MBMS International. Transforming Lives In Mission

Praise and prayer items from France

Hello from France where we're enjoying some very pleasant weather as the summer draws to a close. After one hot spell in August right after getting back from an outreach in the Balkans, the temperatures have settled to near perfect which is a nice change.

A few days ago we posted a report about our participation with a music outreach team that went to Croatia and Bosnia. As is typical for these projects, it was at the same time very challenging but very rewarding. Many members of our team were stretched as they took up the challenge of filling roles that were new for them, and while in Bosnia, sickness hit our team hard. In spite of these challenges, we again saw God move and shine His light in some very dark places. There were several decisions and many good conversations as we saw people respond to the gospel as it was shared during the two weeks of concerts.

For more info and a bunch of pics, check out the article on our website http://russandmarj.com.

We have a very busy fall lined up, with Russ working hard at getting a playout center in place for Channel North Africa and production of a french CD for a Columbian musician who is a believer who is using his music to reach out to others, and Marjorie producing a women's series and working at editing several productions we have already shot that need to be put together. We also have a number of ministry trips planned, one of them being an advance trip in early october to the Ukraine in preparation for a music outreach project there.

We are also looking forward to the arrival of Andrew Janssen in November. Andrew is planning on staying in France for at least a year and will be working with us, helping with the CNA project and outreach tours as well as learning French and doing personal evangelism in the Paris area. He has applied for the necessary long-term visa for France, but because of some paperwork mixups the application was presented later than he had hoped and we would request your prayer for everything to work out for him to come as planned. His willingness to serve and skillset in web development and multi-media will be very much appreciated.

Our current plan for the winter is to be in Canada from early December until May or June. We have started making contacts with some churches to set up visits and anticipate starting in BC in Dec/Jan, and moving across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba from Feb to May, spending some time with various communities and congregations. Let us know if you would like us to come by for a visit so we can fit this into our schedule.

A final prayer request we would like to share is for the French church plant we've been working with for several years. Our number remains small, although we are growing, and more importantly, we definitely see our group growing in spiritual knowledge and vitality. However, we are facing a bit of a crisis as the center where we are currently meeting (and which was used as the base for the evangelistic outreaches that resulted in the launching of the church plant) will not be available to us from about November on. We are praying and looking for other places to meet which are not easy to find and could be out of our price range (which is next to nothing, actually). Thanks for praying for the Ecouen church that God would lead us to exactly the right solution.

Thanks again for your prayers and support which make this work possible.

In His Service,

Russ and Marjorie