Adventures with CHRIST...

Ministry is wierd.
Just few weeks ago I was doing my first funeral in my life, and was doing it in a foreign land. Well GOD willing I will do my first wedding that is also legal in front of the Republic of Croatia.(In Croatia like in the states you can do official weddings as Pastor, so people don't have to do 2 weddings like in Serbia, or Hungary or other places...) So now I applied to become official in front of the government...
Who am I gonna marry? Its a student couple at the ETS in Osijek. I am planning to do at least 5-6 marriage councellings, to prepare them... Even if they know so much in Theory about it... Theory and practice are not always the same... :)
So its an adventure to serve GOD... :)

You wanna here an intresting joke...After I did Vlado's funeral, I got a phone call "Slobodan Milosevic just died". Then we started jokeing...
1. exactly in the same minute when Keri and I got married Arkan got killed in Belgrade...
2. When I did my first funeral Slobodan milosevich dies...
3. So Voljislav Seselj will die when I do my first wedding...

Well if somebody can inform Vojislav Seselj in the Hague, please let him know, that he will die in May or June... :)

Lea in the Clinics for Children in Pecs Hungary...

It should be a sad post, but it will actually be a neutral... She still has weight issues and the doctors requried a 2 days testing fr Lea. First day was very hard . Lot of blood tests that required pain...so a lot of crying...
The second day was better...
But both days were awesome, Leah was smiling a lot and enjoying the time...the nurses loved her and walked her into every room, because she is so friendly and so smiling all the time... even right after the tests were done... here are few pictures...

An a sirious level, she might be alergic to more, not only milk and egg. we need to wait 4-6 weeks for the results...

And then we got home, and she emptied the kitchen cabinet with joy... :)

Time savers or gadgets/toys for man... :)

I could subtitle this post also as Pastor Nokia.
I heard a story once(I can't remember who told me) that a pastor in Finland told the congregation before the service:
"Please if you have a Nokia turn it off, and if you have a sony erickson in the back of the church there is a thrash throw it in."

I am not sure if it is true or not but its a good joke for sure...

My friend Tom posted an intresting thing on this issue

I had a sony erickson for years... But my daughter opened our eyes to the week points of that phone, so we got a water proof, and unbreakable phone. This Nokia...
I am not sure if it wil save me time or not, but it has a compass, thermometer, etc...

Transmogrifier

If the title does not mean anything to you, that is a definite proof, that you have never read Calvin and Hobbes...if you have read it, just by looking at the picture of Leah you know what she was doing...
For those of you who have not read Calvin and Hobbes, I would describe Transmogrifier as a machine that can pretty much turn anything into anything... a little kid into a dinosaur, etc... it can be also a spaceship, etc...
I guess Leah invented the same thing...she wasTransmogrifying herself into another dimension, because daddy was too boring... :)

REPUBLIKA BUREK...

Few years ago with few of my friends from Subotica, during the crazy years of Ex-YU falling apart, and everybody wanting to be independent or even worse creating an illegal "semi state" in a legal recognized republic, etc... etc... we decided to create a Republic which gathers all those people and all those Bakeries that are giving good BUREKS...
For many years in Subotica the best Burek place was Pekara Lipa. Now there is a big competitor Pekara Proleće 1 and 2.
Here you can see pictures of few Bureks I have eaten.The first is Meat and mushrooms from "Lipa". The second is Ham and Chese from Proloće 2. I have to mention that their ham and chese was the golden medalist in 2005 Novi Sad exhibition-competition... the third is also from Pekara Proleće 2.. its a Pizza Burek... WOW...

So here is the final grading...
The best Burek award goes to:
1. Pekara Proleće 2: Ham and Chese Burek

The others:
2. Pekara Lipa: Meat and Mushrooms
3. Pekara Proleće 2: Pizza Burek
4. Pekara Lipa: Chese Burek

Few other taste exist... Apple, cherry, Lasagna, meat, ...
But since I was not able to taste all of them in 3 days...I will have to update my list next time... :)
Till then visit Pekara Proleće 2 in Subotica on E-75 road at the Economic University or the Pekara Lipa near the Hungarian embassy in Subotica...

after the hard days

Dear friends.
Thank you for your prayers, support and concern.
I was attacked, with depression and regular flashbacks of the moment when I had to carry out the dead body of Vlado from the bathroom to the cascet...
It was hard for me, but hard for Keri too since she had no idea, how to help me...besides prayer...
Thank GOD, HIS WORD and all that HE has encoureged us with. Verses that some of you sent, verses that we got in our devotions, etc...

We are Ok, and continuing to serve HIM with joy...

I will pubilsh soon few pictures of my gluttony in Subotica... All I was able to eat BUREK's... :)

See you soon...

Hard days..., now travelin!

Speaking of hardship in the ministry...???

Thursday as I was preparing for my teaching I got a call: "Vlado is dead". He was an 73 years old man from our church who lived alone, survived World war 2, and the Siege of Vukovar, The concentration camp etc... Every time he came to the church service he was smiling and always told me with a huge smile on his face: "Pastor Laci, today I was reading this and that in my BIble..."
He was one of the Muppet shows...(you know the two guys on the balcony.. :) ) Well his buddy Lepen and him always walked together to church and simply just reminded us of them...

After the phone call I went streight to his apartment. His dead body was still in the bathroom. The doctor came, have filled the papers and left. I was left there in a foreign land, with a corp in an apartmant...waiting for the funeral company to come...When they arrived I had to help carry out the dead body of Vlado... I had to grab a hold of a dead body...It was not easy... We have carried him out and put him into a cascet...

No family(at this time, who would be willing to take care of funeral and etc) so I started organizing the funeral... Later an aunt showed up and was willing to take care of the details...

That night I had to teach on Joshua 5, circumsizing the heart... Half of the church was crying...
Friday I spent taking care of the rest of the funeral, buying the grave(YES, the Agape Church has an official grave site, if a widow or someone dies who has no grave we will be able to help again...so we are more ready for the next funeral...), and preparing for the saturday funeral...
Saturday:
GOD really blessed it. It was a special time for our church. Since this was my first every funeral, I have to say thanks to Tomo Mogus, Tom Foley, and Damir Spoljaric...THANK YOU.

After this I came home and I slept. I was so exhausted. Spiritually, emotionally...Menthaly.

Today I am teaching on Mark 15:1-20. So I better go and finish my preparation... :)

But tomorrow I am in Subotica...I was not abe to go for 18 months now, because of my army issues and papers...Now all got cleared out... So I am going to visit family, friends and lots of BUREK's... :) I will post hopefully from there...
GOD bless you guys

BUREK

If you know me, you know that I believe that BUREK is a holy, sanctafied food. It should be served for "Lords Supper" in Churches. :)
Unfortunatelly this is not a picture of the BUREK I ate, but reminded me of it. I can't wait to go next week to Subotica to the BEST BUREK place I found so far... and you will get a picture I can assure you.
If any of you ever gets the chance to come to any of the Balkan Republics, a BUREK is a "must have it".

So after of the picture of the Sarma Now the BUREK, the next will have to be a Čevap, sooner or later... I hope sooner :)

P.S. My diet goes great. I am 80 Kilos, lost 12 kilos so far... have 4 more weeks :)

Land of the Land mines

There is a little fellowship in the near by hungarian village of Laslovo(Szent László). Once a month I go there to teach GOD's word and lead the LORD's Supper.
Its a pretty easy and "boring" road, so as I was driving I had the idea, hey lets count how many "watch out, land Mines" signs will be on this short road...

The number is 44.

I am sure that not many of you is able to do similar counting... :)