After two similar outreaches in Vienna, it was a privilege to bring the joy of Easter to the people of upper Austria through music and testimonies. God enabled the team to compile a colourful programme of gospel, classic and pop music with singing, piano, German flute, oboe, English horn, violin, guitar, cajon and ukulele!

Reaching the young and old

When the choir sang quiet songs like “Do You See the Lamb” and “The Power of the Cross” some residents in an old people’s home had tears in their eyes, and they clapped along to “Oh Happy Day.” Even the young caretaker helping the team with the technical equipment was moved. New perspectives opened up for him when a young woman from a partnering church shared with him about Jesus and invited him to church.

Generous hospitality and successful teamwork

The team really appreciated the hospitality and abundant provision of food from partnering churches. An afternoon concert in a church served to dedicate the new premises, as well as enabled the team to contribute to a dynamic church service. Some team members interviewed pedestrians on the street about their thoughts on Easter. A church member made a great video from the interviews that was later used in several concerts and church services.

At another church, the team had the opportunity to provide the musical part of the services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. The Easter Sunday service was packed. Some guests were there for the first time, including a student from Mongolia. It was such a joy to see a team member’s former employer and her daughters excitement over the clear message of the resurrection.

Our efforts are not in vain

Special highlights included the evangelistic outreach on the streets, and a concert in a smaller town. While walking through the sunny streets, the team met many people who were open to talk about Easter and Jesus. A spontaneous concert on the main town square with Gospel Magic and a short message from an Open Air Campaigner completed the afternoon.

Two days later, about 20 new visitors, together with many Christians, enjoyed a multifaceted concert at the church and clearly heard the gospel. The guests learnt about the concerts in a multitude of ways: through friends, the newspaper or even through the weekly programme of the local rehabilitation clinic.

Walter *, who expected a rather lonely birthday, was overwhelmed after being sung “Happy Birthday” as well as getting a cake and prayer. “I will hang (the birthday card) in the kitchen”, he promised. “When I die that card shall be buried with me!”

Who would have thought a few years ago that out of the small beginnings in this town, God would grow such a dynamic, loving and inviting church? Truly, our labour in the Lord is not in vain. He is building His church. The challenge is to continue to be faithful in labouring.

*name changed

‘It blew my mind!’

It was the second time the Easter outreach took place in the City of Music. The team again experienced unity in diversity of cultures, ages (16- to 66-year-olds) and musical abilities. One participant beamed: “This week blew my mind in terms of music and evangelism!”

Open-air outreaches 

On the second day, the team served as a choir for a sketch board outreach in the heart of Vienna with a local evangelist. The reactions were mixed, especially as soon as Jesus‘ name was mentioned, but God gave some good conversations with the international and Austrian passers-by.

At the open-air outreach a few days later, outside a metro station in the north of Vienna, there was a much darker atmosphere. It was distressing to hear how quickly some older people shared about suicidal thoughts or depression but encouraging that several let team members pray with them.

Two teams – more encounters

For some outreaches, the team was split into two groups, in order to sow the seed more widely. At the homeless residence, two encounters stood out: the first between a resident and a viola player, where trying out the instrument led to a deeper conversation and prayer. In the second encounter, a man who already had contact with Christians, and who thoroughly enjoyed the music, heard the Gospel for the first time in a one-on-one conversation with a pianist from the team. He prayed to receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. May he grow deep roots in Christ!   

Concert at the fitness centre – death and life

A highlight was the joint concert at a women’s fitness centre. 40 people, including many customers and their families, enjoyed the programme of Christian songs and instrumental music. The team member from Singapore testified to God’s faithfulness even while her father was dying of cancer. One audience member, whose father fought exactly the same kind of cancer, found the Singaporean’s faith very moving and thought-provoking. As an encore, everyone joined in with the song “O Happy Day,” and Easter joy stayed with many for a long time after the concert. The Christian manager of the fitness centre branch is now having spiritual conversations with 22 audience members! Let us pray that they find life in Jesus!

The 2019 Sound of Easter outreach is happening from 13 to 21 April in Linz, Enns and other nearby places. Praise God for 13 team members from different countries. The outreach includes training sessions, Bible inputs, rehearsals, four street outreaches, four concerts and four church services.

Pray for open hearts among the audiences—those living in elderly care centres, people at three different churches and passers-by on the street. Pray for divine appointments. Pray for lasting fruit in the team members, local churches and non-Christians who hear something of the music/message. Pray listeners would read the literature they are given.

It began in Germany

I grew up in Hamburg, Germany as the youngest of three siblings. As a young adult, I had a lot of contact with Sinti (a Roma group) and was involved in the occult. When a missionary shared some scriptures from Leviticus, I was confronted with the fact that my life and relationship with fortune telling were not as okay in God’s eyes as I had thought. The Word of God gripped my heart, and I stayed in regular contact with this missionary. When I got saved, it really was a complete turnaround in my life. It was not easy, as many from my community did not react positively to my change, but my hunger for more from the Bible and Jesus were greater.

From Germany to Switzerland to Austria

Eventually I attended Bible College in Switzerland. Before, I had worked as an office clerk. After three years of studies, and a year long internship in my church, I wondered what the next step should be. Originally, I did not see myself in missions, but a Bible school teacher–upon hearing my plans to return to an office job–said: “Others can punch in numbers!” It is funny, that now as a missionary I’m doing it again.

The Lord gave me a verse out of Isaiah 50:5: “The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away.” (NIV) I started to understand that I had a lot to give, and that God’s ways for me might lead me differently than I had thought.

During that time, I was diagnosed with a chronic illness, and so I knew that if I would go to the mission field, I would need a good infrastructure. Through a German missions organisation, I moved to Austria and participated in women’s and youth ministry. I also worked for Biblische Ausbildung am Ort as an accountant back then, and learnt to love the work.

…and finally to Linz

Then Frank Hinkelmann, the former field leader of OM Austria, asked me to join the office team in Linz. OM is characterised for being international, with a lot of charm. This is what really got me excited, and still excites me today. Because of the international aspects, the accounting is very complex and I like that as well. Being full time with OM, I am also part of other ministries at the church (women’s meetings, Sunday school and helping migrant kids with homework at our integration project). I truly enjoy my responsibilities, and I am thankful to be able to serve with my gifts.

Please pray for more workers to join our team in the accounting department. Please pray for financial supporters for those in the office as it is not always easy to find supporters for those doing administrative jobs. 

Living in peace

Since the end of 2016 Javid* and Maryam* have lived in the Peace and Hope housing with their two small children. Originally from Afghanistan, the family's story of how they encountered Jesus and how their lives have changed and they've suffered for their new faith touched the OM team. Sadly, Javid and Maryam, like many other former Muslims, faced discrimination in Austria and were treated as second-class citizens by other Muslims. From the first refugee housing they were in, Javid recalled “We were not allowed to use the dishes everybody else used because the Muslims said to us ‘you make them dirty.’ Also, we were not allowed to enter the kitchen whenever Muslims were there because they said that we were unbelieving and impure.”

The young family was very thankful after this experience to move into the Peace and Hope home. “It is wonderful and we are very grateful to God that we can live here,” Javid said. “Finally we have found a place where we can live our faith in Jesus in peace. We can go to our church every Sunday as a family and get support with integration. My wife attends a German class in the same building where we live, as well as a meeting for women and their children and a sewing class. If it is possible, we both attend the weekly Bible study and visit the International Café as a family. I am excited that Peace and Hope offers soccer and badminton. We feel very comfortable and are happy to live here and to be able to be in so much contact with many other Christians.”

Reaching out to others

It is encouraging for the OM team to see how Javid and his family are growing in their faith and have an increasing desire to share the good news with other people. At the Christmas celebration, Javid shared his testimony in front of 130 people. Many of the crowd were Muslim and appeared sincerely touched.

As Javid speaks Turkish well, he has a growing desire to reach out to the many Turkish people in Graz with the gospel.

Pray for more Christians to share the good news in Graz so that more people can be reached and won for Christ. Pray for those who have heard the gospel to hear the truth in it and believe.

*names changed

The participants are first given training through a week-long conference which includes Bible study, prayer, team building, workshops for dance, drama, sketch board, preaching and much more.                                       

Then the teams are sent to host churches throughout Austria. The activities at each place vary according to the local churches’ area of ministry and their emphasis.

"Better now than later"

During an outreach at a local lake, the OM team gave out free watermelon and invited guests to pick a Bible verse. On a nearby bench was a signboard with the words ‘Do you need prayer?’ for passers-by to read. The team also used Frisbee and volleyball games to come in contact with people. The team was encouraged to see how well these activities were received.

The memory of one meeting stayed very clear with some participants. A man of around fifty asked many questions about the church the team was working with, but also why they believed the Bible. During the conversation he told them that one of his colleagues had recently died.  He is not a religious man and sees religion as simply a tradition, but this unexpected death had shaken him. What really happens when somebody dies?

A young woman on the team told him clearly about Jesus, and why she builds her life on Him, and gave him a Bible. When she said it would be better to think now about what happens after death, rather than when it is already too late, he agreed with her. ”This has been a very special meeting. Thank you for the Bible, and I will definitely read it. Maybe this is the beginning of a change in my thinking,” he shared.

Pre-planned conversations

One evening around 11:00 p.m., Sebastian* a physicist, turned up bringing a bag belonging to one of the team members which he had found lying on the path. He had seen the flyer, and the banner on the window showed him where the team members lived. His tiredness at the late hour disappeared immediately as Sebastian was curios over the outreach, and Jesus.

The team could see that God had led him to the apartment. Apparently he had read the Bible several times but had many questions about the contents and the many authors. Also, he saw God as harsh and judgmental, and had wanted little to do with such a God. He also struggled with the claim that Jesus had truly risen from the dead. He saw him simply as a good and intelligent person. After over two hours Sebastian finally left, taking with him different books about the Trinity, ’Evidence That Demands a Verdict’, and a New Testament.

Julian* was another man whom God constantly brought across the way. He was studying near the church and joined in a Frisbee game. The team gave him an invitation to the youth evening but he didn’t come. As some participants met him again ‘by chance’ on their free day in the town, they felt that it was time to approach him again. Julian came again to the lake, and is still in contact with a young man from the church.

Courage to step out

Austrians don’t often talk with people they don’t know, unless there is a good reason for it. They consider religion, like politics and money, to be a private subject, and they see it as a threat if someone opens up this subject. If someone is evangelising on the streets, people consider him as a member of a sect.

Knowing this, it can take courage to step out and proclaim Jesus on the streets. But the team felt God rewarded their trust in Him. Once, during a sketch board presentation in a park, over 30 people stopped and listened carefully to the message. Even the questionnaires were better accepted than the team expected, and in spite of their initial suspicions about them, people answered the questions honestly about their attitude to God. These people also listened with respect when they were told how this good news had change lives.

Each participant was thankful to God that He stood with them, when they sought to lift Him up before others. And they were thankful that He prepared people to whom He wanted them to testify.

Please pray for those in Austria who have never seriously thought about salvation, and have avoided questions about the Bible and the news about Jesus. Pray for people like Sebastian, who have already thought a lot about God and the Bible, but have hardly ever met anyone who had a personal relationship with God.

* Name changed

The musical outreach "The Sound of Easter" was organised by Rachel* from the OM Arts department. Several team members from Linz took part, and also three churches in Vienna.

They spent the first few days practising working together, learning musical scores, and then dividing into two groups - one made up of professional musicians who prepared a classical programme, and the others who practised German Christian songs.

A Bold Beginning

The team then moved out to minister in homes for the elderly, a homeless residence, a refugee home, churches, and to play open air in the city centre.

Seraina*, from the OM Linz team, shares: “Our first outreach was an open-air on the Kaerntnerstrasse--the main shopping street--with Stefan*, a local evangelist, sharing the gospel with his sketch board. Our choir drew the crowd together and after Stefan shared the gospel we had many interesting conversations with the bystanders.”

Different Places, Open Doors

Then came a busy programme for the team members--they constantly experienced God touching hearts, and many listeners were moved to tears through the beautiful music of the professional musicians, through testimonies and personal conversations.

Two members of the team gave a testimony at each meeting, and it was amazing how each time, just the right person was sharing - God knew just which person’s story was right for each group. In a home for the homeless, one man gave his life to Jesus.

Creative Communication

More children than adults turned up for the evening programme in the refugee home, so the team quickly adapted their choice of music.

The atmosphere was wonderful. Creativity and humour were sometimes needed because of the language barrier, and one girl from Hong Kong broke the ice in a home for the elderly when she showed the residents photos of her country on her mobile phone.

Pray that God will continue to work in the hearts of the many people who heard the Easter message. Pray that the seeds sown will grow and many will put their trust in Jesus.

* surname not included for security reasons

“We met for the first time in London but got to know one another properly through a mission trip to the Ukraine. We married in South Africa. We did not really plan to go to the mission field,” begins Santjie. “Some people are called while still young to a particular country, but that wasn’t so with us. But as we lived in Europe many years ago we saw how dark it was. We simply wanted to come, as we saw that there was a need here.”

Leon picks up the story: “We have always had a heart for Europe, as I became a Christian here – in England. After my theology studies we wanted to come to Europe but nothing opened up so we went to Asia instead. We worked as missionaries in Korea for five years. Santjie taught in a school and I served in a church that ministered mainly to foreigners. As our time there came to an end, God showed me that it was now time for Europe. The more we look back at our time in Korea, the more we recognise how much our ministry there of church development and counselling was a perfect preparation for ministry in Europe.”

Why Austria?

“We sensed that the German speaking world could be where God was leading us to. German is the easiest language for us as Afrikaans speakers. Our ancestors (between 400 and 500 years ago) came from Holland and Germany, and we have many European influences in our culture,” Leon explains. “We have grown up with a Western mind-set. Last year at Easter we visited Austria, Germany and Hungary to look around and see where we might be useful. I believe God opened the door to Austria for us. We found that there was a need here for the experience that we could bring.”

Santjie continues: “We hadn’t expected that the whole process of getting here would take so long. We came here last Easter to check things out, and have waited a whole year before things finally came together.”

Things to like and things to wonder

“We like the countryside, the houses, the mountains. It is simply‚WOW. It looks like something out of a fairy tale. Every time I walk in the woods they seem greener. We love nature,” Santjie shares. “People seem so generous – we hadn’t expected that. When people in the church hear that we are missionaries they come and ask how they can help us. When we moved into our apartment we didn’t have to buy anything as people had given us so much.”

Other things are harder to understand, shares Leon: “So many people smoke. When we came here and saw so many young people smoking we asked why – don’t they know how unhealthy it is?” And Santjie adds: “It isn’t ‘cool’ to smoke in other countries where we have lived.”

The weather is very different, too. Leon comments. “I have never been in a land with so much rain. You need to take an umbrella with you everywhere. We are amazed how green everything is, especially in the forest. The weather is very changeable. Two days ago I was wearing a pullover, but today it is very hot. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”

About church

“I was surprised that everyone seemed to know everyone else,” Santjie confesses. “Half the church is related to people from other churches. There seem to be many family links here.”

“In South Africa, young people tend to go to a modern church and older people to a more traditional one,” Leon adds. “Each one finds one for himself, and families don’t always go together to the same kind of church.”

“I think in general there are more churches in South Africa so one has a greater choice,” explains Santjie.

Future plan and vision

“We are working in partnership with both OM and the Pentecostal church in Linz,” she continues. “During our visit here last year, both groups shared that church planting was very much on their hearts and that they are looking for people to support them in this ministry, both in Linz and in the surrounding area. And that is exactly our vision. In the long term we would also like to work with other churches in Upper Austria, and perhaps in all of Austria, helping them in church planting. But first of all we must learn German and get integrated into the culture.”

Challenges and Hopes

“My biggest challenge is learning German, as we need the language for everything we do,” Santjie shares. “I love to chat with people, and I miss praying and talking over deeper subjects with others. I can do that in English with some, but it is always better for the other person in German. Pray also for the development of relationships. It takes time for people to feel they can trust you before they open up for a deeper relationship.”

“You could pray for my language learning also,” Leon agrees. “My second request is that we find our exact place, and have a clear picture of our role in Austria. We need wisdom to move forwards strategically. We don’t want to simply say ‘yes’ to everyone, but rather hear from God and know exactly where He wants us.”

Since Robert’s local church opened its doors to offer a weekly drop-in a year ago, it has become a hub where refugees can stop for coffee and a chat en route to or from the supermarket. For up to thirty people coming each Tuesday, it is a shelter out of the cold or rain before cycling ten kilometers or hitch-hiking back to their accommodation to avoid spending a third of their weekly allowance on bus fares.

“Once we began reaching out, we saw our church changing,” Robert said. “Suddenly Dutch believers are interacting with foreigners, loving them and helping them.” One man spoke about his faith with a Muslim for the first time; before he had doubted someone could turn from Islam to Christ.  

With people from least-reached places in the world now living in their area, Robert makes the most of the opportunity. “All we did was put a welcome poster in their languages outside our building and people started coming in,” he explained. Through conversations and visiting families in the asylum centre, local believers are building relationships. Now some refugees come to church services, youth group and Sunday school, while sixteen adults attend an Alpha course.

“When you take time to listen, you are blown away by what they have gone through and have fled from - they would love to be where they grew up,” shared the former OM Netherlands leader, a fluent Arabic speaker from having lived in the Arab world. “It’s hard hearing their stories - you just cry with them.” Yet in the midst of trauma, displacement or loss, God is meeting individuals at their point of need, as Hamid* recently recounted to Robert at a conference for Muslim background believers.

“In my home country, my brother tortured me when he found out I had been reading the New Testament,” Hamid told Robert, showing him the marks on his body. This warning spurred Hamid on to be the best Muslim he could be. A few years later, he fled violence in his country and boarded a boat headed for Greece.

“The weather was rough and when our boat’s engine broke, I thought we were going to die,” Hamid stated. “But then I remembered the story of Jesus stilling a storm, so I prayed: ‘Jesus, if you can calm these waters, please do this.’” Ten minutes later the water was calm. Again Hamid prayed to Jesus, asking for help. Shortly afterwards, a boat from Greece rescued them. Travelling along the Balkan route, Hamid encountered Christians. On arrival in the Netherlands somebody explained the gospel to him; subsequently, Hamid gave his life to Christ and was baptised in a bathtub.

“It’s the passion to see God’s Word released that inspires me in my work,” said Robert, who facilitates OM’s Safe Passage project, an initiative responding to refugees’ needs in the Balkans and Central Europe. To support relief efforts, OM EAST’s publishing ministry has produced evangelistic resources, including a new comic in Arabic and Farsi, to share the gospel in accessible ways.

Whether serving in refugee camps and drop-ins, welcoming people into churches and homes, or preparing print and digital media, “you are playing a part in someone like Hamid’s story,” Robert encouraged.

“Making yourself approachable with a smile, saying ‘welcome to my country’, or learning a few words in their language breaks barriers and brings such joy,” Robert recommended, motivating others to get involved. “Opening the door to your home, opens the doors to refugees’ hearts,” he continued, “which opens the doors to who we are as followers of Jesus.”

The Church has a vital role in turning a crisis into a blessing, with the potential to discover, as the Dutch congregation is experiencing, that they too are changed in the process. “The window of opportunity is short - we need to take action,” Robert urged. “Let’s share hospitality and Jesus with them.”   

*Name changed

OM EurAsia Support Team’s (OM EAST) publishing ministry has produced the following media to communicate the gospel in people’s heart languages:

Access online Christian resources in the Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Kurdi, Pashto and Urdu languages.

To request comics in Arabic or Farsi, please complete the Order Form. View Arabic comic and Farsi comic.

To request a welcome poster, hope cards or hope poster please contact us: info@love4refugees.com

During my second week with OM, I went to a grill party at the House of Hope (run by International Teams) in Linz. The party was intended to celebrate the end of German courses at the House of Hope for the year. The party broadened my understanding of honouring Muslim traditions during cross-cultural work and sparked a friendship which developed throughout the rest of my summer in Austria.

The House of Hope’s grill party occurred during Ramadan, in which a majority of the German students participated due to their identity as Muslims. This created a challenge for the German teachers, as they wanted to celebrate and also honour their students’ commitment to fasting during Ramadan. As a result, they decided to still hold the grill party and invite all students to come. They provided an alternative option for the Muslim students who were fasting, by boxing up food for them to take home and eat in the evening when they broke their fast. The option worked well, allowing both Muslim and non-Muslim students to come so that they could celebrate the end of their courses together.

When I arrived at the grill party and picked up my food, I could not locate a spot to sit right away as most tables were already full. I saw a couple of women at the edge of the crowd without anyone joining them, so I took a seat beside them and we began talking.

One women, Maria*, was from Eritrea and the other, Jasmin*, was from Ethiopia. I enjoyed talking with them, especially since I had learned about their home region of Africa through an Ethiopian friend of my dad’s. After studying in the US, he was forced to remain outside his country for several decades due to political reasons. I learned about their experiences and struggles in Austria and planned to spend time with them during the weekend.

Before coming to Austria, I didn’t know whether I would be able to build meaningful friendships or not due to my short stay in Linz. I appreciated this unexpected opportunity that God provided me to speak with these women and to see their lives beyond the context of House of Hope.

Throughout a couple of our Building Bridges team meetings, we discussed the importance of spending time with refugees and immigrants and doing common activities or projects together. This work is key to the integration process after refugees receive the initial emergency help they need. The name “Building Bridges” communicates the importance of respectful, loving relationships which fill the gap between refugees or immigrants and other community members.

The end of my third week with OM was filled with such visits every night, which I either made alone or with Katie, a fellow team member. On the weekend I spent time with Jasmin and Maria each day and again on Friday night. Although short, entering into these people’s homes and lives showed me the variety of people which emigrate to Austria and the importance of simply stopping by to visit. Visiting their homes gave me a much deeper impression of the generosity within the Iraqi and Ethiopian cultures and allowed me to see Muslim families breaking their fast during a night of Ramadan. More than that, I began to hear people’s stories which they shared themselves or which Katie explained afterwards. I received a glimpse into their daily lives and their journeys and difficulties building a new home in Austria.

These visits altogether showed me a piece of the process of building cross-cultural relationships with refugees and immigrants and sharing Jesus with them. Integration requires going to these families and individuals and entering into their community-oriented culture, in order to connect them with the larger Austrian community and potentially a spiritual community. Our visits provided several opportunities to pray with people and to have spiritual conversations. Relationships with people facilitated this sharing, whereas it otherwise might have been impossible. Watching Katie lead some of these spiritual conversations or simply pray for people was an example to me in bringing my faith into conversations. Maybe the future will bring a deeper conversation about Jesus and faith between Jasmin and Maria with another worker.

As Jesus has reached out to us, we also have a rich opportunity to reach through cross-cultural barriers and share our faith along the way. The road is often difficult to navigate, but fully worth it. I am thankful that Jesus walks with us along this way!

* Names changed

They visited refugee families, showed the Jesus film, organised meetings for refugee women and did much more. “It was amazing how God sent the very people to us who were looking for the Truth,” said one of the participants.

Since 2015, an increasing number of refugees have come to Europe. Often, Christians don’t know how to interact with these people, who come from a totally different culture, and speak another language. Often they come from Muslim countries and have fled for different reasons. Some are escaping war, while others were being persecuted for their faith.

“It is hard for us Europeans to understand what it is like to have to leave one’s country so quickly,” said a participant. “The outreach really helped us to understand their world a little better. We spent time getting to know them, and seeking to serve them.”

Team members came from all over the world – Singapore, Wales, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The team was a colourful, mixed group of people, ready to share the good news with refugees. Every morning they had a time of worship and prayer. “Beginning each new day like this with God gave us strength for the challenges ahead of us, and we were excited to anticipate how He would work,” one participant shared.

Besides spiritual input, there was also training in how to interact with the refugees, teaching on the differences between the Qur’an and the Bible, and what each religion believed about Jesus. The team discussed ways Christians could find opportunities in Islam to carry on meaningful conversations with Muslims.

Christ is risen

The outreach began on Easter Sunday. The team visited a home for refugees and gave out invitations for the Jesus film, which would be shown the next evening in a church in Linz. Besides invitations, they also gave out Bibles in Farsi, the Jesus film in different languages, and packets with sweets and cards with a download for Christian literature.

And then came the evening for the film. The team expected 50-80 visitors, but God had a much bigger plan and sent over 120 people who wanted to see the Jesus film. Before the film, the team served turkey sausages and bread rolls, to welcome them, and have time for fellowship.

“Unfortunately,” recalled a team member, “most of our team was women, and we knew that women should only speak with women and men with men, and most of the visitors were men. We asked ourselves where our men workers were. We felt frustrated, but gave our best anyway.”

Lending a hand

The remaining days were a mixture of different activities. Team members divided into small groups and helped in different areas. Helping the children with their homework turned into also cleaning the rooms, some helped in the ‘International Café’ in the meeting centre, and others visited refugee families in their homes. There was plenty of variety in the programme and everyone could gain some experience in each area.

“A highlight of the week was the prayer walk, which we made through the centre of Linz,” said a participant. “On the last day, the street outreach led to many challenging conversations with passers-by.”

God continually gave the team members opportunities to talk with different people who were genuinely seeking for the truth. A participant concluded: “We pray that these people will not lose their desire to seek for the truth, and that they will recognise and receive the love and forgiveness of God.”

In the countries on the Arabian Peninsula, to talk about Jesus, the Bible or to give Muslims literature about Christianity is only done at great risk. In some of these countries, it is even against the law to own a Bible.

The Salamu Aleikum outreach is a completely different experience. It is an opportunity for an OM team to share their own experience of the risen Lord Jesus with people from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait, in complete freedom. And they are even able to give them an Arabic New Testament or SD card for their computer or smart phone; full of Christian literature and films.

For the 24 participants on this year’s outreach in Zell am See, Austria from 4th-13th July 2016, each day began with prayer, sharing and training sessions on the Arabic culture and leading everyday conversations with Muslims. In the evenings, they headed out in groups of four, two people who had conversations and two people to pray, who kept the conversation in sight, whilst praying for the encounters throughout the evening.

This year, the team was joined by some experienced brothers and sisters who are serving in Arab countries. Other participants came from the USA, Great Britain, Switzerland and Austria. For the first time, this year there were some musicians on the team, to try and reach Gulf Arabs through classical music. In the six days of outreach, there were spiritual conversations with around 300 Arabs, and more than 80 New Testaments and more than 130 SD cards were given out.

Experiences of the participants:  

Someone from the same town

Fritz* shares: "Humanly speaking it was not such a great day. But then my partner and I prayed, that the Lord would lead us to someone who was frustrated with life. Not only that, but also to someone from a town in which we serve! And God really did lead us to such a person! We got into conversation with the man, and talked to him about faith and gave him an SD card. He was very open and seemed to be a person of peace. I hope that I am able to get in contact with him when I get back to my country. I am still praising God for this man from “my town” because in the whole 10 days, he was the only man that anyone from our whole team met from this town!"

Going a little way together

Peter* shares: "My partner and I saw two young men in front of us, who were slowly heading along the lakeside, away from the town. We decided that if they stopped in the next 50m, we would speak to them. Less than 5 seconds later, they stopped to take a photo. “It is a really a beautiful view, isn’t it?” I said to them. They were very pleased to be spoken to. So we went for a walk with them.

Saeed and Amir were both from the United Arab Emirates. Soon we were talking about fasting and after walking for about half an hour, we had covered many more topics: from sin, forgiveness through blood sacrifice, Jesus as the final sacrifice to our assurance of acceptance by God. They seemed to absorb everything we were saying and asked many questions.

By the time we arrived in the next small town, we decided it was time to say our farewell. It came as a surprise when they then told us, that they also had to head back to their hotel in Zell am See! We had both, in wanting to be polite, accompanied each other to a place neither of us wanted to go!

On our way back, we answered their questions on the reliability of the Bible and my partner shared his testimony with them. Finally it was time to part, and they thanked us, saying how happy they were to have met us, and how thankful they were that we had explained our faith to them."

Marion* from one of the prayer teams wrote the following about this encounter: "I work on the Arabian Peninsula, and even if I always had many chances to get into conversation, I really enjoyed it to be able to pray for others in Zell am See. Once we were praying for our brothers as they were walking along the promenade. They were walking for over half an hour. As we were following them from a distance and praying for them, I saw this wonderful picture, of Jesus walking with us and leading us into the Kingdom of God. It was a really special prayer time."

Music Team

Beate*: "After our three musicians had played for a while, my partner and I wanted to speak to a couple which had been watching us for the whole time. We greeted them and welcomed them to Austria. We quickly got into conversation and asked them if they had children. They answered that they had a seven year old boy, who was currently playing in the park.

The husband, who was from Riyadh then directly asked us if we would pray for them to have another child. They were happy for us to pray there and then on the spot in the name of Jesus. They were very moved by this short prayer. The woman seemed to look at me very directly in the eyes. I felt this special connection to her, and as they eventually headed away from the place where we were sitting and playing, I gestured to her that we would pray for them and that everything would work out well for them. I really believe that they will have another child and that they will recognize that Jesus was the one who did this in their lives! Please pray that they will both get to know their savior!"

Warm Hospitality

Karin*: "We were strolling past a mother and her three daughters. I smiled at her and greeted her in Arabic. As I did so, she jumped up and threw herself into my arms. She was so overwhelmed that someone had been so friendly to her in Austria. Normally she was ignored. After chatting for half an hour on the park bench, she invited us for a coffee in the Grand Hotel. There we were able to explain the whole plan of salvation and give our testimony. She listened intently. After she had heard the many stories of the blood sacrifice and the fulfillment of all of this in Jesus, the woman spoke up: “Aha, so it’s all about the blood.” At the end, she gladly accepted a new Testament and an SD card."

*Name changed

Seeking for truth

I was able to get to know an Afghan family. In spite of our many differences, for instance the differences in our faith, it was a wonderful time and we could laugh a lot together. Jesus was with us each time we visited, and we could feel His love amongst us. During a longer visit, we were able to talk with the man about the differences and similarities between the Koran and the Bible. He understood God’s greatness and power, and even reads the Bible. We are praying that God will show him that the God of the Bible is the true God.

An exciting and impressive week

The AMIN week was truly blessed and led by God. The hospitality of the refugees and their openness to talk about faith impressed me. We invited them to watch the Jesus film and over 100 refugees came. It overwhelms me to see how God is working amongst Muslims and is drawing them to Himself.

A visit to Austria with a difference

I praise God for an unbelievable week in Linz! God gave me the opportunity to come to Austria for a week. While the Jesus film was showing, several participants began to pray in the background that God would open the hearts of the hearers and that the Holy Spirit would work miracles. We asked Jesus to reveal himself in a special way to these refugees. This was my first experience (I come from Asia) of meeting so many refugees from so many different countries – Bosnia, Romania, Syria, Ghana, Pakistan, Iran, Nigeria, etc. They were pleasant, polite and friendly. At the end, several showed interest in knowing more about Jesus and gave us their contact details so that we could invite them to further events. That was very encouraging for those who had worked and prayed for this. We trust God for the perfect time to bring in this harvest. I pray that God will send more workers to this field to build his kingdom.

Seeking hope

I was thrilled to see so many refugees coming to the meeting centre. Once I met a young man from Afghanistan, and he told me his story while sitting in the sewing room at the centre sewing a T-shirt. Cast out by his father, he and his brothers and sisters and mother fled to Iran. When he was fourteen he went to Turkey and trained to be a tailor. About a year ago he came to Austria. His father had ruined everything and he wanted to do better. I hope and pray that young people like him will find a life of freedom. It was a very moving week in which I was inspired for the work amongst refugees. I returned to everyday life motivated and refreshed, full of new ideas and valuable contacts.

Homework helper

As is often the case in work with refugees, there were many spontaneous changes in the plans during the AMIN week. Instead of giving out invitations for a celebration, I was asked to help the children with their homework in the afternoon programme. As patience and dealing with children’s noise are not exactly my strong points, I was wondering how I would cope as teacher’s helper.

Most of the children went to work enthusiastically, and I was amazed at their trust in me. That made the job much easier. With a few other children, it took all my ingenuity to motivate them to stick at their homework or the extra exercises. Discipline was sometimes a challenge too as several children tried to find out who was really the boss! At the end of the afternoon - four hours of the noise and bundled up energy of twenty children - I felt exhausted.

The afternoon help with homework, in which the workers really give of their best, gives the children a tremendous chance to succeed in school. And just as valuable is the atmosphere of worth, and encouragement, which is not linked to country, religion or gender. In many of the families from which these children come, that is not to be taken for granted.

Waiting

One afternoon during the AMIN week we met Abdullah*, my Syrian friend. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time so we were all happy to meet up again. Abdullah had studied Arabic in Syria and then worked for several years as a shoemaker. Now it is easy to communicate with him comfortably in German. A few months ago, he was granted asylum and now he wants nothing more than to find a job. But until now his search has been unsuccessful and his hopes of building a new life for himself are not being realized. This is depressing him and he is beginning to draw back from the outside world. I encouraged him to stay in contact with me. Many refugees here are finding that the reality is different from their expectations. Receiving asylum is no guarantee of a successful new beginning. Not many refugees expected it would be so hard to find work in Europe. As Christians, we need to constantly encourage them not to give up. We pray for them, and invite them to come to Him who holds everything in His hand, and is our hope.

* Name changed

At OM Building Bridges, training and equipping Christians for ministry with immigrants and refugees lays heavily on the hearts of the team. From their perspective, the best way to gain experience in this is to take part in a short-term outreach. From 20-29 of April, a group of ten believers set off from Austria (six of them from Linz) to Turkey.

Seeking something greater

The team spent the first five days in Istanbul, and the 23rd April was an absolute highlight. Literally thousands of Muslims made a pilgrimage to the Orthodox Church on the largest of the Princes’ Islands, off the coast of Istanbul. By carrying out many religious rites, the people hope their wishes will be granted. Market stalls line a stretch of around two kilometres, offering everything possible to make money from these seekers.

A few years ago, Christian believers discovered that this day offers a unique opportunity for Christians to present the gospel to Muslims. Groups can preach, present dramas, sing, give out New Testaments, films, books and tracts, and offer to pray for individuals.

Every year, thousands of New Testaments are distributed. The organisers of this outreach (200-350 Christians from all around the world now take part) tell of people who were healed of cancer and other diseases, and as a result have come to faith in Jesus and have joined a local church. A couple of workers had the privilege of leading two Turkish women to Jesus.

Hospitable conversations

From Istanbul, the group flew to the south west of Turkey, where they spent another five days working alongside a church planting team. A highlight was the international evening, to which friends and acquaintances of the team, and people in the town were invited.

The encounters of those ten days were an unforgettable experience for all the participants. They noticed it was easy to get into conversation with Turks. Unlike with many Europeans, God is a theme over which one can naturally talk.

The team was happy to come home safely, but they don’t want to forget this beautiful land, with its hospitable people, and will remember them in prayer.

Many Turks are unhappy about their present situation. Pray that they would come to know Jesus, the one who can bring real peace to Turkey and its people.

A New beginning in Graz

Plans are being made for a new ministry in Graz, which will start in the summer of 2016. As a result of consultation with local churches, an emphasis will be placed on working with Christian refugees, and new believers.

The Situation

We read increasingly of attacks on Christians in refugee homes, and the constant pressure under which they live. It is a tragedy that many of them, who have fled from radical Islam in their own countries, encounter hindrances to living out their faith in Europe. They are often put under pressure by the community and considered ‘traitors’ by their fellow citizens. For this reason, it is hard for them to grow in their faith and some have given up after a time and returned to Islam.

The Project

The OM team will work together with the Graz churches to establish apartments for Christian refugees, where they can live in safety and be cared for by the believers. They should be able to have fellowship with other Christians, without fear, in living out their faith. This is especially necessary for new believers to help them grow and mature in faith. For those who come from countries where they were persecuted, it can be very helpful to be in a place where they can experience peace and freedom. It is our dream to provide a ‘meeting centre’, where we can help refugees settle into the Austrian society, and where they will experience Christians who are caring for them in a practical way.

The Team also wants to concentrate on improving the network of refugee work that already exists in Graz. It is encouraging to see what is already happening! There are a lot of advantages when churches work together to fulfill their biblical responsibility to care for refugees.

Please pray for the new ‘Building Bridges’ team in Graz and pray that God will call more people into this ministry.

Crowds of women in black, white, and coloured headscarves avoided catching the eyes of men, while an Arabic menu provided a clue about the culture of all these tourists. There in the middle of Zell am See, Austria we found a colourful mix of open and closed, fearful yet curious, unfamiliar but friendly people from the Arab Gulf States.

Zell am See receives many tourists from the Arab Gulf because the summer is hot at home, and because the town resembles paradise as described in the Koran; green grass, waterfalls, mountains...and the snow that is still there even in summer.  The town has translated a lot of their signs (menus, shops, tourist attractions) into Arabic as an act of hospitality towards the visitors. 

This was the setting for the Salamu Aleikum outreach from July 16-July 24.  It felt like a totally different world with different social norms, a different alphabet, and a different picture of God—and yet it was so near to home.

Our team of 20 came together from around the world—USA , Korea, Nepal, Mexico, South Africa, England, Finland, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Austria—to share the Gospel with Muslims from the very heartland of Islam.

Every morning we met together to pray and to learn about their customs, historical background, the differences between the Koran and the Bible, and the role of Jesus in both religions. In our morning devotions we looked at how Gideon, Deborah, John the Baptist, and Jesus himself allowed God to use them.

Then we moved out to the popular tourist areas like the promenade by the lake in Zell am See, or to the Krimmler waterfalls, or to Kaprun.  We gave out New Testaments, the JESUS film, and cards with links to download Christian literature.

Sometimes it led to a conversation, sometimes just a silent prayer of blessing, and sometimes they shared their concerns with us and we could introduce Jesus into the situation and pray with them.

It was wonderful that although the forecast called for rain, the weather stayed dry so that we could get into deeper discussions about the truth.

It was amazing the way a Saudi man reverently received an Incil (New Testament) with a kiss, and heartbreaking when a brother snatched Christian literature away from his sister.

As a team we experienced many different reactions from the people we encountered—rejection, acceptance, discussions, forgiveness, and unity in spite of our cultural differences.

We saw how quickly the practice of unity and prayer made a difference and when we continued to pray with one accord. The Arabs were more open to receive literature and get into conversation, and we experienced more boldness in speaking to new people.

If there is one thing the team learned from this outreach, it’s that God is at work in spite of our weakness. We are totally dependent on Him!

Pray for the participants of the Salamu Aleikum outreach to continue to reach out in their own contexts. Pray for a seed to be planted in those they spoke with, that the Lord would continue to grow his truth in their hearts.

The festivals are a crucial starting point to making contact in Roma villages. It has proven to be a way to bring the Gospel into villages and a tool to lead families to faith; children’s UNA clubs and adult Bible Study groups have started and grown into small churches.

This year UNA festivals were launched in Serbia and Bulgaria.  

Against the backdrop of a completely segregated Bayash Roma community in Serbia, banners boldly declared “God is for us, not against us”. It is a vital message for people who believe they are cursed.

Each child received a badge and a bright yellow T-shirt with the UNA logo on it. For most of the boys and girls, it was the first new T-shirt they had ever owned. In a community that normally gets the leftovers, receiving something new of high quality communicates that they are valued. Through the eye-catching Bible story colouring books, children learnt of encounters with God the Father and God the Son through the stories of Moses, the Prodigal Son and the Samaritan woman at the well.

“The children were exceptional,” Bob Hitching, from the Roma Bible Union, said. “Normally when we go to a village where we have not been before, chaos is normal. But the children were so well behaved as they bathed in a joy that they had never known before.”

The programme started with singing and food. However, once activities began, two policemen came to close down the event, even though the Roma Bible Union had received permission to use the field. Despite a disappointing setback, Bob is confident his team will return; he sees that Christianity amongst the Roma people is on the rise in this region. OM EAST and their partners trust that what God has started, He will bring to completion.

In Bulgaria, the first UNA festival was well received in the village where it was held. When the programme ended, a group of Roma mothers sang a song to thank the leaders. In the coming months OM EAST partners will start a regular club there.

God’s light is going into unreached Roma villages across Central and Eastern Europe. In an environment where there is rejection and fear, God’s offer of love and peace is stirring children’s hearts.

Praise God that nearly 1,000 Roma children heard the Gospel this summer. Please pray they would give their lives to Jesus and that whole villages would be transformed by the power of God. Please pray for follow-up clubs that are starting. Please pray for OM EAST graphic designers as they produce teaching material in four languages for the UNA clubs.

OM has supported the ATC since its establishment in 2013 as members of the board and by encouraging people to participate in the programme, which equips individuals to support or start a church.  

Relatives, friends, representatives from local churches and board members attended the ceremony. Ulli Krömer, an ATC leader, challenged those present to ask themselves, “What am I living for?” He stressed the importance of not looking back on the traditional way of doing things, but rather concentrating on the future.

“We should begin to move forwards,” he said. “God wants to write history with each one of us.”

The graduates shared about their future plans, which the training prepared them for. Graduate Debbie* will join the leadership teams of ATC and ReachAut, which runs evangelistic summer outreaches in Austria. Graduates Nathan*, Daniel* and Andrea* will work with churches in Vienna and Upper Austria in discipleship and evangelism. Simon* and David* have a burden for Linz and Innsbruck. Joachim* and Tabitha* were long-term guests at ATC and will go to Styria in southern Austria to plant a church.

Praise God for the lives of the graduates and the training they received to do His work. Pray that wherever they go, they will be lights that lead many to Christ.

*Full name not included for security reasons

The Bible storybook is being distributed in places where people have not yet heard about Jesus and in countries where there is little Christian literature available. The latest edition has just been printed and will be distributed in a country that is predominantly Muslim.

It continues to be a very important book for families in Eurasia. Following each biblical story there are questions about the decisions made by individuals, encouraging readers to think about choices from God’s perspective and how this applies to their lives. 

“I like The Right Choices Bible because it makes me think that even the people of the Bible faced decisions in their life like us,” said a seven-year-old Albanian girl. “It is always important to know how to make the right choices, and this Bible is a very good guide. I like the activities section, since this is a game time for our family and practice for that which we learnt.” 

A couple from Albania wrote, “We would like to thank you very much for the donation of Bibles because they are very useful for the children in our daily project. In the beginning they didn’t know how to read and only listened and followed with their eyes, but now they are starting to read. We are very thankful for having this Bible that was prepared for them in their language.”

OM EAST praises God that thousands of copies of The Right Choices Bible are being distributed throughout Eurasia. It is their prayer that God’s truth would speak into individuals’ lives and lead them to choose Christ.

Please pray God would guide those involved in distribution. Please pray God would prepare individuals’ hearts to receive the Gospel.

View more photos of The Right Choices Bible distribution: OM EAST blog.

On Sunday 31 May the autobiography was presented at a Roma church in southern Serbia. After the service individuals were invited to come forward and receive a copy.

“It was awesome,” Lenka* from OM EAST said. “People started pressing towards the table. It looked like chaos, but it wasn’t. They just really wanted the book.”

Nearly 500 believers had gathered for the evening service in the city of Leskovac, where they meet in a tent, as they have no building.

The Roma pastors were so excited to give the book to their church. They were keen for those who had worked on the Serbian publication to attend the special opening and share in their joy. Gypsy Smith was designed and published by OM EAST in partnership with translators and editors from the Roma Bible Union, so representatives from both teams attended the celebration.  

“It was so encouraging to attach a face to a place,” Lenka said. “It encouraged me to know that what we are doing is reaching people, to see it going into people’s hands.”  

Julianna*, from the Roma Bible Union, introduced the autobiography. As she looked out across the congregation, she could imagine young men and women following in the footsteps of Rodney “Gypsy” Smith.

“I could almost see them sharing the good news, evangelising and bringing hope where there is no hope at all,” Julianna said. “I could see them reaching out to non-Roma as well, just like Gypsy Smith did.”

OM EAST, their partners and the local pastors are expectant to see how God will use Smith’s powerful testimony. They believe it has the potential to change perceptions and inspire one of the most discriminated people groups to believe that God can use them to proclaim His name in amazing ways.

Praise God for the funds needed to publish the book in the Serbian language. Please pray this book will impact lives, strengthen believers and encourage them to expect great things of God.

View more photos: OM EAST blog.

Serbian Gypsy Smith available for download: OM EAST eBooks.

*Full name not included for security reasons

“Meeting so many people who are all involved in media production or distribution for the kingdom is so inspiring and enriching,” Simon said. “Media is an amazing tool to reach the unreached.”

Simon was interested to talk to a Kazan Tatar man from Tatarstan, a republic of Russia. The Kazan Tatars are a people group that OM EAST has published literature for who have no complete Bible in their language. The man was delighted to meet someone who has worked on producing a children’s Bible in the Kazan Tatar language. In fact, he has helped to distribute these same children’s Bibles in the capital.

“He was unbelievably happy to meet someone who is doing something for his people, someone involved on the other side of the work,” Simon said. “It was great to see how God arranged for us to meet.”

Another participant is involved in work among the Yakuts in the Sakha Republic of Russia and knew of the children’s Bible OM EAST has produced in the Yakut language. They would like to see more children’s literature published in the Yakut language.

There were great opportunities to tell individuals about OM EAST’s downloadable eBooks in different languages, which could be useful for more ministries. A man who had not heard of the website returned later to show Simon some eBooks he already had on his phone. They were OM EAST’s eBooks.

“It was encouraging to find that someone who has not heard about our website is using the eBooks,” Simon said. “They are being passed in digital form from one person to the next.”

OM EAST thanks God for the mutual encouragement it was for Simon and those involved in distribution to meet together at the conference.

Praise God for a valuable time for learning from one another. Please pray for wisdom in how to use what has been learnt to further maximise media for building God’s kingdom. Please pray for those who are reaching out to minority groups in Eurasia.

*Full name not included for security reasons

Earlier this year Miriam*, from an outreach group, told OM EAST how one story resonated with a young Romanian woman they talked to in a brothel.   

They gave her a small gift and offered her a tract called, The Pearl. She was very happy to get something in her own language, as she only knew a little German.

“She stood in front of us and started to read it straight away, out loud,” Miriam shared.

The story is of a beautiful pearl whose owner throws it away. It is found by someone else but then forgotten and lost, until it is buried in the ground and hidden. Finally someone who sees its true worth finds it and cleans it, restoring its shine and making it new. It’s a message of how Jesus came to find us, like the merchant looking for fine pearls (Matt. 13:45).

They waited until she had finished reading. “That does my heart so much good,” the young Romanian responded, and held her hand to her heart. The team sensed how deeply it affected her.

“The tracts are a real help to overcome language barriers,” Miriam explains. “Ladies have also asked me, ‘Have you got something for me to read? I need it for my soul.’”

God is using publications like The Pearl to speak truth into individuals’ lives, telling them of Jesus’ love and acceptance, and that He wants them to know how much they’re worth.

Praise God He is touching people’s hearts. Pray for women to accept Jesus’ offer of new life and stand on His promises and trust Him.

More resources that bring a message of hope to women working in prostitution can be found on the EAST eBook site.

*Name changed

Smith’s story resonated with the pastor in Serbia, who is also Roma and from a very poor background. No one would have expected him to be educated and become a pastor of a large and growing church.

He wants to make the book, Gypsy Smith: His Life and Work, available in the Serbian language, so it can encourage and inspire his congregation. The autobiography is being published by OM EAST in partnership with translators and editors from the Roma Bible Union.

“To read and find out about his adventures and blessed life and work is very humbling and encouraging,” Julianna*, an editor from the Roma Bible Union, said. “You cry and laugh with him as he is telling his stories. It is full of testimonies about God’s glorious and divine work.”

It was a special moment for Julianna and her team when they completed the translation of Gypsy Smith. “When we were doing the proofreading, all of us got very emotional after finishing,” Julianna shared.

Two of the other proofreaders are Roma believers from the church in Serbia; they can’t wait to give this to their people to read. OM EAST’s literature and media team has recently finished the design and layout; it is ready for print.

OM EAST and their partners believe this book will impact both Roma and non-Roma.

“It gives hope to Roma people that they can be saved, and that God loves them just as all his children,” Julianna said. “And that they can reach out and share the Gospel with all nations just as ‘Gypsy’ Smith did, giving all the credit to God.”  

Please pray that Roma brothers and sisters in Serbia will be inspired that God can use them to build His Kingdom. Please pray for the funds needed to publish Smith’s autobiography in the Serbian language.

*Full name not included for security reasons

The OM EAST team give God thanks for the largest donation of schoolbags they had ever had. Three of their team members delivered the backpacks to their partners in Bosnia-Herzegovina for them to distribute to those in need.

OM EAST’s partners from OM Bosnia left the town, Bihać, with a precious load of schoolbags for children living outside the city. They drove up a steep hill and along narrow dirt tracks to reach one of the villages. There were nine pupils in the whole school, all meeting in one classroom. It was a special event when their partners gave out the filled backpacks.

“It was fun to watch the faces of the kids,” Jael Puusaag, from OM Bosnia said. “First they were shy and a bit embarrassed, but then they got their bags and big smiles broke out everywhere!”

Jael and her team had prayed for God to show them the towns and villages they should go to this year. God put places on their hearts and, together with local church members, they visited schools in Sarajevo, in Muslim villages outside Bihać and other parts of the country.  

The team had helped people living in areas affected by the flooding in May. A family with four children had lost their home after a mudslide. The parents had been very concerned how to provide for their children, as they had no money. When the donation of bags arrived, the mother could not hide her tears of joy.

The practical help sends a powerful message of care and love.

“Now it feels like we have been friends for a long time!” the director of the schools said. “It really does not happen so much in our society that somebody just comes simply and honestly to help others!”

The parents and teachers were amazed by the quality. The OM teams and local church members pray that they would recognise these donations as a blessing from God.

OM Bosnia was given permission from the school director to include a letter for the parents containing two tracts: a Gospel of Mark and information about a church.

Praise God for this opportunity! Pray that whole families in Bosnia-Herzegovina respond to the message of Jesus as their saviour and provider.

Read more about the Schoolbags for Bosnia project.

View more photos from this year’s Schoolbags for Bosnia project on the OM EAST blog: Big smiles in Bosnia.

Three of OM EAST’s team members joined their partners and participants from across Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans. The majority of participants, including pastors, were Roma. The weeklong consultation was held in English, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian.

Sounds of Roma worship music and people singing praises to God filled the hall. There were incredible testimonies of how Jesus has changed individuals’ lives, freeing them from alcoholism, guiding through dreams, bringing healing and releasing people from practices of superstition. There were stories of whole villages being impacted. 

“A highlight for me was to see what God is doing among the Roma,” said Simon*, OM EAST’s graphic design leader. “There are huge challenges, but God is doing amazing things and miracles are happening. It was great to see the vision they have for mission.”

The name of the conference, Roma for the Nations, reflected their vision not only to share the Gospel in their own communities, but also for God to use them to reach non-Roma. OM Founder George Verwer spoke, encouraging their involvement in missions. 

Participants were very interested in examples of seven publications OM EAST has published in partnership with the Roma Bible Union for the Bayash in Croatia, Hungary and Serbia. They trust the literature may be useful for others in their ministries. 

“We are at an exciting time where our partners are working on translating God’s Word into other Romani dialects,” Simon said. “It is a privilege to partner with them in producing literature specifically for the Roma.”

OM EAST’s team members gained more insight into the big picture. There was a sense of great potential as well as of the reality of the needs. Individuals shared about issues of extreme poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, limited resources and lack of Scripture in their language. There was a particular focus on how local pastors, leaders and other organisations can work together to strengthen their ministries. 

The OM EAST team thanks God for such a blessed time: God was glorified, His people encouraged with an exciting vision for the future. It was special for the team to see Roma pastors and leaders full of the joy of the Lord, even as they serve in complex situations, proclaiming what a great God we have! 

Praise God for the blessed time at the conference. Please pray for wisdom going forward as people follow up on connections made and how they can best work together. Pray God’s protection over participants as they returned to their places of ministry. 

View more photos from the Roma conference on the OM EAST blog.

*Full name not included for security reasons

There is very little Christian literature in the Georgian language so, when the OM EAST media team and their partners produce another publication, it is a highlight and talking point in the churches. 

Because most Georgians have never read God’s Word for themselves, OM EAST has recently published the Right Choices Bible, an illustrated Bible storybook that provides an accessible way to bring the Gospel into homes of local people. It has been well received so far:

“This book was so precious to one woman,” their local partner told them. “She even held it while she was sleeping, hugging it to her heart!” 

The media team members are moved to hear of this woman’s response.

“What a privilege to be able to provide such needed and appreciated publications,” Simon*, graphic designer from OM EAST, said.

OM EAST is blessed by brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who support them to bring God’s truth to Georgians from the capital, Tbilisi, to remote mountain villages.    

Please pray that, as people’s eyes and hearts are opened through the literature, they would come to know Jesus.    

*Full name not included for security reasons

The fifth booklet is now finished. Part of a series of 10 booklets, the latest one addresses what God’s Word says about fortune-telling and witchcraft. This is a critical issue in Bayash villages, where many people are living in bondage to the occult and need to know that they can be set free by Jesus. Other topics include what the Bible says about prayer, the church, forgiveness, family, drunkenness and work.

“It is incredible to see the team work to produce this material,” Bob Hitching, an OM EAST partner from the Roma Bible Union, shares.

This Roma group believe they are cursed. In fact, the words of their national anthem are, “I’m cursed, you’re cursed, we are Bayash so we are all cursed.”

“It’s actually in their song!” Bob explains. “That’s why we tell them, ‘God is for us not against us.’ They can’t believe God is for them! It’s integral to their understanding.”

They are being changed by this truth. Ten years ago, there were no churches and they had no Scripture; Bayash was not even a written language. Now there is a family Bible storybook, Mark’s Gospel, comics and educational resources in the Bayash language, published by OM EAST and the Roma Bible Union. Now small groups are starting and becoming growing churches.

“At this particular time, we are at an interesting cycle in history,” Bob says. “It is the first time that the Gospel has actually penetrated through the wall of darkness because there is so much witchcraft and wickedness that exists in the culture. In the last three or four years we have seen a dramatic spiritual change.”

People are responding to the Gospel. There is true repentance and a hunger for God’s Word.

The first four booklets are meeting the need to disciple Bayash Christians in Croatia, Hungary and Serbia, helping them to grow in faith. They are proving to be useful for other Roma groups, such as the Arli Roma in Serbia. The Arli Christians face similar issues and also need to be equipped to live for Christ in villages where unemployment, domestic violence, alcoholism and superstition are commonplace. Therefore, OM EAST will publish the Bible studies in the Arli language, Bayash language, Hungarian and Serbian.

In September, members of the OM EAST team and their partners are attending a Roma conference in Budapest where OM Founder George Verwer is speaking. Roma, including Roma pastors, and representatives from different organisations involved with Roma groups will gather for networking, training and workshops. Copies of the four printed booklets will be shown at the conference; the OM EAST team and their partners trust they will be useful for others to see and possibly use in their ministries.

OM EAST and the Roma Bible Union are eager to see how God will use this new literature. They want to help raise up a generation of believers who learn God’s promises and discover His life-giving truth as they deepen their relationship with Jesus. The OM EAST team believes that the resources will equip individuals to disciple new Christians, lead churches and reach out in their villages. May the Bayash believers see God set many more people free!

Please continue to pray for OM EAST’s graphic designers as they complete the series. Please pray for final funds needed to print all 10 booklets in four languages. Pray for a good conference and vision for going forward in reaching out to Roma groups.

Read more: Bayash studying the Bible.

Privilege and openness

“It is a tremendous privilege to reach people from such closed countries – in absolute freedom, with little effort – just by talking on the promenade, along the lake or at some other tourist attraction,” said Gabi*, a participant of the six-day outreach.

During the outreach, the women participants went out in pairs and were often invited to join a family picnic in the park. While drinking Arabic coffee with their new friends, the participants and Arab families chatted about life, children, cultural similarities and differences and, of course, faith.

It surprised the team that often the Arab women spoke better English than the men. Equally misleading was the veil the women wore that covered the whole body, revealing just the eyes, which gave an impression of stiff reserve. But the team found that Arab women are quite open and cordial with Western women. Over the course of a conversation, the husbands sometimes joined in with interest.

Barriers and yearning

Often one of the biggest barriers to faith for Muslims is the belief that Jesus is God. Islam reveres Jesus as a special prophet who performed many miracles, but does not consider Him God.

One team member shared a story from the Bible with a woman from Saudi Arabia that clearly deals with the question of who Jesus is, and witnessed how strongly the Bible can speak to the heart of a Muslim.

In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind, who assumes in the beginning that He must be a prophet. Later he states: “Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing” (vv.32-33; NIV). Finally meeting Jesus and being asked by Him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” (v. 35), the man answers, “Lord, I believe” (v. 28) and he worships Him.

“We got talking about Jesus and read John 9 with her,” remembers the team member. “Then she asked of her own accord if she might keep the Bible.”

Sowing and reaping

“Our prayer is that many of those tourists take their presents back to their home countries and venture on an encounter with the living Lord,” concluded Gabi. “Now is the time to sow and – as we hear from the Arab World – more and more the time to reap, too. By taking part in an Salamu Aleikum outreach, you too can take part in one of the biggest miracles of our times: That Muslims come to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! God has opened the doors in places like Zell am See. We do not know how long they will be open!”

For more information about opportunities to serve in Austria visit the OM website here.

* Name changed

When Johanna* joined OM Austria to work in the Linz office, she also chose to invest part of her time at the centre, and it has been an eye opener for her to see what life is like for immigrants in Austria. 

“More foreigners than Austrians live in this neighbourhood, and they struggle to fit their background culture into their new surroundings,” says Johanna. “While the men are busy either working or looking for work, the women tend to stay at home, mostly in extremely small flats, looking after their children. They find it difficult to interact with Austrians, so they stay locked into their own culture.

“The children, however, through being in school, grow up with two cultures and often don’t know where their priorities should lie. These are the ones who suffer the most. Often their German is weak (although they manage to learn an awful lot of swear words!), and other children look down on them, teachers feel out of their depth trying to keep them up with the class, and parents can’t help them with homework. Their frustration often shows up in outbreaks of anger. For this reason we feel we should invest our time in these children. They need to be listened to and to be helped to integrate without losing their own culture.”

Workers at the centre offer the children help with their homework in the afternoons and play with them to bring some fun and relaxation to their lives.

“Little Mark* is well known for his angry outbursts, but now and again I get a huge grin from him during our football games,” Johanna shares. “I’m still working on Ahmet*, hoping that one day he will accept my friendship and stop taking out his frustrations on the ball and the wall.”

Workers also plan activities for the women. “Some are happy to have escaped the dangers in their homeland, such as the bombings in Bagdad, or more recently in Syria, and can now live in a rich land,” says Johanna.

But, she says, adapting can be confusing for the women, as they are financially dependent on their husbands or fathers, may struggle with learning a new language, might feel pulled toward their own culture and are not sure how much they should adapt to the “decadent West”. 

“Their lives are much more restricted here than in their homeland,” says Johanna. “Our first step is to offer them German languages courses, so that they can simply communicate, feel more at home here, and hopefully make Austrian friends.”

The ministry has limitations, though. Workers have found that they need to be very sensitive in sharing their faith in these situations. And with only a handful of people serving at the centre, they find it hard to find enough local Christians with the time or interest to invest in the centre.

Please pray that God would send the integration centre more workers who will be a living witness of His love.

*Name changed

The illustrations are complete, and one of their graphic designers is working on the initial layout. It will then be produced in the Czech language and Romanian, with other Central and Eastern European languages to follow.

The booklet shares the testimony of a woman whose life was falling apart and how she turned to God for help. It’s a story of how God saved her, gave her hope and a new life.  

Stories like these play an important part in reaching out to women in red light areas. Sarah* working in this ministry area sums up her hopes for the impact that these booklets will have:

“May they tell each woman that they are not forgotten and that the Almighty God loves them and longs to help them.”

Please pray for the final stages of production, and that the story will be a blessing to many women throughout Central and Eastern Europe.  

*Name changed

More booklets and tracts bringing a message of hope to women working in prostitution can be found on the EAST eBook site. 
 

Every year OM EAST are amazed how God puts it on people’s hearts to give good-quality used and new backpacks to equip children for the start of the school term.

This time, God’s provision came in the form of an unexpected letter.

Doris*, one of OM EAST’s supporters in Switzerland, received a letter from the director of a nearby schoolbag manufacturer. God had guided her to contact the same director last year, and he responded by offering a generous supply of new goods free of charge. However, Doris was surprised to hear from him.

He wrote asking if the project in Bosnia was still running and, if so, how many schoolbags were needed. Not sure what to expect, Doris let him know that the OM teams needed 250 hard-cased schoolbags for young children and 150 backpacks for older students. The director replied that he would like to donate all 400!

The OM EAST team is encouraged by how God so clearly supplies the resources they need to support OM Bosnia and local churches in their ministry.

“It is wonderful to see God’s faithfulness through the commitment of many individuals who are praying and have given gifts of additional schoolbags, materials, and funds to cover the cost of filling the bags and delivery,” the OM EAST Field Leader says.

OM Bosnia, together with churches, will distribute the filled schoolbags to over 400 children. An OM Bosnia worker says the backpacks are a great way for the OM team to build relationships with the local community as they work together with the local church.

OM EAST and OM Bosnia praise God that they have been given permission to include a letter for the parents containing Christian literature.

“The schoolbags are a sign to the families of God’s love and care for them,” the OM EAST Field Leader says. “We want them to know they are a gift from God. Through the literature we pray they would find that God wants to give them so much more. We are expectant to see how God will use these precious gifts.”

Pray that hundreds of children and their families will be blessed this summer by the practical help and the gift of the Gospel. Pray that parents will share the Christian literature with their children, and whole families would come to faith.

Read more about the Schoolbags for Bosnia project.

Read how God provided an abundance of new schoolbags last year: Over and above what was asked.

*Last name not included for security reasons

Recently one of the Roma Bible Union team members, Kristof*, gave a copy to an Arli man.  As he left, Kristof was deeply moved by what he had witnessed.

“It was so touching to see him react to having a Bible in his own language,” Kristof said. “He just held it and said over and over ‘this is my language’. He was so touched and excited that it got me touched and excited and [when I drove home] I almost crashed into a bus!”

The man’s response is a powerful example of how important it is for people to receive God’s truth in the language closest to their heart.

The Arli have many customs and traditions, but their sense of identity is mainly defined by their language. There is very little Scripture in Arli. My First Bible is the only family Bible in print, and for many Arli Roma, it is the first time they have ever read anything written in their mother tongue.

It’s now four years since 1,500 copies were published by OM EAST and sent to their partners for distribution in Serbia.

“It’s wonderful to hear of the impact these books continue to have,” Simon*, graphic designer from OM EAST said.  

“Three years ago, I visited our partners in Serbia,” Simon reflects. “When we travelled in the area where the Arli live, we saw some children in the street crowding round to look at something. I looked closer to see what it was. I then saw that one child was holding a copy of My First Bible! It had been given out months before! This was really moving to see.”

The Roma often adopt the religion of the area where they settle, mixing it with their own customs. They believe in various superstitions and are afraid of the powers of darkness. The Roma Bible Union works with many Roma churches in Serbia to bring biblical truths to their people, including the Arli.

The OM EAST team is encouraged by how God is using the literature to reach people with the Gospel, strengthen believers and support the Church.

Please pray the Arli Roma will encounter Jesus through the Bible stories brought to them in their native language.

*Full name not included for security reasons

OM EAST team member, Alan, recently returned from meeting partners in Georgia. He visited their ministries in the capital, Tbilisi, and a village in the mountains. It encouraged him to  build relationships, develop their joint literature work and discuss future needs.

“It struck me again just how much need there is to make God’s truth and His Word accessible to the Georgian people,” Alan said. “There are very few Christian books in the Georgian language even though it’s an old script.”

In the past seven years, OM EAST’s literature and media team have designed and published over 15 books. One partner works on translation, editing and distribution.

The most recent publications for the Georgian people are Right Choices Bible and Spiritual Leadership. Right Choices Bible is an illustrated children’s Bible sharing the stories of over 60 individuals in the Bible and the important decisions they had to make. Spiritual Leadership helps those in positions of authority to understand biblical leadership; OM EAST’s local partner in Georgia could hardly believe the feedback received.

One church member said the church leaders in general are all delighted with the book. They could see its importance for them, as it answers many of their specific long-term questions on this subject. They have never read such a useful resource for leaders’ growth. Their joy and appreciation were evident.

Their partner also told Alan about a woman living in a village high up in the mountains who has also been touched by the books produced. She has not yet given her life to Christ, but is being changed by what she is reading. The OM EAST team gives God thanks and praise that people are being impacted by the truths brought to them in their own language.

Please pray people’s eyes and hearts will be opened through the literature. Pray for good relationships to develop and opportunities for their partners to share their faith with the Georgians.

Would you like to see the Georgian script? Click here to see an electronic version of Right Choices Bible on the OM EAST website.

View more photos from Georgia on the OM EAST blog.

“These are […] in some ways the first systematic Bible study programmes that have been done in the Bayash world,” Bob Hitchings, from the Roma Bible Union, explains.

The OM EAST team praise God for this significant development. 

Bob started working amongst the Bayash 10 years ago. There were no churches, no home groups and no positive spiritual authority in their villages. Now small groups are starting and becoming churches, and a new need has arisen: the need for resources to help train local Christians to lead Bible study groups to disciple and teach other Bayash Christians. Now there is a hunger for God’s Word and a revival has started amongst the Bayash.

OM EAST and the Roma Bible Union have produced a total of 13 other publications for the Bayash in Hungarian, Serbian and Bayash language. The first book they published for this people group was a children’s Bible in 2007; it was also one of the first books ever to be produced in the Bayash language.

When Bob recently saw the finished design of the new Bible study booklets, he expressed his appreciation: “I am absolutely overwhelmed with the beauty and quality of the work and the obvious dignity that this gives our people who are in the Bible study groups.”

The resources have been written specifically for the Bayash, teaching them what the Bible says about prayer, the church, forgiveness, family, witchcraft, drunkenness and work. The OM EAST team’s prayer is that these Christians will be strengthened to live for Christ in villages where darkness, violence and suffering are prevalent. 

Please pray for the remaining work on the Bible study booklets before they go to print; they will be produced in Hungarian, Serbian and Bayash. Pray for God’s protection over the Bible study groups and continued strength for the Roma Bible Union as they bring God’s light into dark places.

Click here to watch the video from the beginning of the Bayash ministry.

Rachel Olney, as OM Austria’s representative for the arts, organised much of the events, along with Venezuelan Arnoldo Moreno, guitar professor at the university, and his wife, Montserrat.

According to Rachel, the spiritual battle in the lead up to the concerts was very real, but she praises God for His victory seen at the events. The programme consisted of worship songs arranged for soloists, choir and orchestra – with a Latin flair – plus an intermezzo with professors and students from the university.

 “The concert at the music university was a real breakthrough,” shares Rachel. “Just a few years ago, it would not have been possible to have a big public Christian event like this on campus. Now, it was officially run by the university! God has already softened many hearts of professors, secretaries, the dean, students, etc.” 

Over 800 people attended the concerts, and hundreds have watched them through Livestream on YouTube.

“God did more than we could ask or imagine,” continues Rachel. “The first concert was the talk of the music university, and the hall was packed with non-Christians. We changed the venue of the second concert four days before the event, and God filled this larger venue to the brim!”

A Christian friend of Rachel brought her non-believing uncle, plus three others, and one of her German students attended with her family. A few of Rachel’s neighbours also attended. “They absolutely loved it!” she exclaimed. “One lady who sings in a different gospel choir wanted to bring 16 people from that choir. I didn't get to meet her, but I trust they were all there!

“Iris*, my seeking friend who sang in the choir, said that she had goose pimples several times that night, and that others in the choir had a good feeling,” Rachel continues. “May that whet their appetite to want to explore the God behind this music, behind these feelings!”  

Arnoldo Moreno shared how God had ordained the “coincidences” to allow the concerts to come to pass. When he was seven, a Christian orchestra and choir from Moody Bible Institute in the US visited his village in Venezuela. This birthed in him the dream of one day organising a similar concert for God.  

“So, a dream he carried with him for 42 years came true this week!” says Rachel. “Since the concerts, a couple of students have started going to Arnoldo's church, and others are curious about his faith. May these students and many others see the Lord!” 

Please pray for God’s ongoing work in the hearts of all who heard the concerts. Pray that God continues to open doors for His Word to be proclaimed boldly, with life-changing consequences.

*Name changed

The booklet, Carrie, shares the true story of a young woman who ended up as a strip dancer and how she found freedom from this damaging existence. A Christian organisation helped Carrie to leave this form of slavery and rebuild her life; while receiving practical support and counselling, she was told about Jesus for the first time. Carrie discovered His power to heal, restore and renew. Through faith in Christ she found new hope.

Carrie’s story is a powerful means of speaking into the lives of women who can identify with Carrie’s past.

The new booklet supports ministries reaching out to women primarily from Central and Eastern Europe. It is now in print in the Czech language and is currently being translated into Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian.

OM EAST also plans to produce the booklet in Slovak and Ukrainian. If you are interested in copies of this booklet for your ministry in any of these languages, please contact OM EAST at: publishing.east@om.org.

Please pray for the translation into these languages. Please pray for the outreaches and distribution. Pray that this booklet would be a blessing and encouragement for many ladies throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

Abundance

One day, God prompted an OM EAST supporter in Switzerland to pray for a donation of new schoolbags for this year’s Bosnia Schoolbag Project. She checked online and found three schoolbag manufacturers in her area. She asked God which company to contact, and He showed her one, but He also made it clear that it was not yet time to call. In the meantime, she was prompted to pray and ask the Lord to bless this company with abundance.

Later, in God’s timing, the OM EAST’s supporter called the manufacturer and immediately got through to the company director. She was astounded by the response to her inquiry. That same day, the director sent her a list of what he would provide: 153 new schoolbags, 50 filled pencil cases, 50 kindergarten bags and 80 gym bags.    

With no prior knowledge of the project and no previous contact with OM EAST’s supporter, the director not only gave, but gave over and above what was asked. The OM EAST team were excited and encouraged by God’s provision and clear guidance. 

Additionally, the team were blessed with many committed supporters who collected good-quality used schoolbags. In total they received many more schoolbags than their original aim of 325. It was a confirmation and reminder for the team that it is God’s project, and He can move people to support in ways they could not plan or imagine. 

An Austrian schoolboy even turned up at the OM EAST office to find out about companies in his area for his school project; he left determined to do his part to collect schoolbags for disadvantaged Bosnian schoolchildren.

New record

With a valuable load of 359 schoolbags and 49 chairs in the back of the van, Edwin and his wife drove from Austria to Bosnia to join the OM Bosnia team.

“While driving down I felt led to pray for a new record time in crossing the Bosnian border,” Edwin said. The fastest customs clearance in previous years had been three hours—the longest, 16 hours.  At 13:00 they arrived at the Croatian-Bosnian border. After handing in their documents they went to a nearby village for coffee. Upon their return, the official told them they were almost done.

“We were ready to drive out the yard after only two hours,” Edwin shared.  “We were so excited; we had to text our team to share what the Lord had done. One of our team replied, telling us at noon she had prayed the border crossing would take two hours!”

A new thought

The OM EAST workers visited the first school and were given a warm welcome by the principal.  Their national flags were displayed on the table, and he offered drinks even though he was abstaining during Ramadan. He expressed thankfulness for the schoolbags, materials, chairs and funds for renovation.

When they told him how much these bags would cost in Switzerland, he was blown away. “Why would any businessman be willing to lose so much profit and give the bags for free?” he asked, marvelling. “May God bless them!” The value of each new bag was 175 euros, which is more than half a month’s salary in Bosnia. The story of receiving new schoolbags gave OM EAST and OM Bosnia workers a great opportunity to share what God had done.

“He is the one leading us, answering prayers, providing funds and even opening the hearts of businessmen,” the OM Bosnia worker told the principal.

The OM Bosnia worker explained that according to the local religion, God does not answer prayers so directly: “It was a new thought for them, but there were these brand new bags to prove it!”

The true gift

The practical help of the school supplies sends a powerful message to the Bosnian teachers, parents and children: people they have never met think their education and future is worth investing in.

“The beginning of the school year is a nightmare [for many Bosnian parents]; they need to buy all the materials for their children but there is no extra money to help with the costs," said a worker with OM Bosnia, emphasising the significance of the gift. "Unemployment is high and most families struggle with daily survival.  It was an incredible blessing for the children to receive a full backpack on the first day of school.”

In addition, each schoolbag contained an extra gift. OM Bosnia was given permission to enclose a letter for the children’s parents containing the Gospel of John, a tract, and a DVD called He lived among us.  

An OM Bosnia worker said, “The letter is the real gift—it includes God’s Word. But the backpacks serve as door openers, meeting a big physical need.”

For most families, this is the first contact they have had with the local believers and the church. It is a first step to share about the love of God with them.  

Please pray for a way for those without DVD players or computers to watch the DVD, especially at school. Pray that the parents would read God’s Word with their children so they would hear about Jesus.  

To read more about OM's work in Bosnia, visit their news webpage.

Now thousands of Nenets children will be able to learn from stories of over 60 individuals in the Bible who had to make important decisions in their lives. After each story there are questions to encourage the children to think about decisions from God’s perspective and how this applies to their lives.

When the books arrived on the Yamal Peninsula, OM EAST’s local partner wrote: “They look so nice, and the Nenets children will love them. Thank you so much for all your prayers and hard work for the Nenets. There will be summer outreaches to distribute these books in small Nenets villages.”

One of OM EAST’s team members in the literature and media department said, “It’s amazing to me how no people are too remote for the Lord to find a way to reach them through our team and our partners.”

God’s truth is reaching a place where very few foreigners have ever been and whose name literally means “the end of the earth”. The Yamal Peninsula has one of the harshest climates in the world with temperatures dropping to -50°C and where winter lasts for eight to nine months. God’s Word is going out to unreached nomadic reindeer herders. It is strengthening the faith of a small minority of Nenets believers.

Right Choices Bible is the third publication produced by OM EAST in the Nenets language. The team praises God for progress in spreading the gospel in an area where there are no churches, no Bibles and only a few Christian books in the native language. Six books of the New Testament have been translated into the Nenets language, with two published so far.

Please pray for the continued process of translating the full Bible. Please pray for safety for OM EAST’s local partners as they travel in challenging conditions to distribute copies of Right Choices Bible. Pray for good conversations and more lives to be transformed as individuals hear about Christ. 

Alexander* wrote to express his gratitude for the invaluable work of the literature ministry and for the books, which he read with great interest. The book, Into the Den of the Infidels, especially helped him gain courage. The book follows eight Muslims on their journey in search of the truth. They each persevered until they found the truth and it changed their lives.

The story of a man named Abraham especially impressed the Crimean Tatar. In spite of opposition and lack of understanding from his relatives, Abraham persevered in his search for truth. Although he was beaten and people wanted to burn his house, he did not become terrified and was set on searching for God.

“It is a good example for me,” Alexander shares. “I also make an effort to tell my relatives about what I learn from the books of the Holy Scripture. I tell others about it, but face many scoffs.”

Despite the reactions of others, he is committed to searching and learning more. He has learnt the wonderful promise that God has His own people, and those who become part of His people and call on His name will be saved.

“It is wonderful to see how this book has been an encouragement and taught vital truths,” said the OM EAST field leader. Alexander has decided to seriously study the books of the Bible. He wishes to receive more Christian literature, which will help him gain a greater understanding of Scripture.

Into the Den of the Infidels is one of nine Christian books produced by OM EAST in the Crimean Tatar language. Over the past seven years, OM EAST has sent 53,000 copies of Christian literature in Crimean Tatar for distribution by local partners.

In addition to OM EAST’s work, around 12 books and other materials have been published for Crimean Tatars by fellow Christian organisations. The translation of the Bible into Crimean Tatar is now complete and is being prepared for publication. 

There are 260-270,000 Crimean Tatars living in Crimea. They are the only indigenous Muslim ethnic group in Ukraine. They were exiled from the country at the end of World War II and have struggled to re-establish their identity and find their place within the Ukraine after their return. “Their language is a huge part of their identity and culture, which is why it is so important we reach out to them with the truth about Jesus, written in the language which is closest to their heart,” said the OM EAST field leader. 

Please pray for the small number of Christian Crimean Tatars, that they would continue to grow in faith and in their knowledge of Jesus. Give God thanks for the resources available, praying for those involved in the final stages of publishing the Bible and for OM EAST’s ministry of producing Christian literature for forgotten peoples.

Go here to read the more about the Crimean Tatars.

*name changed

Many families in Bosnia-Herzegovina struggle with the cost of giving their children proper education. They often can’t afford to buy the basics of workbooks, pens, pencils and rulers. Some of the children have to walk long distances to school and need durable backpacks; the OM teams have found that used schoolbags from other countries are much stronger than new backpacks sold locally.

As OM EAST and OM Bosnia meet very practical needs, they also have an opportunity to meet spiritual needs by enclosing Christian literature for the parents. Last summer, the new director of seven local schools responded positively to this project and is supportive of including Christian booklets. Please pray that as the parents read about Jesus the Messiah, they will share the good news with their children.

For more information about the schoolbags project, please see OM EAST’s website: www.east.om.org/ministries/schoolbags.

OM EAST, along with their local partner, has produced a new book for the Nenets tribe. Right Choices Bible is one of the few Christian books written in their native language.

The Nenets people are nomadic reindeer herders living on the Yamal Peninsula in northern arctic Russia—“Yamal” means “The end of the earth”. There are no roads, so people travel by sled or snowmobile on frozen lakes and rivers.

OM EAST is preparing to send a few thousand copies of the Right Choices Bible to the Nenets before the tundra melts and turns to swampland, making their communities inaccessible until November. This time last year the team sent out children’s Bibles, which the local partner gave to Nenets families to tell them about the love of God.

Right Choices Bible builds on this previous outreach. It is a study Bible that shares stories of godly men and women in the Bible and how God helped them make key decisions in their lives. There are thousands of Nenets who have not yet heard about Jesus. Please pray that as they read God’s Word, they too would make a decision to follow Jesus.

The Nenets, more commonly called "reindeer herders", are an indigenous people group living on the Yamal Peninsula in northern Arctic Russia. A threatened nomadic lifestyle makes life difficult for the Nenets. They retain most of their historic animistic beliefs, despite a veneer of Roman Orthodoxy. 

The Nenets tribe celebrated the Reindeer Festival on 13 April.  Local partners with OM EAST took this opportunity to distribute copies of My First Bible to the Nenets children. This is one of very few Christian books written in the native language of Nenets. 

It was such a joy for me to see how willing the children were to accept the children’s Bibles; they started reading straight away.

“It was such a joy for me to see how willing the children were to accept the children’s Bibles; they started reading straight away," said one local partner.

"As a result of this outreach, some ladies have asked me to get more books for their neighbours and relatives, and a teacher asked me to bring books for her pupils in a town 80 kilometres away."

Please pray for God to provide transportation and safe travel to this town, as well as safe delivery of Christian books to other Nenets people. Praise God for the positive response and pray that God’s Word would speak to the Nenets children and their families in a special way. To see what else God is doing in this region, click here. 

Bill and Sue Stukenberg have been on a journey these past two years, walking alongside their friends at Christliche Gemeinde Urfahr (CGU) church in Austria. Together they prayed, planned and labored to see a daughter church planted in Gallneukirchen. Sunday, 13 January, that vision became a reality – Christliche Gemeinde Gallneukirchen was launched.

“Words cannot tell how blessed it was,” said friend and co-laborer Roland about the first service. “Everything worked well, there was no disturbance. The house was full. We had many guests and we had a very good atmosphere, filled with the presence of the Lord.”

Over 100 people attended the first service, and services since then have averaged over 70 people.

“There is a spirit of excitement and anticipation for what God is going to do in and through the new church,” Bill said. “Our hearts are thrilled.”

Not only is the daughter church doing well, but the mother church is also experiencing excitement as they move forward with renewed joy. Their friend Elizabeth said God’s work is going on at CGU.

“I spoke with some people who are very happy to recognise that something is changing in church,” she said. “They feel a greater friendliness, people are more open, more interested in others. And God is already bringing new people into church, without a lot of work from our side.”

Bill and Sue are excited to see God’s Church in Austria moving forward by faith—Austrians reaching Austrians for Christ.

Bill and Sue Stukenberg have labored as church planters in Austria with OM. They have now returned to the United States and are praying about their next ministry. OM thanks God for the time they invested in the lives of Austrians and for passing on their many years of experience in church planting and pastoring.

The small town of Enns, Austria, has many characteristics that make it unique. This year it celebrates 800 years of holding town status, therefore making it the oldest in Austria. A whole year of festivities has been planned, bringing in crowds of tourists. Enns also has the unusual attraction of a rare tower in the central market place where a Catholic Church usually stands.

Enns’ long history (people have populated this area since Roman times) includes its own martyr. In 304, Florian was thrown into the Enns river for refusing to renounce his faith. More recently, in 1945, Nazi prisoners were driven through the town from the concentration camp in nearby Mauthausen.

However, Enns drew the attention of a Swiss missionary couple for a different reason. This town of 11,000 people had no evangelical church. They moved to Enns 10 years ago and have faithfully shared about God, held Bible studies and put on special events. Over this time they have seen several people come to faith, though few have stayed committed and there has been much turnover. The small group held on but never grew.

Then God sent other Christians to aid in their task. Some OMers moved into the town, and a few Christians from a neighbouring town got involved. Two years ago Rachel, an English girl, began working with them full time.

At Easter, this small group of about a dozen people took on a mammoth task—to hold an Easter Exhibition in the local castle. The programme, From Death to Life, highlighted Jesus’ life and the history of Enns from contemporary perspectives.

Rachel, a talented musician, involved the town’s choir, students from the music school and several school classes. A youth orchestra from Linz, composed mostly of young Romanians, gave a Saturday night concert, and other musicians and church leaders gave freely of their time. One youth group led a Life March to contrast with the Nazi death march around the town on Sunday afternoon. The local Catholic priest, a Lutheran pastor and many church members also joined. Edi, from the OM team, prepared a series of photos for the exhibition, while several others from the team ran a book stall.

No one could anticipate how many people would come, but during Palm Sunday weekend the castle bustled with activity. More than 50 volunteers, 200 musicians, artist and actors, and over 250 visitors attended. There was great unity amongst volunteers. Christians from different churches and several not-yet-Christians were involved. One volunteer said, "It's like belonging to a big family."

The owner of the local organic food shop, which supplied the refreshments, gave up her weekend to work at the event. She said, “This isn’t work! I’m enjoying myself so much. Everyone is so helpful; it’s a great atmosphere and I can sit in on the concerts too!”

Other conversations were more serious. The missionary couple testified about how God had carried them through a traumatic time when their daughter was killed in a car accident. This drew several people who were coping with the recent loss of a loved one and were grateful for an understanding listener. Dani, another daughter who survived the accident, testified and sang with the youth orchestra. Their combined witness, finishing with the Hallelujah chorus, brought many of the audience to their feet. 

Rachel, who played violin in the orchestra, said, “When Dani sang her solo, I could feel streams of living water flowing from her. It felt more like sparks of electricity and I was playing just behind her! Many people were moved to tears, and the Holy Spirit brought inner healing to at least one lady through the music and through a conversation and prayer afterwards. Some teenagers sitting in the front row were also very challenged by this evening.”

An artist, who was exhibiting her work at the event, received word that her neighbour had just died. This opened up a conversation about life after death, what free churches were, and other questions that had arisen because of her contact with the various Christian volunteers over the weekend.

A Yazidi woman from Armenia, who had recently become a Christian, was surprised to notice several Yazidi refugees at the exhibition. She bravely witnessed to them, explaining that Jesus was the right way to God and that they should seek after Him. This was likely the first time she had shared her faith openly with her fellow countrymen.

Only time will show the full results of bold and open witness. The little group of believers in Enns may be few in number, but they dared to think big and act with boldness. Their dream is to see a church planted in Enns for the glory of God. They have let the town know that there are people in secular Austria who believe in a big God.

OM Austria has set a goal to establish a worship point in every town with a population over 5,000—eight of them within the next year. To reach this goal, OM Austria plans to involve Austrian believers to help them understand the need of witnessing in daily life. “We want to strengthen the churches in Austria to be a living testimony for their neighbours, and be able not only to share the gospel with them but also help the new believers grow in faith,” says Peter Brandes, who oversees the team’s Partner Ministries.

Additionally, OM Austria sees the need for foreign Christians willing to commit to long-term ministry in Austria, and for Austrian churches to partner with OM in future projects. Please pray for the “forgotten” in Austria.

One day, Ahmet and Tania were told they must leave Austria. Instead of waiting to be sent back to Azerbaijan—where life would be even more dangerous as Christians—they fled to Italy. There they were put in another camp and waited many months, only to learn that their application for asylum in Italy was also rejected. They were sent back to Austria and now sit in a camp in the south of the country, waiting for more decisions to be made concerning their future.

‘On hold’ in Europe

Ahmet’s and Tania’s story is not unique. Persecution in many countries has caused thousands of Afghans, Nigerians, Iranians, Iraqis and others to pour into Europe. Once in Europe, they are put ‘on hold’ while the government processes their request for asylum, which can take up to five years. Many times, asylum seekers are given as little as 200 euros a month—not enough to live on. They are not allowed to work, but many do so they don’t have to resort to begging.    

Statistics offer no hope

The statistics don’t offer Ahmet and Tania much hope. According to the Austria Federal Ministry of Interior, only 3,000 of the 16,000** people seeking asylum in the country last year were accepted. The statistics do not represent the emotional turmoil these people face. As they live with the daily strain of not knowing what their future holds, struggling to make ends meet while they live in ‘no-man’s land’, many asylum seekers succumb to fear, depression or psychosomatic illnesses.

And yet these are the very people amongst whom the Spirit of God is working in a remarkable way!”

It’s these people whom OM team members in Austria are getting to know through the Integration Centre and visits to the asylum homes in Linz. “We have no influence with the authorities, so that we could speak for them,” admits one of the OM team members, “and our attempts at encouragement often sound like shallow platitudes, as we have never stood in the shoes of asylum seekers. And yet these are the very people amongst whom the Spirit of God is working in a remarkable way!”

Hope found in God

OM Austria has seen God working in the lives of many, including Rima* from Armenia. Rima and Elyas* had fled Armenia because their son was being stoned at school. The couple are Yazidi, a Kurdish people group, and rising nationalism in Armenia caused them and thousands like them to flee the country in search of peace. Although Rima speaks Yazidi, she had brought with her an Armenian Bible and has been reading it in her search for God. She attends a small Bible study group, and last summer she said that she now believes in Jesus and wanted to be baptised.

Another, Hassan*, is a young student who left Iran to escape oppression. He became a Christian through the friendship of Austrian believers and soon after discovered that many of his fellow-countrymen had also become Christians. Hassan has since joined the Iranian church in Linz. 

Praise God that many asylum seekers like Rima and Hassan have found new life in Jesus Christ. Please pray that God would meet the needs of others like them living in Austria, so that they will receive both a new home on earth and an eternal one in heaven.

“The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords; ...He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing. Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” – Deut. 10:17-19 (NKJV)

*Names changed

**BM.I Bundesministerium für Inneres (http://www.bmi.gv.at/cms/BMI_Asylwesen/statistik/start.aspx)

It was a time when dozens of teams flooded the country, often using music in open-air meetings to draw the crowds and widespread distribution of literature to share their message.

In 1971, Johan Van Dam took over the leadership of OM Austria and led it for 20 years, bringing growth, stability and even respectability to this strange new movement, which believed that ordinary young Christians could share the Gospel and train workers—a revolutionary thought in those early days.

Reports sent in showed the excitement of God using these young people. The team in Vienna wrote, "It is like the Acts of the Apostles! Every day, through the open-air events in the city centre, people are coming to Jesus and beginning a new life with him." From Amstetten we read, "The discouraged team acknowledged their sin, and immediately the book sales rose from 80 to 1,000 shillings."

...bringing growth, stability and even respectability to this strange new movement, which believed that ordinary young Christians could share the Gospel and train workers—a revolutionary thought in those early days.

In the winter of 1971-72, OM Austria planned its first winter outreach and recorded a distribution of 275,000 tracts. In public places, they displayed 7,000 posters with thought-provoking statements, such as “Only one person can help you”.

Where possible, the teams worked with a local Christian to help establish a church. Looking back at the list of towns where they were based, the OM team now is encouraged to see the many thriving churches in these same places. In spite of the early OM teams’ often bungling, immature efforts, something happened in places like Lienz, Amstetten, Tulln, Perg. In fact, the church in Tulln recently invited OM Austria to their 40 year celebration, as they believe OM Austria played a major role in their establishment.

Perhaps the best Bible verse to describe this period in OM Austria’s life is 1 Corinthians 1:27, which reads, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (NIV).

OM Austria invites you to join them on 24 September 2011 as they celebrate 50 years of ministry and what God has done and continues to do through OM in Austria. For more information, contact info.at@om.org.

“It all began in the summer of 1961,” reports Philipp, leader of OM Austria, “when Paul Troper brought the first summer team to Austria. They linked up with a Baptist church in Vienna, and within 3 months distributed thousands of pieces of Christian literature door-to-door.

One important visit was with a young flower seller called Heidi. She believed in Jesus through their witness, joined OM, married Johan, and together they led the work of OM in Austria for many years.”

The following summer, Heidi and Johan van Dam made their way to Tirol, and stocked up with tracts offering a free John’s Gospel and Bible correspondence course, they blitzed the many small towns and villages.

The results were impressive – over 4,000 people wrote in to receive the gospels! In fact, Paul Troper must have felt a bit like Paul the apostle, when he spoke of Asia, as he wrote, “We have completed our goal of reaching Tirol with the gospel. It was hard ground but again and again we experienced Jesus as conqueror!”

Tears came to their eyes as OM EAST's ministry partners, Bob and Nancy Hitching recalled their recent trip to a Bayash village in Croatia. They grieved over the slow-moving process of their ministry and the hardships they face. They asked OM EAST to join them in prayer for more helpers to reach the “least of the least” - even the Roma look down at these people. Perhaps help would come from a totally different source - help from another Roma people group, the Arli…

The Hitchings were instrumental in creating the Bayash language script. Bayash children are thus able to bridge the culture of their host nation through language, and gives dignity to their own culture. The Hitchings also run “UNA club” programmes with Bayash children: They cover the muddy floor with plastic, feed the children probably the only warm and nutritious meal of the month, and then sing songs, tell stories about God, pray and teach the children how to read in their mother tongue.
There is no Bayash church in Croatia, but individual Bayash believers (some of them who are still teenagers) have dreams and visions for their people.

The Arli Connection

Nancy was visiting a conference in Spring 2008, when she bumped into the assistant pastor of the biggest Arli church in Serbia. This pastor was seeking someone who would be able to produce a “red little book” (referring to "My First Bible") in the Arli language. How amazed both of them were that God had brought them together! The Hitchings, who work with the Roma Bible Union, had just received freshly printed Bayash versions of "My First Bible" from OM EAST. Soon the Arli translation began.
Just before Easter 2010, the Hitchings travelled to Serbia with Simon (OM EAST) to deliver 1200 copies of "My First Bible" in Arli to the Arli church. They even started talking about the possibility of Arli full-time workers among the Bayash in Croatia.

Edwin* grins and settles contentedly behind the wheel as he steers the Hi-Ace out of Austria towards Slovakia. “I love travelling! For me, it’s a holiday.”

That’s good news, because trucking loads of aid and literature over tens of thousands of kilometres certainly wouldn’t be everyone’s ideal getaway. Edwin has made himself at home in all sorts of vehicles since he joined OM in 1991. He’s also become an expert at repairing them, thanks to excellent truck mechanic training while he was in the army. After joining OM he served a year and a half at the mission’s garage in Zaventem, Belgium, and took part in an overland trip to India and Nepal, spending a half year servicing vehicles in Nepal.

Once he and wife Hanna joined the Greater Europe team in Vienna (later called OM EAST, or the Eurasia Support Team) Edwin joined the ranks of unsung heroes that trucked tons of precious Christian literature and humanitarian aid into desperate areas of the former Communist Eastern Europe. Even when the Iron Curtain lifted in the 90’s and borders opened, books and aid from the West were still very much in demand by countries struggling to rebuild.

Edwin readily admits that sitting at the borders was the downside for most trips. Particularly memorable was the long weekend he spent waiting for permission to cross into Moldova. “The guards didn’t treat you very well—and the female guards were worst,” he says. “There was no messing around with them!”

The chances of getting hijacked or beaten up by would-be thieves were so real that he packed a baseball bat and pepper spray for protection. Adding to this hazard were icy hours on dark, rutted roads.—“Nerve-ticklers,” he calls such conditions. “Once, in Bulgaria, we just couldn’t make it up a hill. The hydraulics weren’t working, the battery burnt out, and it was the middle of the night, freezing cold with snow on the ground. The police stopped and of course we didn’t speak Bulgarian and they had no English. I tried to explain that we needed to put snow chains on the tyres. When we finally got going we didn’t dare to stop again; taking turns driving until we were half asleep!”

Edwin has delivered everything from food and blankets to school supplies, hospital beds and sewing machines. Most items go to churches or Christian partner agencies for distribution. He has even enthused his sister back in Switzerland to recruit shoe manufacturers into contributing their slow-sellers. Of course, between trips, Edwin dedicates countless hours to making sure team vehicles are in prime condition.

Astonishingly, in 28 years of driving Edwin has never had an accident.—A record that has less to do with his skill, he maintains, than the mercy and protection of the Lord--his constant Companion.

Let’s give thanks for drivers and mechanics like Edwin, and remember to pray as they “keep on trucking” for the Lord.

*Surname withheld to protect security

OM’s EurAsia Support Team, or OM EAST, focuses on bringing hope to forgotten peoples—including minority groups, the poor, orphaned, and persecuted. Literature has proven to be one of the most effective keys to unlocking hopeless futures. And in the last decade, the team has begun to publish and distribute comic books with impressive results.

Their first experiment, illustrating the real-life story of orphaned “Dorie,” brought countless letters from individuals who, like the real-life Dorie, had given up hope that anyone cared about them. Demand for this comic has led to translation into 14 languages. The second project, “Light in the Darkness,” is based on Patricia St John's book, Star of Light. Set in North Africa, this story was chosen for its particular appeal to children in similar, non-Christian cultures.

Of course, using a comic book format requires the skills of a specialty illustrator. OM EAST never dreamed that God had been preparing one young woman for that role from her childhood.

Recalls artist Judi, “I was nine years old when I told God I wanted to be an illustrator. After high school I started an apprenticeship as a graphic designer, but I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to do something more valuable with my life. My whole perspective slowly shifted. I broke off a relationship with a non-believer, and when my unbelieving brother was killed in a car accident shortly after that, I realised the urgency of getting back on track with my vision.

“I never wanted to be a missionary, but I heard about OM Ships and saw on the internet that they had a graphics department. For the first time I thought about using my training for missions. At the interview the OM office suggested that I go to Austria but I wanted to sail to different countries! Since I had to do a short-term trip anyway before joining full time I agreed to help the EAST team for three weeks.

“When I realised they were working with unreached people I was a lot more interested. In fact, I enjoyed the team so much I stayed for a year! Unfortunately by then I had developed a wrist problem and support problems (my church has only 13 people!). I thought of Bible school or art school, and then someone suggested going to a comic school. It was a new idea for me, but I had worked a little on the Dorie comic book and I realized I could go back to the team and use my training. An unexpected legacy provided exactly the amount of money I needed to study for a year at a top school for comic and graphic art, in New Jersey.”

Judi did her first drawings for “Light in the Darkness” while she was still at the school. “Altogether it took me three years to finish it. I wanted to get it right culturally. --If the drawings aren’t realistic, people can’t identify with the story.”

The illustrator admits it’s very unusual to be allowed to handle a whole project on one’s own, but such an opportunity is “an artist’s dream.” So was working on a story that had impacted her own life as a child. Her first step was to re-write the book into comic form, using dialog. She then started making sketches of characters and rooms, deciding where the most important elements should go on each page. To familiarize herself with the setting she studied illustrated books and internet resources, finally going to visit North Africa in person for two weeks.

In Morocco, Judi chose the colours that would best convey atmosphere, and took hundreds of pictures of people, architecture and street scenes. Eventually she created an actual-size mock-up of the story in pencil before inking the figures, adding computer colouring in Photoshop and a separate, hand-coloured background. Using InDesign software the artist built the story and inserted balloons for dialog, allowing for variations in the script size of different languages.

When the first Crimean Tatar version of “Light in the Darkness” was finally published last June, it was a day to celebrate. The comic is now being eagerly read by scores of individuals in the Crimean Peninsula who had little previous knowledge of Jesus. Funds allowing, OM East hopes to produce the comic book in another twelve minority languages. Local churches help to carry out distribution and often reap the benefits by seeing their numbers grow.

“People ask, ‘Why do you do those weird languages? Why not just do it in Russian?’” Judi smiles. “But these are the heart languages of these people, and a key part of the cultures they are trying to protect. God has spoken powerfully to me of how He loves forgotten peoples, and how He wants me to give the best I can give. That’s why quality is part of our vision statement at OM EAST. We want to increase the quality of our books so they compete with the best!”

The business world may measure success by profits and quantities of books sold, but to OM EAST it’s the quality of lives that’s most important. From the perspective of eternity, they clearly come out the winners.

Note: A powerpoint presentation of the comic book project is available for your church or group. Email:  comms.east@om.org