Hughes News #69

"Tie your shoes and pray for the Hughes"

Dear Friends,

Greetings from far-off Moldova!  Recently I have been thinking of Paul’s statement in II Corinthians of God’s grace being sufficient for him.  It has reminded me that God’s grace is already available to me.  Our hope is that our Savior will give you glimpses of His grace to encourage you on your earthly way.

We were pleased with our family evening activities, even though they were different than planned.  We had good weather and were able to hold them three of the four Friday evenings in June.  Our hope was that families would participate in the activities together.  The way it worked out, very few complete families came by.  However, several kids and a few adults stopped by to play the games, do the crafts or eat the snacks.  We were able to introduce ourselves to more individuals in the city, give out some Bibles and literature about the family and learn how better to run this type of activity in the future.

Crafts at our family activity

The Lord gave us two good weeks of VBS.  The first week we met at our coworkers’ home and invited children from their neighborhood.  We averaged 16 kids a day with 25 different kids coming throughout the week.  The kids listened so well during the Bible lessons.  The second week we met at our rental location in the city.  With having fewer contacts and it being our first VBS in the city, we really didn’t know how many would show up.  That week we averaged 12 kids a day, which included 20 different children.  The second week had a different dynamic as we had kids who knew only Russian or Romanian.  It was a blessing to see a couple of kids show up that we had met during our family activity, and to see one of the kids memorize the books of the Bible.

Games at VBS in Zăstîncă

Sword drills at VBS in Soroca

Next week our team will seclude ourselves and talk over plans for the upcoming twelve months.  Would you take a moment right now to pray for the Lord’s guidance as we make plans?  We are considering starting an ongoing children’s ministry to, in part, follow up with the kids who came to VBS. On a personal note, our construction permit is in hand, and a builder is ready to start on the foundation, but we have discovered a problem.  The city water main runs directly through our property, right where the house is to be.  Would you pray for resolution to this problem so that we could at least get the foundation done this fall?

In His service,

Jacob and Viola Hughes

For Prayer:

1. Viola and Sarah studying Romanian

2. Ministry planning for upcoming months

3. Resolution of problem with the water main

For Praise:

1. Good results from our family evenings in the park

2. Two good weeks of Vacation Bible School

3. A helper for the month of July- Deanna, our coworker Sarah’s friend