What A Summer!
July 14th, 2023
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Pozdravljeni, dragi prijatelji!
(hello, dear firends)
We have had a very busy Spring and Summer! We are excited to share a little snippet of the different things God has allowed us to be a part of in the past several months. (In this picture you can see our family, as well as our teammates/missionary associates, Audrey and Tyler Weise and Al Force.)
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English Camp
This year we had the best English Camp, yet! English Camp is an annual camp that we host in our city of Ptuj. Together with our local team, church pastor, Slovene translators and a missions trip team (this year we were thrilled to have friends from Saints Church Glastonberry, Canada), we provide daily English lessons with native speakers, 8 different workshops, large group games, a photo scavenger hunt, sports, devotions/talks, and much, much more. We are grateful to a local school that allows us to use their gym and classrooms. This year we had 75 students, the majority of whom come from an unsaved/unchurched background. We had great weather, everyone stayed healthy and safe, but most importantly - three of the students attending gave their lives to Jesus! On the last day, we did a performance for the parents, where we also invited them to our church that Sunday, and to our excitement we had 6 students and their families join us. To say that we are overwhelmed by Jesus' goodness is an understatement.
English Camp is our largest outreach of the year, with months of prep, logistics and planning. The local news station even came out and interviewed Dan about what we were doing! We are so blessed that we had such a successful camp, and thank you so much for your prayers and support!
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Rajalnica (Mommy and Me)
In June we finished up our first year of Rajalnica, a Mommy and Me ministry that we started in October. Over the course of the year, we had 54 visitors (that includes parents and babies), with a number of regular attendees. God has opened up doors for friendships, and a great loving community. We are pausing during the summer months, and will pick back up in the first week of September. Please be praying for our sweet friends - that they would continue to feel Jesus' love for them through us.
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Life in Slovenia
As most of you know, we have worked hard to establish close relationships with our neighbors, and treasure their openness toward us. Our street, "Siget" organized a block party, and we loved getting to spend time with our neighbors (sosedi). Abigail even baked a special loaf of bread to mark the occasion. We know that to you, these are just smiling faces of people you'll never meet, but to us, it's our friend who gives us yummy vegetables, it's the kids our son and daughter play with on the weekends, it's the lady whose husband had surgery in the Spring, and let us pray with her, it's the guy who helped me reach my hidey-key when I got locked out, it's our landlord, it's the tailor who fixed our son's suit... These people are so precious to us, and we are so grateful to live among them! Thank you for praying for them!
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English Club
In June we wrapped up our weekly English Club for the school year. Each week we have what we call "the Talk", which is a devotional that our teammates take turns leading. On the last English Club, Abigail gave a Gospel message with an invitation, and during our small group time we gave our students the opportunity to accept Jesus as their Savior. 6 of our students prayed, and gave their hearts to Jesus. We are absolutely blown away with what God is doing in our city, and are so honored to be a part of it!
That same week, we had a cookout, to which we invited all of our students' families. We loved getting to know the families of our students more, and look forward to strengthening those relationships in the future!
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Local Church Ministry
Each year, our church here in Ptuj, Izvir, hosts a church picnic to celebrate the end of the kids' Sunday School year, and to enjoy some fellowship together. Our team organizes the games and activities for the kids, as well as the adults. We all really enjoy being a little more casual with one another, laughing together, and building community!
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Family Update
Many of you know, that in the first week of June, Dan's mom's, Marcia's, health quickly declined, and she passed away soon after. If you've heard Dan speak, you will remember how vital her decision to follow Christ was in regards to the trajectory of her family's life. We are grateful that Dan was able to fly back to the States for her funeral. Thank you to those of you who reached out to Dan to express your love and care for him during this difficult time.
As you can imagine, we have had a number of unexpected costs associated his travel, and arrangements. If you would like to help us by making a one-time donation, it would help us greatly, and we would be very grateful.
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Prayer Requests
- The Fire Bible: work is still moving forward for the Slovenian translation, our national translators, editors and proof readers are hard at work, and we are so grateful!
- Ministries starting back up in September: September will be a busy month for us, as we start back up with English Club, Rajalnica, and Sunday School! Please be praying for us, that God would give us favor, and everything would fall into place.
- Back-to-school: School here starts back up on September 1st. Please pray for our kids as they begin this new adventure. Aidan will be entering 4th grade, and Jocelyn will be starting kindergarten. We are so proud of both of them!
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Thank you
Thank you for your continued love, prayer and support. We are honored to have you as our ministry partners! We pray God's blessing over you! If you'd like to become a monthly supporter or make a one time donate please click the "Donate Now" button. All donations are tax deductible and make a lasting diffrence in sharing Jesus' message of HOPE4Slovenia!
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