We are worried that because of our low budget, we are missing the main thing –to tell people about Christ. We urgently need a driver’s license, which costs $150. We are also looking for opportunities to buy health insurance. We are here on a tourist visa that’s why we have to leave the country every 3 months, the annual visa costs $250 per person.
I was given an opportunity to share Gods word with people suffering from leper. But, unfortunately, it did not happen due to lack of finances. We can always participate in helping the needy with daily bread, like in orphanages, but this requires a monthly budget of at least $150 – $200. Dear brothers and sisters, we write about the experience and we understand that the opportunities for serving Him in Vietnam will grow day by day, but without your support, we will miss one opportunity after another.
From May 13 – 30, we are going to visit the Thai prisons. We want to bless the prisoners who are eager to meet with Russian speakers. We currently have four contacts, but we plan to expand to 15 people. We will work with women who are in rehabilitation after prostitution.
We would also like to help refugees from Pakistan. There is a fire for God’s love, but there is not enough firewood. Please support us with prayers with all our worries. Thank you very much for your participation in our work.
The news has repeatedly reported that South Sudanese are starving. Every person I’ve met desperately needs food, medicine, and security. Desperate people who heard about the food delivery to the churches were ready to attack us! The number of those in need exceeded all our capabilities. As usual, we loaded 12.5 tons of food products. Many from the crowd testified that they had not eaten for the last several days. We could not feed everyone, and therefore the help was designated for the members of the church only. The rest of the crowd of ca 1500 people did not disperse and demanded to help them even though their names were not on the registration lists! This was a difficult test for me and the church’s help committee. God gave us wisdom, and we announced that the food delivery was exclusively for vulnerable people, such as widows, disabled, elderly and schoolchildren. Thus, we distributed food and non-food products to people in need. And thanked God that everything went well.
The church in Southern Sudan in the state of Nimule was founded in 2000. Now Pastor Lozo Jofri is working here, he is a citizen of Nimule. About two years ago, he fled to the Ajumani refugee camp in northern Uganda. Not so long ago, he was asked to return to reopen the church. We thank God that he is doing well, and the church in Nimule is growing. Pastor Lozo is doing his best to reestablish other churches that were abandoned because of the conflict. To date, four Baptist churches are open again. Despite the economic difficulties, the number of returning believers is growing daily. Pastor Lozo, in a private conversation, shared with me that his family had not eaten for two days. He planned to send his family back to Uganda to feed his wife and children. I told the relief committee about the request of Pastor Lozo, and they unanimously decided, to include him and his family in the food distribution.
Our brothers and sisters were touched to tears and we thank everyone from the heart for the food delivery to the needy churches in Nimula. Please extend our gratitude to all the churches in the US for the timely assistance to feed thousands of South Sudanese refugees. We sincerely love you!
New year is an important event for people in Thailand. Families gather together, slaughter a pig to eat and invite friends over. This time of the year is very special for many of our children because this time of the year might the only time in the year where they can see their parents who come to visit from Bangkok, where they work to provide for their families.
This year our young girls competed on behalf of the whole village and received a prize – a cash reward. When they shared the funds among themselves, and I had to smile as I watched as they counted their coins and set aside 10 percent for God. And they themselves were happy that they could help the church! Thank God for the work that was done in the hearts of our children.
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God has given us a wonderful opportunity to encourage our children to read and memorize Bible verses. The children were instructed to read the message of Jacob and remember Psalm 101, after which we had a two-day camp. It was a blessed and happy, but also a tense time for all of us. We wanted our children and the children of other Christians to meet and worship together. Some of the villagers bring fruit or vegetables from their fields and gardens. After the camp, we all sell it and have a modest revenue for our church needs.
A few days ago, we had a graduation program for our local girls who helped with the education of children over the past two years. Now is the time for them to take the next step in education or find a job. This is a big change in their lives because they have to go somewhere else. Please pray for them so that God will help them make the right decisions in their life’s! God bless you!
Time is running out, quickly passing us… Its already the spring of this new year.
The atmosphere here is very tough. Materialism captures the minds of not only the local population but also immigrants. We continue the ministry for refugees from Africa and the Middle East. Recently we see many refugees from Eritrea and we need the Gospel tracts in English, Arabic, and Farsi. Some of them live in a refugee camp, others are on the street, or under bridges. They have a lot of time, so we want to give them to read and want to please them with giving them material in their own language.
They live very poorly, especially those who are under the bridges. They live on the streets because they do not want to stay in Italy. They are trying to get to other countries, where their friends or relatives are. Therefore, they do not go to the refugee camp to avoid any registration. The Italians provide for them, but for everything else they are responsible for themselves. We talk with them about the Lord and of course, the majority are Muslims. We compare the Bible and the Koran, ask them the questions of the relativity of Christ or Isa, as they call our Lord.I had an especially interesting conversation with Hussein, he took the Arabic Gospel. Then came back with his friend Adam who knows more about the Koran.
I found a version of the Koran on the Phone, which is translated into Arabic and Russian. The translation is not very good, but it still can help me to make them think critically. Many have questions: was Christ crucified or not? In the Koran there is no clear to answer this, in some verses, it says that He wasn’t, and in others, it says He resurrected.
If you are willing to help with literature or audio devices for refugees, I will be very grateful to you. We urgently need the Gospel in Arabic, Kurdish, Persian, and English.
Blessings to you, thank you for the prayers, I really need them, since in Nice there is a spiritual wall and the enemy does not want to back off from their lines. I thank those who support our ministry.
After two months of our ministry in Vietnam, we made some observations about the people, their habits, and practices. One thing we noticed that they pay a lot of attention to their families. At 4 am, they go as a family to the gym and devote between 30-60 min to physical exercise, which includes games. At 7 am they are already at work, and those who don’t work go to coffee shops that are located along the streets and eat breakfast and socialize there. They are very patient and can sit for hours and just watch the life on the streets.
Something else is standing out, the way they are driving on the streets looks quite chaotic from the side (the laws are not always followed). They mostly ride mini-bikes, from small to large, and once I saw five people at once one bike. In any given situation, when we think it’s appropriate to express emotions, they don’t do it, they just look neutral and calm at all things. Not a single muscle moves in their faces. But at the same time, they are very sympathetic when you embrace them, hug them or smile at them.
Like we write before, 80% of the country are Buddhists. Our friend Nyam, who owns a tourist business, has an altar in her office. To the questions what this is, she said: “This is Buddha, we have him everywhere. He sees everything so that everything would be good. He guards us and protects us.”
Theft happens quite often here. They drive on the streets and quickly cut off a bag with a blade or sharp knife and drive off. They usually say, either they will never find the thief or the police doesn’t look for them at all. We had $100 stolen from our suitcase, there was a total of $400. To make it not noticeable they only took two $50 notes from the pile. When we found out and started to investigate where the money went and wanted to call the police we were told that we have to pay for the police investigation. We prayed about it and turned it all over into Gods hands.
When I saw a girl crying I came up to her and asked her if I can help her, she yes and started telling me:” When I was walking with my husband and two children, somebody drove by from the back and pulled off the backpack off my shoulders and left.”
In another situation, just as surprising, friends came to visit us. We went out to eat dinner and after we were done I wiped my hands with a napkin and did not notice how my gold ring slipped off my finger. When we came home I noticed how it is missing. After already being used to the loss we returned back to the same restaurant and I asked the owner if they found any ring here. She seemed full of joy like she was looking for me, called her husband and he came and took the ring from his hand and gave it back to me without any charge. Here are the Vietnamese, unclear to us.
From 11 Am to 2 Pm the Vietnamese have an afternoon nap, called the “Siesta”. At this time, it is better not to bother them. In the evening they get more coffee and sing, play and socialize. We continue to pray for the people here and for an awakening. Thank you very much for your prayers and sacrificial hearts in the ministry of the Lord, turning people to Christ.
Greetings to you my brothers and sisters, I wish everybody a Merry Christmas. This is a very important event every year that we celebrate. We experience Gods mercy and we understand what we can’t be silent about it and so we go to show people that Jesus is alive. I would like to share the blessings that we have experienced as a team and would like to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts from all the children who we received Christmas gifts from you. On Christmas, we visited several hospitals that have children suffering from blood cancer. Very often they don’t win the fight`1 against it. We wanted to bring the holiday and the hope to be with our great God in the future. When we read the Gospel, we see how Jesus taught his disciples to show mercy and compassion, that’s is the reason why we can’t be silent about it. Around seventy children heard about the love of God and received gifts.
The parents and the hospital staff were thankful to everybody who was involved. Children are waiting for us and this changes our hearts and hopefully yours as well. Thank you for participating in our needs and we will be thankful for any help. Please pray for us, because God opens the doors to the children’s homes and nursing homes. Glory be to Him.
