Yum! A mustard, banana, ketchup, honey, popcorn, Smartie sandwich! Dan entertained some MK’s at a “circus” at Mission Training International during some of our training this summer.

This call gave us an added sense of urgency as we seek to be in Croatia in January so that we can settle in, start informal language learning and register for the language school which starts March 1.  In this way, we will have some Croatian language skills before heading off to camp for the summer.  Arriving in May or June would mean we would not be able to attend language school until October 2007, and our family would have less time to settle into a new country and culture before the chaos of summer camps hits.  But we must be at 100% support in order to depart.

We are enjoying the peace and beautiful fall colors at the missionary house in Cambridge, MN.  We have already seen several reasons why God wanted us here instead of Croatia this fall, yet we long to be in Croatia, beginning the ministry God has called us to—building relationships, proclaiming the Gospel, nurturing disciples and developing leaders through the camping ministry at the DPB House and in the capital city, Zagreb.  Would you pray about partnering with us on a monthly basis to bring the light of Christ to Croatia?  Would you join us in praying that God would provide the remaining 28% of our monthly support so that we can depart for Croatia in January?

What an amazing God we serve!  In September, we attended the Peacemaker Ministries training and Annual Conference in Minneapolis.  The first two days I (Bonnie) sat at a table with a woman from the former Yugoslavia, in a different region than Croatia.  We started talking about Yugoslavia.  Here is what she had to say, “(The people in our region), we are proud—proud of our history and independence.  (Other people in another region), they are arrogant.  They want to be seen as ‘somebody’.  (In the Balkans) there is a culture of unforgiveness.  Forgiveness must start in the church.  It will take a long time.  Over there it is not easy to even forgive little things let alone that it might be that your brother killed my brother and my brother raped your sister.  That is not easy to forgive.”  She and her husband, who are now living in Minnesota, are taking the Peacemaker material to their former Yugoslavian church this November.