On the second day after your visit we traveled into a real adventure. God showed us and His hand wasn’t short. After we got the information from Serbia railways that they cannot give us free rides or discounts, we were about to cancel our sea camp.
We talked with Danijel and we thought the same, if we don’t have money we can’t go, because all the money the kids gave was not enough to pay for the tickets and there were also problems about how we would eat. We decided that Danijela and I would give the money we received from you for expenses during the mission trip ($200) and brother Danijel decided that he would give the part from him ($100) so we could go and have a nice time with the kids on the sea. It was real pleasure to see them how they celebrate the Lord in the train. Even though we traveled 18 hours, it wasn’t hard for them because they were expecting with happiness when they will see the sea. Their first reactions were screams and a lot of happiness! After we got there and set everything up, and when we went on the beach, Danijel – son of Nesa said, “Aunt, somebody put a lot of salt in here!”
The theme of the camp was: “My Choice” and the purpose of the camp was that we teach the kids to build a good relationship with Him, and spend some time in fellowship with God. Every morning they wrote to Him, what they thought, felt or were afraid of. The teachers did the same, and in night we had lessons, mission stories, and a lot of different games. Some things we did on the beach and some in a church where we were meeting.
A lot of people met us and thought that those were all our kids, that we are a big family. They asked how those do we get the kids to listen to us so well. Other kids played with us on the beach, and parents also watched everything that we did. That made a big impression on them, and also on other people around. With that, we had the opportunity to show our faith in God!
In the evening we played and sang with the kids on the promenade, and it was an interesting experience. Some people were looking for the tin to put money in. One women asked in which restaurant we were playing so they could come and listen to us. That was a real adventure!!!
We traveled back 19 hours with the kids, but it was worth it!
On August 14, we came back to Arandjelovac, in the evening, and on August 16 we went early in the morning to our second camp, “Betel,” and we brought 23 children with us. We were also the organizers of that camp. There were kids from Arandjelovac, Mladenovac, Belgrade, Kikinda and Kac, 33 kids total and six teachers.
Twenty of the kids were at camp for the first time. We talked with their parents and I was encouraged that they had so much trust in us so they let their children come with us to camp. One women from Mladenovac told us that she would let her kids go with us to the other side of the world.
Before we went to sea camp, I visited the people in Mladenovac and they were thankful for you, your visit, and your prayers for them. After the camps we thought we could take a few free days for us to rest but it was a short rest, because the second day after we came back we had a busy day, filled with a lot of obligations. Now we are in Arandjelovac and we a have problem with the club room which we rent for youth and kids work. The six months that we payed for has expired and now we have to pay the next six months. For that we need 50 euros per month and 10 euros per month for electricity.
Our plans for next month are to help Danijel rebuild his house. The house of Danijela and Nesa’s mother is destroyed from moisture, because after the last rain, two days ago, there was 40 cm of water in the room. We are praying that everything goes well.
We plan also to have a baptism – Sabrina, Danijel’s wife, has to be baptised, and we will organize it in Belgrade. Our group is growing slowly. We have one new member who is coming to Danijela’s house group, and who accepted Christ as his savior. We pray for Emil (the boy who accepted Christ) so that he can be a testimony to his family.
Thanks to Lord for strength!!
Prayer needs:
We pray that during this winter holiday we can fulfill our long-time dream to have a family camp where parents and kids would be together, and to have lectures for families. We see a big potential in that, and we think that in that way we can be more help for whole families to come closer to Christ. We think this would give a good result, and the plan is that there will not be many families so we can spent quality time with each family. The plan is to work with eight families, and for that many families we have a location with the capacity for accommodations, maybe for a few days or a long weekend.
We need rest, as a family and also new refreshment for new beginnings, we pray and think where we could go to take a rest for a while.
Pray for us, while we think and pray for new visions from Lord!
Also, we want to thank you for your visit. We are glad we could meet the rest of the team from America. Let God bless you all together and fill you with every blessing and happiness.
Yours in Christ, Dragan and Danijela.
