Dear Hope4Kyiv Friends, "In-Pact" Partners, and Family:
As you make final preparation for your Christmas celebrations, please take time to read this encouraging but challenging letter. It will help put Christmas in perspective.
Since you know where Jo Ann and I have been serving these past years, I have edited out all references to locale and individuals for security purposes. We have written about "M" and his wife, "I" in the past, so I know you'll recognize the location and the people involved. The safety and security of all former Muslims who have come to Christ continues to be an increasing concern, and danger to their welfare intensifies.
If, after reading the letter, you would like to find a way to financially help, drop me a note at
lifeunlimited@pobox.com and we'll find a way for you to do that.
We'll send another updated report letter on our ministry in the next few days with all the latest news. In the meantime, read the following carefully and prayerfully.
Thanks,
Bob and Jo Ann
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Dear kingdom partners;
It's been a while since I wrote to you all. I have to apologize for not writing more often. I've been dealing with a crazy schedule - leaving home at 6:00 or 7:00 a.m. and returning at 22:00 or 23:00 p.m. Ira and I have also been having lots of problems with our Internet connection and didn't have a good service at all. As the result, I was hindered to write. But I hope you find this praise report encouraging.
God has continued doing great things in the city . . . and especially among Iranian. I've tried to cover all the events briefly. It's a bit longer than usual, so you can grab a cup of coffee or tea and read it through:)
•Another "faith" believed in the Lord
Several weeks ago, we had another friend named "faith" (translation of his name from Farsi into English is faith), who believed in the Lord. One of our Bible study members had met him in the university and had shared the gospel with him. He has become a good friend and brother of ours and attends our Bible study regularly. He studies medicine in the university.
•Starting the "Father's house" worship service
Few weeks ago, we started the Farsi "Father's house" little church. We turned our Sunday Bible Study to a worship service where we worship our Lord in Farsi language. We sing worship songs in Farsi, and I get to preach there twice a month. I lead the worship in the service, and "F" and "V" who are strong leaders in Farsi ministry, help with preaching. Meanwhile, an American missionary lady has agreed to help us with the worship and does a wonderful job on piano. As we talk in Farsi, she sits back quietly and prays for us. We want to teach her some Farsi so she could understand a bit:-).
•Transition in my International church . . .
We've been going through a period of transition in my International church. As pastor B and his wife have permanently left for America, and another Pastor is starting a new ministry and leaving at end of this month, I feel that God is leading our International church to a new chapter in her life. In addition to Farsi ministry, I've been a member of the pastoral leadership team of my International church, and now help with Evangelism there. We're praying about launching an Evangelistic project on New Year to invite English speaking non believers over for a New Year party where we can share the gospel with them.
•"H" 's departure to Sweden
Around 3 years ago, an Iranian brother came to me and asked me to write an appeal letter for him. He wanted to give the letter to UN, and request them to reconsider his rejected refugee case. Since he had left Iran and had arrived in . . . , his passport had expired and he couldn't apply to embassy of Iran either. As the result, he had applied to UN for help. Meanwhile, he didn't have any job or source of income because he was without any document. Having a wife and 3 kids, his life was really hard. UN had prior to the letter rejected his case and left him without any document.
That morning, when he came to me, his eyes were filled with tears and we went to a near by MC Donald's to have a cup of tea and talk. He told me that he had been living a life in which always sought help from others and not the Lord himself. That day he told me that he had decided to trust in the Lord and not any friends or acquaintance to give him a job or a document to live. We prayed together, and I wrote a letter in English to the head of UN. That letter was the very last letter he could possibly write before complete closing of his case.
I explained everything honestly to the head of the UN about H's situation. I wrote that: "now H has decided to completely trust the Lord and turn from his own ways. If the Lord put on your heart, help him to get a document."
Few months later, a Christian lawyer had come to UN office . . . and decided to take a look at the room filled with reconsideration letters. That room was especially designed for thousands of reconsideration letters that were never read and H's letter was one of them. As the lawyer had walked around the room, he picked the letter I had written for H, and read it and told the officer to call H.
When H had arrived at UN office, the lawyer talked to him and he found out that H's heart had been really changed. Two months had gone by that H received a call from UN office that his case had been accepted by America and Sweden and he could pick where to immigrate.
That was just another miracle of our Lord. Among thousands and thousands of reconsideration letters, the lawyers saw H's letter, and a rejected case got accepted by 2 countries. Anyway, H picked Sweden and flied there around 4 weeks ago.
•New Iranians we have shared with
About 4 weeks ago, I wanted to buy a pen in a subway. As I was looking at different pens in that stationary shop, I saw a boy who looked like an Iranian. As I smiled at his face, he asked me if I am Iranian and married! (He had seen the ring on my finger). I told him yes and immediately Holy Spirit prompted me to share some about the Lord. I usually don't do it until I get to know the Iranian but this time I openly told him some about the Bible and our Bible Study and that he's welcome to attend. We exchanged phone numbers and he left.
I called him few days later but he said he was busy and can't meet. I kind of felt like he's not interested in the Lord and was wondering why I was prompted to share with him.
Few days ago, after almost 3 weeks had gone by from my call, I received a phone call from him. He asked me over the phone if he could talk to me for few minutes.
He explained me that he was driving his car down the street and his heart was filled with sorrows and he had felt really lonely. Then all of a sudden, as if someone, taped on his shoulder and told him to call me. He had completely forgotten about me and he told me that he thought he had deleted my phone number from his phone book. But as he looked at his phone book, he found my number and called me and wanted to share about his sorrows. He told me he didn't know why he's called and wanted to share with me about his troubles but he was sure that someone had reminded me to him.
So we talked for about an hour and I shared the gospel in more details with him. I told him that our meeting wasn't an accident and God has a wonderful plan for his life. He was really interested and asked me if he could call me anytime he is depressed. He also expressed his desire to attend the Farsi Bible study to learn more about the Bible.
On the other hand, "F" has built good relationship with 2 new Iranians in his hostel. One of them had come to "F" to get a help with a physics problem, and "F" used the opportunity to invite him to his room for a tea and shared some about the Lord. He has also found another Iranian 2 floors above him who is interested to hear more about the Lord.
Some of you may recall "Hu"' that got saved and I wrote about him in my last letter. "Hu" continues to grow in the Lord. From a tough, muscleman, alcoholic and angry fellow, the Lord has turned him to a soft, kind and quite boy. I remember about a year ago as I wanted to share the gospel with him, I was afraid he would beat me up.
As soon as he had believed, he asked me what to do now. I told him go and share your life story with other Iranians that live in your hostel. I also instructed him to include his life before Christ, how did he come to Christ, and his life after that. He literally took my word and went to other people and shared with them. He told me that they were so many nights before his salvation where he would spend the all night in night clubs, and now he spends his nights in hostel sharing with people.
About few weeks ago, "Hu" shared with one Iranian couple in his hostel. He brought them to our Bible study and we answered some more of their questions and shared the gospel with them more in details. But as we asked more about their lives, we found out that the boy is the son of the ex ambassador of Iranian government in . . . . Well…, we praised the Lord that He loves high officials as much as he loves us. I asked "Hu" if he's afraid to be seized by our government and he answered me back "My life is worthless without Him. I can't stop sharing my faith". I praised the Lord for such a faith and I wished when I was a 10 months believer like he's now, I had such a faith as "Hu" has.
(From Bob ---- my final "official" act before we returned to the States two weeks ago was to baptize "Hu" in our apartment bathtub. He's an amazing young man . . . and "huge". We've developed a form of baptism called "progressive baptism" for people his size. {:-) He's a wonderful brother.)
"F" and I also have been having doing some mentorship with some of our friends who can't make it to our Bible Study. One of them is an Iranian girl whom we meet and train her to become a strong Christian.
•Problems with the embassy of Iran (confidential information )
Few days ago, embassy of Iran held a meeting for all the students here . . . . One of "Hu" friends also had attended that meeting and later told "Hu" about it. During the meeting, the ambassador made a speech in which he referred to the threat from Christians in . . . . He told everyone that they have found out the place where we meet for our Bible study, and they are going to take further actions to persecute us. He had told people that the embassy is deeply concerned regarding the Evangelistic activities.
I knew from the very beginning of our Bible study that the Iranian government . . . would sooner or later find out. As I was persecuted in India from my government side and had run away to . . . I was aware of their spying system. If we do want to spread the gospel, the persecution follows that.
But my main concern is for "Hu" and "F", since they are more vulnerable than me and "V". "V" and I are both married to (nationals) and accordingly are less in danger. They can deport back to Iran, or bribe the police force to arrest us for drugs and illegal activities. In more severe cases, they'll use a special Iranian guard that is trained to accomplish missions abroad and execute people in the foreign countries by terroristic attacks.
As some of you may know, because of our extremist president, many believers in Iran and outside the Iran are being persecuted. Our president has encouraged our parliament, and they have issued a law that whoever converts from Islam into Christianity, he will be put to death without any court meeting or attorney defense. Basically the believer will be arrested and will wait in jail until his execution day to arrive in few days. We keep praying that Lord would protect us here . . . from all the harms. One thing we know for sure: we're not going to stop telling what the Lord has done in our lives to those who are on their way to eternal separation from our Father.
•About me and "I"
"I" and I have been doing fine. The other day, "I" went to post office. As she was standing in line, she saw a man who looked really depressed. She began sharing the gospel with that man and in the meantime, one more believer lady joined her. As her turn came and she finished the work, the man accepted the Christ praying with the second lady who had arrived. I get to learn form my wife how to do street Evangelism which I'm really bad at!(I prefer to say it's not my gifting:-).)
As some of you may know, few weeks ago, the bank we had deposited all our finances went bankrupt due to economical crisis. As I read the statistics, (country name) is the second most injured country in the world due to economical crisis. However, as bank went bankrupt, all our money that had been deposited over the past 3 years is now gone. They're saying that beginning 2010, government may or may not reimburse us depending on crisis. At the same time, "I" lost 3 students to whom she used to teach Russian and English because either they left to America or her (local) students can't afford paying her. Moreover, the companies have greatly decreased the number of conferences and seminars they used to hold and therefore leaving translators without any jobs.
Meantime, As the result of all that, as world goes through crisis, we're also experiencing the end time's crisis living in a city that is among the first 10 most expensive cities in the world. The other day, as I wanted to go to university in the morning, I found out that the cost of transportation (underground, buses and etc.) have increased 400 percent. Just for you to know and be praying for us, I'm praying about getting a part time job in the next 2 months in order to compensate part of our financial loss. Due to being involved with university and Farsi ministry, I didn't want to get a job. But now I'm financially at a point that I'm thinking about it. The only reason I didn't want to get a job was because it would disable me from teaching in Bible Study, leading Evangelistic programs for Iranians and my International church and conducting one on one base Bible training with people, and at the same time, it would greatly hinder my preparation for Sunday's sermons.
However, we keep in mind that this is God that provides and sustains us in the midst of all our troubles and I trust Him in helping me to make a decision.
Prayer requests
•Please pray for these 3 new Iranians we have shared with. Pray that Holy Spirit would open their hearts to accept the message of the gospel and invite the Lord into the hearts
•Please pray for Farsi ministry and my International church, as we continue seeking the Lord to guide us in further Evangelistic outreaches.
•Please pray for our protection . . . . Bible teaches that end time is not going to be an easy time. Pray that God would touch the heart of the Iranian Officials in . . . ,
•Please pray for financial situation of me and "I". Pray that Lord would provide her with more students and translations orders. Please pray for me as I'm going to make a decision regarding getting a job. Meantime, if you had on your heart to support us financially, feel free to drop me a quick note and I'll give you details.
At the end, I would like to appreciate all your supports and prayers. It's because of your prayers that our Lord gives us abundant grace and sustains us, and keeps us safe to labor in His Kingdom. We all know that as evil abounds, God's grace abounds even more. We're also glad to have a family like you in Christ that lifts us up before our Father's throne.
Love and Peace in Him
Your brother,
"M"
P.S: Please do not publish the content of this letter on any website or Internet page.
Please do not distribute it outside the community of believers.
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Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jer 33:3)
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