The End of Week 2

Dobar dan, or good day. We are now at the end of our second week here in Varazdin, Croatia. We have had an amazing second week here getting to know the local church members and the readers. I still can't believe how welcoming everyone has been and how excited they are to have Rod and I here. I also can't believe that I only have a week left before I have to return to the States, it seems like I only just got here and already I'm going to have to start saying goodbye to my readers. Fortunately I know they will be in very good hands when Morris arrives to take my place.

We started off this week on Saturday by having lunch with Joy, a woman who has been working with some of our readers for the last few weeks. Getting to visit with her and learn about her mission work in Croatia for over 20 years was really good. She really has a passion for doing God's work in Croatia. On Sunday we spent time getting to know even more of the church members at worship service where Rod gave a sermon about how Jesus called the common people and he calls all of us to follow him. I want to say thank you to Saša for translating it into Croatian for him. After church on Sunday we got a special treat. The church was going to Ravna Gora, or flat mountain, to have lunch and celebrate the end of their Alpha course. Considering I would have to drive almost 8 hours from home to even see a mountain, I thought this was great. Many of the church members actually walked up the mountain, but Rod and I chose to ride up in Mladen's car.

From Left to right. Mladen's father, Josip, Mladen	Church members resting after hiking up the mountain
Fellowship among the church members and the Alpha class.	Splomenka showing her lack of fear

On Monday we resumed our reading sessions and continued to read with our readers about Jesus and to get to know each other. Many of my readers have opened up to me and shared their lives and their beliefs with me and in turn I have been sharing myself with them. Overall, I think our reading sessions are going very well. I know I am certainly learning a lot about my readers and Croatia, and I hope they are learning about me as well. I would like to ask for prayers for some of our readers who are without work as I know that is weighing very heavily on them. In addition one of my readers, and her mother, who is reading with Rod, just lost a relative yesterday and I would like to ask for your prayers for them as well.

On Wednesday night we hosted our first party after a class on Revelations. Rod decided to do a Bunco party which if you don't know is a very simple game played with dice. he modified the rules a bit so that after every round each person had to tell something about themselves. The party was reasonably well attended with 4 of our readers and 8 church members in attendance. After the game ended, the readers and the church members enjoyed the refreshments we provided and visited with each other. Overall I thought it went pretty well and a reader I saw this morning who was there said he really enjoyed the party and was looking forward to the next one.

Rod explaining the rules	Three of our readers in a group with Mladen
A group of players watching the roll of the dice	Fellowship and refreshments after the game

Tomorrow Rod and I are going to take our first two day break and head for the coast and the city of Pula where we plan to visit the Roman arena(Colosseum) and some of the other old Roman architecture. We'll be back on Saturday night so that we can prepare for worship on Sunday morning and another week spent with our readers starting on Monday. I'm especially looking forward to next week because I know it will be the last chance I get to spend with my readers and want to make sure it's good for both them and myself.

Doviđenja (goodbye) for now