Sparks Family "Almost" in Ukraine Update
Sparks Family Update
May 2011
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Praise and Prayer Requests Dawn and Stevie

Praise for continued health and safety, especially amidst all the traveling.  

 

Praise for continued progress in raising our financial support. 

 

Please pray for our visa process.  We are now close enough to begin that paperwork!  Pray that the necessary documents can be processed in Kyiv in time for our team leader to bring them to the U.S. when he comes in early June. 

 

Please continue to pray for wisdom and understanding as we make decisions over the next month related to our transition.   

 

Family, support raising, and ministry can all be very overwhelming at times. Please pray for guidance as we prepare for ministry and for our times together as a family. Please pray that we would all get the rest we need as well.*

Pray that God would prepare us to leave extended family as we move and that He would prepare our family to be comfortable with our moving.*

 

*These were in the last newsletter, but still vital requests for us! 


How to Set Up Support
 
 We get asked at times how you go about supporting our ministry.

 

The first decision is on a means of support. This can be:

1. Financial Support

2. Prayer Support

3. Both 1 & 2

 

The next step would be to notify us or Mission to the World (MTW) that you would like to be a ministry partner.

 

This can be accomplished by

 

1. Emailing us with how you would like to partner and, if the partnership involves financial support, include the amount and frequency. (You can simply reply to this newsletter.)

 

2. You can also print and mail the form at the end of this newsletter to MTW. You then specify the details as outlined on the form.

 

3. If you have one of our prayer cards then detach the bottom part and mail that card to Mission to the World.

 

When you begin financial support you can pay by check, bank draft or credit card.

 

Checks and Automated payments can be mailed to:

 Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284 

The #10572 is our account number and needs to be included on the check.

 

Credit Cards can be set up on the MTW Website or by calling  1-866-373-6133 

Additional details about donations can be found

here at this link

 

Sparks Ministry Blog

www.sparksministry.org

Dawn has been working to keep our status on our progress and other news tidbits posted on our blog.
Dear Friends!,

These past 6 weeks we have traveled from Central Oklahoma to the Rio Grande Valley, totaling almost 3,000 miles of driving!  Steve visited all the Texas Presbytery meetings and had a chance to visit with lots of people in both new and familiar churches.

This newsletter includes

 - Gospel in Government
 - Happy Anniversary, Dawn
 - Our Support Status
 - Our Prayer Requests to the left
 - Pledge Card at the bottom
 - How to set up support at bottom



Gospel in the Ukrainian Government
 
While we have been preparing for our ministry in Ukraine I have been very sensitive to any news about the country, the government, and of the Ukrainian people. Today I was reading an article about how the Ukraine government is going to restrict adoptions from foreigners to kids 5 years and older. This obviously has great impact and can be a life changer for both the potential adoptive parents and children that need homes. I have little knowledge about this process. I do know families that have adopted young children in Ukraine and knowing that the children needed families very badly, it is hard to understand this change.  What I see in this is the need for the Gospel and the message of hope and promise it provides for everyone involved. The Gospel should be central to these typea of decisions and for that to happen more people need to hear that message. This is what gives me even more motivation as we approach the end of the very tiring and what often seems endless process of support team raising. I see that the more men we can train in our seminary, the more people they can impact, and the more chances we will have in the future for the Gospel to be part of these decisions. We can and should pray now for the Gospel to impact the government of Ukraine but, as partners with the Lord in building his kingdom, we need to also pray that we can continue to move forward  and meet our calling to serve.

Happy Anniversary, Dawn!


The past three years have been so fast and so full of changes yet it has been incredible to spend with Dawn.  I can't imagine where or what I would be doing, were it not for meeting Dawn, answering God's call, and having our son Stevie. It has at times been stressful in both marriage and ministry but I cannot imagine a life without my wife. She is and continues to be amazing and a gift to me in so many ways. We had our third anniversary on the 26th of April and it seems like only yesterday I was meeting her for the first time in Kyiv.

Support Report: $650 in Monthly Support Needed


The end of the financial support raising is getting near. I'm looking forward to the days when I don't always need to ask everyone in each newsletter to consider financially supporting our ministry. We could really use your help as we get closer to the end of the process. A monthly pledge of $100 is more than 10% of our remaining need. At this point, 10 more people or churches willing to give $50 to $150 a month gets us to 100%.




To give you some perspective on how the finances break down:

$50 a month is 8% of the remaining need

$75 a month is 12% of the remaining need

$100 a month is 15% of our remaining need

$150 a month is 23% of our remaining need

$200 a month is 31% of our remaining need


Please keep in mind that pledges can be paid annually, quarterly or monthly, so if you wanted to donate $500 a year and pay in quarterly installments that is an option and it changes the percent of our monthly need just like an annual pledge or a monthly pledge. The need is recurring support for the duration of our mission in Kyiv. 

Need more information about our ministry in Ukraine?
This webpage has those details and more!


Support the Sparks Website

Post Card We Sent Out This Month
Last month we sent out almost 400 of these cards to everyone we could think of who might want to support our ministry. If you got a card it is not too late to send us some encouragement on this site.  Please pray that people would be inspired to support our ministry.


The new site is SupportTheSparks.com

Thank you for spending your time reading our newsletter. We are getting close and we need your prayers and willingness to talk about our ministry.

If you received this email because someone forwarded it to you, you can join our email list by clicking the link "Join our Mailing List" in the left sidebar of this email. If you would like to join our team, at the bottom of this newsletter is the necessary information to send a response via U.S. mail.
Sincerely in Christ,
Steve, Dawn and Steven

Please
Join
Our
Team

I would like to record my commitment to MTW/Short Term and Steve and Dawn Sparks (#10572) by:

(  ) Receiving Prayer Letter             (   ) My intent to contribute $_________
(  ) Praying faithfully for them                 to their support:
       (  ) Daily    (  ) Weekly            (  )  Monthly  (  ) Annually  (  ) Quarterly

                       (   )  Enclosed is my one-time Gift $_____________

Name:___________________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________________

City:_____________________________________ State: _____ Zip:________
 
Church:__________________________________________________________

Please make check payable to:
Mission to the World (#10572), P.O. Box 116284, Atlanta, GA 30368-6284