First of all we want to THANK ALL OF YOU for your love, support and prayers. Together we have had another fruitful month of ministering the gospel truth to many, some of whom heard for the first time!
We are thankful for the doors the Lord has and is opening for us in the ministry and are aware that this is only the beginning. The possibilities are endless and we are trusting the Lord to lead and guide us step by step! Thank you for your continued prayers!
1. OUTREACH
2. UKRAINIAN MINISTRY
3. BAPTISM - BIRTHDAY- BIBLE STUDIES
4. CHURCH WEEKEND
5. CULTURAL FESTIVAL
6. INFORMATION MEETING CONCERNING DRUGS
7. DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING
8. ENCOUNTER/PRAYER WALK
9. THE VINEYARD
OUTREACH
Every month we print and distribute gospel tracts to the people in the streets...sowing seeds! We do not always see immediate results (as in souls won) but we are expecting a harvest. Meanwhile we have more people signing up to our Whats-app Ministry.
THE UKRAINIAN MINISTRY
Philip is continuing the Ukrainian ministry regularly printing gospel tracts in Ukrainian o(on one side) and Russian on the other. We are very thankful for google translate. Meanwhile we are continuing to pray for the Lord to raise up a person of peace to help bridge the language gap.
BAPTISM - BIRTHDAY - BIBLE STUDIES
We are extremely thankful for the Lord trusting us to disciple K., a precious young lady.
We offered to celebrate her birthday at our place as she does not have any family around.
To our pleasant surprise she also asked to be baptized on her birthday.
She is growing stronger in her walk with the Lord day by day! Praise the Lord!
For the birthday celebration we had home-made moussaka prepared by Philip as requested by Kia.
Without prior communication the Lord had us get K. a Danish Bible, while her friend got her a case for carrying a Bible.
Only the Lord could have planned that so perfectly!
Her we are enjoying a nice coffee break during one of our many Bible studies/discipleship training session!
CHURCH WEEKEND
During the church weekend we had guest speakers from England doing most of the teaching. We also had opportunity to pray for each other and to be prayed for. Te lady seen below being prayed for also signed up to our daily devotionals.
Philip, as is his habit, followed the Lord’s leads and prayed for those he sensed were in need of the Lord’s healing touch!
And I had the privilege of being called on during two of our sessions to do running translations. It was a good challenge as I usually receive the text in advance, but I was told that it went quite well. Thank the Lord for the Holy Spirit always ready to assist!
The kids had lots of fun. One evening they had movie night lying on mattresses and bring along their pillow. They also had a professional popcorn machine! In the photo above their had fun games and competitions. Fun was had by all, big and small!
We all helped out on various duties. Here I helped set out the breakfast buffet and make coffee and tea. We were told that we were to bake buns for everyone (about 100 people) but were relieved that it turned out not to be so! They were just having fun watching our reaction. We tried to be brave, but it was obvious that we were very relieved when truth was told!
The dining room was beautiful with big “tree” giving the feel of sitting in a garden. Philip did such a great job at heading up the dish-washing team that he ended up being scheduled to do so three times in a row. Praise the Lord!
We also attended an information meeting as there is a big drug problem in the community, and in fact the whole country. Not only among the youth, but many adults have also fallen victim to this addiction. There are several categories of drugs but this evening opiates were discussed. It led to a heated discussion as some parents were blaming the authorities for not preventing drugs from being sold at the schools, others were blaming doctors for being careless with their prescriptions of drugs, etc. But all were given insight on what a big task the authorities face in curbing this problem as the drugs are also sold via certain apps that delete the messages within 24 hours and that the they are never delivered by the same person or the same mode of transport to the client and therefore making it extremely difficult to catch the sellers. It was also brought out how to look for signs of addiction and where to seek help. Please pray for us to reach the youth (who are especially vulnerable) with the gospel.
DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING
During one of our staff meetings we suggested that we needed to go deeper in the Word for those interested. The Lord had also spoken to a couple of other people about this and so the first Discipleship training course meeting was launched! The subject addressed was: Following Jesus! In the photo below Philip is praying for someone suffering from a car accident years ago.
ENCOUNTER/PRAYER WALK
We had an Encounter Meeting where we went for a “prayer walk” praying for our local community, claiming the land. Afterward we all met for hot chocolate and a type of Danish donuts called “aebleskiver”.
THE VINEYARD
The lead pastor and his wife announced that the will be going on a three months leave. They have been heading up the church for 12 years and said they are in need of rest and refreshing. Our new pastor meanwhile is Benjamin, is the assistant pastor.
Lunch at the church. One of our favorite times for fellowshipping and getting to know each other better!
Besides the events listed here we also attended a staff meeting, held Bible studies in our home, added new subscribers to our daily devotionals, continued discipleship training, etc. We are happy to find a hunger for the Word and still feel there is much more for us to contribute. But we aim to follow the Lord step by step and go through the doors as He opens them. We also attended an Alpha meeting (foundational Christian teaching) but it was too far away so we decided to not keep going.
In closing we want to thank you for your love, prayers, support and encouragement. And to our partners we send an especially BIG THANK YOU! You are enabling us to carry on the ministry and any fruit we bear here is to your credit as well.
In closing we send much love and appreciation to all,
We are very happy that our little Bible study is growing as the Lord is adding new students. It is wonderful to find like-minded people here in Europe who eagerly seek after truth. We have much to be thankful for. We are looking forward to more people joining as well in the near future.
ENCOUNTER:
We now meet once a month to pray for our local area and the large foreign community here. There are many needy people and we are seeking the Lord for His wisdom and guidance.
We are reaching our local foreign community. We have to be very discreet and go slow, and can also not take or show too many photos. It is however very rewarding and we are learning along the way. Here we are walking a mother and her children back home as it is now getting dark early here. Our longest day is almost 20 hours long and the shortest only about 7 hours—which is also why we have light-saving hours starting again in about a month.
DANISH STUDY:
As mentioned earlier Philip has no gotten his ‘permanent” residency permit. It comes with several conditions, but if we are still here in five years and have kept the conditions he can get a permanent residence permit without the attached conditions. For that there is one condition and that is that he has passed a level 2 Danish test. Here he is studying at home. He gets 5 hours a week, and has been impression the teachers as a very good student!
OUTREACH:
We regularly print up gospel tracts to distribute during our times of outreach, The tract we are holding here is on the salvation message and how to be born again.
Our desire is that all may be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4) This month 3 people received the Lord while many more were left with the salvation message. We meet many foreigners here as well. Seeds are sown that we pray will spring up into everlasting life!
THE VINEYARD:
WELCOME DINNER:
Every so often the church will host an evening dinner for new members. During this time the vision of the church is shared and we fellowship to get to know each other. This time a precious woman from Iran and her teeage son attended. They are very hungry for the Word and also attended a fellowship while in Iran.
STAFF MEETING:
We also attended a staff meeting. All staff members are responsible for an area of the church ministry. Philip and I were asked to head up the outreach, which we are very happy to do. During these meeting we pray over the work and are able to share our thoughts and suggestions. We shared that we see the need for a more in dept disciple training program. Thankfully our suggestion was taken and the first of such meetings will take place the 1st of October. There ill be teaching and group discussion! We look forward to attending and are expecting good fruit.
UPCOMING CHURCH WEEKEND:
During the month of October there will be a church weekend, meaning that we will go to a venue located in another city (which happens to be the city where I lived for the 110 years I went to school. There will be guest speakers arriving from England and over 70m people have signed up this far. We will report more about this next month!
WHATS-APP MESSAGES AND TESTIMONIES:
WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY:
· Exciting reading! I don’t manage to read it every day, but today I did, and good for me!
· I like how the authors counts all the things –the blood of Jesus covers a lot-and lists the verses so I can find it.
· Thank you so much for this Word. We love understanding God’s Word!
· Amen. Sometimes it’s our choices that get us in trouble. We say, “God did this to me!” No, God is love and mercy no matter what. His anointing is always with us. He is a loving Father.
· God makes a way of escape. We just need to stay close to Him!
· I want to take this opportunity to thank you again, Rita, for the daily devotionals you faithfully send to me via WhatsApp in the mornings. It is always a blessing - and I am sure I am not the only one who feels that way.
· Thank you so much for all the messages. It means a lot to me. I usually read them in the morning.
· This text was spot on for me!
· You have no idea what these word mean to me. Thank you, have a blessed day!
· Thank you for not letting me go. I can see your faith is true and honest.
· Good morning. I just wanted to say thank you for praying for me to get a job. I started last week!
The above are just a few of the many reactions we receive as feed-back from our Whats-App messages. Since arriving in Denmark we have had approximately 20 more people sign up — although not all from here. But our devotionals are reaching people all over the world in places such as the States, South Africa, Uganda, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, France, Holland, etc..
If you are reading this newsletter you are most likely partnering with our ministry and therefore and instrumental part in making it possible for us to reach out to so many different people of different nationalities, backgrounds, walks of life, etc. Thank you for the important part you play. Please pray for the Lord to add more people for us to minister to! Thank you!
TESTIMONIES: Philip has been praying for several people in the church. One who suffered from back pain experienced that the pain left, someone who was married and desired to have a baby was prayed for and one moth later she testified that she was pregnant. Someone else’s leg grew out. — We praise the Lord for all that He is doing!
IN SOUTH AFRICA: The contacts we established for food for fresh produce for the soup kitchens, milk, Weet-Bix, coffee — (the coffee is for various missionary centers) are still helping. We have friends in South Africa who continue to collect and distribute it! Our labors were not in vain! Praise the Lord.
We send much love and appreciation for your participation, Philip and Rita
