Russia
Moscow isn’t usually thought of as a place where refugees go to seek shelter. But the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy (MPC) provides aid to over two hundred refugee families each month. One such recipient is Marnia, who with her five children fled Afghanistan over ten years ago and sought refuge in Moscow. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, provides her family with a stipend that is insufficient to live on in such an expensive city. Every day when Marnia’s children come home from school, the family sits at the dining room table and makes friendship bracelets, anklets, and necklaces for sale, sometimes until midnight — the only way they know of to make ends meet. Marnia and her family are Muslim, as are most of the other refugees that MPC helps. In addition to food and clothing, MPC provides a center where refugees have a safe haven and experience solidarity with those who are passionate for justice and human rights because of their commitment to the gospel.
Lithuania
Former mission co-worker Jackie Bartz teaches at LCC International University. She is grateful for what God is doing at the university and for all of those who support mission work because they are participants in God’s activity in the region. She writes, “The week ended with a joyful visit from a student I had been helping to take the GMAT for entrance into graduate programs in business. She had scored in the 89th percentile on the writing portion. A little fearfully, she confided that she thought she must have been mistaken when she read her score. I assured her that she had, indeed, achieved this exceptional success for a nonnative speaker. The doors that are now open to her will change her life.”
PC(USA) People in Mission
Lithuania Christian College International University: Dr. Eric Hinderliter, coordinator for Micro Enterprise Center, Rebecca Hinderliter, accounting professor, Rev. Jane Holslag, theology and English instructor
Partners/Ministries
Lithuania Christian College International University: David Skeen, interim president
Evangelical Reformed Church in Lithuania: Rimas Mikalauskas, general superintendent Theological Faculty of Klaipeda University: Arunas Baublys, dean
Presbytery Partnership
Mission Presbytery with Evangelical Reformed Church in Lithuania
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Minjung Ko, GAMC
Amy Koch-Nett, FDN
Loving God, we thank you for all the opportunities you give us to glimpse your desire for the world. Help us to see the part we can play wherever we are. Teach us who live in relative ease and prosperity what it truly means to be your disciple in the face of the injustices that we see around us. In Christ’s name. Amen.
Ps. 36, 147:12–20 Ps. 80, 27
1 Sam. 8:1–22
Acts 6:15–7:16; Luke 22:24–30
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