New year, new rhythms + Exciting updates

​Hi again, friends! 2026 is already off to a quick start! 

Last month we didn’t send an update other than our December vlog. I have enjoyed making short videos of our day-to-day life to show you what our new normal looks like. I’d love to hear whether this is something you enjoy and would like to see more of. 

The last ministry update we sent in November was warmly received from many of you, and I’m happy to report that God used that response in a big way! In December our church hosted a Christmas program and distributed Operation Christmas Child boxes. Along with their gift, each child received an invitation to our “Kid’s Camp” to follow up with the Gospel presentation that was shared at the Christmas program. Our camp, The Greatest Journey, was a huge success! 

Fairview Baptist Church (KY) heard our request and decided to answer the call right away! They assembled a team of four people to come help us with the camp. We were also blessed to host a sister from our home church, Immanuel Baptist (Corbin KY). With about a month to plan for this team and the camp, God provided for every need we had. From a family at our church owning a hostel, a brother who owns a taxi service, and a seminary student willing to play music and translate, God made a way! Each day of the camp, we had about 10 kids including the babies of our volunteers. On the final day there were15! It was amazing to see each person fall into their giftings. We were able to share the Grand Narrative of the Bible with the children, worship together each day, memorize Romans 5:8 and enjoy fellowship through crafts, games, and snacks. The families and leadership at our church were encouraged by the success of our camp and are already talking about the plan for next year! We can’t wait to plan future camps like this one! Here’s a highlight video of the camp! 

​After we recovered from a week of fun and ministry, we settled back into a new rhythm following the winter holidays. The girls started at a new kindergarten and Louella began her “first grade prep program”. The girls have been rockstars at adjusting to this new schedule. It’s their first time attending separate schools and being without each other. Luckily our town is quite small, so they have made friends that they see at school, sports club, and at any given playground. While the girls are at kindergarten, Jeremiah and I are preparing to take our language exam again. Our teachers are helping to fine tune our skills, and we are practicing “in the wild”. Last week, Jeremiah led our local bible study in Croatian, and Anna is teaching the kid’s Sunday school class in Croatian. We have also been able to spend more time one-on-one with brothers and sisters in our town. 

As we spend more time with the believers here, we are getting more and more excited to see a church form here in Biograd. A big encouragement this past month came from meeting a brother and sister from Nepal. We have been praying for ways to meet other foreigners in our town (mostly workers from Asia), and it was exciting to hear their stories and consider how we can serve together moving forward. You can pray for them by name, Sagar and Reshma. Sagar was a missionary in his home country of Nepal, so we are encouraged to be able to partner with him and Reshma. 
In other news, Silas turned a year old! It was a bittersweet celebration as we are over-joyed to have him in our family, but sad that we couldn’t celebrate with family- many of whom have yet to meet him. Some dear sisters traveled from Zagreb to spend a weekend with us and celebrate him. We are so thankful for local friends who truly love and support our family. We are, however, looking forward to being in the US this summer for a couple months to see more of our family and friends. Please pray for us as we try to wrap up a few projects and some seminary work before traveling to the states, summer will be here before we know it! If you are interested in having us come share at your church, let us know! We’d love to see you in person!

With love, Anna