Looking back at September:

Church:
We had a wonderful event on the 12th of September. Two members of our young congregation publicly confirmed the decision they have made to follow Christ through baptism. The girl named Ksusha from Odessa and a brother from Nigeria, who is a student in Odessa and is a member of our Church.
Ksusha invited her mother to attend the baptism service. It was wonderful since her mother is an unbeliever! She got to hear the Gospel and Ksusha’s testimony right there. There were also a few campers who came to spend time with us but are also unbelievers. Our prayers are that they will turn to the Lord as well!


Since we have a young Church (two years to be soon), a lot of things which are happening there happen for the first time. So, last Saturday we had our first wedding! A couple from our Church Pasha and Dina got married. It was great! Pray for us as we hold them accountable as the Church to the vows they brought forth before the Lord, the Church and each other.

Looking back at September:

One on one discipleship: 
The discipleship has been going great! Each of us staff is mentoring one of the students from the missionary training center, and as I said before it is a great joy to get alongside someone who wants to serve the Lord and grow in Him, and help this person in the process of conforming more into Christ’s image! We were also able to meet with one of the couples we have been wanting to meet for a long time, we had a wonderful time together encouraging each other and trying to be a blessing for one another.

Current Matters - September

Us 3:

It has been a little bit difficult with Arkadiy being heavily involved at the missionary training program for three weeks straight (teaching for two weeks and translating the third week). But by the Lord’s help we were able to endure. Thank you for your prayers.

Mikki is one year old! We had a great celebration of his first birthday! He loved the fact that so many kids came and that there were so many balloons to pop! 

Mikael is doing well for the most part. His eye is still not well and the further it goes the more we are thinking about the necessity of incision in order to clear up his tear duct. At the moment he has bad germs in his eye so the incision is not an option but we are working on it and as soon as we will take care of it we will go for the incision

. 

Current Prayer Requests - September

Please pray:
For wisdom as how to serve the students at the missionary training program.
For  wisdom with time management.
For wisdom while dealing with the officials for the Church registration
For wisdom how to continue to fulfil the Lord’s plan in the lives of those whom He has entrusted to us to nourish and to care for.
For wisdom as to how to hold Pasha and Dina accountable to the vows they gave, so that their marriage would increasingly bring honor to God.
For Mikki’s health
For us to continue to grow closer to the Lord as a couple.

30 is not the end :)

Summer is almost over and it is a good time just to look back and review what the Lord has been doing in July and August. And since I have witnessed firsthand that 30 is not the end :), I thought we would write this letter in a little bit different forms sharing with you the 30 ways the Lord has answered our prayers and your prayers for us. So, here we go…
Camps
1. Camp preparations went smoothly
2. God brought a wonderful group of campers to camp. They were opened to listen and to discuss the truth the Lord laid out in the Bible
3. God brought a wonderful team which was united in the goal of serving the Lord through fulfilling the great commission at camp. They poured their hearts into the camper’s lives. It was a joy to serve together with a team like that.
4. The Gospel was shared clearly a numerous amount of times both from the pulpit and on a personal level.
5. Some of the campers responded to the Gospel and made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus.
6. Most of the campers went home with a clear understanding of the Gospel and a choice they have to make. They also understood the consequences of those choices.
7. Close relationships were established with the campers thus we have a lot of follow up to do.
8. The Lord kept everyone safe.
9. The Lord let our team run an English day camp in the beginning of August.
10. Even though the attendance was low the unbelievers heard the Gospel and are thinking about it.

Church
11. Brothers and sisters from Church served selflessly at the camps. It was such a joy to see!
12. Marina and Dasha (girls from our Church) got a heart to help out Marina in Pridnestrovye by making short term trips there, assisting her in the ministries where she needs help.
13. The Church sent Marina to Tumen, Russia for two month to help out the local Church there.
SMTC (Seaside Missionary Training Center)
14. The Lord provided funds for us to run the training center this year again.
15. The Lord provided wonderful students (3 from Poland, 1 from Romania, 5 from Ukraine). They want to serve the Lord and come to the training center to get more equipped. They are coming hungry. It is always a joy to teach people like that!
16. The home Churches took an active role in supporting and encouraging those students who want to come! It is rather uncommon, typically Churches don’t care.
17. The Lord provided teachers for this year!
18. The Lord provided the place and a wonderful cook for the training center. We are so grateful!
19. The Lord provided a wonderful translator to help us out at the training center part time. She loves the Lord and wants to serve Him with the gifts He has given her. We have known her since 2005 and could not ask for anyone better!
One on one discipleship
20. The Lord has been faithful in helping us to love and care for the people He has entrusted to us.
21. We were able to see growth in the lives of people we serve and we were encouraged by it.
22. The Lord taught us a lot while we were trying to serve people He has given to us.
23. The Bible studies with two of the guys as to how to love your (future) spouse are going pretty well, the guys seem to be challenged and willing to grow (so am I).
24. The Lord gives wisdom and the right words to say for Anneke’s meetings with the girls
Us 3
25. Mikael survived his first camp, and so did his parents
26. Mikael recovered from a weird sickness he had before the camp just before we had to leave for camp, this is after being sick for about 2 weeks.
27. The Lord helped us to grow in our love for Him and for one another while trying to figure out how to serve at camp with Mikael around. We are grateful for His faithfulness to us.
28. The Lord keeps growing us in the area of parenting.
29. We have celebrated our 98th dating monthaversary  in August.
30. We are very grateful for many people all over who are faithful members of our team through praying, giving and loving us. The Lord has blessed us through you in the ways that you can’t imagine.

Pictures:

Water games at camp:

Arkadiy:

Englsh Class:

Anneke and Mikael:

Ladies Tea Time:

Greetings!

The summer is here and we have had some HOT days. The heat made us miss the cool spring. The beaches are full of people who came from all over to get some sea and sun experience. The schools are out and the traffic is light. A lot of people are out of the city, living at their summer homes. Obviously that has affected the attendance of some of the events we do. But let me share about what the Lord has been doing in the ministries He has entrusted to us in more detail…