A new friend of ours admitted that he often skips service when the missionaries come to speak at his church. It sort of falls under the ‘no guilt for not going’ category (my words not his). He didn’t believe me when I told him that I used to do the very same thing.
Even when it gets all gussied up, 98% of the missionary services have similar features. Old school slides that evolved into power point that evolved into video that evolved into youtube videos (click here to see ours made by Lexi Sunberg). There is the foyer display with intriguing accoutrements from foreign lands. Sometimes missionary kids sing but ours threatened to put us up for adoption if we made them. There is the sermon complete with stories of adventure and, nothing is complete without le triomphe final: the missionary prayer card.
This peculiar accessory of unknown origin ends up hanging on refrigerator doors, sometimes for years. Certain unnamed friends use ours for dartboard practice. I have also experienced an instant humbling when people tell me that they look at our photo and pray for us every day.
We hope you have our prayer card. If you do not, please message us. If you sent us your address, they have been mailed. We would really like to hang out on your refrigerator door this year. While there, we want you to know why our hearts beat for Central Europe and how you can pray.
As you open your refrigerator door: there are more people caught in slavery now than in any other period of human history. Sadly, our field has some of highest rates of sex trafficking in the world but, in Bucharest prostituted women are finding new lives through a Romanian NGO called The Open Door that is directed by Monica Boseff. She is the wife of Nazarene pastor, Cristi Boseff / Blessings Nazarene Church, Romania.
As you reach for your creamer or your milk in the morning: the newest Sweet Surrender coffee house is up and running successfully in Copenhagen. Pray for the multitudes of Danish people who come for a cup of coffee but return to surrender to the One who loves them most.
Deep within your freezer there lies a meal waiting to be prepared. As summer ends, pastors in Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and Kosova re-start Nazarene programs that feed and clothe people through the cruel winter months. Many children, families, and elderly people make the difficult, daily choice between heat or food.
As we travel on deputation this summer, we are sharing a ministry challenge and we hope our faces here in your kitchen will remind you to pray. This is our GIVE YOUR LUNCH challenge and it comes from Luke 9 where a simple boy gave his lunch and with it, Jesus fed 5,000 people on the banks of the Galilee. We dare to believe that God will do the same in Central Europe. Our goal by August 31, 2013 is:
To reach 500 people who commit to pray for us on the Central Europe Field (updates by e-newsletter; email TSunberg@me.com to be one of the 500).
To reach 50 people who commit to literally give their lunch on a monthly basis, which you can do by simply clicking on the donate to deputation button to the right.
God bless each one of you.
teanna sunberg 
you are a talented writer, i like your style.
Is that you, Teoma?