I hope to post a full update soon, but here’s a picture I took the last month in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Eleven people were baptized while locals watched from the shore, some were washing clothes and others were hauling water. It was a beautiful experience and is a great example of how the Lord continues His work in all situations.
Our God is a God of Hope.
Valerie Cantrell was baptized yesterday at Camp Elama, north of St. Petersburg, Russia. Sergei Tovstopyat and I performed the baptism, and we had a ‘cloud of witnesses’.
Valerie has been asking to be baptized for a while. After talking with her about what it means, we all felt the time was right. She has committed herself to following Jesus, living by the Spirit and is VERY happy to join the family of God.
Yesterday we went to the Adriatic coast for a baptism. Milanka has been a member of the church for a while and wanted to be baptized. Several of us went for the occasion and had a great time. Her story is below the picture and video–
Posted a year and a half ago, by Vladimir Cizmanski, the pastor who baptized Milanka —
Milanka is the mother of our brother Dejan who has been coming to our church for four years.
Milanka was very mad at Dejan when he accepted Jesus. She forced him to move out of their apartment, but Dejan was firm in Jesus. Now, she has decided to follow Jesus as her Savior.
She said that she feels like flying, and she was wondering why she delayed giving her life to the Lord. The enemy was very active around her during the past year, whenever she wanted to come to the meeting and publicly confess her decision to follow Jesus, three times something happened that kept her away.
Even now, after she made her decision, enemy was very furious. Right after few days he started to attack her very strongly through a bad relationship with her close relative. She just told me yesterday that she made everything right now and that her wings to fly came back.
It is so encouraging to see people as they are fighting and getting victory in the name of Jesus.
Yesterday, after two very good and full weeks, we said our goodbyes to a team from Athens, GA. Most of the team members were from the Wesley Foundation at the University of Georgia. Jane Kilgo, from St. James UMC in Athens, GA, also joined the team. The team is pictured above with the Kid’s Club at church.
It’s impossible to say how loving, encouraging and gracious the team was. Many people were very blessed by their time here, including the team members!
The team was involved in many different aspects of ministry, all with the focus of serving the Brethren Assembly in Podgorica. The pastor, Vladimir Cizmansky, is pictured at right performing a baptism which we were honored to attend.
Vladimir and his wife Marijana are both great examples of disciples of Jesus who pour out their lives in service to Christ and others.
We were also helped in many ways by Violeta Pavetic (the sister of our brother-in-law). Violeta is picture at left with some of the kids from the church. Violeta is jewel of a person and a great friend and co-worker.
In addition to running the Kid’s Club, the team ministered in many other ways. They taught an English class at church; ministered at a small fellowship in Kotor, a city with about seven known Christians; and helped local missionaries in Bar, a city with about five Christians. Continue reading
Mike and Olga Cantrell 