I finished up the first three weeks in England by visiting with Bro. Dave Solt in Preston England. He has a church that has a great group of believers attending. Some are from Pakistan. I was able to chat with some of these families, and I spoke with several of the teen girls. They are very sweet.
I shared my missions ministry in the morning service then taught the teen girls Sunday school. I was told later that because of what I shared, some of the girls made some important decisions in their lives. In the evening service, I shared my personal testimony. It was great to visit with the Solts whom I heard about for many years, and it was wonderful to see one of their sons serving with them. I will be returning to England to help with VBS at the Solt's church.
Wow! It has been a whirlwind first week in Macedonia. My friend Hallie, one of the college girls I worked with this last year, joined me for this trip. This is the fourth person I have been able to bring with me to show them what I do and let them get a taste for missions.
Bro. Jason Mann has taken the time to show us his burden and vision for this tiny country. Yes, tiny! The whole country has only 2,000,000 people. That is the size of many cities in the US. Winning people to Christ is not easy. Macedonia's main people groups are Macedonians who are Eastern Orthodox in religion and Albanians who are Muslim by religion. They do not separate their religion from the national affiliation. It is very much apart of them. Winning people to Christ is not quick or easy. It takes much time in building relationships to have the opportunity to share the Gospel. The people here are searching for meaningful relationships. I have been blessed to have the opportunity to witness to several people. Please pray for Vera, Robert (robear), Christian, Lindita (Muslim), Halidee (Muslim), and Alexandra. I have handed out many tracts as well. Thousands of tracts are going out. Please pray that there will be fruit that comes from those tracts.
Hallie and I have helped in English classes, cleaned and now we are sprucing up the Center, which is a gathering place for Bible study, church, English classes, game nights, and any other events that we think will help bring people to us so that we can witness. Because they are looking for community, inviting them to various events allows us to build relationships and eventually present the Gospel. Hallie and I have painted, I mudded and sanded drywall.
Yesterday, the Manns, Katie Jane (another single missionary to Macedonia), Hallie and I along with a Roma (gypsy) man went to help a national Macedonian man who is building a retreat and conference center for Christians in Macedonia and Europe. We cleaned and moved various things around to make room for more work to be done. Katie Jane and I waterproofed some boards for a porch. The location is beside a beautiful mountain river. After we finished, Hallie and I headed to the river to cool off. I lasted about a minute with just my feet in the water. It was so cold!
The needs for the ministry in Macedonia are laborers and finances. The Manns have had issues with paperwork, and are requesting prayer that they can get long-term visas as they are having to leave the country every three months and stay out for long periods before being allowed to return. If things continue to be this way, they need people who can fill in the gaps when they are gone. In this nation of 2,000,000 there are only a little over 1,000 believers. It takes an average of seven times for someone to hear and receive the Gospel.
In other news, my nephew Joel continues to recover from his second heart surgery in the last three months. He is still in Boston, and today, Andy and Julie will talk with the doctors about plans for a transfer of care to Iowa City so that he will be near home and be able to have mom, dad, and siblings around. He has had a few scares since the second surgery, but everything continues to get fixed so healing can continue.
Please continue to pray that God will bring more people into my path for me to help starting in February of next year. Please also pray that God will open doors for my support level to rise to $1000/mo.
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