Church Planter Visit in the South

It was the first visit that our whole family was able to participate in and God blessed our visit tremendously!  We went down on Saturday to stay the night, attend church Sun morning and observe some of the children's ministry and then go home after lunch on Sun. 

The church planter, Lucian, has a young family with similar age children as ours.  I already had a relationship with Lucian through a previous visit, but having my family there made it complete.  Their oldest daughter and Kaity had a blast together even though they could not understand each others' language.  They quickly became great friends.  When we left they were both sad to be leaving.

Jennifer and I were able to connect with Lucian and his wife, Sfeta, in a way that I could not when I am there by myself.  There was a sense of wholeness in our families being together, and it was an obvious blessing for Sfeta to be able to relate with Jennifer about being a Mom and serving along side her husband in ministry.  Jennifer was able to see the ministry first hand and understand more about the need for these church planters to have consistent encouragement and coaching in their difficult ministries.  Saturday evening we spent talking until very late in the evening about their church, different ways they are trying to reach their village and the difficulties they have faced.  We mainly just listened and encouraged them.  At the end, Lucian looked at us and said, "thank you so much for coming and listening becuase it gets very hard sometimes."  The depth of gratitude was evident in his eyes.  Lucian was encouraged and renewed in his spirit.

Please pray for Lucian as he continues to spread the gospel amongst the Orthodox in his village.  Please pray in particular for families to have the courage and commitment to follow Jesus Christ above their culture and reputation in their village.

Comments

[lorraine]

Toooo cute! What Language does Katie speak?
It was great to see you and talk to you the other day :-) LL