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Key verse: Deut. 6:5 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

I. The Ministry in 2015

At the beginning of 2015 I accepted 2 Timothy 4:2 as my key verse for this year. "Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction." According to this verse we prayed that through God's word we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and lead a life preaching God's word. As lay missionaries we are always busy, however, we prayed not to dispair but instead to give further the word of God with patience. 

The Lord helped us to study all 41 chapters from Isaiah and to begin Luke's gospel again. Through Isaiah we learned about God's great love that he did not destroy his depraved people but promised them to send his Messiah. Through Luke's gospel we renewed Jesus' calling for us. Fridays we studied the Bible in Croatian and Saturdays we shared our testimonies among the missionaries and second generation. The Lord gave us grace and spiritual strength and wisdom so that we could grow in faith. The Lord gave Missionary Joseph Bae the desire to prepare early on in the week God's word well so that he already prepared on Monday the word for the coming Sunday.  Missionary Maria received strength through the Sunday message, Daily Bread and especially through prayer and listening to an audio guide. 

God helped us to feed his sheep with the word. Sister Josipa and Brother Mataija studied God's word regularly. Sister Josipa is studying the Indian language and was an atheist. She did not like us talking about the word of God. This year she accepted God's word gently and met Missionary Maria regularly to have fellowship in the word. Brother Matija received grace from the word, although he was an atheist. He studies the Hungarian language. He has had a relationship with us for seven years. He did not accept the word. Moreover he comes from the province so that he was not present on the weekends. I could not take time during the week because of my work in the company. The Lord had mercy on us so that we could meet during lunch breaks. This year he opened his heart to God's word. Also, God led us to have a relationship with the Ivan and Standic families and to pray for these two families. 

Jaschenka participated in the ministry by reading and correcting Daily Bread. She corrected the Sunday message for Missionary Joseph Bae faithfully as well. She could grow through this work. God heard our prayers for her last year, and she got a job. Unfortunately, she had to go to the emergency room on the first day of work and was treated, because she fell on the way to work. In spite of such a challenge, she held on to her faith and endured the treatment patiently and could regain her health. 

Our children, Rebekka (13) and Samuel (11) are growing well. Through the daily devotion and 1:1 Bible study they learned faith in Jesus and accomplished their schoolwork well. They study diligently in the school and were an example for other students. They even prayed for suffering classmates. Rebekka serves the Sunday service with the piano, while Samuel plays the violin for the offering. In this year Rebekka prayed to overcome her handicaps such as small hands and lack of musical talent and to give God the glory by practicing for her piano contest diligently. She won first prize in the regionals and the second prize in the nationals. Through that she gave God the glory. Samuel did not depend on his intelligence but on God so that he won the victory in school. 

Two families, M. Kaleb Yoon and Timothy Suh, moved to Croatia because of their company's headquarters' move. They accepted God's calling for the mission in Croatia anew. That was the expression of their faith. M. Kaleb urgently needed  financial support, because M. Elisabeth Yoon is struggling with her cancer. God granted him a new job so that his financial problems were solved. M. Timothy was sent out to Croatia as a missionary originally. Then he had to be sent to Serbia because of his job. We sent him as a short term missionary to Serbia. According to our prayers, God sent his family, his wife Hanna and three year old child Harang back to us. God helped us through word and testimony fellowship to build a vessel for the Holy Spirit in Jesus. 

God sent M.Daniel Ko from Serbia and M. Andreas from Slovakia to us so that we could have spiritual fellowship and encourage each other and find rest. 

II. In 2016 I want to love God the Lord from all my heart and all my strength and all my strength. 

My key verse for 2016 is from Deuteronomy 6:5, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  

For 2016 we are praying to love God from all our hearts and all our strength. I thank God that he is helping us to be restored  in word and in spirit. We should grasp his love and how wide and long and high and deep it is (Eph 3:18-19). We are praying to love God from all our hearts and all our strength. Although we have received so much of God's love, we often do not realize it. We pray that we will deeply understand God's love through a basic spiritual life with Daily Bread, testimonies, prayer life and reflecting on God's word. Especially, we pray for each of us to read the entire Bible one time. If we love God from all our hearts and all our strength, we can love our neighbor and our sheep and serve them with the word. Because we love God, everyone can pray for a sheep and love him. 

Prayer Topics for 2016

1. to love God with all my heart and all my strength according to Deuteronomy 6:5 

2. to lead a basic spiritual life (early morning prayer, Daily Bread, testimony, preparing Bible study material and reading the entire Bible) 

3.the power of Luke's gospel and the Sunday message from M. Joseph Bae

4. for Jaschenka, to write deep testimonies and to grow as a mother of pray and of faith through a life of prayer, and for her health. Fellowship in the word with Matija und Josipa and to serve the two families  (Ivan and Stancic) spiritually

5. victory of faith in the missionaries self-supporting lives; each may serve one sheep; M. Elisabeth Yoon's health; M. Hannah Suh's delivery of a healthy baby

6. for the Bible study of the second generation; an exemplary life in school