Each year I appreciate God’s immutability more and more.  Though life’s changes continue to roll out at an ever increasing pace, God, His promises, and His purposes remain rock-solid.  Here are some changes we have recently been facing and will face in the near future.

We are currently in the middle of two “State of Emergencies.”  The first is in regards to the energy crisis caused by natural gas issues with Russia.  The second is in response to the drastic rise in COVID-19 cases.  Currently, without a COVID pass, we cannot go to most “non-essential” businesses.  Thankfully, we are able to still continue on with our ministries.  At the end of January, some illness went through our family, possibly the omicron variant.  We thank the Lord that most of us are well again with just a lingering cough and fatigue.  Please pray for Stephanie, though.  She may have some sinus infection.

A couple weeks ago, I showed up to lead the evangelistic Bible study with a older man, Vladimir.  Sadly, I found out that he moved to Chisinau.  Jacob and I had been witnessing to him for many months.  There seems to be evidence that his interest and understanding of things has been weak.  Please pray that I will find another open person to take his place.

Most of you probably are aware of the warnings the West and America has made of a possible Russian invasion into Ukraine.  We thank the Lord that thus far, there has been no actions from Russia to validate those claims.  Since Moldova is stuck between Ukraine and Romania (NATO’s eastern border), there has been concern over what would happen to Moldova, were Russia to invade Ukraine.  In response, we have been in contact with our pastor and field director and have an evacuation plan in place were the need to arise.  Please pray for the world leaders and for us to lead a quiet and peaceable life (1 Timothy 2:2).

We have turned in the needed documents to our lawyer in order to renew our residency permits.  Though we do not know of any reason they should be denied, please pray for us to find grace in the eyes of Immigration and be granted another three-year permit.  On February 4th, we celebrated our 12 years anniversary of service here in Moldova.  We pray the Lord blesses us with many more years of service for Him here.

The Hughes are scheduled to return to Moldova from furlough later on in March.  Upon

Family News: Abby got her braces off!

their return, we will have about three weeks together before we head out for our four-month furlough on April 12th.  We are focusing on visiting the churches we were not able to visit last furlough in 2018.  I thank the Lord that the meetings are all booked now.  To those of you that were able to schedule us in, thank you very much.  To those churches we were not able to visit this furlough, we will do our best to schedule you in on our next furlough.  As I did for our last furlough in 2018, I will mail prayer cards to all of our supporting churches and make our furlough video available for you to view and show.  Please pray for us as we continue to prepare for furlough (as it is no small task preparing to leave your home and ministry for months).  Pray that furlough will be a time of refreshment for our family and an opportunity for the Lord to use us in the lives of other believers.  Please also pray for the Hughes as they continue on with the ministries here in our absence.

Thank you again for your prayers and financial support.  We are looking forward to seeing many of you this summer.

Dear Praying Friends, thank you for all your prayers. We had the prayer letter typed up a month ago, but David’s hard drive died and took several weeks for him to resolve that problem. But in that time God brought several more interesting events into our lives.

We have often mentioned Tamara in our prayer letters, whose life of suffering has only continued.  On October 7th, her husband, Alec, passed away.  In addition to this heartache, her cancer is now attacking her only remaining kidney, requiring her to have further radiation treatments in January.  Please pray for the emotional, spiritual, and financial needs of this lady.

In November, we found out that our village’s mayor and his wife passed away from COVID.  David and I thought we were going to calling hours on the evening before the funeral, but when we arrived, we found out that there would be none.  We were invited in and were able to spend some time with the family and leave them with a Gospel tract.  Please pray for God to use our visit and the tract in their lives.

Over the past several months, David has been trying to witness to the husband of a lady in our Soroca church-plant.  The first discussion with him ended with him saying, “I don’t want to hear any more about sin.  I’m not a sinner.”  After his wife left to spend some time with her daughter in Russia, the Lord opened up other visits with her husband before he left for Russia.  In the end, her husband ended up coming to both the midweek service and the Sunday morning service before David drove him to the airport the following Tuesday.  He heard the Gospel both times.  Please pray for the Lord to work in Vania’s heart and for him to come with his wife to services upon their return in the Spring.

In the beginning of December, a lady called David and explained that her mother was dying and insisted on having a Baptist funeral, even though all of the rest of the family is Orthodox.  Though David had been a part of a couple funerals in different aspects, he had not led one himself.  David and I went and visited the dying lady that day, and she passed away a couple days later.  When David called some Moldovan pastor friends of his for input regarding doing the funeral, one of them offered to come and assist him, which was a huge blessing.  The Gospel was given multiple times during the funeral.  Please pray for the Lord to draw this dear family to salvation.

Caleb, our oldest son, has been taking advantage of his free time in the afternoon to go out and meet people of all ages and hand out Gospel tracts in our neighborhood. An elderly man he has talked to several times is interested in coming to our services. One fifteen year old boy said he was interested in Bible study. We haven’t seen any fruit from these claims, but the gospel is going out through him, too, and we are excited about that.

David continues to pass out tracts in town, looking for opportunities to witness. He continues to do Bible study in town with a couple “V and L” as well as a Bible study out in a village where he led two ladies to the Lord last year. They have gotten a real zeal to share Christ with others but have met discouragement because the gospel has not been received very well. Pray for these ladies that they will continue to share Christ with others and make a difference in their village. Pray the Lord will open more doors for Bible studies, especially with men.

Several weeks ago I (Stephanie) was able to give the gospel to a lady at the outdoor market. More recently another door opened for me to go through the gospel again. With this lady in particular, there is a language barrier. She doesn’t understand Romanian and I speak very little Russian. She speaks some English, and she can understand when I speak about things that are familiar. The gospel and God are not familiar, so David plans to go talk to her because his Russian is better, though he, too, is limited. Pray for “A” to get saved.

Several weeks ago I also got to speak to the lady who works right across from the lady I just mentioned. I asked her if she reads the Bible. She reads Psalms and the Prayer book, but she did not have a Bible. I said I would get her one. The next week I went to take her the Bible that I had promised, only to find she had already bought herself a New Testament. I was shocked and so excited. David was with me that day and gave her some questions to answer as she reads through John. She is Orthodox but very friendly. I am hoping I can continue to point her to the truth of Jesus Christ. Pray for “E” to trust Christ.

Please pray for us to have boldness and Spirit-filled ministry as we go into a new year of serving Christ.

I read last night that Russia stationed around 80,000 troops at the Ukrainian border and Crimea. The eastern part of Moldova, Transnistria, which declares itself independent of Moldova and has over 1,000 Russian troops stationed there, has had increased Russian military activity, too. Soroca is only about 15 miles from the northern border of Transnistria. Ever wonder if those in power think, “People are tired of the pandemic. Let’s make things more interesting!” But we need not fear what circumstances or man may do unto us. We have the promise of God’s sufficient grace, His mercies that are new every morning, and His great faithfulness.

As we rest in His promises, we continue on in the ministries God has for us. At times they have been cancelled due to not knowing how the government expected churches to comply with new restrictions. Thankfully, we are able to meet for church at present, but our weekly children’s ministry and my teen mentoring are still on pause.

There have been some unexpected opportunities and open doors recently. In shopping for a need at the outdoor market, I talked to the vendor, trying to steer the conversation to spiritual things. He did a lot of talking so I thought it was going to be another dead end conversation. I was able to ask questions, though, and the man became sober as I talked about the coming judgment and our sinful state. I was able to encourage him to read his Bible, and gave him three questions to answer in the book of John. With his promise to read, he invited me back to talk again about these things. I plan to continue to visit him and hope to start a Bible study with him. Pray for M to see His need for Christ and become one of His disciples.

In December a lady O called me and told me she had a need. This phone call has resulted in her coming to church with her three small children and starting a Bible study with my wife. She has been saved for several years but has been taught little from the Bible. She has a great desire to know more. Pray for O to continue to grow in Christ, and pray for her husband V to have the same insatiable desire.

I have mentioned Tamara in my prayer letters many times over the last few years. After leading her to Christ I have kept in contact with her, though she lives an hour away. She is still suffering with cancer and diabetes as well as financial difficulty. In the last few months she has been able to get the surgeries and radiation treatments that she needs and she is feeling so much better. The terrible sores on her back are mostly healed. However, she is still having sores surface on other parts of her skin, which is baffling the doctors, who have not seen this sort of thing in their thirty years of work. Pray for the doctors to have wisdom to treat her successfully, and pray that Tamara will continue to be a light to her husband A, and her two grown children.

Our whole family has been delighted to step out of the gray of winter into the green and loveliness of spring. The children are excited to play outdoors more regularly and ride bicycles again. With Spring always comes planting for us. We enjoy supplementing our food budget with fresh, homegrown fruits and vegetables. We usually try something different in the garden each year, so this year we are trying raised beds. we am still in the midst of assembling them and filling them, hurrying to get the Spring seeds planted.

Back in November our oldest had voiced concerns about feeling different emotionally. We thought at first that it was just hormonal changes. But when it didn’t go away and became worse, we sought outside help. Now she meets with a Christian counselor each week online, and we praise the Lord for the improvement we have seen. Please pray for her success and growth in facing these challenges and for us to have wisdom in helping her.

Other children have been battling their wills. Pray for us as we endeavor to point them to Christ in all things, that they may conquer and stand strong as good soldiers and delight to do God’s will. It is not enough to produce good children; our desire is that they will love God with all their heart, soul, and strength.

Over the past many weeks the Lord has given me an opportunity to meet with a young man C, who lives nearby, to teach him English twice a week. I have also been able to test his interest in spiritual things, and he seems to be open. Several years ago, he had comet the VBS at our home and showed much interest. Last night, after our lesson, he told me that he would like for us to start studying the Bible together! He is almost done with school and seems very teachable. Pray the Lord will use the study to make another disciple for Christ.

For over a year now I have been doing a Bible study with V and L. Due to V’s trips out of the country each month in the past and due to the pandemic, there have been many weeks when we could not have the study. In spite of the intervals, they have continued to show their interest in the studies. Since we arrived at the Ten Commandments L has seemed more detached from the study. Perhaps the Lord is convicting her. But V has been right with me understanding and agreeing. They seem close to salvation in some ways, but we know Satan does not want to see this through. He wants to hinder. Please pray the Lord will conquer in their hearts and that they will repent and be made new creatures. We would love to see them become disciples of Christ, baptized, and added to the church.

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. We could not do the work over here without you holding the ropes.