 |
| "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
