September 2022 Prayer Requests

Dear Friends of Estonia!

Thank you so much for your prayers!

We are thankful to God for the blessed Summer Conference and all other summer events.
Please pray for all of our congregations as the fall season begins with Sunday schools, youth events, the Alpha courses, and other activities that took a break for the summer.

Please pray for all of our children and young people as they return to schools and universities. May their studies be blessed, and may they be a witness wherever they are.

Please continue to pray for the war in Ukraine to stop, for the blessing and safety of our brothers and sisters there, and the work with the refugees in Estonia.

We thank each one of you for keeping us in your prayers!

The school year got off to a good start on August 23^rd. Pray for God’s blessing on the rest of this new session and academic year.

Pray for all in the country of Estonia as they deal with significant inflation especially related to high energy costs.

Pray for the mental and physical health of all seminary students, faculty, and staff as they deal with the normal stresses of life and the additional strain brought on by the war in Ukraine.

Pray for students and their families who are directly affected by the war in Ukraine.

Praise God for providing first-year students to begin the academic year. Most new students are Ukrainian, some of whom are still attempting to make their way to Estonia.

We are grateful for our church’s Summer Conference, where we were able to grow together with young people and teenagers in God and in relationships with each other. We had a team of youth (ages 15+) on this occasion who served teenagers. I am deeply grateful to God for the exciting developments in His Kingdom. We also went on a prayer journey together, and it was a special time.

From September 9th to 11th, there will be the Bible Festival, where hundreds of young people from Estonia are coming together. I will be there with my son Benjamin to talk about “How to keep faith in long spiritual struggles?”. We need your prayers.

We are starting a new joint journey with the UMC Viitka, UMC Räpina, UMC Ruusmäe and UMC Võru congregations. Our goal and yearning is to become stronger and more sustainable in the Methodist Churches of southern Estonia under the leadership of God in unity for generations. Bear us in prayer in this new challenge.

A great prayer request is also the sale of the old building of the Räppina church and the construction of the new building. We bought the old building. Now we need God’s help and leadership to move forward.

I am grateful for the blessings we, with Meeli, experienced in Poland Renewal Days in the middle of August. We both led a workshop there, which was received well. We also had many meaningful meetings with different people and were especially blessed to meet our friends, pastors, and leaders from Ukraine who are currently refugees in Poland.

Üllas and Meeli (fourth and fifth from left) with friends in Poland.

September will be extremely busy with ministry and travels. I am responsible for the Institute for Multicultural Ministry in Stuttgart, which starts on September 2nd and brings together leaders of multicultural-intercultural churches across Europe for week-long training, worship, and fellowship.

Later in September, we meet with ECOM (European Commission on Mission) in Stockholm.

Please pray for wisdom to conduct these meetings, blessings of smooth administration, organization, and travels – and most of all, for the impact: of God’s mission to flourish.

Thank you for the prayer fellowship!

Pray for our Sunday school, for all children and teachers, that the new season will be blessed and all of them will grow closer to God.

Pray for the youth and their leaders. Pray for them also for spiritual growth.

Pray, that our small groups will start, not only through screens but in person.

Pray for our pastors and their families.

I am thankful to God for friends in the U.S. Thank you for all of the support and partnership between brothers and sisters on different sides of the World. Thank God we got to see a group of brothers and sisters from the U.S coming to Estonia last week.

Asbury Tulsa members gather with Pärnu Agape church members during a late August visit in 2022.

Thank God for Pärnu Methodist Church 101 years. Today we know that as the Pärnu Agape congregation. There have been different places for the congregation´s gatherings in its history. Also, the congregation has had different challenges in the ministries. After 101 years, it is doing well, and thank God for leading the church on His path.

Pärnu Agape congregation poses for a group picture while celebrating 101 years.

Please pray for me and Joosep Kunder. We are in Tulsa, OK right now, and we have a great opportunity to visit Asbury church. We will meet many people we know and will make new contacts also. Please pray, we could have a very blessed week for us, and we could be also a blessing for people we will meet. Also, please pray our travel back to Estonia that can be safe and smooth.

Greetings from Children Center Lighthouse!

We are grateful that the summer passed well, the children and staff were able to take a rest, and the children’s center is now working in a full swing again.

We are grateful to God that after coronavirus times, the Asbury group was able to visit Estonia again, including the children’s center. It was a great pleasure to see them again and spend time together!

We pray for the new school year so that God would give the staff wisdom in helping the children and that the children would be open to learning and would be able to cope with new challenges.

We’re also praying for new children who are coming to the children’s center, including children of Ukrainian war refugees.
We pray for the financial situation of the children’s center and that there would be a solution regarding the issue with the heating system in our center.

Baltic Methodist Theological Seminary
prayer requests for September

We are grateful to God for:

• summer vacations which have given time for resting, gaining new strength, and having  more quality time with the families;
• the successful study session/retreat in Latvia, Camp Wesley near Liepaja, during August 23rd-26th. We had altogether 40 participants (students, teachers, staff, and a couple of family members/guests). It was indeed a great time of relaxing and studying in a different environment, having worship, prayer, study, and fellowship. It was a great time, even the 8 hours bus drive to and from Camp. All was enriching and inspiring;
• completing the admissions and for 19 new students;

successful study session/retreat in Latvia, Camp Wesley near Liepaja

Please pray for:

• New students, whom many are from Ukraine; pray that they will get dedicated to their studies, find necessary means; find jobs and living place in Estonia for some time, and that God will help in all this;
• Us and donors that we may get all necessary means for helping students and providing Wartime Relief Scholarships for those Students who are in greater need;
• Rector Külli Tõniste, who is on sick leave;
• Students and graduates who help as volunteers in Ukraine;
• Teachers who are prepared to start teaching again;
• Russian and Belorussian students who may experience various kinds of difficulties;

Hello, dear friends! Thank God, August was active and blessed.

In September we have many plans, but we need Lord to bless them. So we ask for your prayers and support.

– From 4th September – start of Sunday school, teenage and youth meetings.
– 10th September – meeting of all leaders and teams of EMK Tallinn (russian speaking community)
– Start of course “Fundamentals of Faith” for people who want to become members of the church.
– New season of home groups
– Ukrainian meetings twice a week. Praying for refugees and for peace in Ukraine.
– We have received a request from the technical team – we are looking now to buy ear monitors for the worship team and a photo camera for the media team.

We believe that the new season will bring many blessings for the church and glory to God.

Blessings

Many blessings, dear praying friends!

Praise God there is a new initiative between four South-Estonian churches, we have met 3 times and it has been a great fellowship.

The new school year has started and no masks, tests, or isolation – praise God!

It was wonderful to meet after a long time with a team from Asbury, Tulsa

Please pray for:

• Very high electricity costs, that the Lord will help and give wisdom
• Youth Ministry
• health and strength for Sup. Robert Tšerenkov
• Aldersgate retreat for youth in October and train youth for doing prayer ministry for their peers
• Sunday school starts in Tilsi for children-home kids