December 2019
Dear Family & Friends:
We pray you had a wonderful Christmas. The Good News of Christ's birth, death, and
resurrection is being proclaimed around the world! Your prayers have helped many people hear the gospel in the major cities of Europe this year. There are so many stories to tell you from the past few months I will share just a few.
We moved to Birmingham last January and stayed until July, which was all we were allowed without a visa. The process of applying for a 2-year visa took longer than we expected, so late in September, we began to rethink living in Birmingham. The UK is very expensive, and our 450 square foot apartment cost $1700 monthly. Plus, we have been away from our family and friends for 31 years. These factors, as well as getting older, made us decide to locate in Knoxville and fly back and forth to Europe. We talked to our partner, Redeemer City to City, and they agreed to pay for our travel expenses from the US. As of now, we will travel every month. When we are in the US, we will try to find churches to help the work in Europe. Since cities like Birmingham have large populations of immigrants and refugees we need to call up a new generation of missionaries who will go and reach the world in Europe.
In October and November, we made two extended trips of 17 and 13 days. The many
blessings we saw in Moscow, Warsaw, Krakow, Budapest, Birmingham, and Athens
strengthened and encouraged us. Our meetings in Athens was the highlight of our trips. Our Network Leaders and church planters from across Europe came together to discuss how to reach their cities for Christ, as the Apostle Paul did in Acts. As we walked through Athens looking at the historical places where Paul walked, we were reminded of his visit to Athens when we stood on Mars Hill (Areopagus Hill). In the book of Acts,17:16-34, Paul visits Athens, where he addresses the religious leaders and the people of the city. In cities, people sneer at the gospel as they did when Paul spoke, yet our church planters and network leaders continue to proclaim the gospel. Today, as in Athens of the past, each of these 70 cities represented has idols. These church planters are learning to understand the idols of their cities so they can address the hopes, dreams, and fears of the people. Go to my Facebook page (Teresa LaDage) and watch the video of our meetings.
May you be filled with love, joy, and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Bobby & Teresa
United World Mission - Europe
(a picture below of our growing family)