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…

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.