Johnstein!

As many of you might know, it has been over a year and a half since we moved back to southern california. It been a wonderfully difficult time. The reminder in James 1:2 to "Count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds" has never been more real to me than this year. These past months have been a experiment in examining the "various kinds"...and in God proving the promise that these trials will produce steadfastness. It's been too long since I have updated this page. In some ways, I think it is losing its "effectiveness". With our mailchimp updates and our facebook group page, it almost seems like we're falling in to the trap of over-communicating...and in this trap, updates are lost. But...I think over-communicating is "better" than isolation. Plus...God has done some amazing things during this time and through the challenges, has placed our entire family in positions of growth while stretching and strengthening our faith. For...

Two years ago we were just wrapping up a project training the "first generation" of Kosovar baseball coaches. The 20 that were there that week represented 3 cities. They represented a small group of interested athletes learning a sport that had no representation in their country; no baseball federation, no baseball clubs, no recognition. That was two years ago. Since that week in January, a number of these young people have become active in working to establish baseball as a new national sport in Kosovo. And while the challenges seem endless...the successes are propeling us forward. Now, these coaches represent a new generation of athletes who want to build something new in their country. They are a generation of leaders who have stepped up to start baseball clubs in 6 cities. They are a generation of visionaries working together to establish the newest Baseball federation in the world. Two years ago I wrote on a facebook update that I was "challenged by the reality of w...

Whew...it's been an interesting couple months. As I shared in the last update, God has already fulfilled a major part of the initial vision for using Baseball for His glory in Kosovo. Beyond even our lofty (at least in my mind) expectations. As I was processing all this upon my return, I found myself in an interesting place. I was amazed by the way God fulfilled this part of the vision. Six independent clubs now exist in Kosovo! A National Federation! WOW! God is doing some amazing things beyond my imagination. I was hopeful and joyful, and yet, I found myself slipping in to despair, and then depression. I was energized...and yet couldn't motivate myself to work. I had vision...but wouldn't see what God was doing. (In fact, I started writing a blog to process this all...and am shocked by my shortsightedness. I never posted it, but I would be "happy" to share it with you privately if you want...shoot me an email ) I wanted to embrace the challenges...bu...

The time in between blog posts has been an absolute whirlwind. Two months ago, we saw the need to make an "emergency" trip to California for a period of counseling and medical care. During this time, we gained a bit of perspective on what ministry should look like for us...and how to prioritize our relationship with God, with each other, and then with our calling. As a result, we have made the decision to move away from Kosovo. There are a couple of factors that have gone in to this decision; including Rebecca and Kailyn's health issues, educational challenges. Ultimately we realized that we needed to be back in the states in order to focus on some things. Through our time of counseling, and conversations with our pastors and support we gained a bit of perspective on how we see our ministry, what God was calling us to do, and how we were taking care of ourselves and our family. We realized that our response to the call to Kosovo needed to be revisited. We have seen ...

As you are probably aware, the Lord is doing a mighty work in our ministry in Kosovo. Doors are opening, opportunities are being created, and a vision for impacting thousands of people is becoming clearer and clearer. Good things are happening in ministry...and yet, we are struggling mightily in our family and marriage. Life in Kosovo is HARD. Over the months we have avoided sharing many of the challenges because the "good" was far outweighing the "bad". And really, who wants to hear about our struggles. People on our mailing list are dealing with severe illness, death in their families, and family crises that are far more challenging than ours... But really, we have been remiss in not sharing these things with you. We know that you all are genuinely committed to sharing in our troubles as much as you are in rejoicing in our celebrations. Long story short, our time in Kosovo has exposed many things in our relational life that we have never properly dealt with. A...

Update Many of you support us financially. Some of your support us in prayer, some of you have visited us on the field (or are planning to soon!) and some of you follow and regularly read our updates. We are thankful for how you all have been a part of our call to missions; first to Austria and now to Kosovo. We moved to Kosovo in June of this year and by the Grace of God have been able to accomplish more than we imagined. Global Baseball is now a registered NGO in Kosovo. We have met with the mayor of our town, a number of pastors throughout the country, and have developed relationships with young people interested in making a difference in this country. We have been part of a sports initiative aimed at integration and conflict resolution amongst members of 4 different ethnic communities and have been working with two dozen committed young coaches to help them improve their baseball skills. In the coming year we will begin a school based instructional program while also estab...

Some of what I write below is from my thoughts during my devotional reading...some of it is from coming to grips with things I see on social media and conversations I've had in regards to the current world issues of how "we" should respond to the refugee crisis in light of terrorists threats. It's a bit long... Matthew 25:31-46 English Standard Version (ESV) 31  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,  then he will sit on his glorious throne.   32  Before him  will be gathered  all the nations, and  he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates  the sheep from the goats.   33  And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.   34  Then  the King will say to  those on his right, ‘Come, you  who are blessed by my Father,  inherit  the kingdom  prepared for you from the foundation of the world.   35  For  I was hung...

It's been close three years since we were first introduced to the opportunity to work in Kosovo...since that time it's been pretty cool to see how the idea to introduce baseball and share Jesus has grown from a simple 4 day camp to a much larger vision to make an impact in this nation. We have planned and prayed for this initiative, but I am so wonderfully struck by the way God just makes things happen that are beyond our expectation. For example...this past weekend we took a group of players to Camp Bondsteel to play on a real field. In my mind, this was simply going to be a chance for some beginning players to get a taste for how fun baseball can be. I figured that if the young folks that joined us enjoyed themselves, then it would be a success. Boy...did I underestimate the impact of this weekend. In the last couple days, Global Baseball and the Kosovo Baseball Initiative has received national and international coverage of our work to introduce baseball to Kosovo. I have...

The most exciting thing about our vision to introduce baseball in Kosovo is that local guys are getting behind it. Michael will be heading up to Peja next week to train new Baseball coaches. This project has been organized by one of the guys we trained back in January. He is part of an NGO called Centre for Tolerance and Integration - Pec ( CTI-P) and they work primarily in the Bosniak (Bosnian Muslims) community trying to develop activities that will lead young people from multiple ethnic groups into positive relationships with each other. They recently have received a grant from an international (mostly European) organization called Play International (formerly Sports Sans Frontières). This was a very competitive process that saw 75 NGO's apply for the opportunity. CTI-P  was one of three NGOs that were awarded a grant to use. The unique part about their grant was that it is focusing on building understanding and reducing ethnic tensions, and it is aiming to do this thr...

We have been in our new house for a little less than a week, but we are already learning more about the neighborhood that God has placed us in. We want you all to get a feel for our neighborhood. We'd love to invite you to do "virtual prayer walks" from time to time through our neighborhood as we look for opportunities to bear witness to Jesus Christ. Location 1 - Our house. Just outside our house is a Salon that is owned by the owners of the house we are renting. Already, Kailyn and Rebecca have spent a lot time just sitting in there with the ladies. It is a training facility so there are a lot of girls coming in who love to play with Kailyn. Might just turn in to a recruiting center for babysitters (and softball players)! Please pray that Rebecca and Kailyn will be able to build good relationships with these girls and serve as a witness to God's Grace. Our front patio. This is a great space that we hope to use to have friends over for bbqs and to watch game...

We've been in Kosovo for 3 weeks. Some times, we feel so comfortable it feels as though we've been in Kosovo for years...but most of the time we can't help but realize how much we are strangers in this place. There's so much we don't understand...and this is frustrating sometimes. Some moments, I wonder what the heck we're doing here...other times I feel like we truly belong here. Some days it seems like all the details fall in to place and we end up being productive...other days we spend a lot of time sitting around and seem to be spinning our wheels (figuratively, of course, since we are still trying to find a suitable vehicle). And through it all, the Lord God is faithful. He truly is a God of provision and He has provided in so many ways. This blog has served as a journal for us since the day we started it back in 2010. I love reading through old posts to see how God has provided. I want to use this post to list many of the ways God has provided in the p...

After a week of, seemingly, no options...we have found a home! This is an answer to prayer! This is a wonderful place with some great owners who really are supportive and trying to make this place comfortable for us. Unbelievable, really. We saw this house on Tuesday morning, and by Wednesday at 7pm we were sitting with the owner finalizing the agreement after 3 hours of identifying improvements and working on details. The home has 3 rooms, big living room/kitchen, a huge entry way (which could double as a sitting room), small basement, and has a pleasant front yard that is fully enclosed and protected. The home has very thick concrete walls so the house is quite cool on hot days and will stay warm during cold days. View from street. Shop to the right is a beauty salon owned by the same folks who own the house. driveway (from house, looking out towards the main street). Added Bonus: wooden door on right is a bathroom (squatty potty) driveway front porch, garden/...