to plug you into that team.”
I was excited and completely calm at the same time! Excited - because this was the first time since we had moved to Croatia that God was giving me a job in such a clear way. The previous 3 years (I now realize) were a time of arrival for us and for me a time to learn the language, to humble myself and to wait on God. Not that I no longer need to learn the language, humble myself and wait on God - on the contrary, that will never stop - but now is also thetime to go and serve where he sends me.
At the same time, I had peace, and I still have it, because I realize that this is God's plan. I don't have to overwork myself, there's no contract to fulfill, I don't have to prove myself to anyone. I can step into His plan and marvel at what He does – in me and in others - through others and through me. Exciting and full of peace at the same time!
So it came that a few times in spring I went to the Upper Room Zagreb for one of the prayer and worship times to get to know the brothers and sisters there and to seek God's presence with them. In May, Luna and I met the leader, Zuzanna, and connect with her straight away. Since I was busy again as a rafting and kayaking guide from May to October, I went to Zagreb only about once a month and started to lead worship during the sets. Three times a week there is a two-hour prayer time in the evening, sometimes with live worship, sometimes with streaming in the background, also a Bible reading time on Wednesdays and on Saturday evenings fellowship, praise and sermon. Once a month the whole team goes into the city together to share God's love with people on the street and to pray for them.
Since November I have been able to go there regularly once a week and lead worship twice a month. These are always very special times when we immerse ourselves in God's presence together, allowing ourselves to be penetrated by his grace and peace and then praying into the spiritual world the things that he places on our hearts. In addition to the prayer sets, I now also meet regularly with a young, newly converted man to help him get to know Jesus better. He was baptized this summer, but things from the past and especially attacks and temptations in his thoughts still bother him almost constantly. He recently came to Karlovac on a Saturday and through encouragement and prayer he experienced a good deal of freedom. Yet he continues to struggle in everyday life. If it is on your heart, you are welcome to pray for him and that Jesus will set him completely free.
“Whoever the Son sets free, he is free indeed.” (John 8:36)
“Balkan Call” Conference
All summer long we were looking forward to the “Balkan Call” conference, which has been held in a different Balkan country every year for some time now. 12 countries from Romania to Turkey are involved, all of which have a geographical part of our Balkan peninsula, and all of which were and still are involved in a wide variety of wars and conflicts. I must say that I wasn't aware of much of this, for example that there was war in (North) Macedonia until 2001, and that there is ongoing trouble not just between Turkey and Greece, Serbia and Kosovo, Serbia and Croatia of course, Albania and Montenegro, Greece and Macedonia, and between the Roma peoples and everyone else, but also between Macedonia and Bulgaria, due to crimes and retaliation from recent and older history. For some of you in North America all of these names may be unfamiliar – take a look at Google Maps and you'll see lots of small and very small countries that have a very long and mixed history with each other. (https://maps.app.goo.gl/GwuGCwL4ygUGzdqv9)
At the Balkan Call, Christians from all of these countries meet, worship and pray together to God, the Lord of all nations, and take steps towards each other on behalf of their peoples: Each “country” comes on stage once a weekend to bless the host country. These representatives repent for past events, ask for forgiveness and speak blessings on the host nation. Representatives of that country then respond to these requests and blessings in the same spirit of brotherly love and unity. This is not about empty, external actions, but about real encounters, real dialogue and reconciliation between otherwise hostile people groups - and these acts of peace are used by God's Spirit to transform the spiritual world in the Balkans.
We were able to see this for ourselves, because this year the Balkan Call was held in a place exactly between Zagreb and Karlovac in the small town of Jastrebarsko, only 20 minutes away from us. So we didn't even have to book a hotel room, nor did most of the over 450 participants. Friday afternoon to Sunday lunchtime we experienced God's strong presence in worship, renewal of our thinking through His Word, exciting new acquaintances - but what was most impressive were the words of repentance and blessing from the various countries for Croatia and back again. A Serbian pastor who knelt in front of everyone, asked for forgiveness for the war crimes of the early 90s and later hugged his Croatian brother - this moment alone brought tears and inner healing to many Croatians present who, for example, lost relatives in the war, or had been exposed to hate speech against “the other side” for years. Prophetic words of encouragement were given, also from Croats to other countries. A young Argentine pastor, who is part of a network of several hundred South Americans who pray for the Balkans every week, prayed a strong, fresh anointing on us!
And then suddenly a German came onto the stage and spoke about how God had told him to come to this conference and to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the Germans for the crimes and misery caused by the Nazi invasion into what was then Kingdom of Yugoslavia during World War II. Johannes Blum is a history teacher at a high school near Stuttgart, as well as a pastor and prayer leader, and it was very exciting to get to know him. On Sunday afternoon, after the conference, we set off with him, with a pastor couple from Macedonia and another Croatian sister to a nearby Catholic monastery to pray. Here, under the Nazi NDH (or "Ustashe"), there was one of a few children's concentration camps in which the orphans of killed partisan parents were "cared for" and "re-educated", and in which many of them died.
Many of these side places are not at all known in Croatia; Unfortunately, there is also a strong internal resistance to publicly acknowledging and clearing up one's own guilt. The Croatian churches still have some catching up to do. But we believe that through these prayer initiatives a change of repentance, forgiveness and healing will be started. Perhaps some people are wondering what this process has to do with the spiritual world and God's working. Actually it's quite simple: Through sin, violence and bloodshed, the land is polluted and the spiritual powers of darkness are empowered. This is why there are “spiritually dark places,” which most of us have probably experienced at some point. These powers can be broken through out-spoken repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is important so that people in the visible world can be set free from the power of Satan, heal and become open for the gospel of Jesus.
To put it another way: When Billy Graham was once asked what it takes to run a successful evangelistic campaign, he replied, “First, prayer. Second: prayer. Third: Prayer.” My take of the struggles in the spiritual world is of course very fragmented, perhaps one-sided, but that doesn't change the reality of these struggles.
“If my people, upon whom my name has been proclaimed, humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their evil ways, I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins, and will heal their land.” (2 Cor Chronicles 7:14)
Zajednica Karlovac
In our last blog we wrote briefly about three “new people” - two were newly converted about a year ago and the third came to us looking for Christian fellowship. All three have been meeting with some of us regularly throughout the year for discipleship; Luna and another sister lead one of the small groups together. They also come to our meetings every Saturday. At the end of June we baptized the three of them. It is wonderful to see how much Jesus has already changed their lives, although of course everyone still has their challenges. In addition, God continually places on our hearts certain people or communities to serve or to pray for. Our favorite times are when we praise and worship together. We may think we are serving God, but it is as if God is serving us, refreshing us and refilling us with his Spirit.
Family and work
Our children are a great joy to us! Unfortunately, we are not always aware of this. Junia has completed half of grade 4, has been taking clarinet lessons at the music school this school year and would also like to go back to horseback riding school, but there are only good places for this outside of Karlovac. She paints and does crafts and would like to become a designer when she's grown up.
Amos goes to preschool, or “small school” as it is also called here, in a small private group with 9 children, twice a week in the morning. As a result, he now speaks Croatian even better, writes in beautiful letters and numbers and is slowly starting to read. Recently he had his first ever “stage" performance with various rhymes, songs and dances. Otherwise he builds and plays with Lego, Playmobil, Duplo, construction sets, toy cars and the like or the children ride their bikes, skateboards or scooters outside with neighbor children from our house church who live next door.
At the end of October we went to the island of Rab for a few days to take a vacation after Harry's rafting-kayaking season ended. There are even sandy beaches there, which is very rare in Croatia. We experienced everything from sun to rain and storms.
Every day, Luna bravely deals with the various concerns of German companies that have problems with their paycard terminals or online shops. Certain circumstances in her Croatian company, which has been bought up by an American corporation several months ago, are even more troubling to her than difficult customers. But she is part of a team of many great colleagues, everyone sticks together and that makes work fun. Last week they jointly sent an email to the management for a pay increase for everyone. So feel free to pray for favor and a positive outcome. :-)
I (Harry) worked full time from May to October this season after starting last year at 30h/week. Of course, it wasn't always easy during peak times, but God made sure that there wasn't too much work at once. We as a family also went on a kayak trip together a few times, and at the end of June we paddled down the Kupa River for 4 days as a “family vacation,” pitching our tent on the river bank in the evenings.
At the moment I'm working on some administrative tasks again and in December I also had to look after two "team building" groups, so I will remain employed again this winter part time. However, there were also some things that happened at the company that I didn't like and I am asking God about taking a different career path. You are welcome to pray for that too.
„But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.“ (Matthew 6,33)
A new car
Finally, a story about how God led us to our new car. Already on the way back from the island of Rab we noticed that the engine of our good old Renault Scenic 2001 was developing some problem. Over the next month and a half this problem got worse and louder until we were told at the shop that part of the spark plug had broken off and fallen into the engine compartment. Now it became really uncomfortable to drive anywhere outside of just Karlovac. We went car hunting and I discovered that there is more choice of used cars in Croatia than I thought. Unfortunately, they are not at all less expensive than in Germany, rather they cost a bit more, so that even imported cars from Central Europe are offered at good prices.
We were already about to decide on a VW Golf Variant that was around 10 years old, or an even younger Renault Megane, but after a conversation with a friend who worked around cars all his life, we thought again. Newer cars with more electronics are known to have more problems. On the other hand, there are also tried and tested brands and models that operate reliably well into old age. And if I could choose, I knew I would like a Toyota. But there are hardly more than a handful of used Toyotas on offer in Croatia that we would consider.
On the 3rd of Advent I was on the way back from the playground with the children when we passed a Toyota Corolla Verso, a car that I was already enthusiastic about when we still lived in Berlin. I stopped briefly and said to Junia: “Look Junia, that car I would buy!” - She just said: “Agreed!” (even though it was dark gray and not colored as she would like it). At home, I continued looking through the online ads and up came a Toyota that I hadn't considered before because of its 16 years of age. I looked at it and noticed that it was a very well maintained and cared for car and that it is located in Karlovac! I sent it to our friend and he immediately wrote back enthusiastically that it was just the right car, God's choice for us! When I took a closer look at the documents shown, I also found the owner's address and after a moment realized that I had seen the same model at exactly this address a few hours before and said: "THAT car I would buy." Indeed, it was exactly this car! To top it off, Luna later noticed on the photographed papers that this model is called “Toyota Corolla Verso LUNA”. :-D
I arranged for a short test drive on the following day, and Luna went to the bank to apply for a loan. We had already saved some money from the season, but it wasn't enough for a decent car. The Toyota meets and exceeds all of our expectations and has plenty of space, even for growing children and long journeys to other countries. We are very grateful to the Lord for his accurate guidance and advice! ;-)
Because without this confirmation I would have doubted even more whether this car was really the best choice for us. After all, there are also other robust used cars, some with fewer kilometers and sometimes a little cheaper. But we are sure that God has chosen this car for us and so, after a lot of searching and thinking, peace has returned to my head.
Now that we paid for and picked up the car, I want to add one thing: Even when God is leading everything, that doesn't mean that everything goes smoothly. In this case, the bank took over 2 weeks to approve the credit, which they didn't alert us to at the beginning. This set me up in an awkward position with the car owners, because I had already arranged for the sale. On the one hand, this was good for me, because it made for another opportunity to humble myself. On the other hand, it serves as a reminder that we will never fully understand God and his dealings, even when we are sure we are walking in his ways. It comes down to faith again: He is good, all the time - all the time, He is good!
So much of us,
We wish you a blessed new year 2024 with new insights into His love and grace, especially in the problems and difficulties in which you find yourself.
God bless you,
Harry, Luna, Junia & Amos
