MISSIONS MARCH!

The phrase is familiar to all who have ever attended a GGWO International Conference, every year we watch our affiliated missionaries and churches from around the globe march across the flag-strewn chapel, celebrating local and foriegn missions. However, I'd like to raise the phrase to another level in order to describe these last 26 days of the year 2007, it was nothing less than a Missions March.
The fun began on Thursday, March 1st, when we recieved a visit from Miss Carolyn Peters, artist-director-actress-traveler-extraodinaire. She was at the tail end a a three month world tour that had already taken her across Africa, England, France, Germany, and Austria. She stayed one week with us in Zagreb before going to Budapest to help prep for the European Conference. On Satuday, March 3rd, we rented a car and caravanned along with a South Korean missionary pastor, to a small romy village outside Zagreb.

Pastor Chan has been doing a Bible Study in the very poor neighborhood for about one year.

The gypsy people live roughly but are very kind and hospitable to guests.

We did sketchboard, sang, P. George shared the Word, and we took lots of pictures, they love pictures.

The oldest person in the village is a 78 year old woman named Ana who has had 22 chidren! This young lad was very proud to show us the livestock. Outback, Tomas shares the Word while some Chickens cross the road.

After returning from the village we made more use of the rental car by visiting Medvedgrad, the ruins of a historic castle on the mountain side overlooking Zagreb, yielding spectacular views. We saw the evening lights of the city's 1 million people and it stirred our hearts. We sang some worship songs inside a one-dome stone chapel which seemed to have been designed for that very purpose; it felt like our voices could be heard miles and miles away, indeed they could.

(photo from the internet)

On Wednesday, March 7th, Pastor Chris Moore arrvied and taught our weekly Bible School class that night. We had 11 Croatians come out to join us, 10 men and 1 woman. Including all of us (and Camden), there were 19 1/2 people there, a great event. We continued with an after Rap at McDonalds with "four-young-Croat-men" and that night one of those young men went home and prayed in his bedroom to recieve Christ as his Savior (according to his own testimony). Pastor Chris Moore with two high school seniors: They have attended the Sunday Evening Bible Study in New Zagreb consistently for the past month since coming to see the Jesus Film. So often these people never even meet each other because they come at different times. It was so great to gather the whole group together in one place, at one time, and lift up the Word of God. We had a bible study at a Cafe the next evening also. Pastor Chris and P. Tomas met a man on the tram on thier way there and he joined us for the study. Pray for Mark. We have no contact on him but he knows where we meet. That night, Thursday, March 8th, myself and pastors George, Tomas, and Chris boarded a midnight train to Belgrade, the Captiol of Serbia.After, what P. Tomas called, "A-Serbian-Night", we arrived in Belgrade around 6:20am. Belgrade, or Biograd (white city), is approximately the same size as Budapest with 2 million people, and was also the capitol of former Yugoslavia.

The effects of the recent wars can still be seen in bullet holes across parliament bulidings or even large unrepaired blasts like the one below.

The soulwinning was interesting because we had little or no literature to give, the people were very kind and less proud religiously than what we have seen in Zagreb. Many of the conversations were rushed though because the people are on the move, they are very busy people.

Tomas in the far left witnesses to an Englishman, while Pastor George (by light post) speaks to three young men.

The others stayed the night in Belgrade and then went on to NovySad, Serbia the next day. I left on a 3pm train that same Friday back to Zagreb, arriving at 10:30pm, just in time to welcome my parents and sister who arrived by train from Budapest at 10:20pm.

We spent the day Saturday walking though the city and seeing the sights.My dad even found the same guitarist he had bought a cd from the year before, of course he got another cd.

On Sunday afternoon, March 11th, the fam rented a minivan and we took a trip to Split, a city along the beginning of Croatia's Dalmatian coast. We arrived sometime in the evening ready for a hotel but the prices were outrageous. After much searching we left the city and began looking for any hotel signs in site. By divine providence we stumbled across a humble sign which sent us meandering through small, one-way streets, left, right, left, until we heard it... the ocean! We thought we had left all the water behind us on our escape from high prices, but there it was, a small coastal villa on the waterfront with great prices and vacancy for all.

Hayley snaps a photo out front of the hotel.

Split is home to the Diocletian Palace, a masterpiece of stonework which has now been converted into the floors, cielings, and walls of an extravagent outdoor walking mall, so to speak. It takes several failed attempts to manage one's way through from one side to the other, with each turn a postcard waiting to happen. From Split we took a one hour ferry ride to Brac (brawch), the nearest island, and spent a few hours just walking around and admiring the beauty. A brochure said that the White House is built from some stones from Brac, needless to say there was a lot of admirable stonework there also. The entire trip was simply beautiful and a very enjoyable time with the family.

Camden playing on the Island, Brac.

If you have made it this far you can see how the month of March earned it’s name, at least here in Zagreb. The most important part of every march however, whether it be a military march, a wedding march, or a month of the year, is the mission behind it. The mission behind this March was the annual GGWO European Conference in Budapest, Hungary.

We did not take many pictures at the conference but we were able to bring two croatian men there with us, Boris and Max. Upon leaving, Boris said to Pastor Schaller, "The words Body-of-Chirst will never mean the same to me again. Every time I read them in my Bible from now on I'll have to stop and take a breath." The quality of life in the ministry of Christ is just that, breath-taking! The EuroCon was a tremendous edification for all us and not to mention the joy of seeing many dear friends from the States and across the map.

After the Conference, the march conitnued... on Sunday, March 18th, we traveled back to Zagreb with Susanna's sister Jen (middle) and Ann-Margaret (left).Jen catches a ray of sunshine behind one of Zagreb's chestnut trees. Jen & Ann-Margarine (as she became known), stayed with us for five days in Zagreb, it was a great time.

Others who joined the March...

Pastor Barry brough the Reagan men with him on Monday, March 19th for a day trip. The weather was poor but we had fun and lots of fellowship at the ice cream parlor, Millenium.

Ryan returned on Wednesday, March 21st, and stayed two nights with us also. The days were full of laughs and the weather cleared enough to have a great time in the city.

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Just now we recieved a visit from some American missionary evangelists who know Pastor Tomas and have visited some of our Greater Grace Ministries in Europe. One of the missionaries they brought with them was a 24 year old girl who spent 18 years in the Amazon Jungles in Venezuella, South America. Her Father is the only white man alive who speaks the tribes language and he is translating the Bible in entirety. The group was very edifying and they were great musicians as well. The group leader is Randy Dodd and he is also a Christian Fiction writer, he writes under the name Randall Arthur. All that to say, the March is still on.

We have had an incredible month, thanks for reading about the great things happening in Zagreb, Croatia. Our laptop has been in the service centar due to a power surge, the problem is not yet solved.

Please leave a comment by following the links at the bottom of the post, we'd love to hear from you...

Love never fails,

The Tanguayz