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


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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 !!!!! 🤩