Dear
partner,
I was reading Ps. 145 today and something captured my
attention and I began to pray bringing that Scripture before the throne of
grace. Here’s what the Holy Spirit drew my heart to:
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall commend your works to
another, and shall declare your mighty acts. 5 On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.”
I don’t need to preach to you today. You get a lot of that in
church, I believe. But in the last two months, in the face of fear and worries
about the future, our family, the families of our co-workers and our ministry,
the Lord has been speaking peace to us, He’s been bringing us to a place where
we trust and confide in Him, His Word and constantly urging us to remind
ourselves about His unfailing love, power and mercy. As we meet with families,
we seem to be tuned into the same frequency of thanksgiving and praise. Do we
have all things taken care of and do we see a solution to every struggle we
face? Not really. But this is where the Lord reminds us that we walk by faith
and not by sight, bringing all our worries, fears and needs before a loving and
caring Father, who’s graciously giving us all we need.
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| Maria keeps things under control with our fast growing children |
Our children, thank God, are back to school and doing very
well. Vicki and George are the tallest in their classes, as I’ve heard. What
brings us even more joy is that they excel in class. I told them, that this is
all the result of God’s mercy and grace and their good mother Maria keeping
them in line with their homework. That, I hope, will keep their feet on the
ground. Maria is almost finished with her seasonal airport job. I have mixed
feelings about it. I’d love her to take a break from all the night shifts, but
at the same time, I realize that when she finishes work there, it’ll be another
half a year without the extra income that we really, really need. Keep us
uplifted in prayer before the throne of grace!
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| One mighty national team having fun and good food |
On the ministry front, we were really blessed to have all of
our volunteer families and co-workers in one place for three days this summer.
We have been praying for a special retreat/fellowship/training for those we’ve
been serving in the field for many years. I thank God for His wonderful work of
raising a generation of new servants! As the verse I just shared says it, we
are called to make His power known to the next generation. We really wanted to
have the children there, the wives and create that special atmosphere for
sharing, intercessory prayer and encouragement. That worked powerfully! The
presence of the Lord was there! His power touched our children and they began
to listen how their moms and dads heard the call of God, committed to ministry,
struggle, fight and win by the mercy and grace of their Lord. As the prophet
Zechariah once encouraged the priest Joshua, “It’s not by power (of man), not
by might (of the strong of the day), but by my Spirit, says the Lord.” Our
special retreat/fellowship/training brought a sweet fruit because of the
partnership of our friends from Southshore Community Church in Sarasota and we
are thankful for their love, prayers and support.
In August, we had to make some
changes in our plans due to some financial constraints, but that doesn’t mean
we had to sit on our hands. Not at all! The Lord always finds a way to prove to
us, that His thoughts are higher than ours. Our team got a message from a team
traveling to Bulgaria and they were all collegegrads from various colleges in the US. Fresh out of college, these guys have committed one year to
missions all over the world. The World Race is the mission which has recruited
them and sent them to 12 countries in 12 months! We were impressed with their
itinerary. So, they asked us, whether we can use them in ministry and we said,
“Absolutely! We need volunteers who are not afraid to go places they’ve never
been to before. And especially young guys like them.”
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| Say hello to a World Race Team in Bulgaria |
So, we took them and used them for
10 days in every place we needed prayer, sharing of the Gospel, more prayer,
physical work, etc. We really felt that the Lord wants us to take them to serve
the needs of the poor Roma communities, so that’s where we took them for a week
– to Roma/Gipsy churches. We would walk the streets of our city, then we’d stop
to talk to people, pray with them, ask them about anything they would like us
to pray about and in many places share about our hope in the Lord. It was a
very powerful and enriching week for all of us.
We feel that the Lord had us bond with that group of young
graduate students and we pray they come back to Bulgaria, God willing.
The Lord is good, His mercy endures forever! Please, pray for
our nation! We need the Lord’s mercy and grace, we really, really need Him to
open the heavenly windows and pour His Spirit on us. The churches here get
another challenge. How are we going to treat and serve the desperate and the
foreigner? Our government is building a temporary shelter/camp for thousands of
Syrian refugees 10 ml. away from our city. We have thousands of Syrians in
Bulgaria already. They all people running from the horrors of civil war,
bruised, scared and looking for hope. Surely, in times of war and turmoil, we
have trouble, but the Lord Jesus brings a challenge to our churches today – how
are you going to treat the needy and the desperate? So, we want to find the
power, the resources, partners and strength to reach the Syrian refugees with
the mercy, love and hope of Christ. Please, help us do it! Pray, give for our
Muslim outreach to Syrian refugees, and again pray for our churches in
Bulgaria!
Pray for:
1. Our family and ministry needs – we need God’s power, wisdom,
funds. 2. Our follow up work with children, youth and families – we don’t
want to waste the fruit of summer camps.
3. The local churches, as we all desire to join
hands in reaching the Syrian refugees next to our city.
WE NEED YOU TO BE OUR PARTNERS IN MINISTRY IN BULGARIA! PLEASE SEND YOUR GIVING TO
New Hope International | P.O. Box 25490 | Colorado Springs, CO 80936 |
1-800-297-9591
