Vision Report #6

Wednesday, July 23 – There were about a dozen Chinese merchants here for the Bible study and dinner led by Wahpui and Ellen last night.  Instead of just expository teaching, Wahpui and Ellen taught them how to ask the right questions from the study and search out the answers themselves, something that will be invaluable for their own growth in the future.  Some drove here from as far as an hour away to attend after a full day of work.  Praise God for their hunger to learn God's word.  Also, praise God we finally can get money from the ATM. Vision, together with the Serbian youths, spent the morning listening to Betty talk about spiritual warfare from Ephesians 6.  She then spent a couple of hours praying for each person on the team, giving prophetic prayers as she listened to God.  By 1 PM, only about 8 people were prayed for as we broke for lunch.  After lunch and a short rest, we resumed praying and prayed for another 8 or so members.  We then had to leave to go to Lebane for our evening meeting.  We praise God for sending Betty with us, as everyone who was prayed for felt blessed and touched by the Lord.  A couple of us also had some familial oppressive spirits cut off and we could see how much happier they were after the prayer. We were going to go to Caricin Grad on the way to Lebane, but since it had been raining much of the day (it is quite cool and comfortable here), we went directly to Lebane, Nena's hometown.  After dinner there, we went to the church where we again met Nena's mother, who although cannot walk well, came to listen to us again (as she did last year).  We also again met Pastor Mio's older sister.  These two elderly saints were the ones God use to bring the Gospel to south Serbia about 40 years ago.  Mike preached after our combined team sang and Justin gave his testimony.  Betty then brought a few words of greeting to the church.  She and Nena are both staying over in Lebane while the rest of the team returned to Leskovac Thursday, July 24 – We continued our music camp this morning and also after lunch.  There are 4 girls sleeping over at the church (Tania, her twin sister Tamara, Sara and Maria).  The rest of the youths stay at home and walk to church for our music camp.  Since we have been here about a week, we have also been taking the time to get some clothes washed.  As a group, we sing quite well together now.  The Serbs sing all of the Vision songs which are in Choral Praise I and II, and a couple of other songs that we brought with us, about 2/3 of our repertoire.  It has been raining quite often and we are praying that it will not rain tonight (so we can go evangelize) and Friday night as we are singing at the Gypsy village.  That is going to held out of doors at an area which is rented by the Gypsy leaders and the event has been publicized on radio for a couple of days.  Wahpui and Ellen have been visiting and inviting the Chinese merchants to come to our meetings during the time we practice.  What a blessing it is for us to have them (and of course Betty and Nena) on the team this year. In the evening, we sang at the Serbian Thursday night service at 6 PM, then joined the Chinese meeting which started at 8 by playing some group games with the Chinese folks, and we sang a couple of men's quartet songs to sing to them (Day by Day and Standing in the Need of Prayer).  There were only around 30 at the mid-week Serbian service (Mike preached from the prable of the sower and the seed, emphasizing having listening ears), but over a cozen at the Chinese service.  After that, the Lord answered our prayer and it was not raining so we went to the nearby park to sing and evangelize.  Because of the rain, there were not too many people on the streets, but Long got a chance to invite a Serbian street vendor (selling hot French fries) who agreed to come visit the church on Sunday.  We got to meet the mother and sister of one of our Serbian youths (a new believer) and also pray for healing for the father who had hurt his back and was home.  More importantly, Meiring, with Tania, one of our youth, shared the Gospel with a 13 year old.  She was so ready and eager that even though her friends tried to dissuade her and get her to leave, she kept insisting that she wanted to stay.  Mike was praying that her friends would go away and after about the third attempt, they left, so when Meiring asked if she wanted to receive Christ, said "yes" and prayed the sinner's prayer  There was such a smile on her face!  Praise God!  Pray that she will come to church on Sunday and be followed up.  Tania was so excited she didn't want to come back to the church but to keep evangelizing. You can catch up on any missing items by going to http://visionchoir.blogspot.com