Romans 12:10

Love each other like brothers and sisters. Give each other more honour than you want for yourselves.

I have been reminded a lot about family recently, a few friends have given birth, both here in Croatia and back in England. I spent Easter with a family here in Sirač and it was great to be invited to what can only be described as a feast for their Easter meal. This family has become my family from home, partly because their eldest son (Mači) is only six months older than me and we have got on so well since we first met in 1999. Their other son (Denis) is only 5 days older than one of my brothers and their daughter (Ivana) is a few months older than my sister so there are many similarities. Add the welcome that they always give to me when they see me and you can see why I don’t miss my family so much while I’m out here.

I’ve never told my family that I love them but I do and I hope my actions show that even if my words don’t. There are times when I’m over here and I would prefer to be at home, maybe watching a sport with my brothers and dad and missing the banter that we share, I know I can get similar here with some people but it’s just not the same as being with the people who have you spent most of your life with.

We are part of a greater family of God and it’s great to know that we can encourage each other when times are tough but also be part of a great celebration when things go well. Always look out for our fellow brothers and sisters for you never know when you have to rely on them, keep encouraging them and lifting them up as Jesus did for His disciples and never forget that the church is always to be a welcoming place of refuge for the weak and the sinner.

Keep the faith, Ash

Deuteronomy 31:8

It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”

I spoke for the first time at church a couple of Sunday’s ago after only being asked on the Friday night. Thankfully I had a talk already in mind that I wanted to share. That week I had already shared a piece on personal spiritual revival with the four lads that I spoke about in my previous log. But I had an eagerness to explore it deeper and here was the opportunity to do so, if only, for a day before I was to share it before the church. For some reason the church was full this Sunday, maybe God wanted more people to hear His message than the usual amount that come on Sunday mornings.

Maybe as I only got less than two days notice before I had to speak, I didn’t get nervous until about half an hour before the service. I always believe that if I’m not nervous before speaking then something is wrong as I should always get a little nervous and then I will not rely on my own strength but on God’s strength to speak through me. So for once I was really glad when I started getting nervous but as the verse above says,  God will not leave us and I felt Him throughout my time of sharing to the whole church and it is something that I cosntantly share with the young people here.

God is always with us, through the tough times and the good times.

Keep the faith, Ash

Matthew 28:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all the nations

Each afternoon of last week I have been with four guys who unfortunately are unemployed. I have been teaching them, praying with them and chilling out with them. Not once have I heard them complain that they are unemployed and actually when they ask about their prayer needs they don’t mention their current positions of being out of work, usually their prayers are for other people, how humbling! It’s a pleasure to work with and disciple them and it’s great to see them grow in their faith.

My wish is for them is that they can start leading this group to and then start leading larger meetings at church too as well as getting jobs for themselves. This week we are starting a new youth club at the church and two of these lads will help lead it alongside me and hopefully they will take charge sooner rather than later.

Please pray for these guys and the rest of the youth here to fulfil their potential and have their different gifts used by this church within the church and the village of Sirač. Who knows how long I will be here but these guys are more likely to be around for longer so it is so important for me to pass on God’s words and promises to them.

Keep the faith, Aš

1 Peter 4:16

Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.

How hard it is to praise God when we are attacked for our faith, our natural reaction is to question why God allows it to happen. But we should praise God for it because we must be doing good work for Him For if we were not, Satan would not care and he would not target us. Take it as a compliment, for we are a threat to Satan’s work if we are being persecuted.

Here in Sirač one of our young people, Matija, became a Christian last summer while he helped at the holiday club here that is one the yearly trips for The Forge. His father goes to the Catholic church and is not happy that Matija continues to attend the church activities here, but Matija is strong in the Lord and I feel challenged to help him to continue to be.

This comes at a time when in Saudi Arabia, 35 Christians continue to be held in prison after holding a private prayer meeting  just before Christmas. We need to pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world for we have more freedom to worship the same God than they do. But also be thankful to God for the times we are persecuted and tested for we are doing what He commissioned us to do.

Keep the faith, Ash

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

This is a time when I am to be firm and courageous, as much as I have loved every time I have been in Sirač for the hoiday clubs, football tournaments and Christmas hoidays, this is now about leading the young people of Sirač Baptist church for a much longer time. This is a step of faith and one I need to further my faith and journey with God.

The Israelites wandered around for forty years and while my drive across Europe wasn’t quite as long (36 hours) it did give me long enough time to think about how God has prepared me for my time in Croatia. He has been with me throughout, from me being aware of Him as an 11 year old, through all of my injuries and through my times working with young people in Bolton/Manchester/South Cumbria and most recently, Debenham, I have learnt so much but still want to learn more. I am thirsty for more of God in my life but also in the young people of Sirač’s lives.

At whatever point you are with God, whether you don’t know Him, just starting to know Him or are in a strong relationship with Him, we all need to grow and challenge ourselves. This is my next challenge and with God, I will take it and look to impact many lives in this community and hopefully some of yours through this blog.

Keep the faith, Ash (Aš)

Last day today, sad times. We had the normal breakfast. The day was pretty similar to the last so I will skip to the best bits. The service this evening was amazing, Matt spoke wonderfully and Ana (12) became a Christian. We are so happy for her and would like to congratulate her. It was emotional for some. Later in the evening the English team went out with Maci and Elena. And considering we had had burgers for tea we were already quite full. We had the biggest pizzas ever. When I say big I mean massive. They were huge. Rachel ate about ¾ of hers – Matt finished it. Emma ate it all. Elena ate ¾ – Matt finished it. Maci ate all of his as did Becky and Ash much to Matt’s disappointment. All in all it was a pretty amazing last day. We have kept this post  short as we want to spend as much time with the people here before having to head to the airport.

Today is a brand new day, and we have a special guest  -  a Croatian helping with the blog. Today was hot (no change there). We got dressed and went to meet matt out side. Breakfast was yummy as usual although I’m beginning to miss the sweet taste of coco pops. Another day at the holiday club and we had more children, so it was even better than yesterday.  Lunch was good we had bean soup. More Uno was played and more shouts were made. Then Rachel attempted to read a bible story for children in Croatian. Lets just say it was not her best moment.  We then had tea, and went to Daruvar. Where some played volleyball and others went for the best, cheapest, ice cream ever. We asked Borja what she thought about the English coming to Croatia, & she has written this for us.

“Hi my name is Borja and I am 14. It Is my fourth time coming to the holiday club and I think it is the best one so far. I have never talked to anyone from England that much in previous years, and I didn’t tend to get involved with the church that much but this year was different. I guess it is because I am older and I am spending a lot of time with Rachel (she is awesome) and I am a bit more confident (I am also practising my English which is always good). I really like the English coming we always have fun games and interesting people to meet and learn more about being a christian. I would also like to add that Rachel has promised she will pay for me to come to England and stay with her. I wanted it in writing ”

So I guess we do make a difference coming….

So today it was even hotter. If that is actually possible. Holiday club was brilliant and we had so much fun playing with them. Ash was really good during story time he got everyone involved in drama in telling the story of Joseph. I have noticed that during our time here there is one boy who at the beginning of the week was quiet and didn’t talk to any of us English people. However as the week has passed he has come out of his shell and has been making jokes with Rachel and has been pouring water over her. He has even attempted to speak English. I think that he has really changed during this week for the better. He is also getting involved in the Bible teaching at holiday club. I really hope that we have had an impact on his week and that he will continue to be more involved in everything. We had chicken for lunch today and for the first time ever Matt didn’t eat. He skipped lunch and he also only had the starter at tea. I thought something dreadful must have happened. Turned out he was just not in the mood for meat. We have enjoyed our time here so much and am so glad we have met the people we have. We really hope they remember us visiting and hope that we have made an impact on their lives.

So it was the start of the holiday club today (Monday)…. It was so hot it felt like we were in an oven.

In reading through our blogs we’ve realised we haven’t really said why we are here. So this blog is about why and who.

We are here because we want to serve. We did not come for a holiday and a good tan (although tanning is just bonus). We have come to help people find God and teach them about him. Coming to Croatia is just a slight taster of what it’s like to be a missionary.

People here in Croatia are lovely, they always put you first even when they are sleepy and hot. Mimi is especially like that. She always wants to help you in everything you do. Mimi is an 18 year old girl who is enthusiastic and very beautiful. Maci, who is the youth leader here, is very funny and really encourages the children. He really cares about the holiday club and what is said during bible time.  Barbara and Elena are the translators. They do an excellent job. The spend an hour translating every night for Matts talk as well as the holiday club plus the little conversations we have during the day.

We just want to thank everyone here for everything they do and making our time serving here so much easier and more fun.

So today we had a rather hot start at 39 degrees. It is Sunday so we had to dress smartly for church aka be as hot and uncomfortable as possible. The service was good another brilliant talk by Matt. We then chilled and played more games (Uno). Lunch was interesting we had battered chicken with rice, Rachel and Emma were not too fond of it. More Uno was played involving 8 players however – not the easiest game I’ve played (especially when your sitting next to a cheater, not mentioning any names Ash).

The evening service was too hot to explain. After the evening service we went into Daruvar. We ate the best ice cream in the world. It was so good Rachel went up for seconds. The combinations we had were: chocolate/Mars bar, Chocolate/Banana, strawberry/vanilla, Mars bar/cherry and mars bar/banana. We then wandered over to the fountain (Rachel struggling behind). It was beautiful and you just wanted to dive in. It took a lot of will power not to. Evening was hot, Emma and Rachel were on the computer when a massive killer Hornet came into our room and tried to kill us. It was terrifying. We ran out and Rachel hid in the bathroom while Ana went running to her dad to kill it. After that exciting episode we slept.