Titus Family ~ Missionaries in Croatia

Our church sponsored Eric and Nancy Titus, who served as RCA missionaries
in Osijek, Croatia, from 2006-2011. They worked at the Evangelical Theological
Seminary and with the Reformed Christian Church in Croatia.
Their three children are Samuel, 17, Valerie, 14, and Penny, 12.







April, 2012

Dear Friends:

Attached is the last edition of our Croatia Update. It has been wonderful being a part of your lives. As we advised you last month, Eric has accepted a position with St. John's Reformed Church in Red Hook, New York. We moved into the parsonage this past weekend and are in the process of unpacking. Eric will begin work on Tuesday. I have a couple more weeks with Global Mission and will continue to speak at churches as the opportunities arise.

As I mentioned in the column, we hope to continue our partnership with our former students in the future. We don't have anything in particular planned at this point but know that we will be praying about how we can help strengthen the church in Croatia and the former Yugoslavia in the years to come. If you want to know about any specific projects as they arise, just email me back and I will keep you on our list.

Also, I expect to complete one more official letter from the Reformed Church Global Mission office. In it, I hope to have some reflection from our children as well as Eric and me about our experience in Croatia.

Again, thank you for all your many prayers and financial gifts over the years that allowed us to go to Croatia. We are richer for our time there and will always treasure it in our hearts. We believe the lessons we have learned will enrich the North American church as well. Thank you for making it possible.

Blessings!

Nancy Titus
RCA Missionary to Croatia

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Students ministering in Croatia continue fruit
by Nancy Titus

Over the course of the years that we were in Croatia, you carried us in all our ups and downs as we endeavored to be the best missionaries we could be. Whatever fruit sprouts from the seeds we planted in the people there will continue to accrue to your account.

As we close this chapter of our lives, we think about the people who minister in the former Yugoslavia, especially those we had the privilege of teaching. Space in this last column doesn't permit more than cursory details, but I hope to encourage your continued prayers.

David Kovakevic, Eric's most recent assistant, was a student in both of our classes our first year in Croatia. He went on to receive both bachelor's and master's degrees. In addition to serving as a language interpreter for the school, he teaches classes in systematic theology.

David works alongside his father to care for three growing churches in the area around Osijek. He runs both youth Sunday school and discipleship classes and helps to implement strategies for reaching more people in the surrounding communities with the message of Christ.

David and his family live in Tordinci, a village that fell to the Serbs during the war. David was a small child then, and his family stayed because his father was the pastor of the church. Now, that same fellowship has planted churches in Vukovar, a city on the Serbian border that was devastated in the war, and across a different border into the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Despite the fact that there is so much work to do in the church proper, David is grateful to have a position with the seminary, which provides a small but needed income to supplement this church work.

Another former student, Mirce Manavski, pastors a church in Borovo, a small village outside Vukovar. This village was entirely populated by people who worked at the massive communist rubber company by the same name. The factory is still in operation making shoes but at a tenth of its former size. Though the church is solid, it cannot provide for Mirce's growing family, so he works in construction and other odd jobs whenever possible. His wife, Venesa, another graduate, teaches Hebrew at the seminary and in a local high school in Osijek, where they live. They welcomed their second child last summer.

Their living situation illustrates one harsh reality faced by the church. The 30-minute drive to Borovo represents a significant financial strain on the family, as gas costs about twice as much as in the States. To be near their jobs, the couple lives in Osijek, but that drive in turn limits the outreach to the congregation and beyond to the two or so times a week Mirce can afford to make the drive. The church has a house on its property, and though living there would provide better opportunities for ministry in the church, commuting costs would be prohibitive.

We also have students and graduates poised to make a difference on the economic and political landscape in the region. One couple started a business; another graduate was elected to the city council. These are vital inroads into the betterment of the society, as these young people offer alternatives to the distrust and corruption so commonplace.

We pray that in the years to come you will remember our sacred partnership in this small country of Croatia and will continue to pray for the vitality of the church there - that the gospel would be preached for the glory of the name of our risen savior Jesus Christ! We will continue to look for ways to help our former students in the work of reaching the lost and discipling people into vibrant expressions of a living Christian faith throughout the region. Let us know if you want to be apprised of any such opportunities from time to time.





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