Decembers News letter & Happy New Year!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025! Dear family, friends, loved ones and partners, We trust that you have all celebrated a beautiful and meaningful Christmas. We want to THANK YOU each and everyone for your participation in our new ministry here in Denmark. There is a lot to be done and we are thankful for the breakthroughs we have already had. We would also greatly appreciate your prayers for the ministry here to continue to bear more and lasting fruit. Prayers are powerful and we greatly appreciate yours! December was a busy month filled with lots of events and we hope you will enjoy the little glimpse that we are about to share with you here! NEWSLETTER CONTENTS: 1. THE 25TH CELEBRATION 2. STOP MAD SPILD (STOP FOOD WASTE) 3. VOLUNTEER CELEBRATION 4. OUTREACH AND TRACTS 5. SOMALIAN NIGHT 6. SEBASTIAN’S FAREWELL 7. MISSION CHRISTMAS GIFT 8. LOCAL CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION FOR THE CHILDREN 9. STAFF CELEBRATION 10. BIBLE STUDIES 11. THE VINEYARD CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION THE 25TH On the 25th we decided that we were going to invite people that did not have someone to celebrate with on that day. Philip cooked a typical Danish Christmas dinner. We also bought a small chocolate bar for each one attending, and drew numbers for who would get which one. We also had a wonderful time watching Andre Rieu’s (Dutch violinist) Christmas performance. It was beautiful and and truly set the Christmas mood! We had invited 8 people, but sadly not all were able to come. STOP FOOD WASTE On the 23rd of December 625, 923 kg of food was collected from several different shops. The volunteers all met at 19:30—some to drive out to collect, others to register and prepare to receive the food in order to sort, refrigerate, and plan for distribution. We stayed till midnight. The following day we again met at 9am and stayed till 2 pm. That last two hours were spent distributing to food. Below is a photo of some of the volunteers! Our church, the Vineyard, ran a project called “Mission Christmas Presents”. (Which we will tell about in a moment). After it was over Philip requested that any left over gift be used for distribution. We received 8 boxes, four of which were distributed here. Every child that came got to choose two toys and they each received and ice cream cone as well! VOLUNTEERS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION In the middle of the month we were invited to a Christmas celebration for the volunteers from “Stop the Food Waste” project. We shared a delicious meal and as seen in the photo here everyone drew a gift out of Sonata's hat! After the meal we played a “package game” where we again received more gifts. Everyone was also gifted with a gift card for any shop in the largest mall in the city. We felt richly blessed and appreciated. OUTREACH AND TRACTS For Christmas we  produced a tract about the true reason for the season and the real genuine Christmas gift — Jesus Christ Himself coming to earth to take our judgment for sin so that we could go free — if we receive the gift. It also addressed the need to draw nearer to Him in order to discover all the gifts available and how to benefit from them! SOMALIAN NIGHT I, Rita, attended a Somalian night. The women from Somalia got together together to prepare a traditional Somalian meal for everyone. We learned that they never eat rice without also eating banana. When Googling this it seems to be an a tradition that goes back many generations and was instituted in order to add nitration and flavor to the meal! SEBASTIAN’S FAREWELL Sebastian, who has been instrumental in reaching the local community where we live, will be moving on to a new chapter in his life. It was a bitter sweet farewell meeting, but life will go on and we trust that the Lord will clarify our way forward in the new year. We thank those of you that are keeping the ministry here in your prayers and eagerly  await the guidance of the Lord! MISSION CHRISTMAS GIFTS The Vineyard Church ran a big project called “Mission Christmas Gifts”. The aim was to help as many families as possible be able to celebrate a Merry Christmas with their children. 120 families signed up to receive the gifts, and each family had more than one child. They not only received toys, but also clothing, home items, and gift cards for grocery shopping. Philip and I volunteered to help the families find a suitable gift for each child, etc. We also helped organise the books, gifts, clothing, etc. And as seen in the photo below there was a gift wrapping table where all the Christmas gifts were wrapped and labelled. CELEBRATION FOR THE CHILDREN IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY The toys donated to the local community from the Vineyard Church were a big unexpected blessing and surprise. Not only did the children receive some nice gifts, but as seen Santa also handed out sweets and fruit. We are very thankful for the joy and gratitude it brought to all the once participating. There was also a nice warm meal served and  a special typical Christmas dessert as seen here. Is is like sweet rice pudding. Traditianally there will be a whole almond hidden in it and whoever get the almond get a big chocolate surprise as well! VINEYARD STAFF CELEBRATION We were also invited for a Christmas celebration for all the volunteers at the Vineyard Church. We had a traditional Christmas meal, a nice time of fellowship, sweets and before we left everyone received a bag with some gifts in it. BIBLE STUDIES We are very thankful that the Lord has brought together a good group of eager Bible students. We trust that the group will grow. We meet once a week. We are presently trying to work out a way that someone who lives in another city, but really wants to attend, can do so. She works and is therefore not able to join in with the others as she lives too far away. But we trust that the Lord will show us how to make it all work out in the new year. THE VINEYARD On the last service of the year I was asked to share a testimony of what the Lord has done. I briefly shared about how amazing a lifestyle of following the Lord has been and how His faithfulness ever fails! Prise the Lord! In closing we want to thank you all for the year that went. We are excited and looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in the new year. There is never a dull moment with Jesus. We love you all and are keeping you in our prayers.   Much love, Philip and Rita Please remember our new details are as follows: PayPal: force4good.fvs@gmail.com NordFyn's Bank Rita Olsen Reg. #: 6869 Account #: 0001058710 BIC/SWIFT Code: NSBKDK21 IBAN DK2168690001058710 PS: If you are in the European union you can transfer funds vis SEPA with very minimum or no fees. For another easy and simple way to transfer money internationally please visit: https://wise.com/

Good News !! November News Letter!

 

Dear Ones, We want to first of all THANK YOU for yet another fruitful month of ministry here in Denmark. Starting from scratch is never easy as we basically start from the bottom up. But from years of experience we have learned that working as farmers, athletes and soldiers, as Paul mentioned in 2 Timothy 2:3-6 requires endurance and consistency. And that we dare not give up or give in if we ever hope to see the end result of our labors. So we are plotting along and we are excited about every victory whether small or big won. We thank you for continuing by our side and trust that you will rejoice with us over every step of progress. CONTENT: 1. BIBLE-STUDIES/DISCIPLE TRACK 2. CHRISTMAS-PREP GET-TOGETHER 3. OUTREACH 4. THE VINEYARD 5. STAFF MEETING 6. BUILDING COMMUNITY 7. STOP ALL FOOD WASTE 8. PERSONAL NOTE

DISCIPLESHIP TRACK/BIBLE-STUDIES For those desiring to go to the next level in their discipleship training we, the Vineyard church have started regular discipleship training courses. We are having regular disciple training classes with people in and outside our home. We are also adding regularly people to our WhatsApp ministry where we share  writings from the Fathers of Faith such as Kenneth E.Hagin, Charles Capps, Andrew Wommack, etc. CHRISTMAS-PREP GET-TOGETHER We had a  ladies get-together where we according to Danish tradition made Christmas decorations with candles for the count-down till Christmas Day. It was a wonderful time of bonding between the 6 ladies that attended. OUTREACH The young man being ministered to here is from Ukraine and arrived just a couple of weeks before the war broke out. He received the Lord and signed up for our WhatsApp ministry! We met many precious people that seem to be sincerely searching. We especially ministered for awhile to a young man who walked away with “a lot to think about”, as he put it. We pray that the seeds sown will bring forth everlasting life in those who received it. THE VINEYARD This month we celebrated the Half-Year mark in 2024 of the establishing of the Vineyard church in Odense Denmark. Our present campus pastor and his wife will be going on a three months leave to be refreshed and re-invisioned. They were the ones establishing the church here in Odense 12 years ago. We prayed for them and their refreshing and also prayed for the Lord’s anointing and strength for the new campus pastors that will be standing in the gap for the next three months. At the half-year celebration there also was a special recognition of those that have started coming to the church regularly within the last half year or so. It was an inspiration to see so many new faces! Philip regularly helps with the bar, the selling of drinks and payments for the food. He also helps preparing the elements and serving communion. And as usual I assist with the translation, and for our half-year celebration some of us ladies were asked to bake and so I baked a pan of brownies, which to my delight all got eaten! STAFF MEETING We attended a staff meeting where we were critiquing our present mo. We divided into groups and discussed what we would not want to see happening and how we might possibly prevent falling into bad habits. Before the meeting I was invited to share a word . I shared from 1Peter 2:2-4 and about our identity in Christ. BUILDING COMMUNITY We are excited to be building community here, new friends. This month we were invited for dinner at our precious Iranian friends’ home and they also visited us. We also visited K. our new disciple and Philip was able to help her with some practical matters. Our new lives here are  have a lot of potential and we look forward to growing our circle of friendships STOP ALL FOOD WASTE AND DONATE IT FOR THE NEEDY This month we started volunteering at the “Stop All Food Waste” organization in our area. There are two scheduled distribution days a week. Sadly there has not been enough food for us to  always be able to distribute twice a week. For this reason I, Rita, have been contacting several wholesale food companies on their behalf. We are still in the process of following up on our requests and we would like to ask you to please keep this new project in your prayers. Thank you! PERSONAL NOTE We had our first snow this year. It lasted for about a week. It was beautiful to watch it come down as it was big and fluffy, We might even get a white Christmas this year, which would be special for us! Meanwhile we realize that we have adjusted to the climate  and seem to tolerate the cold better than when we first arrived here in January this year. In closing we want to thank you our precious partners, family and friends. With your love and backing our work here would not be possible. We are forever indebted to you. Together we are establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of those who are open and receptive to it. We are also regularly adding new subscribers to our daily devotional readings. Praise the Lord! With much love and appreciation, Philip and Rita Please remember our new details are as follows: PayPal: force4good.fvs@gmail.com NordFyn's Bank Rita Olsen Reg. #: 6869 Account #: 0001058710 BIC/SWIFT Code: NSBKDK21 IBAN DK2168690001058710 PS: If you are in the European union you can transfer funds vis SEPA with very minimum or no fees. For another easy and simple way to transfer money internationally please visit: https://wise.com/ where you can open an online account.