Bridge of Prayer April - May 2015

Dear MWB Prayer Partner, Thank you for praying for us and the people we are helping. This time, several prayer requests relate to people or needs mentioned in our Overcomers 2015 magazine.

And may Easter’s triumphant message encourage you greatly this season!

– Mission Without Borders NZ

Thanks: Please join with us in thanking God –

For the Alpha Course that is running in Mostar (Bosnia) for our sponsored families. On average 35 are attending from 45 families to explore what Christian faith is all about.

For the 10 or so families in Albania whose lives have sufficiently improved as to become self-supporting that they can come off our sponsorship programme there and so that other families with more urgent need of help can take their places.

April 2015

1-2 Ukraine

Please pray for lasting peace. Despite the ceasefire in March, some fighting continues in Eastern Ukraine with neither side able to trust the other. Please pray for all those involved in negotiating a satisfactory form of government for the Eastern region of Ukraine.

3-4 Ukraine

Please pray for the work among the refugees, many of whom now live in temporary accommodation in the Rivne province (our Ukraine HQ is there). Most have lost homes and possessions. Many have lost family members and other loved ones.

5-6 Ukraine

Pray for the local churches in Eastern Ukraine. Together with our contacts with local churches, the Mission continues to transport resources and encourage those in the East. Please pray for the protection of our staff and volunteers involved in the transports

7-8 Ukraine

Pray that the Christian witness of local churches to their communities will continue and give them hope. Pray for success for the new Slovyansk soup kitchen started by a local church wanting to help the hungry.

9-10 Easter – all Field Countries

Please pray for those involved in various Easter outreaches to children, families, State orphanages and communities before and during the Easter season. Many Mission staff and local church members will be actively helping, with plays, events, and church services. (Photo: children from sponsored families act out the Easter story).

11-12 Easter

Easter is celebrated on 12 April in the Orthodox tradition. Please pray for many lives to be touched by the reality of Jesus’ resurrection and that many across all of Eastern Europe will remember their church roots and return to attend services this Easter.

13-14 MWB International

Please pray for International Director Liz Waldy (UK) as she travels to Australia and New Zealand to meet MWB staff and volunteers for the first time (she will be in NZ 16-17 April). Liz looks after NZ and 9 other support offices.

15-16 Romania

Please join with us in thanking God for all students supported by the Mission and sponsors through scholarships. There are students at university, medical and nursing colleges, engineering, arts and theology. There are also those at technical colleges learning practical trades and skills. Please pray for those students who will graduate, like Alexandra on page 7 of Overcomers magazine.

17-18 Romania

Please pray for the 12 family coordinators travel among the various communities where we work. Please pray for their safety on dangerous roads, and that they may have God’s wisdom and love as they share with people in great need of hope.

19-20 Romania

Please pray for Lucica and her husband Nicolae in Romania who are new Christians bringing up a “blended” family of 11 children. Please pray God will heal their hearts and fill them with joy. (See Overcomers, page 11). Pray for the many families like them in Romania and our field countries

21-22 Field leadership meeting in Bulgaria

Please pray as our 6 Field Managers and senior staff gather for the first time with new International Field Director Andreas Viumdal, including the official hand-over of the field work from Harald Hem (new CEO) to Andreas. This is a very important time of transition as Andreas is the first new International Field Director for some years.

Andreas Viumdal

23-24 Bulgaria

Please pray for the mission staff and volunteers running soup kitchens in Bulgaria. Apart from providing regular meals, they are also involved in running Bible studies, arranging for outings, tuition classes and medical visits, and sharing clothing and food gifts from time to time. (See Overcomers pictures, page 5).

25-26 Bulgaria

Please pray for God to heal Bogomil Markuchev. Bogomil, a former Muslim; he turned to Christ when was Soup kitchen beneficiary and became a dedicated MWB volunteers in his town, Gotse Delchev. The young father suffers from chronic renal disease – may God heal him and bless his work.

27-28 Bulgaria

Please pray for Annie Atanasova and her family. She is the new Street Mercy coordinator in Sofia. Annie needs a lot of patience and compassion to deal with the constantly increasing number of homeless and troubled (specific diseases, alcohol and drug addiction, atheism). Please pray also for Victor and Innie Trina (at right) that they will come to know The Bread of Life, Jesus. (See Overcomers, page 4).

29-30 Bulgaria

Please pray for Sarkis and his wife Marina who have been blessed with their first baby (Darina, at right) after several years. His role in the Mission is a demanding one so please pray for them as they adjust to being parents.

May 2015

1-2 Ukraine

Please ask God for wisdom for Mykola and his staff and partnering local churches as plans are made for children’s summer camps (May-July) and follow up events. These camps have a special significance since the conflict in the East threatened (but didn’t stop) their ability to hold them in 2014 and nearly 1000 children attended the 5 camps.

3-4 Moldova

We have several Moldovan children and families for whom we have been seeking sponsors. Please join with us in praying that Kiwis will come forward to help change lives in this extremely poor nation.

5-6 Moldova

In 2014, MWB Moldova moved into new communities to start its work among the disadvantaged. Please pray that the new relationships with local partnering churches and volunteers may be strengthened as more families become enrolled in our care programmes.

7-8 Moldova

Please pray for the children who will be going on Dreambus outreaches, many from State orphanages who never go out and some have never even been to a fast food restaurant like McDonalds. Pray that their hearts will be touched by God’s love expressed through the staff and volunteers who accompany them.

9-10 Moldova

Please ask God for wisdom for Anatoly and his staff and partnering local churches as plans are made for children’s summer camps (July-August) and follow up events (See Overcomers, page 8).

11-12 Romania

Please pray for Jimmy and his staff and volunteers from partnering churches as they make plans for summer camps to be run June-August. Please remember Ronnie, Jiri and Ryan from Ranui, West Auckland, who are preparing to go as volunteers to a summer camp in July.

13-14 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Please ask God for wisdom for Dalibor and his staff and volunteers from partnering churches as plans are made for children’s summer camps (June) and follow up events.

15-16 Bosnia

Please pray for the Ahmetovic family from Mostar. They have had much material support but now need to find that God loves them with an everlasting love and will help them. See Overcomers, page 10. Many Bosnian families are in a similar predicament.

17-18 Bosnia

Please pray for Dalibor and his Family Coordinators who are working hard to find ways of bringing families into self-sustainable living, through small businesses, like breeding goats and sheep, growing their own crops (for Seeds of Hope, see Overcomers, page 12)

19-20 Bosnia

Please pray for new Family Coordinator Nives Pavic, who lives in Tuzla. She says, “I long to be a blessing to all the families that I will be involved with through this program, but also to stay humble and dependent on Him.” Please pray for her and her husband Zoran and two young boys.

21-22 Bosnia

Please pray for all those who have attended the recent Alpha course. Pray for the participants and that they will all come a step closer to an active Christian faith.

23-24 Albania

Please ask God for wisdom for Monika and her staff and volunteers from partnering churches as plans are made for children’s summer camp (June) and follow up events.

25-26 Albania

Arjana Spahija (Overcomers, page 14) is our Family Coordinator in the neglected areas of Fllaka and Sukth. Please pray for her husband who pastors a new small church in the challenging area of Fllaka and for the effectiveness of the Gospel wherever she and her husband minister in these areas where alcohol, violence and despair are a way of life for most.

27-28 Albania

Please pray for the expansion of our work into the remoter areas of Albania where many poor struggle to survive, as Monika mentions in her Update (Overcomers, page 16).

29-31 Albania

Pray for good connections with new church contacts in the new remoter areas of Albania, so that we can help them to reach their own communities with food and clothing, hope for the future and the love of God.

Please pray for the children selected to go to summer camp, that they may have a life-changing experience.