Justo Pillman’s latest newsletter is now available.
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The ministry here in Ecuador has been such a blessing for my life and has been all of my focus for this season in my life. I’m so thankful to the Lord for the many people I have met and the many friends I have made. I’m especially thankful for . . .
Below is the text of a letter from Eastern European Missions Network.
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Dear supporters of Rev. Tomasz & Miriam Chmiel,
Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus! Thank you for your ongoing prayer and financial support of the ministry in Ukraine of Rev. Tomasz & Miriam Chmiel.
I am writing to you on behalf of the Board of Directors of East European Missions Network. I am sorry to inform you that Rev. Tomasz & Miriam Chmiel have resigned from their missionary call in Ukraine with EEMN. The EEMN Board accepted their decision with sincere regret. We thank the Lord for their service under EEMN the past 3 ½ years.
Tomasz and Miriam were on loan to EEMN since the beginning from AFLC World Missions. Please join with us in prayer for the Chmiel’s as they pursue a new direction and as they review options for possible future ministry with the AFLC Mission Board.
They will continue on the EEMN payroll through mid November, 2010. Again, please join us in praying for Pastor Tomasz, Miriam & Hannah for the Lord’s leading and presence at this time.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact me directly. I am sure you will also be hearing directly from Chmiel’s, too.
Sincerely,
Pastor Bill Moberly, Director
EEMN
Well it’s been a busy couple of months for us since we were last able to get a newsletter to you all! We want to thank you for the continued prayers and support during this busy time! We’re excited to tell you some of what we’ve been able to participate in and many ways we have seen the Lord at work!
June was full of children’s programs, which we had every weekend. It was a great opportunity to meet a lot of the children in the area as well as interact with other people involved in the churches. We are truly blessed to be working with a lot of people that have a desire to see the Lord’s kingdom grow. With two of the start-up children’s ministries that we are heavily involved with, one now has 22 kids in attendance and the other has 26, many if not almost all of them come in off the streets and have been regularly attending now and hearing about the good news of Jesus Christ! Please continue to pray for the hearts of these kids and for the Holy Spirit to work in their lives as they are under the Word of God!
For us here in the month of July, unfortunately our planned trip to Paraguay didn’t work out, however, we were able to really do a lot in its place and still spread the news of Jesus Christ! Instead of spending a week in Paraguay as we had thought, we ended up spending that same week in the Amazons instead! We had found a Christian company that had a medical ministry in Northern Brazil and we were able book a trip with them and some of the proceeds from our payment went to their ministry directly. The trip was amazing and we had a lot of opportunities to share about Christ, even with some of the people on the trip with us. One of the guys that stick out in our minds is a guy that Jon was able to talk with from Jerusalem named Daniel. Jon was able to use some of the things that he’s experienced in his life to be able to relate that with Daniel. Jon gave his testimony about how he came to know Christ as his personal Lord and Savior and shared the gospel with him. It was an awesome opportunity in which Daniel said that he’s never seen people who are actually excited about their faith before. Nathan also had a great chance to talk to a couple from Russia and really challenge them with the truth of the gospel as well. We continue to pray for those we met and encountered that they would remember the Words of the Lord, as it does not return void!
Right when we got back to Campo Mourão we had our first out of two camps for the youth in the Campo Mourão area. We had a good turnout of about 40 youth and we were all really blessed being able to be involved during the week. The theme was “Run for the Goal” which was a play off of the World Cup which happened to be finishing up around the same time. We were both able to talk with a lot of guys as we served as counselors during the week, and Jon was even able to talk to a couple of guys who decided to start coming for basketball meetings regularly on Mondays. The guys go to church off and on, so we pray that the contact through playing basketball with them will lead to them wanting a real relationship with Christ.
The very next week we had kids camp! There were 58 kids that came and by the grace of God we had a very large staff. Nathan was able to share two evening messages in Portuguese. One was about having the image of a Christian on the outside but not having Christ in your heart and the other was on sharing Christ’s love with the people you know. He had a very good response from both lessons. Jon was the primary driver for both camps, coming and going, bringing staff and students as well as running to town when needed. It was a great opportunity to talk with the staff and students during the drive to see how they were doing and talk with them about their lives. Many of the children from camp and around the area have rough backgrounds that are very painful. Please pray that the Lord continues to work in all of there lives now that the camps have ended.
Shortly after the camps finished, Bethany & Amanda flew out to return home, leaving on August 11th for the United States! It was certainly a busy time with all the people that wanted to see them before they left! Moving forward without Amanda and Bethany will definitely be a big change for both of us; however, we have a lot of things that are ahead of us at the same time. We will be continuing with our weekly street evangelism, leading in praise and worship weekly, work within the local churches, and making the most of every opportunity to share Jesus Christ. This upcoming weekend, we have a trip to Maringa planned with a lot of the youth in the area as well as from Pastor Jonathan Abel’s church in Maringa. We will be going to a concert by a very famous Christian singer here in Brazil called Fernandinho. The guys that Jon plays basketball with are also going and this will be the first concert that they will be able to go to. Please be in prayer for these guys specifically (George, Tiago, Josevaldo, & Mateus) as well as some of the other youth that are attending, that they would continue to develop to be strong Christian leaders.
We also ask prayers for one of the big undertakings that the both of us will be pursuing in the upcoming month in the updating and revising of the “Manual Evangelico” (AFLC Catechism & Church Life Book) to be available for the churches by the Annual Conference in October. We have been working on editing, formatting, revising, and adding to what was previously written back in 1956 in order to make it new and improved to best target the church needs of 2010. Nathan has also been working on the production and translation of the material from the Ambassador Institute that we are looking forward to implementing down in Brazil. Both of these projects are in Portuguese, thus we ask for continue help as we work though what seems like a large task
We do want to thank you all for your prayers and for continued financial support as we see the hand of the Lord at work! Recently it has been brought to our attention that one of the students that is studying here at the Bible School is no longer able to continue to study without the financial support of $500 to pay for his second semester of classes. Even though we have been having some financial struggles ourselves, we have decided to commit to helping this young man, Douglas, continue in the studying of God’s Word. Along with your continual prayer for the work of the Lord, we would ask that if you feel so led to help us financially we would certainly appreciate it.
Thank you all again and God bless!
Jon Nelson and Nathan Olson
To support us in our ministry in Brazil, please send your support to:
(Jon and Nathan)
AFLC World Missions
3110 East Medicine Lake Blvd
Plymouth MN, 55441
The AFLC Youth Missions Team to India had a day of sightseeing today (August 18th) and will be traveling home tomorrow. We will travel by train from Agra to Delhi and then by air from Delhi to Minneapolis.
Would you pray for our travel? Pray that even while traveling we would focus on Christ, that He would oversee the details and safety of our trip.
We have had a wonderful time of ministering in India and pray that we have ministered to the people of India as much as they have ministered to us. The team has been greatly blessed by the faith and kindness of the Christians in India.
Alito, boda-boda driver in Jinja
Dear Friends,
Thanks for your prayers for our family and for joining in our excitement of the birth of Jeremiah Daniel. He is a healthy little boy with a strong appetite. For the latest photos, check out our blog: www.jorenews.blogspot.com
We said goodbye a week ago to Rhoda's parents who were here with us for three weeks. It was wonderful to have them here and we are all missing them already. During their time here, I flew back to Minneapolis for 9 days for the wedding of my brother Ben to Adela. It was great to be there and even better to get back to Rhoda and the kids!
Several weeks ago I was walking in town when a friend of mine, Alito, rode up on a motorcycle. He works as a ‘motorcycle taxi’ driver (boda-boda). He had heard the Bible stories that we recorded in his language (Lango) from Bosco, our night watchman, who has been recording the stories into his mother tongue.
“Those stories are VERY good! Can you please assist me so that I can get my own Mega Voice so I can hear the stories from the Bible?” I did not have any more Mega Voice audio players to give him, but after discovering that his mobile phone had a memory card slot, I suggested that we put the stories on his phone.
I saw him again a week later and asked him if he had been listening to the Bible stories. He said with excitement, “Every night before I go to bed I have to listen to those stories.”
The Word of God is powerful to bring people to salvation. As the Bible says, “How can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? … Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:14b, 17). People 'hear about' God as He reveals Himself to them through His Word.
The MegaVoice has been doing great work in Uganda, but it has one inherent problem. It is not reproducible. By this I mean that it is not accessible to the average person. A typical response when someone hears the MegaVoice for the first time is, "Wow, that is great!" The second response is, "Where did you get that?" followed by "Where can I get one?" In the case of the MegaVoice, the answer is, "I got it from the missionary." If the missionary doesn't give you one, then you are not going to get one.
Contrast that with someone who is listening to the stories on his mobile phone. Someone says to him, "Cool, where did you get those stories?" He points down the road and says, "From that shop on Main Street. You can get them there yourself!"
BREAKING NEWS: Just two weeks ago a shopkeeper on Main Street agreed to distribute the audio Bible stories from his shop FOR FREE! This means that people with a memory card (micro SD) slot on their mobile phones now have access to the audio Bible stories! Many people in Uganda already have memory card capabilities on their phones and virtually all the new phones have them. The potential is unlimited and the impact immeasurable.
Please continue to pray with us for a great soul harvest here in Uganda!
It is a blessing to partner with you all. Thank you for your support and prayers,
Nate (for Rhoda, Elijah, Judah, Hannah, and Jeremiah too)
While traveling with the AFLC Student Missions team we stopped at a Hindu temple. It was one of the most visited temples in the country. We were told that people stand in line 12 hours for a 12 second look at the idol.
The temple site has a state fair atmosphere with thousands of people and many vendors selling everything from religious trinkets, and jewelry to food.
We realized that these people do not know the Savior who is the only way to heaven.
As we traveled on toward our home base we passed a man who had been hit by a car. Even though it was dark we could see him flailing in his blood on the highway. The ambulance was only a few hundred feet from reaching him so we didn’t stop. It was a poignant reminder that one day all will step over the threshold from this world into the next. Those thousands of people at the temple will have to face the true God. Am I doing all that I can to change their eternal destiny?
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"When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without a heart." John Bunyan
Alfonso and I had such a little sweetheart for our Sunday school class out in Mascarenas. Her name is Michele. Not sure where all the kids have been. We only had three, and all new ones. We also had the privilege of sharing the Gospel and leading two women to the Lord Jesus in Buenos Aires. Pray they come read the book of Romans we gave them and that they come on Sunday (Guadalupe and Virginia).
Tomorrow (Friday) at 9:00 am we start our VBS in Buenos Aires. It will run through Sunday. Pray for the teachers, children and everyone involved to lift up Jesus.
The directors for the Crossroads mission are on vacation for a couple of weeks, so pray for Mary Ann as she pretty much runs it while they're gone. It can be a bit stressful sometimes. They thought it would be better for me to switch from Thursdays to Tuesdays for Bible study (7:30 am) and preaching (11:30 am).
Kids are getting ready to start school soon. Cesar is starting middle school. Yesterday we practiced opening his locker and finding his classes. He's pretty excited.
Thank you all so much for your heart for Jesus in prayer.
Darwin, Mary Ann, Gracie and Cesar, soon to be Jackson
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
Our summer has been delightful so far! We have seen so many special people and beautiful sights. Our travels have taken us to Wisconsin and Minnesota, to churches and Bible Camps and living rooms and campfires. We had a wonderful time with extended family at the cabin in July. Meeting our brothers and sisters in the family of God is also a treat as we “catch up” on family joys and sorrows, cry and laugh and pray and sing together.
One thing that has really impressed us in the U.S. is the great spirit of generosity we have witnessed. A pastor and his wife invest time and effort to influence Hispanic children in a trailer park for Jesus – taking them along to Bible Camp, picking them up daily for VBS and meeting basic needs. Several people we have met have adopted children or do foster care or care for their elderly parents. The responsibilities go on day after day and they serve the Lord joyfully investing in these precious lives. Others volunteer to help out at the prison or homeless shelters or in disaster relief or Habitat for Humanity houses or hospice care. Others are happy to contribute financially to facilitate ministry in many different places – retiring the debt at the ARC, building a church in another country, helping the pastor of the local church with a personal gift. What a blessing to see the people of God making a difference! This is a godly heritage and vey unique to the USA. We praise God for selfless acts of mercy done daily for the glory of God. If you are one of these “unsung heroes” we want to encourage you. May God continue to bless you to be a blessing!
This week we are on our way to the East Coast with our two sons, Andrew and Matthew. We will visit 7 places on the way to New York and 5 on the way home during our 2-week trip. It will be especially fun for us to spend time with Heidi Quam Havenstein who lived with us in Brazil at two different times and to see Paul’s sister Priscilla and family and to visit my aunt and uncle. Then summer will be over for our sons as they return to college.
Back home in Brazil many ministry challenges continue. We keep in touch by phone and e-mail and prayer, trying to encourage and counsel people according to Scriptural principles. We are thankful for good news we have heard about new ministry outreaches in the Bateias church. Carlos reports that things are fine at the ARCA. The floor in the gym had to be redone and is near completion. Perhaps we can send a photo next time. We have also heard some discouraging reports, so we covet your prayers for the work in Brazil, especially for the pastors and leaders.
We hope you are having a blessed summer and taking time for the most important things – knowing God and making Him known wherever you are. “…that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” I Peter. 2:9
In His service, Paul and Becky
The highlight of the month of July has definitely been our English Day camp here in Lviv. The AFLC Student Missions team that came to help with the camp was wonderful!!! They were such a mature group with such a heart for ministry! It was almost hard to believe that some of the students were only 15 years old. Everyone who met this group (people who met them in church on Sunday, the kids at camp, etc) very much enjoyed both the students and the leaders. Here is the group. From left to right - guys: Sam N., Sam M. (adult leader), Zach, Caleb, Jon (adult). From left to right - girls: Rachel, Hannah, Ruth (adult leader), Katy, Megan.
We started each day with songs and Bible story introduction. We were VERY impressed with how accurately the students presented the Bible teaching. We were amazed at how much Bible they had memorized as preparation for the camp! 
Singing one of the campers’ favorite songs – Our God is an Awesome God 
Repeating the Bible Story to each other in groups of two or three. 
Yura was one of the neighborhood kids who came to our camp “from the street”. He very much enjoyed the camp and seemed to remember a lot from what was taught. 
Crafts in the afternoon. 
Games... Ultimate Frisbee was one of the favorites. 
One day the team had a chance to get a tour of Lviv. Lviv is a beautiful and historical city and it was fascinating for the students to see that some of the buildings here in Lviv are older than the United States! (Lviv is first mentioned in historical records in the year 1256! It was founded by Prince Danylo Halytskyi, who named it in honor of his son Lev. )
One of Lviv’s oldest buildings is the Armenian Cathedral that started as a small Armenian church built in the years 1363–1370.
A good-bye picture taken already after the camp. It was a sad moment and nobody wanted to say good-bye. Many of the kids keep asking us (for example on Facebook :) ) when there will again be a camp like this.
We want to thank the AFLC Student Missions team for making this camp not only possible but also a big blessing for all!
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Each morning the members from the Student Missions Team teach the Scriptures in St. Paul's School. They are using the oral teaching method which means that they tell they Scripture passage from memory. This is usually done while acting it out. Then they ask the students to retell the Scripture passage. This is followed by questions and application. The goal of this type of teaching is that the student would be able to retain and pass on what they have learned.
Evenings
Pray
Dear Friends
Traveling 
