Meet the Mayor

The beauty of Plitschlike Lakes near Cakovec.

The most interesting relationship formed has to be with the mayor. On Wednesday, Mike Cunningham and Bill Coley met the mayor of Cakovec, a former communist adminstrator who is now overseeing free market development in his country. They exchanged greetings from both places. As a result of their meeting on Wednesday, this man who is not a believer agreed to attend the evangelistic outreach meeting at the Pastoral Center during the second week of May.

More than a Mission

Sorting Chairs for Dusting and Cleaning

How do you earn trust with the world? You do it the way Jesus did, with a towel and sacrifice. Everyone was eager to help, even if it meant dusting dirty chairs.

From a Deaf Class to Teaching the Deaf Club

Cleaning the basement.

Julie Rice also had the chance to meet with the Deaf Club, a group of believers in Puscine that meet together for worship. With very little warning, we emailed Carol Linger and Jerry Seale, who cobbled together the materials. They used handouts from the sign language class that Julie took at FBC last fall on Wednesday evenings. They emailed the materials to Toma Magda in Cakovec, and he printed them for her class. On Wednesday, she taught American sign language to Deaf Croatian Believers. Way to Go, Team!

Relationships that Matter

Having Lunch in Rijeka.

Opening a Door to Relationships

Here's Julie Rice mixing the "mud" for the tile.

Sometimes the work of laying tile leads to a new kind of work...establishing relationships with people. Who would have thought that laying tile and cleaning out a basement could open doors to other opportunities? On Monday, that's exactly what happened. Bratko Horvatic, one of the leaders of the pastoral center, invited the team to send a delegation to one of the local elementary schools in Cakovec. Bratko, who is also a Gideon, arranged to distribute 1500 New Testaments at the school and asked for the Americans from FBC to assist him. Mike Cunningham, Kennie Riffey, and Sidney Bowman went on Tuesday morning. Out of courtesy, they met with the principal first and asked her what they had permission to say to the students. She replied, "Why don't you tell them why you are a Christian and why it is so important to you."

Mike, Kennie, and Sidney willingly shared their testimonies. The principal enjoyed their presence so much that she called three other schools to meet with them the next day. This one day in the schools gave them opportunity to share Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This morning, Brent Starling was able to go and enjoy the experience as well.

After

Scott Ballard lines up the tiles. The Croatians do not want us to use "spacers," so the expert tiler is able to space them evenly with the eye.

Clean Sweep

Craig Shell gives one room a clean sweep. Most of the dorm rooms were filled with supplies. After plenty of experience with moving materials, the crew was ready to clean out even more rooms.

Before

Tiling the Croatian way is a tedious experience. We start, restart, and start again. Bill Coley and Dianne Graybeal work on one of the dorm rooms. They are "Batman and Robin."

Your Team in Croatia

The 2006 Croatian Mission Team from FBC

Please pray for the team as we continue to minister in Cakovec.

Eating Time

Greg Reed and Mitch Reed (The Reed Twins?) enjoy a light meal together.

Everything But the Kitchen Sink

The basement group moved everything but the.... We even moved the sink. What a project.

Hi-Ho Hi-Ho, It's Off to Work we....?

Amy Pickle enjoys a ride on the dolly while Link Hudson gives her a push. We have a little fun every once in awhile. Link is also our group's "videographer." Link will be producing a documentary of the trip that you will not want to miss.

Working 9 to 5

Ok, we worked a little longer than 9-5. In this picture, you see Scott Ballard and Scott Moore rushing to learn the fine art of laying tile.

We closed the evening with a devotional led by Andy Edmondson. He discussed the importance of preparing your mind to serve the Lord.

Tomorrow promises to be an exciting day. A few of the team will accompany one of the Croatian Baptists to the local school to distribute New Testaments and speak about our work here. Others will continue painting and laying tile.

Experts

Steve Bowman demonstrates his skills

How do you become an expert in laying tile? Very carefully. The tile team divided into four pairs, each taking a room. A Croatian supervisor dropped into tell them how they were doing and "advise" them if they needed to correct something. Everyone had their moments when they needed to start over.

We broke for lunch around 12:00 noon and had supper at 6:30. Lunch was sandwiches and chips. We enjoyed a fine meal of wurst and soup for supper.

Everybody's Working for the Weekend....

L to R Mike Cunningham, Rita England, Matthew Evans, Craig Shell, Mark Palmer, Andy Edmondson, Marion Graybeal, and H. L. England compliment each other on a fine job of stacking chairs.

The name of the game in Croatia is flexibility. No one expected to be clearing out a room on the first work project on Monday morning, but we are here to serve...so that's what we did. Craig Shell led this capable group of servants.

We started bright and early at 7:30 a.m. (Some early birds began moving furniture around 7:00 a.m.) The Croatian Baptists provided 4 local craftsmen to teach us how to lay tile and to supervise us as we moved the furnishings.

Working Hard

Brent Starling, Dianne Graybeal, and Julie Rice learn how to lay tile.

The group today has been working on two projects. The first group laid tile on the third floor of the pastoral center. We are finishing dorm rooms to make them ready for guests and residents in their youth facility.

The second group moved furniture out of one room to prepare the same room for painting. They scraped walls today and will be painting tomorrow.

Working for the Weekend!

We're hard at work this morning in Croatia. Good morning to you in the States. Here are a few shots of our experiences today.

Steve Bowman lays tile. What an expert!

Working for the Weekend

We're hard at work this morning in Croatia. Good morning to you in the States. Here are a few shots of our experiences today.

Steve Bowman lays tile. What an expert!

Everybody's Working For the Weekend

We're hard at work this morning in Croatia. Good morning to you in the States. Here are a few shots of our experiences today.

Steve Bowman lays tile. What an expert!

L to R Jim Moore, Steve Bowman, Kinney Riffey, and Sydney Bowman prepare to get dirty!

In the basement, Rita England, Amy Pickle, and Link Hudson load tables. Yours truly "watches," and one of our Croatian friends is supervising. We are clearing out a room this morning so that it can be painted. A hotel recently donated used furnishings to the pastoral center, and they are storing tables, chairs, and materials in the basement. We are in the process of sorting and re-stacking so that we can paint.

L to R Mike Cunningham, Rita England, Matthew Evans, Craig Shell, Mark Palmer, Andy Edmondson, Marion Graybeal, and H. L. England compliment each other on a fine job of stacking chairs.

L to R Brent Starling, Dianne Graybeal, and Julie Rice receive instructions. We have a Croatian tile expert at the center with us this morning. He trained the crew for an hour or so, and then they went to work on the dorm rooms on the third floor. We're staying on the second floor, which gives us easy access to our rooms.

Scott Ballard (L) and Scott Moore rush to be trained in tiling. We awoke at 6:30 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. start to our day. Some "early birds" were moving furniture by 7:00 a.m. Greg Reed is our supervisor for this part of the project.

Croatia Experiences

Pitschlike Lakes

Most of the group was able to go to Pitschlike Lakes on Saturday. Bill Coley and Link Hudson pose for the camera. The lakes are in a national park in Croatia.

The Rustica

Our first trip to Rustica was Saturday evening. This is the traditional restaurant stop in Cakovec, and we enjoyed a fine meal of Pork Chops, Steak, Bratwurst, Sausage, Potatoes, and Vegetables.