August update from the DVarga family

Dear Friends,

As always it’s been pretty exciting around these parts of the southern hemisphere, and we pray that you are all doing well in your corner of the world. We have been busy sharing the gospel and serving here, as we pray you have been wherever you are. Our kids seem to be growing at lightning speed and we covet your prayers as we strive to raise them to be productive and strong servants of Christ.

We had a somewhat unexpected involvement with a medical team (mostly arriving from Texas) whom we labored beside for 3 days. We were sharing the gospel for 8hrs. a day to the hundreds of people that came through to receive basic medical attention and eye exams (with free reading and prescription glasses provided). I (Andy) personally had many very interesting interactions, but for lack of time will just share one. A man in his mid to late 50’s came and sat down in our little tent in front of me. As I asked him how he was doing, he responded with something like “I am doing ok.” His name is Fausto. As I started to ask more questions he started opening up to me like few do after only having known him for just minutes. He told me he had been a drunk most of his life, that he was a rough father and husband (I understood him to be saying he was abusive…at least verbally) and that he had a lot of regrets in life. As I saw the conviction of sin in his countenance I began to share the good news with him and he responded! This man could not have been more ready to hear the gospel and I look forward to getting to know him better as he grows in Christ. Please pray for him, and for me as I attempt to disciple him in the faith!

As we become more and more familiar with the other missionaries in our neck of the woods, opportunities are opening up to preach in different congregations in different towns and it has been a huge blessing to us. It is always nice to work together with other Christians and I can see the Lord using it to encourage everyone involved. There are a lot of changes happening all around us and we see glimpses of the Lord’s plans to unite us for His glory! Please pray for the leaders in these towns that are also (in some cases) the first people in history to plant Christian churches in these unreached places. Pray that the Lord will send more laborers into this field and give us wisdom, love, discernment, and power to reach the lost!

Last but the best of all, I want to share with you a story that still has me amazed. A lady in our town (who I will leave un-named out of respect and privacy) has been coming to our meetings since the very beginning when I was preaching to 10 or less people in the street. She was the one who first asked me to share a message from the Bible every time I gave out food. She has been faithfully coming ever since and about a month ago asked me to come to her house once a week to study the Bible with her extended family. The first time I went I shared a message about the need to pray to God alone through Jesus alone and about the curse (Exodus 20:5) of trying to go to idols instead. Afterward she asked me to pray for her sister (probably in her 50’s) who has epilepsy and is severely mentally handicapped. She told me that her sister normally has about five grand mal seizures a day. I prayed for her and left. The next week she came to me excitedly and told me that her sister had not had a seizure. I was extremely happy and excited for her, as you can imagine. Then the next week she came to me even more excited telling me that she still had not had a seizure. Then the next week she came to me and told me that she still had not had a seizure but that she had something more to share. She told me that she walked into her sister’s room the day before and found that the room had been stripped of all the images of Mary on the wall, and the statue of Mary that was in the room was gone (the statues and images have probably been in that room for decades because that is just a normal way of life here). She then asked her sister where all the images went. Her sister told her that she did not like them and did not want them in her room anymore. She said: “But where are they?” Her sister pointed to her bed and she looked underneath and they had all been shoved under the bed! Please pray for this family. Everything they have ever known about God is being shaken as this one woman in a big family is seeking to know the one and only Lord of all!

Thanks so much to each of you who have prayed, fasted, written, and given to make what we do possible. We are forever indebted to each of you and can’t tell you how grateful we really are. May the Lord bless and fill each of you to overflowing in Christ Jesus,

Andy, Priscilla, Jude, Sam, and Elena

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Acts 1:8 Mission Society

PO Box 212

Harrison, OH 45030.

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