Dear friends,
As I write this, camp meetings have begun, and our team is spread out across North America to provide training and lead outreach distributions. This week, one of the messages I am sharing is, “The Recipe for Finishing the Work,” a recipe involving personal revival, the latter rain, and sharing the everlasting gospel with the world. We want as many as possible to be part of the mighty movements that will result in lighting the earth with God’s glory. We want to engage as many in our church as possible in the mission of Streams of Light International.
This year Streams of Light is truly International. Johnny Henderson and I returned recently from 16 days of leading outreach, going door-to-door, and meeting with church leadership across our newly adopted mission field of Europe. I can summarize our experience with this—God is opening doors wider and more quickly than we dared imagine. We are preparing for a mission trip to the country of Liechtenstein in June of 2025, and by God’s grace, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Conference has requested we bring a mission trip to Stuttgart, Germany, as well. There is a lot of work ahead of us.
On Sabbath, May 18, Johnny and I were in Aachen, Germany, for our first training and distribution in Europe. We didn’t know what to expect from the church or the community. To our amazement, more than 40 church members stayed for training, and we had close to twenty teams going out. In spite of a higher number of rejections than we typically experience in the US, close to 400 families received books into their homes. We heard many inspiring testimonies shared by local church members and even got a Bible study interest. The Lord has proven once more that His methods work everywhere, and we are praising His name for that.
Johnny and I traveled from Bern, Switzerland, to Vaduz, Liechtenstein, where we spent the afternoon distributing The Great Controversy and health literature in German. We had a unique experience. Going door to door without speaking the language is definitely very challenging, but at the same time, it makes one rely fully on the Lord. He helped us distribute about 150 health magazines and The Great Controversy books in German in about five hours. Additionally, three people expressed their desire to study the Bible. We have seen the Lord part the Red Sea; where humanly it was absolutely impossible, the Lord made a way.
We have also checked the territory in other towns of this tiny country in preparation for our mission trip next June. Friends, the need here in Europe is so great. These people have been in darkness for way too long. Let us keep praying for the North America distribution project, but also please pray for our adopted mission field. Pray that God would give us wisdom step by step, and that the Lord would pour out His Spirit on each one of us in these momentous times.
I would like to share with you two very encouraging quotes:
“There is a great work to be done in Europe. It may seem to move slowly and hard at first; but God will work mightily through you if you will only make an entire surrender to Him. Much of the time you will have to walk by faith, not by feeling” —Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, pp. 128-129.
”I have been shown how reading matter on present truth is sometimes treated by many people in Europe and in other countries. A person receives a tract or paper. He reads a little in it, finds something that does not agree with his former views, and throws it aside. But the few words he did read are not forgotten. Unwelcome though they are, they remain in the mind until an interest is awakened to read further on the subject. Again the paper is taken up; again the reader finds something in it that is opposed to his long-cherished opinions and customs, and he angrily flings it aside. But the rejected messenger says nothing to increase his opposition or arouse his combativeness; and when the force of his anger dies away, and the paper is again brought out, it tells the same simple, straightforward story, and he finds in it precious gems. Angels of God are near to impress the unspoken word upon his heart; and, although loath to do so, he at last yields, and light takes possession of his soul. Those who are thus unwillingly converted often prove to be among the most substantial believers; and their experience teaches them to labor perseveringly for others” —Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists, p. 150 .
Friends, we need to work as hard as possible, while it is day. May God help us do all that He will enable us to through His strength.
Oleg Lotca
President
Streams of Light International