The Croatian earthquake

 Dear friends,

we would like to quickly inform you about the earthquakes in Croatia that happened this week.
As you notice, we are well and okay, thanks be to God. On Monday morning around 6.30 we were suddenly woken up by a violent shaking of our bed and doors. A few minutes later, another quake happened. We first checked with our family in Zagreb to see if it happened again in their area, since they already experienced one earlier this year in March (a 5,3 followed by a 4,8). They did feel it more than we did and were unharmed, but the epicentrum this time was near the city of Petrinja in Mid Croatia, that experienced almost the full force of a 5,5 earthquake. Because it was such a shallow earthquake, it could be felt almost throughout all of Croatia ("only" 10 km underground). Getting woken up by an earthquake was a very unpleasant feeling.

Unfortunately, a day later around 12.30 pm, another, even stronger earthquake occurred, this time it was a 6,3, followed by several 4+ quakes. Our wardrobe was shaking very badly as well as our lamps, and walls. We gathered together in the hallway waiting and praying. It felt like someone had just taken our building into his hands and was shaking it back and forth like crazy. After about 20/30 seconds the first big one passed, and then another, weaker one came. So from Monday till today there have been almost 100 3+ earthquakes in Croatia, some which we also felt from a distance of over 50 kilometres away from the epicentrum. Honestly, I cannot imagine how much stronger the whole world must have shaken for people in Petrinja and surrounding areas, when we at such a distance from it here felt it so much! And experts say, the aftershocks will be going on for months until the ground will quiet down. Or, an even bigger earthquake could happen. It is unlikely but not out of the question. Quakes are unpredictable.

People have lost their homes, some their lives, others are hurt, not just physically but also mentally. There is trauma and fear present. But there is at least (financial) help coming from everywhere. The ban on trespassing the provinces has been temporarily lifted. Now people and organizations from all over Croatia are bringing in necesarry goods, campers, tents, food, anything the people need now. Many other countries are donating money. It is amazingly wonderful. Tragedy often brings people closer together. 

A miracle that we heard about the day before yesterday was the miraculous rescue of the daughter of a friend who is just about to take the first steps with Jesus. During the strong quake she was in an elevator and everyone thought it was going to fall down. It was on the 5th floor and the elevator had already dropped to the 4th. But then "someone" opened the door on the 4th floor and the girl was able to climb out without getting a scratch. Hallelujah! We are certain that such miracles have accumulated here in the last few days. God does not save us from our problems, but He walks with us through them. So we, too, have to decide to not to give in to fear, to give it into God's hands. We cannot let ourselves be intimidated by this! For 

"God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of self-discipline." (2. Tim. 1:7)

"Truly my soul finds rest in God;
my salvation comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken." (Ps. 62: 1-2)

And this is what we should all write into the palms of our hands for 2021 and the coming years.

May God increase your fearless faith and may His Holy Spirit keep you loyal to our King Jesus, whom every knee will bow down to on heaven and earth!Maranatha!!!

Update at Christmas Time

Dear English-speaking brothers and sisters,

Since October we have only written one blog update on "Testimonials from the Streets", so now we want to report a little more.

After moving

"Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain." - Psalm 127: 1

The first few weeks of October we were of course very busy with setting up our apartment: assembling furniture, emptying boxes, fixing little things, etc. God really gave us a wonderful apartment in which all of our furniture fits exactly into its place down to the centimeter/inch. We bought a sturdy, oak, second hand bunk bed for the children, for which Amos even now often thanks Jesus in his bedtime prayer. We felt very at home here even from the first week, because we were so quickly taken into our local fellowship body.

School and children

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, only fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Proverbs 1,7

Junia‘s school schedule alternates weekly between mornings starting at 7.45 a.m. and afternoons at 2.00 p.m., with five, five, four, two and three subjects each day. Her favorite subjects are English, art, general studies and music. Croatian and mathematics are probably a little too easy for her after working with Luna for a year at home so she is often bored. Junia is happy to see her friends every day, seven of whom she invited home to her birthday party. That was a very nice afternoon and helped Junia to get over the loss of her friends in Germany. But she also made new friends to play with in our fellowship. After three days of home schooling with online assignments, Junia now has three and a half weeks off - Croatia has decided to add a vacation week.

Both Junia and Amos are usually a great joy to us. He enjoys playing alone, listening to children stories or going out with one of us, when the big sister is in school. Amos rides his "Puky" balance bike a lot, while Junia has been riding her second, bigger bicycle since her birthday. (Additionally, we are all kept in shape by the 80 steps up to our apartment). She draws and paints a lot and the two of them also play together well, except of course when they argue or have difficulty obeying ;-). While this tempts us to be annoyed with them, of course, it really gives us opportunities to illustrate to them Jesus' grace and how God wants us to live. Bible verses that we read, proclaim and/or memorize together at the table also help us with that (for example we recently memorized the "house order" from Colossians 3:18-21, with movements for the children).

The "DNA" process of our fellowship

"The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." - 2 Timothy 2,2

Since September we have been going through a "DNA process" as a house fellowship, in which we consciously refresh central principles from the Bible and confirm them as the standard for all of us in order to be prepared for the time when God wants to send us a bigger harvest and we will be divided into several fellowships. The ten points of the "DNA" are not all-encompassing, but rather describe the working method that God has put on our hearts (and that we see Jesus in):

1.     The vision of a discipleship making movement
       (making new disciples who make disciples again, and so on)
2.     The Gospel
3.     Rebirth
4.     The process of discipleship
5.     Church life
6.     The role of the Holy Spirit
7.     Leadership
8.     Evangelism
9.     Multiplication
10.     Sending workers out

When we meet on Wednesday evenings, we first have someone share the gospel ("from creation to salvation") for exercise, and then one of these points or a sub-point is taught from the Bible. In our meetings on Saturday evening, the Bible text or topic is not preset, and the focus is not only on a teaching but also on testimonies and prayer requests, praise, prayer, worship and fellowship. This usually takes from 6 p.m. to around 10 p.m., but it can also take longer.

Slow growth outwardly and inwardly

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." - Matthew 28: 19-20a

We are excited to see and find out how God is guiding us as a fellowship. Outwardly, all of us have open doors for spreading the gospel here and there, and some new contacts are in the process of being born again. But that doesn't always mean that they come to our meetings, because their job, partners or other circumstances can sometimes prevent that. But that's not bad at all, because Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples, not to invite and make disciples. We take this process of discipleship very seriously. Many of us go to someone for weekly discipleship training, including fellowship, Bible study, prayer and practice. This usually starts before the baptism and continues afterwards until the person has grown up spiritually to the point where he/she makes disciples himself, or grows out of the baby milk stage, can eat solid food and keep growing themselves. Our prayer is that this will develop into a "discipleship movement" with many small communities through which God will be glorified and many people be saved.

At the same time, we are also growing inwardly. By that I mean that we in the "core group" have to learn from the Word of God and from one another, which is not always easy. Only last week there was a spiritual breakthrough for a couple who had already been in the community three years ago but then stayed away because of marital problems and a lack of willingness to learn. Now we are praying for a complete renewal of this family and, God willing, Luna and I will be used in that process through weekly meetings. This is one of many precious Christmas presents and miracles this year.

What our everyday life has looked like so far

"Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." - Colossians 3:17

Perhaps some of you are wondering: „What do you with your time every day?“ I (Harry) have asked God this question many times recently. "Lord, we're here now. What do you want us to do?" For my taste, things could develop a little faster!

Sure, I have enough to do with studying and practising Croatian. I am able now to carry a simple conversation in most places, and understand between 30% and 60% of what others say. I also was privileged to give teachings for the fellowship several times, including parts of the "DNA process". In addition, for six or seven weeks we went to the streets twice a week to pray and share the Gospel with people, which we have already reported about. Sometimes, I can help others practically, like the other day when I picked up a broken washing machine from a sister, repaired it and we later drove it to a poor family in the village who we had gotten in touch with (we as in the whole fellowship, or, in this case, another couple).

Within the fellowship we communicate with each other often. We are learning from our brothers and sisters and can also help others to grow in their discipleship. Every week Luna meets with a young woman for discipleship, usually with another sister. Once a week we "Whats-App" late in the evening with a good friend in Germany, whom we are helping to take the next steps in following Jesus. As I said, such relationships are the focus of our vision as a community. And in order to carry out this mission of making disciples, we need to spend plenty of time in prayer, so that we are connected to Jesus in such a way that the Spirit can flow freely and work as He wants, and that we can listen to God. In fact, one of the things Luna and I enjoy most right now is our morning prayer time together.

However, times of quietness are not easily found, even when we are both at home. Everyday life as a family has its demands, chores and challenges. And we must never forget that our children are the first two disciples whom the Lord has entrusted to us! They definitely learn the most from us, the good and the bad, whether we like it or not.

For our contact with people in the world, we would like to ask you to: "Pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ" (Colossians 4: 3). We have had some encouraging experiences with strangers on the street, praise the Lord! Here and there we can give testimony of God's existence, goodness and plan for salvation. At the same time we have been praying for a few weeks that God would show us people who are really hungry for the gospel. I have been praying for each of our neighbors by name, and in the week of Christmas, if God allows, we want to start knocking on their doors, inviting them for coffee and asking if we can share with them the message of Jesus. For this and for other occasions I am learning the gospel message by heart in Croatian. It‘s divided up into 12 steps, with many Bible verses in between, which I or the other person can then read out loud. Of course, Luna can talk more freely about Jesus in Croatian. Encouragement from Germany came when a friend had a prophetic picture for us of a woman from a village through whom many will hear the gospel. In any case, we are more aware than ever that we cannot do anything if God does not prepare hearts and open doors for us!

Harry learns to be patient

"But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and gentleness!" - 1 Timothy 6:11

I am very grateful that God kindly guides me through a school of patience. Just over a week ago I became really aware of my frequent, carnal impatience with God's schedule, as well as my impatience with my dear wife and children. I repented of this and I sincerely apologized to the Lord and my family; now I become more conscious of the Spirit's time schedule. When the old impatience returns, I tell it that it died on the cross with Jesus and send it away (see Romans 6:11). May God continue to give me his grace!

The truth is, God brought us here and He has the perfect time plan. Actually, we should already know this from our experience over the past few years. But no matter what our experience was or what our feelings say: This is the truth of his Word (e.g. Psalm 18:30: "As for God, his way is perfect")! That‘s what we rely on – or better yet: it is HIM who we rely on!
When He opens a door to share the gospel, we want to be ready and go through (the important thing is that we go into the harvest and not wait for the wheat to walk into the barn). When He entrusts a disciple to us, we want to serve him or her faithfully. When doors and people close again, God has other plans. If He has other assignments, then we devote ourselves to them. After his conversion, the apostle Paul spent more than 10 years in quiet service in Damascus, Arabia and Tarsus before he went to serve the church in Antioch and later planted churches on his trips (Gal. 1.17-2.1; Acts 9.30; 11.25 -26).

My impatience has really been rooted in disbelief.
When I wish that God would work more or faster through us, I secretly doubt whether he even will work through us at all.
But I do not want to serve out of my need to feel useful or busy, but rather out of the power of the Spirit, regardless of whether it seems to be about small or large things.

So I thank God that He is changing my heart in this matter!

Divine provision

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" - Matthew 6:26

God is absolutely 100% faithful and keeps his promises. He provides us with everything we need and much more at all times, even now six months after we last had a monthly salary! We do not have the freedom to tell you about individual answers to prayer at this point, since our principle remains to only ask God for the fulfillment of our financial needs, in order that only He gets all the honor. But we believe the time for these testimonies will come.

Work with your own hands

"These hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’" - Acts 20: 34-35

I have kept telling the Lord that if he shows me, I'll be happy to work in a regular job. However, I have not yet felt any leading in this regard. Luna, on the other hand, applied for some home-based jobs at the end of November and beginning of December, for example in German-speaking customer service for different Croatian employers. So far, however, she has not received any feedback.

Instead, a dream that I (Luna) have cherished for a long time is suddenly taking shape before our eyes: I have started to set up my own business as an artist and sell small canvases and greeting cards decorated with Bible verses and I love it. It is exactly what I always wanted to do! When I started just over a week ago, there was so much instant confirmation that we are really excited to see what God will do with it!
Since I was little, I've scribbled on every little piece of paper I could get my hands on and designed my own story books and comics at an early age. However, my own perfectionism and the comparison with other "much more talented" artists had discouraged and kept me from using this gift. I had a very low self esteem back then.
All this time after I gave my life to the Lord twenty years ago, I really only wanted to use my artistic gift for God, but I had no clear idea of how exactly and with which medium this could work. I felt that the time would come, but I was not ready for it yet because of my own bad attitude.
In recent years, God has led me on a path of healing and deliverance. He made me realize how unhealthy and destructive perfectionism and extreme self-criticism is, not just in art but in all areas of life. I was able to experience this liberation, for example, with regard to my self-love for my own body. I can talk about this again at a different time. In any case, my art lay idle for a long time.

Then, two years ago, I received a prophecy in the Slavonski Brod house of prayer from a brother, who didn't know me before: He said he saw me painting pictures for God's Kingdom and God was blessing it (I already wrote about it here on this blog). That was like an initial spark. During that summer I actually did paint canvases and wrote Bible verses on them while we were travelling through Croatia. We then gave these away to various brothers and sisters we met during our journey. God made me paint pictures that were far from perfect and I didn't care! And that was incredibly liberating. He led me on the path of watercolors and I fell in love with them. I started practising and learning about this medium online. The rocket actually took off just over a week ago. The little pieces of the puzzle that I was missing were the courage to start and a clear vision of what exactly I wanted to create. The following advice from another artist and the courage of a sister in faith, who started to sell her knitted baby blankets also helped me to "just do it": "You don't have to be the best artist in the world to make your art your profession. The biggest mistake you can make is not to start. So, just start and learn and develop your skills as you go!" (Kirsty Patridge, you can find her amazing channel on youtube). We all learn through our "happy little accidents" (quote from Bob Ross). This wise piece of advice can actually be followed in all areas of life, right?
And that is now my vision and mission: I want to work with watercolors and hand lettering as a medium and so design Bible verses in order to bring hope and God's living and powerful word into the lives and homes of people. This is based on my firm believe that "the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12). The word of God combined with prayer is also our only weapon against the enemy (Ephesians 6:17)! It is also medicine. Best to take it three times a day! When one of my pictures hangs in a house and is read several times a day, then I firmly believe that the power of God is at work in this house. One often reads a whole chapter without stopping to meditate about one verse for a longer time. Hence, this is also an opportunity to actually think deeper about a specific verse. I've done this before and, wow, I realize just how powerful words are, especially the living word of God. With them we can tear down or build up. I have decided to use my art to build people up so that they can align themselves with God and his mighty word in every situation. Therefore, I recommend hanging Bible verses up at a central location of your home, where they are easy to read and are looked at several times a day. And don‘t just contemplate on them in silence, but proclaim them loudly as well! You will notice a different air in your house.
So feel free now to pray for me and, by sharing my page, actively contribute to building up an "audience" for this project, so as many people as possible hear about it and are blessed with it. So far there are not many Christian artists who do exactly that and, above all, not just simply print the canvases, but paint them themselves, so that each one is unique. I realize that this is exactly what I want and should do. God is so good! He saw my longing to use this gift for Him and He let me go through a process of healing and purification so that this dream would actually come true. I am so grateful, full of joy and ready for action!

Here you can see the first works:
https://www.instagram.com/bojenade_watercolorsofhope/

Or else on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/PaintingHumbly/

International orders and deliveries are possible with German or English verses, if so desired. :-)

Luna's grandma in Zagreb

"Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits— 3 who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases." - Psalm 103: 2-3

Luna's grandma probably had a heart attack a few weeks ago, but she remained at home and dealt with it by taking her medication because she did not want to go to the hospital in this virus madness. Then, on December 14th, she had what initially looked like a stroke; she just barely managed to call for help and was taken to the hospital. All the while we as a fellowship prayed a lot for her. In the hospital, she was in the intensive care unit and could not fully use her right-sided limbs. Then came the miracle: It wasn't a real stroke, but a vertigo attack, which was triggered by a constricted vein in the neck area. On the evening of December 17th she was already released back home due to the corona situation in the hospital, and two days later she felt strong enough to take off, wash and hang up her own curtains. The swelling in her limbs was almost gone. Then on Sunday December 20th we sat around her dining table with her and Luna‘s uncle‘s family for an early Christmas dinner. It was overwhelming and astonishing how well she was and looked again! But the most wonderful thing was this: On Wednesday, December 15th, Luna was able to call her in the hospital and her grandmother started telling her all by herself that she has put all her trust in Jesus and his sacrifice on the cross, has confessed to him all her sins and is prepared for eternity. This was the answer to exactly the question Luna had been asking God in the weeks prior: "Does Grandma really believe in Jesus so that He will save her and we will see her again in eternal life?" May He glorify himself many times yet in this life through Luna's grandma. She was and is already a walking blessing for many and a miracle of God, because He has carried her through many moments of sickness and pain and she has often recovered and healed in a miraculous way incredibly quickly!
We are very grateful and happy that we saw the family again after quite a long time. It was a really nice get-together and before we left we were able to pray for grandma again.

Celebrating Christmas

"Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!" - Revelation 19: 9

Last Christmas, the return of Jesus was still quite a foggy picture way out in the future for me (Harry). The year 2020 made me personally excited for what is going to be the greatest feast in world history! When we celebrate Christmas, any other occasion, or Sunday as the day of the resurrection, then we embody this: our greatest hope - and I think our Lord is pleased with it.

Are you looking forward to his return too?

We have spent Christmas Eve as a family and then visited another family with another sister on Christmas day. Yesterday we will have our Saturday fellowship meeting as usual.

Now we've shared a lot about us - but how are you? Please, please take a moment and send us a video or a (voice) message with a selfie! If you want, let us know what God is doing in your life. We would love to hear from you! Thank you very much :-)

God bless you!
The Müllers

P.S .: If you haven't watched our Christmas-Greeting-Slide-Show yet, you can find it here.

Alternatively, there is a PDF version here.

Testimonies from the Streets

 

 

What is this video doing here?
Look for yourself from minute 9:50 on, or read the text below. ;-)

Or click on this link here since the video does not seem to work on a mobile device: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5MRoX_USWc

"Go! See, I am sending you like lambs among wolves!"
Luke 10: 3

I felt like a lamb among wolves when we made our first tentative attempts in Doberlug-Kirchhain in spring and then in summer here in Croatia to talk to people on the street about Jesus and to pray for them. I (Harry) in particular felt very uncomfortable because so far I have only limited linguistic options here.

Nevertheless, the Lord gave me two experiences in September where I could ask about illnesses/ pain in Croatian and pray in German. The back pain of a woman was immediately better and a man by the name of Josip, who only has one arm and regularly begs in front of Kaufland, was relieved of protracted foot pain. The Lord was gracious enough to give these little miracles and it encouraged us.

Relying on the guidance of the Holy Spirit

For four weeks now I have been out on the streets twice a week for about two hours. Once with our young brother Juraj and once with Juraj and Kristijan, the leaders of our house church.

The first time Juraj and I approached 50 people without anyone really being open. A little frustrated, but also with the feeling that God had something else in mind, we then stood on a square between Kaufland and the market hall. Juraj spontaneously began to proclaim Jesus as king and pray for Karlovac. I supported in German and in tongues. After about 10 minutes an African from Senegal came around the corner who wanted to sell his wooden art. We quickly found out that he had had problems in his shin for a long time, which of course was very cumbersome in his work. I prayed for him and he was healed! He called us later that day and we sat down for tea and tried to explain the gospel to him in English before he went back to Zagreb. As a Muslim, however, he was not really open to the news that Jesus was more than a prophet, namely the risen Lord. We ended up praying that Jesus would reveal himself to him.

From this experience we learned about the power of empowered prayer and proclamation in the spiritual world! We could have spoken to people for a long time without anything happening if Juraj hadn't boldly and publicly proclaimed! Things in the physical world are a result of events in the spiritual world.

A few days later we met Kristijan first for prayer and for a short, quiet listening prayer to receive impressions from the Holy Spirit. Luna was sitting with us too, and Juraj, she and I all saw, in different ways, the railway station in the city with its curved roof. It was a cold and wet day and I would have preferred to go to a shopping centre (where it is of course not easy to talk to people because of the mask requirement). Days before, Kristijan had a dream of a woman in a red coat and a child, but wasn't sure if it was the dream for that day.

So we went to the train station and spoke to a few people on the way. When we arrived there, we found no one at all. The next train wasn't coming for another 40 minutes, so we thought about coming back then. As we walked down the stairs to the street and then the underpass, we saw a woman in a red coat approaching behind us. We asked her about any illness / pain and her reaction was: "I don't need prayer for that, but my daughter does!" This encounter resulted in a half-hour conversation. The woman has four children and has been on a spiritual quest for a long time, has had spiritual experiences with God, so she sometimes reads the Bible! Her eldest daughter has mental and physical problems. Usually she hardly ever goes out in the rain and doesn't meet up with strangers like that either, but on this day she decided, against her usual habit, to go out! Since that day she has met twice with brothers and sisters and wants to get to know us further, even though she had negative experiences with Christian communities and is afraid to be drawn into a rigid religious system. But every time she meets one of us, she hears the gospel of Jesus, so He can grow faith in her heart! New birth is a process, just like a normal birth.

That day I learned something about listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit instead of just "getting started" myself!

And now for the YouTube video :-)

A week later the four of us were out. Again we had prayed before and our brother Mateo, who was visiting the city, had seen pictures of stairs, a bush and a basketball court. Kristijan saw a painted squirrel and Juraj saw Kristijan lay hands on someone in front of a McDonalds sign in prayer. I didn't get a clear impression that day.

We went to McDonalds first, but the only woman in pain we found was more afraid of us than wanting any prayer. We went on walking, praying and chatting, and after half an hour we came to the exact places Mateo had seen earlier in prayer (he had never been to Karlovac before). But nobody seemed to catch our eye, so we moved on. When we stood in front of a wall with a painted squirrel, we noticed that there was an advertising pillar with McDonalds advertising in the middle of the square! Now we began to pray and proclaim God's Kingdom over the city out loud again, especially Juraj - and he was promptly noticed by two of his old friends. They were the "Brace Zakona" (brothers of the law/awesomeness, this word has a double meaning in Croatian), YouTubers with over 450,000 followers (that's about 1/8 of all of Croatias population of 4 Million people!). They questioned us a little in front of the camera and Juraj was given the opportunity to explain the gospel. He came to sin and human forlornness, when he was interrupted by the Youtuber stating that "the main point is repentance" (like wow!) Kristijan had a good Bible verse on hand when they then asked us about Corona, explaining that Satan is still allowed to rule here on earth until a certain time when Jesus would come back to fully establish His kingdom and rule. Then he found out that one of them had back pain. After praying three times in the name of Jesus, the pain was gone. The boys were surprised and said goodbye - and we stood there with a mixture of amazement and enthusiasm. We didn't know what they would do with the video footage. They could make fun of us or cut everything up so that not much of Jesus is left. When we saw the result on YouTube the next day, I was amazed: They really took over almost the whole encounter without comment and the video already had thousands of clicks! No matter how hard we tried, we could hardly have reached a dozen people with the same message that afternoon - but when we trusted in God and went off in faith (and also with some doubts), He made sure that small seeds are multiplied in a YouTube way! Who knows when he will send us someone from the people who saw this video! Or whether he is perhaps still working in the hearts of the "brothers of the law" so that they convert, experience the grace of God and tell their followers about Jesus!

However, just because someone was relieved of pain or watched a YouTube video, their heart hasn't changed. Faith and repentance, water and Holy Spirit baptism, these are the real and eternal miracles for which we pray. I meet Josip every now and then and pray that he will read the Bible with me (Luke 15, The Prodigal Son) and that faith will grow in his heart. We also had some other conversations and prayed for these people. Most of all, we pray that the Holy Spirit will show us whom to pray for and lead us to a house of peace (Luke 10: 5-8).

Go out into the streets or into the houses?

In fact, all of the new disciples and most of the people who are currently interested did not come to us through street work, but through personal contacts at work, among friends or through online opportunities. Juraj had contacted Kristijan through the "The Last Reformation" world map. Just last week a devout South African woman was in our community for the first time and contacted us through a kind of Facebook ad from a Christian ministry. She is married to a Croat who is part of a New Age sect. Both are models and travel a lot. Amazingly, Kristijan had a dream more than two years ago in which the leader of the sect appeared without him knowing who he was at the time - he just made a note of his name from the dream! Now we pray for these trapped people and are excited to see what God will do. :-)
Luna then participated to help to free our new sister from evil spirits who held her under bondage for such a long time, for which she was very grateful. It is an incredible privilege to be trained in this way by God and our brothers and sisters here to do what Jesus did! Every time he gives a little miracle or a step forward we notice: he has already prepared everything, and as long as we bravely go the way he shows us, we can "do nothing wrong":

"We are his creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10

Dear people, the harvest out there is truly ripe and plenty! God bless you and give you the grace to take the next steps in the discipleship that you need right now!

Your Muellers from Karlovac!

Moving and beginning to serve

 Karlovac, three months after our entry to Croatia

Karlovac from the Castle "Dubovac". Orange pointer shows our building, pink pointer shows Junias school direction

                                     

Yes, where do we start ... So much has happened that we did not find the time to publish on the blog!
Maybe we should just start from the back? So, in short: we have moved! Thus, the emigration project is complete, apart from a few official matters! Wow.

We now live in:
Miroslava Krleže 29
47000 Karlovac
CROATIA / HRVATSKA

Our phone numbers (according to our age) are:
095 580 94 31 (Harry)
095 580 94 35 (Luna)

For two weeks we have been living in our pretty, small apartment with a view of the forest and castle, streets, (residential) houses and fields. In the meantime, all the furniture has been set up, boxes emptied and things sorted, a few small repairs done in the apartment and some pictures hung up. Other work is still pending, but we already feel quite at home here.
 
Fun facts: Here you have to turn on a boiler at night, otherwise you won't have warm water the next day. Why at night? Because there are two electricity rates here, one is the cheaper night rate. Often, families would do their laundry at night.
The heating in our block of flats is supplied by the municipal district heating plant. The locals prefer decentralized heating with wood, because that is probably much cheaper. Well, we'll see, in any case we can turn on the radiator as usual and then it will be warm. At the moment we hardly use it because the heating pipes themselves give off a lot of heat and we also get heat from below on the fourth (top) floor. ;-)
The days are no longer much warmer than in Germany.
In addition, we now cook with gas (from the bottle), which we have always wanted because it is faster, tastes better and one (child) doesn't get burned as quickly as with an electric stove. All very exciting, these country differences!
 
So, now I have to tell you about God's provision that shows: God provides you with exactly what you need. He has humour. And he knows us. We left our old couch and wardrobe in the old apartment. Now we were shown around here by the previous tenant and she casually said: "Oh, by the way, we would leave the couch and the wardrobe here." Folks, the closet is the closet of my (Luna's) dreams in terms of appearance and layout (Harry finds it practical too)! The (sleeping) sofa is also comfortable and our old furniture fits into the room with an accuracy of one centimetre (inch if you are from across the ocean)!
Also for the actual move from 10.29. until 10.02. God had prepared everything wonderfully. With Kristijan and Juraj, two brothers from the house church, who both could take time off, Harry had wonderful company on the long journeys and the work was done quickly, also thanks to Harry's dad and other helpers. In addition, they still had time for a nice cup of coffee with the dear house group in Doberlug-Kirchhain and an evening with Harry's sisters and Kristijan's brother (from Vogtland) in Hartenstein, (Erzgebirge=Ore Mountains). With many grateful thanks for the help of our Croatian brothers and sisters in Christ, on October 1st. in the evening everything was carried up the four floors within a good two hours!
We are so thankful to God for the many small and large details that he took care of when we didn't even know about the apartment, let alone planned to move to Croatia this year!

 The apartment in pictures:

Panorama picture of the living room

Bigger balcony/conservatory, view from the entrance of our bedroom towards the entrance of the living room

Bedroom, in the middle of designating a place for things

Hallway seen from our bedroom

Small toilet/laundry room

,

Bathroom with shower

Kitchen with dining area and a small balcony/conservatory

Hallway from the entrance

Sitting area in our living room

 

Children's room

As far as the house church is concerned, it is confirmed again and again that we should be right here and fit into the unity of the body of Christ here like a piece of a puzzle. God is good!!!
We are allowed to learn a lot here about spiritual warfare, about unity in the spirit, and we train the spiritual gifts that serve for mutual edification. We have witnessed and taken part in some wonderful deliverances and many healings. And above all, the (whole) gospel is preached! God always ensures contact with people of peace (see Luke 10: 6) who are ripe for a new birth. In addition, Harry currently goes to the streets for two hours twice a week with one or two brothers. They ask passers-by if they are sick or in pain and would accept prayer, explain the gospel and proclaim Jesus' rule over the city. Sometimes it's not easy, but actually not difficult either, even for Harry in Croatian language. ;-)
One day last week no one was really open to Jesus, until in the end the young brother Juraj, himself only six months in faith, started praying and proclaiming loudly. Shortly afterwards, an African came whose long-standing pain in his leg disappeared in the name of Jesus and to whom we were allowed to explain the gospel over coffee.
Another time in prayer they had the impression that they should go to the train station (although it was raining all day) and that they would meet a woman in a red coat. And that's the way it was! The woman is very open to Jesus and we are curious whether she will make him Lord, too. This type of street work is deliberately based on Jesus' mission commands, e.g .:
"Go and proclaim ... heal the sick ... cast out demons!"
(Matthew 10: 7-8)
 
In a discipleship training session that I (Harry) recently started doing in self-study, we had to write down all the commands from these mission commands. I tell you that through this exercise you will sharpen your eyes for the mission that we have from Jesus in relation to the many activities that we sometimes put in its place!
Here is the link for those of you who are interested in this extensive and long-proven course:
www.besent.ch (in German and English)

And if you want to read through the sending commands:
Mt 9.37-10.17; Mk 6.7-13; Luke 9: 1-6; Lk 10.1-20 and
Mt 28: 18-20; Mk 16: 15-20; Lk 24: 45-49; John 20: 21-22; Acts 1,4 + 8

A few weeks ago we had a seminar with other brothers and sisters from other connected house churches in Croatia, during which we were able to learn a lot about biblical evangelism and discipleship training. We practiced explaining the gospel to someone within about four minutes. A newly converted woman was baptized and shared her beautiful testimony of how God came into her life. Many of our siblings here have been saved and liberated from New Age and occultism;  others come from dead religious systems. It is wonderful to see God's work here and to be used by Him!

Thanks to God, our Junia is doing very well at school. Everything in terms of content is still a breeze for her, her language is developing quickly and she was able to meet some new friends, but also misses her friends in Germany a lot from time to time. The teacher is still young and personable, and, above all, empathetic towards the children, but also clear in her rules. Harry is doing well "at school", namely learning Croatian at home every morning. He practices it during visits and errands. It is going a lot better than a few weeks ago and, hopefully he can have a fluent conversation at some point next year. Amos has just discovered a new way of laughing with which he often makes us laugh. He's usually in a good mood, a funny chap and as long as his balance bike and one of the many balls are around, everything is fine (and of course mum, dad and sister). As a family, we enjoy doing a lot together and are happy that the children now have a routine and their own area again after we were travelling for three months and then there was so much to do here for two weeks. We are currently meeting the individuals from the house church to get to know them better. It is nice to be able to give time and attention to other people, to pray together and to fight together for the kingdom of God. We believers as a family in which babies, teenagers and adults are part of the faith is really a great "invention" of God. How nice that none of us has to stumble through this confusing and dark world alone. This passage from the Bible springs to my mind:

"Two are better off than one, because they are well paid for their efforts. When they fall, one helps the other up. But woe to the one who falls and there is no one to help him up. When two sleep together , they get warm. But how should a single one get warm? One is easy to overpower, but the two hold up. And one triple cord doesn't break that quickly. "
Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

Our God is a God of love and community and that is why he has planted that in us too, because we are his image. You can already see that in the Trinity; it could just as easily be God the Father by himself. But then love would not be love, just self-love. And so we are all invited to the love dance between Father, Son and Spirit and with one another. They will "know from our love for one another that we are His [Jesus] disciples" (John 13:35). Dear ones, we sincerely wish you in your church communities to grow more and more into this love and unity in God! We pray for spiritual renewal if you are in a drought, for maturity if you are still babies in the faith, and that God will cut off everything in your life that must fall away in order to obediently serve Him and be full of fire to be able to help reaping the harvest for His Kingdom through the Spirit through which Jesus rose from the dead and which now lives and works in us all! (Romans 8, 11)

We greet you from Karlovac,
Shalom,
Harry and Luna

 

Finding our apartment & Being led by the Holy Spirit

Junia drew this picture of Jesus calming the storm, using a model picture.

  

Dear brothers and sisters,

in John 10:27 Jesus says:

"My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me."

And in Romans 8:14 it says:

"All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God."

One of our deepest prayers for our life in Croatia is that we are guided by the Holy Spirit. We asked Jesus to show us a place with a lively house church so that we could look for a place to live. He showed us Karlovac and the brothers and sisters here. So we were sure that he would direct us to the right apartment as well.
Today we want to share how we found that apartment. :-)

From Monday, September 24th on we were looking for an apartment. However, Luna was sick for two days, so we only visited the first apartment on Wednesday. We quickly realized that there weren't many apartments available for rent here, because most Croatians buy their apartment or house. In addition, most of the rental apartments are furnished, which posed the question of what we should do we our dissembled furniture in the attic in Doberlug-Kirchhain!
The rents are comparatively cheap, corresponding to the low wage level here; a 3-room apartment usually costs between € 200 and € 350 a month. The heating costs can be quite enormous, however, because the city's central heating is very expensive. That is why many heat with wood, even in the city center.

We were searching for suitable apartments on the Internet, in the local newspaper, through our local friends and on Facebook. And we tried to hear which apartment God had planned for us. One of the characteristics of his leading is the peace he gives when making the right decision. In the first week, we didn't have peace about any apartment. The first apartment, for example, was well furnished, in good order and beautifully located in a village on the Mrežnica River. But the children's room was so small that the children would have to play in the living room. Also, 3 balconies seemed a bit too much for us and the location outside the city didn't fit to task for which we came here.
In other apartments, we immediately felt uncomfortable.

Then one evening we visited the smallest apartment we had seen so far on the ground floor of a small, old house in the middle of the city, near the river Kupa. It only had 2 rooms, a medium-sized kitchen and a small bathroom. Of course it was very cheap and also close to the elementary school where we wanted to send Junia. Was our Shepherd leading us to this very simple dwelling? After some time in prayer, we both had peace about it independently. We don't need exactly the right apartment to be "happy" in Jesus. And in this apartment it seemed possible to take out a few pieces of furniture so that we could put our bed in it - otherwise we parents would have had to sleep on the coach, that was there.

We called the landlady - and it turned out that she wasn't actually willing to rent the apartment because she wanted to sell it! She hadn't shown it to us either, but her daughter and son-in-law did.
What a disappointment to us. You have to remember that we were still staying at the campsite, which was nice, but not too cheap, and it would have soon been too cold at night for our summer camping equipment. Our hopes of moving directly into an apartment by September 1st did not seem to come true.

On Sunday, August 30th we were invited to lunch by Bruno and Tatjana, a middle-aged couple from our house church. Since we expected a lot of rain the next day and then colder temperatures, we packed everything up and left the camp without knowing where we would sleep in the evening. We spent some lovely hours together and then they explained that we could stay with them in their house for one night. However, they were concerned about how their two dogs would be react when they went to work early in the morning. They had only rescued the two of them from the animal shelter 3 months ago; they did not easily trust people due to terrible abuse in the past and were rather full of fear, barking loudly when someone came too close.
One dog still barks when Bruno and Tatjana are not at home and we come by their corner, but God arranged it in a way that we were able to stay with these dear friends until now. The little fury friends get used to us too, but only very slowly. As with humans, animals with traumatic experiences find it very difficult to regain trust in others. In any case, we thanked God for this provision and continued looking for our own apartment. :-)

The next day we visited a newly renovated apartment that wasn't too expensive either. However, we would have had to sleep on the coach in the living room again. We didn't have peace. On the other hand, we needed some door to open soon! Harry's certainty that the landlady of the small apartment would change her mind didn't get us anywhere either. In any case, she had not changed her mind when we called her again.
On the way back that day, Luna checked one of the Karlovac apartment Facebook groups and saw a brief message that had been posted just 3 minutes ago. Lo and behold, it was for an UNFURNISHED apartment! We were interested immediately!
We soon found out that it was a 3-room apartment with a very cheap rent, but with expensive municipal heating, on the fourth floor of an older apartment block without an elevator, not far from our favorite school. The apartment would be free as of Octobre 1st. Unfortunately, the current tenant was not home for a week, so we wouldn't see any pictures or be able to come look at it. Nevertheless, we were at peace and she assured us that she would reserve the apartment for us, and put all other requests on the waiting list. It appears that in this case, the tenant, not the owner, look for the next tenant. :-D

In the meanwhile, we looked at another apartment, but then concentrated on Junia's school registration, which worked out without any problems, praise the Lord! However, the situation was a bit uncertain and unnerving, especially since we couldn't say how long we would need the hospitality of our brother and sister here!
Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we were sent pictures and on Friday were able to go and look at the apartment - a few days earlier than expected. The Lord is so good and knows how weak our faith is. :-)

To make a long story short: the tour went really well, the apartment is in good shape, with 80 m² it is large enough for us - and only 200 kuna (~ 30 euros) more expensive than the first apartment (but double the size) about which we had peace. The rent without heating is 1200 kuna, a total of around 2200 kuna on average with electricity, heating and water, which is a little more than 300 euros! We were arranged when and how we could move in. There is even some furniture left there, and it is EXACTLY what we would otherwise have had to get: a couch and a closet. We have left our previous ones in our old apartment for dear Sabine (our friend and best neighbor in the world) to use.
We thank our good shepherd for his kindness and guidance and you for your prayers !!!

Yes, what about the guidance of the Holy Spirit? Did we hear the Shepherd's voice wrong when we thought we should rent the small apartment? Or did the Lord  want to test us whether we would be willing to live in a small apartment with only a wood stove for his sake?
We cannot say exactly. Obviously, we still need practice in listening to God's guidance. But we are strengthened in faith, because even if we become insecure, HE is still able to lead us well. He also knows how resilient our faith is and will not test us beyond our capabilities. He's so, so good to us - and to you too! :-)

And here is how Junias start into Primary school went:

Monday was her first day. It went very well, despite Corona madness. Only one parent was allowed into the classroom. But thank God the children don't have to wear masks up to the fourth grade! We are very grateful. In consultation with the children, the teacher then pulled down her mask during the first session. She has her own class for the first time, is still young and we like her. In the first month, Junia has only three classes of 40 minutes each. One week school is in the morning for her and the next week in the afternoon school, so that there are not too many children in school. In her school building there only students from grades 1 to 4, so it is quite small. It is located on a hillside on a quiet street and is surrounded by many trees, small paths and meadows as the recess area. Very quaint and beautiful. Junia was a bit scared at first and didn't want Luna to leave the room, but then she mastered everything incredibly well and was really looking forward to the next day, when it really started. The exercise books we ordered arrived on time for the start of school, even though it was said last Wednesday that they would have a delivery time of around 10 days. We see it as a calm, blessed and beautiful start to school.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship and guidance of the Spirit be with you! :-)

And our new home town is: ... :-P

Travel Day #57

Hello brothers and sisters,

Somewhat unplanned (by us, yet not by God), we extended our stay in the Slavonski Brod prayer house until Tuesday the week before last. It was better this way, as we realized later. We had some very great days with our brothers and sisters in the house of prayer with very intense prayer and good conversations. Even just using the prayer room was a very refreshing and strengthening gift, for which we are very grateful. The house of prayer has become a haven for us both spiritually and humanly.

However, when we had got a negative response over the phone about us attending the meeting in Rijeka, we were a bit puzzled because we were pretty sure that it would be our next destination. So we just went there a few days later to spend a few more days with Luna's dad and stepmother and also in order to see what God had in store for us there. We contacted the sister again, whom we actually wanted to meet on that Saturday and arranged to meet her the day after we arrived.

We went for a "kava" (coffee) in a café by the harbor. However, if we had met Valentina with all the others on Saturday, it would never have been possible to talk to her in such detail! We shared our testimonies and she shared a number of things that she had learned and experienced with God and through the principles of TLR (The Last Reformation) and DMM (Disciple Making Movement). Lately some new people in their area have turned to Jesus and through the DMM material the more mature brothers and sisters have good guidance to help the "babies" grow in faith and to pass on the good news of Jesus themselves. A very important basis for this is genuine repentance from sin and baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit. So God seems to form a house church there in Rijeka, as well as in Zagreb, Zadar, Split and other cities in Croatia. It was incredibly exciting to hear how God is moving and uses people as fishers of men. Now we knew why we should come to Rijeka later. Valentina also became very dear to us.

 

Swimming in Mrežnica river, just above one of the many little waterfalls

We have been staying here on a wonderful campsite near the town of Karlovac since last Friday. Located directly at the cleanest river in Croatia, the "Mrežnica", we feel a bit like in paradise (with camping noises in the background).

On Saturday evening at the house church meeting and on Sunday at the picnic we got to know the brothers and sisters who lived here. We experienced this typical phenomenon again: wherever you go to meet believers in the world, you immediately feel connected and at home through the love of Jesus. And it's so wonderful what God is doing here!!! For example, a young man of 20-year-old met the leader of the group earlier this year and God guided him to repentance and faith. He actually wanted to be baptized during the corona lock-down, but his family didn't allow him to meet anyone. God comforted him by baptizing him at home with the Holy Spirit including the gift of tongues! Then a month later he was baptized in water. Since then he has received weekly discipleship training from his mentor, has already shared the gospel with work colleagues and relatives, and experienced how some of his family were healed and even delivered! What a start into the new life - for him there are no theoretical principles of faith, but hearing is followed up with doing!

"Jesus said to his disciples: Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover."

Mark 16, 15-18

The brothers and sisters here have exactly the same vision as we do: plant and multiply house churches and follow Jesus' instructions (e.g. Luke 10), as shown in the Acts of the Apostles. We were able to hear a lot of ingenious testimonies on both days, of conversions, healings and expelling demons. Hallelujah, that was so encouraging! He has miraculously led almost all of the house church believers at the same time into a genuine, deep repentance from the old life, which they had never experienced in their old church. This resulted in an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and many baptisms and deliveries. God is building a network of believers right here in Croatia, so that in the name of Jesus, many fish will be caught for the kingdom of God! We are privilegded to now become a part of this network.

Even during our days of prayer in Zagreb, Harry had the impression that we should look for spiritually alive house church and make our place of living dependent on that. We both independently of each other received the clear confirmation from God independently of each other that the city in which we will live for now is ...

... * drum roll * ....

KARLOVAC !!! 🎉

The first step has been made. And just as we were about to start looking for an apartment, Luna fell ill and was unable to do anything for almost two days, both physically and mentally. We see this as an attack by the enemy. He likes to spread doubts about God's plans for us. This is easier to do if you are physically weak. While she was trying to research Croatian websites looking for apartments and schools, everything grew over her head and she just thought: Lord, how will all of this work out ??? !!!!! We're crazy! "Step out in faith" and so on - yes yes ... was it a mistake to come here? Didn't we hear you properly ten years ago ??! 🤔

But then she realized (God said to her): What did you expect, little princess? (Yes, you are and will always be my beloved princess!) That everything opens like a sesame in front of you? A moving car is easier to steer than a stationary one, my love!!! That is why I am sending you INTO the world, so that you grow TOWARDS me, become deeper and deeper rooted IN trust and faith in me and in MY power and authority over everything in life. Unfortunately, you can't learn something like that in a neat and safe life, but out there in the mud, in combat, at risk, in turbulence. I never told you it would be cotton candy. But I PROMISED to you that I would ALWAYS be with you. And what companion could be better on the way to Mount Doom than the one who conquered death and created the universe? 😳💥

God 1 Luna 0

We feel vulnerable during this season, because we are not in control. So far we have seen four apartments and will look at more. The market is not very large, as most Croatians buy their place, even if it is a small apartment in a big building. Also we will have to arrange a place in school for Junia next week, which might come with quite a bit of bureaucracy. Finally, we have yet to experience how God provides for us financially; yet, he is good and faithful.

What we already have is .. a school bag. Very important: with butterflies, pink, orange and glitter! This is the beginning. Yet even in this "trivial" little thing, God has again proven himself. We really like second-hand purchases and in this case were able to buy this Herlitz bag for just under € 30 (NP € 70). It was the only one listed that we thought Junia might like. Our thoughts were confirmed. :-) Just like with this "trivial" school bag, God is taking care of the right school, an apartment, finances, Harry's Croatian skills and, above all, that we grow into our calling.

But to learn that, we have to go out there and train our belief muscles. This is the only way to get stronger. Just as an athlete trains his body for a competition, so we have to practice faith in order to run the race to the end, as Paul writes. We may feel more vulnerable than ever before. But we should never forget that we are wearing an armor. To wear a heavy armor like that, you also need muscles. We wear the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, the shoes of readiness to preach the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit / the word of God and not to forget: unceasing prayer!

The day before yesterday Harry prayed over my head- and earache and they almost immediately disappeared. Yesterday after visiting the park we spoke to a woman and were allowed to pray for her hip. First she asked if the prayer costs anything (yes, there are such healers here who "heal" for money, but often very subtly). After we laughed and said no, Luna prayed and she said she didn't feel any pain after that! Hallelujah! Then we had a really good conversation with her about faith (it turned out that she had also lived in Canada and realizes the older she gets that there has to be a God out there). She also told us of a young man who had led a bad life and almost died when Jesus appeared to him in the hospital. Since then he has completely changed his life and has been helping many people in the neighborhood in a practical way. Wow! So Jesus does not appear only to Muslims. :-) If we hadn't spoken to her, we would never have heard these wonderful testimonies and would not have been able to experience how her pain went away. Here at the campsite, too, we've had a few opportunities to give testimony. It is absolutely amazing how God gets something bigger rolling after starting with a pebble!

May God be the strength for you to get the little pebbles rolling so that your faith muscles grow and HE is glorified !!!

By the way, our car is behaving very well. The refusal to start 3 weeks ago has not been repeated. ;-)
But you are welcome to continue praying for Amos' potty training, in addition to looking for an apartment and school. :-P

Many greetings and hugs from our "Jesus Bootcamp" !!!

Harry, Luna, Junia and Amos


PS: Unfortunately, setting up the automatic e-mail notification for new blog entries does not work in every case. Therefore, as usual, we will continue to send you the notifications by e-mail. ;-)

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I am with you!

Travel Day #47

Prayer room of "Dom Molitve" in Slavonski Brod

Hello my dears!

After a very blessed time of focused prayer in Zagreb, we spent a very nice time  with Luna's dad in Rijeka with good times of sharing and some interesting outings. We were able to enjoy a few great days on the beach, in the midst of God's wonderful creation: meeting many colorful people and watching many colorful fish while snorkeling. Junia has hardly forgotten anything about our swimming lessons (Swim To Fly App) during the long Corona break and snorkeled and swam like a dolphin.

In Zagreb we were allowed to pray for the leg of a neighbor/friend of Luna's grandmother. The next day he was excited that it was noticeably better and so we were invited to pray again for him and his wife and to share the gospel. We also got him a Bible. It's almost ironic: almost all Croats call themselves Catholics, but hardly anybody has a Bible at home, let alone has ever read in it! Well anyway, the man is not sure whether he is saved or not. Both of them need to let the gospel sink in and we will see how Jesus will continue to work in them.

We have been camping here in Slavonski Brod since Saturday at the house of prayer. We feel deeply connected with the leaders in the Spirit. We took turns with the time in the prayer room, but we also have had great times as a family. The prayer room is that kind of place where you can feel the walls are soaked in prayer. On Tuesday evening we both took part in the intercession / worship prayer. It was very beautiful and powerful. Funny enough, pigeons live right under the roof of the building! They are, after all, a biblical symbol for the Holy Spirit. :-)

We realized that we need to keep practicing going out on the streets and talking to people, and so that's what we did yesterday and this morning. We were able to pray for a man with a lot of stress and high blood pressure and got the phone number of someone else who seems open. This man knows a woman near Zagreb who has been very ill for a few months, has children and can barely make ends meet with the little money she receives. He humbly asked for prayer for her. So either we will contact the woman or ask someone nearby to pray for her face to face. We have again realized that it is important to share the gospel even when there is no need for (healing) prayer. In this area we are both unsure of how to explain everything well in Croatian. But God will give his grace and his Spirit. And your prayers will help us get better. ;-)

You know, we need practice for everything we do, whether it be (healing) prayer or passing on the gospel or the gifts of the Spirit. Only if we practice it will we get better at it, our faith will grow and we will experience that Jesus is with us in the midst of the wolves, as he promised. Because the harvest is ripe, we must "beg" God in prayer that the workers will be "driven out" (literally translated) into the field (Luke 10:2). And that's us; we have been driven out. That is our mission and our calling.
A quote that encouraged us to continue yesterday after our excursion is in Torben's book "The Call of Jesus - Finding the Person of Peace":

"So, do not be afraid! Take the first step, and you will see that Jesus is with you! Jesus' Word to you and me is, 'Go!' We should go out as lambs among wolves. He did not say, 'Stay here because there are wolves out there.' No, He said, 'Go!' Yes, there are wolves out there, and they will never disappear. They are there to put fear in you, and that is just how it is. Remember this the next time you are going to take a step and go to someone or open your mouth to speak about Jesus with people you know or do not know.
You might feel the fear is coming. You might feel like a little lamb and just want to say, 'Baa,' while your legs are shaking like a little newborn lamb trying to take its first small steps. But then remember Jesus' words, and instead of saying, 'Baa,' say, 'AMEN', knowing that Jesus ist going with you! Then, boldly take that first step in faith!
I do not know what your wolves are that are trying to stop you from obeying Jesus, but I do know that if you 'Go', you will see that Jesus is with you each time. Open your mouth and keep doing that. Tell people about Jesus, and He is with you! Jesus never promised us that it would be easy, and He has not promised us that He will remove the wolves. He has promised us that He is with us when we go and that everyone who confesses Him in front of people, He will confess in front of His Father Who is in Heaven."

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven."

Matthew 10:28-33

Some days ago we prayed for the sick mother of young man selling water melons on side of the street and today we stopped by him again. She wasn't doing any better, but we gave him encouraging evangelistic literature and our phone number. He also immediately started to look through the book with interest (we had the impulse to give him Joyce Meyer's book "Peace - Cast all your Cares upon Him", in Croatian) and he had some questions about our beliefs (whether we were Catholics or belong to a certain preacher). Then we were able to practice speaking to two new people who, however, did not need prayer and were in a hurry / no longer wanted to hear, but preferred to talk themselves. But one of these men thought it was great that we offer this to people and we were able to buy fresh raw milk from him. 😄

When leaving Rijeka, Luna had the impression that we would return and today this was actually confirmed.
A few days ago, the Spirit urged her to contact a missionary in Split who was on The Last Reformation (TLR) world map. He contacted us today and on Saturday we will get to know new brothers and sisters in Rijeka, some of whom are made up of the TLR / DMM (Disciple Making Movement) team Croatia and some of them are new believers. We're looking forward to it. So we are going back to Rijeka tomorrow. We are curious to see what God has prepared there and whether it is the place to which we should move or not.

Please pray for our good old faithful car. It has now gone for 196,000 km and is actually still going great. However, earlier during the trip to the melons the motor went off and didn't start again. After we prayed and Harry replugged the starter, it started again with no problem. On our journey the car often has to cope with relatively steep mountains, especially on the coast (it's a good thing we got a new clutch last year!) and of course with the temperatures (our air conditioning is no longer very effective when temperatures rise above 30 degrees 😂). Yes, either it will continue to drive well and without problems, or God will give us a new car. We actually like our little Renault a lot. There is a saying that fits this sitution well: A moving car is easier to steer than one standing. ;-D

In any case, we notice how good it is not to have any pressure to go back to work on Monday because the school year begins. So we can react on a very short notice to how the Spirit is directing us, which is great in our current situation. We hope to learn to listen to God's voice better. It is also really nice to take enough time for relationships with individuals in the family and (new) friendships.

The doors are still closed for New Zealand. We called Immigration last week and asked if we would get the money for the visa reimbursed, since it is not our fault not to have entered the country and whether it would be extended automatically since it expired on August 10th. The lady told us that reimbursement was not possible and also did not know whether the visas issued would be extended. Auckland is currently in lockdown again for at least the next three days, since four new corona cases have occurred from an unknown source. It doesn't sound like NZ will open its borders again anytime soon. We are curious whether this path will open up or stay closed. We actually wanted to use that time in NZ to prepare for Croatia. Yet we can also see now that God has already prepared us very well over the past six months and has clearly shown us what our calling is here. Maybe that's why the way to NZ will remain closed for the time being.

So much from us here in Slavonski Brod. May God's fire burn within you so that you can be light in the darkness every day.

Many greetings from Harry, Luna, Junia and Amos!

PS: Amos started going to the toilet all by himself yesterday and has just done his big business in the toilet of his own accord. Hallelujah !!!!! 🤩

Tu smo! We are in Croatia!

Travel Day #26

Pozdravi iz Zagreba - We say "Hi" from Zagreb, Croatia!

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It is fantastic to have arrived here in Croatia !! God is so good and so faithful !! 10 years ago he gave us the wish to serve Him in Croatia and then he prepared the time and the way, and now we are there! :-)

Two weeks ago we had a wonderful time with a dear friend in the Black Forest. We shared many wonderful moments and deep spiritual fellowship and also enjoyed the beautiful area. Then we spent another night with other dear friends near Berchtesgarden. Again, it was nice to refresh the friendship and we enjoyed the short visit. We are also thankful for the way God divided up our trip into three parts of 450-500km, so that not one trip was too long. The drive across the Alps and country borders to Zagreb was particularly blessed, considering it is the holiday season.

On a like hike along a Black Forest creek to a lake and waterfall.

While we were in Freudenstadt in the Black Forest, we read the section on the conquest of Jericho in the book of Joshua and had the impression that we should also walk around "Jericho" in a spiritual battle for Croatia for seven days after we arrived. We were much encouraged by God's promise to Joshua:

"Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1.8-9

What a wonderful promise from God to us in this exciting, yet uncertain time! God is good always!!! Yes, and we experience every day that God is with us. Above all, He guides and fills us through his Spirit with joy and confidence every day, even in challenging situations.

We will stay in this rented apartment until July 31st and then we will go first to Luna's father near the Adriatic sea in Rijeka, possibly with a stop in Karlovac. Rijeka is the impression that God gave us as the next stop, also that we should first be "witnesses in Jerusalem" (with our own family) (Acts 1.8) and then move on to the wider world.
So we were happy that Lunas family here was open to watch the film "The Beginning" from The Last Reformation with us last Sunday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zka4DUYeJ5g - everyone should watch it, who longs to see what we read in the New Testament happening today) to show them what we want to do here in Croatia. The reaction varied between positive and open to rather skeptical. We are grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel clearly and also that they wished us all the best for our project, which is really great.

Luna's grandma went through the heart surgery well and will probably be home tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers! We were also able to pray for them and are incredibly grateful that the surgery could not have gone better. Grandma's back pain also seems to be better and she is moving more agile than before, for which we are extra grateful. Please pray for peace, kindness and gentleness in the family and also for grandma to recover well.

On Sunday we were in a wonderful church in Zagreb, and it actually turned out to be in the same building as the editorial office in which Luna's dad works! We were greeted very friendly by many brothers and sisters and were offered coffee from all sides. We felt very spiritually connected, because the first love for Jesus was visible burning. The pastor's wife even offered help when she found out about our calling. A really nice experience. Maybe we will have more to do with the church in the future. It would be great to get to know these brothers and sisters more.

Today we came back from "Zagorje", the place in the country where grandpa and grandma come from. Grandma has a nice little house where there is often plenty to do, including in the small vineyard. Luna's uncle usually does much of the work by himself, but yesterday Harry was able to help him mow the lawn on the orchard slope and in the vineyard. We were happy to have been of help and to enjoy the wonderful green nature up there.
Tonight Luna's stepmother and brother were here for dinner. It was nice to be able to cook for them once instead of always being a guest. They didn't have too much time, but we laughed a lot and reconnected well.

Tomorrow is our last day of "walking around Jericho", so it will be loud !!! Luna's mom then looks after the children and visits the zoo with them so that we can have a longer time of prayer and singing. We pray that "Jericho's walls will fall!", As it is written in an English song:

Lift high the banners of love, Hallelujah!

Sound the trumpets of war!

Christ has gotten us the victory, Hallelujah!

Jericho must fall!

The body of Christ is an army

Fighting power unseen,

Bringing the captives to freedom

In the Name of Jesus, our King.

Brothers, are you sure of your calling?

Will you fight for Jesus the King?

Are you prepared in this battle

To lay down your lives for your friends?

We must stand in unity,

By the Spirit made strong;

Stand with Jesus our Captain,

And fight till God's kingdom has come.

Preach the Saviour crucified,

Dead and risen again.

Come against the powers of darkness

In His glorious Name.

In the name of God the Father,

In the name of Jesus his Son,

And in the name of the Spirit,

We will fight till we are called home.

That's all from us for today!

May the Love, Blessing and Shalom of Christ keep you and guide you every day!

P.S. We were ask to provide our bank account somewhere. If you are reading on a cell phone, you'd have to go to the very bottom and click on "Web Version", and then it will show you again at the very bottom.

Please use it only if God puts it on your heart. Thank you!