I want to introduce you to Dasha, she is one year old. She has been the youngest member of the Children’s Ark for several weeks now. The mother has a drinking problem and is unable to care for her. She often left Dasha alone or took her with her when she was drunk. Social services have been looking into her for a long time because Dasha is not her first child! Dasha has three brothers and a sister, and they all live in our foster families.
The Kireev family has one biological son and seven adopted children. When social services called and said Dasha needs a home, without thinking twice, they agreed to adopt her. The joy of Dasha’s brothers and sisters was indescribable. They were waiting for the day when their little sister would come and they would all be together. Dasha got used to her new situation and family. She is an intelligent and active child and already has a special relationship with her adoptive mother. We are very grateful to God that the Kireev family can live with us in the Children’s Ark, and that they were ready to take Dasha in.
Raising a large family is not easy, and we thank you for
your prayers and help in covering the costs of our little ones.
On 14-16 July 2020, a fierce fight broke out between
numerous tribes in the South Sudan refugee camps in the Obongi area. As a
result of the fights, three people were killed, and several dozen people were
injured.
The cause of the conflict was the lack of food. A Nuer woman
was caught with stolen corn from the Kuku farm and brought before the chairman
of the refugee committee for disciplinary action. She was warned and whipped four
times. The Nuer tribe then united and beat the chairman of the refugee
committee. He was taken to a hospital, and the men began to set fire to houses
and wounded a man from the Kuku tribe with a knife. Then the Kuku youth
mobilized a group of people when the heard of this incident.
The conflict between the two factions lasted two days; in
total, over a hundred houses were burned down and 3 people killed. Two
communities were also affected. They are left homeless and without food. Today,
peace has returned to the refugee camp. We have one church in the area, and we
pray that God will touch the hearts of the refugees so that the victims can be
reconciled with each other. We pray that
God will provide shelter for the congregation and that everyone will have
plenty of food for their families! Thank you for your participation in our
grief during this difficult time.
The Life of elderly people in our village is not easy, especially with the language barrier. Even though they live in Thailand they speak their tribal language. Some of them come to our church with their grandchildren. God put a desire on our hearts to organize a group for the elderly, where we can study the Bible in their language. This is a spoken language and doesn’t have its own alphabet. Thank God that we can use audio Bibles, listen together, and discuss what the Word says. We often use pictures for better understanding.
At this point, we have 3-5 elderly women who come every week. In the beginning, they were too shy to pray out loud, but later two of them encouraged others. As we talked about God’s love, we asked them how they see that God loves them. One of the ladies gladly answered: “I was going to Church, but it was so hard for me to hear and understand and I felt sad about it. But now God told you to come and have time with us, where we can study the Bible, Thank God, He really loves me!”
When they come and share about their life of the past week, we hear from them how other people react to them when they speak about God. “Oh, I don’t think you can go to Heaven, because I remember you worshipped the strong spirit, he will not let you go.” – and our sister answered: “My God is the strongest Spirit, and will easily take me!” These 70-year-old and older ladies are full of energy, happy, and glad to share about God with their generation and people younger than their age. Please pray for their faith to grow and be bolder in reaching others. Please pray for us to have wisdom in continuing this ministry.
Gift Chimombo was born on January 2, 1982 in Blantyre. He is
married to Jessy. They have two small children. By the grace of God, Gift
became one of our students and was trained to organize new churches. In late
April 2020, Gift traveled to Senga Bay on a mission to open a church along Lake
Malawi. He started from nothing and now has 26 people in his congregation. It
was not easy because there is a lot of evil going on in this area.
Prostitution, robbery, witchcraft, and gambling are flourishing.
I visited them in July and was delighted to meet members of the new community. The church grows because it abides in prayers, fasting, and studying the Word of God. Gift taught his members to visit friends’ homes and share the Gospel with each family. He has scheduled prayer times for his members in the congregation. There are testimonies from local people, who were at the very bottom in life but now became disciples of Christ.
The quarantine is devastating for the poor Malawians. They have daily jobs that help them with income and food but it’s still just the bare minimum. We thank God that the quarantine began after the harvest. They can sell what they have collected and buy themselves everything they need to live. Thank you for your support during this challenging time for everyone.
More than two years ago, we met Yum, a Vietnamese. She speaks Russian and considers herself a Buddhist but is open to the Word of God. We gathered in her office, prayed, and read the Bible. Yum even went with us on our mercy ministry. In 2019, she married a Russian man, Alexander. We also began to read the Bible with him. 4 months ago, they had a daughter – Angelica. The other day Alexander came up to me and says: “Can Angelica be baptized?” I explained to him that baptism should happen at the will of the person who is being baptized and showed him in the Scripture that the Lord blesses children and prays over them. Now we will pray and bless their daughter in church. Please pray for this family.
During the quarantine, God gives us a special ministry. We go to people’s homes because they are afraid to come to church. We sow the Word of God and baptize the believers. Today we have 13 families in fellowship and 20 more people of unbelievers who accept the Word of God. The Lord constantly adds saved people to the church.
Dear friends, thank you for your work, love, prayers, and support. We are grateful and pray for you.
Sometimes I wonder why I stayed in the church, and I understand that it was thanks to the people who came to me. They were sincere and good to me. I saw Jesus in them.
This is very important because our ministry is more deeds than words.
Today we have the opportunity to live our lives to show that
God exists. The ministry of mercy is a real opportunity to show the Creator and
each of us can be a partner in God’s work.
I want to say hello from Maria, the mother of Lera. They are in St. Petersburg and are waiting for a bone marrow transplant. All tests have been submitted. Lera underwent chemotherapy and it completely killed her immune system, this required a bone marrow transplant. This bone marrow transplant will give her have a chance to survive.
We helped them with renting an apartment, buying medicines
and food. The eldest daughter of Maria lives in Omsk, and we take care of her
while her mother is away.
Maria and Lera really need our help and thank you all for
taking part in their grief. Thank you for your help.
Thank you for your faithfulness in this ministry. Pray for
the health of children and our team. Pray for the medical staff we work with!
We believe that God will be glorified and will lead many to the knowledge of
the Truth!
