Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6
Dear <<First Name>>
I have been reminded recently in my own Bible reading and through sermons at church, how much God desires for us to serve Him in unity and like-mindedness. God has blessed me with a wonderful team to work with in the medical ministry as well as in the pro-life ministry. Would you pray this month that God would continue to give us unity and that He would help us to grow in like-mindedness and love for each other so that God would be glorified in all that we do?
Next week I will be traveling to Croatia for a prolife ministry leaders Summit put on by Life International. I will be attending with our Women’s Center director Luba and another missionary from Odessa, Leah, who is on our board and helps with some of the administrative duties at the center. Pray that this trip would also serve to unify us in this ministry and that the Summit itself and interaction with other prolife ministry leaders would provide us with fresh ideas and vision for what God might desire to do with the ministry here in Odessa.
We have had a number of new clients come to the Women’s Center this summer. Some of them are women with wanted pregnancies, but they come because word has spread about our parenting classes and humanitarian aid for mothers in difficult situations. Pray that we will faithfully use each opportunity that God gives us to impact lives and share His love. I am currently working with a client who is a single mom who was receiving a lot of pressure to abort when she first came in. She now has a beautiful 9 month old boy. We will soon be finishing up our parenting course. We have talked some about spiritual things and my prayer is that she would agree to do the Story of Hope study next. Pray that N. will be open to that and have increased interest in spiritual things.
After taking a break for the month of July, the medical ministry is back to its regular schedule. Yesterday I was in the village of Sahanskoye. This is the village where the main church leader lost his wife to cancer last fall. Tanya’s life is still having an impact. I talked to one man who is a friend of the family and was able to challenge him to read the Bible for himself and to seriously consider the truth that Tanya believed. I also visited with her niece who was in the village for the day but is currently living in Odessa. She attended Sunday School as a child and has heard the truth but has not yet chosen to accept it for herself. I invited her to come to my church. Pray that she will accept my invitation.
God blessed me with a wonderful week of vacation the end of July. I enjoyed the rest, fellowship with a good friend, visits to some amazing historical sites, and the chance to see what God is doing in another part of the world. God is good to give us times of refreshment when we need them!
Thank you for your interest in what God is doing in Ukraine and for your prayers!
Holly Friesen
