 |
|
|
|
|
Slobodian Prayer Letter: September-October 2003 Dear Pastors and Friends, Greetings
again from the Slobodians! It is
hard to believe that it is already Fall! In
speaking to one of our church planters in Moscow today he commented on the fact
that in that part of Russia, they already have a solid covering of snow!
As we write, we are in the midst of traveling to several mission
conferences, an overseas trip for training national church planters and workers
in Moscow and Ukraine along with a full schedule of traveling to several
churches with a Russian pastor that is always a great blessing.
Therefore, prayer for journeying mercies is certainly needed and
appreciated at this time. Your
prayers are vital to our work and we are sincerely grateful for each of you who
so faithfully bring our family and ministry before God’s throne of grace in
prayer. We
just had a wonderful blessing in our travels that is evidence of such prayers
for us. About halfway to a mission
conference in Derby, Kansas near Wichita, our brakes began that familiar
grinding sound which tells us that we need a brake job urgently.
Since we were due to arrive later in that day which was Saturday,
normally one would think that it would be Monday before we could get our brakes
worked on. However, as soon as we
arrived at the church a group of men confiscated our keys and disappeared with
the car for an “inspection”. Less
than four hours later the car was returned with a complete brake job including
new rotors, oil & filter change as well as an immaculate detail job!
That was just the beginning of many blessings that week.
By the end of the conference through the warm-hearted folks of the
Calvary Baptist Church in Derby; God provided a furnace for a Russian church
which was facing the winter without heat, a projector so that we can graduate
from our old slide projectors to power point presentations, and a family need we
had not told anyone about previously! Overwhelmed
all we could do was offer our clumsy missionary thank-you’s and give praise to
God who continues to supply the needs of his people in amazing and unexpected
ways. Other
recent blessings God has provided include; funds urgently needed to lay a
foundation for a church in Romania, a good supply of used laptops for national
workers, 2,000 pairs of shoes for our next container from a public school drive,
a hotel is providing a large about of linens for Russia, needed funds for our
children’s ministry came in, and some great answers to prayer as a steady
stream of souls continue to be harvested in the churches that you have enabled
us to plant overseas. For example, we are rejoicing over a family in Chervona Sloboda, Ukraine who was known for their heavy drinking, loud arguments and disorderly lives. One son began to faithfully attend the children’s meetings after trusting Christ. The mother came to a meeting after which Vitaly, our church planter, there was able to lead her to Christ. Later the father and other son also were saved. Vitaly describes how their conversions have made an impact in the community in one of his reports, “Townspeople who knew that family were literally shocked at their transformed lives. Some even said that we had hypnotized them or something to make them change so much!” It is never a problem to fill our monthly praise and prayer sheet “BIEM’s of Light” with such praises as well as prayer needs. Let us know if you would like to receive this monthly. We
are also rejoicing in that Sam’s parents Peter and Mary Slobodian have moved
into the Indianapolis area soon to be followed by his sister and brother-in-law
who will also migrate from Colorado. Therefore
we are looking forward to more times of family fellowship than what we have been
able to have before. May God bless
you all! Your Missionaries, |