April 2021 Prayer Requests

Dear friends,

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!

We would like to wish you a Happy Easter as you celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  May we all be reminded of God’s great love for all of us as Christ died for our sins and rose again conquering sin and death, and giving us the hope of eternal life.

Please continue to pray for the situation with the pandemic. It seems like we will continue to be under lockdown for the month of April.  Please pray that the number of infections would go down faster and the restrictions could be eased.

Please pray for all of our pastors as they try to serve their congregations in alternative ways.  On March 20 we had a good online study day for our clergy.  We are still hopeful for the future and talking about how to reach more people with the gospel.

May the Lord bless you and protect you!

First an update on my green card problem: without going into specifics – some encouraging things have happened, but right now I still have to wait for an interview appointment in the US Embassy in Tallinn. Thank God for good developments, pray for the complete positive solution!

I am also thankful that we with Meeli are both getting the first covid vaccination shots tomorrow.

Please pray for a pastor in our church in North Africa who has been sentenced to prison for two years because his Christian ministry has been supposedly “undermined Muslim faith“.

Thank you for our prayer fellowship that bridges continents!

Praise God that the seminary has been blessed with financial stability in the midst of the pandemic. Praise God for continued studies.

Pray for the seminary as we discuss, plan, and implement new measures related to the school’s future development and prepare reports for accreditation which will be reviewed by an accrediting agency in November.

Pray for Estonia as the nation continues to struggle with high infection rates and for vaccine availability.

Pray for Estonia’s teachers and students as a new round of lockdowns continues and there has been a return to remote learning for all age groups.

Praise God for solid partnerships and relationships which we share with Friends of Estonia and partnering churches in the US. We wish you all a very special holy week!

I’m thankful as the Spring is coming closer day by day! More sun and daylight gives additional energy.

Praise God the first part of the floor in the church has been done! Now we plan to paint the walls and probably cover the floor with specific epo-type covering.

We have done twice zoom-fellowship with my church members- some of them attending through zoom app and the others through calling in to the meeting. It is a great way to stay connected and pray for each other.
Praise God that we all have been healthy and pray for our continuous health.

Pray for my students and their families as we have been in distant studies for a month and it has been quite hard for some families.

Hello,
Happy Easter!

Christ is risen!

Here are my prayers for April

• Thank you all for the prayers! I wish you a great Easter period. Our Lord Jesus Christ is risen for you and me. I want to encourage us to pray together as Jesus said to His disciples in John 16:23b-24. There is just a part of the Scripture going around in my mind that Jesus said “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name” I believe, Jesus would like us to pray and look for bigger answers from Him.
• It´s been a difficult time while the churches can´t open the doors for public worships. There is still good news, that youth group comes together as much as possible. True, they all need to be careful and all of them need to be creative. Thank God for the youth group that comes together in person and loves each other so. We all need to pray for them to grow in God´s grace and keep close contact with each other also.
• There have been a couple of children´s programs online too. I am asking your prayers for all these families, Agape church goes to. We know that message goes to many families we have not ever seen in the church in person. Let´s pray that God´s grace will touch them and people will be encouraged by these messages from Agape church.
• Please pray with us for those who need help for their physical health. I believe, it will be enough for our Lord, we name people by their needs. There are many people looking for help these days. I do not name all of them in person this time but there are people looking for help in cancer; in Covid-19; in grief and some other physical sickness. May God help them and heal every one of them.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

With this ancient greeting I would like to greet you in season of Resurrection Tide AD 2021
I am grateful to God that He planned and fulfilled our of  salvation when Jesus said – it is finished (John 19:30!) In Greek this phrase it is just one word…perhaps this was the last power of breath that He had before fulfilling our salvation?

The fulfillment of this plan has not been cancelled nor on pause even in current season of confusing times.

Jesus’s resurrection’s power through the Holy Spirit through His Church continues to change the world. by you…Be blessed and filled with this power,HIS power, wisdom and love for the lost world. You are special!

Thank you so much for your prayer and love for us now in Estonia!
With Resurrection Times greetings (as we say that in Estonian ülestõusmisaeg),

Praise the Lord, by the grace of God, we were able to dedicate yesterday 05.04.21 at 12.00 newly renovated rented rooms for Võru Foodbank (it is an official part of our UMC in Võru as one juridical entity) acts 7 days a week and serves the whole Võru County. I am glad we have our Võru Major and others’ participation in this Christian act of prayerful dedication, I am grateful that we can serve in these severe times with what we have.

Please pray for our family, our church, our Estonia, its leaders, and the awakening of the hearts of people to the holiness and grace of God.

Pray for all Easter services on TV and on YouTube, so that the Holy Spirit could touch people’s hearts. Pray that the pandemic will end and we could return to churches.

Pray also, that people will return when we have the possibility. Pray for lonely and depressive people.

Estonian speaking youth work
Naatan Hollman is leading the Youth Alpha Course on the web. In this difficult situation we have the upcoming Holy Spirit weekend. Lets hold them in our prayers!

Our Youth Team is sharing messages in IG stories during Holy Week. May God grow these seeds and messages in the heart and life of youth.

We are planning to go hiking in the countryside with youth all over Estonia on the 24th of April. Let´s pray that God could give us beautiful weather and the best solutions.

26-28th of April our russian youth leaders will train our estonian youth in zoom about how to produce TV-series and how to be more active on social media.  Lets pray for wisdom and success.

UMC Räpina
God is our supplier. He has given me wisdom in serving people in this difficult situation where public services are forbidden in churches. It has been emotionally very difficult during this time.

God has given us different opportunities to serve children, youth and older people in this difficult time.
We are actively continuing with construction on the new building. Lets keep our team and our builders in prayer.

We pray that God will supply the finances at just the right time.

Benjamin’s surgery went very well and he is missing playing basketball. Lets pray for blessings to recovery.

Dear friends,
I write to thank you for all the prayers for Grandpa and messages of encouragement I have received. This morning I got the news that Grandpa passed away during the night.

I have faith and hope that the 25 days he spent in the ICU were important for the Holy Spirit to work and speak to him. Grandpa is a very strong man who has invested everything he could in his children and grandchildren. Without him, I would not be able to even write this letter, because it was he who insisted that I learn English. He invested in my education, supported me in times of difficulty and was always there for me. Of course he has his flaws, too. He knows how to be stubborn and tough as anyone. I think it was from him that I inherited such qualities. I will miss his loud laugh, his one-song guitar, his extravagant sense of humor and the tone of his voice when, on the telephone, he would always say he was better than he deserved. I sincerely hope that this continues to be true. Thank you all. And, if possible, pray for my mother, my uncles and cousins.

May God bless you richly.
In Christ,
Lívia

One of our Seminary students has requested prayer as he has been asked to step into a leadership role in his church after the pastor was forced to take a leave of absence due to a medical issue involving their unborn baby (please note this is not a UMC congregation so none of you know the family involved, but this is a reminder that our impact goes beyond denominational borders). Pray for the baby, the pastor’s family, as well as for our student and the responsibilities he will face in this situation.
Pray for the Seminary team as we prepare the latest accreditation report. Pray that God would give wisdom and strength to focus on the task during the already stressful Corona situation of online studies.
Pray for Lívia and her family as they come to grips with the loss of the family patriarch.

Additional Editor’s note: Mark and Livia share more frequent updates and prayer requests on their One Mission Society mailing list. If you would like prayer concerns and requests from the Nelsons in-between the monthly FOE email consider joining their mailing list. 

We are grateful to God that, despite the fact that schools are closed, the Social and Health Department has asked our center to be open for children, so that they can get help during these difficult times. At the same time, we ask God for protection so that no one will get sick.

We ask you to pray for the 12-year old girl whose mother returned from alcohol rehab, but she still does not take care of the child as she should. The girl has started spending time with bad influences and is trying to attract other girls from our center to go there.

Thank you for your prayerful support.

Throughout March, we had restrictions on holding open services, and this situation also applies to April.

However, we strive to use this situation in the name of the glory of Christ.

In April, we have planned to conduct youth services on Saturdays online, and we are also planning to hold worship evenings online as well.

God bless you.