Happy New Year (Sve najbolje u novoj godini) to all of you! Laura and I were able start out 2011 with a focused time of prayer dedicating the year and ourselves & our family to the Lord, making goals for the year with our children, and asking God for His heart for Transforma (the Zagreb church plant). That time really proved fruitful and we experienced some wonderful times with the Lord, both as individuals and as a family, by setting aside time for prayer at the beginning of the year.
Christmas party at Transforma this year was once again a successful evening for hanging out together, celebrating the birth of Jesus, and inviting friends! Roughly 40-50 people packed out the Massey's house outside of Zagreb. Some close friends of ours and their children were able to make it to the party along with roughly 15 other guests. The evening started with a FEAST of epic proportions (potluck style), singing of both traditional Christmas and contemporary worship songs, a short message, and a Christmas ornament exchange. Praise God that He continues to use these Christmas celebrations for drawing others into a relationship with Himself and His community.
In January, the men of Transforma went to see Zagreb's hockey team, the Bears (Medvescak), play in the new arena. We bought 16 tickets and invited as many friends as we could! We had a great time together despite the Bears loosing in overtime penalty shots. Next month the men are going bowling at a local bowling alley that hosts free bowling on Mondays! Wanna come?
The women of Transforma are holding monthly creative workshops and having a great time inviting and meeting new friends, as well as, making something beautiful. This has become a great tradition and our hope is that out of this a cell group will emerge.
February will prove to be a month of travel and learning for us. February 5-8th, James will be helping put on a ski/snowboard camp outside of Maribor, Slovenia for the youth of Maribor. Right now there are 55 youth signed up for the camp. In this part of that world, that's a large number! They were only expecting 30 to sign up. The vast majority of these youth do not yet know Jesus but will be presented the Gospel in both words and actions.
The next week, Laura will be taking a quick humanitarian-aid related trip to Dallas. She will be escorting a 20-year-old young lady from Kosovo who has hearing disabilities back to the States as she has just received a visa to study. Love In Action, Int'l has worked with this girl for years and we're thankful she has a visa to study at the college level in America, as well as, take advantage of speech therapy and follow-up for her cochlear implants available to her in the States. We're also thankful that Laura will be able to take Ella with her on this trip to give Laura's parents (especially her dad who doesn't travel so much these days) the chance to see the new improved 1-year-old version of Ella...as she is changing all the time!
Finally, at the end of February, James will be heading to northeast Czech Republic with our Slovenian church planting friends (Andrej & Nina) as well as 150 other church planters in Europe. There, in a small village on the Polish border, church planting expert Steve Timmis (author of "Total Church" & other wonderful books) will be speaking to this group of church planters, educating us, and sharing his experiences from years of work in Europe. We look forward to a wonderful time of learning and community.
Please be sure and look at the entry above as well for pictures related to this update!
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