New beginnings Croatia

How top put 6 weeks down in one blog? By being short on details and focus on the cool stuff and not being chronological. (sorry for my detailed readers)

Camps

We arrived in Croatia and was directly taken to the Camp Focus grounds. It is in the mountains with forest all rounds and is very beautiful. We spent the first few days preparing for the first camp doing odd jobs and whatever is needed around the base. Most of the time in between camps was spent with odd jobs. Some debarking trees and cutting grass and finishing buildings and beds ect round the base and the girls with cleaning and washing and helping us out where hands are needed. We helped with 3 week long camps in the time there, the kids camp ages 0-10, the family camp and then last the teenage camp. Helping at camps were just helping in the kitchen, bathrooms and playing with the kids and some odd jobs around.

Montenegro

In the week between the children and family camp we also went along with the church in Split that runs camp focus to Montenegro. Before we went we spent 2 days in Split and had the opportunity to walk around in the old city and eat ice cream and meet up with PJ and Mione, but more about them later. In Montenegro we helped out with a church there, painting the church on the outside and doing some street evangelism. It was an interesting 4 days, the people in Montenegro is very different than their neighbours.

Croatia

As a organisation we have had long standing relations with the church in Split and even longer with some of the people there. And it was so good to serve with people that knows Global for a long time and have been to South Africa a few times, it helps relations along and they gave us the room to sort out some of our problems. All in all it was such a blessed time for us as a team and for me personally. The Croatian people is very funny with a sharp sense of humour that really got me and their way of doing things was so good. I don't have words to describe what I feel about our time there, but I will try in the personal section.

PJ visit

So after 10 days in Croatia we met up with PJ and Mione in Split and they joined the team for an “official” visit and check up from GCEX. They joined the team for the Montenegro visit and the family camp the next week. One part of me was scared since I knew things were not as it should be and one part was excited since I saw that it was an opportunity to set things strait. The impact was great and so good for us as a team. They helped by checking in on everyone and helping to sort out some misunderstandings and in general challenging all of us as individuals and as a team. The result was that we had quite a turn around as a team, all the niggles and things that I knew was wrong was addressed and not by me that helped. Having a outside voice and second opinion helped a lot. Personally I was challenged a lot to and the visit was the kick up the butt I needed.

Personal

As stated in the previous blog, my mindset and spirit was not in the best of places as we left Germany. And for the first 10 days it was still difficult and dealing with a few things, but that was good so that by the time the PJ visit happened I was way more open for input. PJ's first question to me was how I feel physicality and spiritually and it was easy to answer, physicality fine but spiritually not, time in the word and prayer was really difficult and not happening. Thus I was not doing the most important thing in my role as leader and that is personal time with God. What he offered was time for myself and even if the program did not allow me to go away for a time giving over the reigns did give me the space and environment that I needed to face up to a few things. I also did get the chance to pack my backpack and go up a mountain for 2 days even if it did start to really rain early the next morning and I had to get off the mountain in the rain. It was really good for me and the time on the mountain was very much a time of repentance and release and not a time of revelation as most people have on mountain tops. My personal time took a turn and I started reading my bible again and more importantly started praying and interceding again. This meant a lot of release and a refocus of myself but also the team. After that God started releasing me in teaching, this first thing I thought was just going to be 4 hour long sessions but it turned into 7 1.5h-2h teachings and that meant even more time for me in the word and it was so good. As I sit here the next 4 topics for teaching is already revealed to me and is very exciting if daunting, but I am looking forward to it. So all in all personal time with God is working again and the journey of intimacy is being picked up again. This has spilled over into teachings for the team and a change in attitude and the way we serve. So great excitement on my part.

One interesting thing that happened in Croatia is that I had the opportunity to work with wood a lot and in different forms and really enjoyed it. So besides the beds that I could finish I made a bread box (big enough for the camp so 2 of us could fit into it) for the wood scraps and a walking stick/steel tipped quarterstaff from European Ash, I cut the tree with an axe and everything. Also worked with raw wood and had some time working with hatchets and it was fun.

F