April 2023 Prayer Requests

Dear Friends of Estonia!

I would like to wish all of you a happy Easter as we once again are reminded of what Christ did on the cross and celebrate His resurrection and victory over sin and death! May our hearts be full of joy for the salvation we have through Christ!

Thank you for your prayers for the pastors gathering we had last weekend. It was a good time to be together in fellowship and prayer and to discuss different important administrative matters as well as how pastors can take better care of themselves and avoid burnout. Please continue to pray for our clergy.

Thank you for your prayers for the church conferences. Three of them have taken place already, and they have gone well. Please continue to pray for the ones planned for April so that they would be blessed as well, and please pray for the safety of my travels.

Thank you so much for your prayers, and may the Lord bless you!

Praise God for:

•           Special and very blessed 35th anniversary of EMC Räpina

Let’s pray about:

•           Alpha course participants and speakers
•           Training of young leaders
•           Special Easter events in our area
•           Preparations of summer camps
•           Upcoming local conferences where we will meet lovely churchmembers whom we have not seen for a long time
•           A concert service will be held on Easter in Ruusmäe

I am grateful for God’s presence in my recent travels. In March, I visited a new Ukrainian UMC refugee congregation in Germany. Last week I had a lecture with the Portuguese Methodist pastors during their synod and visited our missionary there. From there, I continued to Madrid to visit the Free Methodist project, where we will place our young missionary intern. Currently, I am in Alicante, Spain, where one of our missionary pastors is working with an international church. Many connections, renewing old and building new relationships – this is the blessing that comes along with my work, and I am deeply thankful to God for being able to connect with His Kingdom in so many different ways.

What I am struggling with, and where I need prayers, is the whole disaffiliation process of my beloved Methodist Church in Estonia. Recently we had the Central Conference session for Northern Europe and Eurasia. A week ago, my congregation in Pärnu decided to disaffiliate, and in a few months, it will be final at our Annual Conference. As Meeli and I are not leaving the UMC, we will be without a home church in our own country, which is very painful.

Thank you for your prayers.

Dear friends! We are praising God for the month of March! It has been a busy time with many blessings. We are pleased with our Alpha course, which we are doing combined with Võru, Viitka, and Räpina people. Our Youth ministry is growing, and three wonderful young leaders moved to Võru to minister and serve in Võru youth ministry. Children’s ministry goes on every Sunday after several years of less activity. Our Children’s group is not stable yet, but praise God, the leader is very motivated and encouraged. We give thanks for the blessing of a Youth worship orchestra concert from Latvia which took place in Võru church.

• Please pray for the Food Banc leader as she has some health problems
• Please pray for Alpha participants
• Pray for the youth leadership team
• Pray for families and children who come for counseling in church

Very blessed common services with four churches and fellowship between all.

• Pray for our leaders that they will make wise decisions and will listen to Spirit`s guidance.
• Pray for our new members that they will find their rightful place in the congregation.
• Pray for our small groups, pray for their spiritual growth and also for growth in numbers.
• Pray for our elderly people.

We are thankful to God that the situation in the children’s center has stabilized after the move.

We are grateful to God that 5 more people have become members of the NGO. Now there are 9 active members in total. Also, we have new board members – Marjana Luist and Riin Pärnamets. We are very grateful to past board members Regina and Taavi for their great contribution to the work of the children’s center for over ten years, and we pray for God’s guidance and strength for Marjana and Riinu.

Please continue to pray for the 12-year-old boy who used to live with his grandfather but is now in a shelter. Grandfather is currently in the hospital. He had a stroke last week, and he is currently recovering. Last week the boy ran away from the shelter. Fortunately, he was found the following day.

• April events and prayer requests:
• Every Sunday we’ll have a course for married couples.
• Every Wednesday, prayer for Ukraine
• Teens ministry – every Saturday.
• Young ministry – every Sunday.
• Happy Friday – 7 April
• Easter Sunday Service – 9 April
• Youth Easter evening – 9 April
• Youth prayer night – 23 April
• Worship night – 29 April
• Thanks for your prayers and support!