OM Bosnia Prayer update

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OM BOSNIA PRAYER UPDATE  Nov.2007

In this prayer update you can read:

1:  THANKSGIVING CELEBRATED IN BOSNIA

2: SARAJEVO -DOBRINJA

A.     OPENING OF THE READING-ROOM

B.     FAITHFULLY DRINKING COFFEE

C.     GENERAL

3: BIHAC

A.     “I CAN SEE!”

B.     FIREWOOD IN COLD WINTER

C.     WHAT HAPPENED SINCE WE PRAYED FOR HER?

D.     WE ARE STARTING A KIDS CLUB!

E.  GENERAL

1. CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING IN BOSNIA

The Day of Thanksgiving is one of the big holidays for all Americans everywhere. This year, both OM teams celebrated it together with their Bosnian friends. We cooked a dinner of the typical Thanksgiving food (turkey, pumpkin pie etc) and invited our friends and church-members to enjoy it with us. After eating, in both places one of the Americans told us the story about the true meaning of that holiday. And then we all spent some time just thanking God for all that He had done for us. In Sarajevo, they had 7 different nationalities gathered together. At the end, they all read Psalm 100 in their mother tongue. What a foretaste of Heaven to praise God with people from so many ethnic backgrounds! In Bihac, we also spent some time praying for the leaders  and political situation of Bosnia-Hercegovina. We were reminded that God is the Prince of Peace and we should be the carriers of His peace to the others around us.

PRAISE GOD

·        for the nice opportunity to fellowship and praise God with many others

PRAY that

·        people who came would think about the things they heard and

·        it would help them to find more reasons even in their own lives to praise God

2: SARAJEVO- DOBRINJA  

A.     OPENING OF THE READING-ROOM

Last time we told you about the Christian book-table that the Dobrinja-team had out on the streets. But winters in Bosnia are cold… so we asked you to pray that the OM-ers could find an inside room for reading and distributing the books. God really provided a very nice room and last Monday was the Grand Opening! The OM-ers offered homemade cakes and cookies and organised an auction for a painting, made by a local pastor. Many people came to visit, including some other believers. Also, shop-owners from the neighbourhood came and even brought their own clients with them. Some of them even bought books! It was a very encouraging beginning  for the OM-ers!

The reading-room has nice and comfortable furniture in it, people can come to enjoy reading good books and/or having good discussions with the OM-ers. Some books are for free, others are available for a little donation. Also, people can sign up for English and Portuguese classes that should start in December.

PRAISE GOD:

·        For this open door to serve the community in Dobrinja;

·        For those that helped us to prepare the place;

·        For the great opening;

PRAY:

·        That God bring those that He has prepared to receive the good news;

·        That people will continually come to us;

·        For wisdom in how to help those that come asking for any kind of help;

·        That people will get to know Jesus through this ministry;

·        Daily strength and guidance for the OM-ers who will work there

B: FAITHFULLY VISITING COFFEE-BARS…

It is said that people have two walls guarding their lives. In the West, people usually have a low outer wall and a high inner wall. They’re superficially friendly but you have to carefully put a lot of effort into a relationship to get over that inner wall, to see how a person really is. Most Bosnians are quite easy to make friends with. But people of Dobrinja have a high outer wall; it’s really hard to get even your neighbors to acknowledge you! But thankfully they have a low inner wall. Once you have that contact  and trust, you can talk about anything. The OM-ers had the desire to meet more people and make their presence more known in the community. Therefore they have moved their morning devotions out into the open!  Every day they gather as a team in a local coffee shop. A different one for every day of the week, so they become regulars at several places. Obviously the first ones to notice that are the waiters who see them all the time. Slowly, but surely relationships are being formed, people start asking questions.

PRAISE GOD

·        For this new strategy to meet people;

PRAY

·        For more contacts in the community;

·        That His name be glorified in these places through us;

·        That people will get interested and come to talk to us.

C: GENERAL

PRAY

·        For the Sambrooks, they need to renew their residency permits and work permits  this month. Pray for smooth and fast process

PRAISE GOD

·        That after four months of waitng, Claudia finally got her residency permit

2: BIHAC

A.     “ I CAN SEE!”

One of our believers in Bihac had cataracs growing on his eyes, making him almost blind. It is an easy surgery in most countries. But he is unemployed, with no medical or social insurance to help him cover the cost of the surgery. So he had given up any hopes of ever seeing again! But different people encouraged our team-members to raise donations for him. And last month, he was finally able to have his surgery. What a joy it was for him to SEE our faces again! When we went to visit him in the hospital, he just could not stop smiling!

PRAISE GOD

·        for providing funds to help him

·        for  a successful surgery!

Our firewood project is moving on well. By now, we have already received enough donations for at least 90 families!! We are really thankful for that! 40 families have got their food-package and firewood already, another 30 will receive theirs during the next couple of weeks. And by the end of January, we believe we will  really be able to help 100 households! As we visit them, God gives us good opportunities to talk to people, we see answered prayers. Following story is an example of that!

PRAISE GOD

·        for all the donations that have already come in

·        for all the good talks that we have had during the house visits

PRAY

·        that people would read the books we are giving them

·        the firewood company would be able to deliver wood to the other families fast and well

·        there would be more people who give their lives to Jesus after that

C: WHAT HAPPENED SINCE WE PRAYED FOR HER LAST YEAR...

One person on our wood-list is ARIJANA (name changed), a single mother with a teenage son, no regular income and very poor health. She had received wood from us last year too. This year, as soon as we entered into her home, she said: "Do you remember, you prayed for me last year? Ever since then, for the whole year, I have not needed to go to the doctors! Before I used to go all the time..." A little later she also told us, how a book that we gave her last year had changed her life. She had read it and that had helped her to get out of depression! So much so, that her son immediately noticed a difference on her face the next morning! We could not remember, what book had we given. We asked her to show it to us, and it turned out to be the New Testament!! As we talked with her and shared the Gospel with her, she was ready to give her life to Jesus!!

PRAISE GOD

·        for the miraculous answers to prayer in Arijana's life

·      that now she knows Jesus as her personal Lord and Saviour

PRAY

·        that she would keep growing  closer to Jesus

·         our team-mates would be wise in discipling her

·         that her son, EMIR (name changed) could get to know Jesus too!

D: WE ARE STARTING A KIDS' CLUB!

Last time we wrote to you about the exciting things that God had done in our teenagers' lives during the summer. We started regular youth meetings with them. It was great to see them getting more and more on fire for Jesus! Suddenly two of them started talking, that they would like to lead a kids' club! We had prayed for a long time that God would send somebody to work with the kids. And here they are, our own teenagers who want to do that! It is exciting to see them wanting to pick up a responsibility for their own ministry! Last Saturday was the first time, and it went pretty well. 5 kids came, and that was just about the right number for the “first try”. That will continue every week at least until the end of December. And who knows, maybe even longer!

PRAISE GOD

·        for AZRA and DAJANA (names changed)'s excitement and desire to try kids' work

PRAY

·        that from the first times on, they would have a good connection with the kids

·        we would know how to help and mentor them in the process

·        many kids would come to know Jesus through that

E: GENERAL

PRAY

·        for the Siddles, who also need to start renewing their work permits and residency permits soon

·        for God's energy and guidance for all of us. There are always many things to do and many of  us are tired.

MAY EMMANUEL, THE PRINCE OF PEACE, BE WITH YOU DURING THE MONTH OF CHRISTMAS AND GIVE YOU A GREAT BEGINNING IN 2008!

On behalf of OM Bosnia-Hercegovina, Jael Puusaag

Credit: OM International
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