A Blessed Year

  It’s 2024 and we are entering our 10th month of life in Croatia. How is that possible?! 2023 was an incredible adventure for our family with more stories than you may be willing to read. But to summarize the whole of those stories: God is good and has blessed us abundantly. 

A “Thank you” to those of you who God has used to bless us: 

Thank you to those of you who pray for us and the people of Croatia. We say this in conversation with our colleagues often: Some places are hard to live, but easy to minister and other places are easy to live, and hard to minister. While this is entirely subjective, we feel blessed with some creature comforts like a dishwasher and clothes dryer that many of our colleagues don’t have access to. On the flip side of that, we dearly covet your prayers because the battle here is very much spiritual and none other than the Holy Spirit can soften the hearts and minds of Croatians. You will never know how encouraging it is to read comments and messages from you all that you are praying for us. 

Thank you to those of you who have poured into our lives and helped equip us for our ministry and service here in Croatia. Jeremiah was the only person who stayed in the city and could play guitar for our service on Christmas Eve. A dear brother in KY can take the credit for that! Anna has had so many conversations with hurting women, and has been able to help them see the goodness of God and the hope that He offers in the midst of brokenness…something that she learned to do from so many of you sisters. We have had countless coffees listening to fellow believers testify about the faithfulness of God, and we have been able to learn from and encourage them, just as we have done with you dear brothers and sisters back home. From leading children’s ministry, to running tech for a service, to listening compassionately, and sharing bible truths, we have so much to thank you for and praise God for the faithful men and women who have showed us what is means to serve like Christ served and love like Christ loved. 

Thank you for your kind and encouraging words. When someone said to me this past week “It takes a special person to be a m!s$i0n4ry” I promptly replied “No! It takes the Holy Spirit!”. Our family is not special, we are not any different than the people we used to sit next to in our church in the US. We have to ask the Lord for grace and mercy everyday, and sometimes I wonder why we even get to live here and do what we do. But Paul said it perfectly in his letter to the Galatians: The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20, NIV). But as Paul also wrote often, we have great affection for you and long to be with and hear from you. The Lord knows our needs and often, when one of you reaches out to us in an email or message, it’s during a time of need and your encouragement helps us to run this race with endurance. 

Thank you for your generosity! Thank you for giving to support Great Commission work. Whether you give to your SBC church, you've blessed our family directly,  you sent us handmade Christmas gifts (🥰), or you're part of one of the WMU groups who made sure my seasoning cabinet was stocked with American spices- THANK YOU! 

As we look ahead to the New Year and the hard work before us, the scripture we have in mind is Lamentations 3:22-24. 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”

May you be blessed as we have been blessed! 
With love, Anna & Jeremiah 

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