Mission to Montenegro newsletter
Blog entry for 18 January 2017
January 2017 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
For you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Remember, Lord, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
Ps. 25:4-6
Grace and Peace to you in the name of God our Father!
Greetings once again from Nikšić, Montenegro! We were blessed with a very smooth trip home--all four flights on time or early, plus our baggage arrived and made it through without any fuss at customs. While we are not quite yet over jet lag, we are full-speed ahead with life and ministry, including readjusting to REAL winter weather!
- Stan is back in the pulpit (and the brethren here are glad to have him back!), and he looks forward to finishing up 1 Timothy in the evening services this month. He is currently prayerfully considering which Old Testament book to work through for our morning services. Because the Christmas/winter holidays are still in progress here, we are still debriefing with respect to all that has been taught in our absence as people return from their holidays/visiting with family.
- Due to Stan's injuries, we curtailed travel and visiting other churches for the most part. However, we capped our time in the States with a wonderful visit to the San Diego area, meeting up with numerous old friends and ministering at a church in Vista. All in all, by God’s good kindness, we accomplished pretty much everything we hoped to during our mini-furlough and have been much refreshed in spirit.
- Meanwhile, the Nikšić church participated in distributing hundreds of OCC/Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoeboxes to children, both in town and in the surrounding villages. A simple dramatized presentation of the Christmas story preceded the distribution of the packages along with the booklet The Greatest Gift and a New Testament.
Upcoming Ministry and Prayer Requests
- Please pray for us as we pick up with visitations, the regular ministry of the Word, hosting the fellowship meals, and all the ordinary aspects of life after an extended time away. We confess our need that God would show us His ways, teach us His paths, guide us in His truth as we seek to serve Him faithfully.
- Please pray that the number of those coming to the services would increase and that hearts would be open to truly knowing and loving Jesus Christ for salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
- Please pray for the follow-up to those children and their families touched via the OCC packages who are interested in knowing more about Jesus, the Greatest Gift. And please join us as we continue to beseech the Lord in bringing a gifted individual to head up an ongoing children's ministry within the body.
- Please pray for the Bojovic Family, one of the families that visited us last year, who will be moving to Montenegro in autumn to serve the Lord here after a decade of ministry in Swaziland. They are still working out the details of where in the country they will serve.
- Please pray that Stan might find a suitable physical therapist to continue his recovery. He is sorely disappointed that in this year of abundant snow, he won't be able to go skiing even once this season.
With much love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,
Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro
