June 2012 Newsletter Ram’s Horn Ministry · We got to stay five nights with pastors’ family —...
Transcript of June 2012 Newsletter Ram’s Horn Ministry · We got to stay five nights with pastors’ family —...
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June 2012 Newsletter
Christ for the Nations, PolandIt was such a privilege to stay there for three weeks while we
taught in the Bible school — Roger book of Romans and Myrnabook of Acts and New Testament Survey. We got to have thesame room we had for a month when we first bought the build-ing back in 2001! After that time, we left our apartment in Sopotand rented a larger room from the school and lived there for fouryears! SO many memories of God’s goodness — beautiful, won-derful students who wanted to know the Lord and His Word andHis plan for their lives. The same is true today of the preciousfirst and third year students that we got to know while living withthem! We were so blessed to come alongside the new directorsJosh and Izabela Cagle. They are refreshing, have big, goodplans that coincide withthe original vision that Godgave us as the foundationof the school from Isaiah43:4-11. Foundationsdon’t change, but strate-gies do, and they arereaching out in waysthat we could not have!
When we were in the airports in Stockholm,Oslo, and Riga, we were reminded ofthe words from Isaiah 43:6 ”say tothe North give them up! ... Let allthe nations be gathered together,and let the peoples be assem-bled.” So, we declared thosewords as we walked in each city. Now the airport in Gdansk has
flights to many, many nations. It hasbecome a hub and God will fulfill HisWord! He will send students IN from the nations, and send OUTteams from the school to be His witnesses! During their Aprilbreak, they sent a team to South Poland (“and to the South, donot keep them back.”) to minister in orphanages and churchesand do a mini-CFN school. It was an amazing time. Third yearstudents are leaving shortly for Moldova for an outreach, as well.Believe us, they are ready, willing, and able servants, loversof the Lord!We also spent time with grads — preaching and ministering to
and with them! Also so very amazing! We were just continuallythanking God!!!!!
LLoovvee LLeetttteerr ttoo YYoouu,, LLoorrdd::TTrriipp:: Sense of being in the right place at the right time. Favor surrounded us as a shield. Wisdom showed us
when to be places early, or to ask questions in advance to avoid problems. (In Oslo, there was a holiday the next day,and one worker told us that 44,000 people would pass through that airport on Friday, and we needed to be in lineby 5:15 a.m. — so much for the wonderful buffet breakfast!)
AAiirrppoorrttss:: 14 in all — 9 different ones and 4 different carriers. No lost luggage, no extrabaggage charges, andno missed connections in five weeks.People that we wanted to see — we got to see — always felt they were divine appointments; some were urgent
to meet needs, to encourage, to bring life to a situation, to bring a word. God, You were in control, and it waswonderful!We were strong, healthy, able to walk, eat foods set in front of us, be up long hours for travel or ministry. Lovely
Jesus — our strength and our ability, our very joy! We cannot go further without emphasizing the power of prayerby the saints on our behalf as we traveled! We know that the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man availsmuch! For us, the ease of travel and ministry and overcoming obstacles can be explained by this kind of prayer.
MMoosstt oofftteenn wwee ffeelltt wwee wweerree nnoott tthheerree ffoorr mmeessssaaggeess,, bbuutt lliivviinngg lleetttteerrss aabbllee ttoo bbee rreeaadd ooff mmeennaass GGoodd ggaavvee uuss ggrraaccee.. BBuutt wwee ddiidd lloovvee bbeeiinngg aabbllee ttoo tteeaacchh,, pprraayy,, sshhaarree,, aanndd pprreeaacchh!!
—— ffrroomm aa ccoouuppllee ddeelliigghhtteedd iinnWWhhoo YYoouu AArree;; WWhhaatt YYoouu’’vvee DDoonnee;; aanndd
WWHHAATT YYOOUU AARREE DDOOIINNGG!!
Godʼs miracle buildingin Gdynia
Abundant Life Church, Minsk, Belarus,20th Anniversary CelebrationWe had gotten cheap flights in and out of Minsk, and so
got to have a night in Riga, Latvia, before arriving in Minsk.We learned how to take a city bus and walk from it to thehotel. Fun adventure! But also time to walk and declare theWord of the Lord over Latvia!Pastor Pavel met us at the airport in Minsk — we had NO
hassles with customs, etc.— and, although we didn’t knowahead of time, he took us directly to the meeting place of thechurch on this Sunday afternoon. He said, “Of course, youwill preach!” So, of course, we did! What a joy to surprisepeople by being there that day! We were thrilled with the vi-brancy of the church! There are now second generation fam-ilies’ kids doing all kinds of things — from being on theworship team to leading the church’s evangelism program!This was SO exciting to us! The worship was outstanding —a mostly young adult group led by Irina, pastors’ wife — withclapping, dancing, and joy before the Lord.
LLoorrdd,, YYoouu kknnooww hhooww wwee wweerree,, aanndd aarree,, ccoonnttiinnuuaallllyy pprraaiissiinngg yyoouu ffoorr tthhaatt wweeeekk wwiitthh oouurr
bbeelloovveedd iinn BBeellaarruuss!!We got to stay five nights with pastors’ family — our great
desire — and theirs! Katya, their 18 year old daughter toldher friends at university that her grandparents were comingfrom far away. That’s just how it was, is, with this family —
they are so close. We saw the fruit oftheir lives right within the family — allloving Jesus and each other! Everytime they get into the car, they recitePsalm 91 as a family (6 of them)!Awesome — and necessary! Wealso found out that Pastor Pavelhad just done his master’s disserta-
tion the day before we came — sohe’s been tremendously busy withchurch, studies,and teaching at
CFN Belarus. We are proud — he got 96 out of 100 for hisscore! Congratulations, Pavel!We also spent three nights with Pastors Ernst and Luda
who have been with the church since the opening meetings20 years ago! They have been in China and want to go again.We heard their amazing testimonies of the move of the HolySpirit as they were there. The connections God gave them inthose seven months was amazing! From the very elite —they got to open a large mall area, cut the ribbon and wereasked to start a couple of schools — to picking pears withpeasants. They were asked to sing at a large sophisticatedpublic gathering then sang on the train acknowledging thatGod is great! Jesus is Lord! They are so on fire! God, en-able them to get the visas that are difficult as they are over60 years old. They also saw God perform miracles as theylaid hands on the sick! God kept them safe continually! Theyare also so very grateful for prayers and support!We met daily with different groups: prayed for leadership
team; spoke for Ladies Tea; supper with Lela’s family in theirnew apartment — she was translator for us and Pastor Karen
when we lived there. Pastor Karenalso came to Belarus for the celebra-tion. Now Lela and her husband —they met at the church — have threeboys, one already 13! What a joy tosee them living out all that we taughtand tried to live! Their relationships areprecious.It was our pleasure to go to Christ for the Nations,
Belarus with Pavel and teach twice. The ministry is grow-ing again, doing well, but facing huge challenges in main-taining their building. The present director was a student ofours, and he asked us to speak to his staff. The Lord allowedus to minister to each of them personally, and God spokemuch needed encouragement. Love to go back!One day after the rest of our American group had come in
— Pastor Jon and Brian and Vern — we went out a couple ofhours away to a daughter church pastored by Sergei andSveta in the town of Gantsevchi. They and their helpers
had prepared this very au-thentic meal of borscht andpotato casserole! Oh, it wasSOOO good! We got to wor-ship together, prophesy, andlet the Holy Spirit give coun-sel and wisdom for this smallchurch. God spoke that it
would grow now, and part of its reason for existence was tohold a righteous place in this very dark hole — two vodkafactories, high unemployment, suicides, etc. Pastor Sergeiand Sveta were greatly encouraged! It felt so good to hugand hug and love and love! Isn’t that just like You, Lord!Friday thru Sunday were the official days of celebration!
The church people were all so involved and excited!Friday night was the spectacular! They rented
a church building and were able to put up many decorationsof banners, dividers with pictures from early days to present,and give out special anniversary pins to all who came! Theprogram was filled with excellence in worship, instrumentaland vocal musicians doing solos, dance, drama, mime, read-ings, and greetings from fellow pastors and visitors. The tal-ent from this small church of just over 100 was professionalin nature!
Pastor Pavel & Irina
Pavelʼs daughter,Katya, and children
singing praise.
We were overwhelmed! The Presence and Joy of the Lord was magnificent!
We got to greet and meet former students from the Bibleschool and church, now married with families. The greatthanksgiving to God for the church being founded wasa present even bigger than we could have imagined.Wewere greatly honored.
GGoodd,, tthhaannkk YYOOUU ffoorr kknnoowwiinngg wwhhoo ttoo ppuutt eeaacchh ooff uuss wwiitthh!!
YYoouurr ppaarrttnneerrsshhiippss aarree aammaazziinnggllyy wwoonnddeerrffuull!! GGeett gglloorryy!!!!!!
Slips of paper were given out that night sharing where thelocation of the next day’s meeting and doings would be. Itcould not be announced from the pulpit. We met at anotherchurch facility on Saturday. Our church has had to move 11times in 20 years, and does not have its own building now.This was a Bible conference where all the visiting team
shared for 45 minutes each.Roger got to share avisual demonstration oflaw and grace, and thedangers of going backover into law. Pastor wasgrateful for this reminder.Good for all of us to remem-ber and check ourselves!After this rather long day, we
gathered with leaders at a local, wonderful restaurant for ameal together — a gift from the men who had come fromAmerica.Sunday was another outstanding day of celebration
as we drove two hours, almost to Lithuania to a church campin the woods — no villagers, or farmers, or other peoplearound. We could do ANYTHING! The church had saved up$2,000 for this anniversary, and it covered things like our per-sonal care, transportation, food, and even two buses for thistrip as not so many have cars! The ladies immediately begansetting up tables of food they’d prepared for a pre-churchservice snack type meal! Hundreds of “bliny” flat pancakeswere ready to be stuffed, as well as a fish pizza, fruit, breads.
Some of themen dug a pitand started thefire for coals todo shashlik —chicken on thegrill to be eatenafter church; oth-ers built a fire andcooked rice pilafand spaghetti.
Service started about 12:30 with all of us ministering, andthen as the Holy Spirit inspired, we divided into three teamsto pray for all the people. We had thought people would eachgo to just one team, but they all seemed to go to all three —so the prayer time alone — wonderful with the Holy Spirit’sgifts — lasted 2 ½ hours!
The shashlik wasn’t eaten until after 4 p.m.! Childrenfished in the river, played in the sand, adults visited andlaughed! No one really wanted to go home!
But, oh, the joy of the day — God was so withus and in us and enjoying the freedom and loveof each part! Thank you so much!!!
Sveta & Sergei, Pavel, Ernst & Luda
Pastor Jon Neitzell, Brian Eager, Vern Norton, Andrei
Myrna delivering a message. Roger and Myrna praying with
ladies from the church.
As the celebration wrapped up, it was the hardest part —the leaving of each person — many old friends, and manynew — but hard to say “Good-bye.” Lots of tears and prom-ises to see each other again.
Onnllyy YYoouu,, GGoodd,, ccaann ddoo iitt! We know that He has united us in a love and hope and joy
that is eternal! We WILL see each other forever! The churchwill go on as the Body of Christ continues to grow and matureand bring in the harvest.One of the main words for the church in Minsk — Abundant
Life Church — was that this was a time of separation for thenext season. Light and dark are being divided, and they arepart of the Light; it was inauguration into the next season —the next years! May we all fulfill the destinies that havebeen given to us to truly love God with heart, mind, souland strength, and our neighbors as ourselves! It is withthis love that must go out into the streets with realvalidity and power.
Kiev, UkraineWith grateful hearts, we went on to Kiev after Minsk to be
with Sasha and Natasha who are also our beloved. Natashawas one of the early members of ALC Minsk, along with herfamily. They now live in Ukraine working as team leaders forGod Seekers.
How awesome it was to be staying with their family — newbaby girl Emilia and her two brothers and Dad and Mom. Wewent because of our long relationship, and we love them.But, we also wanted to receive impartation from them, as weknow they have that to give from their seeking of God, andtheir dependence upon Him. They minister to thousandsand thousands as Sasha is in charge of large conferences.He also teaches and preaches across Eastern Europe andsometimes America! They also impart family life to their team— Natasha leading this area. They were so honoring of us aspastors and spiritual leaders. It was awesome for us to be to-gether; we each reaped from the other.
InsightsWe began to see more clearly this trip that we
are called to go back and impart into these peoplethat we have birthed or assisted that have desirefor us to come. We also desire to give morefinancially into the works we’ve described — theyare of the highest quality and fruitful.
IItt iiss oouurr pprraayyeerr ttoo YYoouu,, LLoorrdd,, ffoorr tthhiiss aabbiilliittyy..There is also a theme that we see repeating
itself about working with Russian speaking peoplearound the world. This is Pastor Pavel and Irina’sheart to move more into this ministry, and whilewe were with Sasha and Natasha, we saw thesame emphasis. God Seekers is doing a conferencein March at IHOP in Kansas City for Russianspeakers and those interested in this ministry.
We plan to go and also feel that Pastor Pavelshould be there. Leaders from all over the formerSoviet Union are saving money and planning tocome! There is a strong sense of timing anddestiny in reaching these people for Christ — thattime is now. Millions do not know Jesus as Saviorand Lord and Lover!
So, we are back in the States; re-entry washarder this time — such a rewarding, fruitful timeas we see how people have grown in the Lord!
We are thankful to be back with family, and seethis also as a time to be more with them.Especially we want time to have with grandchil-dren as we see them growing up — we are de-lighted with their relationship to God! Theirpursuit of destiny is important to us.
To this end, our home is for sale, and we’dappreciate your declarations and faith with us,that it is sold to joyful buyers, and we are releasedinto the next phase of our lives, as well! We treas-ure our friendships here, and will continue tocome back to visit!
So, this is a long letter, but hope you feel the lovefor the Lord as we’ve shared part of our lives withyou! You matter to us! You are special to the Lord,as well!
Contact us if you’d like a copy of the DVD fromthe Friday night Belarus celebration program oryou’d like us to share more testimony with you.
Love in Jesus,
Roger and Myrna
Ram’s Horn Ministry, P.O. Box 335, River Falls, WI 54022 www.abundantlifeonline.org
Phone: 320-760-7666; Email: [email protected]; or [email protected]
Myrna, Emilia, Sasha and Natasha