Marija and Igor Novak Family
Word of Life, Serbia
May 2023
Thank you all for your prayers, support and standing with our ministry in Serbia! Thank you for every contribution you give for our ministry and family life which enables us to work even more for the Lord. Thank you for praying for us because your prayers have made a difference in our ministry! We pray regularly for God to bless you abundantly throughout your life.
Word of Life Summer Camps: Our Camps are coming soon, and we are finishing the last details. The camp theme will be “The promise stronger than the storm.” Throughout the week we will be sharing the Gospel and talking about the promise God gave to Noah, how He has led him, and Noah’s trust in God even when it seemed impossible for God to keep his promise. We are planning four weeks of camp and one three-day camp, with up to 300 kids and teens this year, starting June 26th and ending August 18th.
We are still lacking volunteers to coach soccer and basketball and need a few people to teach English at the camps. Please be praying for the needed volunteers, necessary finances for camps, the Gospel to be readily received and many to be saved! This is our goal! Please pray for many to hear and be saved in Serbia! 26.06. - 30.06. Padina (kids) 03.07. - 07.07. Padina (teens) 17.07. - 21.07. Kisac (kids) 24.07. - 28.07. Kisac (teens) 14.08. - 18.08. Stara Pazova (kids)
Church Ministry: Igor planned two meetings together with the Baptist youth committee, which are big youth meetings, where youth from all around Serbia attended. There were about 90 young people. The first meeting was in Backa Palanka, in our home church, and the message was about Saul and David who both sinned, but David repented, and Saul did not. We encouraged them to repent of their sins and God will accept and forgive them. The second meeting was in another church in Glozan; we were teaching that true joy comes only through Christ. We looked at verses in Psalm 16. It was an amazing opportunity for us to teach, share the Gospel, helping youth in Serbia grow spiritually!
Youth Bible Club in Backa Palanka: Igor regularly leads youth meetings in our home church. We are excited to share that one of the girls from our church decided to get baptized in August! She was saved a few years ago, but she had to take some time and grow in her faith while she was going through high school and some hard times. We are so thankful she decided to publicly proclaim and show her faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! Also, she decided to study at Word of Life Bible Institute this fall! She wants to know more of God’s truth from the Bible and grow even more spiritually!
Recording Audio Book: Igor is still in the process of recording an audio book of 365 devotionals! Igor is recording different people reading the devotionals and we are so happy and thankful to be able to serve through a digital form of evangelism and spiritual growth. Christian audio books are truly rare in Serbia and much needed!
Future Plans For Digital Evangelism (Podcast): With the brothers in our church, we are planning to start a Christian podcast. There is a lot of equipment we need to do this right. We have a good laptop, thankfully because of you! We believe God will provide other equipment for this ministry. First and foremost, we need prayer. Pray that God will give us love, time, wisdom, humility, devotion, and the correct mindset for this project.
Our Hausing Situation: The construction of our house is going well but slower than expected. Winter has finally passed here in Serbia, and we will soon put the roof on the house. The prices went up so we will probably need another loan to be able to finish it... It is hard financially because the cost of all materials went up. But we know God is faithful and He will provide all we need to finish the roof before the camps start in two months, and to finish the most important rooms so we can move in the fall. It is hard to handle ministry, work and building the house, so please continue praying for us!
Family Life On the 16th of May we will be traveling to Belgrade for Melani’s heart checkup. Please pray everything is good and she continues to be healthy.
We took a day off to meet with our church family on International Work Day May 1st. We are thankful to have our church truly as our family, we love spending time with them, and we are thankful Melani is growing up with children from the Church!
Praises: 1. Thank you all for your prayers, support and standing with our ministry in Serbia! 2. The youth meetings 3. Melanie's good health and Igor's stable health. 4. Recording audio devotions 5. Dedication to get baptized.
Prayer Requests: 1. Preparation for summer camp. 2. Salvation for Marija’s friends, wisdom, and boldness as she shares and ministers to them. 3. Podcast 4. Our goal - to raise more monthly support to reach our goal of 100% and have stable support.
Thank you for your prayers and support, without your partnership we wouldn’t be able to serve as we are serving right now! We truly believe you will receive the same reward in Heaven as if you were right beside us serving in Serbia!