We want to thank you for your partnership, love, prayers and all that you do to enable us carry on together. We hope you and your families are having a wonderful season, whether you are in summer or in winter. You are in our prayers for safe-keeping, prosperity and fulfillment in your lives.
As you know, we visited Greece last month. Philip’s sister had passed away and there were legal matters we needed to attend to. Besides that we build beautiful memories that will stay with us. Denmark was at least 10-15 degrees cooler and we somehow ended up with the flue. We are better now and while we fought the good fight to regain our health we had a wonderful time in the Word sharpening our skills in the faith department.
Thankfully we were not out of commission for long, praise the Lord! As it says in 1 John 5:4 “Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” God is greater than all, and healing is already ours, se we fight from a place of victory. Praise the Lord!
Following is a little insight to some of our accomplishments this month:
OUTREACH:
During our time out we met a young Muslim man who had a lot of questions. As we were talking Philip got a word of knowledge about there being something wrong with one of his legs. It turned out that one leg was shorter than the other. Philip prayed for him and when he walked around afterwards he said that he felt much better. We also met a young man from South Korea who received the Lord with us. And many received our tracts to read later on.
BIBLE STUDENTS:
Due to people being away for the holidays and our church, the Vineyard, not opening till the month of August, we did not yet start up our Bible studies. Meanwhile three of our students came to visit us for personal counseling and on, to ask about the possibility of joining our Bible study group as he wants to serve the Lord. He came to Denmark from Eritrea as a 12 years old boy. The other were visitors a young girl from Ukraine, which was in need of encouragement, and a Danish single mother of 4, who had several questions that she would like to know what the Bible had to say about. We had a great time individually with each one and we look forward to starting up our Word classes soon again, while still keeping the personal touch!
STOP THE FOOD WASTE:
Aysel, the lady who is responsible for the food distribution project in our area, has been very thankful to have us back. Due to the summer holidays there are very few volunteers and she had on several occasion had to work alone. When we were there last food was prepared for a certain amount of people, but more than double that amount arrived. While I was in the front handing out the food, she and Philip were busy trying to redistribute what was in the baskets, as well as searching for more dry supplies to try to make everyone got enough as the supplies were very limited this week.
WHATS-APP MINISTRY:
Here is a picture of our What’s-App office desk in the early morning hours. Since coming to Denmark we have added people from approximately 12 different nationalities to the list of our recipients, and of course more than one persona, especially from Denmark. Some of the nationalities we are added are from countries such as: Ukraine, Iran, Eritrea, USA, Uganda, Denmark, Iceland, South Africa, Holland, Finland, Greenland, and France . Praise the Lord.
I, Rita, usually get up early to ensure that everyone on the receiving end of our ministry receive the Word early enough to start the day out with a short time of fellowship with Jesus before heading to work, if they so desire. This month my computer broke and had to go in for repair. Thankfully the Lord answered our prayers and we had the computer back within a few short days. Meanwhile some things were not available, but for the most part Philip set me up on his computer so that I could carry on.
TRACTS:
We are also busy preparing for our street outreach as we need to have tracts available in Danish and English. And besides that Philip will be preparing Ukrainian tracts for the many Ukrainians that come to the food distribution center.
THE WORD:
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16) * * * God has given all of us special talents, and when we yield them to God, no matter how small they may seem, He uses them. To Him, everybody has value and everybody is important. I was reminded of how one man’s garbage is another man’s treasure. One time, when I was living in Brazil, I put my old leather boots outside the gate. There was a big hole in one of the soles—but those boots were gone in less than a minute. Recycling garbage can be an interesting subject, especially considering what Jesus told me next in my ponderings: People once thought you were garbage, but I recycled you too. That’s the truth. I thought back to when I was lost myself—confused, groping in darkness, with nowhere to go. That time when I had no faith and no light. People had no hope for me. I could almost hear them think, Poor boy. He’s only good for the trash. But Jesus said, I can recycle you. I can make something beautiful out of you. And He did. What’s my point? Everything we do should be for the recycling business. We need to recycle this old world and bring about God’s kingdom on earth. (Koos Stenger) * * * God takes the people who have been cast aside
and look like trash. God's in the recycling business.
He recycles that trash and brings forth treasure.
(Paula White)
VIDEO RECORDING:
We were asked to make a video for our “family” in South Africa sharing about our ministry here in Denmark. It was inspiring for us as it helped us realize the progress that has been made over time. Little by little we are making a difference.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
FOR THE MINISTRY:
We would like to ask for your continued prayers for our ministry. That we will be able to lead many more to the Lord and to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). We would also like prayer for our follow-up of those that we have already met and established a connection with. Please pray for us to have the time, for them to desire to meet up and possibly join our Bible study group.
VEHICLE:
We would like to ask you to continue to stand with us in faith for e vehicle. It would enhance our ministry and make it a lot easier for us to get around. Thank you! :)
In closing we want to once again THANK YOU for your love care and participation through your partnership in our ministry here. Much love, Philip and Rita
We hope these news find you well, and for those of you in South Africa we hope you will stay warm! As you may remember we are presently visiting Greece where we are in a heat wave. Yesterday we had 41 degrees C in Athens! We came here to take care of some legal matters and at the same time to enjoy a very welcome vacation. We are staying with some friends on an island close to the main land. — Meanwhile we have been in contact with South Africa helping one of the kitchens there with some admin, and we have been keeping up our What’s App ministry. It is one hour later here than in Denmark and South Africa so we have had an extra hour to rest in the mornings during our stay here.
BIBLE STUDIES:
We have gained one new student, our friend who housed us when we first arrived back n Denmark, and another young man has expressed a desire to also participate after our return. Praise the Lord!
For our last Bible study before leaving for Greece Philip treated our Bible students to a Greek meal of moussaka!
STOP THE FOOD WASTE:
The “Stop the Food Waste” Program has had approximately 50 families weekly come for food. We are happy to be able to help clean (the kitchen and the veggies), sort and distribute. Here we are preparing the portions for each one. I, Rita, have been asked a couple of times to be the one up front handing out the food. I have found that handling the people is not always easy as some can be demanding, refusing to move on. But it is good practice in staying sweet and understanding! :)
THE VINEYARD CHURCH:
Here Philip is helping to serve communion, and as mentioned I help once a month with the translation of the sermon, sometimes more frequently if need be. Our pastor has visited us a few times and we have had the opportunity to share our hearts and impressions of the church. We were very fortunate to spend the time we did in South Africa where we learned a lot.
COMMITTEE MEETING:
We were invited to attend a committee metting where the head of the board was to be voted in. We are also given insight to some of the pending projects as well as accomplishments of the past.
THE DANISH CONSTITUTION DAY:
We were invited to attend a committee meeting where the head of the board was to be voted in. We are also given insight to some of the pending projects as well as accomplishments of the past.
DANISH LESSONS:
Philip completed the preparatory Danish course as well as step 1. He has gone as far as he can here in the local community. In August he will start step 2 and will have to go to a school at the center of the city. He aims to complete step 3 as well.
OUR TIME IN GREECE:
Here had a wonderful family reunion with Philip’s niece and her family. It is 20 years ago they last met! We still hope to also visit with their oldest daughter before we leave. She was away at the university, but we were able to have short conversation with her via Skype. We spend the morning swimming and enjoying the sea and afterwards we went to a local tavern where we enjoyed a typical Greece meal.
We are staying with some precious old-time friends on the island of Salamina. Here is a view from where they sat. Just stepping out of the yard you can see right down to the sea and it takes literally 5 minutes to be on the beach. It is so refreshing to be surrounded by the beautiful nature. There are a lot of fruit trees around here already bearing fruit.
We visited the local street market n the island. It’s booming with fresh produce although we’ve been told it got a lot smaller after the COVID. Below is a picture of the ferry we had to take every time to get to the mainland. Cars, motorbikes and pedestrians alike all board the ferry for the about 30 minutes ride it takes to get across. A very enjoyable ride indeed!
When we used to live in Greece many years ago you could freely walk up and visit the Acropolis. However it has now been fenced in and to get all the way up (on foot) you have to pay EURO 30 per person. We did not do so but were still able to get a few photos.
On the way down from the Acropolis there were several sets of steep staircases. On the middle one we found a restaurant where we stopped to be refreshed. They had a thin stream of water being pointed on a fan that then worked like an aircon.
Philip’s sister passed away in December last year. We had been looking forward to visiting with her but sadly that did not happen. However we were able to visit her grave site and place some beautiful white flowers. Here Philip is removing the old ones.
TESTIMONIES:
While here we have also been busy working on some legal paperwork. Some of which was successfully done and other that seem quite complicated. Our stay here is soon coming to an end and we would appreciate your prayers for a speedy completion or that we find someone that will be able to continue the work for us.
We have also taken this time as an opportunity to enjoy Greece and visit some of the places we used to frequent. Things have changed a lot over the past 20-30 years - some places were hardly recognizable. However, people’s need for love and a reminder that Jesus loves them remains the same! We were able to minister to several people by raying for their healing, and directing them to some of the principles of faith that must be in place for them to be able to keep their healing. There is so much to be ministered in so many areas of people’s lives.
We want to end by THANKING YOU for the invaluable place you each play in enabling us to preach the gospel and devoting our time to establishing the kingdom of God upon the earth.
Much love and appreciation,
Philip and Rita
In closing we want to once again THANK YOU for your love care and participation through your partnership in our ministry here. Much love, Philip and Rita
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AN ENCOURAGING WORD:
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. (Romans 14:19) * * * Years ago, I was in a complicated and unpleasant work situation with one of my coworkers. Things didn’t improve, and I was relieved when he eventually moved on. Some time later, I received a short email from him with two simple words: “I apologize.” That’s good! I thought. He wants to apologize. So I looked for the attachment that would have the “formal apology.” But there wasn’t any. I’d expected a written, detailed acknowledgment of the headaches, tensions, and complications that he had caused. What I got was those two words “I apologize”. I knew that God was asking me to forgive him and turn the page. He had done his bit by asking for forgiveness, and the right thing to do was to extend that to him—but deep down, I felt a bit cheated. Couldn’t he have put a bit more effort into his apology? But it wasn’t long before I needed to apologize to someone and didn’t know how to go about it. Getting into the reasons behind my actions would give the impression that I was creating a platform to justify myself and would make my apology sound insincere, plus I risked starting the controversy all over again. In the end, I copied the apology I’d received from my former coworker—and it was no less sincere for being simple. It isn’t easy to ask for forgiveness. I think that humility and sincerity are key, to be genuinely concerned about the offended person’s needs and learn to listen to their hurts. Anything wonderful can happen in the restored relationship. (Sally García) * * * He who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass; for every human being has need to be forgiven. (George Herbert)
