Greetings,
Dear brothers and sisters,
Thanks to His mercy and your support, we were able to travel to a place – where non-Christian people who need the Gospel live. The trip took place in August. Staying there for the whole week, we were confident that you were praying for us, since it just couldn’t be any different. And now, His Name is being glorified, the Gospel continues to do its work in the hearts of many! Praise be to Him!
We’re thankful to God for His protection, since He kept us safe all along the way. As we left home, our car was not in the best condition, but regardless of that we’ve traveled both ways without any problems. A while ago, God blessed us with good friends, who are believers from Ch., and they help us in this ministry for many years. I thank God for them, too. They always meet us before and after the trip, so we enjoy our fellowship. Please pray for them, that God would keep them safe there near the border! By the grace of God, we did not have any hassles at the patrol checkpoint, and quickly went through the border in both ways.
As long as we were in this area, God blessed us to meet with our dear friends, and gave us an opportunity to share with them about His love, mercy and salvation. These conversations are very important for them and for us. Most of those families with whom we were meeting do not have a steady and sound Christian fellowship, and as a result they have all kinds of aberrations. Most of them do not want to go to church, partly because people in the church cannot relate to them, and partly because at the very beginning of their Christian walk with Christ, they were not properly edified and discipled. At this point, it is really hard to amend people’s convictions! Please pray for them that the Word of God they’ve heard will work in their hearts and change them in a way that they will have the desire to communicate with other believers, and that those who come to them will share undiluted gospel with them!
And yet, God blessed us to stay together with our dear teenagers, whom we met in the camp. Many of these teenagers have grown and gotten already taller than us. They have grown into nice the people, boys and girls. But it saddens us that their hearts get more and more captivated with this world. We spent day and a half with them, taking a walk to the sea together, singing songs, talking and reading the Word! It has been a very good time, but it’s not enough to take care of everything. Please pray for them so that they will remember what we’ve read and talked about with them. Also, pray that God will send more ministers there so that they would have fellowship with other believers and the Bible study on the regular basis.
I want to give a special thanks to God for the family of Volodya and Olya. They do a lot of hard work, traveling hundreds of kilometers to different villages in order to organize the Bible study and pray with those who seek God and relationships with Him. Pray that God will give them wisdom to find answers and what to say to those who have lived their entire life in Islam but now are seeking the truth. Pray that they will not lose heart, and that God will send them helpers and co-workers faithful to Him.
I also ask you to pray for the Christian churches that are located in the area, where a new political situation are against them. Pray that God will give wisdom to the leaders of the church, so that they will keep on preaching the Gospel, and trust God no matter what. Pray that the members of the churches will also be strong in faith and support each other. Pray for the unity of believers, so that the enemy won’t be able to sow discord and distrust, but on the other hand, that they will not be careless, but wise in what to say, to whom and how.
Our Lord never ceases to amaze us! During this trip we could gaze into the beautiful nature and heaven that preach about the glory of God day and night! It was such an unforgettable experience!
Please pray also for our trips in the near future. We see that every time, it gets increasingly complicated to go on such a trip. But, they are waiting for us there, because they need the Word as well as our support. I believe that the Lord will see to everything! We’d like to go there in winter time and spend holidays together, because this is a good opportunity to call to mind God’s precious love for His people!
Once again, thank you very much to all for participating in this challenging but exciting service!
Ira Plyva
