2021 April

A lot has happened here since the last newsletter in January!

In January Norbi injured his back and spent two weeks in the hospital in February. He would have needed to have surgery but because he tested positive for covid they would not operate on him. To make a long story short, he did finally have surgery in April which was a miracle considering that they are not operating due to the overload of covid patients. He is now recovering and it seems like a slow and steady recovery.

I (Leslie) took over most of the responsibilities here during this time. I do have a great team around me that helped a great deal. We are so thankful.

We currently have 8 interns from Bethany Global University studying and learning to be missionaries.

One of the local pastors, that we work with who is also a missionary from the US told me this week that in the ten years that he has been here he has never been more excited than this last year. Relationships and connections have exploded. For years the local church has struggled with low numbers and very little to no growth. A couple of weeks ago I looked around the church and counted close to 30 people under the age of 30. This is a huge answer to prayer as we have been praying about this for years.

My dream and prayer for this city is the youth. Pray and believe with me, a city with the youth on fire and loving Jesus. They in turn reach their families and then grow deep roots and as they age, have families and training them in the ways of God.

Church filled with youth

We are happy to report that the ministries that were launched in January are seeing results and growth. The interns are asking for more workers here! Last week at soccer they had 40 kids show up. English classes is a huge hit here as well as the airsoft battles. Building every bridge to people so that we can have a relationship with them to lead them to God!

Preparation for summer camp. In June we will hold an English camp inviting youth in this city. Please pray for this as we hope it will be a great time of meeting new people, building relationships and being able to invite them into the youth group/church.

The poster is ready for the summer English Camp!

Summer 2021

This winter we had a very surprising call with someone offering to pay for our tickets to go to the US! Norbi then had this back injury and we were unsure of what this would look like. We are not 100% sure we can come back but hope to come back in June and stay until August. We will be making this decision in the next couple of weeks. Please pray for this time.

USA, we are coming!

We are so thankful that you are standing with us in this endeavor! Blessings,

The Báns