Awesome May News 2026!

 

NEWSLETTER CONTENTS: 1. Family Reunion 2. Bible Studies 3.Association School 4. Networking Meeting 5.Food Distribution 6.The Lighthouse 7.Outreach 8.Tracts 9.Whats-App Ministry 10.Feeding Word 11.Prayer Requests 12.The Round Tower 1. FAMILY REUNION: On the 30th of April we went to the Copenhagen airport to pick up Brooklyn (Brooke as we call her). It is her first visit to Denmark and we are extremely blessed to be able to spend this time with her. She is our 2nd out of three granddaughters. Since her arrival we have met up with some of my relatives whom I have now met for the first time since returning to Denmark. We also visited Sweden where my sister and her son lives. We had an amazing time there. We also visited the beautiful Swedish forests Since then we have visited around the island we live on and have visited another nearby island that can still only be reached by an hour (+) boat ride. We have been to many places and still have much more to see and do. We spent a few hours ministering. I ended up teaming up with someone who had never done outreach before, which was a real blessing. She was inspired and towards the end she went and reached out to some people on her own. Praise the Lord! 2. BIBLE STUDIES: Not only we ourselves but many Christians around the world have been and are still pray for a revival, a great spiritual awakening.  Revival prepares the ground for awakening. God renews His people and then works through His people to reach society. A simple illustration given is: Revival: The fire inside the fireplace is rekindled. Awakening: The whole house is warmed! We are seeing a new hunger and interest in the Word of God. We have had new people join our Bible studies (with more expressing a desire to soon join as well). We’ve also experienced a  greater receptivity as we go out to evangelize, and more souls being reached. We are especially noticing more people having the desire to reach out to others, and some have been out evangelizing with us as they desire to learn from us and be more effective in reaching others. We are so happy to be a part of what He is doing and for all His has entrusted us with that we can now turn around and pass on to others. 2 Timothy 2:2 (NKJV) And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3.ASSOCIATION SCHOOL I, Rita, am very fortunate to have been invited to participate in a leadership course concerning all that goes into running an association. This meeting goes over a period of six months, with a once a month 2 hour long meeting. During the teaching I try to get a picture of each slide which I then aim to go over again as homework. This is an excellent way for me as the slides usually moves too fast for me to be able to take note of all the important information that’s being shared. 4.NETWORKING MEETING: This month we were also invited to participate in a networking meeting held in Danske Bank, this country’s largest bank. Approximately 60 associations showed up, most of which I had never heard of before. There was an initial meeting with about 3 different speakers. After that we were all invited to walk around and interact with each other. We were all wearing a number and then given a piece of paper listing each association according to the number we were wearing. The results of the evening was that 141 new connections were made...people had a way to let it be known if they had made a new connection with the intent of cooperating together in their effort to reach out to a needy people group. It was quite interesting and also impressive to see how many were engaged in this effort to reach out to others. At the end some prizes were passed out to the best dressed, or the most this or that, I sadly don’t remember the details, but three prizes were handed out. We were also blessed with some nice refreshments .

5.FOOD DISTRIBUTION: This month a lot of reorganization took place in the food distribution centre. We also got new refrigerators, new shelves, new bins and better ways of disposing of the garbage. All of this involved a lot of work. We have been so blessed by our precious granddaughter and her willingness to pitch in. From cleaning, to covering some of the older shelves in the storage room with new plastic paper, to sorting the fruit and veggies. No task was daunting for her and she cheerfully did whatever task was at hand. At the end of one of the days when the workload was especially big everyone was rewarded with some nice tasty Arabic wraps, which we all enjoyed! 6.THE LIGHTHOUSE CHURCH: This month was exciting at the Lighthouse church. We had a preacher from South Africa (the father of the pastor) visiting. He preached and his style and humor made us feel “at home” again! He also shared about some safari experiences and important spiritual lessons learned in connection with that. Once a month we have Church lunch. Everyone brings something and we bond over a meal. On other days we fellowship over a cup of coffee or tea! 7.OUTREACH: Once a month we have a united outreach with our church. This month we met up in the “King’s Garden”, a beautiful park in the center of Odense, the city we live in. I teamed up with a lady from the Philippines who greatly desire to sharpen her skills in reaching out to others with the love of Jesus and being able to answer what might seems like difficult questions. Philip teamed up with her close friend M. Our pastor and his father from South Africa also joined, and in fact led the outreach. At the end we all got together again and shared some testimonies. We are so happy to have found a church here where the pastor leads the flock in the outreach as well. We got used to that from the  church we were a part of in South Africa. 8.TRACTS Every month we print a certain amount of tracts. This month we printed 100, but the tracts hardly got “off the press” so to speak, before we got a call from a friend asking us for some. Soon after he came and got all our English tracts. We are encouraged as we are starting to feel more and more part of a team here and realizing that we are not as “alone” as we initially felt. Praise the Lord for leading and guiding us to like-minded believers. 9.WHATS-APP MINISTRY: The following are a few reactions we have received concerning our teaching whether in person or via Whats-App: · D. wrote: Good morning Rita, Thank you so much for your hospitality and teaching. . .we are humbled. Meeting you was an answer to our prayer, to meet people that are mature in their faith. It’s such a blessing. We are aware that we need to surround ourselves with people in Christ and attend Bible studies so we can grow in our faith. God is sooo good! · M. wrote: Good morning Rita. It was a gift from God to be at your place yesterday. I will go through what you have sent me. (And he has been reading the daily devotionals daily. Praise the Lord!) · E. someone we led to the Lord together with her friend I. have been receiving the daily WhatsApp messages as well and have been faithfully reading them. We invited them for the Bible study (it was during the Pentecost holidays) She wrote: Hi Rita, thanks for the invite. Unfortunately we are not home today, we hope to attend next time. Last month we had 10 new subscribers who have all been faithfully reading the feeding Word we send out during the week. This month we had four new subscribers, all of whom are also reading daily. It is refreshing for us to see the hunger for the Word and those that stick with it. We are strengthened and encouraged by this.   NEWS: Philip has been invited by our pastor to preach in the church sometime in the month of July. We are so grateful to the Lord for this opportunity. Please pray for Philip and that preparation, not just of his heart, but of the hearers as well. God is doing great things, and we are excited. We want to also THANK YOU for partnering with us in our ministry. We sense a moving in the Spirit and that the best is yet to come. For all those of you who have stood by our side, and are still standing, we thank you. This work would not be possible without your love, support and prayers. Together we are establishing the kingdom of God in the hearts of the people and our labors are not in vain. We are all blessed to be a part of His great work! Hebrews 6:10 (NKJV) “For God is not unjust to forget your work and [a]labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. “ 10.FEEDING WORD: One of our Bible studies this month was on the importance of biblical mediation. (Joshua 1:8 says, (NKJV) “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”) The path to success in life is through an intimate relationship with the Lord, allowing Him to lead and guides us and learning to draw on Him to enable us to do the things He leads us to. We also touched on what meditation is or is not. I.e. Easter meditation says to “empty” your mind. Biblical meditation says to “fill” your mind with His Word and to think deeply about the message in the Word, how it pertains to us in our present day situation and how we can implement it in our lives. Another part of meditation is to come to a deeper understanding of the Word. We used and example (see below) of just that. I.e. in the Lord’s prayer (according to the KJV), we are taught to pray that the Lord will not lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13). In the book of James we are told that the Lord cannot be tempted with evil and neither does He tempt any man. (James 1:13) This can seem a bit conflicting. So why are we asked to pray that He won’t tempt us? Obviously there is something lost in the translation.  We used this as an example of taking time to ponder the things we read and to seek a deeper understanding. Here is a brief outline of what we got concerning that: 5  1. What Jesus Means in the Lord’s Prayer “Lead us not into temptation” (Matthew 6:13) The Greek word for temptation is πειρασμός (peirasmos), which means: temptation to sin, or testing / trial / proving In Scripture, the same word is used for both. So the prayer means:  “Father, do not allow us to be brought into a testing that would overwhelm us or expose our weakness.” It is a prayer of humility, acknowledging: we are weak   —  we depend on God — we need His protection from situations where the enemy could take advantage of us It is NOT saying God wants to tempt us. It is saying: “Lord, guide my steps so I don’t end up in a place where temptation overtakes me.” This aligns with Jesus’ words in Gethsemane: “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation.”— Matthew 26:41  2. What James Means James 1:13 says:  “God cannot be tempted by evil, neither does He tempt any man.” James is addressing something different:  The source of temptation to sin. He explains: Temptation to sin comes from our own desires (James 1:14) God is never the author of evil    God does not entice anyone to sin So James is saying: “Don’t blame God for temptation. The pull toward sin comes from within us, not from Him.”  3. How the Two Fit Together Perfectly Put the two teachings together:\  Jesus: “Pray that God protects you from situations where your weakness could lead to sin.”  James: “And remember, if you are tempted, that temptation did not come from God.” There is no contradiction — they complement each other beautifully.  4. The Deeper Spiritual Truth God tests (to strengthen faith), but He never tempts (to make us fall). Testing comes from God → to refine Temptation comes from the flesh or the enemy → to destroy The same situation can be: a test from God  a temptation from Satan    a choice for us Example: Jesus in the wilderness The Spirit led Him there (test) Satan tempted Him there (temptation)  5. Summary Why do we pray “lead us not into temptation”? Because we acknowledge our weakness and ask God to guide our steps away from situations where the enemy could take advantage of us. Why does James say God does not tempt anyone? Because God never entices us to sin. Temptation comes from our own desires or from the enemy, not from God. How do they fit together? Jesus teaches us to pray for protection from temptation. James teaches us not to blame God when temptation comes. God tests to strengthen us, but He never tempts us to sin. 11.PRAYER REQUESTS: MINISTRY: We want to thank each and everyone of you who are a part of our ministry and who have been praying for the ministry to flourish and bring forth much fruit. We believe we are beginning to see it bud and we would like to ask that you continue to keep  the fruitfulness of the ministry in your prayers. This work is of God and we need His full involvement and guidance. TEACHING: As mentioned earlier Philip has been invited to teach at the Lighthouse church in the month of July. Please pray for this golden opportunity to bring forth much fruit. WORLD PEACE: Please join us in praying for the many war victims around the world. And also that His will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. There are many things going on behind the scenes and the news media is seldom reliable. SO the safest way to pray is as Jesus taught us, “That His will be done”. He knows all thigs and He knows exactly what to do and what He wants done in each and every situation. And let’s not forget, In Psalm 122:6 We are told specifically to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.” RIVAL AND AWAKENING: The Spirit of the Lord is moving in the earth and this is a golden opportunity for us to minister as more and more people are beginning to search and turn their hearts toward the Lord. Let’s pray that we may be effective tools in His jands to reach the lost and searching while we still have time, opportunity and the freedom to do so!   12.THE ROUND TOWER: When visiting Copenhagen we went to the Round Tower. The foundation for the tower was laid in 1637 and five years later, in 1642, it was completed. It was built as an observatory for the university. It was built with a ramp rather than stairs so that the transport of heavy astronomical equipment to the top could be done without damaging them. And to allow horse-drawn transport which included moving books to and from the university library to the tower, and moving equipment between the church, library and observatory.—In 1902 a car was driven up the Round Tower by engineer Lorenzo from Baden, Germany. His purpose was to demonstrate the power and climbing ability of his automobile at a time when Copenhagen had no suitable hills for such a test. However, the car did not reach the top because the ramp was divided by doors and partitions at the time. In closing we thank all of you, our friends precious partners, supporters and loved ones. Together we are changing the world one heart at a time. And even one rescued soul is worth all of our efforts. Thank you for teaming up with us!   WIth love and appreciation, Philip and Rita Please remember our new details are as follows: PayPal: force4good.fvs@gmail.com NordFyn's Bank Rita Olsen Reg. #: 6869 Account #: 0001058710 BIC/SWIFT Code: NSBKDK21 IBAN DK2168690001058710 PS: If you are in the European union you can transfer funds via SEPA with very minimum or no fees. For another easy and simple way to transfer money internationally please visit: https://wise.com/