Ben in Croatia

Hey peeps! A lot has happened in the last month, we have been here over 3 months now, crazy stuff.

Croatian class is still coming along. At this point I am understanding so much more of what people say and I am still getting the hang of the language, sometimes in class I feel like im cramming too much into my brain but it is going good overrall.

In the last month I have been working out with the football team, played a football game (below is the link for the highlights of that game if you wish to view it, I am #73 on the blue team, playing right tackle)....also I got to visit a couple gypsy villages near Zagreb with my fellow man/missionary Dave Scott and 2 croatians from our bible study.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXuu2ORQx94

Getting to spend time with these gypsy people was great. They rarely have people coming to where they are just to spend time with them and thats pretty much what we did. I got to meet and talk with some guys that are 12-15. We prayed with them and shared the passage of Jesus talking about prayer with them, one guy wanted to ask Jesus into his heart and we prayed for him as well. The gypsy's are a people who are not really accepted in cultures in europe and in croatia. They are known for stealing all the time and knowbody really cares about them. They were interested in hearing about God, it wasnt a message that was very foreign to them. It was awesome to get to spend time with them and I hope we visit them regularly in the future.

Also I have been leading worship for an English service here the past 2 sundays. It is for a church called Lighthouse of Life. The pastor and his wife have been here for 3 years doing ministry in Croatian and they are starting an international service in English. I got to play some drums too for the Croatian service, fun stuff. This church has interns that me and Stephanie hang out with a lot. They are a big part of orphanages that are here in Zagreb and they are actually about to be the owners of 5 orphanages very soon. Last saturday we went with them to throw a party for some orphans and mentally challenged people with the help of some bikers from Croatia and surrounding countries. So hopefully we will get to be a big part of what they are doing with orphanages as well.

Cross-cultural living and ministry is tough! There have been tough times but also great times and I am blessed to be a part of God's faithful work. He is able to do so much through me no matter how frustrated I get because he is faithful and able. Tomorrow I will start my long journey to go home for a few weeks for my cousin Marc's wedding and for the hollidays. Keep on praying for all the ministry opportunities that are ahead in Croatia and that God's light would shine through us here!!

Ben in Croatia

Hello followers and viewers of Letters from Croatia. It has been a while since I have blogged and in the last month a lot of adjustment and things of that sort has occured. I have been busy with football training, language learning and finding ways to get around the city of Zagreb. It takes a lot longer to get places when you don't have a car and your bike gets stolen :)

Recently I have been thinking on how this year in missions is so great. It is unbeleivable to be able to be in a foreign country and to explore and experience a different culture. I have recently also found that the region of Europe is especially difficult for a missionary. I have a Croatian roommate now named Igman. He has been a Christian for 2 years now and has just started Bible school. I have talked with him about how hard it is to get people here to understand and want a personal relationship with God. They know Christian concepts like the cross and Jesus and stories about God but they dont realize that there is freedom in Christ and that there is love that Christ has for us. It is hard to figure out how to reach these people, especially because I do not speak Croatian. The good news of Christ is something that I need to preach to people at all times and in many ways. I am trying to invite people into being a Christian with everything that I do. This is hard.

Stephanie and I have been able to spend a lot of time with people from our Croatian class who are from all over the world. Continue to pray for them, that God would do his will in the relationships that we have with them.

I have been going to a Bible study with some guys here on Wednesday afternoons. Today we read Colossians. Soon I will go with these guys to visit a roma/gypsy community. The roma people are the last remaining roamers on earth. They live in very poor conditions and they have been a people that has been made fun of and rejected for a very long time in Europe. Pray for these people as we go visit them next week.

Hit me up on skype (bdrew1988) or on gmail (bdrewponder@gmail.com)


In case I dont see ya....good afternoon, good evening and goodnight

Wow so it’s been awhile since I posted last, sorry about that guys.  Not a ton has been happening here in the Croatian world.  The weather is beginning to cool down a bit, which I love :)   School has been keeping us pretty busy but it’s going great!  We’ve learned so much already and it’s only the second week in, I look forward to seeing where we’ll be at the end of the class. 

So the other day I went to this lake that’s really close to my flat.  All of my life I’ve always had a “place”, I call it my God place.  I know that I can find God anywhere but this “place” is somewhere where I can go and get away from whatever is going on and really just focus on God.  Now that I’m in Croatia I think that this lake is my “place”.   Anyway so I decided to go to the lake, it was a gorgeous sunny day with a light breeze, but it was a bit chilly so the lake was practically empty… which was fine by me.  I just sat there soaking in the natural beauty and began praying.  During my prayer time I realized just how lucky I am to be here.  I get to live in this beautiful country with these beautiful people.  It was also a very humbling time for me.  You see, I came here with mindset that I was going to help Croatians that I was going to teach them but really, it’s been just the opposite.  Already they’ve taught me so much about love, and loving one another.  Croatians have huge hearts and if they can help you in any way they will.  I spent all morning there praying, it was the kind of praying where you just don’t want to stop.  You know the kind, it’s like when you’re having a really deep conversation with someone, you want it to just keep going.  I cried, I laughed, at one point I even had one guy stop and ask me if I was ok (that was during my crying bit).  It was just so great to be able to take a few hours out of my day and just focus entirely on God, what He’s doing here in Croatia and with me personally.  I am so blessed.

Please continue to pray with us about where God is leading us here.

P.S. Update on my dad, after his appointments he has decided to go with surgery.  He now has to meet with the doctor in Chapel Hill which is about 4 hours from our house.  The plan right now is for the surgery to take place at the end of November.  Thank you for all your prayers and continue to pray for my dad and our family. 

Bok!

Ben in Croatia
The start of Month 2

So I missed my Sunday blog this week. I had football practice on Sunday afternoon for the first time and just didnt think about it I guess. I played Center the entire practice without cleats. I did alright for not playing full contact football in 8 years haha. There wasnt a locker room and they gave me some pads and a helmet right before. I thought they would have practice pants too but the didnt so I had to practice in my cargo shorts haha. I bought NFL GamePass on Sunday as well, I was tired of trying to figure out how to watch Miami Dolphins games free online.

Anyways...I have successfully busted both of the pedals on my bike...and I still ride it. Today I started language school and it was NEAT!!!!!!! There are people from all over the world in my class and we all dont know anything about Croatian and I am excited to learn. I have class now everyday at night for 3 hours. Its a 5 mile bike ride away so I am riding my busted bike 10 miles a day, great stuff. Hopefully I can get a new bike or repair the one I have soon.

I have been working out with the football team during the week, slowly meeting more and more of the players and spending time with them. My workout partner's name is Pero that I met today and I am having a lot of fun working out and getting the chance to play some football.

I have my times when I question why I am here but it is good to see that things are starting to get on track here and I hope that God will use me in every small moment. Pray for me that I would be able to make the most of my opportunities and that God would shine through me somehow to someone here.

Dobro Vece (have a good evening)

Ben Ponder

When a Storm Comes...

This week has been particularly hard for me.  Sunday evening I found out that my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  As you can imagine it hit me pretty hard.  Admittedly I asked the question of “How could God let this happen?” knowing the answer but sometimes I suppose it helps just asking.  Of course news like this would upset any normal person, but let me preface this by saying my dad and I have a very close relationship so when I got the news it shook me to my core. 

The past couple of days have been quite an emotional “tug –a-war”; I was having a lot of guilt for not being home.  Not being with my family, not being there with my dad.  But on the flip side I know that God wants me in Croatia, I know there is a purpose for my being here and I believe in what is happening here.

Before I left, my mom gave me one of those one year devotional books.  Sunday September25^th (also my dad's birthday) was about learning how to say goodbye.  I know, it sounds a little morbid, that’s what I thought when I opened it up but stay with me.  After I started reading I realized that it wasn’t really about learning to say goodbye but rather it was helping you realize that you need to trust in God’s grace and peace.  It says to put your work, your child, spouse and your parents into God’s safekeeping   That was it, whatever tears I hadn’t shed were now flowing freely.  That was God’s gentle way of telling me that He’s in control and that I can trust Him with everything… even my dad.   Even though it’s been hard and will only get harder from here, I can rest in knowing that God is in control.

We’re not really sure what steps are going to be taken, he has an appointment with an Oncologist and an Urologist next week.  We think that surgery is on the horizon but waiting to hear from the doctors. 

Thanks for all your support and please add my dad, and my family to your prayer list

-S    

Ben in Croatia
day 20

Wow I can't believe that we have been here 20 days, thats crazy. This week we had the privelege of teaching at a language camp for a High school from Maribor, Slovenia. They were all 3rd year students and we taught them some English it was awesome! There were 6 kids that I got to know in my class and they are some cool kids. We all had a lot of fun helping with games as well and we even had a cowboy night, haha. I got to teach them how to play some American Flag Football and I had a lot of fun.

This week at the camp was so great. We were right on the coast and got to see the Adriatic Sea. I came into the camp already having a rough time with some culture shock and God definetley showed up for me. I had some of the most spirit-filled days of my life at this camp. It is crazy that I went from really not wanting to be here in Croatia to God really being there for me and showing me that he has so much for me here. We tried to be very positive and encouraging to the students at camp this week and I hope that they sensed something different about us. I hope that some seeds (or something like that) were planted in their lives because I am confident that they were exposed to the grace of God at this camp in some way even though they dont realize it. So pray for the students from that school who were there! The names of the 6 kids who were in my class are: Rebeca, Nusa, Klemen, Jernej, Jure and Marko.

This coming week is our last free week before we start language school! So it is my last week to be an ignorant American not trying to speak Croatian at all :) haha. Thanks for checking on the blog and for your support.

Until next Sunday since that seems to be the trend,

Ben Ponder

Ben in Croatia, Day 13

This second week in Zagreb has been interesting! I have gotten to ride my bike all over the place, ref an american football game, play some basketball and meet and talk with Croatians and fellow Christians. I had some coffee a couple days ago at a cafe outside of some kind of an art museum with myself, Dave, a lady from England, a lady from Sweden, a guy from Korea, and a guy from Croatia haha. It was very interesting and were all united to share what God has been doing in our lives and to share the visions and passions that we have for being a part of the Kingdom of God in Zagreb. It is crazy how God seems to be bringing things together and seems to be bringing people together here. It is almost like something is about to happen here and it will be great to see what happens in the next several months that I am here.

I also learned this week that if I go to a store or a restaurant and say good day, act like I know what I am doing, pay for what i buy, and say thank you than i can get by without really knowing what in the world the person is saying haha. Thats not good tho I really need to work on learning the language and we start language school in a few weeks.

This morning I attempted to ride my bike towards a mountain/hill that is near my place. I went up part of it and I wanted to hear from God, I have been frustrated with situations that I have going on back in the states and I wanted God to show me something. As I was turning back around to go down the hill I saw a flowing spring on the side of the road. It reminded me of the flowing water that John talks about in the river of life in Rev. 22 and of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21. God reminded me that his river of life is flowing and that his kingdom is here because he is making new and great things wherever there is human existence and that he is working in me today. I hope to be able to see how God can continue to work and bring his kingdom here first in me and then through me in Croatia.

We are about to leave for the coast to teach some english at a language camp for a school in Slovenia. I dont really know much about english grammar so hopefully I will do ok haha. Thank you for your prayers and support, I hope that somehow you can be encouraged by what we are doing here in Zagreb and that you will continue to be a part of it in prayer!!

-Ben Ponder

Kebabs, Parks, and Hillsong!

So here we are a little more than a week into our journey in Croatia.  So far it’s had its challenges, but the rewards have been way better.  We're beginning to learn our way around the city... which is no easy feat for my directionally challenged self :)  On Monday Ben and I went to the market across the street from my apartment and decided to get a kebab.  The lady who worked there didn't speak any English, but we still left with 2 kebabs!  Ha that’s kind of a big deal since we know very little Croatian. 

After our kebabs we decided to go the Centar (downtown) and explore.  We found so many beautiful little parks.  Downtown Zagreb is beautiful! 

Probably the highlight of our week thus far was Hillsong.  Yes Hillsong was in Croatia!  They were great!  It was almost a renewal time for me, a recharge if you will.  At one point in the concert, Hillsong had finished a song but the crowd continued to sing, but this time they were singing in their language.  It was so beautiful to hear worship in another language.

Picture are here!  These are just of some of our time walking around the city and the concert... enjoy!

 

Ben in Croatia, day 6

Being in Croatia has been very interesting. There are so many things to get used to and so many things to learn.  It is overwhelming to think about. I am praying that God would open my eyes to what he has for me here and that he would help me to seize every opportunity that comes my way and use those opportunities to be a tool for him.

I got to try some goulash yesterday haha it wasnt bad. I think I am going to be sick of Coke and Coke Zero pretty fast because that is about all they have here when it comes to soda. My apartment is really cool, i just walked around a lot in my neighborhood and it seems like there are Caffe bar's, butcher shops and bakeries everywhere.

I live right on top of a missionary couple from Send International and I was talking to them about their 2 or so years that they have spent here. The people here are very open to talking about their beliefs about God. They claim to be "catholic" but also many will say that they are agnostic or they beleive that God probably exists but they aren't willing to be open to a relationship with him. So, I am very excited to see how God uses me to reach the people here even though it seems like it will be a challenge for sure.

I was talking to Justin, the missionary who lives under me, about the football ministry and the football team that he is a part of, thats right AMERICAN football! It looks like I might be able to meet and spend a lot of time with some Croatians through playing some tackle football so I am very excited about that.

It looks like in a few minutes we (Me, Stephanie, Dave, Betsy, JJ) will be going to an Anglican church service tonight, im not sure if it will be in Croatian or english haha, we will see. If you dont know....Stephanie and I are Mission Corps volunteers/missionaries and Dave and Betsy Scott are more permanent missionaries through the Nazarene church as well and JJ is their son who is 5 or 6 years old I beleive, they have been here for 7 months.

Pray for us!! That we would be able to be encouraged by the Holy Spirit to push through the challenges that we face and to be a light to these people here, so that they can also experience the mystery and the mind-blowing love of Christ!!

-Ben Ponder

We made it!

We made it to Croatia!  Our flight left on September 5th from Charlotte, and continued on to Munich Germany, then on to Zagreb.  So far it’s been a whirlwind of activities, from getting registered with the government to moving in to our new apartments.  Today we were in enrolled at Croaticum which is where we will learn Croatian, so we are now officially students!  We start classes October 3rd and we are so excited! 

We are beginning to have several opportunities to meet Croatians and also other foreigners. 
Today I had to the opportunity to go to a women's bible study with Betsy.  There were 5 different countries represented there.  It was really great to hear the hearts of these ladies.  To be honest I felt a little inept, all I could really do is just sit there and soak up all they had to say.  One of the ladies from Croatia talked about the "Tree of Diamonds" the metaphor goes like this; There is a tree that has thousands of rain drops hanging from the limbs.  But when the light shines on down on it, the rain drops look like diamonds.  Without the light, the tree is just a tree.
We were talking about walking in the light, it was so beautiful the way she described it, I know my description doesn't do it justice, but it gives you the idea.  Today was something that I really needed, to know that even thousands of miles away from home, I can still enjoy the fellowship of other believers.

We’re very excited about what God’s going to be doing here in Croatia and can’t wait to share more with you.  Pictures coming soon!

-S

And so it begins...

Hello all!  Ben and I decided to create a blog to let you know what is going on with us while we are in Croatia.  We want to keep you updated through writing, sharing pictures and the occasional vlog… (video blog) 

So here we are less than a month away from leaving for Croatia and I am so excited!  However between trying to get all the paperwork done and figuring out what to pack it’s been a little stressful, but nothing I can’t handle J   Over the summer I have had the opportunity to visit several churches building relationship with fellow Nazarenes and raising funds for the trip.  Which by the way I appreciate all of those who hosted me and welcomed me into their church.    

As we draw near to our departure date, I am filled with a mix of emotions.  Of course the strongest being excitement, occasionally I have my moments, but that’s only normal.  I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this coming year!
We'll keep you posted..

Until next time!

                -S