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Recently, 3 volunteers at our rehab center went to Bonn, Germany. The volunteers names are: Benjamin and 2 different fellows, both named Igor. All of them successfully completed the rehabilitation program at our rehab center. The goal of this missionary journey is to help the local churches in Germany to open their own rehab center.
Report from Germany:
When we arrived in Germany, we were met by church members who took us to the house (shown in the background of the photo).
It was made available for our temporary housing there. We are grateful for their kind accommodation. We are presently searching for an appropriate house for the rehab ministry.
In the various local churches there are different kinds of social ministries. And we collaborate with these local churches as much as possible.
On Tuesdays we take part in The Ministry of Providing Food to the needy people in Rainbach.
On Wednesdays we started evangelization in Bonn. God blessed us by helping us to preach to drug addicts and those who have already stopped using drugs but still can’t find a place in this life that can fill their soul’s emptiness.
One of our evangelistic outreaches took place at a place called «Clean group» (The government’s weekly program for Russian speaking drug addicts and those who were previously addicted before).
The place from the Bible that God opened to us according our ministry here is:
17 The poor and needy search for water,
but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
But I the LORD will answer them;
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will make rivers flow on barren heights,
and springs within the valleys.
I will turn the desert into pools of water,
and the parched ground into springs.
19 I will put in the desert
the cedar and the acacia, the myrtle and the olive.
I will set pines in the wasteland,
the fir and the cypress together,
20 so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.
(Isaiah 41)
On Thursdays we help in the ministry of providing bread to the pensioners. About 100 person typically show up. A lot of them are Jewish. We give them not only the physical bread but also spiritual food as well.
In the evenings we go together with the local church leaders, at the bus station, to the place where a lot of drug and alcohol addicts can often readily be found. There we preach to them about the miracles that God has performed in the lives of each and everyone of us, in addition to simply providing them with physical food.
We are yet to locate an appropriate place for rehab center in Germany.
We have been investigating several possibilities for a good location where we’ll be able to establish this rehab center there. Unfortunately, to date, we’ve had no success in locating a suitable site. Never the less we think that this is a great time now, because this is an excellent opportunity for us to get to know the local church leaders better, via serving the needy.
On one of our visits there we went to Dusseldorf, to the church of Pastor Paul. While there we also visited Dima, on his birthday. Dima successfully completed the rehabilitation program at our rehab center in Israel. He has a desire to serve God.
We took him with essentially due to his clearly obvious desire.
At the end of the week, we went to an ancient castle for 3 days, together with the church of Pastor Mario. We enjoyed the opportunity of getting to know the members of the church better.
On our way to the castle we saw of many interesting places.
For example, a bicycle from the stone age, discovered by local archeologists :-)
We also saw several interesting houses which had inscriptions on them like this:
God will give peace to this house and everyone who lives in it.
Some of the occupants of these houses have fashioned their own special commentaries describing different sorts of blessings for their own specific homes like this:
We trust in our God to protect this house from hurricanes, fire, damage and TAXES.
Once inside the castle we had a great opportunity to put on a breastplate of righteousness literally.
On our way back from the castle we visited the rehab center in Blankenheim, and became a friends with the leaders and the rehabilitants there.
After long trips and translations from German to Russian, Igor can frequently be found reading the Bible :-)
To be continued...
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