Our Return to Croatia

When our plane landed and we walked down the steps to our shuttle, I almost expected the sky to be dark and everything around us to be grey. A lot of bad things had happened all at once: the Coronavirus was spreading; airports were closing; we had to leave family early to reschedule our flight; an earthquake shook Zagreb the day before we were to arrive.

There are many more details about the stresses and pains of those circumstances and decisions we made, but I'll just say we're here, we're healthy, and we're safe.

And when we walked out of the plane, it wasn't dark and gloomy. It was pleasant and sunny. I didn't take the sunny day as a sign that "everything was going to work out," but more like an invitation, a "welcome back." And that somehow feels more comforting to me.

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In other news, our congregation has suspended gathering for several weeks now, but the preacher (Mislav) records his sermons from home so that everyone can watch. We also have a very active messaging group for everyone in the church.

Our two weeks of mandatory self-isolation (because we traveled internationally) are over, so we can finally go outside. Our house was undamaged by the earthquake, so we're grateful that isn't a problem for us. And Croatia is also one of the countries with comparatively low Coronavirus numbers, so we're grateful for that as well.

Unfortunately, the spring family retreat has been cancelled, and our plans for summer camps depend on things outside of our control. Right now, we plan to prepare the basics of camp as normal in case we are able to proceed, even if the camps have a different look this summer. We'll know more at the end of the month.

As for ministry in the short term, we attended our first video-chat bible study on Wednesday with some teens and other youth leaders. We'll continue with video-chat meetings like this twice a week while we wait for more information/developments on the virus.

There is a lot of uncertainty, but also a lot of opportunity because of this pandemic. Please pray for us to recognize those opportunities as they grow.

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It was wonderful getting to see so many of you during our visit. We do miss you, and we really do feel the impact of your prayers. Thank you for letting us share about God's work in Croatia with you, and thank you for contributing to it yourselves. If we missed you on this trip, don't worry. We'll be coming back around next year with even more to share.