Prayer Letter

October 27, 2012

Church

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6  What a blessing it is to be able to be used of God!  He definitely does not need us, but chooses to let us take part in His plan.  Over the past few weeks, multiple people have come forward acknowledging their need of salvation.  We are unsure how many have prayed, but among those were Valodia (the man we did Bible lessons with and who came faithfully for years), Ruselan (the man we did Bible lessons with in the prison) and Baba Maroosa!  Slavic has grown abundantly over the past year and the others who came forward were a result of his witnessing.  One lady in particular seemed to be greatly burdened over her need of salvation and Slavic himself had the opportunity to lead her to the Lord!  Her name is Olya.  Although we had met her and given her tracts a few times, she did not start coming to church until recently.  She has been quite faithful during the time the Whites were there and appeared 

greatly convicted after every sermon as Mike White clearly presented the Gospel each week.  The others that came forward were Olya’s sister, Nastia and her daughter Naomi, Tonya, Olya’s friend, and Arteum and Sergay, friend’s of Slavic.  We are excited to get back and talk with these people.  Since the Whites were required to leave the country, the church is without a Pastor for two more weeks.  We praise the Lord that He allowed Brother Mike to stay there two weeks longer than expected!  Do remember to pray for our little church.  Especially with so many newly saved, we know that Satan will try to hinder their growth.  Even with no one there, the church is continuing to see around 20 people in attendance.

We also ask for you to pray for Slavic as Yuri has sent his nephew to persecute him, trying to get money from him, threatening to beat him and throw him in prison.  Satan does not like Slavic’s witness and we are praying for God’s protection on him during this time.  They will think that without a missionary there, Slavic will be more vulnerable, but God is still there!

 Family

We have our passports, visas and plane tickets and are ready to be home.  We fly out of Washington, D.C. November 8th at 5 pm!  We have said goodbye to our family and friends, though Jessica’s parents may be making one last trip up to see the kids before we fly out.  You all have been a blessing and encouragement to us.  Some of you knew about Daniel’s ER visit due to 3 days of fevers around 105 and we greatly appreciate the gifts you sent in for that.  We also appreciate the money sent in to replace our transmission.  I don’t know if we could begin to express our gratitude for the blessings you all showered over us during our furlough.  We came, intending to be a blessing to you and leave overwhelmed by your love.  Thank you all for your prayers and support over the years!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Visa Update

We received our visas!!!  They only issue 45 day visas now, but that can be extended up to 2 years (a year at a time) depending on the registration office.  We ask that you be praying even now about our registration process as they can sometimes be difficult.  Thank you all for your prayers concerning our visas.  We know you are rejoicing with us.

Visa Update

We received a call yesterday concerning our visas from the postal service.  The lady said if we checked online, it would say that they were returned then AGAIN delivered to the Pakistan embassy.  She said the man who typed it in said that he knew it went to the correct embassy, and it was just a 'typo'.  All we could do was wait and see (she said 2 weeks).  Today we received a call saying that we had a package from the embassy waiting for us in VA.  We had our pastor pick it up and waited anxiously to see if we had gotten approved.  We are excited to say, WE HAVE OUR VISA!!!  Thank you all for your prayers!  We do ask that you continue to pray as they only give out 45 day visas now.  If we are able to get registered, we can stay a full year.  We ask that you be praying about this even now.  Again, thank you for your prayers!!!

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!

We have further tracked our visa applications and passports and have discovered that they were delivered to the Embassy in Washington...but not to the Ukrainian Embassy.  Instead, they were delivered to the Embassy of Pakistan.  Pray as we try to get everything worked out.

Link to Update

Jessica made an update talking about our visas and the White's registration.  You can read that here.  Thank you for your prayers!

Visas and Church Fines

Just a quick update to ask you to be praying for the White's and also our little church in Ukraine.  We received news that the White's were told they had broken the law and would be required to go to court and pay a fine.  The church would have to do this as well.  Lina said the fine could be anywhere from $300 - $1,000.  The reason?  When you go into Ukraine, you are required to register. When they went to re-register this time, they were told they had broken the law because they had not UN-registered before their last registration expired.  This is something new and we ask that you will be praying for them and also pray that it will not cause problems for us when we go to register.

Concerning our visas, we have sent in the paperwork and are just waiting to see if they will be accepted.  Pray that God allows everything to work out as we have been hearing of other missionaries who have had their request for visas denied.

Bible Camp Update

Jessica just posted an email from Joyce White updating us on the first day of Bible Camp (VBS).  If you'd like to read the excitement, click here.  Thank you for your prayers!