May 2012 Mission to Montenegro Newsletter

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.  Col. 3:17

**Life in the Fellowship

    The past month has seen an increase in Fellowship activity, in no small part due to wonderful spring weather.  Highlights include:

• All-Montenegro Meeting  The All-MNE fellowship gathering for 2012 was held in late April in the capital city of Podgorica.  It is a joy and a privilege to gather together with our fellow Christians to encourage one another, to pray for one another, and to pray for the nation.  God blessed our time together most richly.
• Getting to know some Orthodox Believers  We were finally able to meet up with the Orthodox family (Father, Mother, 3 children--Father works for the Orthodox church) who moved here from Canada.  They had been looking forward to meeting us as much as we were interested in meeting with them.  We are mutually desirous of fostering our friendship and hope to be a light and a testimony of God's grace, mercy, and love.
• New Regulars  It is a joy to recognize that one of the students, JV, is wholeheartedly joining in the fellowship, attending regular meetings, and developing relationships with us all.  She is the first of those reached via student ministries to do so in a long while.  Praise the Lord!
• Babies and Weddings  It is very exciting to see God growing His Church here in Montenegro.  There are two families (V. family, S. family) connected with our fellowship expecting their first babies; however, both pregnancies have been beset with various complications.  Please pray that God would watch over these little ones and their parents.  Also, two of our young people (N+J) are getting married next month; Stan will be presiding over the church ceremony to be held in Belgrade.  Another Christian family in Niksic!  Another Light in a dark place!

**Upcoming Ministry
   
As always, summer is a busy time of extra outreaches, camps, hospitality ministry.

• Danish Friends  We are expecting our Danish friends, Tanja and Rebekka, to be with us for two months starting in June.  They will be reaching out to the teens and university students and helping with the various camps that are scheduled.
• Camp Outreaches  There will be three major outreaches this summer:  English camp for university students, an evangelistic and discipling camp for teens, and Camp Monty which is a sports outreach camp for mixed ages.
• Ongoing Follow-up  All these camps generate a number of contacts which need to be maintained and followed up.  This can be taxing on a small fellowship like ours.   Stan has been meeting with the Leadership team to discuss possible, effective ways to reach interested people including teaching a  "Basics of Christianity" course, ongoing Bible studies, one-on-one discipling, and general hospitality.

**Family News
    
     Stan and Josiah were away for a whirlwind 10 day trip to visit several of the universities to which Josiah was accepted.  Not having lived in the US for most of his life, Josiah enjoyed seeing and experiencing the differences and similarities of various American universities, especially in light of European ones.  We are pleased that he has chosen to attend Rochester Institute of Technology (NY) and has been accepted into their Physician's Assistant Program.

Also, the McLaughlin family is (unbelievably) now in the countdown phase of their time with us.  We are most grateful for the practical help rendered by both Richard and Julie as well as their sweet communion in fellowship with all the saints here.

With great love and appreciation for your ongoing prayers and support in this great work of God,

Stan and Vicki Surbatovich
Mission to Montenegro

Prayer Bulletin Points  

1. For our "new" regulars attending the fellowship:  JV, and D's family.  That they would grow in their love and knowledge of God and their place in His Kingdom.
2. For the babies, the first generation to be born to Christian parents here, that they would be strong and healthy, nurtured in the love and fear of the Lord.
3. For the upcoming wedding of N+J, that the ceremony would be a testimony and witness of God's goodness and gospel truth to the many unbelievers who will be attending.  And for their marriage:  the wedding is just the beginning!
4. For the many preparations needed in light of the camps this summer.  As an example, we will be hosting a team of 11 in the next few days who are here in advance planning for the teen camp in July.  
5. That God would draw the right young people to attend these camps and for a concerted follow-up by our own people.
6. For the ongoing construction projects headed by Richard.  We thank the Lord that the work has been progressing smoothly and without injuries.  Please pray that we would determine the best projects/priorities for the remaining few weeks.

Mission to Montenegro April 2012 Newsletter:

 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.  Phil. 1:3-5.

**Easter Celebration

            This past Sunday, April 15^th, we were blessed with a joyful service commemorating our Lord’s triumph over sin and death.  We are also thrilled that J., a college student, seems to have crossed over from just attending student meetings to joining us wholeheartedly in worshipping the Lord and learning from His Word at our regularly scheduled church meetings. 

** New Contacts via book promotion

            Last week, a well-respected, local politician who is also a believer, held a promotional event for his recently published book Metanoja (which comes from the Greek word meaning “forgiveness”).  In a show of solidarity, Stan and a few other believers from our fellowship went, and Stan was able to meet and renew acquaintances with unbelievers genuinely interested in the book and the Christian ideas inherent.  Please pray for follow-up contacts and opportunities to share the gospel with these searching souls.

**Ladies’ Coffee Fellowship

We have been able to meet quite regularly this past month.  Again, the purpose is to foster relationships and encourage one another as well as to model Christian living, thinking, and joyfulness to all who come.  It is also a time of informal “older women teaching the younger women” because we are adding young mothers and wives to our mix of older ladies.  Please pray that the Lord would increase our wisdom as these young wives and mothers are the first generation here to marry and raise children in the Lord.

**Family News

Although the beginning of month saw us all plagued with colds and viruses, we’ve recovered and are now enjoying having Nemanja with us. We had the privilege of meeting his family over Easter weekend.  Nemanja is Richard McLaughlin’s right hand man during their stay with us.  To see what they are all up to, check out    http://familyblog.bldrmcl.com/ .

Stan and Josiah are currently stateside for a whirlwind tour of the most likely universities that Josiah might attend.  Please pray for traveling mercies and confirmation of the best place for Josiah, academically, spiritually, and emotionally.  Also, please pray for Peter and Danijel who will be leading our services while Stan is gone.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  Rom. 10:14ff

 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 many unbelievers who have been ministered to this past month:  the students, friends, family members, neighbors attending the book promotion.

2.  For the  Ladies’ Coffee time and the Girls’ Bible study targeted for unbelieving high school students.  This is especially needful as a local high school student recently committed suicide and thoughts of life, death, and ultimate purpose are on many hearts.

3.  For Stan and Josiah as they travel and visit universities:  for safety, wisdom, good fellowship, too!  Josiah’s decision will need to be made by May 1^st.

4.  For upcoming planned ministries and teams:  summer camp for teens, university outreach camp, longer term ministry visits in Niksic from amongst our Danish brethren.

5.  For the construction projects spearheaded by Richard M.  That wise decisions would be made and that everyone would keep safe and whole.

Mission to Montenegro March 2012 Newsletter:

Recent Church/Ministry Highlights:

**Extreme Weather:  Because of the heavy snowfall in February, we canceled meetings for two weeks.  However, we are happily back in action after a week of springlike weather—only vestiges of snow remain.

**Arrival of the McLaughlin Family:  We joyfully welcomed the McLaughlin family on March 8 who arrived tired but in one piece after many hours of travel.  Since they are posting their perceptions and experiences on a family blog:  http://familyblog.bldrmcl.com/ , we won’t duplicate their efforts.  They are updating their blog several times a week, so we suggest you bookmark it and check in often!  (And if you do head over there, compare the picture against the fence with the one from the Big Snow!)

**Postponed Get-togethers: 

--This past week, Danica gathered her unbelieving friends for bible study.  Please pray for wisdom as Danica seeks to share the good news with her classmates:  some are searching, others are avowed atheists.

--We enjoyed our first Ladies Coffee Fellowship of the new year, which is currently scheduled for every Wednesday afternoon.  Julie and I met with Rada (a believer) and M. (an unbeliever).  The purpose is to foster relationships and encourage one another as well as to model Christian living, thinking, and joyfulness for M  Although we rejoice that M now comes fairly regularly to our Sunday services and participates in special events, we long for her to know sweet communion with Christ as her Lord and Savior.

**College Ministry:  After a month of holidays and inactivity due to the weather, this past month has seen a flurry of activity with the coming of a small team from Norway and a large group from Denmark.  The Norwegians came expressly for the purpose of producing a video to show Christian students in Norway the state of the Christian student ministry here in Montenegro. The desired outcome is  to encourage Norwegian students and recent graduates to pray for the young people here and to consider coming themselves for short/long term ministry amongst them

We hosted 12 Danish Bible school students and their teachers for 10 days this last month.  Their efforts focused on activities such as a Danish Cultural Night and Acoustic Café night to bring non-Christian students into contact with believing students, providing an opportunity to build relationships and witness about Christ.  We now have 8 new names to follow-up on.  Please pray for Danijel and Peter as well as all the believers to keep on reaching out to these eight people.

**Saved from Death:  We all are thanking the Lord that the father (N.) of one of our members not only survived a severe heart attack (and follow-up bypass surgery, neither of which the doctors thought he would live through), but he (N.) has since indicated that he knows he has Jesus to thank and honor for his new life.  N. has heard the gospel many times—both from his daughter and son-in-law and from visiting the church several times.  Please pray that his love for Christ will grow and that his new life (physically speaking) will be blessed with new spiritual life as well.  We all have great hope in what the Lord is doing and can accomplish!

Family News:

Soon after saying good-bye to Rebekka and her family, we welcomed and hosted the Danish team.  With 18-19 people in the house, things were hopping on the home front.  Now that the McLaughlins are here, we are still hopping!  We have already been blessed both practically (Richard and Julie are gifted artists and craftsmen) as well as spiritually in everyday discussions around the table and at family devotions.

We are expecting Nemanja, a young Christian man engaged to one of the young ladies in our fellowship, this weekend.  He will be staying with us for the next few months, becoming Richard’s right hand man with the construction projects and enjoying time with his fiancee.

Josiah should finish hearing from the schools that he applied to this month.  Please pray that he (and we) would prayerfully consider his options and sense the Lord’s direction and peace.

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 many unbelievers who have been ministered to this past month:  the students, friends, family members, especially M. (of the Coffee time) and N. (saved from death).

2.  For the  Ladies’ Coffee time and the Girls’ Bible study targeted for unbelieving high school students. 

3.  For the construction projects spearheaded by Richard.  That wise decisions would be made and that everyone would keep safe and whole.

4.  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.

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