Scott Jackson

To start with, I want to thank you for subscribing to receive our newsletters.  I want to thank you for your continued prayers and support.  It means a lot, and I know that prayer is powerful.  When we look at Jesus' ministry and the journey He took the disciples on, we can see that they only asked Jesus to teach them one thing, and that was to pray.  Jesus knows the best way to pray, and He communicates to us it's importance and the impact it has on the situation we are praying into.  So my great appreciation to you for your prayers.  I believe they are having an impact on the work here in Macedonia.

So with that in mind, let me begin by talking about the 24 hour prayer session....

24-Hour Prayer....

In the Middle of June, the Skopje House of Prayer organised another 24 hours continuous prayer session, which was split up into 1 or 2 hour sessions. We had 14 different churches and ministries who committed to different time slots, which was fantastic, praying for the Kingdom of God here in Macedonia. I was able to join in with a couple of the sessions and also to be there for an extended period of time to help facilitate between sets.

The momentum for these 24-hour prayer sessions has been increasing, and we are hoping to have another 2 in the remainder of this year.

Young Macedonia Life....

June brought the end of the normal club schedule, and preparation for the WyldLife Camp in Krani at the start of July.  A large number of the kids who normally attend the clubs and Bible Studies are away for the summer, so we knew there would be less coming to the camp.   But we were still praying for 30 kids.  We ended up with 31 kids able to attend, around half of them first-timers, including a couple of kids with additional needs.  It was fantastic.  This year, I was the prayer coordinator, and what a privilege it was to help organise and coordinate prayer for the camp, the kids and all the team.  The kids all had a great time, and responded to the gospel.  There were multiple kids crying on the final night as they were meeting with the love of God.  Below is a testimony from one cabin leader, and her time with her girls on the evening of day 3.

"On the third day of camp, during the club, we talked about sin and then we had cabin time. I have 5 girls in my cabin who are just starting to deepen and explore more in their faith. The first questions for discussion were about sin. I let the girls talk and explain to me what sin means to them. They talked a lot, and they were aware of their sins. The last question was how we can and what we should do to deal with sin. One of the girls answered: "To pray." I said "Yes! But what if someone doesn't know how to pray?" The girls were confused and didn't know how to answer me. But one of the girls who was the shyest, quietly said: "The Bible." "Yes, exactly!"   I replied, "There are wonderful prayers in the Bible and we can read them." And I encouraged them that if they haven't read the Bible yet, I recommend that they start with the Psalms. As we were talking, one of the girls ran to her room and brought her New Testament and Psalms. I asked her to give it to me, and I read Psalm 23 to them. They were so moved by the psalm. They said, "This is like poetry, it's so beautiful!" I wanted to read them another one, and I wanted to read the psalm that we were reading this morning at the leaders' meeting, which was 37, but I mistakenly read it to them as 38. I start reading, and I realize that it wasn't the chapter we read this morning, but God spoke to my heart to continue and read it all the way through. As I read it, everyone was listening intently, their eyes filled with tears. I believe that at that moment God really spoke to their hearts, because they related in some of the verses. Finally, I asked them if they all had a Bible at home, and the quietest girl said she didn't. On the last day, I gave her a new New Testament and Psalms, and she was overjoyed. These girls come from Orthodox families, and they face difficult family issues. Some with divorced parents, some with estranged parents, some are bullied at school, some think they are a mistake, etc. But they now know that they came to camp for a reason, and that God created them for a reason and that He has a wonderful plan for their lives."

Below are some photos from camp.

Young Life in the Balkans....

Young Life is present in other countries in the Balkans, Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Albania and Romania. Unfortunately the camp in Romania had to be cancelled this year due to logistical reasons.

In Bulgaria, it's very sad to report that we had a tragedy. The day after the Macedonia camp finished, the team in Bulgaria were having a day out excursion with some of their kids up a mountain. They were travelling in multiple cars. On the way back to the city, one of the cars crashed into the back of a lorry. The Director for YL Bulgaria, Rasho, was killed along with another high schooler. Three other kids in the car were hospitalised. All three of them have been discharged now.

Understandably this is tragic for the families, the team in Bulgaria, and the wider team in the Balkans. The Bulgaria camp, which was scheduled to take place at the end of July was cancelled as a result. Please pray for the families and the team as they grieve, and allow the Lord to minister to them and direct them in the ministry.

Thanksgiving

• For the growing prayer momentum in the churches in Skopje.
• For the growing faith of people in the church.  It is wonderful to see them stepping out in faith in different areas.
• For the WyldLife Camp in Macedonia.  How the kids engaged with it, met with God, and decided that they want to go further.

Prayer Requests

• For the families and team in YL Bulgaria, for the comfort and peace of God for them as they grieve.  That they will have people around them that can support them and help carry some of their burdens in these moments.
• For the kids who attended the WL Camp in Krani.  That they would be protected in their faith.  For us as a team, that we will be directed by the Lord to help keep some of this momentum.  The summer sees things wind down a bit as people go on holidays, but even though we work on a reduced schedule, we still try to create opportunities for the kids to connect with.
• For the Lord's direction over the summer for what the new season in September might look like.  Many things will continue as normal, but other things might change slightly.

Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter.  We hope that you have a great summer where you are, that it has those moments of rest and encounter with the Lord.

With love and every blessing,
Scott and Hristina

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