Preaching in Kratovo

We were invited out to a small city about an hour and a half away called Kratovo on July 15. There is a small Evangelical Church that meets there and is being lead by a lady named Anita. We arrived in Kratovo after a long drive out into seemingly nowhere. The people were very nice and we lead our first two songs completely in Macedonian. Dustin preached about the importance of the Resurrection of Christ as a historic event, a present reality and a future hope. Afterward, we went to a restaurant and had fellowship. The church runs a youth center upstairs where around 25 students come to play the games and hang out. The adults are able to share the Gospel through conversation and are hoping to build a bridge to bring the youth into the church. As in many places in Macedonia, the Protestant Church is seen as a cult, so getting people just to come and see that the Christians are normal people who love God is a challenge. Please remember to pray for Anita and her church that the Lord would move in a powerful way and that they would be able to reach Macedonians of all ages with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Youth Picnic and Fellowship

We went to a lake outside of Veles on July 11th for a get together with youth from several of the churches in the country. We had a time of worship and Philip from Veles shared a short message. We went swimming in the lake, had a target shooting competition and had Bible trivia (our American team lost! Oops!). It was great to meet many of the young people around the country and have everyone get together in one location. The youth need encouragement from other Christian believers because they are so few. We had a great time getting to know each of them.

Back in the U.S.A

We had a great time in the Ohio over the last week and a half. We left Macedonia on June 19th and returned July 9th. We were able to be a part of Becca's wedding. Everything went great. Brittany was a bridesmaid and Dustin officiated the first half of the ceremony (which was the first wedding he was able to minister at). We had a wonderful time there. Dustin ate at Taco Bell three times and drank probably 3 or 4 gallons of Mountain Dew. It wasn't as strange to be back as we thought it would be, but it was more like we'd been away on a long vacation. Coming back (other than the jetlag) was great. It really felt like we were coming home and not going to a foreign country.

Outreach in Remote Village

Sorry that we are back tracking here. We spent nine days in the States to get our VISA and to participate in Brittany's sister, Becca's wedding. I (Dustin) had the privilege of being able to be a part of an evangelistic outreach on June 26th with the Evangelical Church in Veles. We traveled through the mountains for over an hour into a remote village that has been unreached by Protestant Christians for many years. The church had gone there and handed out literature once, but this was the first outreach that had been done there. We set up our equipment and there was music ministry (I was even able to sing one song and play with the worship team), a couple of testimonies and the Word brought by Pastor Dragan. It was really amazing to see the heart of the church to reach people that no one else is.

The Events of Last Week/Weekend

On Thursday of last week, I (Dustin) had the privilege of traveling, with Pastor Mirche from the Evangelical Church in Skopje, around the country. There are two Gypsy churches that are being built. The first was in Prilep and is being renovated. We met with the pastor and talked about the progress of the building. Things are really coming along. They have just started on the second level and are continuing with the work every day. The second was about 3 hours from Skopje in a city called Bitola. This was a newly acquired piece of land. The two story building on the property is over 100 years old, so it needs to be torn down and a church built on it. It was exciting to see what God was doing throughout the country and to hear about the Gypsy people being reached.


On Friday night, we were invited to help minister in the city of Veles. We arrived at around 5:00. We traveled up a hill close to where Pastor Isa's church building is. We set up and started giving out balloons and stickers to the children who were gathered there. We had a crowd of about 50 people of all ages by the time we began with puppets. I shared a few hip hop songs, which we had translated onto Powerpoint slides behind me. Then I shared my testimony and Pastor Isa came and shared for a few moments. The purpose of the outreach was for the community to get to know Pastor Isa better. His work is fairly new there, and he was pleased with the outcome.

On Saturday evening, we headed over to Negotino for a youth service. There was a group of about 8 teens who showed up. They have been meeting and having a Bible study for some time. We enjoyed getting to know them personally and spending more time with Pastor Goran. We will continue to travel to Negotino and work with the youth there. Our goal is to establish a strong ministry and train a national to become the youth pastor there. We are also praying about some other possibilities in that city, such as starting an English class to reach young people.

On Sunday night, we were invited to preach at the Evangelical Church in Veles for Pastor Dragan. Dustin preached on Joseph and his dreams and encouraged the people there to hold on to the calling that God has on their lives no matter what. We enjoyed being with the people there and will be joining them for an outreach in a village outside of Veles this Friday evening.

Preparing for Weekend Ministry

Please be in prayer for us this week. We are preparing for several ministry invitations that we have had for this weekend.

On this Friday, we've been invited by a Pastor in Veles to come and be a part of an evangelistic outreach. We are in the process of having some hip-hop songs translated into Macedonian. I'll be sharing a few songs, with the words in Macedonia projected behind me, my testimony and closing with a presentation of the Gospel and an altar call. The targeted group is the young gypsy kids and teens, but our location is on a hill that overlooks the city, so we will probably attract many different age and culture groups. Please pray for a receptive audience and that many will come to know the Lord.

On Saturday, we are traveling back to Negotino and meeting with Pastor Goran about working with the youth there. We will probably be working with them and structuring a youth ministry there, with the intention of identifying and training a national youth pastor. Please pray for the Lord's direction for us and the young people of Negotino.

On Sunday night, we have been invited to come and preach in Veles at Pastor Dragon's church. Please pray that the Lord would anoint the message and that we would have a great service with the people there.

Thank you for everyone who is supporting us with prayer and financial support. We could not do what we do without all of you.

Weekend of Ministry

We had a busy weekend the last couple of days. On Saturday night, we lead the junior high school group at the Evangelical Church in Skopje. We spent some time getting to know each other, and spoke about servanthood. Afterwards, we had a party for Caleb and Daniella (Eddie and Patti's son and daughter) for their birthdays (shown in Picture 1).

We had an invitation to preach in Negotino at the Evangelical Church Sunday morning. Dustin spoke on hearing God's voice, and we spent time in fellowship with Pastor Goran and speaking about ways that we can help the church to reach teenagers (Picture 3 and 4). He has a Bible study with them once a week. He said that it is very hard for Christian teenagers in Macedonia because there are so few Christians, on the weekend, all of their other friends go out and drink alcohol and hang out in dangerous places. We are praying for direction about whether or not we can help to start some kind of alternative place for them to go and have a good time.

In between services, we traveled to Prilep, where there is a church building being built for the Roma (Gypsie) church there (Picture 2). We met with the Pastor of the church for a minute and headed out for another village called Veles. We met with Pastor Esa and Pastor Dragon and some of the gypsie teens. We had an opportunity to fellowship, share my testimony and share a devotional from the Word. We are going to put on an evangelistic outreach there on June 26th with hip-hop music and sharing the Gospel to the young Roma people. Please be in prayer for this exciting opportunity. We want to help the small group of young believers there grow!