Update #15

Dear Friends:


We have two immediate "update prayer requests" for you today. Both are pressing needs at this very moment. God is able and so we call on you all to join with us for these two needs:


1.  Snowstorm Strands Missionary Musicians

PRAYER ALERT! 

   Our Gospel Choir Director, Brian Fentress and his pianist, Jacek, went to Bulgaria to do a workshop. They were met by the pastor of the Razgrad Nazarene church yesterday. They are stranded in a blizzard in the Scar between Bucharest and Razgrad. They have not been able to move ahead, roads have been closed. Please pray for safety and the snow to clear. God can make a way...

2.  Sweet Surrender Copenhagen needs our help!

This is today's email from Katie:

Hi All! 

I updated my blog. Check it out- http://katieraesadventures.blogspot.com

   Things with the youth group have been really good. And things with my housemate I have been trying to work with have gotten better. We have finally connected, and I think that we are moving together in a good direction. But, things with the cafe group are not going as well. We are really at a hard place. We do not have the financial backing to be able to purchase a building. We also are in a desperate need for work teams. Truth is things do not look good at this moment. But, we continue to meet each week and try to figure out how we can pull it off. We are also planning monthly events to invite friends to and invest in relationships with friends outside of church. 

Please pray for us as we try to figure out what we can do to make this possible. Thanks!

Love & Prayers, 

Katie R. Fitch

Thank you all for joining us in prayer for these two needs. God knows the whereabouts of Brian and Jacek. Let's pray for their safe travel to their next place of ministry.

The second request if for our missionary volunteer, Katie Fitch, who responded to our invitation for her to go to Copenhagen to help pioneer another Sweet Surrender Coffee House. Katie has been very instrumental in establishing our works in Poznan and Krakow. We believe that God has a way, through all of us and many others, to help bring this new outreach endeavor to fruition. Let's all join her and the Nazarenes in Copenhagen in prayer for this new outreach ministry. And if God shows you how you can be a part of this through gifts or initiating a Work & Witness team to go and help them, so much the better. If you know of people who might be interested in this work but are not part of our Poland Partners, feel free to forward this information to them. God can do another miracle through us.

Finally, thank you all for your prayers in our transition. God is helping us!

Our love to you all,

Ev and Rhonda

Update #14

Hello Dear friends and supporters for Poland Nazarene Mission Partnership,

After much thought and prayer over the past several months, Rhonda and I have made the decision that it is time for us to return from the mission field.  The past year and a half have presented us with some very difficult family decisions to make, and those decisions have precipitated our move away from the field.  

We have already given our notice to World Mission leadership and begun the process of transition in Poland.  Please pray with us for those who will be charged with the task of leading the work the Lord has begun here.  Many of you have met these people personally.  They are precious people.

Our intent is to continue to be involved with the Poland Partnership as the Lord would allow. In fact, we would like to raise the banner again for your support:

Specific areas of need going forward....  

1 - Prayer.

2 - Mission Corps support staff.

a)  Bookkeeping and accounting  

b)  Coffee Baristas and Shop Managers to replace outgoing Mission Corps volunteers

c)  Ministry development (music ministry or pastoral).  

There are currently 8 Mission Corps workers in Poland and Denmark serving in these arenas who could be contacted for questions that anyone may have.

3 - Work and Witness.  

We need teams to help with the developing works in Denmark and Sweden.  We also are praying for a team that may come to replace the drafty, old windows in Poznan with new ones and a second project of updating the 50 year old bathroom in the ministry apartment.

4 – Financial: balloon payment due soon in Krakow.  

The total indebtedness is approximately $300,000 for a complete payoff.  $50,000 for the immediate payment needs will help us stay on track with our contract.  If you, your zone, your district, or your church could take an offering to contribute toward this payment, we would be most thankful. 

As mentioned earlier, this decision has come after many months of prayer.  We have a great amount of grief associated with the "letting go" process in Poland.  The people here have stolen our hearts.  However, the Lord has given us assurance that this is His will for the next season of our lives and given us a new assignment as Pastor/Shepherds at Kent Church of the Nazarene in Washington State.  The move there will put us within driving distance of both sets of parents.

Thank you for your prayers and support during these past six and a half years in Eastern Europe serving Christ with World Missions.  We have been blessed beyond words by your encouragement.   We now will join you and come alongside this wonderful ministry from the other side of the Atlantic.  

Grace and peace,

Ev and Rhonda

Poland Update Special Edition!

Dear Poland Partners:

     For some time now we have been working with the wonderful pastor and people from the Greve Church of the Nazarene in Denmark. They have been looking for creative ways to reach out to the people of Denmark with the gospel story of Christ's redeeming love. After much prayer and consultation, they believe that the concept that we have used in Poland, the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop, could work well in Denmark where there is a rich "coffee culture" among the people there.

     Over the course of time, God led us to offer one of our key and most trusted volunteers, Katie Fitch, to move to Denmark to assist them in such a project. God graciously called Katie to this work and she moved to Denmark to work with the Greve Church of the Nazarene. The research and planning phases of this new adventure have brought the church to a place of readiness to move ahead this year, 2012. The following article contains the information that Katie has shared with her own prayer partners in her volunteer work. It occurred to Rhonda and me that our Poland Partners would not only want to know about this new "offspring" of the Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry, but might also want to participate in this new venture for the Lord. There are ongoing needs and plans in Poland, but we believe that our Poland Partners are uniquely prepared to understand, pray for and support such a ministry as it expands to Denmark.

     I wholeheartedly commend this future Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop ministry to you and urge you to join this outreach endeavor in any way that God may lead you.

     Our prayers are with Katie and the Greve Church as the move forward under God's direction.

In His service,

Ev Tustin

From Katie:

Coffee is a way of life in Denmark!

When I (Katie Fitch) moved from working in the Sweet Surrender coffee shops in Poznan and Krakow in Poland to Denmark, I thought my coffee habit would decrease. It has only increased! I have discovered that there is a huge coffee culture in Copenhagen.

Katie Fitch with Palace Guard, Copenhagen

Typical Danish Transportation

I also discovered that while the coffee culture may be thriving, the churches are not. Churches are really struggling in Denmark, and we have asked God to help us find creative ways to reach people. Our plan is to combine the familiar “coffee culture” in Denmark with outreach.

Copenhagen Street Scene

The vision God has given us is a coffee shop / ministry center in Copenhagen. We can reach people where they love to be, drinking coffee and enjoying good conversation. Through a coffee shop ministry we can find unique ways to share the gospel, start Bible studies, and support non-profit organizations (such as donations to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries).

Greve Nazarene Church

The Sweet Surrender Coffee Shop project in Copenhagen is the dream of our people in the Greve Church of the Nazarene. We are working in concert with the Sweet Surrender shops in Poland and will adapt their ministry plan to fit the culture of Denmark. After months of dreaming and talking, we are ready to get things started! We have researched locations and have some good possibilities. When the right place at the right time is known, we will then prepare to renovate it to function as a coffee shop. Our goal is to open the shop in September 2012.

We are now looking for churches, individuals and groups who are willing to come along side us with support through prayer, monetary contributions, and Work & Witness teams.

What do we need?

·         Most important, we need people to join us in prayer.

·         Since our present financial resources are limited, we must raise needed funds.

·         Finally, we will need volunteers to work on the building.

Our present estimate is that we need to raise about $80,000 in order to be able to complete the renovation and open the shop.

We are looking for two or three work teams who will come and help us this late summer/early fall, 2012.

If you are interested in putting together a Work & Witness Team, please check out the following website for specific information:

http://www.workandwitness.org/projects/Projects/ProjectDetail.aspx?id=38115

For more information on how you can support us, please e-mail Katie Fitch at: katie_rae27@yahoo.com .

We are thankful that God has given us this creative challenge. We are praying that God will help us find those who will share the vision He has given us and join us as He leads us forward.

Thank You!

-Katie R. Fitch

Mission Corp Volunteer in Denmark

Please feel free to share this information with interested people. And if you would like to be added to Katie’s mailing list, please let her know by emailing her at Katie_rae@yahoo.com .