Bridge of Prayer February - March 2015

Dear MWB Prayer Partner, We are convinced that the prayers of faithful people are key to our success, past and future. Thank you for praying for us and the people we are helping.– Mission Without Borders NZ

Thanks: Please join with us in thanking God –

For our new International Field Director Andreas Viumdal who soon steps into the position that new CEO Harald Hem held. Like Harald, Andreas lives in Norway and has extensive experience in work like ours.

For the numerous invitations to do visits and talks among the Senior and Disabled Citizens’ Clubs in Sofia, Bulgaria. Our MWB staff have so many opportunities that they have to make sure they target the right groups!

For the new opportunities given to MWB Moldova to take children’s ministry into the previously closed, Russia-aligned part of the country called “Transnistria” or “Trans-Dniester” (Across the Dniester River).

February 2015

1-2 Ukraine

Our MWB Ukraine National Manager Mykola Bohdanets (pictured) asks: “Please pray for wisdom for us as to how to handle and distribute the available resources to our growing number of needy beneficiaries.” During this time of conflict, the needs, especially for the refugees from the eastern regions, are pressing and many.

3-4 Ukraine

“Please continue praying over Ukraine during this time as we are still facing a difficult situation and the absence of peace. But Jesus is the Prince of Peace and the Hope of the world. He is also the Hope for Ukraine.” - Volodya Brychuk, Communications Mgr

5-6 Ukraine

Maksym Korniichuk (“Max”) (pictured) is a Family Coordinator and looks after 80 mainly rural families Around Rivne. He is married with four young daughters. He asks: “Please pray for me to have wisdom and a vision of the real needs of the families, for the opportunities to fulfill these needs and for the responsibility I have in my work with the F2F families.”

7-8 Ukraine

Winter in Ukraine is very cold. Please pray for all our staff who are travelling as roads are treacherous but poor rural families and the elderly need help now more than ever.

9-10 Bulgaria

Sarkis Ovanesyan, MWB Bulgaria National Manager (pictured with wife Marina) asks, “Pray that God will raise up Christian leaders in our country with the right vision for God's work. Pray that God will connect us, the Mission, with such partners.”

11-12 Bulgaria

The StreetMercy project in Bulgaria needs more volunteers that are passionate to God's work among the homeless. Please pray that the Lord will move the hearts of men and women to commit to ministry among this group of marginalised individuals.

13-14 Bulgaria Emil Metodiev is the Family Coordinator who looks after 65 poor families in the

Krupnik village in SW Bulgaria. He is also a part-time pastor. Sarkis tells us: “Please pray for Emil. He plans to enroll 17 new families needing sponsors in February in the place of those families who reached self-sufficiency and came off our programme late in 2014. May God bless him with wisdom, lead him in doing everything according to His will and may His name be glorified with a plentiful harvest among these families.”

Emil Metodiev

15-16 Bulgaria

Please pray for Rangel Kalvachev, pastor and our volunteer in Prison ministry in Pazardjik (South part of Bulgaria). Currently he faces many new challenges needing God’s wisdom. He asks us to keep in mind the inmates he works with – may God bless all of them in order to find Him and thus to find their real purpose in life.

17-18 Bulgaria

Please pray for Kardzhaliev-Petrovas, a sponsored family in Dabnitsa (south-west Bulgaria). Last year their hearts were broken because of the sudden death of their daughter Rukie (2). May God bless and comfort them and give them strength to stand firm and share their faith with their Muslim neighbours.

19-20 Romania

Adrian Enuca (pictured), a Child and Family Coordinator, works with 35 families and 162 children from poor and “at risk” living situations in 8 communities. He is married to Georgeta and they have two grown up children. He asks: “Please pray for me to be full of peace and joy and this shall be seen by all, so that they would want to know Jesus as well. I would also like to ask your prayer support for a future church building in Verbita and Verbicioara, two small villages – everything is possible to God!”

21-22 Romania

Gheorgeta Enuca, Adrian’s wife, is an Emotional Support Coordinator. She partners with her husband and specialises in counselling children and young people. She asks: Please pray together with me to be a good servant for God. I need God’s wisdom in everything I do. I need His protection and His strength in spiritual and everyday life. Please pray for my country and for our beneficiaries.”

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23-24 Romania

Please pray for the Romanian government to rule with wisdom and integrity. It has recently approved small increases in State pensions and benefits, and in State-paid wages, but the country is still very poor.

25-26 Romania

Please pray for our StreetMercy outreach staff and volunteers in Craiova, who regularly fed out over 10,000 meals to over 600 people in this city last year.

27-28 MWB International

Please pray for Harald Hem (Norway) as he settles into his new role as executive head of the Mission; and for Harry Graham who now chairs the International Board and affiliate Boards (including New Zealand’s). Pray also for Harald’s wife Sreyleak (who works for the Mission) and their two children.

March 2015

1-2 Ukraine

Please pray again for Ukraine, for peace, for the government, for our team. May God continue to draw Ukrainians to Himself, even in the midst of the conflict and hardships.

3-4 Moldova

Please pray for the children and teachers touched through Anatoly Kirillov and his Children’s Ministry team who have recently taken the Christian message of hope, with live drama, gifts and lots of joy into the State Home in the town of Bender, to a warm reception.

5-6 Moldova

Please pray for good, well-led government in Moldova, following last December’s elections which gave a narrow margin to the pro-EU bloc but with no party having enough votes to rule on its own.

7-8 Moldova

Please pray for all the children in the State Homes where we work, especially for those whose Homes will be closed down in 2015. Please pray that we may continue to have contact with many of these children in their own communities, and that the hope and love experienced through summer camps, Children’s Ministry and general practical aid to their Homes will remain as they grow up.

Please pray for those helping the homeless and those who are hungry in Straşeni (pictured), headed by MWB Coordinator Nicolai Cozlovschi.

9-10 Moldova

13-14 Moldova

Andrei Palii (pictured) is our Family Coordinator working in the area near Chişinau (the capital). He looks after the practical needs of 50 families. He himself has been married one year. He asks: “Pray that God will help me to do my job efficiently and that everything I do – I can do for His glory. Pray that people will be receptive to the Gospel and that they will realise that they need God in their lives.”

13-14 Bosnia and Herzegovina

Dalibor Kojic, MWB Bosnia National Manager, asks: Pray for our MWB Bosnia team to stay physically healthy as we work at full capacity: the body gets stressed but the spirit is willing.

15-16 Bosnia

Please pray for their partners, especially the churches- they are small and financially poor. Pray that they will be able to handle the burdens that come their way, and that they will grow in every respect i.e. financially, membership, in faith and vision for what God is doing, and in wisdom.

17-18 Bosnia

Pray for complete establishment of our new elected government (October election), since they have taken a long time to agree and they still have no Council of ministers (Cabinet).

19-20 Bosnia

For our coordinator Nermin Begovic (pictured) who looks after 44 families in two poor, mainly Muslim communities. He is married with three children. He asks: “Pray for me above all else that the Holy Spirit guides and leads me in my work and life.” Please also pray for him because he is going through a difficult time at home.

21-22 Bosnia

Please pray for the up-coming new Alpha course (for Christian teaching, evangelism and discipleship): Dalibor expects over 30 beneficiaries to attend from sponsored families in Mostar. Pray for the participants and that there will be a good atmosphere and for them to come a step closer to Jesus and his teaching.

23-24 Albania

Please pray for Monika Qerimi and her team of 17 and volunteers. The work in Albania has steadily expanded under Monika’s hand but the needs are great. Please ask God for wisdom for Monika especially as plans are made for 2015 and for important outreaches like summer camps (June).

25-26 Albania

Arjana Spahija (pictured) is our Family Coordinator in the neglected areas of Fllaka and Sukth. She is married with two children. Her husband pastors a new church in Fllaka. She cares for 35 families including 85 children. She asks: “Pray for me to be more courageous, to have more strength and wisdom to face the difficult situations in the families and power to lead people to the knowledge of God. God bless you!”

27-28 Albania

Please pray for the soup kitchen at Lapraka in Tirana, the capital, where the volunteers from the local church (pastor is Fitor) help run this life-saving outreach to the local poor families and elderly.

29-31 Albania

Christians are a small minority. Please pray that they may work together in unity to promote the gospel; that many Albanians may come to faith; and that this once secular nation may experience God’s blessing.