Rick Bolick preaching from: Job 18:21
"A journey through the halls of hell" 7-5-98 PM
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Missions Updates
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June 2024
Dear Brothers Sisters in Christ,
We hope this finds you all enjoying the blessings of our Lord and Savior. This
month marks one year since our ministry drastically changed with the departure
of some of our workers. It happened quickly and we were forced to make decisions
we otherwise wouldn’t have considered. We ended up moving to our church in
Calarasi and within a couple of months we fixed up two rooms for my family and I
to live in. This ended up being the best decision for our ministry.
We’ve seen the Lord bless our church, sending in people who would never have
come if we weren’t there. Our family has found so much joy and contentment here
and we feel the Lord is blessing our efforts. It encourages and refreshes us
when we see the Lord working in these people’s lives and seeing new believers
born again into the family of God.
One lady who recently started coming to our morning prayer meetings is named Ati.
She’s a lady to whom our workers owed a large amount of money. I reimbursed her
the money and asked her to come to our services and she promised she would. She
started coming shortly thereafter and we saw the Lord begin to work in her
heart. One week Jacob had a meeting at his church in Pecineagra and I took some
of our believers from Calarasi to the service and Ati came with us. We had a
powerful service where the Lord blessed in a mighty way. The people were crying
and shouting and praising the Lord for all His goodness. On the way home, Ati
said she felt the Lord so strong in the service she started crying and wanted to
shout. Please help us pray that the Lord saves her. She has a lot of influence
in this village and her testimony could reach a lot of people who are Muslims
and want nothing to do with us.
As the weather has warmed up, we’ve begun having our morning prayer meetings
outside again and just as the Lord continues to bless the devil continues to
fight. Last week during one of our services, as we were singing, someone outside
the gate began throwing rocks over the fence at us. One rock almost hit Teresa
in the head while other rocks hit Brother Marchel. He and I ran out the gate to
try and catch whoever it was, but they were gone. Brother Marchel decided he’d
sit outside the gate in the middle of the road to guard us as we continued the
service. Before this happened, I wanted to put up a shed roof over the area
where we meet outside to shade us from the sun, but I’ve been so busy, I haven’t
had time to add the roof yet. After this happened, I knew I could wait no longer
and had to get it done. Last year, some gave money for our bell tower and the
shed roof and this week we’ve finally been able to pour cement and add the shed
roof. We now have a very nice place for our people to come and worship, shaded
from the sun, rain and protected from any future rocks being thrown at us.
We appreciate all of you, your prayers, and your support for our ministry, and
we pray for each of you, that as the days grow darker and the evil waxes worse
and worse, that your light for the Lord will shine brighter, and your hearts
will be more and more encouraged as we see the day approaching. Please continue
to pray for our other seven meetings and our daily travels back and forth. May
God richly bless you, is our prayer.
From Calarasi, Romania
Nathan, Teresa and Nate Reed
A printable PDF
version is available here
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June 2024
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I hope this letter finds you well and in His nurturing grace. I’m thankful for
how God is working in the meetings this summer. It’s become very hot these past
few weeks with the temperatures reaching into the high nineties. The heat can be
very oppressive, but it doesn’t stop our believers from coming to our services
and we are thankful for that.
On Sundays, I am in three meetings. We meet at the Children’s Home for our
English service, then afterwards my dad and I, with some Turkish believers, go
to two other meetings in the village about an hour from where I live in
Constanta. At the first meeting in the village there is a man whose house we
meet at that gathers up all the children in his area for the service. His name
is Cerkez and he’s a blessing to us all. One day when we arrived, I said to him,
“It sure is hot today.” He replied, “Well it’s hotter in hell, thank God we
aren’t there and thank God for this beautiful weather.” Talk about putting
things into perspective, this humbled me to my very soul. I’ve found that it’s
easy to complain when we should simply give thanks every day for how good God
has been to us. The children have learned the hymns and sing passionately and
some of their parents have begun to come to the services.
In my last prayer letter, I spoke of a man who comes faithfully to our meeting
in the village of Medgidia. His name is Yildiz and he’s handicapped in both of
his feet and walks with a cane. He also cannot speak clearly but we have learned
to understand his speech. Last week, without anyone telling him to, he started
sweeping outside the church. He simply wanted to help clean up even though he
had to use a cane. Both of his feet were burned as a child, and he also damaged
his tongue and vocal cords so badly that it’s hard to understand what he says.
But after a few years we’ve learned to understand him and I’ve learned it isn’t
the great or the learned, it’s the humble that get blessed. Let that be a lesson
to all of us.
“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are
mighty;” 1 Corinthians 1:27
With the help of several churches, I have been able to build a church in the
town of Pecineaga, where my wife’s parents live, and the Lord has blessed
tremendously. Every Thursday, we have people from different areas around the
village, along with my dad bringing believers from Calarasi, to meet for a
service and a meal afterwards. My wife and I have many nieces and nephews who
attend these meetings, and we are praying for their salvation as well as others
who are now coming. Even though we have adversaries who live across the street
from us, who don’t like that we have a church, we are still excited to see what
the Lord has in store for us. Please help us pray the Lord will touch their
hearts and they too will come to our church services and be saved. Thank you all
once again for all you do.
From Constanta, Romania
A printable PDF
version is available here
Jacob Reed and Family
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April – May 2024
Dear Praying Friends and Family,
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The months of April and May were
busy with meetings in OH, KY, IN, MI, and NC. During my last visit to Ukraine, I
saw that the Ukrainian language is replacing Russian in regions that previously
only communicated in Russian. I decided that it is time to begin language study
once again, this time in Ukrainian. My family and I are taking lessons twice a
week via Zoom from my long-time friend Oleg, aka “Captain Translator.” The month
of May was also eventful for Naomi and I as we celebrated our 31st wedding
anniversary.
During my last visit to Ukraine, I was able to gather some vital information
ahead of our return to the field. It will be unavoidable for us to return to our
home because of our residency permits. We are, of course, trying to understand
if it is safe to do so. “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but
safety is of the LORD (Prov. 21:31).” I spoke with several men “in the know” who
explained the situation in Transnistria, a country where a Russian army is
located and whose border is only a ten-minute drive from my house. I now feel
much better about returning. However, the situation in Ukraine makes day to day
life very difficult. We recently received the official schedule from the
electric company in our town. We will have only five hours of electricity in a
twenty-four-hour period, divvied up an hour or two at a time. In addition, there
are water shortages. I will have to make at least one more trip to prepare our
home before the arrival of my family. It would be almost senseless to return to
a house with no water, no power, and no heat during winter! Solar panels for
power and a deep well for water would be ideal and keep us independent of the
utility system which was bad even before the war.
After discussing future plans with Alexei we decided to submit our paperwork for
visas after Michael turns sixteen in July. Ukraine places young people in a
category all their own between the ages of 16 and 18. To avoid a lot of extra
problems and paperwork, which would require us to exit the country, we decided
that this is the safest option. We’ve also discussed the nature of the ministry
for the time being. We plan to continue to take the Gospel and aid to Eastern
regions of Ukraine into the formerly occupied territories. They are humbled,
hungry, and listening now.
Possible New Recruits! Even during wartime there are still young people praying
about going to the mission field! My son, Samuel, and his wife, Susanna, are
praying about coming over to help us in Ukraine. He wants to accompany me on my
next trip while praying about the Lord’s will for their lives after he graduates
Bible Institute. What a blessing! Not to mention my daughter, Miriam, is
committed to returning with us as well. She is a certified bookkeeper and is
working hard to get her online business to the point that she can be
self-supporting on the field. I praise God for the blessing of having a family
that is now producing second generation missionaries that grew up on the field!
Please pray for the men in our church who are carrying a heavy burden during
wartime. Pastor Alexei is doing a fine job overseeing the church. He is under a
lot of pressure from many sides and needs prayer. On the one hand there are
constant threats of missile strikes in Odessa. On the other stands the sobering
possibility that he, or the other needed helpers in the church, could be
conscripted. They also get constant updates from church members and their
families who are fighting now and say that Kharkiv is very hot and that they may
be going soon. In addition to these pressures, the changes that are fast coming
to Ukraine from the West are very discouraging. The Parliament of Ukraine has
already presented a bill that would take the first steps to the legalization of
gay marriage. What a disgrace! The men are between a rock and a hard place. If
Russia wins the war, then our liberty to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ will
almost disappear. If Ukraine wins, then the new form of “Western Civilization”
(the Hollywood kind) which has replaced the old will come in and make Ukraine a
new colony of the USA and Europe. These new “western values” and immigration
will change Ukraine forever. Time is short. Even so, Come Lord Jesus.
On a positive note, I spoke with one of our church members who is serving in the
Ukrainian army. He emphatically wanted me to know one thing. He said, “Pastor, I
just want you to know that I give to missions as much as I can.” He gives to the
Lord’s work from his small soldier’s salary. He listed the several national
pastors and missionaries we’ve supported over the years. I thought of the past
trials and temptations we encountered while discipling him and his mother. I was
reminded that it is all worth it! It is the “fruit” that the Lord described
which does indeed “remain” (see John 15:16).
Another blessing from our last trip was seeing the hand of God at work in those
that were recently saved during our first trip. I was concerned about these new
believers and felt an obligation to help them grow (Matthew 7:6).
We met a man named Sergei during our last trip, who said that he relocated to
the area to help disciple the new converts that we led to Christ last year. I
saw the fruit firsthand when we arrived in a town where we had previously
preached. There were two women in particular who recently received Christ and
who sang a special hymn for me during my first visit. They were happy to see
that I returned to visit them again and then they asked, “Did you bring our
pastor with you?” I did not know that they had one so quickly, then it was
explained to me that their new pastor was the same Sergei with whom we had been
working! What a blessing to see the Lord provide men where they are needed.
A Ukrainian pastor in eastern Ukraine was present when I preached the Gospel to
a town north of Mykolaiv. He has invited me to return to preach a weeklong
revival in his church in Nova Odesa. Please pray for these meetings.
We need prayer! A lot of prayer! Please continue to pray for the following
requests: 1) the Lord’s continued guidance and protection on our next trip to
Ukraine; 2) God’s provision for plane tickets, solar panels, and deep water
well; 3) our paperwork; 4) God’s will for Samuel and Susanna; 5) God’s comfort,
wisdom, safety, and strength for our men in Ukraine; 6) the growth of those
recently saved; 7) our study of the Ukrainian language; and 8) our upcoming
meetings.
My family and I would like to thank you all for your friendship, fellowship,
prayers, and support of us in this work that God has given us. May the Lord
Jesus bless you as you continue to serve Him.
That Ukraine May Know Him,
Christopher Rue
https://www.facebook.com/p/Rue-Family-Missionaries-to-Ukraine-100068352738533/
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The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11
June 2024
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We trust this letter finds you continuing steadfast in the faith and looking for the coming of our Lord. Our heavenly father has been good to us in answering our prayers. In Avren the work on the church buildings continues.
This past Sunday we were able to hold services there in the upper room. Below there is a room for the Turkish church to meet; there will also be a kitchen and bathrooms. It's been about two years ago that we first began to pray for the funds to do this work. Now, the work is almost complete.
The Turkish Bible translation work is nearly complete. This was a work started by missionary Ralph Cheatwood back in 1980. He spent over thirty years of his life working on this so that the Turkish people might have a reliable translation of the scriptures. For several years now the preachers in Bulgaria and Romania have been using his New Testament translation. We have produced these paperback New Testaments here in Bulgaria. Back during the Covid epidemic we began to pray about making an audio recording of the Bible so that those believers who never learned to read could at least listen to the word of God. The Lord has answered this prayer in part. The New Testament has been professionally recorded and is now available for listening on a website, also it can be heard on the internet radio in Turkey. The internet radio station plays the Bible being read eighteen hours a day. As soon as possible we would like to begin recording the Old Testament as well. This project will cost around twenty-five thousand dollars. We will need half of this by August in order to begin. Those of you who know the Lord, ask him to send it to us.
Thank you all for your continued prayer and financial support.
In Christ, Zachary LeFevre