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We finally have internet access! It came earlier this week and we are now able to update this site a little more frequently and also send out updates to our faithful prayer partners. We are pretty excited about this. Rather than try to recap the last several weeks, I think I'll just fill you in on our day today since it was a typical day for us.
 Botanical Gardens on our Cell Phone camera
We had decided to attend the church of a co-worker of mine. Daniel and Kati go to a Brethren church in Zagreb, so we had asked them how to get there and what people typically wear. This morning I grabbed my man-bag (the girls love to call it a purse) which has my passport, cell phone, language note pad, Bible, wallet, camera, and keys in it and left an hour early in case we got lost on the way. We hopped onto the bus to Crnomeric and from there grabbed the number 2 tram into Zagreb. We made it in 1/2 hour. Since we had time to kill, we walked to the botanical garden which are free to enter and explored them briefly. We had not planned on the botanical gardens but as we left, we all mentioned that they were a wonderful way to start church.
The service was all in Croatian. We are getting better at Croatian, but it is still very difficult to follow anything other than greetings and simple phrases. Praise songs are great though, because we can pick up lots of phrases that are repeated over and over until we learn them. One I caught this morning was "Ti si moj kralj!" which means, "you are my king". It is an exciting moment when you can lean over to your family and say, "Hey that means you are my king." However, it is a little frustrating when they all say, "Yeah, we know". I'm getting used to that as well.
When it came time to take communion, we encountered another of those
extra decisions we have to make a lot. One cup was passed around to
everyone and it was wine. Do we give it to the girls or not? Bonnie
and had a quick discussion and made a call (I'll leave the decision up
to you if you ever have to make it) just as the cup came by.
Unexpected things keep popping up in places we don't expect them.
As the sermon started I was thinking that my time here so far feels
like surfing. I have never actually surfed, but I often feel like I am
on a little board on top of a huge wave that is constantly moving
forward. There are times of beauty when you relax and look around, and
times of intense activity as you struggle with your board, knowing that
the wave won't stop to let you get back on. Even the falling in is not
bad, but riding the board is a heck of a lot more fun than struggling
to get back on to the board.
After church we relaxed a bit, and then I drove Bonnie to an empty
parking lot so she could practice driving the stick shift and then
Bonnie drove home for the first time in Croatia. This was her first
time to drive in Croatia. The traffic here is more intense than in the
States so it took her a little while longer to choose to drive.
Thats the day and it was actually very typical for us. I am looking
forward to the time when things like going to church are more of a
routine process for us. However, I am also thankful that we are here
and acclimating to this new culture so well. It is truly a blessing in
the way God has orchestrated so many events around us to make this a
smooth transition. He is good.
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