Villages, Hula Hoops, Jesus

Hi friends! We are almost 2 weeks into our outreach here in Georgia. We are staying in a little Muslim village just on the edge of Tbilisi; where the paved road, gas, and city water end. It is a very interesting to see the village life. We have been doing many different ministries. Here we have helped with the Kids club that our hosts run each week for the village kids. I was thrilled to find supplies to make hula hoops here and I got to share them with the kids Friday! I used red, black and white on the hoops to explain our sin, Jesus blood that covers our sin and makes us white as snow. Then we played games,  they loved it and so did I! It was so sweet to finally see my vision for hula hoops happening, praise God! I can't wait to see how He continues to use this ministry.

We visited a family in an isolated village who take care of their little fields, animals, and of course with traditional hospitality served us homemade bread, cheese, cake and coffee. One of the girls got to share her testimony and we sang Jesus songs with the kids. There is no church in that town. We also did a program with a preschool there. Our team has also visited some churches and been able to share testimonies and Evan does worship. One church we visited was in a Muslim village and the church was so full of joy! We were encouraged, but even cooler God gave us words and vision for the church that was confirmation and encouragement for them. We also visited another YWAM ministry house in a YWAM village and met the YWAM outreach team from Azerbaijan. We hiked up to an ancient church (no longer used and no other churches here) overlooking many miles all around. Together we praised God and proclaimed God's kingdom over the land. It was really neat. We had fellowship with the team there and Evan finally had guys to play soccer with!

A really ancient church foundation

I am thankful that we're also doing ministry in the city. We're helping a street kids ministry with Muslim children. Their families send them out to beg everyday. This ministry brings the kids in every afternoon and plays, does a Bible story, teaches them reading, writing, math, and feeds them. We are also doing street evangelism. Yesterday we had a good lesson. Our team missed one of our scheduled ministries and we had no other plan. We started to pray and Evan had the idea to make a sign that said Come for Prayer. We went to a bus stop, Evan played guitar and we held the sign. Some people came and we got to share about Jesus and pray. It was so encouraging that the Lord still had a plan for us even when we messed up and He gave us so much joy after that! Here is an ancient castle overlooking Tbilisi where we prayed for the city.

 
Our team has also been focused a lot on getting visas for Israel. Two of the girls applied for their visas today. Our team has faced a lot of struggle and attack regarding this and some other things. It really feels like we've been on the front line of attack here. We are praying for the impossible to be possible. We need your prayers during this time and are so grateful for them! God has been speaking to us and giving us His strength each day to move forward. There are challenges, but we are learning so much and know it is preparing us for the future. It is most important to keep our focus always on Him and His purpose: to know and glorify Him. We will be back to Indiana/Charleston in June and we look forward to seeing many of you then! We love you all.

Blessings,
Alicia