July 2019 Prayer Requests

Thank you so much for your prayers.

Praises:
We are very thankful to God that we had a blessed Annual Conference.  We spent three days in worship, fellowship, and learning.  Ardi Leerimaa from Pärnu was ordained at the closing worship service and we wish him many blessings in his ministry.

2019 Annual Conference

Prayer Requests:

Please pray for the various camps going on now and throughout the summer. Please pray that people who attend would be touched by God and that everything would go smoothly with organizing and leading the camps.

Please pray for the Summer Conference, which takes place August 1-4 at Camp Gideon.  We pray that it would be a wonderful spiritual experience as people gather from different Methodists congregations throughout Estonia.

We are currently working on some repair projects, like renovating the dorm rooms at Camp Gideon and replacing the roof on the church in Kohtla-Järve.  Please pray that we would be able to raise the funds for these projects and that the construction work would go smoothly.

We are so thankful for your prayers.  May God richly bless you.

Seminary is so grateful to God for and also very proud of our 7 graduates this year.

Maria Ossipova graduated Cum Laude. She is active in New Beginning UMC in Tallinn.

Ardi Leerimaa was also ordained as a UMC pastor at the annual conference.

Riho Kurg, a deaf pastor of a Pentecostal deaf congregation, was the first deaf person to receive higher theological education in Estonian history.  Many of the deaf community came to celebrate his and Allan Lepik’s great accomplishment.  Maria and Sergei Lohinov and Janno Peensalu are all active and vibrant Christians and their lives are impacting others.  We pray that all our graduates will be fruitful in their ministry and multiply what they have learned by teaching others in their churches.

Pray for the seminary to find a good administrative assistant/registrar. It is a demanding position and vital for our school to function well.

Our seminary administration and faculty need rest. Estonians celebrate St John’s day as the longest day of the year. We are grateful that the weather is particularly good at this time of the year.

Praises:
Thank God for many good things that have happened.  The jubilee week was great and we were poured out with blessings!

We could take a family vacation in Bulgaria and meet with our partner project with Aldersgate in Bulgaria.

Joosep graduated high-school last week – prayer for his entering exams for University.

Prayers:
Our children and youth ministry need prayer, fresh workers and new strength.

In summer we have a pilot project for 30 children in need to get from church warm meal for lunch and also some activities.

Wisdom how to continue with our fundraiser with clothes.

Ministry and mission week June 23-30 with YWAM team from Latvia to have St. John´s day together with an evangelistic concert in Võru.

Youth camp first time together with a Russian youth camp.

Summer Conference 1-4 August.

Continuing ministry and special talks with youth in children-home, some need deep healing of their soul.

The lighthouse continues to work with Children who are in need of our prayers. So many of them struggle with the concept of God loving them unconditionally. You can imagine how hard that is to understand the concept if your earthly parents fail to show this kind of love and care.

The teachers and staff need our prayers because they are on the front lines dealing with the repercussions of absent parenting, parents who struggle with alcohol and drug dependence, and outright physical, mental, or sexual abuse. Trying to help kids with homework alongside behavior and interpersonal issues is hard enough without the backdrop of troubled or non-existant homelife. Pray for their strength, resolve, and compassion.

I will say there are many thanks to give God for our successful summer camp. We took 31 children to a rural resort area where each day we could talk about and demonstrate God’s love. We prayed with the children and gave them a week to talk about all year. We played games, sang songs, made slime, exploded stuff, and ate three great meals each day (with snacks in between).

Lighthouse Summer Camp 2019

Asbury UMC – Tulsa was working with the Lighthouse Kids the first week of July. Please pray for their time together and for the children to have a safe and fun summer while the lighthouse is closed.

We are thankful for our Family Camp.  It was a really good time. Pray for Haiba children´s home, and for kids who were in camp.  Pray that seeds of God`s word will grow in their hearts.

Pray for our Summer Conference, for the team, and for participants also.

Continue praying for services, that people will come to church in summertime. Pray also for our new members, that they will be close to God.

I am so very thankful to God and my friends who pushed me to continue my studies in the BMTS. I can say now it is a great feeling to be graduated.

I am also very thankful to God to give me a special calling to the ministry in His church.  It was a very special day for me, to stand in front of the congregation in Agape church and turn into the ordained elder´s ministry.

Pictured: Rev. Robert Tserenkov, Rev. Ardi Leerima, and Bishop Christian Alsted

Please pray for me that I can do good things for His church and for the people around me.

Please pray for my job outside of the church. I need to change my work between church and business. It won´t be possible to keep a full-time job when I start full-time pastoral ministry in Agape church.  I would like to get changes done for this by September – October.

Please pray for the youth, adolescent and children’s camps, we expect to see over 300 people in these camps and we need the wisdom of Jesus and His love.

Also, from on July 26 to on July 28 there will be a hike, bless us so that the weather will correspond to the hike and so that the Spirit of God will unite the youth with His love.

Bless all families for the holidays, many go on a journey, they need the protection and favor of God.

Image courtesy of Robert Tsernkov (posted to facebook on July 5, 2019)

For July the main prayer request is for rest after a very stressful and tiring school year for Livia and a long year for me as well. Pray that we will be able to start the new school year with the strength and joy that is needed.

Pray also that God would be preparing the hearts of potential students to come to the Seminary to prepare for ministry. As Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

Lastly, pray that God would send the right person to take the job of Administrative Assistant at the Seminary. This is a crucially important role. Pray that the right person will be in place and ready to go for the new school year.