June 2020 Prayer Requests

Dear Friends of Estonia!

Over the last week, I believe we all have seen the news of protests and conflicts in the United States sparked by the unnecessary police brutality that led to a tragic death. We have seen the news footage of peaceful protests against racism and violence, as well as images of hatred and destruction. I would like to let all of our brothers and sisters in the United States know – your brothers and sisters in Estonia are praying for you!

We are praying for you as you battle the COVID-19 pandemic, face the challenges of opening up the country after restrictions, and deal with the turmoil of the recent events. This coming Sunday, we will be praying for you in the worship services in all of our 25 congregations in Estonia. Let us together pray for racism and violence to stop. Let us believe in God for healing and peace among people.

May Almighty God bless you and keep you!

Please pray for the students who will be defending their diploma papers. May God grant them strength and wisdom as they finish this last step before graduation. This is a more challenging process than usual due to issues related to the coronavirus.

Please pray for the seminary faculty and staff to finish the academic year strong. It has been a challenging spring session, which has involved switching to online studies for the first time in our school’s history. While we have done everything possible to ensure academic quality and stay connected with our students, meeting online is still not the same thing as meeting in person.

Pray for wisdom about how best to prepare for the fall with the uncertainty brought about by the coronavirus and whether we will begin the year with classes on-site or online.

We ask for prayer for our supporters around the world. Every person and family experiences this crisis differently. We are all in need of strength and peace from God.

Read and Signup for the BMTS Prayercain 

In camp everything its ok.  It takes much work.  The children are coming June 29.

The church is okay, too.

(editor’s note: If you’re friends with Artur on Facebook you’d see pictures of the Sunbeam kids visiting Camp Gideon last week.)

God has control!

We thank God for victory over Corona.

I am deeply blessed and thankful for morning prayer time with women over zoom. Amazing and victorious time.

We had a blessed and wonderful time with the youth team altogether. Praise God!
Let’s pray for summer camps.

We are planning first-time separate camps for teens and youth. May God lead us!
In Räpina, we need God to break through the new building bureaucracy.

Let’s pray for students and teachers who have exams in this difficult and different time.

God is close and keeping His eyes on us.

Thank you for all the prayers! I praise God for the end of the school year, which is coming to an end. I am finishing with final exams, the defense of my diploma paper is going to be on the 10th of June. I am thankful for three years of my studies. I have enjoyed them indescribably! Some of my coursemates are finishing in August- let’s pray for their persistence and strength to finish well!

And now there are new decisions to be made. I am quitting my job as a one-to-one teacher. May I have discernment and peace in the midst of uncertainty and joyful expectancy of where does God lead me next!

Praise God that he has carried us in our family through this difficult time.

I am grateful for being able to retain my job, but I am concerned and ask for your prayers as recently another group of my colleagues lost their job at Global Ministries. Their positions were eliminated as the funding is drastically decreasing.

I pray for patience to carry on my work just stuck to the computer screen for an endless number of online meetings.

But most of all, I pray for the safety and wellbeing of all people in different countries. The lockdown is devastating in many ways – and without restrictions, we are more vulnerable.

Praise God. The Lord has been good to us and for Estonian people. We are slowly coming out from the quarantine, and everyone from our community, church, relatives have been well and good.

We are back in the church already three weeks, but the seating is, of course, different. In general, we had many blessings from this time: closer relationships with family, doing works that were waiting because of normal business. Several new types of communities were created. In the beginning, onsite women’s prayer group in Võru changed into an all-Estonian women-prayer group on zoom. Women listen and pray in cars, work-offices, homes, etc.

Online board-meetings, annual conferences, bible studies, etc. gave more time, cutting travel. Most of the churches (and members) gained new skills and will continue online also. Service-attendance tripled with online live streams.
Easter-service was sweet from home with the family – so the Lord is good!

Maybe also a new type of education, economy, travel, events will be organized. May the Lord lead us all.

Please pray for evangelical student camp in Võru in July and planning the children food-project in Võru for children at risk starting in June 🙂

We are thankful for the possibility after seven weeks of pause to gather in church again. Pray for wisdom for people hold safe distances ( the same in everywhere, people are tired of sitting home and now, when it is allowed to go in shopping centers, museums, restaurants…, it is hard to remember 2+2 rule)

We are thankful for the possibility to have had online services during this isolation time. We continue with this job!

Pray that “the second wave” would not come.

Pray for our annual conference on the 8th of June.

Pray for the Estonian economy.

(Editor’s note: the 2+2 rule is: In public areas, both outside and inside, please keep a distance of at least two meters (6’6″) and move in individual groups of no more than two people. This rule does not apply to families moving together or people carrying out public duties.)

I am very much thankful for all of the prayers in the past few months. I have felt God’s grace over the congregation and over myself. Things have been all well, and it is the most important in critical times. I pray the peace and blessings from heaven for all of you, brothers, and sisters in the U.S.

I am thankful for the big congregational meeting took place on May 14th. Our Lord has given us the technology to do good things. So we got together online and had a chance to work on things. Praise the Lord. Things went all well.

I finally have good news about my driving license. Our group got to make the tests in May, and I passed all of them. It was a stressful time waiting to do something practical. Thank God, tests have finished, and I have gotten a brand new driving license for now. I have also started things for the bus driver’s job here. Very good news after today is, I will get Sundays for God and for the congregation! I see it as a great blessing after a long time on wait. Of course, I need your prayers for the “new guy” period in the bus company while I am starting an actual job there.

Please pray for the Agape congregation in Pärnu. It looks like things turn back to normal, and some people would like to leave all the virus-related things behind. Please pray, people can come together in peace and not forget the social rules. The coronavirus is still here, and people get sick every day. We must understand that risk in the church, too, and stay careful for everyone’s health.

Please pray for the families in Pärnu we are connected within the church. Our plan is to work out the Agape Summer school on July 1st to 3rd. It will be different than usual V.B.S., and all the virus situation makes it extra difficult. We still love children in the church and want them to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We’ll do the best we can in 3 days and ask for prayers that things will be safe. Let God open the way to the church, and children come there.

We are grateful that most of the children have been able to study at home thanks to the teachers of the children’s center who have helped them. Most of the children are finishing the school year.

We ask for a blessing on the VIM Teams from Asbury UMC (Oklahoma City, OK) and Calvary UMC (Nashville, TN). They unfortunately, cannot come to Estonia this summer due to the situation with the virus. We will miss them very much! We pray that God will be especially close to them and bless them for their love and care.

We ask for God’s help and blessing for our free-time activities for children this month and His protection and wisdom in organizing the mini-summer camp on July 1st-3rd.

Thank you for supporting us with prayer.

Summer for us is usually time for children, teenagers, and youth camps.

Please pray for the possibility of holding camps.

Please pray that we will not repeat the pandemic.

Bless us in prayer so that we can organize high-quality camps in which the presence of the Holy Spirit will transform the lives of young people.

We are concerned about the financial situation of many parents and pray to God for the opening of financial opportunities for parents to send their children to camps.

Pray for wisdom for us to successfully resolve a number of organizational and financial issues. The youth camp will be held from June 29th to July 4th.

Many people are still outside the physical care and attention of the church, this can negatively affect the spiritual state of the community. Pray that we can provide assistance online or over the phone. And in this regard, bless us for the organization and development of the ministry of care and attention to people.

Many people are now left without work, which also negatively affects both their own lives and society.

Please pray for the improvement of the financial situation of church members and, in general, the population of Estonia.

The Sunday school of our church temporarily changed the face of our ministry, we switched to online broadcasting, but not all parents have the opportunity or desire to provide the opportunity for their children to develop spiritually through the Internet. Please pray for the spiritual development of children who can no longer attend Sunday school. God bless you all!

We are grateful that most of the children have been able to study at home thanks to the teachers of the children’s center who have helped them. Most of the children are finishing the school year.

We ask for a blessing on the VIM Teams from Asbury UMC (Oklahoma City, OK) and Calvary UMC (Nashville, TN). They unfortunately, cannot come to Estonia this summer due to the situation with the virus. We will miss them very much! We pray that God will be especially close to them and bless them for their love and care.

We ask for God’s help and blessing for our free-time activities for children this month and His protection and wisdom in organizing the mini-summer camp on July 1st-3rd.