Our Summer Camps are drawing to a close, but were so much fun! Watch this clip from one of our camps in Moldova and thanks for your support!

Thanks to your ongoing support of our ministry, we are able to operate an Urgent Needs Fund to respond when crises develop for families. Read our latest update, our August 2010 Focus News - “Help Seasoned with Hope” to see how the ‘Urgent Needs Fund’ met the critical needs of an Albania family recently.

 

Shared by Veronica Popa, MWB Moldova’s Communication’s Manager: 

Mission Without Borders in Moldova is carrying out the much-awaited Summer Camp project. This year 1100 children will have the possibility to enjoy the friendly and peaceful atmosphere of MWB’s summer camps. 900 children from Children’s Homes, 100 children come from Family-to-Fmily program and 100 children from our new kids are CRI in Community Project. The summer camp activities have been prepared very carefully and with much prayer. As it is Mission Without Border’s 50th Anniversary,  the curriculum and every activity at every Summer Camp is connected to the Bible. That it is why the summer camp curriculum is called ‘The Book of Books’.

The curriculum is comprised of 7 themes: 1. The Bible – the Book of books

2. How it was in the Beginning

3. The First Sin

4. The Flood

5. God’s Gift

6. Easter

7. He Who Defeated Death

The Christian Input staff prepared a working notebook for every child participating in summer camp. The forward of the working notebook says: ‘The Bible is the oldest book. It is the first issued book. The Bible is the most copied book in history. The Bible is the most widely read book on our planet. It might be said that the Bible is worth more than all other book ever written! What does the Bible represent? Why are people so interested in it? You will find out the answers to these questions as well as many other questions while being in the summer camp of Mission Without Borders.’

The working notebook contains interesting crosswords, puzzles, various logical questions, charades and labyrinths, key Bible verses, various Bible places, lots of advice for the children, drawings to be coloured and interesting information. The working notebook includes themes and Bible stories that are pertinent to the children’s hearts. Through these stories, the children will have the possibility to learn lots of interesting things from the Bible and to love God and have the desire to find out more about Him. The exercises and the crosswords motivate the children to discover certain truths and where they are written in the Bible. All these activities have been chosen very carefully by the Christian Input staff so they should not be too difficult for the children to solve. Every Bible story from morning chapel is retold in the notebook so the children will have the possibility to reading it and to bearing Biblical truths in their minds for a long time. The children also take the notebooks with them at home. They may always come back to it and refresh their summer camp memories and remember about the Bible and about God.

We hope that the children will enjoy their summer camp time and are happy that they will have such a great possibility to resting in the MWB summer camp!

Over 1,000 Bibles have now been distributed across Albania through Mission Without Border’s Jubilee Thanksgiving Bible Project. It is a part of our plan to distribute 1,000,000 to our field countries.
As a result of this great project, Europe’s poorest country is now spiritually richer with over 1,000 people reading new Bibles – many for the first time.

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Albania is suffering a daily depreciation of the domestic currency with increasing prices. This threatens family life and could put even greater demands on MWB’s Albania social care programs, particularly as they move into winter.

What better time, then, to reach many people with the life-nourishing word of God? People like Jani Gerco. He now has his own Bible, which he reads to his brother. “I have learnt a lot from the Bible”, he said. “I have learnt a lot about Jesus Christ, who fed poor people and healed the sick. Sometimes I read in the evening before I go to sleep. I like reading the Bible.”

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And what a time to be giving hope to people like Ballkize. She lives with her children in a small house. “I read the Bible with my children. I have never heard about God before and it is very encouraging for my children and me. It gives us the strength to face our daily problems. So I read it when I go to the fields to graze the cow, or my eldest child reads it to me in the evenings. I am very happy to have my own Bible now. Thank you”.

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PRAY:

•   for the Lord to open doors for the efficient distribution of Bibles
•  for more people to receive a Bible and learn about God.

It only costs just $8 to put a Bible into the hands of someone who needs to hear about Jesus. Please DONATE NOW   securely through our website or call our office  - 02 9647 2022 to make a credit card donation over the phone.

This year’s summer camps in Ukraine have already benefited over 700 children. And there are still more than 200 waiting their turn.

‘It’s the best time of the year for me!’ is the cry from children both in Child Rescue homes and Family programmes. For ten days, Ukrainian children like Vadim make new friends, eat well, enjoy the countryside and grow in knowing the love of Jesus.
But Vadim has never been to Summer Camp before. His mother doesn’t have enough money to pay for him to join a camp. Nor even take him, with his two sisters, to the seaside. Instead, Vadim and his friends hang out by the river or on the streets.
He doesn’t remember his father – who left the family when Vadim was small. Yet today Vadim is a brave and lively 12-year old. He loves to play sports, especially volleyball. And he has a quieter side too. He likes reading and cross-stitching.

Please Pray:

• for all funds necessary for this year’s summer camps to be raised.
• for the children at camps to know Jesus.
• for the volunteer camp leaders, who provide love and care 24/7. It is a labour of love to children who have experienced grief, abandonment and poverty, so they need our prayers.

DONATE  now to ensure we raise the necessary funds for Summer Camp this year!

 

Recent persistent heavy rain in south-western Moldova has caused flooding and devastation for many rural families in Moldova.In recent weeks 3,000 people have been evacuated as the Prut River burst its banks after days of heavy rain.  In one week alone, over 60 communities across 14 districts were flooded. 

The worst affected district is Hincesti, where three villages are currently under water. Over 2,000 people (including 417 children) from Nemteni, Cotul Morii and Obileni villages have now been evacuated from their flooded homes. All are now sheltering in local sports halls, kindergartens and schools in neighbouring villages. 
 
According to local authorities, the flooding has damaged almost 2,000 hectares of farmland and orchards. Villages in the southern area of Moldova are still at risk. Crops, animals, poultry and whole livelihoods have been lost – causing devastation for many families.

What Mission Without Borders is doing
Teams from MWB Moldova have visited villagers to bring emergency aid. They have delivered mattresses, clothes, shoes, blankets and food. In spite of the shock of losing everything, the flood-victims were grateful for such basic goods. In addition, MWB-Moldova staff are voluntarily donating a day’s salary to support the flooded families, while the Moldovan Government has promised to build 400 homes before winter for the disaster victims. It is a huge and daunting task.
 
What you can do

• Pray for the flood victims – for emergency aid to reach them and for their re-settlement.
• Pray for the Moldovan Government – for God to enable them to handle the disaster situation effectively.
• Donate – your cash donation today is the best way to get help to victims of the Moldovan floods. We have an ‘Urgent Needs Fund’ which we need to dip into during crisis like these. It will be used to provide food parcels, blankets, clothes and shoes. We provide as much as we can through our Gift in Kind deliveries, but without our ‘Urgent Needs Fund’ we could not provide the help the families and communities need now. Please give where you can! Donate Now!

I am pleased to annouce that we have managed to upload a number of short movies from our field ministries. You will find the folder on the left hand column or click the link here!

I will endeavour to load the movies as they are released - so keep checking back!

Be inspired!

 God bless

 Michelle Dorey

National Director

Mission Without Borders Australia

We would appreciate your continued prayers for our field countries. Talk of Swine Flu is now rare in Australia, but it is sweeping through Europe and particularly Eastern Europe, and affecting many of those we are working with.

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Our Ukraine Staff have asked for prayer as the second round of Swine Flu is on its way. The first round caused great chaos as Children’s  Homes were either quarantined or closed and people were restricted from travelling to other parts of the country in the hope of containing the spread of the disease. For children, families and the elderly who live in substandard housing and do not enjoy good, constant heating and must also survive without adequate clothing, shoes, food, hygiene and medical items they are very susceptible to infection. Restrictions in travel also make it impossible for us to conduct our ministry and help those who are ill. Pray for protection of staff and for the disease to not make its way into the Homes as disease run like wild fire through institutions….

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Our Bosnian Staff have asked for prayer as Swine Flu is on its way to Bosnia and the country is completely unprepared to cope with it. As in the case of Ukraine (and all our field countries of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine), if families, children and the elderly are living in sub-standard housing without adequate food, clothing, hygiene items and medicine they are extremely susceptible to illness. Please pray for protection of our staff, volunteers and beneficiaries in Bosnia.

Thanks for praying!!

November 9^th to 11^th were the days scheduled for the packing of OCL parcels in Bulgaria. The previous Friday, several volunteers gathered to prepare the dried fruits and aroma candles to be included in the parcels. Over the weekend the last deliveries of goods were arranged.

The group of volunteers arrived early on Monday morning, ready to participate in the packing process. In the small space of MWB Bulgaria’s warehouse, 9 ladies were sitting in a line filling the parcels while Mission staff and younger volunteers were distributing the food items in the list. Men volunteered to take and stack the ready parcels.

Last year’s experience was of great significance for the progress this time. Elderly ladies from the handicap clubs who participated in last year’s campaign were like a core and new volunteers joined. Among them were new people reached through the Christian ministry in the clubs, members of the Armenian Church and the Baptist Church, even MWB’s accountant whose first impression of the mission work touched her heart.

400 parcels a day was the result we celebrated at the end of the day. Lunch hour was an enjoyable time for all. The community feeling in the work and rest brought the volunteers satisfaction and joy as they all gladly contributed to the reaching Bulgaria’s poor. All of them left saying they would be willing to join any future initiatives.

The last Saturday of November is the day of commemoration of one of the biggest Ukrainian tragedies, the Holodomor. The Holodomor was organized by Josef Stalin in 1932-1933, but in fact people also died from the famine in 1922-1923 and in the after-war years, 1946-1947. Records show that up to 10 million people died. Many more people who survived live with the scars in their souls and with the memories of parents eating their own children to survive. When I read the stories told by victims of Holodomor, I wanted to cry. And it is very sad that some people deny the death of millions of people and try to falsify the facts.

Ukraine has observed a minute of silence in honor of the 1932-1933 famine. The nationwide minute of silence was observed at 15:52, November 28th. A national event called, “Light a Candle” followed the minute of silence. The President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, with his family, lt the first candles in Sofia Cathedral, Kiev. The President also opened the memorial to the victims and delivered the speech to the few hundreds of people [gathered there]. He said: “We saved and returned to people the truth about the big famine of 1932-1933, returned from rupture and limbo. When we remember the famine, we revive the traditions that were lost in those dreadful times.”

In our churches, we prayed about the famine survivors and asked for God’s wisdom for our State and local authority, for them not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Give thanks for the ministry of our field staff and volunteers who witness to the saving grace of a wonderful Heavenly Father while hte country remembers mourn and consider the mistakes of the past.