1) World Cup Finals, 2nd place.
WHAT?! Yes, the day we arrived I got to experience the biggest celebration I've ever seen in my life. And it started before we ever even entered Croatia! The gps app (now affectionately called "No WAZE Jose") directed us through Bosnia instead of Zagreb, and we were stunned by the amount of celebrating we saw throughout the country of Bosnia. Hannah, your prayers were answered. (PS Mario waved at us and the girls and I made the news... ha!)
2) Good Weather
We were prepped early on that this week in Croatia would be excruciating and hot. There may have been a few moments that we felt we were "suffocating" (in the words of sweet Mihael), but the temps stayed low and the breezes were always cool. The rain held off, the clouds provided cover, the thunder only lulled us to sleep, and it was honestly one of the best 10 day stretches of weather I've ever seen. Thank you Lord for hearing our prayers!
3) Good Turnout
It's been years of visiting this beautiful town and these beautiful people. Years of building relationships, years of planning and putting on events. This year we made some changes, created a brand, started a facebook page, and the turnout was better than we imagined. The Kids Klub doubled in size, as well as our afternoon events at the Poloju. Watching Pastor Darko and his family fill with encouragement and seeing their prayers of a full church and full back yard answered was life changing. I pray it only gets better and better!
4) Endurance and Energy
We never could've put on three events daily without your prayers for endurance and energy. We woke around 6/6:30 every morning, and were not in bed till after 1am every night. (sometimes much later) Our events were high energy, very physical, and the fact we all survived this rigorous schedule was nothing but a miracle. With so little rest in between events (something we all decided we needed to be more intentional about next year), God still multiplied our efforts in every way. So thankful for your prayers for us!
5) Boldness of Faith
Dave told us halfway into the week, that he had been praying for boldness of faith. This was one of the most important prayers on this trip. Not only with all of the children we came in contact with, but the adults that we were able to connect with and share our faith with is just remarkable. From the coffee shop owners, to the older gentleman that allowed us to borrow his electricity for the Kids Klub, the neighbor who showered us with delicious gifts (homemade pickles!), the waiters from the restaurant, many of the mothers whose children played with us, the Serbian refugees, the owners of the Gelato shop, random men on the streets of the Korzo, even the man who hit Dan's car, the list goes on and on. So many people were touched because of the boldness of faith, and many of these interactions ended in prayers in public places with each of these people that opened up and shared hurts and struggles and vulnerabilities. So thankful for this answered prayer.
6) My voice
Day 3 my voice pretty much left me. Doing the singing throughout the week, and also planning a public performance on Thursday evening made this a daunting situation. Like He has done for me many times in the past, my voice miraculously returned just in time to perform some "radio music" on the Korzo that essentially drew even more people in. I had a beautiful worshipful moment that night, even singing secular lyrics. Thank you for the prayers from my team, some other missionaries we met, and even sweet Ariella who prayed hard for my voice to return.
7) The words to say
I can't tell you how many times I prayed this simple prayer throughout the week. Lord, please give me the words to say! Give me the right words to say to the children about God's love, the right words to answer their questions about heaven and hell, right and wrong, who's more responsible and who's simply not (haha Dan!). About 10 minutes before service on Sunday morning, Pastor Darko asked Dave and I if someone would be willing to share their story during the service. Before we could answer, he looked right at me and said "Shanna, I nominate you". I prayed this prayer hard and fast, but it only took moments for God to start providing the words and I quickly scribbled them down on a piece of notebook paper. What came out was short, to the point, easily read with a translator, and the feedback after left me emotional. Some came up and gave me encouraging verses in Croatian that I could take home with me, and other shared that they were encouraged as walking through similar situations in their lives. What a gift to have been given the right words to say, and to be used across the world to spread these words of hope and faith.
8) Travel mercies
Along with good weather, we really lucked out with travel. The airbnb's turned out pretty great, sight unseen, and even the hostel (though 1389723598275239847 degrees with no windows to open) allowed room for all 5 of us to take a quick nap and rest up for another day of travel. We were able to see many things, eat many things, had no issues with our planes, trains, or automobiles, and really it couldn't have been better. Sometimes finding things was a little difficult, but we always ended up for the most part on time, and safely. I've never spent so many days traveling, and it was rigorous, but could've been SO much worse.
So, for my first day back, I simply wanted to put a praise out there for so many answered prayers! God is so so so so good! Hey team, I'd love for you to add more! (for more photos see DAVE'S CROATIA ALBUMS on facebook!)
