August 2025 News Letter!

 

NEWSLETTER CONTENT: 1.          STOP THE FOOD WASTE 2.          OUTREACH 3.      OUTREACH TOOLS 4.       BIBLE STUDIES 5.        DANISH LANGUAGE STUDY 6.       THE VINEYARD CHURCH 7.       THE WORD Dear family, friends supports, and loved ones,  We want to thank you for your love and support. Your encouragement helps fuel our determination to keep up the good work, and we are happy to say that our labors are not in vain. This month we had several breakthroughs concerning the outreach and our Bible study groups, which we will share below. Getting back into the routine of things again after the summer break also included Philip starting to attend school downtown Odense. They have started out with tests, lots of homework, and lots of challenges! Thankfully Philip has a nag for languages, and is facing it head on. And we have decided to make an effort to speak more Danish with each other. FOOD DISTRIBUTION - “STOP THE FOOD WASTE”: We are happy to assist in the big job of servicing the many poor and struggling families here. There are a huge variety of people that seek help coming from countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Somalia, India, Japan, Syria, Kurdistan, Greenland, etc. Often when we think we are done distributing more people show up, but we have never had to turn anyone away completely empty. On the day we help we average approximately 30 families, sometimes more, sometimes less. Our help includes sorting (checking the dates) and preparing the food to make sure everyone receives a variety of items, and that there is nothing that has gone off in the fresh fruits and veggies, cleaning the floors and refrigerators, taking out the garbage, etc. OUTREACH: This month we distributed approximately 300 tracts on the streets. We are very thankful that we have the freedom to preach the gospel openly and want to redeem this time and opportunity. OUTREACH TOOLS: His month we produced two new tracts. One on the world situation: Why Do Bad Things Happen? We have included it at the end of the newsletter for you to have a look at, if you’d like. The other tract was on Jesus providing proof that He is the Son of God (we will try to include that next month). The Lord raised up a sweet dedicated friend to help us with the Danish translations. Having been away from Denmark for long, this is greatly needed and appreciation. We have been getting together once a week for the past few weeks and plan to continue as we will also go back over all the previous translated tracts. Our friend also asked for 100 English and 100 Danish tracts as he loves doing outreach. So not only do I have help with the translation (and especially the punctuation, but we also have help with the distribution! Praise the Lord! This is one of our big breakthroughs mentioned above! This month we printed over 500 tracts and we foresee our efforts easily increasing as our other students mature and possibly help us in the distribution! Praise the Lord! BIBLE STUDIES: Another one of our breakthroughs is concerning our Bible study groups. From next moth we will start have a weekly Monday night group and a bi-weekly Wednesday night group. To accommodate all that would like to attend we needed to spread it over two nights. And as you can see our living room is also not too big so we will be more comfortable this way as well. We will also be translating the syllabus to Danish to facilitate the non-English speakers, DANISH LANGUAGE STUDY: This month Philip started school again. He goes twice a week for approx. 2 hours, a total of 4 hours weekly. He is attending a school downtown Odense. One of our Bible students attends the same school, but is taking all the regular subjects (not just Danish). We visited the school together and found out that there might be a possibility that I, Rita, might be able to study Arabic there. We need to look into the possibilities more as there are a lot of rules as to who may or may not attend, but they do teach individual subjects. If it is to be I would still only be able to start in January as the present team is already to far ahead. Meanwhile I am carrying on learning from Duolingo. We live in a predominantly Arabic area—due to a vast amount of refugees. So learning Arabic is something I feel is needed. VINEYARD CHURCH: The last few Sundays in a row Philip has been the one preparing for the services: arranging the hall, the lighting, preparing the communion, standing behind to bar the receive payment and sell soft drinks, cleaning up after the service and making sure things are left back in order. The last couple of Sundays I have been translating...I have started using the AI pilot for this which has been a great help. I have also attended online meetings for the translators where we share tips, lessons learned, share ideas, etc. THE WORD: This is one of our new tracts. It pretty much addresses why the world is in the sad conditions it is in and how we cannot blame God  as we are responsible for not doing things according to His Instructions. We also produces a tract where Jesus proves that He is the Son of God. Sadly for many people in this culture God is not in all their thoughts, but we are happy to see that happen. We are also happy to know that many other Christian groups are reaching out to people on the streets. We are thankfully not the only ones as the job is too big for just a few. WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN? God is love (1 John 4:8) Therefore many may wonder why He allows some many terrible things to happen? Why does He not put a stop to it? Let’s take a good look at this and seek to understand where the problem lies. (Please read this message in its entirety!) There are several things we need to look at to understand this issue that many have with God. First, yes, God is sovereign. That means that no one tells God what to do. He is the one who makes the rules. In other words, no one can put restrictions on God. But He has put restrictions on Himself. He has bound Himself by His own Word. And He is not a man that He should lie. In other words, He will not break His word or His promises. Psalm 89:34, TLB No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I said. Numbers 13:19 ESV God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? What are some of the things that God has said that He will not take back? Genesis 1: 26, KJV And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Psalm 115:16, KJV The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. From the above Scriptures we see that God gave man dominion, the responsibility to care for the earth. Genesis 1:28 ESV And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And subdue it! What does that mean? One of the dictionary definitions is to bring under control, often by force or through persuasion, to reduce the intensity or strength of something, to cultivate land. In other words, with this amazing and beautiful gift man was also given the task of keeping it that way. To not allow things to get out of hand or out of control. And he had been given the authority of God to do so. Sadly, man failed miserably in this assignment. Isaiah 24:5,6 NIV, The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore, earth’s  inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. And this is brought out again in Isaiah 5:20 KJV which says, Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Romans 1:25 KJV says, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. This may sound very strong. But this is the truth, and this is what God says about the matter. When we shall appear before Him one day we will not be able to blame Him for the world situation and all the misery in the world. We were given the responsibility to keep the earth, to tend it and to subdue whatever tried to get out of order. And we were given the authority to do so. But we failed through the fall. And yet God loves us with a love that passes all understanding (Eph. 3:9) And He will eventually restore all things to its original state. His first concern is to restore man to fellowship with Himself. Sin separated man from God and death entered the world. Death does not mean that we cease to exist, but rather it means separation from God. Jesus spoke a lot about both heaven and hell. They are both real places, but 2 Timothy 2:4 KJV says, Who (God) will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. John 3:16 KJV says, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Eph 2:8-9 KJV says, for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Why did Jesus have to come? Why couldn’t God just forgive us? Because God is not only love, but also just. There are always consequences to sin! Man, now needed a Savior because God, being just, could not just ignore sin. Judgment had to be executed. All judgement was placed on Jesus. He bore our sins for us so that we could be forgiven. In Romans 10:9-10 ESV it says, because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10) For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  To receive this marvelous gift simply pray the following prayer: Dear Jesus, I thank you for dying for me for my sins. Please forgive me for my sins. I believe that you are the Son of God and that you rose from the dead. I now receive you as my Lord and Savior. And please fill me with the Holy Spirit in Jesus Name Amen! PRAYER REQUESTS:

The Ministry: We would like to ask for your continued prayers for our ministry. That we will be able to lead many more to the Lord and to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). We would also like prayer for our follow-up of those that we have already met and established a connection with. Please pray for us to have the time, for them to desire to meet up and possibly join our Bible study group. A Vehicle: We would like to ask you to continue to stand with us in faith for e vehicle. It would enhance our ministry and  make it a lot easier for us to get around. Thank you! :) In closing we want to share some personal happy news. Our oldest daughter and her husband will be visiting us in  the beginning of September for a few days. After visiting with us they will be heading to Italy to visit our sons-in-law’s mother. Another great news is that our two daughters have gone together and have sent us tickets to be able to spend Christmas and New Years with them in the States. We are very excited as our attempt to plan a family reunion in Europe has failed time and again. But we thank the Lord for His goodness and never ending love and care. Please know that you are all in our prayers and that we pray that you will abound with blessings.  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/

May News 2025

 

May 31, 2025, 12:16 PM (2 days ago)

Dear Ones, We thank you for the month that passed, and for making our ministry here possible. We are learning the benefits of developing a closer walk with the Lord and the satisfaction and assurance it provides. And you are all in our prayers and we are assured that we are all on this journey together. We hope and pray that it will inspire you to see what the Lord doing though our united efforts. Once again we THANK you from the bottom of our hearts. NEWSLETTER CONTENTS: 1.          BIBLE STUDIES 2.          OUTREACH 3.          MARKET 4.          STOP FOOD WASTE 5.          THEATER 6.          THE VINEYARD           7.          WHATS APP MESSAGES 8.          PERSONAL 9.          A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT BIBLE STUDIES: We are happy to report that we have had two new students join our Bible study group this month. (Not everyone is pictured here). This photo was taken as we celebrated Philip’s birthday together the day after his birthday! OUTREACH: It is a joy to be able to freely spread the good news of the Gospel. Not everyone will stop to talk, but when we leave them with a tract our hopes are that they will read that later on. We had a sweet encounter with a young man. We sat down on a bench next to him while waiting for a bus. He was very occupied on his phone, but finally Philip nudged me to start talking with him. I had been concerned to not interrupt him. But I am glad I did as he turned out to be very receptive and he received the Lord. MARKET: We volunteered to help A. with an outdoor market she had been allowed to hold in support of the various charity events in our local area. It was on the local church ground and the janitor was there to help us with tables etc. When we arrived however he insisted that we set up behind the small wall (in the photo). A couple of ladies started pleading their cause pointing out that we would not be visible there, etc. I was about to get involved with the conversation when the Lord gave me a check not to but to rather pray and ask him to get involved. I had hardly finished praying before I heard the janitor suddenly agreeing to us standing outside the wall (as seen in the photo). It pays to let the Lord fight out battles. Praise the Lord! STOP FOOD WASTE: Volunteering for “Stop Food Waste”, here we are seen preparing baskets of food for the families expected to show up. It turned out not to be enough baskets as many tend to show up last minute (we usually try to close at a certain time) But thankfully we somehow always manage to find something for the late comers as well. Praise the Lord! THEATER: I, Rita, was invited to come along with a group of women, to a theater play called, “Women, know your history”. It was based on a  historical account from the mid 1400’s to the mid 1900’s (approx..) of the most outstanding influential Danish women that fought for and affected changes for the equality of women. After the play there was a 30 minutes “interview time” and the floor was opened for questions from the audience. It was an interesting and stirring play. We all have a responsibility to do what’s right. THE VINEYARD: Before each service the people leading the Kids church will give a brief summary of the what the kids will be learning and the activities they will be doing that day. Here Joan is telling out the kids program for the day. Joan joins us at our home once a month for Bible study. She usually lets us know in advance what she would like to learn about, i.e. speaking in tongues, hearing from God, etc. She usually comes home with us after church on a Sunday! BABY DEDICATION: We have had an amazing “baby boom” in our church. It is inspiring to be part of a church filled with new and fruitful families. Here we had a baby dedication for a young family who just recently had their first child. MOTHERS’ DAY: We have had an amazing “baby boom” in our church. It is inspiring to be part of a church filled with new and fruitful families. Here we had a baby dedication for a young family who just recently had their first child. HALF-YEAR CELEBRATION: We also celebrated our half-year event. This is a time where new members are introduced, the financial standing is shared, a nice meals and a “cake table” is offered. It is a time of fellowship and enjoying each others company. There was also new business on the agenda as all the Vineyard churches in the area are being restored, boards set up, leadership teams established, etc. All that to say that there will be a lot of upcoming changes and we are looking forward to all that it might entail. WHATS APP MESSAGES:   R. wrote: I am doing well, a little tired but otherwise well. God is good.  Things are I full swing in my life and here at the school. I have just caught up and read the messages. Wow, they are strong! I want to meditate over them and integrate them in my life. Thank you so much! I am also sending them on to my friend. May the Lord bless you guys! V. wrote: Please pray for me. My partner of 14 years passed away ! A couple of days later we received the following: Hi Rita. A miracle has happened.  The police told me to consider my partner dead after he disappeared in tge sea for 5 days. Yesterday after lunch they found him floated ashore. Very bad condition, dehydrated and unconscious. Please pray for him. His name is Joel. — A. who was/is  part of the church we planted in Sir Lowry’s Pass wrote the following after passing an outreach course: Please tell Philip we miss you guys so much. This is the seed you guys planted along the way. Because you guys never give up, but you have kept the faith and the hope. A good lesson for all of us! N. Wrote asking us to please pray for her to get a job. About a week later she wrote saying she had a job and  was weeping for joy. A. Asked us to pray for her baby that was sick and didn’t want to drink, etc We prayed and the next day we heard back that the baby had slept though the night and had nursed well the following morning. E. I must say Rita the studies help a lot . It actually help me to make sure that l am on the right path. Thank you for not giving up on us as students T. Wrote, “Thank you so much for your daily messages. I want to translate them and pass them on to a friend. A.I have started reading my bible for the first time in my life. It is amazing. I love it. I am  also going to read the last messages you sent me as I am learning so much from them, and I am forwarding them. However, at the moment I am consumed with the Bible!   PERSONAL: This month we celebrated Philip’s birthday. We found a small back street and ended up at a small Greek pie shop. The place was run by a Greek, and Italian, and a Ukrainian. It was a nice and unique experience. And we are looking forward to many more years going strong for the Lord! WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT: We had an unexpected visitor this month. This young hawk landed on our balcony. We did not see when it first arrived but later on Philip noticed is leaning up against the glass fencing. Because of the way it was sitting we were not sure at first whether it had broken a  wing. Thankfully this was not the case and so when Philip approached it to try to help it stood up. It was obviously a young bird Obviously the bird made some serious mistakes in its flying abilities, which is what landed it in this predicament, but the Lord showed us that just as we never considered its mistakes or even thought to hold that against it, but rather had pity on the bird and desired to help it,  so the Lord pities His children and only seeks our best. We are richly blessed in His love. Psalm:46:1-3 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. Psalm 103:13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.  14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 2 Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, Psalm 86:15 But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. Psalm 103:8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. Isaiah 46:15-16 “Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. “Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Psalm 145: 8-9 The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. PRAYER REQUESTS: As mentioned earlier our work here would not be possible without the partnership of each of you who not only support us financially but also through your prayers, and encouragement. Thank you! FOR THE MINISTRY: We want to thank you for your prayers for our ministry. This month two new students joined our Bible studies. We also heard testimonies of how some had begun to implement what they have been learning and the wonderful fruit it has born in their lives. We ask you to please keep the increase of our ministry in your prayers We have also a student that comes once a month as she lives a distance away. She usually let us know what she would like to know more about and we try to  prepare accordingly. We have also started praying together and taking time to hear from the Lord and share the words and impressions we receive while taking time to hear from Him. OUTREACH: Please pray with us to meet people during out times of outreach that will receive the Lord, join our Whats App ministry and join our weekly Bible studies. Thank you! A VEHICLE: We are still in great need of a vehicle and so we would like to ask you to please continue to keep it in your prayers. While we were in South Africa the Lord miraculously provided two vehicles for us and we are persuaded that He is fully able to provide us with a vehicle once again. We bring this need before the Lord often thanking Him that He has heard our request and praying for the people involved in our miracle (as the Lord works through people). GREECE: Our tickets for our visit to Greece are booked. We will be leaving on the 11th of June and returning the 7th of July. We thank you in advance for your continued prayers for safe travels, all our legal work that we have to take care of there to work out, our stay, etc. We look forward to telling you about the trip next month! 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/