CROATIA 1994 - Christian's Second Missions Trip

Rijeka, Croatia
July 1994

Christian's Second Missions Trip
At 20 years old, I embarked on my second short-term missions trip. This time I was to be part of a team of 12 from Community Church at Foothill in San Jose, California. My stay in Croatia was only for one month. As I had rededicated my life to Christ at 19 years old, this trip confirmed my call to missions that I had received at 14 years old in Mexico. Our team of twelve left San Jose and flew in to Vienna, Austria, and from Vienna, Austria to Zagreb, Croatia. The day after we arrived in Zagreb we piled in to a couple of vans and headed to the Adriatic Coast arriving at Rijeka, our first ministry location. We stayed at a hotel where many Bosnian refugees were staying because their homeland was war-torn and their homes had been destroyed. We ministered in Rijeka for two weeks.
July 5, 1994, Tuesday

Today we did some prayer walking and spiritual mapping of Rijeka. I prayed with Gary, Mary and Ivica. It was a good time of prayer...I got to know a lot of youth in our hotel, especially Svjetlana, who is called "Keka," who also speaks some English, Marijana and her sister, Slavica and Ivica. A couple of younger children, Kristian and Tina, always come to me. Last night I drew a picture of Jesus for Ivica. Then I asked Slavica, Ivica and Keka if they had Jesus in their heart. They all said that they do have Jesus in their hearts. Hallelujah! We read childrens Bible stories in Croatian. We gave them all gospel bracelets.

July 6, 1994, Wednesday

Today we went to a small village in Urinj along the coast. We did dramas and bracelets for the kids...Then we went to pastor Milan's church in Rijeka. Jan spoke on inner healing and at the end of the service almost the whole church came forward for prayer (about 25 people). I was in tears.

July 7, 1994, Thursday

Great day. Went to a camp in Ucka of about 200 refugees; half Muslim and half Catholic. They were very pleased that we came to visit them...A lady named Marija from our hotel came tonight and received the Lord...I led worship at the service tonight. I think it went well...Estera (one of the translators) and I translated the [worship] song, Psalm 121, into Croatian.

July 8, 1994, Friday

After breakfast, myself, David and Britt left for the Life Center in Crkvenica...We are on a work party. They are building this new facility in Selce for kids of all ages to stay for a while and hear the gospel. Praise the Lord that He is using me to help meet the practical needs of Croatian people...We have been chiseling concrete and brick so they can put plumbing in the wall.

July 11, 1994, Monday

In the evening we played guitar, sang and did puppet shows for the refugees in our hotel. Then we showed the "Jesus film" in Croatian and gave out supplies. I think the film really touched a few people.

July 12, 1994, Tuesday

Went to the Life Center in Crkvenica today. Did skits and music this morning for 100 kids...Then played volleyball with children and others until dinner. After dinner we held a service in Selce. I led worship and gave my testimony. I challenged the youth to receive Jesus in their hearts. There were over 100 kids there.

July 14, 1994, Thursday

Drove to the refugee camp in Ucka today. We brought a lot of aid for these refugees. I get along with a guy named Igor who is my age...Anyway I talked with Igor last week when we came to visit. Today, when we were leaving, I left him a Croatian tract and a New Testament. The last thing he said to me was, "pray for me." I pray that if he hasn't already received Jesus into his heart that he would. He lives on the Muslim side of the camp. We leave for Zadar tomorrow. I'm going to miss these people here so much.

July 15, 1994, Friday

Said goodbyes in Rijeka. It was very hard to leave...Drove south to Zadar. At one point we were one mile from the Serbian border. Most of the houses on the way were blown to pieces. There were bullet holes from gunfire everywhere. It feels very weird to be somewhere so unsafe. On July 19th the Serbs are supposed to sign a "cease-fire." If not, we may see some fighting. God has us in His hands.

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Zadar, Croatia

July 1994

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July 16, 1994, Saturday

Settled in our new abode here in Zadar. Had lunch in town. Walked to get some sladoled [ice cream] with David, Britt and Kristina. Went to the beach and had a good quiet time. Had a great time of worship with Tomislav and Slavica, the pastor and his wife here in Zadar.

July 17, 1994, Sunday

Fasted this morning and did some strategic spiritual warfare. We drove to the entrances into the city of Zadar and prayed that the Lord would reign in Zadar. We claimed the city in the name of Jesus and did some powerful worship through songs. While at one entrance of the city I had a vision of God using a giant hook and snagging a giant fish-like dragon out of the city. [Come to find out, Jan also had this same exact vision...She was the oldest member of the team and I was the youngest...Sounds like a fulfillment of Peter's discourse in Acts 2:17]...I want to hear Your voice, Lord...Had a church service tonight. Things went great. Many people got prayer afterwards. Many tears were shed. I believe there was a lot of deliverance tonight.

July 18, 1994, Monday

Had a team meeting this morning. Then we made posters to announce Jan's seminar. Then we went downtown to hang posters and evangelize. We handed out a handful of tracts and hung over 20 posters...Tomislav's church is the only evangelical church in Zadar...Half the group went to the seminar with Jan and half of us went to the beach to evangelize. Things at the beach went great. I played guitar and many came to us. We handed out 100 invitations to Jan's seminar and probably over 100 tracts...I pray that the seeds planted today may bear eternal fruit.

July 20, 1994, Wednesday

Had a team meeting this morning. then we prayed and asked the Lord what He wanted each of us to do today. I felt my place is street evangelism. In the morning I drove some of our team into town. We accidentally put unleaded fuel into the diesel fuel tank and had to push the van back to the gas station...This afternoon I took six members of the YWAM team to the beach to evangelize. We handed out some tracts and played guitar.

July 21, 1994, Thursday

Woke up this morning and had a team meeting. Played the "morski pas" [shark or, literally, dog of the water] prank. [I would yell, "morski pas" to the Croatian youth swimming in the sea and watch them run out of the water, well, most of the time they just stared at me like I was stupid. Anyway, I bought a blow up shark, tied fishing string to it and placed it on the awning before our team meeting. Then, during a somewhat spiritual moment, I yelled "morski pas," pulled the fishing string and watched the shark swoop down on our team. We laughed for a long time]...Despite the rain we went into the city square and handed out tracts and gospel bracelets.

July 22, 1994, Friday

Said goodbye to Tomislav, Slavica, Ljubo, Stefan and Lidija. Shed tears for the people of Zadar. Traveled to Zagreb...Long trip.

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Zagreb, Croatia

July 1994

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July 23, 1994, Saturday

Had a prayer meeting at the church. Went to the coffee bar owned by Teen Challenge and shared testimonies. David, Karen, Daniel and I talked with a 16 year old boy named Sandro. We invited him to church.

July 24, 1994, Sunday

Attended pastor Daniel's church in Zagreb...Had a great time of praise and worship. Sang Psalm 121 in Croatian. I am now in the Sunday night service. Worship was awesome. Athena sang a special song on how the body of Christ shouldn't be divided. Daniel is giving his testimony right now. Jan is speaking again on forgiveness and inner healing...I have seen the Lord work in great ways here in Croatia. I feel blessed knowing that God has used me to evangelize and minister to the people of this war-torn country. I really feel God will send me into the foreign mission field...On the plane trip to Croatia I read Romans 15:19. It says, "In mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ." Guess where Illyricum is? I am staying in Illyricum. It is modern day Croatia. Can you believe we have been spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ where the apostle Paul once did almost 2000 years ago?!?...David and I came back from church and spent time at our new neighbors' house. Their names are Imo and Svjetlana.

July 25, 1994, Monday

Had a prayer meeting after breakfast until lunch. Went to a lake in Zagreb to evangelize. Hundreds of kids flocked to get balloons and toys. Most of them heard the gospel of Jesus Christ through gospel bracelets...Tonight at Imo and Mikica's house things went great. David and I prayed before we went over to their house. They had some friends over whose names were Franjo and Gordana. By the end of the night David and I were able to share our testimonies and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Gave Franjo a New Testament and wrote in it. He was very grateful and I believe he was holding back tears. He shared stories of how he was a prisoner in Serbian prison camps.

July 26, 1994, Tuesday

Went to the lake again to evangelize. Once again, hundreds of children flocked around our team who made balloons and handed out tracts...Got to know David, Lidija's brother...David and I led worship at the church service. After that we went to Imo and Mikica's house...Franjo was there again...We talked for hours once again. Then we took some pictures, exchanged addresses and said goodbye. In Croatia, when friends say goodbye, they kiss eachother on each cheek. I got a little mixed up and embarrassed myself. [I went to kiss Mikica's cheeks and did it in the wrong order, planting one right on her lips in front of her husband...Lots of laughs]

July 27, 1994, Wednesday

Got up very early and walked to the church to distribute aid to over 200 refugees. David and I played guitar, Gary gave his testimony and the team did dramas. I can't believe this is our last day in Croatia. Tomorrow we will fly to Austria and stay the night there.

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Christian Young

MEXICO 1988 - Christian's First Missions Trip

Mexicali, Mexico
April 1988
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Christian's First Missions Trip

At 14 years old, as a freshman in high school, I went on my first missions trip. My family was attending Village Church in Hayward, California. I went to the high school youth group every week at Village Church. Going to Mexicali, Mexico was a yearly occurence for our youth group. Every year, our youth leaders Sandy Bras and Eric, along with Patrick Serna who had a connection with a certain village in Mexicali, would take a number young people from the youth group to Mexico for one week during Spring Break. We worked in cooperation with Azusa Pacific University and many other churches. The theme that year was "Our God Reigns." So, in April of 1988, we rented a big bus and drove from Northern California to Mexicali. I think there were about 15 young people from our youth group who went. We camped in tents with all the other churches and went from this "tent city" out to the various villages each day. I don't remember the name of the village or the pastor of the village in which we ministered. 

Village Life And Ministry In Mexicali 

At 14 years old, I had skateboarding and girls on my mind more than God. I had prayed to receive Christ when I was 5 years old, but had drifted a bit off course over the years. Nevertheless I still loved playing with the children of the village and teaching Vacation Bible School. Being very poor, the children had previously amused themselves with old tin cans they would kick around and play with. Our team had brought some footballs and other sports equipment for them to play with. They were so happy and thankful to receive these gifts. We played for hours with the children. This brought much joy to them and to me. I connected with one kid in particular. His name was Tachi but his nickname was Nacho. We hung out all day long. He would try to speak his broken English and I would try to speak my broken Spanish. I would ask him how to say certain words in Spanish. He was amused as I would try to recite those words back to him. One word I was really interested in learning was the word for the giant black bees that lived in a rotting tree in front of the church. I wasn't able to learn the word he had told me well enough, so I renamed it "the big fly." I would make him laugh by kicking the tree and running away scared as "the big fly" became irritated and flew out of the tree. Every day that week, Nacho and the other children would see me and yell, "the big fly." Maybe that was my new nickname, "the big fly" (No offense Jeff Goldblum). Just outside of the village is where my team mates and I "took showers." This consisted of getting into some sort of canal, wading in knee-deep water, and standing under a waterfall that came from a large tube sticking out of the ground. They told us not to drink any of the water as it was contaminated. 

Vacation Bible School 

We had received training on how to teach Vacation Bible School while we were still in Northern California. We had also learned some songs in Spanish like, "Yo tengo gozo, gozo, gozo, gozo en mi corazon" (I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart) and "Padre te adoro" (Father, I adore You). We would lead the children in these songs and then have a craft and teaching time, which we used translators for. I was reponsible for sharing the gospel with a group of the children from the village. One of the days, I had the opportunity to lead 7 children to Christ, including Nacho. Using a translator, they all prayed to receive Christ that day. This was my first taste of God using me to lead people to Christ. And I truly believe that this is where I received God's call to become a missionary in foreign lands.

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Christian Young