Amazing News.! Jun Newsletter.!

 

NEWSLETTER CONTENTS:

1. BIBLE STUDIES 2.STOP THE FOOD WASTE 3. THE VINEYARD CHURCH 4.COMMITTEE MEETING 5.THE CONSTITUTION DAY 6.DANISH LESSONS 7.OUR TIME IN GREECE 8.AN ENCOURAGING WORD

Dear Ones, We hope these news find you well, and for those of you in South Africa we hope you will stay warm! As you may remember we are presently visiting Greece where we are in a heat wave. Yesterday we had 41 degrees C in Athens! We came here to take care of some legal matters and at the same time to enjoy a very welcome vacation. We are staying with some friends on an island close to the main land. — Meanwhile we have been in contact with South Africa helping one of the kitchens there with some admin, and we have been keeping up our What’s App ministry. It is one hour later here than in Denmark and South Africa so we have had an extra hour to rest in the mornings during our stay here. BIBLE STUDIES: We have gained one new student, our friend who housed us when we first arrived back n Denmark, and another young man has expressed a desire to also participate after our return. Praise the Lord! For our last Bible study before leaving for Greece Philip treated our Bible students to a Greek meal of moussaka! STOP THE FOOD WASTE: The “Stop the Food Waste” Program  has had approximately 50 families weekly come for food. We are happy to be able to help clean (the kitchen and the veggies), sort and distribute. Here we are preparing the portions for each one. I, Rita, have been asked a couple of times to be the one up front handing out the food. I have found that handling the people is not always easy as some can be demanding, refusing to move on. But it is good practice in staying sweet and understanding! :) THE VINEYARD CHURCH: Here Philip is helping to serve communion, and as mentioned I help once a month with the translation of the sermon, sometimes more frequently if need be. Our pastor has visited us a few times and we have had the opportunity to share our hearts and impressions of the church. We were very fortunate to spend the time we did in South Africa where we learned a lot. COMMITTEE MEETING: We were invited to attend a committee metting where the head of the board was to be voted in. We are also given insight to some of the pending projects as well as accomplishments of the past. THE DANISH CONSTITUTION DAY: We were invited to attend a committee meeting where the head of the board was to be voted in. We are also given insight to some of the pending projects as well as accomplishments of the past. DANISH LESSONS: Philip completed the preparatory Danish course as well as step 1. He has gone as far as he can here in the local community. In August he will start step 2 and will have to go to a school at the center of the city. He aims to complete step 3 as well. OUR TIME IN GREECE: Here had a wonderful family reunion with Philip’s niece and her family.  It is 20 years ago they last met! We still hope to also visit with their oldest daughter before we leave. She  was away at the university, but we were able to have short conversation with her via Skype. We spend the morning swimming and enjoying the sea and afterwards we went to a local tavern where we enjoyed a typical Greece meal. We are staying with some precious old-time friends on the island of Salamina. Here is a view from where they sat. Just stepping out of the yard you can see right down to the sea and it takes literally 5 minutes to be on the beach. It is so refreshing to be surrounded by the beautiful nature. There are a lot of fruit trees around here already bearing fruit. We visited the local street market n the island. It’s booming with fresh produce although we’ve been told it got a lot smaller after the COVID.  Below is a picture of the ferry we had to take every time to get to the mainland. Cars, motorbikes and pedestrians alike all board the ferry for the about 30 minutes ride it takes to get across. A very enjoyable ride indeed! When we used to live in Greece many years ago you could freely walk up and visit the Acropolis. However it has now been fenced in and to get all the way up (on foot) you have to pay EURO 30 per person. We did not do so but were still able to get a few photos. On the way down from the Acropolis there were several sets of steep staircases. On the middle one we found a restaurant where we stopped to be refreshed. They had a thin stream of water being pointed on a fan that then worked like an aircon. Philip’s sister passed away in December last year. We had been looking forward to visiting with her but sadly that did not happen. However we were able to visit her grave site and place some beautiful white flowers. Here Philip is removing the old ones. TESTIMONIES: While here we have also been busy working on some legal paperwork. Some of which was successfully done and other that seem quite complicated. Our stay here is soon coming to an end and we would appreciate your prayers for a speedy completion or that we find someone that will be able to continue the work for us. We have also taken this time as an opportunity to enjoy Greece and visit some of the places we used to frequent. Things have changed a  lot over the past 20-30 years - some places were hardly recognizable. However, people’s need for love and a reminder that Jesus loves them remains the same! We were able to minister to several people by raying for their healing, and directing them to some of the principles of faith that must be in place for them to be able to keep their healing. There is so much to be ministered in so many areas of people’s lives. We want to end by THANKING YOU for the invaluable place you each play in enabling us to preach the gospel and devoting our time to establishing the kingdom of God upon the earth.  Much love and appreciation, Philip and Rita In closing we want to once again THANK YOU for your love care and participation through your partnership in our ministry here.  Much love,  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 vis SEPA with very minimum or no fees. For another easy and simple way to transfer money internationally please visit: https://wise.com/ AN ENCOURAGING WORD: Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.  (Romans 14:19) *    *    *  Years ago, I was in a complicated and unpleasant work situation with one of my coworkers. Things didn’t improve, and I was relieved when he eventually moved on. Some time later, I received a short email from him with two simple words: “I apologize.”  That’s good! I thought. He wants to apologize. So I looked for the attachment that would have the “formal apology.” But there wasn’t any. I’d expected a written, detailed acknowledgment of the headaches, tensions, and complications that he had caused. What I got was those two words “I apologize”.  I knew that God was asking me to forgive him and turn the page. He had done his bit by asking for forgiveness, and the right thing to do was to extend that to him—but deep down, I felt a bit cheated. Couldn’t he have put a bit more effort into his apology?  But it wasn’t long before I needed to apologize to someone and didn’t know how to go about it. Getting into the reasons behind my actions would give the impression that I was creating a platform to justify myself and would make my apology sound insincere, plus I risked starting the controversy all over again. In the end, I copied the apology I’d received from my former coworker—and it was no less sincere for being simple.  It isn’t easy to ask for forgiveness. I think that humility and sincerity are key, to be genuinely concerned about the offended person’s needs and learn to listen to their hurts.  Anything wonderful can happen in the restored relationship.  (Sally García) *    *    *  He who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass; for every human being has need to be forgiven.  (George Herbert)

The Amazing Month of April 2022

 

Dear Ones,           We trust that you have all celebrated a beautiful and meaningful Easter, one of the most important holidays as we remember the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Had He not risen neither would we! — EASTER: We had planned to celebrate with an outdoor picnic, but it happened to rain and so our team quickly improvised and spread out blankets on the floor inside and set out a few chairs. Everybody who was able contributed some food and and at the end of the celebration Easter Eggs were handed out to all the children that attended. Our sweet ladies served out a plate of hot food accompanied by the traditional hot cross bun and a great time was had by all! GRACELIFE: On a different day Philip delivered a powerful message on the five-fold ministry and why we need the church and can’t do the job alone, one of the reasons we all need to be part of the local church! We have some very inspiring spirit-filled times of untied worship!   EASTER EGGS: AT CHURCH: AT A SOUP KITCHEN: AT ECD (Early Childhood Development) CENTERS: TOM'S LITTLE ANGELS: EMILY'S PLAY SCHOOL: WEET-BIX: 14 large boxes of Weet-Bix (as seen here) were distributed in Nomzamo and Sir Lowry’s Pass! Praise the Lord! NOMZAMO: MILK: This month 100 liters of milk was distributed between Nomzamo (seen here) and Sir Lowry’s Pass. SUPPLIES: ANGELS' KITCHEN AND EASTER:  Seen above is Philip shopping soup bones for the Angels’ Soup Kitchen and other supplies for the Easter meal celebration in Sir Lowry’s Pass. Philip cooked a nice one-pot meal! Seen above are some of the supplies donated to Angels’ Soup Kitchen in Sir Lowry’s Pass.   In the pot are 10 liters of milk! (100 were distributed in all). BREAD AND PIZZA-BASES: JOYCE'S KITCHEN: We are extremely thankful for the many loads of bread and pizza-bases distributed monthly—sometimes several a week between Nomzamo and Sir Lowry’s Pass. Innumerable people are being fed and encouraged! ELSIE'S KITCHEN SIR LOWRY'S PASS: Innumerable people are greatly helped by the  generous donation of bread and pizza-bases donated by the Lions weekly-and sometimes several loads a week. Still some kitchens are taking turns receiving! MILA'S KITCHEN SIR LOWRY'S PASS: This is one of the kitchen that gets a weekly delivery of pizza bases/bread!   One of our Soup Mothers (the one that also run the 'Angels' Kitchen') heard of a “remote” neglected area in Sir Lowry’s Pass. So she got a hold of a wheelbarrow and loaded her hot pot of soup and pizza bases and went and saw to it that the little ones were fed that day. By the way she is keeping this up on a regular basis). We are very proud of her and others like her who serve the community very faithfully and selflessly.   FOOD HAMPER: The family seen here is one of the poorest that we know of. So for Eater the Lord laid it on our hearts to bless them with a nice big food hamper. We are also seeking ways for them to be self-sustaining.   BRIGHT STARS:   Seen in the photos above is the food shopping we did this month. The need is great and although the lock-down is over people are still struggling and very dependent on help.   WOOLWORTHS: At the very beginning of the month and then again at the end we received two extraordinary big loads of food from Woolworth’s for which we are very thankful. This all goes to assist Joyce’ Kitchen in Sir Lowry’s Pass! We assist Joyce in collecting once a week, however, she now receives from different outlets six times a week. Praise the Lord for that as it mainly consists of fresh produce which is very needed. GRACELIFE--SPECIAL EVENTS: FREEDOM CONFERENCE: FREEDOM CONFERENCE: On Freedom Day we attended a conference led by Shayne and Marna (our lead pastors), reminding us our true freedom in Christ and to always bear in mind our union with Him. LEADERSHIP MEETING: LEADERSHIP MEETING: A few days later we had a leadership meeting where we were challenged to hear from the Lord for each other and the general direction of the church!   OUTREACH IN SIR LOWRY'S PASS: OUTREACH: A team from the States visited us and we had a big united effort to reach the unreached in Sir Lowry’s Pass. At the end we gathered together again to share testimonies and victories won!   LADIES' HIGH TEA: HIGH TEA: After the morning outreach we had an afternoon ladies High Tea. We had several guest speakers and some ladies told us the day after how blessed they were to have attend. RONDEBOSCH: RONDEBOSCH: One of the newest Gracelife campuses was opened in Rondebosch and we met there with the team from abroad on their last night here. They each shared testimonies of how their lives have been impacted by the gospel as well as valuable lessons learned. Before closing we had a time of prayer where anyone needing prayer for  healing or whatever was invited to come up for prayer! All of the events mentioned here: The Freedom Conference, the Leadership Meeting, the SLP Outreach, the Ladies High Tea, the service in Rondebosch, etc. were arranged by our lead pastor Shayne and team. We also had a team of guests visiting  from the Jesus’ Church in the States and so tried to get as much time with them as possible, mainly receiving a lot of input and  wonderful fellowship! PS: Time and space fails us to mention all that was done this month. Souls were led to the Lord, LifeGroups (Bible studies) were held, prayers for needy individuals, counseling etc. took place as well. ALL of this is made possible through your faithful partnership! We (Philip and I) are not doing this work alone, but through an amazing network of selfless. loving and caring individuals such as yourselves, our precious partners, spiritual leaders, friends, and prayer warriors, etc.  Thank you so much for making it all possible!  IN CLOSING: We would like to honor the Lord as we look at all that has been  accomplished and all that we were blessed to partake of this month. A truly fruitful life for a tree is only possible if there first is a strong root system. So likewise with us in our walk with the Lord. In Ephesians 3:17 the apostle Paul is praying that we will be rooted and grounded in love. 1John 4:8 tells us that God is love, and John 1:14 tells us that the Word was made flesh and that He (Jesus) dwelt among us. In other word to be rooted in love is to be rooted in the Word, which is Jesus. In  other words we need to know what Jesus taught and we need to know whom we have believed. If you feel in need of strengthening and guidance, and would like to receive our daily devotions which we send out Monday-Friday via What's Up pleases feel free to contact us. The aim of our daily devotionals is spiritual training and strengthening. -- We look forward to hearing from you and would be honored to add you to our ever-growing list. Jeremiah 9:23-324 NKJV says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising loving-kindness, [a]judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.   CONTACT DETAILS: Antonios Michalitsis, FNB, Branch: 200912 Account no. : 62633037082 Rita Olsen, NedBank, Branch Code: 114145  Account no.: 1043639810 PayPal: force4good.ministries@gmail.com             For those of you that are abroad and would like to contribute please be aware that besides PayPal there is also the SEPA option as we have an account in Europe: Rita Olsen Danske Bank Branch: 1551 Account: 3719943470 IBAN DK28 3000 3719 9434 70 SWIFT: DABADKKK And if you are new to our work and would like to partner with us on a monthly basis we invite you to please contact us for further details. We look forward to hearing from you.