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…

Looking back at June

Guys’ Night:
On the 13th of May we had another guys’ night. A lot of people were invited but mainly the guys from our church came. It was sad that no unbelievers came. However we got some time to spend with the unbelievers at the beach. As soon as we have put up volleyball net we had a lot of people who wanted to come and play with us. It was a good experience. Also, the Lord has given us some opportunities to speak with the guys from Church about significant things and it was a good opportunity for mutual growth and edification.

Looking back at June

Church:
The doctrine studies have been going great and we are almost done with this series, not that we will ever be done with studying the doctrines, but we have done enough teaching to draw out a statement of faith and to introduce the concept of church membership. This is exciting to us.
An interesting thing happened last Sunday. We were asked by a group of Americans whether they could come and worship with us on Sunday. Obviously we were opened to that. There were 19 of them coming. About 30 minutes before the service we found out that there will be 29 of them. And when they actually showed up there were over 40 of them. So, in the room we had 71 persons, this is not counting those who were standing in the corridor because of the lack of room. It was an interesting experience.

Looking back at June

Persecution, again???

On Thursday the 17th we had another Church association meeting. It was a good time of fellowshipping with the brethren. But we got some alerting news. It looks like the country is going back to the times of persecutions. Few laws were passed out which approve some old ways of collecting information, e.g. if your neighbor doesn’t like you he can make a call to the police or KGB and told them that you are doing something strange, like sharing your faith, and then police will come and check you out. Some of the pastors from our association have already been called to KGB for interrogation. KGB gets back to the practices of sending people to Churches and then reporting back to them as to what is going on there. It feels like a cold wind from the past which brings to us bad memories. But the Lord is still in control and if it is His tool for this time to make Churches stronger, so be it. However, please pray for strength.

Looking back at June

Pridnestrovye:
Last week we have sent two girls from our Church to Pridnestrovye, but not to the orphanage this time. They went to help Marina, a missionary our Church sent to work there. The purpose was to do door to door evangelism, which Marina is heavily involved in, physically help the families they visited and encourage Marina.
The girls came back really excited and burdened to help out there more. We will be praying asking the Lord to show us how we as Church can be more involved into the ministry the Lord entrusted to Marina.

Looking back at June

One on one discipleship:

Discipleship has been going good. However, this month we had more challenges than usual. People are going through serious struggles and are crying out for help. It was a privilege, not always a joy, to be a part of a growth process of the brothers who struggle. It seems like the change is taking place in their lives and it IS a joy to watch them get closer to Jesus. A good thing about serving under conditions like these to the people like these is that it is a fantastic opportunity for mutual growth. We are grateful to the Lord for placing each one of those to serve to and to love.
Anneke and Dasha

Current Matters July

Us 3
Well, Mikael keeps growing. It is so interesting to observe him grow physically and in understanding of how things work. He is being very curious about everything. Obviously his curiosity keeps us on our toes, because despite his size and age he tends to be extremely fast.
In the beginning of June Mikael has had his tear ducts cleaned and it turned out to be more complicated than what the doctors expected. We are still unsure about his left eye. Not to bore you with the technicalities of the procedure I will tell you that instead of the bottom channel the top one was cleared. It might work, or it might not work, we will see. We will go to see the doctor again in the middle of July for the evaluation of how the recovery is process is going.
We also had the amazing privilege to have Arkadiy's dad and sister, Ira come to visit. Dad is back in Uzhgorod now but we were able to keep Ira here for a little longer :) Arkadiy's mom will soon be coming to visit! Yipppeeeee

Current Prayer Requests- July

Please Pray:
•For us to be wise and faithful in the face of possible persecution
•For our Church to take an active part in preparing for the camp outreaches this summer
•For Marina in Pridnestrovye and her ministry
•For Mikael’s health. Our hope and prayer is that another procedure for clearing a tear duct on his left won’t be needed
•For the registration of the Church (there are some details that need to fall in place)
•For wisdom for us as we try to communicate the nature of God to the Church as we teach the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith
•For wisdom and discipline to continue to devote ourselves to one another as spouses while having very busy lives.
•For the English camps- they will be starting this week!!! :) We have an English Evangelistic camp starting on the 25th to the 3rd of August and then we will be having a day camp in our neighborhood from the 7th till the 11th. Camp will look very different for us this year with Mikki :) Even packing is different... and a lot heavier :)
•For wisdom and discipline to continue to devote ourselves to one another as spouses while having very busy lives.