Dear Friends: View this email in your browser Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Larkin Family! This is our favorite time of year. The season that we celebrate our Lord coming in flesh. This year some traditions we had to let go of and picked up some new ones among which was having an action packed Christmas Day! This newsletter is extra long but we hope our absence has made the heart fonder and so you will see it as a reward to read both pages :) Here we go: It has been a while since we have connected because we have been in a VERY busy ecclesiastical season. We will try to the best of our ability to fill you in on everything that has been going on. The month of October signaled the beginning of the playground, for which we have been praying for, for so long. When we first started it was very slow but we were not disappointed we just continued to pray for the neighborhood and for the people God was going to be sending to us. Slowly people started to come and as they came we started to offer lessons and tutoring. We are responsible for running it on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We have started teaching English to pre-school aged children and the class looks more like a mommy and me, which Evangelia is enjoying very much as well as an answer to the type of involvement she wants to develop in that area of the church. During the week there are also tutoring helping kids with their school classes in mathematics and Greek as well as there is offerings of private lessons of guitar and piano. The neighborhood that the church is located in is culturally diverse so the language backgrounds are Greek, Albanian, Polish, Arabic and Indian, though all the kids speak Greek quite well. As we were praying at the New Year I got the picture of a bee hive that the playground was like a very busy place where lots of creativity was happening and as well as it is a place where people are drawn to the sweetness of the Gospel. Please continue to pray for this ministry and that the Lord will keep raising people who will offer of their gifts and talents to bless the neighborhood. In November we started with the youth the Alpha Course and Stephen and Evangelia each taught a lesson. We are going to be continuing the series in a few months. For the remainder of November and December we stepped in to help out with the need to come up with a skit for the teenagers to present for the Children’s and Teenagers show. It was stretching and challenging but it was also very fun and rewarding. Evangelia did a great job directing it. You can watch this here https://goo.gl/photos/7QkvEbxY9kWkqrbC9 . We did a modern version of the prodigal son and Stephen was the father. Many people said they were touched, believers and unbelievers alike, we can all benefit from experiencing the Father’s deep love for us. We were happy to see that there were 60 children from the neighborhood that came with their parents for the first time at the church among which were some of our new friends from the playground! We pray that the good seed that was sown will bear much fruit. As soon as the Children’s presentation was finished we turned our whole focus on the presentation for Christmas day. Evangelia stepped in to lead the choral portion of the presentation. Against all odds and largely by God’s unfailing grace it went very well and we also had a great turn out of first time comers at the church that were touched by God’s love as they came and experienced this Christ focused celebration of Jesus’ birth. To watch this Christmas presentation you can click on this link https://goo.gl/photos/sXVPrSQ9YwGPLGQ59. An ongoing ministry is the guys Bible study, which is one of the things Stephen looks forward to the most each week. It is invigorating to have young guys hungry for God’s word and full of questions. These guys also have been craving to reach out and bless the refugees here in Athens. All on their own they gathered food and clothes and we went and passed out materials one day. They got the bug and wanted to help even more. Therefore, they came up with the idea of putting on a concert at the church to collect more supplies for the refugees. They told their friends and even one of their schools was so excited the whole school got behind it and gathered a whole room full of supplies. Kids from the schools brought things to the church when they came for the concert. Wanting to use this opportunity to minister to all those kids that were showing up for the first time, Stephen was asked to bring an evangelistic message. We pray that what seeds were sown that day will grow and bear fruit. On a personal note these last few months we celebrated lots of events. Agapi turned four on October 21st. A week later Evangelia’s sister had a baby girl which brings the final count to 3 nieces 1 nephew. A couple of days after the birth of our little niece, Stephen, ran his 2nd marathon with our area missionary and a guy from the teenagers. He improved his time by an hour so that was very rewarding for him. Appropriate training and preparation pays big time. There was a group of teenage guys from the Bible Study, that joined Evangelia and the girls at the finish line, who got all excited and wanted to run it next year. Therefore, we are planning to all train together for that race for next year God willing. We also introduced a new holiday to Greece this year as we celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends. Turkey is usually only eaten on Christmas here and many of our traditional dishes are very foreign to the Greek palate but thanks to movies they were somewhat familiar with the sight of it :) We were grateful that we had the opportunity to celebrate it in Greece, though it is an American holiday, there is the principle of Thanksgiving that is good for all people. We are particularly thankful for you and for your partnership to pray and support us and see Greece turn to our one, true, loving God. Praises:
Stephen, Evangelia, Gabriela Zoé and Agapi Thank you for being a part of our team both prayerfully and financially. We cannot do this without you. 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! For those who would like to give or to setup monthly giving click on the link https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ Then follow the prompts to donating online. For checks on the memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 God bless you.
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Dear Friends: To view this in your browser click here We hope this update finds you well. We have been in Greece now for five months and we would lie if we said that we do not miss seeing you and having you part of our life. However, we are grateful that we have this opportunity to serve the Lord here in Greece and get to deepen our relationship with you as we partner together in reaching the Greek people with God's love. First day of School! Our girls are so excited! We just recently wrapped up a busy and fruitful summer which included a two month (once a week) VBS as well as the youth camp. For the VBS we had the opportunity to teach the bible lessons, art lessons, do puppet shows and Stephen got to play some pretty fun games with the guys. While the kids learned new things and had a blast the most important thing is that they got to know more about Jesus and 16 accepted Jesus in their heart for the first time and two received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Loads of fun at VBS. Art and crafts (Top Left) Human Foosball (Top Right) Evangelia teaching the lesson (Bottom Left) Group photo (Bottom Right) Puppet Show with Mickey and Donald Games with the boys. (Left) Water balloons (Right) Chubby Bunny Camp was a week packed with teaching, worship and ministry to the youth. Many brand new believing youth got to experience the presence of God in a special way. There were 4 salvations, 7 baptised in water, 10 baptised with the Holy Spirit. Both of us had the opportunity to get to know the youth better and start building relationships. What is exciting is that the youth guys had so many questions in their cabin meetings that a small group bible study started from there to help address the questions the guys had. Stephen meets with a mix of junior high, high school and young adults every Friday to explore what God's word has to say about the many questions that they have. Worship time at Youth Camp Through generous gifts the national work in Greece was able to get their very own mobile missions press!!! Pastor George has had in his heart to print 11,000,000 (reflection on the population of Greece) bookmark sized good wishes. There are forty different statements that are along these lines "When your circumstances are hopeless, look to God for everything. There you will find the help you seek". The mobile press has already been used to print many of those already as well as give the church the opportunity to print many other materials that were not possible before. It's a marvellous answer to prayer! On September 23 we are going to launch the first of four sessions we are going to do this school year to reach the community around the church. We will offer English lessons for the first session on Wednesday and Thursday and do a mommy and me class on Fridays. We are excited to have this opportunity to love the community and meet at least one of the many needs. Personally we've been taking the time it needs to adjust and learn the culture and language. Our area missionary with Foursquare missions gave us the gift of a retreat that was a much needed time 'away' and we also had the opportunity to meet other missionaries that are close by and be encouraged. Thank you for praying and for giving for the VBS, the camp and for us. We are blessed to see how God is moving and making a way and allowing us to love people with His love. We value our partnership and want you to know that we pray for you too. In His Great Love, Stephen and Evangelia .Prayer Requests:
Thank you for being a part of our team both prayerfully and financially. We cannot do this without you. 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! For those who would like to give or to setup monthly giving click on the link https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ Then follow the prompts to donating online. For checks on the memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 God bless you. Dear Friend: To view this in your browser click here These are truly unprecedented times. You may have seen Greece in the news a lot lately. Greece is in a very crucial season. There are long lines at banks everywhere you look. People are afraid and desperate. There is a daily charge/withdrawal limit for the people here of 60 euros per day. This makes it difficult for people to pay bills, when they don’t have access to their money. There is also a vote today whether Greece will stay in the European Union. This is a critical time for this country. We believe that God has brought us here at such a time as this and feel a great burden to pray and raise awareness- to give a call to prayer for Greece. Please stand with us in prayer lifting up Greece. Jesus is the answer. He is all-sufficient. “God is able to do abundantly above and beyond all we can ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. Psalm 2:8 So we are contending and praying for God to give us Greece. When we tell people that we just moved to Greece. They are always very curious, everyone's response is ‘why did you want to leave California to come here in this season?’ it takes all we've got in us to not say that we are here to share the love of Jesus. We suffice to say that we love Greece and the people and that is why we are here. They are mostly people we interact with regularly so we pray as we continue those interactions that divine conversations will happen that will open up their understanding of God's love and His desire for a personal relationship that they have never realized before. An unexpected surprise was the arrival of our ‘Abz' among the many nicknames we’ve given her. Abigail wanted to serve the Lord in serving a missionary family as a nanny for the summer. She's a wonderful girl with a soft heart for the things of the Lord and with strong convictions about life. You can follow her blog for some of her experiences here http://www.smalltownclouds.com/topics/adv-greece/ . She has helped us with homeschooling finishing off the year (one more week left!!!) as well as being a positive influence for our girls while we are busy putting multiple lesson plans together for the upcoming VBS called 'Center of the New Generation’. As well the follow up program that will take place during the school season. Operating the playground while providing after-school tutoring as well as english and music lessons for the community. We are settled in our apartment now. Stephen got his permit to live in Greece for a year! Yay! It took over 2 months, but praise the Lord we have it. Stephen’s parents came for a week to visit, which was a very sweet time. We have had friends from our church back home The Church on the Way come spend most of a day with us, which was so sweet and encouraging. Stephen has preached for the youth three times now, one was tonight. Evangelia is finding her rhythm with homeschooling and finding balance with a new and very different schedule. The girls are loving their new home and having their own space. They love being involved at church and have made friends. They feel at home, which we love, and now they are begging for a puppy… :) Greece is having a very crucial vote today. VBS starts tomorrow. Also we have the camp for the youth the following week. With the economy in such a bad shape and camp a week away no one has paid yet. Today is the deadline for youth to pay for camp or it will be cancelled. The cost is $100 per person. If anyone feels inspired to give a scholarship please send me an email. Thank you all so much. You are in our hearts and prayers. We love you. Stephen & Evangelia Larkin Prayer Requests:
Greetings from Gabriela Zoe & Agapi (Left) Lines at banks all over Athens. (Right) Very loud protests of people wanting out of the EU. Check out our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/larkinsinGreece we will be posting a video greeting from our family soon. God bless you. Thank you for being a part of our team both prayerfully and financially. We cannot do this without you. For those who would like to give or to setup monthly giving here is the link: https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ God bless you! 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Dear Friends: To view this in your browser click here Geia sas! (that’s Howdy y’all in Greek) We have made it safely to Greece! Praise the Lord! Thank you for your prayers. Last week was Holy Week in Greece, this year it is one week after Easter in America, which means schools were out, people were leaving the city, there were services every day of the week (we didn’t quite make it to all them) and there was a general sense of anticipation and celebration in the air for Resurrection Sunday. On Sunday the church provided an Easter feast, complete with lamb, chicken, potatoes, salad, bread and free of charge, for anyone who was still in town and would like to participate, whether because they have no other family, or no means to travel, no money to eat or simply just want to spend the day with their church family. Its a fairly new tradition for the church and it was a new experience for our whole family. This past couple of weeks that we have been here we walked many miles looking for a place to rent. We are happy to tell you that we have found an apartment, one that will fit our family and will have enough room for us to be hospitable. We are looking forward to the ministry we will be doing also from our home. Our move in date is May 1st as we had to wait until after Easter to take care of a few things that will make the apartment fully functioning. Stephen has also spent time running around collecting information about what is needed to receive his permanent visa. Though most of our time here so far has been taking care of the nitty gritty stuff and due to the holiday season in Greece, Evangelia has had the opportunity to join her mom and sister ministering in song on Good Thursday. God has provided encouragement during this season through our brothers and sisters in Christ at the church we will be serving, our family, friends and family at home and even dreams that the Lord has given us that have guided our prayers. A huge answer to prayer and one that continues to unfold, is that Gabriela Zoe has found a sweet friend, a kindred spirit and they teach each other English and Greek. It brings joy to our mommy’s and daddy’s hearts to see them play together and do not worry Agapi is close by the whole time too :) We know that we are experiencing such a smooth transition because of you, our dear co-laborer(s) in Christ, who have prayed for us faithfully and also at those moments the Holy Spirit brings us to your mind. We are thankful and we continue to covet your prayers! Prayer requests:
Check out our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/larkinsinGreece to see a video greeting from our family. God bless you. Thank you for being a part of our team financially. If you haven't had a chance to give yet here is the link: https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ God bless you! 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Dear Friends: To view this in your browser click here You have been praying, we have been praying, you have been giving and then praying some more and giving some more. And of coarse just like us waiting, expectantly for our departure date always waiting for God's perfect timing. This morning I (Evangelia) was listening to a message by Larry Titus and he shared about God's perfect timing. He shared the illustration of a well trained dog that has a doggie biscuit set on his nose and then he is told to wait and wait and wait and then his master says 'get it' and immediately the dog gets it. This waiting does feel unnatural and sometimes frustrating but it's all good in God's perfect timing. We have felt like the dog in the illustration, that had to wait and wait and wait some more. But this morning the Master has said "Get it" and so we have purchased our tickets and are packing our bags! Our departure date is March 30th with an arrival date to Athens March 31st. As we mentioned in our last letter we were prayed and sent out from The Church on the Way. It was a powerful time of prayer where God spoke very specific things to us, that were not only encouraging for this time but also words that will give us hope and faith as we continue to walk into this great assignment. After that we were able to share God's word and ministry of music with the congregation in Hacienda Heights, Aletheia Church. For our last four Sundays we have been/will be serving at the Foursquare Church in North Hills, El Mission del Rey with their children's Palm Sunday/Easter programs. We are grateful we get to continue to use our gifts here on the home front until the day we get to leave. Please continue to pray for us as fervently as ever as we step into this adventure He has set before us. Pray for the country of Greece as so many things feel uncertain, that God will become the 'certain' and hope for every person. Thank you for giving and giving so generously, your gifts are an instrument in God's hand for our departure and ultimately for reaching the Greeks with His love. Thank you for your partnership and love! In His love and grace, Stephen & Evangelia Additional prayer points:
Prayed for & greatly encouraged at our home: The Church On The Way. Sharing and leading in worship at Alethia Christian Church in Hacienda Heights, CA Being prayed for at El Camino Metro. Preaching on The Fear Of The Lord at Journey Community Church This has been a marathon of a journey. Thank you for praying and joining with us on this adventure. Your prayers are making an impact. FMI has updated their giving website to: https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ Please check it out and let us know if you have any questions. 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Dear Friends: To view this in your browser click here
I know that at one point or another you have found yourself in a very similar place to where we are now. A place of certainty of the next step all the while waiting for just the right time. Sometimes wondering if it will actually come and yet approaching rapidly. We have not been able to set a departure date yet and we have withheld a newsletter in hopes we would have a date. However, it is time to let you know what we have been up to even though we don’t have an exact timeframe yet. In the month of November Stephen had the privilege of sharing from God’s word a message that has been in his heart regarding the fear of The Lord. We visited one of our partnering churches with which we have a wonderful history (it may be a story for another time) Lifegate Church. We were also happy to steal away some time and enjoy our family for Thanksgiving up in Lake Arrowhead area. In December we also got to visit the new church our dear friend James Hoegger planted recently. We are so greatful to have their partnership and that we had the opportunity to meet that congregation. We believe God has something great in store for Sacramento and we were privileged to witness the beginning of what He’s doing there! We also had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with our family. Our girls were particularly excited to be at their Papa and Yaya's house Christmas morning. Meanwhile, God has been providing funds and preparing our hearts for this big move. We are looking forward to the day we set our feet on Greek soil and start doing the work we have been looking forward to doing for such a long time! We also got to visit The Sanctuary church at the beginning of February, and will be getting prayed/sent out of our home church, The Church On the Way this Sunday, as well as sharing from God's word at Aletheia church in Hacienda Heights the following week. Please join us in prayer that we will released to leave sometime in March! We cannot finish this letter without telling you how valuable you are to us because your prayers for our family and Greece are making a difference. We are also grateful for how you are faithfully giving and in a sense still sowing the seed of provision. It is because of your gifts up to this point that are making it possible for us to see our departure day approaching rapidly. Many blessings and love, Stephen, Evangelia, Gabriela Zoe and Ariel Agapi Prayer points: 1) That we will reach the full amount of monthly support needed to be able to set our departure date and book our tickets for March. 2) The right apartment will become available at the right time in Athens. 3) Greece just went through an election but regardless of the outcome that God will have mercy on Greece and that His will and blessing will be established in the land. 4) Continued prayer that as our hearts are being prepared for the task ahead, the hearts of the national believers will be getting prepared for something new and the hearts of those who are still lost and without hope will also be getting prepared for their encounter with God's love! PS our family picture is from a recent family portrait session by our friend who is an amazing photographer Gema Ortiz FMI has updated the giving website to: https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ Please check it out and let us know if you have any questions. 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Dear Friend: View this email in your browser
Thank you for being a part of our team. Thank you for praying and giving. I want to first apologize to everyone that I confused in our last newsletter. I put a picture of our family from our trip to Greece last year on the top of the newsletter as a prophetic look forward to where we are going, but this shocked so many that we had left without saying good bye. Then when we saw them in person, we were asked if we were back visiting and how come we came back so soon. :) To be clear, we are not yet in Greece. We are planning to go sometime between December and March. We have some churches we are planning to visit in the mean time and are at about 75% in support. God is providing and we are moving forward. God's timeline usually doesn't match up with ours, but He has much higher and better plans for each of us than we can ever have for ourselves. God still has us here in this season for a reason. We are ready to go and have rented out our home and sold most of our stuff. Here are some areas to help focus your prayer for us in this season.
Stephen & Evangelia Larkin FMI has updated their giving website to: https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/ Please check it out and let us know if you have any questions. 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://www.foursquaremissions.org/donate/people/larkin-stephen-and-evangelia/and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 Beloved Team Member: To view this in your browser click here We hope that you are well since we last talked and you are growing and thriving in the Lord. Every time we think of you, our hearts are encouraged and strengthened because of your love, prayers and support you have showered us with thus far. We are in a very active waiting season right now. The end of the month of June and beginning of July we spent two intense weeks of moving, where our household went from 11+ full van loads down to about one. By the grace of God and wonderful friends who keep their ears open, our house has been rented out and we have begun our journey to a ‘new home’. A very clear picture for us of how we are to live our lives all the time, for this earth is truly a temporary home. While we are in this ‘waiting’ process, we are very hopeful and excited for what God is doing. We are seeing our team, of which you are a very valuable player, grow as more and more people catch the vision of reaching Greece for Jesus. This past week we had the opportunity to join Aletheia Christian Church, in Hacienda Heights, for their 5 day club in the park. We were blessed to meet all the children that caught the vision of reaching Greece and who asked many questions, among which was the question of whether in Greece a day has the same amount of hours as a day in America. In case you were in any doubt a Greek day is made up of 24 hours :) They prayed for us and sent us out with gifts of money they collected, beautiful cards with well wishes, bracelets they had worked at making in their craft time and lots of smiles and hugs. It is the same simplicity with which a child believes, that we strive to move forward, believing that God who began and orchestrated everything to this point will also be the one that leads us to the finale of this first movement (yes, I did use a musical analogy :)) We continue to covet your prayers, because we know that God is able to do abundantly more that what we ask or we can even think! Here are four areas to help focus your prayer for us in this season. Please pray:
Stephen & Evangelia Larkin 100% of Every Donation Goes Directly to Reach Greece! Click the donate button to give financially today or go to https://give.foursquare.org/Stephen-and-Evangelia-Larkin and follow the prompts to donating online. On Check memo line write: "Greece Led By Larkins" and make Checks out to: Foursquare Missions International PO Box 26776 Los Angeles, CA 90026 |
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Larkins In Greece