It is heartbreaking to see what is happening to our neighbors in Ukraine. Our city in Feltre is about the same distance to the Ukrainian border as my hometown in California is to the Oregan border... we're neighbors to the souls that are suffering and in need of the gospel. Many of you from the states have asked how to help so I wanted to write to make it more clear and simple. There are many other missionaries serving these people in different ways and this is only one of many ways to get involved, but it is one I have personally seen and can is solid.
I was able to tag along with two Italian calvary pastors and drop off a bunch of food from the Italian churches donated to feed the influx of refugees at a calvary conference center in Hungary. However, after unloading, the three of us left the rest of the group and went about an hour from the Ukrainian border, to meet with a local Pastor who has been serving the Ukrainian people for years in a city called Debrecen, Hungary. The wonderful thing is they have a missionary sent out from their church to the Ukraine who is now crossing the border daily to bring in food and mainly medical supplies, one of the biggest needs. Watch the video below for more context when you have time.
If you want to donate to this church you can find their bank info on their website (which is in Hungarian) or donate to our PayPal and since we have a European account we can donate easily for you. Be sure to choose the option "For Ukraine" on your donation.
Happy New Year everyone!
The video above is a quick summary of what God in our family and church in 2021:
Our baby girl arrived and is growing TOO fast, just like the other two kiddos.
Praise God for a solid & continuing ministry team here in Italy.
We've moved into the new building for our church and it was been wonderful to see it put to use!
God has brought fruit through the gospel this last year. It is wonderful to see lives saved & people serving.
Please write to us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We're so grateful for you!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, Holden, and baby Lucy
--------------
FINANCIAL TEAM
We're so grateful for you the faithful people who make the ministry here possible financially. It is encouraging to see God answer our prayers so practically through you.
People have asked if we still need support now that I'll be pastoring in Feltre. Valid question and the answer is absolutely yes. We will be serving a very small church. The church's giving keeps the lights on and pays rent, but not much more than that. We're so grateful that we can devote our time fully to discipling, teaching the word, learning the language, and our prayer is that God raises up these local Italians to reach their people in cities surrounding us in Feltre. The journey is just beginning!
If you have been praying about giving and haven't yet, you can check out our donate page for more logistics or click here to give online now or set up automatic monthly payments.
PRAYER TEAM
Thank you for praying for us... please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
We got COVID... it is a strange praise but scripture calls us to praise him for the trials. Because of having the viruse we'll be able to have an "antibody" passport that allows us access to more places in our society without having to get swabbed every two days.
For all that God is doing in our church, there is steady growth in our leaders.
For three healthy children!
Prayer Requests
Pray for our visas which need to be renewed soon.
Pray for the spiritual battle that we and many others face in the continued heavy restrictions many face with the covid laws, some people in our church have even lost their jobs because they don't feel comfortable getting vaccinated.
Pray that God continues to open many doors for the gospel!
Please pray for the building renovation as we are still finishing many projects.
Pray for this next season as God is working to establish our leaders and continue discipleship .
Pray for our family and Jenna (who serves with us) that we can continue to learn the language and run hard in the work God has given us here.
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity.
For our financial team who supports us that God would continue to provide for them and even bless them even in this economic difficulty.
Continue to pray for unity within our church as we begin to structure and organize things better to more effectively minister the gospel within our church and to the lost.
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓We received our new visas so we officially have permission to live her until 2022
✓God provided a large donation that completely covered the purchase of a building in central Feltre. THANK YOU JESUS!
✓Pray for a dear friend who decided to minister alongside us in the work in Feltre. Pray for God's leading as they prepare and seek the Lord.
✓We praise God for His direction in our lives and for leading us to Feltre to serve Jesus with those people. We are so excited!
✓ We found a great car to purchase with the money from the cars we sold before we left. It has already changed so much of how we do things and all the documents lined up so we purchased it three days before we really needed it... after a six month wait.
✓ We received our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This makes us legal here for till 2020.
✓ For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Believers bought both of our cars before we moved!
✓ For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We had such amazing hosts, thank you to my fam, Rach's fam, and the Librings!
✓ The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. We show a short clip of our place in the video! We love it and its beginning to feel like home.
✓ God has really blessed the class Landon has taught this spring '18 semester. His students were very engaged and worked hard.
Hello everyone, aren't we all grateful that God is consistent when the world seems crazy?
The video above is all about what God has been doing since the quarantine, please watch it when you have the time. Here's a quick summary:
We have a new baby coming and SHE will arrive sometime around April.
The new building is finally starting to make some progress after a VERY slow year of work.
God provided a home for us! Thank you to those of you who were praying. We no longer have to worry about the kids falling of our third floor balcony.
We have some transitions, all for good reasons, in ministry with a new youth group starting and a new leader and assistant for our children's ministry.
This year has been difficult, I'm sure it has been for all of you too, but we are so grateful that God always bring good things through humbling.
Please write to us if you have any questions or prayer requests. We're so grateful for you!
Much love,
Landon, Rachel, Avila, Holden, and baby Lucy
--------------
FINANCIAL TEAM
We're so grateful for you the faithful people who make the ministry here possible financially. It is encouraging to see God answer our prayers so practically through you.
People have asked if we still need support now that I'll be pastoring in Feltre. Valid question and the answer is absolutely yes. We will be serving a very small church. The church's giving keeps the lights on and pays rent, but not much more than that. We're so grateful that we can devote our time fully to discipling, teaching the word, learning the language, and our prayer is that God raises up these local Italians to reach their people in cities surrounding us in Feltre. The journey is just beginning!
If you have been praying about giving and haven't yet, you can check out our donate page for more logistics or click here to give online now or set up automatic monthly payments.
PRAYER TEAM
Thank you for praying for us... please send us your prayer requests so we can be praying for you too.
Praise Reports
The new home!!! It cost the same per month as our last, the Italians are amazed what a good deal we were given on this house.
Our kids have been in health!
We had a baptism in the summer where a group of our youth were baptized. It was an incredible time to celebrate the faithfulness of God.
The building is making progress, even though slow, we are very happy with how things are going.
Through the difficulties this year, God has been growing our church in maturity and teaching us more what it means to live in unity.
Prayer Requests
Pray that God continues to open many doors for the gospel!
Please pray for the building renovation as we are in the final stretch.
Pray for this next season as God is working to establish our leaders and solid.
Pray for our family and Jenna (who serves with us) that we can continue to learn the language and run hard in the work God has given us here.
Pray for our marriage to be blessed and filled with God's presence, grace, and unity.
For our financial team who supports us that God would continue to provide for them and even bless them even in this economic difficulty.
Continue to pray for unity within our church as we begin to structure and organize things better to more effectively minister the gospel within our church and to the lost.
Answered Prayer (from previous lists)
✓We received our new visas so we officially have permission to live her until 2022
✓God provided a large donation that completely covered the purchase of a building in central Feltre. THANK YOU JESUS!
✓Pray for a dear friend who decided to minister alongside us in the work in Feltre. Pray for God's leading as they prepare and seek the Lord.
✓We praise God for His direction in our lives and for leading us to Feltre to serve Jesus with those people. We are so excited!
✓ We found a great car to purchase with the money from the cars we sold before we left. It has already changed so much of how we do things and all the documents lined up so we purchased it three days before we really needed it... after a six month wait.
✓ We received our Permesso di Soggiorno (permission to live) in Italy. This makes us legal here for till 2020.
✓ For our last car to sell. It is on the lot at Downtown Auto Sales in Bakersfield. Believers bought both of our cars before we moved!
✓ For the transition as our family lives with family and friends. We had such amazing hosts, thank you to my fam, Rach's fam, and the Librings!
✓ The perfect apartment and neighbors for our family once we move to Italy. We show a short clip of our place in the video! We love it and its beginning to feel like home.
✓ God has really blessed the class Landon has taught this spring '18 semester. His students were very engaged and worked hard.
