Steven Spear, Ysamar Spear and Alvin Cox are in Corquin, Honduras, to spend a week with missionaries Michael and and Kris Bridges. They were able to deliver supplies donated by Southside members and Alvin’s sister Mistie. On Sunday the team attended a joint worship service with the churches of Corquin and Potrerrios.
CandyCraft suppliesDonated CriCut machineSteven, Ysamar, Michael, Kris, AlvinLots of supplies were donatedMore craft supplies
I hope everyone is doing well. Terrence and I arrived safely and have already had a busy week. We are with Chi and the children at the house in Port Harcourt. Terrence has been working on projects at the house and at Susana Homes while I’ve been at clinic.
My first clinic this week was at the prison with Brother Friday Adima. Brother Friday has been doing this ministry at the Abia State Prison since Bob came with Chi in 1998!
The prison currently houses 700 male prisoners and 37 females. Most of the men are relatively young men in what would be their most productive years. Because Nigeria operates under the premise that you are guilty until proven innocent, prisoners are confined for years before going in front of a judge. A 32-year-old prisoner I saw in clinic this week told me he had been before the judge the week before and that he would receive a favorable judgement. He was so happy with the thought that he could see his mother soon. She is frail and not able to visit him in the prison. He’s been incarcerated for 7 years! There are no pictures of this clinic – for security reasons.
I also finally got to go back to Pong for clinic. We went there four years ago when the Noblitts and Wallers were with us. There is no health care in this community. This was a church plant from the Elami church, where I will be on Sunday. The church is about 90 minutes south of Port Harcourt on the coast. We saw about 55 in clinic.
Kay Price sees patients in clinic.
Yesterday I got to do market clinic which is one of my favorites. There are several women from church who have stalls at the market, so there is always someone there I know. I walk through the market and let people know I’m checking blood pressure. We then have those with high BP come to the clinic at Susana Homes so we can recheck their BP and provide them medicine.
Local markets are a great opportunity to hold a clinic.
This morning we are off again Susana Homes because it is Graduation. It will be a day of celebration for all kids. We brought new outfits for the graduates and everyone has been cooking for a couple of days for the party!
I have clinics planned all next week and we’ll be home next Sunday night.
We are praying for those in Eastern Kentucky affected by the flooding. – Kay Price
Postscript: So I managed to leave out the most important part about being at the prison! There were 18 men baptized while I was there! Each had been participating in Bible study with either Brother Friday or his associate. It was amazing to see the joy that these men had despite being in prison.– Kay
Greetings from hot, muggy Zagreb. This is an update on the Ukrainian refugees we are serving and their financial needs.
We are helping to serve three families (wives and children) plus ten orphans and their caregivers.
During the early weeks of July, Denis and Dima (two of the husbands) were able to visit their families here. Their wives and children have been worshipping with us at Kristova Crkva Kušlanova, and Denis and Dima were able to join them. (The third husband, Saša, was not able to leave Ukraine at this time.)
Denis and Dima have now left us to return to Ukraine. Saša’s wife and children returned to Ukraine with them; their daughter is leaving Ukraine to go to school in the USA. I expect Saša’s wife and son to return to Zagreb at some point this summer because Ukraine is still very dangerous for them.
Denis, Dima, and Saša continue their ministerial activities in the war zone, taking food, prayer, and encouragement to men & women on front lines. They also help transport people away from the fighting to safer areas in Ukraine.
Here is the financial situation as it applies to the refugees: We currently support 22 Ukrainian refugees in three locations. If Saša’s wife and son return we may need to add a fourth location. We provide food, housing, transportation, part of their medical care, etc.
Adding a fourth apartment will cost at least $4,000 in startup and $1,000 per month afterward.
The Ukrainians have about $8,000 in medical & dental needs, above what the government will pay for under the national healthcare system. We do not currently have funds to cover these costs.
We need $2,000 for computers for the children to use for school and language study; remember that Croatian and Ukrainian are not the same language, and the children need help coping in Croatian schools.
We need $20,000 for a reliable van that the Ukrainians can use for transport around Zagreb, 6-8 people at a time.
You can click HERE to support the refugees, or send a check with “Ukrainian Refugees” in the memo line to The Biblical Institute at 1045 Overton Lea Rd, Nashville TN 37220.
Attached is the mid-year update of our Philippine Ministry work. As you will see, the ministry continues to bless the Philippines and expand the Kingdom of God. Please pass this report on to anyone else that you know who might be interested in this ministry, And thanks so much for the continued support of this ministry work in the Philippines. May God continue to bless all of us as we serve him.
In the middle of July we came back from our youth camp. We are so grateful that this was one of the best youth camps we have done so far. Much thanks to the five adults and 19 teens from the Southside Church of Christ, in Lexington, Kentucky, who came to participate in the camp with us and our teens.
We also had several Ukrainian teenagers with us. Our theme for this year was, Something More. Our focus was in the book of Ephesians, especially Ephesians 3, where we are told that our God can do more than we can ask or imagine. We were talking about how we should not settle for less, when God has more for us. Every night we had a different speaker.
Steve, Jeremy, and Mateja in their lessons were focusing on different elements of our theme for the week: More with Jesus; More with Self; and More with Others. Each morning we had an experiential activity that led in with that evening’s lesson.
On the More with Others day, the morning experience was for each person to “color by numbers” once piece of a large puzzle. Then that evening the completed puzzle was revealed. All the teens were really impacted by this. Igor and a few of the teens had a nice band and they blessed us with worship music every morning and every evening. Our last day of camp we went to the island of Krk to spend a few hours on the beach together.
To read more about the Something More ministry and the work with youth in Croatia, read their July newsletter.
Steven and Ysamar Spear and Alvin Cox are traveling to Honduras this month, leaving Saturday, August 13 and returning to Lexington on Friday, August 19.
On Sunday, they will worship in Portirillos in the morning and Corquin in the evening. Steven will be preaching and Ysamar will be leading their version of Kid’s Own Worship. They will also attend a fellowship meal after each service for a chance to get to know church members.
Steven will also be teaching Bible class Wednesday evening.
They will spend some time in the schools observing how their school program works.
They will also spend some time with Phil & Donna Waldron of Mission Upreach in Santa Rosa.
The church has been collecting ‘things’ that Mike & Kris Bridges can use for various parts of their ministry. They use such items to create jobs and raise local funds to pay for the school program.
This month Joy, Rena & Ally Cox; Rachel, Audrie and Tucker Franklin; and Matt & Erin Leonard will help the Church of Christ at North Beckley to hold a Vacation Bible School for their community.
The Southside team will be decorating and preparing crafts and skits to teach the kids about Joshua & Jonah as Bible heroes. On Friday, the plan is to do “Laundromat Outreach” at a laundromat directly across from the church building.
Pray that many children will come and that the small congregation will be encouraged. Also, please pray for safe travel for our team.
Dražen has an amazing ministry. Those of you who have supported Biblijski institut with your prayers and financial gifts made it happen.
Dražen Hrženjak was a soldier in Yugoslavian army in the 1980’s. Then, during the Croatian War of Independence, 1991-96, he fought for Croatia and participated in the fiercest battles of the war. During this conflict, his fellow soldiers became “friends closer than brothers” to him.
But after the war, Dražen received Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He stopped spending time with his comrades because their time together revolved around drug and alcohol use. While his faith was taking shape, he needed to maintain boundaries.
A decade later, God threw open the door Dražen had closed, and in an unexpected way. One of his comrades died. After the funeral, Dražen went for coffee with a group of his old friends. Several of them said, “You are a completely different person than you were during the war. Why are you so different?” Dražen’s life had been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in him.
And Dražen realized then and there that God was calling him to an amazing ministry to active and former military personnel. He says, “For the first time, I realized that God was calling me to be a missionary and that my comrades were my mission field.” This group is especially vulnerable; tens of thousands of Croatian veterans suffer from PTSD, and thousands have committed suicide since the war.
He soon became a licensed chaplain for the Churches of Christ. This official status allows him to serve in military settings, AND in prisons and hospitals. And to prepare and equip himself for this ministry, Dražen enrolled at Biblijski institut and earned a degree in theology.
Today, Dražen is a chaplain and the director of the Military Christian Fellowship of Croatia. MCFC is part of the Association of Military Christian Fellowships, a worldwide interdenominational organization of military chaplains, and Dražen is one of the leaders of this larger organization as well.
In addition, Dražen has written and co-produced award-winning documentaries about the spiritual impact of the war. His best-known movie is Bura Duše, “Storm of the Soul,” which describes the role of the gospel in healing the wounds of the war.
You can watch this movie with English subtitles on YouTube.
Biblijski institut shares an update on its financial needs
God is blessing us, and blessing our ministry. We continue to receive consistent support from our donors for the 2022 budget, and we continue to be very careful with expenses.
We are also able to continue blessing the Ukrainian refugees who have settled here. However: this year, we continue to face increased utilities and facilities costs. And our 2023 budget will increase by 12-15% over the 2022 budget due to added expenses relating to accreditation.
If God blesses you financially and moves your heart to participate in the work of his kingdom in Croatia, please consider making a gift online at http://cecef.net or by sending a check to 1045 Overton Lea Rd., Nashville, TN 37220.
NOTE: Southside contributes mission funds on a monthly basis to the work of the Biblijski institut in Croatia.
Chilean evangelist Pedro Sanchez’s July update includes information on an approach that the Los Nogales church is taking to increase opportunities for in-person fellowship as the pandemic continues. Their central meeting place cannot accommodate all members at the same time, so the church now meets in “houses of refuge.”
Be sure and read more about this and other activities associated with our support of ministries in Chile.
Southside Church of Christ World Missions 