Prestoncrest Missions

Dear Fellow Servants,

Once again I have the pleasure of introducing another brother in Christ! This is MARKUS who is 15 and a very interesting young man. The past two years, he has represented Bremen for his age group in the National Mathematics Olympics and National School Chess Tournament, and he has read the whole New Testament through each year since he was 8 to get in on my 5-Star reward dinner offer. Well, that is probably more the catalyst than the reason, but he has retained an amazing amount of what he has read. The past few months Markus has been noticeably more attentive during sermons and more generally communicative about spiritual matters, so I wasn’t really surprised at his decision. That didn’t reduce our joy, however, nor that of his parents, Karsten and Kirsten. He is the first of their four children to come to the Lord. Next year, Markus will be somewhere in the USA as an exchange student, so the next few months we will do our best to prepare him spiritually for whatever challenges his new environment will bring.

EPIDEMIC / GOSPEL MEETING

For me it has only been a nasty cold with fever and a cough that made me incredibly sleepy, but a lot of people it has developed into more - bronchitis or even pneumonia. Apparently there is standing room only in a lot of doctors’ offices across northern Europe. Not good. And last week, we had a Gospel meeting with David Tarjan from Zurich, Switzerland. Of the church members, Florian, Ruediger, Michaela, Alicia, Ingrid, Stefanie, Markus, Charlotte, Jutta, Simone and I were all down sick, and there is no way to know how many would-be guests missed out for the same reason. Still we did have visitors, even one woman who read about it in the newspaper. Please remember them and those of us who are still recovering from whatever this illness is. Hopefully my brain will get back into gear soon. I have a speech to write for a women’s retreat Feb. 6-8.

MARRIAGE SEMINAR

Seven couples are also in the third week of a 9-week His Needs/Her Needs Seminar taught by Kyle and Susan Bratcher from Hildesheim. Three couples are repeaters from when Jim and I benefited from it several years ago. Some are new to the congregation since that time, and some are contacts. Knowing how positively the course influenced the atmosphere and communication within the whole congregation the first time around, I am looking forward to similar results this time. It is already noticeable how the couples smile more at each other!

ETM

Please continue to pray that the ETM Advanced Courses have a future. With more than half of the German churches without preachers and most without elders, Christians need to be encouraged and enabled to train themselves to grow spiritually. That is what ETM is all about. In the next few months I will be making a concentrated effort to share Jim’s passion for this concept with others, especially teachers and preachers, in the hope that the Lord will show us concrete possibilities for it to continue and even expand. I will let you know as things develop.

OTHER PRAYER ITEMS

After being out of the loop for over a week, I am sure I am leaving out several things it would be good for you to help us pray about. Alicia, Ingrid, Helga and I continue to have individual studies with Kai, Rainer, Heather, Ludmilla, Barbara, Linda, another Barbara and Jessica, and Ruediger is studying with Markus and Juergen as they begin their walk with the Lord. Also Helga has a once a month Bible study with neighbour women.

Also, my daughter Karin is expecting her third child in the next couple of weeks. All going well, that means that you can look forward to a new baby photo in my next letter!

Thank you very much for your prayers. I know you have much to bring before Him yourself, so I very much appreciate your adding me and the work in Bremen to your list of petitions.
Gott mit euch!

Your fellow servant,
Elsa Springer

DINO & DEBBIE ROUSSOS
P.O. Box 70127 Glyfada, Greece 16610
Tel : 011 (30) 6944 344167
Fax : 011 (30) 210 8974405
E-mail : DinoRoussos@gmail.com

January Photo Slide Show

Our dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

The New Year 2009, started with the Lord’s work in Greece receiving many blessings. We are very happy to serve a Living God and today we are sharing with you our latest news. Thank you for taking precious time to read our newsletter, to call us, to write us, to pray for us and to care for our ministry.

Four New Believers were Baptized

Elizabeth and Nancy live in Greece and worship with the new established congregation at Heraklion, Crete. I had the privilege of baptizing them in the Aegean Sea. What a thrilling experience as they surrendered their lives to Jesus and decided to follow in the steps of our Master. More than twenty-five precious souls are coming to worship the Lord Jesus every Sunday in Crete.

Theodora is our new Bulgarian sister who asked me to baptize her after our morning worship service at the Omonia Church in Athens. She speaks perfect Greek. Before her baptism she confessed the name of Jesus in front of our assembly and she expressed her joy in finding the Truth and assurance of Salvation. Theodora was delighted to find the Church of Christ and the love of fellowship among other Bulgarian, Greek and Russians who worship the Lord together in Athens.

Panagiotis Koutsioubas was baptized in Athens. He is 91 years old and the father of Costas Koutsioubas, who became a Christian around the same time as I did. Thus making him one of the first in Greece to be converted to the Truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that Costas and his sisters, who have also been faithful Christians for many years, are praising God for bringing forth fruit from the seed sown more than forty years ago. Costa’s parents live in a lovely city 5 hours away from Athens in the beautiful Greek mountains. Recently his mother underwent surgery in Athens. I visited her at the hospital and prayed for a quick recovery.

The Church in Crete

We are so happy that the new Church in Crete remains faithful, in spite of the absence of a full time minister. In December, 2008 and January, 2009, Debbie and Dino, Alex and Eleni, Charles and his wife traveled from Athens to Crete, either by plane or ship to preach for the Christians there, to encourage them and to plan for the growth of the church in the future.

They need edification, Christian fellowship and a couple who will be willing to go to live there and work with them. God has answered our prayers. There is a Christian couple who are graduates of Harding University and they were in Athens with Harding two years ago. Last week I received a letter, in Greek, from Jason Eades who wants to enter the mission work. After talking to him, he and his wife are willing to serve the Lord wherever there is a need. Please pray for him, in that he may decide to serve Jesus and His Church in Crete.

Here is a letter I received from our brother John Adesoye, who was preaching in Crete and now lives in Ireland:

“Dear Dino, Alexandros and Brethren,

On the behalf of the brothers and sisters on the Island of Crete, we are using this opportunity to express our deepest appreciation for the time and money you generously spent in order to teach and preach for the young church in Crete in the absence of their local minister and his associate.

You have shown the love of Christ by sacrificially given yourselves so as to encourage, strengthen and minister to us in various capacities. And we are saying THANK YOU. Moreover, your support, prayer, advice and oversight are still needed. We encourage you to keep up the good work for the praise of God. The Scriptures below express our hearts: For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. “Heb 6:10″. And the King will answer and say to them, Truly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me. “Matt 25:40″. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, Truly, I say to you, He will by no means lose his reward. “Mark 9:41″.

With love and appreciation, John, Debo and the Brethren in Crete”

Court Appeal, January, 2009

As you know from our previous newsletters the Lord’s Church at Omonia last year had to attend a Court trial with many accusations (e.g. we are a foreign religion, we don’t have the right to meet as a Church, we should not use our Church building etc).

The judge had found that all accusations were wrong but we should move the compressor of the A/C unit, we should close our doors going to the balcony (although we have exclusive use of our verandas) and that we should not have a kitchen. Recently we met several times with our civil engineer, and visited the City Hall to obtain some new permissions etc.

The court appeal on January, 13 was to dissolve the last three accusations. We spent the whole day there with our lawyers and we are now awaiting the Court’s decision in 3-4 months.

The issues that were disputed were the right to have a kitchen in our facilities, the right to have doors open that lead on to our verandas and the wrong placement of our A/C compressor (that has since been corrected and is now positioned according to regulations).

Home Bible Study

For the last 5 months we have been having a home Bible Study at our home on Thursday evenings. There are many people in our area that have expressed their desire for Bible Study. Our assembly have between 8-10 attendants. We rotate study leaders between Tim Brinley from Harding University, Ron Kretz from Athens International Bible Institute and myself.

New Meeting at Glyfada (southern Athens)

The recent unrest and rioting in Athens has motivated us to consider other options for our Sunday evening English worship service. Some of the members are uncomfortable coming on Sunday evenings to the part of Athens where the Omonia Church building is located.

Two Sunday’s ago, we had a meeting with all English Speaking members. Several options were discussed and finally we all decided to have a 4.00pm meeting in English at the Omonia Church and at 6.00pm a meeting in English in Glyfada at the Congo Palace Hotel.

God has lead us to a solution that might work out for all of us. The Congo Palace Hotel which is located in the southern suburb of Athens called Glyfada, has offered us one of it’s conference rooms for our use. For the immediate future this is a very workable solution.

We will continue to have English services at Omonia for those who are unable to come to Glyfada.

Last Sunday was the first service at Glyfada (at the new location) and we were thrilled to have 20 people attend. My sermon was “Come over to Macedonia and help us” Acts 16:9.

We had invited friends and people who love the Lord to come and worship with us. We were so happy to see several had accepted our invitation.

Youth Group on Saturday Nights

The youth group fellowship on Saturday evenings continues to go well. More young people are joining our activities each week. Last Saturday the guest speaker was Ilias, a Greek from the States. He told us how he became a Christian while he was working in the States and decided to return to Greece to share Jesus with the Greek people. An amazing story of God’s metamorphosis (changing) of his life.

It has been great having Matt take a leadership role in this ministry. He will be teaching our young people and I will translate for him. Matt has a degree is in youth and families ministry, so he is happy to use his talents and he is a blessing.

Valentina

Valentina is an elderly Russian sister who lives in very poor conditions and also suffers poor health. She was married to a Greek man and has lived in Greece many years. Her only son lives in Canada and has literally no contact his mother. Her only care comes from her Church family at the Omonia Church. We visit her, take her for medical attention, arrange for cleaning of her apartment and make sure she has food. Her neighbors are also helping her daily.

Vaso

Vaso is a widowed sister who also exists on a very meager means. At Christmas some of the sisters raised some money to buy her food and other necessities. They continue to visit her and meet some of her needs.

Christian Celebration at the Titania Hotel

Once again, we had a Christmas banquet at the Titania Hotel, as we did last year. I was able to arrange for a buffet lunch and use of a meeting room for our program. The banquet was attended by members and friends who enjoyed the program of singing, prayers, Christian message along with wonderful food and fellowship.

Pamela and Lawrence were married in Athens

Lawrence from Ghana has been a strong member of the Omonia Congregation for several years now.

Recently he met a lovely Canadian Christian lady and they decided to get married. Pamela came from Vancouver , Canada, and the wedding took place in Athens.

The church in Athens and especially Eleni and Alex Melirrytos assisted Lawrence and Pamela to collect the required official paperwork required for the marriage.

Praise the Lord that the Lord’s church is a place of fellowship, love, hospitality and care.

Irine and Stelios were married in Athens

Irine has been attending our services for many years. She got married to Stelios a few weeks ago and now they both attend our services.

We have Bible studies with them often and we hope that Stelios will obey the gospel soon. He is a wonderful young man and works at Athens Airport.

Charalambakis Funeral

The ex-Orthodox priest who has written many books and established the “Original Orthodox Church” (a Church that returned to the New Testament teachings) passed away two weeks ago.

We attended his funeral and had the opportunity to visit with many members of his assembly. It is true that he was a dynamic preacher and writer. Many times I was invited to preach the Word of God at his congregation.

One time they almost decided to unite with the Omonia congregation, but for various reasons this did not happen. We will continue having fellowship with this group of believers who want to return back to the teachings of the early Church.

Prestoncrest New Preacher

Brother Gordon Dabbs will start preaching at Prestoncrest on February 1st, 2009. We are pleased for him and the last few weeks we have been praying for Gordon, his family and the Prestoncrest congregation. He will have our support, cooperation and assistance in every way.

May the Lord bless Gordon, Prestoncrest and the mission work around the world. May His name be glorified among the Nations.

Family News

Stephen is now attending Texas Tech University in Lubbock Texas. He is a graduate student in Zoology and at the same time, a graduate assistant, teaching anatomy and working at the lab.

Stephen spent Christmas with us here in Athens and has now returned to the States and his work at the University, whilst studying for his Masters.

Nikki and Matt are with us in Athens and we enjoy very much their lovely daughter Ashtyn. She is a delight to all of us. She will be one year old on February 22nd. Melody and Andy live in Frisco, Texas with their two children, Jackson 2½ and Zoe 1½. We really miss them, but we hope to see them as soon as we have the opportunity to return to the States.

Brethren, we thank God for our family, for the mission work that we are involved in, in this part of the world and for Jesus our Saviour and redeemer who gives us the hope to live for ever.

May the Lord bless you all.

In His love,

Dino and Debbie Roussos

39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com

A New Year

Happy New Year from the Lord’s people in Stirling, Scotland. We are so very grateful for all God’s blessings, and for all your interest and encouragement in our work We pray God’s blessings on you in your service to God.

Stirling Church News

The first Sunday of 2009 was an emotionally charged day for the Stirling congregation, for several reasons. The first Sunday of the new year is always a special day in Scottish churches, but this one possessed added poignancy. It was the last day that Danny and Jie Hong Ping were with us before returning to their home in China. This young Christian couple will visit initially with their families in Taiyan and Chongqi, but we now know that they hope to settle in Shanghai, where there are better job opportunities for them. The church held a fellowship meal in their honor, and we presented them with several gifts and notes of remembrance. A second reason for high emotion on Sunday was the news, just released, that John Renwick’s cancer has returned and presents more limited options for treatment. Since some of our members had just learned of this development, it was a difficult day for many. Please continue to keep John in your prayers as he weighs his possible choices and deals with this new situation.

New Faces and New Possibilities

Over-all, December was a good month for us. We were pleasantly surprised at the return of Elizabeth Tipler, who has been in the USA since early 2008. With her are her daughter Michelle and her grandchildren Christopher and Leilani. The addition of children to the group makes it necessary for us to start planning some children’s Bible classes, which we hope to begin soon. We have started a new series of studies in our Sunday morning class on the Minor Prophets, and we continue our series on the lives of great women of the Bible in our midweek studies. The majority of the church brought in the New Year in fellowship at the home of Dick and Anne Carter. This is always an enjoyable time for the congregation.

Outreach

Over the holiday period, our youth club was in recess, but we have now resumed this work and are off to a very good start. We look forward to several new initiatives in connection with youth club, starting with a parents’ night in February. Our Friendspeak work has also been on hold, since most of the readers are out of town, but we are beginning to see some of them return now. We plan to begin regular sessions in early February and recruit new readers, but at the moment Tristan and Leslie have begun a weekly study with Mia, Judy, and Peter in their home. Isobel and I are also studying again with Pauline McGachy and involving her husband Stephen in many of our discussions. Please pray for all of these people, that their interest and faith might grow in the months ahead. We are looking forward at the end of February to a Marriage Seminar conducted by Dr. Steve Allison. Unfortunately, for the first time in a decade, it is not possible for us to hold our annual advanced Bible study seminar with teachers from the USA, but we hope to resume this work next year.

Family News

Things remain well with us personally. We enjoyed having Hannah at home over the Christmas break, and it was also a lot of fun having Isobel’s sister Lilian and her family with us. Laura and Clay had a good Christmas in Seagoville and are looking forward to moving soon to a bigger apartment (though in the same complex). Robin and Chrissy spent the holidays in West Virginia and North Carolina with Chrissy’s family and are now travelling back to Lubbock. They are involved in putting together an evangelistic team for Scotland or northern England (more details on this in the future) and have found much interest in this, so please keep this work in your prayers.

We are optimistic as we go into 2009, but the months ahead will be very challenging for us all. We ask for your constant prayers in our behalf.

Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick

Italian Report - January, 2009

Happy New Year
Be happy in Jesus

My dad was a good man. He was as honest as the day is long. He was dependable, his word was his bond. He was faithful, to his wife, to his family and to the Lord.

He was a hard worker and had enjoyed good health all of his life. Finally, life took its toll. He developed a valve problem in his heart. They operated, but he was never the same. My sisters and I visited him as often as we could but we lived too far away to help much. His wife could not care for him 24 hours a day so it was necessary to put him in a nursing home there in Searcy, Arkansas.

I remember my last visit with him before he died. Naturally we wanted to do nice things for him to make his life as enjoyable as possible. I had some good visits with him, though his mind had slipped away from him somewhat. One time he asked me: ‘’Now, how many brothers do you have?’’ I looked at him right in the eyes and replied: ‘’If you haven’t been lying to me all these years, I don’t have any brothers. I am your only son.’’ He chuckled. I took him for a ride in his wheel chair. We stopped in front the nurse’s desk and dad thought he was running the whole show. We stopped in front of a coke machine. He looked longingly at the bottles. I remembered how much he loved Dr. Pepper so I bought him a bottle. Who knows how long it had been since he had one? He drank the whole bottle without stopping. Later we went to lunch and I remembered how he loved cherry cobbler with ice cream on it. I bought him a big bowl and took it back to his room. I fed it to him. He ate every bight and licked his chops. He loved to sing. He led the singing in my home congregation for more than fifty years. He knew every song by heart, not only the first line, but the second, third and fourth lines.

I will never forget the last song I ever sang with him ‘’trust and obey, for there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to TRUST AND OBEY.’’ We sang these words and he dropped off to sleep. These were the last words I ever heard my dad speak. A week later his nurse found him dead in his bed. We didn’t even get to hold his hand as he passed on. We weren’t with him but the Lord was.

As we launch out into the New Year of 2009, I think these three words would be a blessing to all of us, TRUST AND OBEY. There is no other way to be happy in Jesus.

Charles W. Moore

A New Year and New Plans

I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew but I want to be as active as I possibly can. I want to be a blessing to as many people as possible. I plan to take on a special project each month of the year besides all of my regular work. For the month of January, with the help of the Lord, I plan to write a letter to every preacher in Italy, Italian preachers and American missionaries. I plan to write a letter to every church in Italy to encourage them in their work for the Lord. Do you want to join me? I will be happy to supply you with the addresses. How about a note to every missionary supported by your home congregation? Think about it!

What is Going on in Italy This Month?

1. One of our Italian evangelists wrote saying: ‘’We had another Good youth meeting up north at Vicenza. Twenty young People were present.’’ He didn’t mention the subject they Discussed, but I imagine it was the same as the one they studied with the youth in Aprilia: YOUTH FACING THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE WORLD.
2. Paolo Mirabelli, one of the evangelists at the Viale Jonio church in Rome, came up with the idea of a publication on line. He asked for the help of brethren every where and had a great response. I have seen a copy of the proposed first issue and it looks good. He asked me to write a BIOGRAPHY of my life and my work in Italy, plus other articles of my own choosing to be used in the future. I will be happy to help.
3. The church in Catania hosted the yearly Sicilian lectureship and fellowship this year. 130 adults and 10 children from four congregations (Palermo, Enna, Paterno’ and Catania) were there. Everyone was edified and went home with a song in their heart.
4. Jay Young, a former missionary in Italy, has been in Italy recently. He spoke at Pistoia, Milano, Palermo and Catania. He spoke at Catania on a Monday night. The building was full to capacity. Jay is a great speaker. He preaches in Maryland now. He told me that he thought Palermo and Catania are two of the finest congregations in Italy as well as their two evangelists, Salvatore Sparacello and Stefano Spina.
5. Do you remember Linda from Ganah, baptized at Padova a couple of months ago? She was going home from her job on her bicycle, was hit by a car and run over by another car. She is in the hospital, in intensive care, on machines and not expected to live. PRAY FOR HER.
6. We had a visitor from Catania, Sicily this month. His name is Dario Spina, the son of the evangelist at Catania. He visited Harding University. He wants to prepare himself to preach. He plans to take a three year concentrated preachers course. I hope it works out for him. We need more workers in the field.
7. Some sad news. The church at Naples is going through a very difficult time. The brethren are devastated. I won’t go into the details. THEY NEED YOUR PRAYERS DESPERATELY.

Funny Language Problems

I have mentioned that the language is one of the biggest problems we faced when we moved to Italy. Soon after I bought my car, the girls sent me to buy some fruit and vegetables for lunch.

I didn’t have any trouble finding the big open roadside market, but purchasing the things the girls wanted was something else. I used my index finger as much as possible, but had to tell the man what I wanted and how much I wanted.

I had already learned that oranges were orange, bananas were banane , peaches were pesche and mellons were melone. I managed that purchase well.

Then we passed to the vegetables. I knew that potatoes were patate, carrots were carote, tomatoes were pomodore, lettuce was lattuga but I couldn’t think of the word for onions. We had to have some onions. Finally, I made up a word. I thought I might get lucky. ‘’Io desidero un kilo di ‘’onioni’’ I said. I was proud of my self. However, the man’s eyes got big and he shook his head. ’’Non abbiamo ‘’onioni’’ he said. I knew they were bound to have some onions and started looking. Sure enough I found a great big basket full of onions. I used my index finger and said ‘’onioni, onioni.’’ He grinned and said ‘’No, cipolle, cipolle.’’ I became famous throughout Italy for the word ‘’onioni.’’ It still comes up ever now and then after 50 years.

Until next month, God Bless,

Charles & Carolyn Moore
11471 Balcones Drive

Frisco, Texas 75034
Tel. 972-731-8526
E-mail address: cwmoorefrisco@tx.rr.com

Clyde & Gwen Antwine
2600 Shady Tree Lane
Edmond, OK 73013
(405) 478-3614
December 22, 2008

Greetings from cold, wintry Oklahoma. Since many of you reading this newsletter live in the “Sooner” State, this opening statement is, of course, redundant. But others of you, living in warmer climates, may be counting your blessings.

We had thought that since Clyde is not teaching this semester, our schedule might be a little less hectic. However, primarily for three reasons, such has not been the case.

Reason Number 1 is that in October we made a trip to Rwanda to visit our H.I.M. workers, Caleb and Jenny Beck. Since the Becks’ two-year commitment to the Helpers-in-Missions Program ends next April, and they are desirous of remaining as full-time missionaries, the purpose of our trip was twofold.

1. See firsthand the many ministries in which they are involved
2. Help them strategize for their future work. The country of Rwanda continues to be a fertile field for the Gospel, and the Becks are now poised to do an effective work - hopefully for many years to come.

The second reason why our fall schedule has been so busy is because of a trip we made to Caracas, Venezuela, to conduct a seminar, with a focus on “Marriage and Family.” Jonathan Hanegan, former H.I.M. worker in Caracas, now under the oversight of the Northside congregation in Wichita, Kansas, was primarily responsible for arranging the seminar.

The fact that we have been married 52 years is somewhat of a novelty in Venezuela = in fact, we are told that it never happens. Consequently, young married couples in the church have no role models of longevity in the marriage relationship.

We were so warmly welcomed by every age group (we also did a class for the singles) and experienced the affection of the Latin mentality. Many asked if we were coming back in 2009. We never want to “wear out our welcome” anywhere, but we had the distinct impression that the question came from the heart.

Reason Number 3 for the busy fall schedule was the forming of the 2009 group of H.I.M. workers. Much more is involved in this process than meets the eye. It involves recruiting, pre-interviewing, and then interviewing with the H.I.M. Committee, all of which is time consuming, but an absolute must if the job is done right.

God has blessed our efforts with an extraordinarily fine group of ten (10) young people (3 married couples and 4 singles) going to Australia, England, Germany, Honduras, Japan and Mexico. Weekly training classes have begun, and we are so excited in anticipation of the contribution these young Christians will be making toward spreading the Good News in those various parts of the world.

As 2008 comes to a rapid close, and 2009 is about to be ushered in, all of us are feeling a little uncertain about what the future holds. All of us, however, (certainly ourselves included) need the constant reminder that this is our Father’s world, and that He is in control.

Thank you for your support, encouragement and prayers on our behalf.

Dear Friends,

Let me introduce to you our new brother in Christ, Juergen. He is 40, a carpenter and is married to Simone, who is one of the main reasons he found his way to the Lord – just like it says in 1 Peter 3,1-2. Juergen became interested last year when Simone read the Bible through and gave her life to the Lord. Soon after that, Juergen began reading himself – starting with Genesis as she had done – and for the past five months, he has been studying with Ruediger regularly and has developed other friendships that have made what he was studying real. One of those friendships was with Mark and Karen, who have now moved to Chemnitz to work, but they came back for the occasion and Mark baptized Juergen.

If the beginning of his life in Christ is any indication of what the future holds, Juergen will be an encouraging and diligent addition to the church here. When he got out of the water, still soaking wet, he picked up the notes he had ready and delivered his first (well done) sermon.

UPDATE AND PRAYER REQUESTS

Though December is always a month when nobody has enough time, studies continue. Please continue to remember Linda, Barbara So., Barbara Sa., Kai, Rainer, Ludmilla and Heather who are studying with me or others in the congregation. Barbara So. is also recovering from an operation on her foot.

I still haven’t heard back from Chris, but I will keep trying. He is the man I met on the plane when I was in the States.

A lot of people are sick with colds, etc. at the moment including Alicia. Our weather is just right for colds – cold, wet and dreary. We are very far north here, which means that even when the sun shines, the days are very short (from about 9 am to about 4 pm). But starting tomorrow, the days will start getting longer again, a turning point in the year that most of us look forward to.

SPIRITUAL NURISHMENT

The seminar with Glenn Jones from Kiel about the Holy Spirit went well, and he gave us detailed written information and references that will help us further as other questions arise. Our next spiritual feast will be a Gospel meeting in January with David Tarjan from Zurich, Switzerland. Our men continue to challenge us as well as encouraging us with their sermons, but they, too, need regular encouragement from older teachers. It continues to be a source of joy to see how most of them take responsibility for the congregation and are growing themselves in the process.

ETM

We had planned to have an ETM advanced course on church history with Rainer Kallus in the spring, but his health will not allow it. Please pray with us that we will be creative in finding ways to get the preachers and teachers who are willing and able connected with more of those anxious to learn. That has always been the purpose of ETM.

PERSONAL

Good news: Since this has been a difficult year, I went to the doctor and had a thorough check-up. I’m happy to report that he found nothing to be concerned about. God is good!

Bad news: The new wood floor of my almost finished living room had to be taken back up because the mason did a sloppy job levelling the cement slab underneath and we didn’t notice it when we put down the flooring.

Good news: Because of the “click” construction of the floor, it was possible to take it up and correct the problem, and you can rejoice again with me and those who helped me that it is finished – hopefully for the duration.

Good news: My Swiss kids/grandkids are here to visit me for a week. They arrived this morning. Since those sweet little granddaughters are taking naps, I have time to get this off to you today. Sorry that I haven’t yet had a chance to take photos!

I am looking forward to our regular Christmas gathering, sharing my family with folks without families here with whom they can spend the 25th. As it looks right now, we might have 20 or so this time and will certainly have lots of fun. I’m glad that Karin is here to help me get ready for it.

Finally, I hope that all of you a very Merry Christmas with the opportunity for much good fellowship with loved ones. My second wish for you is that you have many rich spiritual blessings in serving the Lord in the coming year. Thank you very much for your faithful prayers for me and the work here in Bremen. Gott mit euch!

Your fellow servant,
Elsa Springer

39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com

Wintry Stirling

Hello from a cold and wintry Scotland. So far the forecasts of snow haven’t really come to much, though the surrounding hills are white. Will it be a White Christmas? We shall see.

Stirling Congregation News

The Stirling church continues to do well. We have started a new series of studies in our midweek class based on the lives of great women of the Bible. Our Sunday morning series on the Life of Jesus is almost completed, and we hope to begin a new series of studies from the Minor Prophets early in the New Year. Our members are doing well, though John Renwick continues to wait for word on his next round of treatment. Isobel and I continue regular personal studies with Pauline McGachy and her family, and Tristan and Leslie have spent a lot of time with both Danny and Jie, and with Maggie Campbell. We were thrilled this past week to hear that the Blocks have decided to try to extend their time in Stirling for an additional year.

Baptism Follow-Up

We continue to be thankful for Danny Hong Ping, who was baptized last month, and amazed yet again at the power of the gospel to work in the hearts of people. Danny and his wife Jie will return to their home in Taiyan, China on January 5th, and Tristan and Leslie Block have been working hard to ensure that they are thoroughly grounded in the faith. We are trying to find any church contacts who might be nearby, so if you have any knowledge of the Lord’s church in China, please let us know. We also ask you to please keep these young Christians in your prayers.

Youth Club Begins

At long last, after several false starts, we have restarted our weekly Youth Club, an outreach to local neighborhood kids. For this we rent the gymnasium of the local elementary school. Since we began we have seen around 15 kids per week come along. The sessions begin with a short Bible story and /or life lesson, told by Tristan, followed by some games directed by David McCready. We are hopeful that this work will have an impact on many lives in the coming months.

Marriage Seminar For 2009

As we look forward to 2009, the church is planning a marriage and family outreach to our community in late February. Dr. Steve Allison of ACU has agreed to conduct this series of lessons for us on marriage. We hope it will be possible to do further seminars on parenting and family life at a later stage.

Family News

Things remain well with us personally. We are looking forward to having Hannah home for the Christmas break, and to having Isobel’s sister Lilian and her family with us for a few days. We continue to have concerns about her dad, George Gardiner, and are trying to get up to Forfar to help her mother as much as possible. We remain thankful that my mother is doing pretty well, so very different from this time last year. Meanwhile, Robin and Chrissy are looking forward to a break from school and spending the Christmas holiday in West Virginia. Laura and Clay are well in Dallas and planning to spend the holidays there.

It is hard to believe that we are almost at the end of another year, and we finish it with deep appreciation for your interest in the work here in Stirling. We ask you to continue in prayer for our work here in Scotland. May God bless you richly.

Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick

Italian Report - December, 2008

Another Year Is Almost Gone

I don’t know how the time got away so fast. It seems like the days and weeks just fly. This is particularly true when you are busy.

Happy Holiday Season

First of all, let me wish each of you a Happy Holiday Season. Xmas will be here before we know it. I love Xmas, not because of the gifts we receive, but for the joy of being with my family. Not all of our family will be able to be with us this year. Thus those who can, will come to us. I hope you get to enjoy your family too.

Let’s talk about the Italian work

In my last report I mentioned the annual lectureships at Florence. I have just received word that they had another good crowd this year. About 50 brethren were present from all over Italy. They had several different speakers plus some periods of discussion about the various aspects of the work. I am not sure about some of the things discussed but I don’t have all of the facts yet.

I received two E-mail letters telling about a great get-together of the young people from 13 years old to 18 in Aprilia, Italy. Three young people were baptized which thrills our souls. I will list their names and addresses so you can pray for them personally, by name. It would be nice to send them a card wishing them well and that you are praying for them. This would be good. It costs 94 cents to Italy, AIR MAIL.

1. Giacomo Negri
presso Chiesa di Cristo
Via Guarneville, 76-78
04011 Aprilia, Italy

2. Giuda Bagaglia
(The same address listed above)

3. Marta Stringhetta
(The same address listed above)

The church does have an E-mail address:
chiesa.cristoaprilia@tiscalinet.it

The theme of their meeting was: OUR YOUNG PEOPLE AGAINST

THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE WORLD. This was a good subject for the youth to discuss.

Another Baptism!

I just received word that a young Nigerian, 19 years old, who was born in Italy, was baptized at the Via Messala Corvino Church of Christ in Rome recently. Say a special prayer for him and send him a card wishing him well. (AIR MAIL – 94 cents postage) His name and address is listed below:

Luche’ Michell
presso Chiesa di Cristo
Via Messala Corvino, 63/65
00175 Rome, Italy

We Sailed for Italy 51 Years Ago

If I remember correctly, we sailed for Italy the first time, November 21, 1957. It took us 8 days to make the trip, thus we arrived in Palermo, Sicily about dark November 29th. That would be 51 years ago, just about now. What wonderful years.

I have been telling about some of our experiences, hoping that they will be inspiring to you as they were to us.

Think About This

When we arrived in Italy in 1957 it was forbidden by the Catholic Church to own or read a Bible. Some people read them anyway but most of the people listened to the priests and the Catholic Church.

Knowing this, one of the first contributions I made to the Lord’s work in Italy was to purchase $500.00 worth of Bibles. I couldn’t speak the language but I could give the people a Bible.

I remember one particular woman which Don Shackelford contacted. She was over eighty years of age and had never owned or read a Bible. I will never forget how she looked when Don handed her a Bible. She took it to her breast as a mother clasps a child. ‘’Grazie, grazie, grazie’’ she said.

Can you picture this in your mind?

Until next year - God Bless,

Charles & Carolyn Moore
11471 Balcones Drive

Frisco, Texas 75034
Tel. 972-731-8526
E-mail address: cwmoorefrisco@tx.rr.com

DINO & DEBBIE ROUSSOS
P.O. Box 70127 Glyfada, Greece 16610
Tel : 011 (30) 6944 344167
Fax : 011 (30) 210 8974405
E-mail : DinoRoussos@gmail.com

November Photo Slide Show 

Our beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,

We are so happy to share with you exciting news from the mission work in Greece. For more photos of the work here, you can see our recent photo gallery slideshow. You will see that the last few weeks have been very busy serving the Master in a variety of ways.

Niko was Baptized into Christ

Niko is a 19 year old young man from Moldavia, who has come in contact with the church. His mother brought him to Greece and enrolled him in an English speaking Christian high school here. His speaks four languages; Greek, English, Russian and Romanian. He graduated last June and has visited the Omonia Church on several occasions, and even came to the retreat we had in June. He is a very mature and a spiritually minded young man. Niko has also been attending our youth meeting on Saturday evenings and on several occasions has translated my sermons from Greek to Russian or from Greek to English. We have been studying with Niko and praying that he would come to know the truth more fully. The fabulous news is that Niko was baptized last Monday.

Monday was a holiday in Greece and, as we always do on holidays, we organized a church excursion. It was a beautiful day and 47 members from all the congregations went on an excursion to the town of Loutraki, lunch in Mycenae and to Nafplion for coffee by the sea. As we returned by Cenchrea (Acts 18:18 & Romans 16:1), we stopped at the ruins of an ancient Church building half submerged in the sea. This is the place in Corinth, where the Apostle Paul departed from, to go to Ephesus. It was a beautiful, warm day. We prayed and studied the scriptures before baptising Niko into Jesus Christ! I had to explain the meaning of Baptism, as there were several people there, who had never witnessed an adult baptism. We look forward to Niko becoming a vital part of our church family at Omonia and join with us in spreading the Gospel.

Russian and Greek Groups Blend

For the past month, we have decided to combine the Greek and Russian congregations. The Russians were more than willing to join the Greeks at their service in the morning. We have songs in both languages and we are using our translation system once again. God is blessing this move with a great spirit.

We sing songs in Greek and Russian and several of the men participate in prayers. We see a wonderful spirit among all believers to work together for the GLORY OF GOD.

Youth Group

On Saturday evenings we have begun a time of fellowship for the youth of all our congregations, as well as any of their friends they wish to bring. Matt is a great asset in organizing and executing youth activities. Each week we do something different. We have played basketball, had pizza, visited a young mother with a brain tumor in the hospital and had discussions.

We have Bible studies and encourage each other to live according to the teachings of Jesus.

Eastern European Missions

As you know Eastern European Missions have done a GREAT work spreading the Bible to Europe. I have personally been involved with this ministry for the last few years. Writing books, speaking in the States at their dinners and lectureships on behalf of this work and receiving in Athens for our congregation, Bibles and Christian literature.

Last month five couples who support EEM, along with the Director Richard Baggett and his wife Denise, came to Athens for three days to visit with us. They had the opportunity to tour the Biblical sites at Corinth and Athens.

We had a wonderful time sharing together dreams and plans for expanding our cooperation and spreading God’s Word to the many nationalities living in Greece.

We thank God for these faithful men of God who are assisting to spread the gospel to the nations and start new Churches of Christ.

Church on the Island of Crete

The newly established church in Crete is going through a struggle right now. The preacher, John has moved to Ireland and we are so sad and concerned about what this means for the young church. This congregation is now without a preacher or any strong leadership. There is a brother there who is trying to fill the void, however, he is inexperienced and untrained, so it will be a heavy burden for him to bear. John has asked me to oversee the church there, so I will try to go more frequently until a permanent preacher can take over the responsibility.

I plan to spend a few days in Crete and preach for their congregation on November 23. They need to mature in Christ and they should not feel that they are alone. Please do pray, as we try to keep the Lord’s work going on in Crete till we find a couple that will be willing to become missionaries there. Already there is a group of 25 Christians, who were baptized over the last two years.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia, the annual women’s retreat, was held September 27 and 28 in Corinth at the same location we had the summer retreat. This was the first time that Philadelphia took place out of Athens and it was an overnight event. It was well attended with 70 women participating.

The theme was “God’s Will in Our Lives”. Lee Burgess of Nashville, Tennessee was the main speaker. Lee did extensive study of the scriptures, which was evident by her excellent presentation. God blessed the whole event with wonderful fellowship and spiritual food.

Eleni Melirrytos was the coordinator of the event as she has done since the beginning.

Friendspeak starts in Athens

For the last three Sundays we have started teaching English using the Bible as a text. While I was in Dallas, Texas last July, I received the material (the gospels of Luke, Mark, John & the Acts of the Apostles).

We have already FIVE persons who are improving their English. Tanya, Natalie, Svetlana and Artem from Ukraine and Maria from Romania. I have been teaching the last few Sundays but we will involve students from Harding University as well.

Since most of the immigrants who come to Greece, want to learn Greek rather than English. I have an idea to use the same system as “Friendship” but instead of English teach Greek.

Court Appeal

Since we have appealed to part of the ruling of our last court case, a new date has been set for a hearing on January 13. Please pray that we will be victorious in order to put an end to these charges and the stress and strain the church has endured for so long.

One Night Retreat for the Church Leaders of Athens

Debbie and I, Matt and Nikki, also Ron and Dianne Kretz (Ron is the Director of the Bible School in Athens) have just returned from the lovely seaside, Athens suburb of Mati. Here we spent two days attending a wonderful Christian Seminar. More than 60 Gospel preachers with their wives, from various denominations in Athens, came together to hear lectures on “Refreshing our ministry”. They had invited a guest speaker and they asked me to be the translator.

For two days I did all the translating for over 10 hours! We learned a lot and made new friends.

Pot Luck

On the first Sunday of October we shared a pot luck meal with the combined Greek, Russian, and Bulgarian congregations. The building was packed and it was great to have fellowship with all three congregations together.

Thursday Evening Bible Study

Last Thursday evening was the kick off, of a brand new Bible study that we will host in our home every week. It is designed to serve the English speaking residents of the area where we live. We are hoping it will be both evangelistic and edifying. Tim Brinley, the director of Harding University in Athens has been teaching the last three Thursdays and Ron Kretz will continue.

Nikki, Matt & Ashtyn

Our daughter Nikki, her husband Matt and their seven month old baby, Ashtyn arrived in Greece a month ago. Matt will be working with an organization called Hellenic Ministries, which ministers in a variety of ways to refugees and the youth of Athens. Matt has a bachelors degree from Harding University in Youth and Family Ministry. They have a commitment to work in Athens for three years. They were living with us until they found an apartment to rent and their container of household goods arrived. They moved into their own apartment last weekend. It is about a 20 minute drive from our house. We have enjoyed having little Ashtyn with us. Debbie gets to keep her twice a week while Nikki teaches private English lessons to a couple of neighbouring children.

New Preacher for Prestoncrest

We thank God for leading the elders of the Prestoncrest Church of Christ in making a selection for their new pulpit minister. The announcement was recently made that Gordon Dabbs will begin serving as the new preacher from February 2009. Gordon is coming from Brazil where he has served as a missionary for the last 10 years. I sent him my congratulations and a letter of encouragement, as he starts his new ministry with the Prestoncrest Church that we love for many years. We look forward to cooperating with him in the ministry.

Please keep us in your prayers.
May the Lord bless you all.

In His love,

Dino and Debbie Roussos

39 Wishart Drive
Broomridge, Stirling FK7 7TR
Scotland, U.K.
Tel: 011-44-1786-816259
Email: mitchvick@btinternet.com

Greetings From Scotland

Hello from cold and rainy Scotland. Our days are much shorter, and there are occasional patches of snow on the surrounding hills. Scotland is bracing itself for another winter!

A New Birth!

Yesterday, (Sunday, November 9th) a group of us traveled from Stirling to Livingston to witness the baptism of Danny Hong Ping. Danny is the husband of Jie, who was immersed earlier this year. He has been very active in our FriendSpeak outreach to international students, as well as attending church services and Bible classes faithfully all year. Tristan and Leslie Block have worked hard with him for a number of months, patiently teaching him the fundamentals of the Christian faith. Yesterday, before the church service began, Danny indicated that he was ready to be baptized into Christ. We are thankful for his decision and amazed yet again at the power of the gospel to work in the hearts of people. Please pray for Danny and Jie, who will return to their home in China early in the new year.

FriendSpeak

Our regular Sunday afternoon FriendSpeak sessions have now resumed with 3-6 readers each Sunday. We would like to increase our numbers now that we have more workers available. Recently Tristan and Leslie hosted a FriendSpeak evening in their home, and we are hoping to arrange a trip to a Chinese super-market in Glasgow later in November.

A Quick USA Trip

It’s good to be home again following a quick trip to the eastern US in October. In a little over two weeks we traveled across 7 states in the eastern US, visiting several churches and attending the wedding of Ashley Ingram and Joel Selby, close friends in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. The wedding was beautiful, and the presence of all of our children in the wedding party also made this the perfect opportunity for a Vick family reunion.

Stirling Church News

The Stirling congregation has done well in both our presence and in our absence. We rejoice with John Renwick, whose latest MRI scan has revealed that, despite one spot on his liver, his cancer has not spread substantially. He is now waiting for word on when he can get treatment for this. Please continue to keep him in your prayers. Our services and Bible classes have gone well. John Renwick, Dick Carter, and David McCready have helped cover our Sunday morning study on the life of Christ in my absence, and Tristan Block has been teaching our Searchers’ class.

Future Outreach

We had hoped by this time to have restarted our weekly Youth Club, an outreach to local neighborhood kids. That has had to be delayed by problems with getting access to the school, but we now hope to resume on Tuesday, November 18th if all goes well. We are also planning to conduct a marriage and family outreach to our community early in 2009 and will share details of this as they are worked out.

Family News

Things remain well with us personally. Isobel’s work at the local hospital goes well, even though it seems to be increasingly busy and demanding at times. Our kids are doing well, and it was very good to see them all at the wedding. We remain concerned about Isobel’s dad, whose physical and mental health continues to deteriorate as the result of a series of small strokes he has suffered over the past few years. This has placed her mother under a great deal of strain. Thankfully, my mother remains relatively stable in her nursing home in the Woodlands, and my sister is doing a great job managing her care.

Brethren, we appreciate your interest in the church in Scotland so much, and especially so during these changing times. We ask you to continue praying for us. We love you and praise God for you, and we want you to know that we continually pray for you. May God bless you richly.

Yours in the Lord’s service,
Mitch and Isobel Vick