Jonathan and Jessica Heeb - Finland |
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June 2008 prayer letter
'Hei' from the Heebs in Helsinki
Sent out to Finland by Crosslinks to work within the Finnish Lutheran Mission (FLM) in their Bible College, we are currently helping in the International Evangelical Church (IEC) in Helsinki. Jonathan is involved with preaching, training the laity, and student work. Jess is involved with Bible studies and the music in IEC. Jean-Paul (12) and Nathan (10) are in a Swedish school.
It seems incredible that it is a year ago now that Jonathan came out to Finland to finalise the details for our move out here. So much has happened in that time. We are very grateful for your continued support and prayers for us in this venture, particularly when we haven't been as organised as we could have been in sending out newsletters regularly.
H – Health. Thank you for praying for Jess with her over-active thyroid. She had radioactive iodine in April to kill off the thyroid tissue. The Doctor is pleased with the initial response to the treatment and Jess is feeling well and has normal thyroid levels at the moment.
E – Education. Jonathan's teaching at FLM in March went well, and he was able to use Finnish when needed. We are waiting to hear their plans for Jonathan in the next academic year's teaching schedule. It's an exciting time for the college in forging new ways ahead – which we are thrilled to be a part of and pray that this will be a good beginning to more involvement with the college, especially as they train Finns for Missionary and church work.
Jonathan recently introduced IEC to "2 Ways to Live" in preparation for their Summer Evangelistic Outreach. He will be running a course in leadership training in the Fall. He continues with the student work, and 1-2-1 Bible studies. Jess attends Crescendo's monthly prayer meeting, a group for Christian musicians in Finland. They have evangelistic events planned in the Fall and plan to use Jess to do Bible studies for new and growing Christians.
E – Excitement. We recently had the excitement of having Andy and Mandy Lines to stay with us when Andy spoke at a conference here. It was such a treat for us to have them to stay and to be able to spend some time talking through the situation here and praying together.
We are excited to see God at work in the small things we are doing – by reading the Bible and praying with individuals we are seeing them grow in Christ. It's slow work introducing new ideas, such as interactive Bible studies, but we are encouraged to see the ways in which God is changing people and transforming all of us more into his likeness.
Jess is particularly excited by the news that a cafe right down in the main tourist area is to be opened by Christians. This will be the first of its kind in Helsinki and will provide regular evangelistic and music outreach events, as well as an ideal location to meet up with students. On June 1st Jess and another musician will be providing some improvised music for a Hip Hop dance show run by 2 Christians.
B – the Boys continue to get to grips with Swedish and are doing very well. They are both able to speak Swedish at school, although still feel very self-concious. They have found the 2 term system quite a long haul as they are used to having an Easter break, but they are able to see the benefits of having a long Summer break now that it is getting nearer!
S – the Summer holiday is looming and we are so excited about our forthcoming visit to the UK in June. We are looking forward to catching up with friends and also being able to visit some of the churches that are supporting us. We have been given the most marvellous gift of a 2 week holiday by the sea. It's been a long year and often very exhausting with all the things that have been happening, but also such an exciting time. We feel content to know that this is where God wants us at the moment and look forward to the ways in which he will use us in the coming months.
Thank you for your prayer, we are very conscious that none of this would be possible without prayer.
Give thanks for:
- the successful treatment for Jess's thyroid
- the Lines visit
- an overall positive experience for the boys in school out here
- the recent "2 Ways to Live" training day at IEC
- An Australian student who has been of great encouragement to Jonathan
- Paulina, who has been a friend to Jess and who is running Crescendo, Finland
Please pray:
- for Jess and Jonathan in the 1-2-1 work they are doing with students
- for Jonathan's teaching schedule at FLM's Bible college and for him as he prepares for this and his training opportunities at IEC in the Autumn
- for Jess's involvement with Christian musicians in IEC and in Crescendo
- for the boys to remember what they have learnt in Swedish over the Summer break
Jonathan, Jessica and Jean-Paul and Nathan