Various things

There are various things I've wanted to blog about, but have not had the time lately. I apologize to anyone who checks our blog on a regular basis...I'm sure you've been wondering where we went. So, here's a few updates.

Interview at the Police

Today I had an interview at the police station in connection with us receiving our visa. Just a quick side note, it looks like we'll be receiving a 6 month visa right now. Please continue praying about the law being changed in order for us to stay longer than that. Anyway, this interview was not anything I had done before. After being here over 4 years we now know the routine...go to the police to apply for the visa, gather any missing documents they want, have an interview at your local police station (in your neighborhood), the next week you get a call and go down to pick up your visas. This time they called me, but for an interview that was out of order. I questioned them as to why and they assured me there was no problem and that this was very routine. So, I went downtown today for this interview and it was interesting to say the least. They asked me everything about my life. Who is my mom, my dad, my siblings? What are their jobs, education, do they have kids? Where did I go to elementary school, high school, college? What jobs have I held and for how long? In what cities? How did I decide to come to Croatia? What are the differences between what I believe and what the Catholic Church believes? Specifically! What do I do here in Croatia? Who are the leaders of our church? Do we have a Pope type figure in my faith? When did I decide I wanted to study theology and become a "priest"? Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. It was about an hour total of questions. I was expecting them to turn the lights out at any moment and bring out a hot lamp. It was unusual to say the least...yet I understand them wanting to know who is in their country. Anyhow, that was a very interesting experience today.

Getaway to the Coast

Laura and I were able to get away this weekend for one night to a region in northwestern Croatia called Istria. It's a coastal region that resembles Tuscany...rolling hills with beautiful hill top towns nestled on the top. Most of these towns are frozen in time and are drop-dead gorgeous. Anyway, the Masseys (our teammates) watched the girls for the night and we had a wonderful time.

This is Rovinj, Croatia in the background.

This is Laura in Groznjan, Croatia.

This is sunset looking from Groznjan towards the sea.

This is me at some Roman ruins in Porec, Croatia (I know...I look like Anderson Cooper there, don't I! :-))Typical looking street in Istria. This happens to be in Rovinj, Croatia. Most signs in Istria are both in Italian and Croatian.

Church Update

The church is doing well, but it's a battle right now. We are feeling like it's about to be a season of growth in leadership and in new believers coming to Jesus...yet in the midst of that there is so much battle and difficulty. We have had a few difficulties in terms of raising up of leaders lately. We have some church members who were very regular starting to really drop off in their attendance. There are other various issues going on, but at the same time there are such good things going on too. Our church is meeting in a great little basement space in the city. We are very accessible to people now and we have had many guests visit us. Some of these guests do not yet know Jesus and are being drawn by the Holy Spirit. We're thankful for that! We have a young college student who has started to come. She was converted in a coastal town (Zadar) and has now come to Zagreb for college. We are thankful she has started to connect with us. Because of the sudden growth, we are starting to look for another place we can meet that would meet our needs even more so. We're also trying to really focus on our cell groups and getting those in shape.

I guess that's about all for now. The kids are doing great. Bekah is starting to really talk. Lizzie is getting potty trained. She's well on her way. They're both doing well with the adjustment back to Croatia though it wasn't super smooth at the beginning.

More later. God bless you!