February 2016

Monthly Update: Seeking God

It is common knowledge that January is the most depressing month of the year. After Christmas, depression often sets in and many people, Christians included, find themselves discouraged, overwhelmed and depressed. In circumstances like this, it is always best for us to draw near to God and seek his face. This is why we usually set apart one week in January for fasting and prayer. God's Word instructs us: 'Draw near to God and He will draw near to you', so during this week we had the opportunity of seeing first hand how true that verse is. During the week of January 18th to the 24th, we held prayer meetings every evening and saw our people coming to truly pray and seek God. Many of our church members joined me and my leaders in this time of fasting, some of them for the entire seven days. The results were incredible! By the end of the week we could see how God had truly changed people's hearts, drawn them closer to Himself, revived their faith and reignited their first love. It was also very encouraging to see some of our young people and preteens coming to the prayer meetings. It is our desire to continue to seek God and all he has for us in this year. We are praying and believing for the salvation of our family members, friends and colleagues.

Fellowship for Church Leaders

On Saturday the 16th we organized a special time of fellowship for the church leaders and our key volunteers. After an official leadership meeting, during which we reviewed the past year and discussed plans for 2016, our time of fellowship was continued at one of the nearby restaurants. Since most of our people have busy schedules and small children we don't often have the opportunity to spend quality time together as a team. We enjoyed a time of good food, conversation and fellowship.

National Marriage Week

Next month we will join Family Life's initiative of National Marriage Week. The purpose of this initiative is to promote the values of marriage and family. Several churches, Christian organizations as well as various restaurants and privately own businesses have also joined this project. The timing is appropriately set for around Valentine's Day and we as a church decided to dedicate two Sunday services to this project. For the Sunday of the 14th and 21st we have organized a special video conference for married couples called The Art of Marriage. This seminar consists of a textbook and 6 videos for purchase includes lectures, testimonies and funny skits illustrating various features of marriage. Some of the covered topics are: the purpose of marriage, resolving conflicts, the roles of husbands and wives and leaving a legacy to our children. Both Sundays, the seminar will be followed by a dinner and time of fellowship. We plan to use this as an opportunity for evangelism, a seminar/ meeting to which we can invite our friends to join us and celebrate Valentine's Day with their spouses in a new and beneficial way.

Our family is, as usual, doing well and busy with school. Our children are growing fast and we are very proud of their various accomplishments.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. You are all a huge blessing to our family and our ministry. May God richly bless each and every one of you.

Blessings,

Mario and Bonnie Ducic

GIVE