Two vans and a car sat on the shoulder of the freeway, and fifteen or so teenagers looked on as Dan and Daniel lay on the ground beneath one of the vans. Cars sped by, making a few of the leaders nervous. Climbing gear and boxes sat haphazardly in the grass on the side of the road. Unfortunately, spare tire extraction in Europe presents an entirely different scenario than it would in America. The Chinese-puzzle-like mechanism for releasing the tire from beneath the van confounded both Dan and Daniel for the better part of an hour, but in the end perseverance and brute strength saved the day. After switching the tire and loading the van once more the members of Struja headed on to Severin for a day of weeding, washing, and rock-carrying concluded by singing and s’mores around the campfire.
Ministry Focus Change
A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Perhaps the biggest “News” is that we have switched our ministry focus. When we arrived in Croatia four years ago, we came specifically to work in a camping ministry. However, in those four years more and more of our time has been spent working with the youth group at our church in Malešnica. At times, the needs of the youth group and the needs of camp would overlap and we were required to choose which ministry to do. After prayer and consultation, we made the decision to focus first on youth ministry, and second on camp ministry. So, now we work with the youth group during the school year and volunteer at camp in the summer.
Youth Group
Youth group this last year has been a joy to be a part of. I often tell others that the first year was a surprise to us as leaders and to the students. We felt something like, “Wow, this is so cool that we have a youth group.” This second year has been different in that we as a leadership team have been communicating to the students a theme of why we have the youth group: to draw nearer to God and his church and to live in such a way as to draw others into that relationship as well. The students have started asking questions like, “Okay, how do we grow in this relationship and how do we draw others in?” That is an awesome place to be and we hope that this fall we can begin teaching and encouraging the students how to live out the answers to those questions.
Home School
We held our annual home school end-of-the-year barbecue on May 30. Twenty five of us - four missionary families with eight fifth to ninth grade students and five “parent-teachers,” along with the rest of the family members enjoyed a fun evening of activities. There was plenty of good food followed by presentations in science, U.S. history, and world view. Two of the students, including Lydia, shared their musical talent with us. It was a great way to celebrate another good year of home schooling and friendship.
Visiting
Bonnie’s mom, Laura, came for a three week visit around Easter. We had a fabulous time reconnecting and hanging out. Laura experienced life with the Nelsons as we went through our normal routines and she watched the girls at their fencing and archery clubs. We managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Salzburg before Easter and caught a Sound of Music tour. Bonnie especially enjoyed spending four days in Dubrovnik with Laura having a great mother-daughter time. Laura even got a taste of camp and Struja when our youth group had a work day at Severin and she and Bonnie cooked lunch.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 2:52PM | 
Bojan, Matej, Petar, Mario, Elizabeta, Mateja and Dajmian are just a few of the new campers I met at Severin last week during “Super Stijena,” the camp for seven to ten year olds. Although the weather was cold and rainy and the stomach bug hit toward the end of the camp, we had a great week learning about Jesus. Each day, we sang lots of songs in Croatian and English. Each evening, Mijo, one of the Croatian leaders, played the part of Simon Peter. The kids were enthralled by his story and then listened well as Kate explained what it means and how we can follow Jesus too.
In addition to the morning and evening program, the campers participated in Bible studies, crafts, archery, baseball, rock climbing, tetherball, ping pong and dance praise. Along with leading the dance praise, I was in charge of the daily English and craft times and often got to sing along with different kids at meal and free times with songs like Great Big God and It’s Bubbling in My Soul. I was in the orange room this year, along with two other leaders and four wonderful girls – all from Split. I got lots of hugs and smiles and they even made my bed each morning!
