June-July 2008 update

Victory beyond competitions.

Friends, as I promised you this newsletter will be about the “SonRise” projects which were happening this summer. Thank you very much for you prayers: God was attracting new people to Him and was changing their lives.

For those of you who do not understand English: SonRise means the Rise of the Son (the overall goal is to exalt the Son of God among people attracted by sport)

«SonRise» - Moldova (June, 15 - 30)

Project was happening in two districts of Chisinau. The vision was “To stand in the gap for our district united with the churches from the city in the SonRise project”. Two teams (consisting of our coworkers, spiritual disciples and members of different churches + basketball players from USA) committed themselves to involve children and youth from the city to various sports games (soccer, volleyball, basketball) and at the same time to share with them the Good News about Jesus Christ. Soccer was especially popular: there were about 40 fellows involved in it in one single district!

In the very first evening in the field God provided an opportunity to talk to a woman who was walking with her child around the place where we played volleyball with those who wanted. This example as well as discussions with sportsmen and amateurs that followed confirmed the truth that people are quite open towards the Gospel, but there is a need for someone to come up and plant in this life or even to harvest a fruit for eternal life. Thus, in the last day of the project during final competitions one girl was sitting in front of me in the sports hall. She came to support her boyfriend – volleyball player. I immediately thought that she probably did not hear the Gospel clearly yet, but it took me two more hours to approach her and get acquainted. Her consent turned into a very qualitative conversation about her relations with God and Inga told that when she will be alone she will turn herself to God.

May God continue to attract and give growth to those who heard about Him during this project.

«SonRise» - Netherlands (July, 1-15)

It appeared to be that Holland is not just the country of tulips, wind mills, clogs and bicycles, but also the motherland of SonRise project. There were 62 churches involved in the project this year. It already became some kind of tradition for a youth group from Athletes in Action to visit Holland each summer in order to learn by doing how to better run this project locally. For me this trip was a real gift of God! All Moldavians were distributed to different teams in different towns. I, together with one newly converted member of our movement got to the town called Enschede . Our team consisted of 10 members aged 17 to 35.

In spite of this the Spirit of God was “dazzling” ourselves so hard during this short time that we even broke in tears during partying. I think that people were recognizing Jesus in ourselves because we had love among us. We prayed a lot and immediately when seeing the need. I also noticed that the people from the church that partnered with us in this project also prayed in the same natural way. The people from the church of a more advanced age ( holding high positions at their jobs) were closely cooperating with us and serving us (preparing food, offering shelter) – the true example of humbleness and generosity.

The weather was very changeable: the heat of the sun was quickly changed by a pouring rain and the amazing thing about it is that it mainly happened when we had a brake in sports. And then everybody would hide in a big tent in order to continue the program: we would show a small performance every day there and then one of us would tell a personal testimony of turning to Jesus.

The language barrier was impeding me from freely sharing the Gospel with the participants of the project. It was usually possible to talk to the people of a more advanced age who spoke English. But our God is good and merciful and He made a bigger thing – He brought to the field a Turkish woman, who was taking her 3 children back home. We became friends with her very fast and in the last evening I was speaking her for a long time about the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ. We even prayed together, it is just that she prayed in the way she was used to before - “Muslim like”. Please, pray that God continue to work in the heart of this woman and everyone who was involved in this project. May the children who filled in the forms would faithfully attend the Bible study hours in the church. May God give wisdom to my friends Jan Jab, Cornei and others in leading these groups.

In my next newsletter I will tell you about one more project that was happening in July in Moldova in Balti town. It was really a very interesting and productive summer!

Please, pray for our relationships in the new team, for an effective year in the ministry, reaching as many sportsmen for Christ as possible.

I will not cease to thank you for your constancy in spiritual partnership.

Shooting together with you in the same gates,

Veronica.