What was a significant moment for you or your ministry in 2023 and why was it significant?

The beginning of October was one of the most significant moments in our ministry this year: on October the 2nd, the first episode of our podcast on family matters (Sufletul Familiei in Romanian. English Translation: “The Soul of the Family”) aired on various platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, YouTube, and a few social media platforms.

We are so grateful we are to have this opportunity! We hope and pray it will minister to MANY families in the months and years ahead, reaching those we would not have been able to reach otherwise.

This podcast has been prayed through and thought through for quite some time now, and this seems to have been the right time to invest time and resources in taping the episodes and follow up sessions, as well as setting up a web page with blog entries and articles focusing on marriage and family.

The Lord blessed us with several friends and families around us who prayed with us, encouraged us and met with us to brainstorm on how we see the message of this podcast influencing the lives and family relationships of its listeners.

The first two episodes have been very well received, given the fact that we did not have paid advertisement or feed enhancements. We are so excited to hear from friends and listeners who are telling us how much they enjoy it. The comments are also appreciative and everyone is saying they are looking forward to hearing the next episodes (10 in total) from the first podcast season.

We pray the Lord will allow us to continue to go on air, and have the funds to tape another season for next year. We’d appreciate your prayers on this as well!

What did your supporters enable you and your ministry to accomplish for His kingdom this year?

God allowed the generosity of the donors to enable us to continue serving Him in Romania and Ukraine, and several other countries in Europe (family ministry in the Romanian diaspora). Probably the most memorable of the ministry events for Ukraine have been the two retreats for pastors and their wives, pastors who leave and serve churches and refugees in the Chernivtsi area (SW Ukraine).

It was great to have Steve Evers join us in April, and then Steve, Mark Burritt and another ITMI friend join us in August. Our team shared from the Word and our experience to encourage this group of pastors.

Both times we heard from them phrases like, “You don’t know how much this retreat helped us and how much it meant for us personally and for the ministry,” or, “you came at the right time: we were about to make some important decisions, and they would have been so much different (and for the worse) had we not talked with you and spent time with you and hear you share and encourage us from your experience.”

How would you express your gratitude to your supporters?

We are so grateful to have you partner with us in ministry. Your sacrificial giving is such a blessing to us, which “overflows” through us to many families and churches. Everywhere we go we see that family, as an institution, is under attack, and there are so many challenges that the Christian family is facing today.

Spending countless hours with families has enabled us to encourage them to keep hoping and waiting, in faith, for answers from the Lord. It is in times like these that our faith grows and our marriages can be an incredible witness to a hopeless world, starting with the communities around us.

May God bless your faithfulness for His Kingdom, and may you rejoice in knowing individuals and families are strengthened because of your contribution! Thank you again, so much!

Blessings,

Adi and Ema

Dear ITMI family,

One thought continues to come to my mind – gratitude. When Jesus healed ten lepers, only one came back to say thank you. Maybe this thought is only applicable to me, but I could not help wondering … how many of us missionaries take time to think how much ITMI is doing for us – to come back and say thank you.

When I really became quiet and considered how to answer the request for this newsletter, I thought to myself, how much gratitude do I have for what God had done through ITMI for my ministry?

This led me to some further thoughts. How much gratitude do I have for ITMI as an organization and for all those who work at ITMI with one goal in mind, to help support me in my ministry to do it to the best of my ability? How much gratitude do I have for all the sacrifices that ITMI make towards this goal?

How much gratitude do I have for these people that are willing to travel all over the world in difficult circumstances, leaving their families behind for extended periods of time, enduring many challenges and sacrificing time with their loved ones in order to support me in what I am doing? And this also brings me to the partners of ITMI.

Here we find people, Christians from all walks of life, who felt it laid upon their hearts to give donations to ITMI. These Christians do not have to do this. They do it voluntarily, because this is what they feel God is leading them to do.

Many of these Christians have never even met the missionaries that they partner with, and still they are willing to donate towards the furtherance of the Gospel through these missionaries. I am sure sometimes many of them do this even to their own discomfort.

Dear brethren, those of us who are supported through the donations from ITMI, do we do enough to thank all these people who help to keep our ministries going? Do we pray for them? Are we also interested in their lives as they are interested in ours?

How many of us take time to pray for our brother Steve when he takes the next trip, making all the sacrifices, to keep our ministries going? How many of us take time to pray for our donors, that God will protect them and their families, and supply in all their needs? As I write this message, I am challenged in my heart. And I pray that you also will be challenged. May our prayer be this festive season, “Lord, fill my heart with gratitude.”

Your year-end contribution to the ITMI General Fund enables our staff to provide the support our partners in the field rely on.

What are you thankful for this year?

This year hasn’t ended yet, but this piece of data is so encouraging for me and all who happen to be part of my ministry. Here are some numbers illuminating how many people are reading our translation of the Bible via the YouVersion application:

Numbers in 2023 to date:

Active users: 172,606

Highlights: 768,148

Verse shares: 181,151

Offline downloads: 11,068

Chapter requests: 35,409,000

Numbers in 2022:

Active users: 186,484

Highlights: 868,488

Verse shares: 237,938

Offline downloads: 11,431

Chapter requests: Data unknown

I wonder which of these data speaks the most? Maybe the offline downloads? If so, it means that from January 2022 until now, 22,499 people downloaded our translation. It feels good to know that our efforts  have been used by the Lord to provide many with access to God’s Word in Polish.

What did your supporters enable you and your ministry to accomplish for His kingdom this year?

My supporters enabled me to pay for my ministry expenses, such as internet, library, office, and communication expenses (they amount to $660 monthly). Having these expenses taken care of, I could be better prepared to guide my students and disciples, teach in more Christian schools nationwide, be much more often present on various internet forums, and take better care of the people with whom God put me in contact.

How would you express your gratitude to your supporters?

As always, Thank you. But not only that. We want to express our gratitude by making ourselves available to receive your Bible questions and share insights we may have gleaned through the translation process. In this way, we are pleased that you, too, might benefit from the translation project!

What are you thankful for this year?

There is so much to be thankful for. We are thankful to the Lord for sustaining and providing for us.

We are thankful for the body of Christ, who, together, as one body, directed and led by Christ, the Head, made a difference in the lives of many as the Gospel went forth, through the Discipleship and Church Planting that has taken place in this part of His vineyard.

We are thankful for the relationships between spouses, family, and friends.The list is a never ending one, and we look forward to the day that we, together, can worship Him in eternity.

Through those who have supported this work/ministry much was accomplished.Training, equipping disciples and church planting has taken place.Resources such as motorcycles, Bibles, medical supplies, and tents were provided ensuring mobilization.

Translating Bible/training materials from English into the indigenous language was completed.

Both Lesley and I have been able for the past 10 years to constantly be of service to our Lord here, and eventually acquiring ‘Residential Status’ in Zambia. This we believe will open many other doors throughout Zambia.

Thank you Lord!

How would you express your gratitude to your supporters?

In answering this we must be very careful that we do not rob the reward that is awaiting these folk in heaven with an earthly reward. I guess the way to answer this is to thank our Heavenly Father, for His Love, reflecting through our supporters sacrificial, giving hearts.

To ask God to bless these folk with good health, strong healthy friend and family relationships, provision in all circumstances, wisdom and knowledge that comes from the very throne-room of our Father and that they will be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

We are, in Him, and together with our supporters, looking forward to continuing to make a real difference in the lives of many as we walk where He leads us.

Always in His service,

Johan ‘John’ and Lesley Leach

What are you thankful for this year?

I am thankful to God for His words that were supported by ITMI in Audio Bibles. We have heard from those people whom we have given Audio Bibles they are memorizing verses and God brought change into their lives. There are people in brick factories who listened to the Word of God while they work.

We are thankful to God for bringing Brother Steve to Pakistan to teach and share the love of Jesus with others.

This year  many Bibles were burned in Pakistan and we are thankful that God provided Bibles through ITMI supporters. We have seen people whose houses were burned hunger for the Word of God and we were able to provide them Bibles. (Editor’s note: see photos to the right)

The Lord provided goats to widows and orphans through ITMI. This was a wonderful provision from God and we are thankful they are experiencing it.

Another provision was water pumps in areas where no clean water was available. Many people have stomach problems due to unclean water. God showed His grace through ITMI supporters in providing clean water as a witness to the “Living Water”.

How would you express your gratitude to your supporters?

I’m thankful to all supporters who have great hearts for the Lord and His creation. Pakistani Christians felt and realized that we are not alone but we have our brothers and sisters across the world who sacrifice for the body of Jesus Christ and His love can be seen through their generosity and heart. My family’s prayer is with you each day and we are praying for you all regularly. May God give you more resources and strength. Thank you for loving us as yourself.

What are you thankful for this year?

What a wonderful, faithful, loving, righteous, merciful, and gracious heavenly Father I have. I want everyone to know Him and His absolute goodness. He has shown Himself to Darlene and me over and over in ways that can only be from Him.

His protection when going abroad and when just navigating the daily tasks of life has brought smiles to our faces over and over. His grace - unmerited favor - has continually humbled us each time we have slowed down long enough to see His handiwork in our lives. 

Our Father has selected us and allowed us to be His tools in so many lives in so many countries, and the emotions of gratitude in the faces and lives say “Thank you” - “Thank you” in many languages. 

I am thankful that God has saved me and brought me together with many like-minded servants of Christ, from our diverse team of financial and prayer partners to those that work side by side in the office to the many precious nationals around the world. Thank you to all of you.

What did your supporters enable you and your ministry to accomplish for His kingdom this year?

EVERYTHING! With God’s all-encompassing care and leading, together with the faithfulness of those here at home in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain, we have been able to change lives from the inside out from Ukraine to India to Pakistan across Africa and into Eastern Europe.

Their futures are changed! To see worn-out Ukrainian pastors transform from empty emotional shells to restored and vibrant servants and to know that their renewal will allow them to reach out and serve so many more who need to know God’s truth and His plan for them specifically.

Lives are being changed - changed eternally.  Together we have accomplished much in obedience to Christ’s command to go and make disciples.

How would you express your gratitude to your supporters?

For a person tied to using words and concepts to communicate in so many different countries and cultures, I am still searching, after 21+ years as ITMI Director, for a sufficient combination of the most effective “gratitude vehicles”  to clearly and fully share what each of them means to Darlene and me personally. 

We are blown away at times by both the large and the small sacrifices that each of you make; other times we are humbled to complete silence. We live daily in amazement and a deep sense of blessing…because of you.  Thank you, Lord, for each of the dear people you have allowed us to partner with.

Thank you, Lord, for yourself and your priceless gift of redemption and reconciliation.

Opens doors for the Gospel

Helps the Needy

Builds a relationship between the lost and needy and an ITMI partner

Describe a time when you needed encouragement. How did the Lord provide?

Early this year a thief broke into my house while I was at Sunday morning church services. They took two computers and money that was set aside for the girls’ school fees. Papers and clothes were everywhere. It took me some minutes to speak. I have never had such a difficult time in my life.

Only the prayers of brothers and sisters and their words of encouragement helped me to forgive the thieves and pray for them. It was a painful situation. Just as I was recovering from the robbery, we faced the worst shortage of food I’d ever experienced in July.

The rainy season followed. Our home and all around it flooded. The girls’ bedroom was running with water for three days.

How did God provide? God touched heart of people and friends to reach out to my aid or hold my hands up. By sending support, they gave me hope at different times.

What did your supporters enable you and your ministry to accomplish for His kingdom this year?

My supporters enabled me to reach others with Gospel of Christ Jesus and many people have received Jesus as personal Savior.

The Lord gave me opportunities to reach orphans, widows, and vulnerable groups with the Gospel of Christ and train them.

I would like to thank everyone who supported the ministry. May the Lord bless you and give you all the best.

May the Almighty God cover you.