Dear YFC Croatia friends

30.01.2012

1. Advent Labyrinth

Since you got all the information about the

Advent Labyrinth in our last video-newsletter,

we’d like to share some impressions and a story

with you. If you remember, many people felt at

home in the labyrinth, lingered there and kept

returning, sometimes bringing with them their

families or friends, but sometimes they returned

on their own. Here is one of many stories…

One station of the labyrinth is the Christmas

tree, with gift boxes under the tree. The

station encourages and challenges people to

think of a gift they could give somebody this

Christmas, something from their heart and

not necessarily of great or any material value

(e.g. call somebody you haven’t talked to for

a while or write them a letter, volunteer,

bake cookies with Grandma, have more

patience, etc.). Once people decide or come

up with an idea, they can write it down on a

piece of paper and put it in the gift box

under the Labyrinth Christmas tree. Now,

there was a girl about 9 years old who visited

the labyrinth and then came back the next

day. The whole room was filled with candle

lights and smooth Christmas jazz music. But

when this girl marched in, you could see she

was on a mission. She carried a bundle under

her hand, went straight to the tree, wrote

something down and put something in one

of the gift boxes. Later we saw she had

placed a present in the box, she gave away

one of her books and a chocolate. What a

lesson in giving…and in DOING rather than

just THINKING about it…

Thank you for your encouraging comments on our Christmas video-newsletter. We really appreciate your opinion and like to find your emails in our inbox. Especially, thank you for your donations and extra gifts which enable us to serve in full-time capacity. Thank you for your dedicated giving and that many of you have stood with us for so many years. It would never be the same without you! We are grateful for your and God’s faithfulness. Here are our whereabouts since our last October 2011 Newsletter, not necessarily in chronological order.

Advent Labyrinth team

Visitors at the Creative table

Many wrote down their impressions, here are

only a few random ones:

“Beautiful, joyful, touching. It reminds me

of my beautiful childhood and how we

used to celebrate Christmas then.”

“This is our true reality! There is no more

place for Jesus, Christmas becomes just

another big obligation. I wish we’d have a

bigger heart and smaller shopping bags.

Your message and idea are fantastic! God

bless you!”

“Dear all! In a very original way you

managed to show how we “lost” ourselves

and the real meaning of Christmas! In spite

of that, you’ve put up this exhibition so

wonderfully that at the end everybody can

see how GREAT GOD is! Thank you and

Merry Christmas!

“I was not looking forward to this

Christmas. Now I am. Thank you for

returning that joy to me. No more stress

for me. ”

“Every year it’s the same. Rushing,

shopping, baking, and worrying about

whether we can make it all in time. But

only one thing is necessary: to tidy up from

inside, not outside. I enjoyed all the

stations, especially the one where I stood

alone, in silence, with Jesus. Thank you!”

2. Advent ZaŠto?!

This Youth Worship Gathering for the youth of the city of Rijeka was all in the spirit of preparing for Christmas. This time the topic was: “What if…?” Our intention was to pose a question about what Christmas would be for us if we were to take out all the Christmas symbols. Before the service we did a nice job decorating the space. Then we had a little sketch in which, whenever a girl would mention some things she likes about Christmas (gingerbread cookies, the tree, wrapped gifts, the ornaments, the music, etc.) we would remove the mentioned object out of the room.

Approaching the throne

Answering the question “What if...?“

At first people were a bit surprised not realizing

that this was a part of our plan. So, in the end we

were left with us and the plain white walls

around us. We wanted to challenge the young

people to think about this question: What does

Christmas really mean to me if I take out all the

material Christmas symbols? Am I left with “just”

Jesus? The peak of the service was, imagine this -

a room emptied of things, full of young people in

the dark, holding lit candles and singing “Light of

the world” a cappella style, and then praying in

silence… so profound!

3. Crew and ship dedication We had an opportunity for a somewhat unusual event in November. As you might remember, Melanie used to

minister as a Lutheran pastor before she joined YFC Croatia full time. She was asked by the present Lutheran

pastor in Rijeka if she would, on his behalf, pray for the ship and crew at the dedication of a new oil tanker in the

biggest shipyard in the city of Rijeka. The contractor was Norwegian and asked for a Lutheran pastor, which is

quite unusual for Croatia. This event was very important for the economy of the city of Rijeka and all the

employees of the shipyard. Not only was Melanie able to pray for and rejoice with the crew and the workers who

built the ship, but she was also able to deliver a clear Gospel message to all those present, which included many

representatives from the state and local government as well. It is also noteworthy that in the midst of our dire

need for funds, we were happy that this service provided some additional funds for YFC Croatia.

3. 4. Media Ministry Ruben went with the Christian worship band “Kristina” as their V.J. (Video Jockey) to two worship & praise events:

4.1. in Gospić; December 17, 2011 – This evangelization was organized by the Pentecostal Church of Rijeka

which is planting a church congregation in the town of Gospid. This town of 5700 inhabitants is located at

the center of the economically poorest Croatian region called Lika. People who live there are predominantly

strong nationalists and Roman Catholics, which makes it altogether hard to evangelize there. We hope to

be a fruitful seed for that area.

4.2. in Daruvar; November 26, 2011. – the band Kristina held a humanitarian concert “For the angel of

Daruvar”. This angel is actually a boy who lost both of his parents in a car accident. Local civil institutions,

the government representatives, and Christians organized this event, under the leadership of a young

Baptist man. Around 250 people were at the concert which turned out to be a worship gathering, since a

local priest brought youth from his parish and they worshipped… The Youth for Christ Croatia team is happy

to be able to serve those who are in difficult circumstances of life.

5. Action: HELP, FOOD is LIFE! 6. INTeRo ministry

On October 14-15, 2011 YFC Croatia participated in

collecting food for people in need in our city. The

food bank in Rijeka organized this special action, just

before Christmas. Many volunteers stood in front of

many grocery stores in the city, giving out leaflets

and inviting people to join this action by donating

food. After they finished their grocery shopping,

people would leave food in the empty boxes. The

action was rated successful, because 8 tons of food

was collected. The bank food delivers the food to

several churches and organizations in the city which

then feed hungry families.

Since we have not updated you on Intero ministry for some time, this update will include a longer period of time. About six months ago, Mihael had to find a job outside of YFC Croatia and INTeRo ministry (and he is grateful to God that he did) because Intero did not develop in such measure that Mihael could be a full-timer in this peace-building ministry. Nevertheless, during this time the ministry did continue, and Mihael was active, as much as he could be.

Volunteers in a grocery store

He was a TA at a mediation education, a guest trainer at two nonviolent communication and action trainings, had a number of one to one coaching sessions, and did some book-reviews on topics related to peace building and mediation. He was invited to East Croatia to have a workshop on nonviolent communication. This area is still suffering from post-war national divisions and this segregation is very tangible in everyday life, between political and religious leaders. Although very interested, Mihael could not go, because he just could not combine his work and ministry. For a long time, Mihael was (and in many ways still is) somehow stranded between the eagerness to pursue developing INTeRo ministry in full-time capacity and an inability to do it. Now, Mihael will bravely give it another go. Starting in February Mihael will continue to work half-time as a tourist agent (for existential reasons) and simultaneously work on developing INTeRo ministry. It is almost needless to say that prayers, motivational letters or just any kind of support is more than welcome.

Thank you for taking your time to read this looooong newsletter. Thank you all for supporting our ministry and please continue to pray for us. God bless you!!!

YFCC team