Mission to Montenegro newsletter

Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!  2 Cor. 9:15

• Our Christmas service celebrations were very sweet even if somewhat subdued. The Sunday before Orthodox Christmas Stan preached on the “Essence of Christmas”  from Luke 2.  We were personally thrilled to learn that a number of people we know (and who don’t attend church) listened to the sermon online and followed along well enough to want discuss it with us! We also met on Christmas morning (Jan. 7) to sing carols and hear a devotional led by Nemanja, a young man from our fellowship.  Please pray for all who hear the Word preached, that they might continue to listen online or join in person so that they may go beyond knowing about Christmas and truly embrace Immanuel in all His fullness. 

• Stan did send in Christmas Greetings to be published in the newspaper--and they were!  This is a practice followed for many years by the Catholic and Orthodox churches.  Our desire is to bless people with the Gospel and demonstrate in an understandable way that Protestant churches are legitimate churches and not sects.

• Please pray for Stan and others who are ministering from the Bible in meetings as well as one-on-one. Please continue to pray for our online presence, for our Zoom meetings, and for our streamed live services; each week we encounter new challenges!  Thanks be to God that His Word can go where it has never gone before; we long for the day when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

• Please pray for the granting of year-long visas for our interns.  One particular document in their application packet verifying no past criminal history has been deemed "not adequate," so we are needing to find ways to secure (from the States and Canada) ones that will pass muster. The deadline is quickly looming; may God grant grace and favor.

• Please pray for us all to stand strong in the Lord despite our post-holiday fatigue, Covid fatigue, and cold-weather-is-really-here fatigue.  Especially pray for those souls who have not been able or willing to come to church services because of the pandemic; we were created for community, and while we are all missing it, the lack of personal contact is harder for some than others.

• Please continue to pray for the Book project and Video project. Both of these projects saw little progress during the holidays, but the time has come to pick them up and press forward.

• Please pray for us as we plan out these upcoming months of uncertainty. Usually by the beginning of February we have the year penciled in with tentative dates for teams, conferences, visitors, get-aways, and more.  May we be wise in setting forth our plans, for we truly seek the Lord to guide our steps.