Imagine you are going to travel for 24 hours to the other side of the world to live with a family you don't know for 10 days. During that time you'll work tirelessly, have a different sleep pattern, eat different food, and constantly deal with a language barrier. Then you'll go home and wait a year till you see them again and repeat the process. How many times do you think this would have to happen before you felt like they were true friends? How long till you felt like their home was your home, where you understand the dos and don'ts? How long till you could accurately put away dishes in their cabinets and food in their pantry? How long till you could joke and tease without the fear of misunderstanding? How long till the small talk is unnecessary because there are deep and intimate issues to discuss and pray about? I can tell you, for each of these to be completely true, it was three years for us. We've now been to Croatia five times, three of which we have stayed in the Dominic's home. Each year the greeting phase shortens and the grieving at good-bye lengthens. The work there is equally as important as it is everywhere else, but for our family God has nestled the people of Brezje and Varazdin deep into our hearts. We think of them no differently than our own family. Rajan, Hana, Rahela, and Maja are as important to us as our own children. When we are with the Dominics there are moments of heart wrenching stress as we share our struggles, worries, and decisions; but there are moments to balance of unexplainable joy and laughter as we share stories from the past year and laugh about pointless things like chickens and small bags of sugar.
Many of you probably heard me say this was probably the last year for awhile for us visiting Croatia. We had reached our five year commitment. It was time for something new, someone else, etc. I suppose God got quite a kick out of me thinking I knew the future. While we are always careful to never commit for next year while we are there in Croatia, Ray and I both knew without a doubt our work is not over yet. Time will tell when God will have us return, but for now we are immensely grateful for all who have helped us in the past five years. During that time we have raised approximately $33,000.00 to pay for expenses. Donations have ranged from $10-$1000, and everything in between . We’ve baked approximately 3000 Easter cookies. And we’ve had aproximately 90 different donors. Many of you have faithfully given each year and for that we are especially thankful. Thank you just doesn’t seem like enough so we pray God will give you a sense of gratitude on our behalf and that He will bless you because of your support of us and therefore faithfulness to Him.
Sincerely,
Ray, Laura, Rachel & Jonathan
