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June 2010 Prayer Letter
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![Healing Hearts Ministries Internaional [LOGO]](https://www.healinghearts.org/nimages/HHLetterhead_Web700.png) Dear Friend, This month I have asked Teresa Rinker and Barb Reidberger to share about their recent Healing Hearts Ukraine/Holland Mission Trip. Please be in prayer that the seeds sown in these countries will bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. Ukraine/Holland Healing Hearts Ministry Trip April 6-24, 2010 Teresa Rinker & Barb Riedberger teamed up as God clearly laid out the itinerary for our 9th Healing Hearts ministry trip to Ukraine, with the goal of planting a national ministry within the churches of Ukraine through reaching out to women whose lives have been ravaged by abortion. We have found that most of the women in Ukraine have had abortions'especially the older women who lived under communism. We have been given the opportunity to partner with the largest Christian denomination in Ukraine, The Baptist Union. Since our first trip in October of 2001, we have had the support and blessing of the Baptist Union. While we have spoken in other denominations and worked with various missionaries, the main focus of planting a Healing Hearts ministry has been within the Baptist Union. This trip was a pivotal in that for the first time we have seen the Baptist Union corporately embrace this ministry and incorporate it into their women's ministry programs. They invited us to hold four women's conferences in four different cities and regions throughout Ukraine.  We flew into Kiev and left the following day on a night train to Kherson (a city in southern Ukraine, just a bit northeast of Odessa, which is on the Black Sea). We stayed with the pastor and his wife, who is the regional women's ministry leader for this area. They took us on a tour of the region and later, around the dining room table, we were also able to share our hearts for broken women and our vision for this ministry. We held an all day Saturday conference, which was well received by the 80 women in attendance. We shared our testimonies, taught from God's Word and shared our vision for the ministry to be planted within each Bible teaching church in Ukraine. It was with great joy that we met one of the women who had previously led the Healing Hearts study and were able to thank her for her service to the Lord and our ministry.  We took a very bumpy bus ride to Odessa on Saturday evening to stay with our friends and missionary family, the Huffman's. They have planted a church in Odessa, consisting of mostly young college students and adults. They invited us to share about Healing Hearts during the worship service and to also have lunch and to share more specifically with the young women in their church and surprisingly, a few young men. We shared our testimonies, what God's Word says about life and how abortion affects both women and men. We had a great time answering questions and dialoging with them. Mark Huffman teaches at a Christian University and invited us to speak to three of his classes on Monday. The majority of students in the University are not believers. We again shared our testimonies and the Gospel, and the students shared their views on the morality of abortion as we challenged them to step up and share truth with other young people. That evening we left on a night train to Western Ukraine, which is a totally new region for us! Slava Bogoo. (Praise the Lord!) We spoke at an afternoon conference at a Baptist church in Mukachevo. This conference was attended by about 60 women of various ages. After some discussion with the regional women's ministry leader regarding church discipline and Christian women having abortions, we sensed a clear leading of the Holy Spirit as we shared our testimonies and taught from God's Word. God spoke to these women through our emotion as we passionately shared our hearts with them. God clearly lead us to share about being made free from the fear of man, finding complete forgiveness in Christ, walking in the truth and restoring others with gentleness, as Galatians 6:1 says, 'If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore in a spirit of gentleness.' They responded with tears, prayer and shared their hearts at the end of the meeting. We knew that we connected with them through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and they caught the vision of bringing this ministry to not only their church, but to the lost and hurting women in their communities.   We traveled by van to the village of Bushtino, where we stayed in rooms at a church mission house for two nights. It was interesting to see the farmers pulling their carts with teams of horses and people walking down the dirt road to bring their cows to pasture. Each morning we awoke to the sound of roosters, pigs and goats. We even got to eat roast duck, took a trip to the Romanian border and toured some Hungarian towns along the Ukrainian border. We spoke at a women's conference in the morning at the Baptist church connected to the mission house. There were 55 women and it was good to see young as well as older women from the surrounding villages. We again shared a similar message and were encouraged to meet Emma, a physician, a woman who sensed God's call to give leadership to this ministry. Emma and Irrina, the head of women's ministries, boldly prayed and challenged each of the women to step out of their shame and fear and to go through this Bible study, making it available to women not only in their churches, but to seize the opportunity to reach out to un-churched women in their communities. One woman shared with a holy boldness, 'Do you think these two women came here from America for nothing?', and challenged them to step out in faith. We took the night train back to Kiev and were invited by Alla, the Women's Ministries 'Regional Responsible Sister', to speak at an all day Saturday conference for the Kiev Region, representing 67 churches. We had 60 women in attendance on a damp, cold day. We again shared our testimonies, our hearts and our vision. After the conference, they opened the microphones to have the women share thoughts and comments. We were encouraged to hear their gratitude for this ministry, to hear them challenge each other and see their tears and vulnerability. There is such brokenness in the hearts of women in Ukraine. It was good to see them grasp the love of God through the gift of His Son Jesus and to embrace His death on the cross for their sin. On Sunday we worshipped at Transformation Church in Kiev and enjoyed lunch with the pastor's family, the Marchenko's, who have become dear friends. We were blessed to stay at Christ's Church located right on the subway line in Kiev, in the rooms they rent to missionaries. As the need for ministry is made more and more clear to the Baptist Union in Ukraine, please pray that they will continue to make resources available to the 3,000 plus churches there and the brokenhearted women in these churches and communities. Please pray that the pastor's would have a deeper understanding of the need for post-abortion healing and that women would no longer fear sharing their stories in their churches. Because of the volcano in Iceland and grounded flights, we were forced to delay our Amsterdam departure until Wednesday. We purposed to remember that God controls the wind as well as Icelandic volcanoes and to trust in His perfect plan. As we set up a little office in the kitchen of the church where we were staying, we were able to make phone calls to airlines, check the news on the Internet and make regular posts to our BLOG: http://Ukraine10.wordpress.com Check it out for pictures and a good overview of our trip. We were well cared for and even had someone give us fruit, fresh baked cookies and launder our clothes. Oh, how dear is the Body of Christ! Thank you Jesus! With our delayed flights, we still enjoyed one night in our cute little canal house with our friends and YWAM missionaries, Johan and Carolyn Ros. Teresa had to depart on a flight the next morning but Barb's flight was not due out for three more days. Because of this, Barb had the opportunity to meet with a Dutch woman who lives in Israel who is bringing our studies back to a pro-life ministry, as well as a YWAM ministry leader who ministers with former prostitutes, who is interested in our Hem study. Barb also met with two women from Crossroads International Church who led a recent Healing Hearts group, as well as one of the group members who shared her testimony of a life powerfully impacted through the study. She would love to be used to reach out to others in the future. In addition, Barb also had the opportunity to have dinner with a dear missionary family who planted a Calvary Chapel church outside of Amsterdam. They are interested in Healing Hearts and see the need for the young people in the Netherlands. It was a power-packed three days. It is our prayer that our time in Holland will bear much fruit in the future as God brings hope and healing to the women in Holland, including those who are trapped in the sex trade industry. We are excited about all that God did and are anticipating our return to both countries next spring, Lord willing, to lay a stronger leadership foundation as God calls women to minister with Healing Hearts.  Please pray for:
Gratefully serving Jesus Christ, the God of all comfort and hope, Teresa Rinker - Foreign Missions Director Barb Riedberger - Foreign Missions Ukraine and Holland Team Leader We are so thankful for your prayers and your financial contributions which enable our ministry to grow and reach out to the brokenhearted, in the United States and abroad. May the Lord bless and keep you always. In His Love,  International Director |
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To Make a DonationYou may use the donation form on our website to make a donation, or you may also submit your check to the address provided below. Healing Hearts Ministries is a federally registered non-profit corporation, all contributions are tax deductible. One hundred percent of all contributions made to Healing Hearts go directly toward supporting the various aspects of our ministry no "administrative fee" is collected by a fund-raising service. All donations and expenditures are internally and independently monitored and audited. Annual financial statements are available upon request. We thank you for considering contributing to our ministry. Your contribution will enable us to reach out and touch individuals who need the hope and healing message that only Jesus has to offer. To donate online click this link: https://www.healinghearts.org/donate Send checks to: Healing Hearts Ministries PO Box 44670 Rio Rancho, NM 87174 phone (505) 355-6922 |