Prayer Requests for the Church here

It's really hot out here now, both during the day and at night. Played with some children (+teens) at a local 'orphanage' today; went well. Looks like we'll be doing that each Thursday now.

Prayer requests:

The church planting team (the Swedes/Finns + us) are going on some sort of weekend away this weekend. Please pray that God would bless us and speak to us.

On Tuesday next week, myself and Helena (Finnish) are doing a prayer day for the team. This will include me introducing some of them to guided meditation (think I'm going to try them out on Ignatian style). Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Father's heart as we pray about Ukraine, contacts here and the future of this plant.

For me: To be honest I feel pretty bored at times and I'm looking forward to going home. Please pray that I'll learn all God wants me to from this time and be able to focus on Him and what He wants me to do.


John

We are well!

To whom it may concern,

Sorry for not posting for a while,
I'm not very fond of writing sometimes. Here's what we could use prayer for:

One of our team members (Helena from Sweden) will be returning home in just under 2 weeks. Prayer in her direction would be much appreciated!

A girl in our church (Sonia) is struggling with neck and back problems. Please pray for her healing, and ability to withstand the temporary pain and stiffness.

I was nibbled on the leg by a street dog, and will be taking 6 rabies vaccination shots for the next couple of months. Please pray for the cost of the hospital visits and that the doctors don't jab me too hard, or inject me with the wrong medicine.

I will be returning home to Washington State at the end of July. Please pray for the money/job/living conditions for me. John and Christina could also use prayer for the same things.
Thank you,
Dan.

Finding our feet...

We're now into our third week here and have found our way around the essential shops and got used to using the crowed mini-buses (12.5 pence for about a 4 mile journey). The driver's still don't understand my attempt at saying “3” (to pay for the three of us travelling) – the Russian sounds like “tree” but with a rolled 'r' – which I can't do!

First rain yesterday, other than that the weather has been much like England (mild air temperature, warm – hot sun). I bought a bread roll from a street vender, it had pickled cabbage inside as though it were a doughnut – “it's not wrong, just different”

The Vineyard church here put on their first public music/worship event over the weekend (which we helped with). Much of the previous week was spent giving out flyers (with free biscuits and sweets) at the universities; people actually read the things when you give them out and like you speaking in English. 105 people at the first gig (30% - 50% non-church goers) and about 50 the following evening for the worship event (20% ? not Christian).

... shredded pickled cabbage inside a bread roll!?! WRONG, plain WRONG !!!

The Vineyard church meets on Wednesday evening (20 odd people recently), has an English club on Thursday nights and a film night on Saturday. They have quite a few Ukrainians who are not believers yet but coming along and getting involved in the church.

Please pray for the Ukrainian contacts they have here, relationships are growing. It seems we've come at the point where they're starting seeing the fruits of their labours in building relationships. The church is made up of Swedes, a few Ukrainian believers (some who are involved in other churches here as well) and people who like hanging around them.

Please pray for the non-Christians who came to the concert. A lot of people seemed to be really touched by it.

Please pray for the other Christians in this city. The worship concert really blessed some of the visitors from other churches. Pray for the relationships between the churches here; for a spirit of mutual blessing and support.

Pray for us. Grace and empowering for the things God has for us and guidance into what they are!

(We only have dial-up connection (which we're grateful for) in the appartment - so no picture this time)