Recent Church/Ministry Events:
Thank you for your prayers for the All-MNE Believers meeting held mid-November, right here in Niksic.. It was our church's turn to host the annual fellowship meeting for born-again believers here in Montenegro. This involves logistics like booking a room, arrangements for lunch, inviting a guest speaker. Stan invited Mr. Horvatek from Croatia who teaches at a seminary there that is sponsored by Master's College. We felt everything went very well: the teaching was very good and solid, the fellowship great, the weather cold but sunny, and we had a record crowd! :-)
The College Outreach ministry is being blessed by God. There is a weekly bible study (led by Danijel P.) and a weekly English Conversation Club held at the university. This past week we had a student outreach at the Cafe Atrium in downtown Niksic. We are thrilled that we have good relations with a (currently) non-believing cafe owner who is willing to let us host public lectures/concerts in his cafe. The topic this week was Servant Leadership (as exemplified by Jesus Christ our Savior) and there was good discussion with students, the employees, and other guests in the cafe. Please continue to pray particularly for V, L, and A (three students) and N (former student) who have varying degrees of understanding the gospel. Pray, too, for Danijel and Peter S. as they spend the most time with these students.
Ongoing and Upcoming Ministry
We have been seeing new faces at our Sunday morning services, in particular Danica's family. Danica is the young lady who was baptized this summer along with our Milijana. Her parents have a communistic background and merely permitted (an answer to prayer in itself) Danica to participate in our Christian meetings and events. Danica's baptism was the first time her father attended a service. But now they are regularly coming to Sunday services and other fellowship-sponsored events and are really listening to God's Word. Please pray that the good seed being sown would bear fruit in their lives.
Our BIG project in the next few weeks is the distribution (and gospel presentation) of the 4000+ Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoeboxes that arrived today. Please pray for this as it takes the whole fellowship to get the job done! For our Christmas program, it appears that we will be able to use large rooms at both the hotel and the conference center where we hosted the All-MNE Believer's meeting. Please pray that God would grant us wisdom in explaining the Good News to so many unbelieving children and their parents, that the packages would go to appreciative homes, and that God would be pleased to magnify His name through these efforts.
We will be celebrating Christmas on Jan. 7th because Montenegro still follows the Orthodox calendar. Additionally, there are several Saint's Days that are culturally important. Please pray that as we get together with unbelievers, we would redeem the time and winsomely share God's truths about Jesus, His birth, life, death, and resurrection, and that all the true saints of the past want to see the Lord glorified and honored and not themselves.
Family News:
Right now we are in the throes of Josiah's university application process--without a "local" college (so to speak, since the ones here aren't a worthy option for us), he has all of the U.S. open to him and with a lot of interests, he is applying to more schools than the rest of the kids (so far) combined. Please pray that God would guide Josiah and that he would end up at the school that will best equip him for life, mentally, spiritually, and physically. We've seen the Lord mightily answer this prayer with respect to our three oldest, and once again, we earnestly seek and pray for the Lord's direction.
Christian arrived Dec. 17) after another successful semester at CSU Fresno. This will be his first time back since heading off to college a year and half ago and he will be here til mid-January. Amy Joelle will also be spending the Christmas holidays with us but needs to head back on Dec. 27th; as a working woman, she no longer has those long between-semesters college breaks. Sadly, Anna Marie can't make it over here and will be spending the holidays with good friends in New Jersey.
Lastly, please pray for Stan as he has been having an increase in the number and magnitude of migraine headaches and other physical distresses. Please pray for both mercy from God and wisdom in knowing how to best manage his busy days.
With great love and appreciation for your ongoing support in this great work of God,
Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro
Prayer Bullet Points:
1. That God's Word would be boldly proclaimed from the pulpit, in the mid-week Bible study, in casual conversation, in counseling, in every opportunity that God grants.
2. For the university students who are grappling with the Big Questions of Life, that they would meet the Giver of Life.
3. For the unbelieving families of church members: Danica's parents and brother, the wives of Rade, Milan, Jovan, the extended family of everyone (no multi-generational Christian families here--these are the first converts in the country).
4. For the leadership of the Niksic Fellowship: particularly Stan, Danijel, and Peter.
5. For the Samaritan's Purse Outreach project: grace, stamina, wisdom, and fruit.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Highlights from Winter 2010
As I get ready to do more up to date blogging, here are some highlights from Winter 2010
Highlights from a Recent General Update.
FURLOUGH
We are very encouraged by what God is doing in Montenegro, but I am feeling the most worn out I ever have in ministry. We are presently enjoying a short furlough (1 November – 30 January) with our sending church in California while already looking forward to getting back to Montenegro at the beginning of February with new vigor. Though we don't anticipate visiting many churches this furlough, I am prepared to visit churches that really want a visit. Also, should any of you know of churches that would like to grow into missions but have not yet done so, please feel free to tell them about us and the work in Montenegro.
During our furlough we will be resting, recuperating, reequipping, and resupplying.
Milijana and Josiah are with us. Christian, Amy, and Anna Marie joined us for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
STATUS OF GOSPEL IN COUNTRY
Montenegro continues to be the least evangelized country in Europe. Twenty years ago there was not a single Biblical church. We continue to be one of only three churches in the whole country and the only one with a reformed commitment. A number of missionaries have come but had to leave in recent years. We give thanks that God has enabled us to remain and that he continues to use us. Since the country is so small and missions is still in the pioneering phase, we are in the midst of laying a solid Gospel foundation which we pray God will use for those who will follow us.
GOD PROVIDING DURING OUR ABSENCE:
Praise: During our absence one of our "own" is ministering in our place. The Adams family (Nathan, Rada, and daughter Anya) are in Niksic, with Nathan preaching weekly at our services. Nathan met Rada herein Niksic at a Christian student outreach camp we hosted 10 years ago. Nathan spent his holidays with us (he's from England) so he could spend time with Rada (who had become a believer through the ministry here). They married 8 years ago and have been living in England, finishing their various schooling. Nathan has been involved with Christian work of different types. Now, they are seriously considering entering the mission field and offered to help out in our absence. This will give them a chance to test the waters, so to
speak, and encourage our people as well. We are very grateful to the Lord (and to the Adams Family) for providing so abundantly.
Though Nathan will be doing most of the preaching, Danijel and Peter will be helping in leading and Peter will have overall oversight.
SHORT TERM HELPERS
Praise: Two Norwegians (Junas and Sundre) have joined us here in Niksic for six months as part of their Bible College program. They are being very proactive in meeting and inviting people to meetings and are adding much to the ministry here.
PROGRESS DURING OUR FURLOUGH
With the presence of the Adams family, the Norwegians, Danijel, and Peter during our absence we anticipate God doing much and our absence being a time of progress in Niksic rather than maintenance. This is God's work and progress. There have been new contacts recently. The brethren are following up in our absence. We look forward to meeting new visitors when we return.
RESIDENCY ISSUE
Just about 10 days before leaving on furlough, we found out that due to new laws in effect connected with Montenegrin independence (in an attempt to curb people from having dual Serbian/Montenegrin citizenship) Stan and the children's citizenship papers are no longer valid (it's complicated but the reason is our citizenship was recorded in Belgrade in the no longer existent Yugoslav Ministry of Interior Affairs.
Ironically, it appeared that Vicki was the only one with a legal right to be here long-term. I (Stan) was plunged into the depths of bureaucracy (and there is no bureaucracy like Balkan bureaucracy) trying to sort out the options and get the necessary paperwork done before leaving. I was prepared to send the family ahead to the U.S. on furlough while trying to get a necessary piece of paper. It wasvery stressful. I give praise that two days before we were to leave I was able to have my permanent residency confirmed and submit an application for MNE citizenship without loss of U.S. citizenship. Again, praise God--marvel at His providence!
MAJOR OUTREACHES PLANNED
We will be receiving several thousand Samaritan’s Purse Christmas boxes which we will be giving to children in conjunction with special Christmas Gospel programs. Though this is a tremendous opportunity, it is also a great challenge as we are so few and our resources are very limited. Please pray that God would lead and help us us and open children’s and parent’s hearts.
We have received the largest number of New Testaments (from the Gideons) that has ever been in Montenegro. In addition to one-on one distribution, we are considering some very large outreaches—the entire army, entire police departments, entire schools, university departments and similar. Please pray that God would grant us favor in the eyes of the various authorities; that He would help us to distribute these New Testaments in the best way, that He would open people’s hearts, and that many would read and receive the Word with gladness and be joined to Christ.
NEEDS
Our major need continues to be help—short term and long term workers.
Finances: The economic crisis has affected our income. A few additional regular givers as well as a few special gifts for special projects would be very helpful. Thanks to all who have been helping.
As always please continue to pray in all the normal ways—this is so necessary.
Yours in Christ,
Stan, family, and the brethren in Niksic
Stan: stan.surbatovich@gmail.com or stanisas@t-com.me
Vicki: vmsurbat@gmail.com
Website: http://christianitymontenegro.org (needs to be updated but has good information)
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