Wednesday, September 1, 2010

update September 1st, 2010

Greetings from Estonia! We are gearing up for a busy fall with work and conferences in Serbia, Bulgaria and of course Estonia, but more on that in a later email.


What we really want to let you know about is the expansion of our family. We are expecting our third child to arrive early in January. Emily and Mattias are excited about the new baby. Emily is praying that the baby is a girl and has asked us if she could name the baby “Emily” after her. We are super excited about the baby’s arrival.

This news definitely has affected our ability to travel this year but we are hoping to get back to Canada in the new year! Thank-you for your faithfulness in support and relationship despite our absence this year. We look forward to our next opportunity to be with you.
This email is coming a bit late due to computer issues, my laptop is completely out of commission (as well as all of the valuable data on it). I am praying that the issue will be resolved but I do need to send the computer back to Canada to be serviced.

On another announcement we have started a blog in which we will post pictures, store our updates for those of you who are interested. We have posted pictures of our renovations and a bit of the renovation story. The blog address is http://www.corcoranlife.blogspot.com/. It is a work in progress and hopefully it will be a good tool. If you are interested drop by for a quick visit on your next trip to the web.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

update August 4rd, 2010

Dear Friends and Family,


Greetings from Estonia! We have fully enjoyed our beautiful summer weather. This has been the first real hot summer in years. We trust that you have been enjoying your summer to take time to relax, reflect and to get away from the daily pressures of life. We wanted to send you a very brief update on the happenings here in Estonia and our work with NLI.

Bulgaira YLTC
In June I (Rod) was in Bulgaria for the planning of our last YLTC (Youth Leaders Training Conference) which will take place in November. The results of the conference have been good as many young leaders have taken on leadership roles in established youth ministries and in planting new ministries. While meeting with Traycho and Ina (Bulgarian nation youth directors for the Pentecostal Union) in June they shared with me some of the leadership transitions that are happening in the Pentecostal Union. Traycho and Ina are hoping that at the YLTC in November they will be able to arrange a meeting with the new leader of the Union. This would be a chance to partner with the Pentecostal Union with the challenges that they face.

Serbia
In October I (Rod) will be going back to Serbia to meet with one of our NLI partners in Serbia. Two years ago we were together for training the emerging leaders in the Pentecostal church. Our meeting in October will be about further partnership and projects in Serbia as we discuss the needs and challenges in Serbia. One of the major challenges that the Serbian Pentecostals face is public alienation, as the Pentecostals are considered a cult by the general public. This has made it very challenging for the church to meet in public and to own property. By partnering with the Serbians we want to bring encouragement, resources and the power of developing collective solutions to the problems.

Personal
As mentioned before this has been a beautiful summer in terms of the weather. We have fully enjoyed most of the benefits of the summer weather. This summer though our personal focal point has been fixing the house. We hope to have the 1st floor somewhat ready by the end of September, this will give us an additional 700 square feet, which will be great even if all of it is not ready. It will be nice for the 4 of us to not be squished in 500 square feet. We are very excited for this development.
Emily and Mattias are enjoying the summer as well, both of the kids love to be outside. This year Emily is riding her bike up and down the street and begging Kaja and I on a regular basis to take her out on the bike or to the park so she can go on the swings.
We hope that you enjoy the rest of the summer, we greatly appreciate your prayers and support.

Out of the Boat

Rod, Kaja, Emily & Mattias

Prayer Requests

1. Bulgaria YLTC: most of the key details are finished, but I am in need of recruiting a another trainer
2. Serbia meetings: That Jesus would give us wisdom on how to partner further in the nation of Serbia
3. Kivisilla church: for the people that we are working with to come to faith in Jesus

Travel Schedule

1. September 12-18 UK (Next Level International meetings)
2. October 8-11 (Serbia)
3. October 24-29 (Israel: PAOC missionaries retreat)