Bridge of Prayer September-October 2013 – Further education-Community Centres

Dear MWB Prayer Partner, Thank you for praying. We love having your prayer support!! – Mission Without Borders NZ

Background info and prayer needs Key points: September-October is autumn. Our staff, and all school-age children, return from their long summer vacations. Schools and tertiary training start in September. It is harvest time in the countryside, with horse-drawn carts pulling the gathered stooks back to sheds and barns to store as animal fodder, and carts of pumpkins, and final gleanings and sowing taking place, ready for the following spring. Please pray –

September For students and school leavers (that includes those leaving State Homes) embarking on further training and study. For the summer camp children who will attend follow up events after summer camp, join MWB Bible Correspondence Courses and listen to Christian radio broadcasts in Ukraine and Romania.

Gathered corn stooks, Moldova

Boys training in car mechanics, Moldova

Teens - Bible Correspondence Course

completed, Bulgaria

Family sponsors sought!

The first Bulgarian family

who will have Kiwi sponsors

For family and child sponsors: We have 2 newly enrolled families in Bulgaria who need sponsors. These are the first ever Bulgarian families to be offered Kiwi sponsors. Please pray that we will have them fully covered (8 sponsorship places needed) by 31 October 2013.

October For our soup kitchen and community centre ministries: pray for those who come forward for help in all of our field countries – the elderly, disabled and families; for the children who attend the after-school programmes, many of whom are sponsored; and for the staff (usually MWB staff and local church volunteers) that they may have wisdom and strength as they have contact with lives deeply affected by poverty and hardships. Thanksgiving Please join with us in giving thanks to God:

• for raising up a new Country Manager for Moldova, Anatolie Chirilov to take over from John, who stepped down earlier this year. Please pray for Anatolie as he starts work with us in early September. Anatolie grew up in a children’s Home, so he understands what growing up in State Home is like – and what it takes to be an “overcomer”. He also worked for Mission Without Borders as a co-ordinator until 2002, and has been until now Dean of a Theological College. • for a wonderful response from our Kiwi supporters to our requests for help with PrisonCare packs and ministry to prisoners;

• for the generous funding many have provided to facilitate more students undertaking studies or training in 2013-14

Albania:

Regarding the eviction of State housing tenants, Monika Qerimi (Director MWB Albania) thanks us for our prayers and reports: The situation remains the same. Many families have been moved away. Some

are living with relatives some have found temporary solutions some are

renting other places. They are all hoping for some solution from the City Hall

who has still to distribute some social buildings, but they are too few

compared to the number of the people who need housing. No NZ sponsored

families have been moved away yet. This is not something that will have a

quick solution.

Durres Beach Community

Moldova:

This message from our Moldova office: Dear Friends, Our coordinator and brother, Veaceslav Cheptea needs our

prayer support- he was diagnosed with throat cancer. He underwent a whole

month of radiotherapy. Let’s pray for his emotional and physical health. Pray

that God heals him. Veaceslav is a very special colleague to us who has been

with MWB ministry for 15 years. God bless you all, MWB Moldova staff.

Veaceslav – a much loved coordinator, Moldova

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Pray for the outreach 15 children who have been attending the new (in 2013)soup kitchen at Vares, 45km from Sarajevo. The town is still in disarray after the war damage of the 1990s. Most townspeople are unemployed and very poor. Many have approached the local Evangelical Church for help. The church supplies rostered people to run the centre, and MWB supplies the other resources needed. The children are already doing better in school and have had their first visit to the seaside.

English lesson at Vares Community Centre

Bulgaria:

Please pray for the folk attending the soup kitchens in Bulgaria – like Martin (pictured at right) in Burgas city. He suffered brain injury at birth and grew up not knowing his father, who rejected him even before he was born. He is coming to faith through the Bible lessons and has been supported by the local church pastor and by the soup kitchen coordinator Ruska. Please pray for Sarkis and Marina his wife as they lead the work in Bulgaria, and for the newly enrolled families in the poor Roma and other communities where MWB staff and volunteers work.

Martin receiving his daily meal at Burgas Community Centre

Romania:

Please pray for Pastor Timotei Sanea at Victoria Baptist Church and his team of volunteers at the MWB community centre there. The town has high unemployment and is depressed. The soup kitchen feeds a group of 40 poor people each day for a 3 month period. Ps Timotei says he encourages them to do all they can to find work and not to stay dependent on hand-outs. They are all invited to attend church on Sunday. One he has helped is Anica, a solo mum, who now has a job and a tiny Council flat, with furniture supplied by MWB. Please pray for her – and that many more will come to faith and become more self-reliant.

Anica and her daughter – on the road to

self-sufficiency and faith

Ukraine:

Please pray for the ministry to the folk at Berdychiv community centre. Please pray for Kirill, his friend Roman and their other friends, that they will find faith, and go into training or jobs after they finish school. Pray also for the outreaches, especially in the Sarny area (a poor rural community town), with daily meals to the elderly and disabled – often their biggest hardship is loneliness as many are housebound.

Elderly like Mariya – reliant

on delivered meals to survive

International and general needs

New Zealand Supporter Tour - October: Please pray for the final preparations (Sept) and for the members of the group (9 supporters plus Andrew Wilks, plus MWB’s new Australian and US Directors and 3 Aust supporters) who in October are visiting staff, churches, families, children, soup kitchens and the homeless –in Romania, Moldova, Albania. Please pray that all will see evidence of what God is doing in these lands and have fresh understanding to bring back to share with family, friends, churches, knitting and other groups.

Romania

Albania/Moldova