Lately I have been receiving many encouraging messages from believers in the USA.  These people read the Heartcry missionaries reports in the magazine and want to encourage us. These encouragements come definitely from the Lord whose purpose is to lift up and fill us with the Holy Spirit's power. When I read these messages I find that people pray for me, my family and God's ministry. I feel I am not alone. I feel God's plan for saving people and the Holy Spirit's power. We have enjoyed most the messages of the Serbs who had become Christians in the USA.

We celebrated the Christmas holiday on January 7 and New Year's on January 14 according to the Serb calendar. After that we received a truck full of second-hand clothes as  humanitarian aid. First, we helped the needy people from our church (to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles). Then with the help of a lady from our church who had worked at the social center we made a list of the poorest families from our city. I had never thought there were so many poor people living in our town.

The ladies packed several things in large bags: clothes, toys, cookies, notebooks, soap and a New Testament. The good news is that many believers brought several things from their kids to help the poor people. One afternoon, with the deacon from our church and two ladies, we went to give out the bags. We visited a family with three children who are four, five and six years old. The temperature was 14 degrees and they were wearing just T-shirts. A month before their mother left them. Their father, who suffered from retardation, was taking care of them. When they saw the toys they smiled, but I cried.

We also found a woman in a dirty room. There was a stove, but no wood. The woman had six kids, all suffering from tuberculosis. Two windows had no glass, but a piece of nylon covering. There was no table, just one broken bed. The youngest child was just eight months old. The woman's husband was working as a roustabout. All the children inherited the disease from him. Did I told them that God loved them? No, I didn't. I only said that we were His children and came to help them in His name. We gave them the bags and promised we would visit them again. I went home and shared those events with my wife and kids. We all cried and felt ashamed for living in far better conditions. We prayed for those families and my wife and kids decided to make a package with their best things for the poor children. After a few days we went to visit those children again. We gave them the presents, put glass in their windows, brought fire wood and my wife gave them coverlets and the gifts from my kids.We rejoiced over their joy and showed them our love. We will try to help them again. So far we did what we could. We showed God's love without words and trusted them on His arm.