Hello Everyone,
No dull moments around here as usual, but by God’s grace alone things are going fairly well. We just had two different teams of short-term missionaries leave on the 28th of July and I would say things went well! The first team led a youth camp at a big waterpark here that also has cabins to rent. We rented the entire place and had around 50 youth participate in the 3 day event. Several kids made commitments to follow the Lord and many others seemed touched by God’s power and mercy. We held several special serves at our church in San Pedro and in Catacocha where we are pastoring and they were well attended and well received.
Also, after many many months of praying and fighting the government we have submitted our blueprints for the new church in San Pedro!!! It has been a long time coming (should have been done months ago), but we believe the Lord upholds all things by His hands and has perfect timing for everything. We will now wait and pray for the government to approve the plans and give us permission to start building within a month! Please, please keep this matter in your prayers. It’s amazing how many ways people in the government can find to drag their feet and make excuses why things are not getting done, when those same people oppose what you are doing. It is supposed to take between a month to a month and half to get approval to start building, so please just pray it doesn’t take any longer than that!
The kids are doing well and advancing in their schooling. Jude is now in 6th grade, Sam in 4th grade, and Elena is in 2nd grade. They are doing much better than I was doing at their ages and we are really proud of how advanced they are. Homeschooling is not easy on mom, but it is so much better for the kids. They are learning things WAY earlier than we did and some of their history lessons interest us! Pray for them as they continue to learn two languages and plow ahead into their studies.
As many of you know our oldest son Jude had a stroke in the womb and as a result has epilepsy and physical problems that are common from people having had a stroke. The doctors told us years ago as puberty hits he will either grow out of having seizures or they will get worse. As many of you already know, his seizures are getting worse (he has had 4 in the last two weeks) and we are consulting with the doctors back home as to the next step to take. Please help us pray as we make some big decisions in the weeks to come.
We also ask for you to pray with us about workers, means/resources to build the church in San Pedro, land and means to build in Catacocha, means to build a Christian School here in San Pedro and all the volunteers we would need to run it. We have a lot of dreams for this province/state that has hundreds passing into eternity without 1 to share the gospel with them before they leave this world forever….
In Christ, Andy, Priscilla, Jude, Sam, and Elena
PS. This is a little different, but I have been thinking a lot about modern Christianity. I too am a product of the times in many ways. I am writing this because of the struggles I have had over the years and I thought sharing my struggles could help some of you in your struggles. I just ask you to pray and think about what I am going to say here. It seems to me that we have all gotten to the place (including me) where we think the battles are in the physical realm. That if we just had the finances, people, talents, and charisma that we would have all we need. I don’t believe we lack laborers in the mission field because there are no capable people or lack finance because there is a shortage of monies. After over 2 decades in ministry I know now more than ever that the hindrances to the gospel are NEVER physical things. Yes we may need some physical thing, but underneath all these physical things is the spiritual battle. If we win the spiritual battles God WILL take care of the physical needs by any means necessary. We allow covetousness, pride, comfort, and selfishness to rule and reign in our lives and expect the hundred dollar bill in the offering plate to make it all ok. We all know the sins that so easily beset us, but instead of fighting them we make excuses. We try to tame the sins and make them aceptable, like a man trying to tame a lion that “one day out of nowhere” snaps and mauls its owner to death. Please understand that I am confessing that this problem is with me as much as anyone else and I’m tired of living in mediocrity. We treat sin like it’s no big deal, like it’s a big cute kitty cat because, we reason, we are under grace and “everyone sins, after all.” Both true, but scripturally neither justify the flippant attitude toward sin. “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it (Romans 6:2, ESV).” It will maul us all to death one day if we keep on playing with it. Sin always brings death. Death to dreams, death to victory in Christ, death to our spirits. We all know those things we should be fighting against in prayer, faith, fasting, and drawing near in repentance and brokenness. I believe if we take the Bible a little more seriously we wouldn’t be where we are today in the U.S.A. and indeed the world over. As someone famous once said “I like their Christ, but I hate their Christians.” Lord help us be the people you died for us to be! Help us realize that we desperately need YOU as never before and that the past spiritual victories won’t take us where we need to go if we don’t take the battle before us more seriously! A famous missionary (Hudson Taylor) once said “God’s work done God’s way will NEVER lack God’s supply!” I for one am counting on this to be true!!!
Please send all monetary contributions to:
Acts 1:8 Mission Society
PO Box 212
Harrison, OH 45030.
You can continue to make all checks payable to: “Acts 1:8 Mission Society” with “DVarga” in the memo section (All funds donated in this way will continue to go entirely to the DVarga family AND our mission work in Ecuador and are tax-deductible).
You can also write checks to Priscilla or Andy DVarga with "gift" in the memo section, but you will NOT receive a tax-deductible receipt at the end of the year for funds given this way.
If you need a quarterly tax statement or just want to contact us, please just write to the address above or call our phone #:(513) 334-8281
To donate through PayPal electronically please scroll to the top of the homepage at www.dvargamission.org and click the "Donate" tab.
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