Greetings in the Lord, we write today from Italy where we are continuing in the work of evangelism, discipleship, and church planting in Mestre and now Udine. The summer has come and gone, but it was a good 3 months since our return to Italy. On a personal level, we are doing well, by God’s grace, as we serve Jesus as pioneering church-planting missionaries to this unreached people group of which less than 1% are evangelical. Our son has recently started attending nursery school for the first time. It has been a bit traumatizing for him and challenging for us, but we thank the Lord for our many prayer partners who have been joining us in prayer for this particular need. What makes it challenging is that our son is only used to being with us. He has no other relatives nearby, and although missionaries are friendly (usually), they don’t necessarily have many trustworthy friends on the mission field. At nursery school he does not see mommy and daddy, nor is he able to comprehend the other kids and teachers because they speak only Italian and his Italian is still quite minimal. Nursery school here is not obligatory, but it is expected. We value the idea because it gives our son (and us) a chance to make more friends and to learn well the Italian language. What we don’t like is that they expect parents to leave their kids from 8 am until 4 pm. This is just too long in our opinion. We do plan to let him attend 5 days a week, but only in the mornings.

-- Above Photos:

Jesse preaching in Udine church plant  |  Cornelius bringing home his first bike

CHURCH PLANTING 

  In our previous newsletter, we asked you to pray with us regarding a church plant in Udine city. For some time they have been seeking our help. Humbled that they would reach out to us we were always there to help, but we did not feel led to relocate to that city and leave the work we believe the Lord has for us in Mestre. After becoming aware of their missionaries upcoming departure for the USA, we at PMc prayerfully decided that we could offer help while remaining in Mestre. We made a proposal of what we could and could not do to oversee this young church plant from afar. The group made their decision and has asked us to help them move forward into the next season the Lord has for them. We will be overseeing this flock starting this November while still living and serving in Mestre. We believe the Lord would have us, at least for now, to remain in Mestre city and continue the work of evangelism, disciple-making, and church planting. We now commute on Sunday mornings in order to facilitate the transition process and Jesse and Ken take turns preaching. In the near future, we hope to find a private place to stay on Saturday evenings in Udine so we have the energy necessary to lead worship services there in Udine in the morning and then again in Mestre in the late afternoon. Ken and his wife, Ruthann, will be returning to the US at the end of October. The core group is small and has even suffered the loss of some of its people in the last few months from what seems like spiritual warfare, but they desire to remain and grow as a core group. Last Sunday after worship we had lunch together and let everyone ask questions or state concerns. We closed the time with prayer. Hearts were stirred. Our prayer is that they can grow stronger through this, more committed to Christ, that a number of them will show their faith by obeying Jesus to get baptized, and that the core group will solidify, bear fruit and multiply.

In Mestre city, we are distributing gospel literature from house to house and now that we can utilize the association of the Udine church plant we are making plans to begin setting up a book table in the town square so we can give away Bibles and other gospel literature. Our prayer is still to see a core group of believers begin gathering with us around God’s Word. The spiritual warfare in Italy still blows our mind. How people can come so close and then just disappear and go astray is astonishing… Please pray for the people we are reaching out to and for the Holy Spirit to regenerate lost people.

Sadly, we were not able to help the church plant in Pordenone in any tangible way because of limited manpower (missionaries). The people there have dispersed and are seeking out other congregations. We pray for them.

-- Above Photos:

Jesse & Jeryvee picking up Cornelius at nursery school  |  new friends from MO with a heart for Italian people visiting to learn more about ways to participate in the Lord's work

PRACTICAL MISSIONS cohort - PMc

  The PMc mission continues. We thank the Lord that we can say there are at least 4 groups seriously considering to come serve on a Short-term Cohort in 2020. Starting in November we will be, Lord willing, overseeing a small church body in Udine and discipling them with the end goal of seeing Italian men equipped in pastoral ministry. In Mestre we are doing evangelism which will, Lord willing, result in new believers that will also be discipled and then brought together as a core group for another church plant. This is great, yet we know many more need to be reached. To that end, we pray fervently to God for more missionaries to be sent alongside us so we can multiply our witness and impact. Please join us in praying for the provision of more missionaries. Soli Deo Gloria - SDG

  To stay engaged with the PMc mission you can visit practicalmissions.org. There you will find a variety of resources, opportunities, and updates.

In His grace,

Jesse & Jeryvee and all at PMc

PRAYER REQUESTS

Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil,

but living as servants of God. 

1 Peter 2:16

PARTNERING 

To partner with us we invite you to send tax-deductible donations to

Practical Missions Cohort, and mail to:

Practical Missions Cohort

500 Westover Dr. #10079

Sanford, NC 27330

Simply write “Schreck” or “general fund” in the memo section, depending on how you would like to support us and the PMc ministry.

Donations can also be made online at: https://www.practicalmissions.org/donate