Bridge of Prayer July-August 2013 – Prison Ministry/Education Opportunities

Dear MWB Prayer Partner, Thank you for praying. As a Mission, we really appreciate your prayers! – Mission Without Borders NZ

Background info and prayer needs Key points: July-August is summer. Summer camps for children will continue through to August (in Romania). In August, our field staff take well-deserved breaks (it is like our January period with schools and businesses taking annual holidays). In July we remember the Forgotten Ones: prisoners locked away from view and contact; and in August as students contemplate further training and study, we think of young people leaving State Homes and schools.

July Please pray - For summer camps: - the safety of those travelling to and from the camps; - the leaders and volunteers who are helping; - the children, that they may receive not only wonderful care but also come to know the God who cares for them more than anyone; and - successful follow up events for the children after camp, Bible Correspondence Courses and Christian radio broadcasts in Ukraine and Romania.

The last camps will finish in August in

Romania – what happens next in these young lives?

Moldovan State Homes children with their Bible correspondence course certificates

Family sponsors sought!

A simple church service in a Bulgarian

prison

For family and child sponsors: We have 5 families and 12 children needing NZ sponsors by 31 August 2013 for the families and children already on our books and enrolled into our F2F and CRI sponsorship programmes.

August Please pray – For “PrisonCare” ministry into the prisons: for our staff and local church pastors and volunteers who go into the prisons to help run church services and pass out much needed gifts of hygiene items, clothing and shoes. Please pray for opportunities to take this important work into the prisons from which Christians are presently excluded and where we are still developing the work. Pray for those prisoners who have expressed a desire to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour and for those who have asked to be baptised. And pray for those who leave prison as new believers that they may find churches open to support and encourage them, and jobs; and pray especially for reconciliation between those who have become believers and families (and friends) that have previously rejected them. For young people who “graduate” from the State Homes: that we will be able to provide scholarships for many especially those who show Christian commitment and also leadership potential, and those who have followed our Bible Correspondence courses and have been to summer camps or been sponsored in past years.

Albania:

Monika Qerimi (Director MWB Albania) reports: The local Assembly of God church, baptised 20 people in June. This is wonderful news because four of those people are members of the sponsored families in the poor community of Fllaka (see photo). Please pray for more fruit to come forth from Fllaka! Monika also asks us to pray for the Berat community children, many of whom will have been to summer camp, and for the parents and elderly who go to the soup kitchen there – that many will be transformed by the Message that the children have heard and experienced at camp.

Moldova:

Please pray that God will raise up a new National Manager for MWB Moldova to take the load off our interim leader Serghei Aculov. It is a big team there and the Moldova political and social scene brings challenges as State Homes close but poor communities’ needs increase. Revival swept through this small country after Communist rule collapsed in 1991, but many people left (over 1 million) desperate for work and a better life. Please pray that revival will come again as the churches pray, and that good, unified government will be raised up.

Republic of Moldova

(bordered by Ukraine and Romania)

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Dalibor (Director MWB Bosnia) reports on the cases of two women prisoners: Alisa, a former heroin addict, is in prison. Pastor Zoran visits her twice a week and does Bible studies with her. She asked to be baptised but the Prison will not allow her to leave before she has served one third of her sentence. Another called Zuhra is out and is regular at church services and home groups. She was in for fraud and she owes many people money. She is trying to negotiate with the State to sell some of the property she owns (but she cannot sell it without court orders) and pay all these people back. She also prays regularly and studies the Word. She lives in a rented room, is very sick, elderly, and she needs food, clothes, and utilities help. The church is doing as much as they can. The Mission also helps with shoes and hygiene items. More help is always needed. The ministry is small but it has a good impact for Kingdom.

Bulgaria: Please pray for and our Bulgarian staff and volunteers’ work with the prisoners. Please pray also for the participating churches and their pastors. Prisoners face deprivations that are inhumane, but many respond to the Gospel with open hearts. Please pray for more opportunities to open to distribute packs of needed items and clothing and shoes among the other prisons. In Pezardzhik Prison, only 30 of the 300 men permitted to attend come regularly to the services – we want to see this grow.

Romania: Please pray for the continued powerful effect of the Gospel on the children’s lives who follow the Bible Correspondence courses overseen by Anna Macavei and her team of volunteers. They fast and pray over all the children’s replies and for their needs every week, and these children develop close relationships (by letter) with our caring staff, and many of the children have no families of their own. The feedback is often amazing (copy at right of a letter in Romanian from a grateful young person who became a Christian through the course).

Ukraine: Please pray for the staff and students at our Vocational Training facility in Sarny – there children from local poor families train in computers, cooking, and tailoring and gain a State Diploma on successful completion. It is not only an important educational opportunity for these young people to help them get jobs, but also is a Christian outreach to them. (Pictured: graduates from 2012 in the sewing classroom).

International and general needs

International frontline staff: Please pray for God’s refreshing of body, mind, soul and spirit for all our field and international staff who will be taking holiday breaks in late July and August. Please pray that they may be inspired with new ideas and commitment to the task as they return to work later in their summer.