PRACTICAL MISSIONS
: of or relating to practice or action in cross-cultural missionary church planting
: reasonable service for any saving-grace recipient
: useful to the Master
COHORT
: a band of people with a common interest or shared characteristic
: a supporter or companion
: a group of warriors or soldiers
05 July 2022
Recently, the Lord has blessed us with a 9-passenger van to use for the ministry. It was given to us for free by a very generous US-military family that was serving in Italy. To get the van back on the road for the sake of the ministry there are some expenses to cover:
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Customs fee (it was registered on the US base in Italy) - $2100
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Registration fees to get new plates in Italy - $125
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Title Transfer fee - $570
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Insurance for the first year - $1000
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Total - $3,795
So far, as of July 5th, 2022, we have received $2,000 in contributions to cover these expenses.
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At this point, we only need about $1,795.
The van is a crucial tool to help us incorporate more US Christians in the work of PMc in Italy through our short-term cohorts, vision trips, and summer helper programs.
To make a tax-deductible donation, you can send a check to Practical Missions Cohort, with "Van" in the memo section.
Address:
Practical Missions Cohort
500 Westover Dr. #10079
Sanford, NC 27330
9-Passenger Van
05 July 2022
Europe has an energy crisis.
Sadly, there are many issues now happening in Europe, and Italy as well. The pandemic has been devastating to the economy. Prices are going up. The war that began earlier this year has only caused things to worsen. Prices are skyrocketing for electricity, natural gas, and petrol for vehicles (currently about $8/gallon). Italy is heavily dependent on Russia and produces zero electricity of its own... In addition, there are now severe droughts occurring throughout most of Italy. Venice closed 61 drinking fountains last week, and there is talk about water being shut off for residential areas all over Italy in the evenings and perhaps certain hours of the day. The droughts also affect the growth of rice and grains along Italy's key rivers. Experts are predicting serious difficulties starting this fall and winter.
As a missionary family with PMc, we have been diligent to begin making preparations (food, water, security, heating, etc) for the worst in order to survive and continue thriving for Jesus through whatever may come.
One thing that remains to acquire is a generator for the ministry. It seems wise to get this so that we can still have power (and security) in the event of blackouts and brownouts that are now being predicted in the future.
A moderate (middle-of-the-road) 1800w battery-powered generator that can be recharged with solar panels, a wall outlet, or with the cigarette lighter in a vehicle should be sufficient for our needs as a family and small ministry.
The cost to us is about $1,500 for the power station and 1 solar panel kit.
To make a tax-deductible donation, you can send a check to Practical Missions Cohort, with "power generator" in the memo section.
Address:
Practical Missions Cohort
500 Westover Dr. #10079
Sanford, NC 27330
Power Station
Homeschool Curriculum
07 July 2022
The Schreck family is now beginning to homeschool their children on the mission field
One of the hidden blessings of these last 2.5 years has been to learn of the value and importance of Christian education for our children and the ability to do homeschooling in Italy. Since the pandemic began there has been an explosion of new families beginning a journey of homeschooling, which until now has been almost nonexistent in Italy.
The Schreck's are now part of a community of homeschoolers in Italy, but they are intent on providing a Christian education as well. They finished preschool for their oldest child, Cornelius, using a program for Abeka. In the fall, they will begin his grade 1 program using the curriculum from My Father's World. (this first year will be a learning experience for them so they opted for the full package with lesson plans). In any case, as missionaries, they have received a nice discount. Praise God.
If you would like to support them privately to cover the costs and help them educate their kids, please reach out and let us know.
The cost for this year's curriculum is $350.
UPDATE: $210 has been donated - remaining costs to cover are $140
To make a private contribution, non-tax-deductible, you can do so via PayPal. Please contact us for more information.
New Printers for
Vera Vita Press
18 August 2022
An essential part of the PMc outreach ministry in Italy, Vera Vita, is the seminating of gospel content and literature among the local Italian communities.
To reach more souls and saturate the town with the gospel of Jesus Christ, (something all good missionaries apply themselves to do) we custom-make gospel literature to stir the hearts of the people who live in a Roman Catholic-only context. We print our own tracts and booklets to save money and speak to the people's hearts and demonstrate how the Gospel has everything to do with everyday life. Sadly, most Italians have been led to believe that religion and daily life do not connect - the great secular and religious divide...
Printing our own literature enables us to distribute tracts to tens of thousands of families. In Italy, we are blessed to be able to put them in people's mailboxes as well as all the local coffee shops and laundromats. With a color printer, we are able to design beautifully designed tracts and booklets which work well to hand out and strike up conversations in the piazza as well as to help disciple new converts.
Our laser printer has helped us deliver well over 100 thousand tracts, but is now on its last leg. The parts to fix it actually cost more than the price of a new printer. Our color printer ceased working during the pandemic and we are now in need of a replacement for this as well.
If you would like to sponsor the purchasing of the two new printers to keep the gospel literature saturation going, please send a donation to PMc via check or online via this page.
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The cost for the color printer is $376.
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The cost for the black and white laser printer is $175.
UPDATE - 2022-10-29
This need has officially been met! Praise be to God.
NAS Storage Cloud System for PMc Media
21 Sept. 2022
An essential part of the PMc ministry in the US and Italy is now the media ministry. In the past, missionaries made great efforts to establish a radio station. Today they create podcasts and videos.
PMc utilizes the media ministry to incorporate Christians into the work of missions in Italy and to create training content via the PMc Academia. Vera Vita uses media ministry to evangelize, disciple, and in the future to facilitate even pastoral training.
To enhance our efforts we are now recruiting a Video Editor. With a NAS system, it will be possible for someone living even in the States to access our own personal storage cloud and collaborate.
Please contact us if you are interested in helping us meet this need.
If you would like to sponsor the purchasing of this unit to keep the PMc and Vera Vita media ministries expanding, please send a donation to PMc via check or give online at this page.
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The cost of the central unit is $362.99.
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The cost for each hard drive is about $100. (we just need 2 to get started)
Practical Missions Cohort (EIN 81-3473880) is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit corporation. Your donation is tax-deductible. All donations will be used to further our tax-exempt purpose. No products or services were provided in exchange for this gift.