Moores in Macedonia: September 2021

Hi everyone.

We hope all is well with you, here is our latest news:

In the community

As regular readers will be aware the summer months here get very hot. This year however was an exception to this, it was incredibly hot! This caused us to finally make the switch to a more Macedonian routine with the children where bedtime is moved a lot later and we go outside in the evening, where the local park is full of families.

This has given us the opportunity to meet many new people, including expat Macedonian families who are only temporarily visiting relatives here over the summer. This has given us opportunities to ‘sow some seeds’ in the lives of people with whom we may have more of a passing, rather than permanent relationship with, but who knows how God may use it? After all, as the Bible tells us: ‘I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow’ (1 Corinthians 3:6). Who knows where God might provide an ‘Apollos’ for some of these people as they return to their home countries? We just play our part when we can. We just need to do what we can and leave the rest up to God.

The summer has also allowed us to deepen our connections in the community and we feel really welcome here, it reminds us of some of the instructions of Jesus:

“When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you’” (Luke 10: 8-9)

We have a few other opportunities to pursue in the coming weeks (and would love to see some healings!) so we are expecting some more good news soon!

A challenge to gain momentum

In other areas of our work it has been a challenge to gain some momentum since the summer break. There have been a number of reasons for this, including people’s availability and also our own health as Katie has been quite unwell for a large amount of September (she’s much better now). Some of the plans we have for a discovery Bible study, and other more organised activities have therefore been delayed, but we trust that God will work out the timing.

Forest Fires

In early August you may have seen on the news that there were a lot of forest fires in Greece and Turkey and we were also affected by this. Thank you to everyone who felt called to give to an appeal we put out for aid for those who had lost property or businesses as a result. At the time of writing we are still working on finding a partnership where we can be assured that the funds will be used appropriately, however our friend and fellow missionary Scott Jackson has made a connection with a project which we are aiming to partner with in the coming weeks and we are hopeful that this will be an opportunity for the funds to be used with a suitable level of accountability.

Prayer

Thank you to those of you who pray for us, please would you keep the following in your prayers:

• Please give thanks for seeds sown over the summer, that God would water them and people would come to know him.
• Please pray for the best use of the fire relief money.
• For fresh and continuing opportunities in our local community.
• For momentum to grow with some of the more organised community and mission activities with our Bible reading group.
• For protection for us all, especially our health as we prepare for the smog season which is expected to arrive during October/November.

Thank you so much for reading our latest news. We would love to hear what is going on with you all at this time, so please do feel free to get in touch and tell us how you are doing and let us know if there is anything we can pray for you for.

Thank you
Ian, Katie, Kristen and Josiah.