JESUS AND RELIEF SUPPLIES

Last updated 8th December 2020

We do not update the newsletter page since JARS closed. However, if you would like to find out what Ian and Sue are doing you can contact them here to get their newsletter via email.

Newsletter for November - December 2020.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17

Hooray! He didn’t come to rub it in, He came to rub it out!! Praise God for His invaluable gift to this world!

THANKS

Thank you as always for your continued support and prayers. We appreciate your faithfulness towards the ministry God has given us, and for your love and kindness – as well as the financial support some of you donated, either monthly or occasionally. We thank God for you all.

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Like everyone, we are limited by the Covid restrictions, but continue to do what we can. Ian is still volunteering three mornings each week at PADS homeless shelter, and helping produce the Sunday morning service at Christ Community Church. Now that restrictions here are tighter again, the service is being live streamed every Sunday morning, and only ten places are available (in another room) for those who don’t have the internet to watch it on a screen at a safe distance.

Sue is calling around thirty people each week as part of the Pastoral Care initiative, keeping contact with them and praying with them as needed.

At the end of November we once again provided a lunch for the whosoever. Due to the virus, it was another take out meal, which Sue prepared and packed up, then we both, with another lady served it to those who turned up outside Church. Many of them we knew, both from previous similar events and some from PADS, who Ian had served there before they were rehomed. We love to be involved in these Community Meals, the next one will be at the end of January.

Sue and Nicole outside the church.

Know Hope, the ministry connected to Illinois Valley House of Prayer (what used to be called the Prayer Centre) has for the moment been allowed to rest. One group continues to meet regularly, but the decision was made to leave Know Hope for a while and see what God will do in the future; everything seemed to be pointing to this decision and the ministry had ground to a halt. This decision coincided with Sue’s own resignation from her role as Director of Know Hope, a position she held for well over a year but which she felt led to lay down as God is leading her into more “frontline” work (currently over the phone and online!) with those suffering from various mental disorders. We will continue to pray for the work of Know Hope, and for God’s timing for its future blossoming into the ministry He will make of it.

We pray each week with Pastor John and Glenda, now via Zoom, and thank God for this contact and friendship as we share an hour together, praying for each other and for many situations and people both inside and outside the church.

VIDEO LINK

A few weeks ago, Pastor John preached on Luke 10, and used video footage of us speaking about our own experience of just that kind of ministry during our years in Romania. If you would like to see this talk, please click here.

FUTURE STUFF

Needless to say, future events are difficult to focus on right now. Many Christmas events are cancelled for this year, although at least one (a ladies’ breakfast) is going to take place via Zoom (?!). Things here are subdued because of the virus, of course, and we continue to pray for those affected and for the promised vaccine to be available as soon as it’s safe.

We will continue to serve as much as we can, and are also waiting news of the visas. The lawyer dealing with the application is very reassuring, and, as we have done everything we can practically, we are trusting God for the outcome and for His provision in this as in everything else. Please keep praying. Although we are not really concerned, we will be glad when we have some papers in our hand!

For now, we can only keep going with the things we are doing, as seeking God for anything else He puts in our way.

LATEST NEWS

As we have mentioned a few times over recent months, we have made the decision to close down our organisation, J.A.R.S. The charity has served us extremely well for around twenty-seven years, overseeing our own ministry in Romania and more recently in the U.S., but we and J.A.R.S.’ trustees can see that it is time to close its doors.

As I write, the process has begun in earnest: the bank accounts have been cleared and will shortly be closed down altogether and then the forms will be filled in to close the charity itself.

Our grateful thanks go to all those, past and present, who have served as trustees to J.A.R.S., and especially to Rev. David Grieve, Marian Forbes and Bernard Mugwendere, who have served in that capacity since we went to live in Romania, back in 2006. Bernard will be arranging the closure of the charity’s financial side whilst David will head up the form-filling in order to finish off the business over the next few weeks.

PLEASE, IF YOU STILL GIVE REGULARLY DIRECTLY INTO J.A.R.S.’ ACCOUNT, GET IN TOUCH AND LET US KNOW. THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE WHOSE GENEROUS GIVING STILL CONTINUES EACH MONTH INTO THE ACCOUNT, BUT WE HAVE BEEN UNABLE TO CONTACT THEM….WE WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO THANK YOU IN PERSON FOR YOUR SUPPORT OVER MANY YEARS!!

Our recent meeting with David and Bernard was as always full of blessings, and we will miss this regular contact with them, and with Marian, but all things come to pass and we thank God for placing us in a new calling, and that He has orchestrated J.A.R.S.’ demise as well as its inception so many years ago.

ROMANIA NEWS

In connection with the above, we have recently spoken with our Romanian friends and here is a short report of their latest doings:

In Romania as everywhere else, there have been and still are restrictions on many activities due to Covid 19.

As we have closed J.A.R.S.’ accounts, we have been able to send donations to the three main ministries we were involved in, being a share each of the remaining monies left in the accounts.

Petrica and Viorica plan to use their donation to make Christmas parcels for the families in Voivodeasa; although they won’t be as generous as in previous years, the parcels will certainly be a help and a delight to those who receive them. The work continues in the Gypsy village, with the church once again open after a period of lockdown and people starting to make their way back to Petrica and Viorica’s home for prayer, food, coffee and friendship. This is such a huge thing they are doing, and we thank God for these “people of peace”, whom we were able to disciple and to work alongside for so many years. Thanks to Him for their continued commitment to their fellow-Gypsies, and the heart that they have for their wellbeing, both physical and spiritual.

Viorica Handing out parcels.

Misu and Livia are grateful for their donation, and hope to use it for Christmas parcels for the families they continue to support in and around Radauti. Their work is limited now, and for the first time in many years they have not led several summer camps and a conference…. a difficult state of affairs for them, we know. The conference did go head virtually, and was a great success, which was encouraging to our friends as well as those heading it up from the UK and the young people who took part.

The Christian school in Iasi has also opened up in person, although some lessons are being taught online, a strain for teachers and students alike. Their donation was also sent, and hopefully will help with their Christmas activities and events.

THIS NEWSLETTER

As of now, this letter will no longer be thought of as J.A.R.S.news, although we will, of course, keep you updated with news of our erstwhile colleagues in Romania as they continue with the ministries God has given them.

So far, we don’t see a need for a title for the letter, but we will be adding details of ways to give to our own support in every issue. If you wish to give to the work in the Gypsy village or the work of Hannah, please get in touch and we will give you information to enable you to do so.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS

We wish all of you a healthy, happy Christmas, and a New Year a thousand times better than the current one. God be with you all and those you love.