Thursday, August 9, 2018

Hughes News #80


"Tie your shoes and pray for the Hughes"

Dear Friends,
 
The main event in July was Vacation Bible School.  Week #1 was held at our coworkers’ house.  We have been pleased in the past with the VBS there but this year was the best yet!  The kids listened well as we taught on the life of Joseph throughout the week.  We pray that there will be eternal fruit as a result of the kids hearing God’s Word.  We had 26 different kids show up throughout the week, 11 of which had not been to a VBS before.  Our average attendance was 18. 


VBS in Zastinca
 
After a week break, we repeated the program in Soroca at our church rental.  The Lord gave us another good week with attentive children.  There we had 22 different kids with 9 first-time visitors and averaged 17 a day.  It was especially neat to see where those kids came from: 7 either regularly or occasionally come to our services, 4 were from Sarah’s kids’ ESL classes (including a boy who memorized 44 verses during the week), 3 were from a contact in Bulboci (a village in which we minister), 2 had come to previous VBS programs, 1 was brought by a previous VBS attendee, 1 came as a result of announcement put on a FB page and 4 came from … well, we are not sure.  Those numbers may seem tedious to you, but to me they illustrate God’s working through a variety of means.  He is to be praised for the seed planted and watered in our VBS!


VBS in Soroca
 
In lieu of our regular one-hour weekly program at the children’s home, in July we expanded it to two hours and did a trimmed-down version of our VBS.  By having it spread throughout the month, we had more fluctuation in attendance, but overall it went ok.  After a lot of rambunctiousness the first three weeks, the kids listened much better the last couple weeks.  Also, our church here was able to help five kids who live at the center go to a Christian camp.  One of the teen boys made a profession of faith, and the junior campers have asked multiple times to go back to camp.  We have yet another reason to thank the Lord for His working! 

VBS Program at center

Finally, let me mention our housing.  On June 21st we purchased a lot in the village of Egoreni, just three miles from Soroca.  The lot has a good amount of land, an old house, another small building, grapes, raspberries, walnut trees and fruit trees.  While architectural plans are being drawn up, we are cleaning up the property and demolishing the old house.  We are still unsure what a realistic goal is for this fall, so we are just saying that we hope to get as much done as possible.

Our lot- about in the middle you can see the old house.


Some of the cleaning up we've been doing. Before and after shots.

In His service, 
Jacob and Viola Hughes
 
For Prayer: 
1. Plans to semi-officially organize the church
2. A time of planning with our team in mid-August 
3. Coworkers leaving for furlough later this month
 
For Praise: 
1. Five kids from the children’s center attending a Christian camp
2. Good weeks of VBS 
3. Purchase of land for housing

1 comment:

  1. So exciting to see the children interested in learning about the Lord and having a good time with it! Praise the Lord for his blessings with your land purchase! Continuing to pray for you and all of your ministries!

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