Mission to Montenegro February 2012 Newsletter

Mission to Montenegro February 2012 Newsletter:

Recent Church/Ministry Highlights:

**First time visitor:  We are thanking the Lord that the young adult daughter (J.) of one of our regular attenders chose of her own initiative to join us at our last Sunday morning worship service.  We’ve been reaching out to her for many years, including her in “fun” activities with visiting teams, so we are quite excited that she wanted to come to a regular service. Please continue to pray for the unbelieving family members of our fellowship and for J. in particular.

**Bijelo Polje Outreach:  There is a small group (2 families) of believers in the small ethnically Muslim town of Bijelo Polje, MNE which is 3+ hours from Niksic.  They are struggling to remain strong and bold in their faith.  We are discussing possible ways to minister to them including sermons via the internet and a monthly Sunday visit led by the qualified men in our fellowship.  Please pray for these brethren and wisdom on our part in encouraging them.

**College Ministry:  This has been on hold for the past month, initially because of the Christmas Holidays and then because of our “extreme” weather.

**Extreme Weather:  Since early February, Montenegro has experienced its worst winter weather in more than 60 years, and it continues to affect the whole country, effectively shutting down transportation, schools,  and many businesses.  We had to cancel our Sunday church services for the first time ever.  Like many others, we spent the last weekend digging ourselves out of being snow-bound.  The first picture shows the record snow against our 6.5 ft high fence.  After clearing paths, it is necessary to take snow off the roof.  The second picture shows Josiah, Milijana, and Vicki working hard to get the weight off a flat section of the roof.

We make our plans, the Lord directs our steps:

We had planned several small get-togethers, including a Ladies’ Coffee Fellowship time and a Girls’ High School Bible Study for some of Danica’s friends, but the weather precluded these events.  We trust that the Lord will bring these about in His good time.  Also, there is a Canadian Orthodox family that has recently moved to Niksic and  is undergoing culture shock and would like to meet with us.  Please pray that we would connect and be a blessing to this family, both emotionally and spiritually.

Ongoing and Upcoming Ministry

We are currently enjoying good fellowship with  Rebekka’s family whose arrival was delayed because of the recent snowstorm.  Next week, we are anticipating hosting a group of 14 Danish Bible School students who will be reaching out to the  university students.  In early March, we are looking forward to the arrival of the McLaughlin family from our home church, Faith Community, who will stay with us for three months, helping us and the fellowship with their many talents.  Please pray that we would honor the Lord through our hospitality.

Family News:

Stan and Vicki recently had some health check-ups for ongoing issues.  While Vicki’s situation looks very good, Stan’s does not.  Please pray that Stan would find the right combination of medicines and lifestyle choices that would enable him to feel better and function well.

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.  For the unbelieving families of church members: wives, husbands, children, siblings, the extended family of everyone (no multi-generational Christian families here--these are the first converts in the country), especially J. who actually came to a service.

2.  For wisdom in encouraging the believers in Bijelo Polje, for the desired Ladies’ Coffee, for the Girls’ Bible study targeted for unbelieving high school students.  This last is especially close to Danica’s heart.

3.  For Stan’s health issues.

4.  For the university students who are grappling with the Big Questions of Life, that they would meet the Giver of Life, and particularly for the ministry during the Danish Bible School visit.

5.  For an improved financial situation for Mission to Montenegro. And many thanks to you who have already responded; it is a great encouragement to us.

6. For everyone’s safety as the weather forecast predicts colder temperatures and more snow in the next week.

Mission to Montenegro January 2012 Newsletter

We thank the Lord for a very rich and blessed 2011, and we thank all of you for your generous ongoing support, prayer, and encouragements. One change in 2012 is that our newsletter is going to be regularly posted on a blog and thus more public in nature. Currently, until we think of a better solution, we will be writing about most people without mentioning names; but God will know who is meant when we pray for them.

Recent Church/Ministry Events:

Thank you for your prayers for Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Shoebox distribution.

This is a large project for our small fellowship. Some highlights include:

• We had over 8 Christmas presentations with 200 children and their parents present each time in a large auditorium. We offered free New Testaments to any who wanted and more than a thousand were gladly taken. Please pray that God would mightily use His word in the hearts of those reading it.
• For the first time, we were able to give a presentation in a public school forum, complete with a gospel-oriented Christmas message and credit given to the church (and not merely a generic “humanitarian aid” organization.) This took place in Savnik, a small town about an hour away, and while we had enough Christmas packages for the children, we ran out of New Testaments and the director asked us to come back and bring more!
• Also for the first time, we were able to distribute and minister to Roma (gypsy) children in Niksic.
• In total, we gave away 4000 boxes to children and were very grateful for the many helpers in making this happen: box movers/loaders/unloaders, greeters, distributers, musicians, speakers, and more.

Theft of Church Offering Box.

We were quite shocked to discover that our locked offering box was broken into and a substantial amount of money taken. No windows were broken but some are not hard to pry open if one is determined to do so. Because our meeting facilities are multi-purposed (formal meetings, study groups, mid-week language lessons, and more), a number of believers and non-believers are in and out fairly regularly. We have instituted some new procedures for handling the offerings and will be changing the locks.

Building Relationships: The Ministry of Presence

A large part of the ministry here is getting to know people and establishing ongoing relationships and this past month has been ripe with just such opportunities. We’ve spent time together and shared meals with several (unbelieving) families, including the family of the worker who has been building our stone wall, a long-time but still unbelieving dentist friend, the extended family of young believer, and two different American families who are considering moving to Montenegro as missionaries to minister in the as-yet-unreached interior regions.. Please pray that God will open their hearts to His calling: to repentance, to restoration, to obedience.

Financial Considerations:

For several years now, while US and global economies have been struggling, we have been relatively untouched as Faith Community Church has been supplying what we lacked budget-wise. However, we have been informed by the elders at Faith Community Church that we will need to work together to address this situation. Please pray that the Lord would stir the hearts of His People to give to this work, this outreach to Montenegro, because:

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news! (Romans 10:14-15)

Ongoing and Upcoming Ministry

This month is still a partial holiday month as the schools (K-12) are on break until the beginning of February, and the universities have no classes, just exams scheduled. We, however, began our studies on January 9^th as we will be having a busy spring.

Beginning in February, the hospitality aspect of our ministry will take off, with the expected return visit of Rebekka (a young Danish woman who stayed with us this past summer) and her family, followed by hosting a number of Danish Bible students for approximately two weeks. In early March, we are anticipating the arrival of the McLaughlin family from our home church, Faith Community, who will stay with us for three months, helping us and the fellowship with their many talents. Please pray that we would honor the Lord through our hospitality.

Family News:

We greatly enjoyed our White Christmas together though missing Anna Marie. Amy has been back in the States for two weeks already; Christian leaves in two days.

We are grateful that Josiah has received several college acceptance letters. Now the challenge (and prayer request) is that he would choose that place which will best help him grow spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally.

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 the newly distributed New Testaments would be read and be a two-edged sword in the hearts of those who read.

2. For the families that we visited during these holidays. That they would be moved to seek God, to fellowship, to know of and learn of Him.

3. 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.

4. For the university students who are grappling with the Big Questions of Life, that they would meet the Giver of Life.

5. For the unbelieving families of church members: wives, husbands, children, siblings, the extended family of everyone (no multi-generational Christian families here--these are the first converts in the country).

6. For an improved financial situation for Mission to Montenegro.

Mission to Montenegro December 2011 Newsletter:

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.

Mission Trip FCC Team 2011

LAX Airport

Friday, July 1

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)

God's Great Work in Montenegro

Twenty years ago there was not one single Protestant church in Montenegro. Now there are three! In this Blog we will considering God's great continuing work in Montenegro.

April 2010 Prayer and Praise Points

1. College ministry:  We now have a young man (Danijel, married to one of our young ladies) from Serbia helping us reach out to college students.  After many years we have restarted a student Bible study (actually held in the student dorm) and we are seeing a number of students showing up.  This is exciting!  Please pray that they would receive the Gospel and start coming to our regular worship services.

2.  New church visitors:  We have two young men and one lady coming regularly to our Sunday services.  They come from completely unchurched backgrounds and are interested in learning more: about God, church, body life, salvation.  Also, a young woman has been coming regularly (and joyfully) after an absence of several years. Please pray that the Lord will work in their hearts and minds.

3.  Church in Montenegro:  Fortunately, the Lord continues to bless His people here (3 church works, including the one in Niksic, plus a scattering of believers in other towns/cities)  with great unity despite some theological differences and practices.  We thank God abundantly for this blessing.  Plans are currently being made for the 2010 All-Montenegro Meeting (of believers) to be held in June. 

4.  Losing Missionaries:  This year marks the first year that there are now fewer missionaries than the previous six years.  Between dwindling support and the inherent difficulties in living here (mainly spiritual/emotional, not standard-of-living), we’ve seen five missionary families leave the field in the past year.  Please pray that God would raise up and equip more believers to be lights in this dark land.  Out of 700,000 people, there are fewer than 200 believers in the country.  The people here walk in darkness, and how great that darkness is! 

5.  Weddings and babies:  From our own fellowship, we have had the joy of marrying two couples  (Danijel and Martina; Dragan and Mikica) this past year.  They are the spearhead of a new generation of believing Christian FAMILIES living in Montenegro.  Both couples are now expecting their first child--the fellowship is growing! Please pray for the expectant families:  for safe deliveries and great wisdom to raise their little ones in the light and grace of God’s truth and love.

 6.  Please pray for employment for men in the fellowship.  The economic crisis is felt here as well; the few men who had jobs have been laid off.

7.  Please pray for Christian's (our oldest son) transition to college life and studies this coming fall.  He has few memories of life in the US, having moved to Niksic when he was four.  Thus, he will have a greater number of adjustments to college-life than the average young person.  We are greatly encouraged that there is a good church work nearby and some family members living an hour away, but also know there will be many challenges ahead for him.  Please pray that God would watch over him and protect him from evil influences.

8.    We are considering a short furlough at the end of this coming year—it will be three years since we were last in the States.  Please pray that we would find the right balance of refreshment, family time (our eldest, Anna Marie, hasn't seen her siblings in 2 years due to lack of time to travel to Montenegro), stateside business, and fellowship.

Thank you for your prayers on behalf of your brothers and sister in Christ in Montenegro.  To God be the glory!