Christmas 2011

As with last year, the Lord really poured out His blessings on our project again! All in all we were able to give out 40 food bags, close to 100 gifts with scarves, hats and gloves, and over 125 candy bags with scarves and hats!


For the food bags we had way more than what would fit in a basket so we got IKEA bags. If you have never seen one of these bags they are HUGE. A person can easily slip inside one! We filled it with quite a bit of groceries. Each bag had in it:
*A ham
*Milk
*Bread
*Flour
*Sugar
*Rice
*Pasta
*Tomato paste
*Jelly
*Juice
*Coffee
*Mlinci (Croatian side dish)
*Croatian Jarred salad
*Chips
*Cookies
*Soups
*All purpose seasoning jug (they use this for everything! From seasoning rice to making soup!)
*Shampoo/Body wash
*Pâté


We gave these to some families in our churches, some needy families that we knew of and then we contacted Social Services and got 11 families through them., This was a perfect outreach to them. We delivered the food one day.On another day we went back and delivered gifts for the children and gave each of them one of our new New Testaments with Psalms. We plan to continue to reach out to them in the coming weeks and months, praying they will come to the saving knowledge of Christ and His salvation! 
We have seen some very poor families. It will break your heart to walk up to a run-down, cold barn to find a family of 5 huddled inside. This is their home. I am reminded of words to a song...


A mother grieves for her starving child;
She has no shelter from the cold
Earthly provisions will ease their suffering,
But who will feed their empty souls?

Yes, we can temporarily provide some food or things, but the bottom line is they need Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less! That is the ultimate goal through all of this. It is not to boast all what we have done, not to show of what you have helped do, nor is it to show some pictures that will pull on your heart strings. It is solely to show the love of Christ to these souls, that they may KNOW Him. Thank you all who gave. Thank you all who prayed. Without your prayers and support and gifts we could not have done it!

The van was FULL!

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Round 1!

The gifts were collected by Bro. Leslie from people and churches across America. They arrived on his container and we got right to work finding the right home for them!  This was a lot of fun! We do not know every individual who gave, but the Lord knows who you are and we thank you so much for giving!!

Also on his container were scarves hand made from a multitude of ladies around the world taking part in a project called, "Wrap Croatia for Christ". These will help keep many children (and adults!) warm this winter.Thank you H.O.M.E Teams of  Rendon, Texas and everyone involved with this!

Scarves

Bro. Kevin and Noah taking inventory

The boys helping sort the boy gifts

Girl Gifts

Candy for Trnovec

There was order... for about 45 seconds!

Hats for all!

Anarchy!

                                       

It's ok, Brother. We're alive!

Our last 'Hurrah', if you will, was to pass out gifts to our van children.

waiting patiently to hear their names called

Sretan Božič!
Merry Christmas!

Again, we can not say THANK YOU enough for ALL you have done! Some gave money, some prepared gifts, some gave time, and many, many have prayed! All of you made all of this possible!

Until next year.....!!

It is that time again!

It is hard to believe that it is time to start thinking about Christmas already but it is! I hope you haven't forgotten the enormous outpouring of love from our project last year! We started this as a way to be a blessing to those in need at Christmas in our local Gypsy Villages. It far exceeded our imaginations and we would love to do it again! Of course we need your help!
This year I would love to be able to do more for more children and families. I would love to put more food on the table in more homes. I would love to show the love and compassion of Christ in a greater way to more people this year than last year.
Bro. Leslie (our ministry partner)has collected shoeboxes filled with toys for children that he will put on his container and ship next week. We have a sweet lady in Rendon, TX who saw the need and felt burdened to do something and she started "Wrap Croatia for Christ" and with a small group of dedicated women from her church and others in the area, they have made over 1300 scarves !!
Last year we proposed we would need approx. $12 to buy Christmas dinner fixings for a family. With all that you gave we were able to go above and beyond that to make entire laundry baskets filled with -not only Christmas dinner- but food staples every home needs, as well as warm blankets, toiletry items, washcloths and a few other little goodies. It was a huge blessing to be a part of this. This year we would like to collect enough money to do it again! To make a basket filled with Christmas dinner, food staples and other needed items (like those mentioned above), I am estimating the cost at approx. $30 per basket. If you want to be part of this special project in our ministry please consider donating money that will feed these families, as well as helping with any special needs they may have. Last year we had enough money to fulfill a tremendous need in one of our families, with buying brand new winter coats for all 7 children!!

Not everyone may be able to give, but everyone can pray!!

Great success!

Our Christmas in Croatia project turned out far greater than we could have dreamed! We are so thankful for the church and individuals whom the Lord used to bless this project from those who prayed to those that gave. As the Lord leads we hope to be able to carry out this project every year and be able to do even more with each passing year. Please scroll all the way to bottom and start there to see what you had a part in. And once again THANK YOU ALL so very much!

Trnovec Village

This village was a little tricky because we were meeting here in the fall outside in someones yard. Most of the kids that came we had no idea where they lived but we knew we wanted to do something for them as well. So we bought TONS of candy and nuts and made little gifts bags stuffed with that and tracts and loaded up and went out there last Sunday. Normally we would meet at 2 pm on Sunday afternoons but since winter has set in and we meet outside we had to put it off until Spring, unfortunately. We figured if we went out there at that time the kids who normally come to our meetings would see us and come running. We were trying to avoid the mobbing, which is precisely what happened! :) But it was still great and they were so grateful for what they got!
The yard we were meeting in belongs to a man named Josip. He was gracious to let us meet there for 3 months and said we are welcomed back in the Spring. We did bring his family food and gifts bags for his 4 children.

trying to maintain order

just a few of the first wave of kids

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Food Baskets

On Tuesday Dec. 21, the men loaded up the rest of the gifts and 19 food baskets to deliver to the rest of those on our list. We didn't get many pictures of this because it just didn't feel right snapping pictures of people receiving the food baskets. Every basket did have a New Testament stuffed with tracts and every home they went to they were received well and invited in. They sat with most and enjoyed some juice and got to talk with them. The seed was planted and we thank God for the open doors.
Because we had extra money we were able to provide more than just a Christmas Meal. Included in each basket was a whole chicken, a small ham, mlincia(Croatian specialty), rice, beans, flour, sugar, milk, juice, shampoo, body wash, wash cloths, toothpaste, a warm fleece blanket, crackers, pasta, cookies and soup.

Kuršanec

Bro. Dejan was saved last year and has been faithful to church ever since. His family suffered a tremendous tradegy in the loss of his 15 year old son Jasmin just 2 weeks before Christmas. He and a friend were walking home at night and a drunk driver hit them and Jasmin was killed instantly. We praise the Lord that Jasmin was saved but it was still very heartbreaking for this family. We were honored to be a special blessing to this family and brought them 2 large baskets of food and gift bags for all 7 of his children and all were in need of warm winter coats and we were able to give each one of them a new coat.

Pribislavec Village

The Lord really did a wonderful thing with a small vision and burden and made it greater than we could have ever imagined! With the amount of money we received from all of you we were able to more than expected for each child and home. The food baskets were overflowing with food--not just a Christmas meal, but staples that every home needs like sugar, flour and rice, etc.! We were able to hand out 53 gift bags to our Pribislavec Village children and others in need.

my office looked like a warehouse for a few weeks!

We  distributed our gifts at different times. Orginally we planned to deliver all of the gifts and food baskets on Christmas Eve to the homes. We did not realize that Christmas Eve here is bigger than Christmas Day, as this is the day everyone puts up their tree and decorates it complete with family and dinner. So we scatched that idea and thought we would go into the village the week before Christmas. We did not take into consideration the fact that if we drove into the village with 2 vans full of presents, we would surely be mobbed. The first phase, if you will, was for our Pribislavec Village so we decided to hand them out at church during our Christmas program with the kids. It was a wonderful time and the kids were so happy. For most this was the only thing they received.

Ya think he was a little happy?!

She was so happy she started to cry.

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