Zagrab, Croatia

This past weekend a small group of us went to Zagrab, Croatia for a short missions trip to visit the Kunslanova church. We were met by a man named Mislav who was the associate minister for the church. He took great care of our group of eight. We were housed in an apartment above the church building. The first day we woke up bright and early to do some street evangelism. Someone had donated a bunch of bound copies of the gospel of John and also of the whole New Testament, so our team stuffed our backpacks full and headed out! We also had these awesome youth newspapers called "The Good News," (in Croatian of course) that had articles about issues young people deal with. Several testimonies were featured including stories of how God came into their lives in those tough situations. It was neat. So, we walked up and down a street near the university and handed them out. Then we parked in front of the high schools and waited until they were let out for their morning break (for most, it was a smoke break). The people were generally glad to take one. Ohers, we found in the nearest trash can. However, if it got into the hands of one person who took something from it, then that day was all worht it. We even saw some reading them on park benches. That was very encouraging. I noticed that the high school kids got really excited that we were from America! They bombarded us trying to impress us with their English. I invited them to the church later to hang out, but they never showed.
That night we were invited to the minister's house where his wife cooked us a huge meal! Stuffed red peppers and some sort of delicious meat! She was very sweet so we sat around the table and sang songs to her for about two hours. We may have gotten carried away, but she really enjoyed it.
The next morning we put on a VBS for the young kids at the church. We played some games and sang some songs. Then we had them do a craft and then let them tell us the story of the birth of Jesus. They were precious! Later that evening, we had a little gathering with some of the teenagers of the church. We discussed their hobbies and what they thought about Americans. We also discussed how it was to be a Christian in Croatia. They seemed to be facing the same struggles as I did as a high school student. I think we were an encouragement to them.
The next morning we went to church at Kunslanova. We led some songs in English and even made up a power point for them to follow along. Then at the end, they had us stand and they prayed over us. Since we were standing up there, they asked us to sing them one last song. They said we sounded like professionals. haha! I had a really great experience and learned a lot from this precious church. The members were very strong in their faith, and worked really hard to be a light to their community. It was an encouragment to me to be around Christian love. They really embraced us and loved on us the whole weekend. I hope to go back soon!