Welcome to the Aikins Archive pages

With the family raised we are now in transition for a move back to Iceland with a target date of August this year, some of our goals are as follows.

1. Continuing to direct the ministry of LifeQuality International from there, including helping to mobilize Europeans for involvement with us reaching businesspeople and professionals throughout greater Europe.

2. Betsy's using her training in cognitive therapy to help families in Iceland with members who have learning disabilities as a means of sharing Christ with them.

3. Helping envision Icelanders for church planting and healthy church development in the country.

4. Working with the start up of a Christian Family Life center, which will provide all kinds of training for family members, businesspeople, etc. as a means of outreach.

Hello again, prayer partners!

Today, I am once again heading for the U.S. for about two weeks and Betsy and I would ask for your prayers. My itinerary is below.

First though, let me share with you some answers to prayer.

"Trust" seminar. Marteinn and I finished teaching this seminar two weeks ago. The feedback was very positive. We believe that the material was helpful and the church's outreach to the community was reinforced as a result. The pastor and I have arranged for me to follow this up with Sharpening your People Skills in April. He and I believe that seminar series like this will be used of the Lord to draw people to Jesus as Savior. Pray for this, please!

Office provided! One of the attendees of the above seminar was a woman who is in a substance- abuse recovery program called Ekron. The day after the first session, I received a call from Herdis, the director of this program. She had heard such good things about the seminar from this woman that she wanted to know whether Marteinn and I would facilitate the seminar for their clients. We visited the headquarters that week and during the tour of their facility, Herdis mentioned that one floor of the building was reserved for professionals who might want to have their offices there in exchange for conducting some training for their clients. Betsy and I prayed about this and believing that this would be a great solution for us, have agreed to make use of two offices at the Ekron facility. We will be able to offer our skills and material to their clients on a regular basis in exchange for using the offices. Both Herdis and her husband Hjalti are believers who want to serve the Lord in their professional lives. Praise the Lord with us for this provision!

Pizza and Information evening. God has been laying the young adults of Iceland on our hearts. As we have been visiting a number of local churches, we have noticed that people in their 20s and 30s are conspicuous by their absence from church services. Because of recent connections with people of this generation, we decided to invite several of them to our home for pizza last week so that they could inform us "missionaries" as what they and their peers think about the message of Christ. Five young women showed up and we received an "earful"! While a number of them have warm memories of their childhood faith, most expressed that the Christianity they see today leaves them conflicted with many unanswered questions. We intend to follow this up with another meeting, but we are really sensing that God is at work and that this generation needs a different kind of evangelism / discipleship approach than what is currently available. Praise the Lord for allowing us to see his heart for people in this age bracket!

Now, to the upcoming trip:

Mar 11-13. Travel to the U.S., spend time with Erika (who's on her spring break) taking her to various medical and other appointments.

Mar 14th - LifeQuality Romania Team orientation and training. Please pray for Jay, Abbey and me as we meet in Newtown, PA and for Dennis and Elvin who will be joining us via phone conference from Canada. The project is scheduled for May 8 - 18. Pray that we will bond, that we will effectively be able to assign roles and tasks for the project, but most of all that Jesus will be glorified as we prepare to work with our friends in outreach and discipleship in Arad and Timisoara in May.

March 15th - At Grace Bible Church, Souderton

March 16 - 18 Various meetings and preparation for the LifeQuality Strategic Leadership Council (SLC) meeting.

March 19 Hazelton, PA. Pray for our SLC as we take a day for a "balance life" retreat together. I will be facilitating using a new format for this material. Pray for it to be a helpful time for us and that the training will be improved through this experience.

March 20-22 Hazelton, PA. Pray for our SLC as we meet together to pray, work and plan for the coming year. Ask the Lord to encourage us during our time together as we reflect on what he has done. Pray that we will see the Lord's vision for this ministry and plan by faith accordingly.

Marc 22 evening Pray for Erika and me as we drive back to Washington Bible College (WBC) that evening.

March 23 At WBC with Erika.

March 24 Return to Iceland.

Please remember to pray for Betsy while I'm away, that God will give her joy and wisdom on following up with those women who came to our house for the Pizza and Information evening.

Also please pray with me for K., B., and F. - three men for whom I am praying that they will come to know the Lord as their Savior.

Thanks so much!

Love,

Greg and Betsy

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Dear ones,

May God bless you for your prayers and thoughts toward us during these last several weeks!

The memorial service for Betsy's dad on January 31st was a wonderful tribute to this good man and I believe it also honored the Lord as well. Just three days before the service, I made the decision to fly to the U.S. myself. Katie and I had the privilege of reading tributes from the grandchildren and children, respectively. Also there were Dave Zehr, a longtime friend of the family and colleague of mother and Dad's with Greater Europe Mission and Jim, who had served with Dad at Luther Rice Seminary. Betsy's mom was very thankful that Bets was able to be there to support and help her during this very trying time.

We returned to Iceland the following Wednesday and have been quite busy ever since. In fact, we're realizing again how important it is that we make wise choices about where we will spend our time and not forget that we had set aside this first year in country as a time of learning. Please pray for us that we will find balance.

Here are some of the things that have been happening and for which we would like your prayers:

* Betsy has begun to work with A. the 12 year-old daughter of Sv. whom we have known since our previous time here. A. has both diabetes as well as a learning disability. Our prayer is that this will not only help this young girl but also provide Betsy with an opportunity to hone her therapy skills in Icelandic.
* The "Trust - prerequisite to quality of life" seminar started last Tuesday at Laugarnes Lutheran Church. Almost 40 people attended! This was both encouraging and affirming that we had heard the Lord when we felt that we should offer this training. There are two more sessions to go. Please pray for Marteinn and me, especially for my facility in the language. Pray also that this seminar will be used to give people practical help in building trust and will also draw them to Christ and his kingdom.
* Greg continues to be involved with the leaders' prayer meeting on Wednesdays and will be leading the next one this Wednesday. Pray for me that my devotional thought and leadership will truly be helpful and will honor Jesus.
* Preparation for the Romania LifeQuality project in May has begun. God has supplied a very strong team from the U.S. and Canada. Pray for the preparation for this.
* Please pray for Betsy and me as we make many pastoral and friendship connections some with those who do not go to church. Pray that God will use us as his ambassadors and that he will also refresh us.

Thanks again for your prayers for us!

Warmly yours,

April 2009

Greg and Betsy

Dear ones,

I was reading in Psalm 100 this morning and the sentence “Know that the LORD is God” seemed to jump out at me. When we “know” something, it becomes part of our nature, something that simply is there in our minds and hearts. Knowing that the God of the Bible, the God and Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, IS God is apparently something that we must be reminded of in order for it to become second nature. In the light of the events of Good Friday, it is also important to remember that our Lord is God – the God who is with us, who took on our nature and who suffered both for us and suffers with us as human beings. This is our God! Wonderful, mysterious and comforting to those who know and love Jesus!

Praise the Lord! The trip to the U.S. went very well. It was great being with our daughter Erika during her spring break. We didn’t see a lot of each other as she spent a good deal of time studying, but it was fun to do some special things together. Her wedding plans for June are still moving along. My meetings both with our project Romania team and with our LifeQuality Leadership Council went very well. Thank you for your prayers for Betsy and me during those days!

Ekron – We have moved into our new offices at the Ekron facility in Reykjavik. This past Monday, Marteinn and I taught our first session of our seminar on “Trust” to 28 of the clients and it seemed to go well. We will have two more sessions on April 20^th and 27^th. We will surely appreciate your prayers for us that we will teach in a professional and sensitive manner, but most of all that what we say and the way we say it may point to Christ.

Vision and mission - Betsy and I followed up our meeting with the young adults by inviting 4 Icelandic friends over to help us work on our own vision and purpose for our ministry here in Iceland. As we shared with them what was on our hearts, we believe that God wants us to contribute to “a movement of his Spirit where it becomes natural for followers of Jesus to be actively involved in helping others to follow Jesus until Iceland is full of the knowledge of the glory of God (Habakkuk 2:14)”. We are thankful for this clarity and that God would want to use us in this way.

Hvolsvöllur - There is a school in this small village about 1.5 hours from Reykjavik where Betsy has learned that they are offering a program similar to the one she is going to offer people who have learning disabilities. One of the educators has contacted Betsy and is very enthusiastic about meeting her and hearing more about the cognitive enrichment program. This is an answer to Betsy’s prayer for help in coming to understand how to offer this kind of therapy in Icelandic.

People Skills at Vegurinn – My friend Ragnar and I facilitated a very successful People Skills seminar at the church that has sponsored us during our application for our residency permit. This is part of a leadership training program for their staff and the pastor and his wife were very happy with the results. We plan to offer a “part 2” of the leadership training with these same volunteer and full time staff members on May 2 and 4^th. There seems to be a need among these leaders for learning how to help the church family come to use their strengths and gifts in a more effective way. The church also needs to sharpen their purpose and mission so that they become more outward focused. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we take part in their journey!

Please pray for: People skills seminar at Laugarnes Lutheran Church, April 21, 28 and May 5! We’re asking the Lord to once again allow us to be salt and light through this event. Friends K., B. and F. that they would each place their faith in Christ as their Savior.

Project Romania, May 8 – 18. This is by far one of the most involved and challenging LifeQuality projects I have led. Our team of 6 will be coming from both the U.S. and Canada. We will be working with three organizations in three cities over a period of 10 days. During that time we will be providing training for believers in the workplace in how to be more effective as Christ’s ambassadors. We’ll also be helping some young Romanians improve their skills in leading teams effectively. Finally, I’ll be training leaders of our partner organizations in facilitating some of our workshops. I will sure appreciate your prayers for all of this as we prepare for this project.

Thank you for thinking of us and praying for us during these days. Betsy and I really can’t express how much it means to us to know that you remember us before the Lord.

He is risen!

Warmly yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy

Dear ones,

May 2009 Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. I was really challenged the other night when Jona (pron. Yona) - Pastor Bjarni’s wife and herself a Lutheran pastor - came to me after our People Skills seminar at Laugarnes Lutheran church and told me excitedly that she wanted to talk to me. She told me that a group of four men had come to her and asked her to help them start a prayer group. Now it’s fairly unusual for MEN to ask a pastor here for help in learning how to pray. She wanted a man to lead this and thought of me on the way home from that meeting. I shared with her that I feel like such a beginner in prayer myself, that I would pray about it and have since agreed to meet these men. It both awes and humbles me to think that God is at work and wants me to be a part of helping others to follow Christ, weak though I am. Your prayers for the People Skills training at Laugarnes church were answered. The Lord used the training to encourage and motivate the 15 or so people who attended, and to draw them into the ministry of the church where they will continue to hear the message of the gospel and become active as followers of Christ. The pastor and I are already talking about plans for using the seminar in future outreach projects. We’re giving thanks also that

Betsy made contact with a school in Hvolsvöllur, a small town on the south coast, that has used some of the same cognitive therapy material which Betsy uses and would be willing to work with her in producing her material in Icelandic. This will save her tons of work! Bets is already planning to do therapy with approximately 20 clients at the Ekron center this fall. Pray for the effective preparation of the material and that God will use this as a tool to draw folks to Jesus! Another item of praise for an effective completion of leadership training at Vegurinn free church this month. I was able to lead about 15 or so of the ministry leaders of the church through some very helpful training in team building, leadership and strategic planning. They have asked me to continue to advise the church in their planning process. It is encouraging to see the obvious desire of these leaders to have their church become more effective in evangelism, discipleship and mission.

One more thing – the other day, Bets had the opportunity to lead a lady to the Lord! R. is a woman whose 40 year old son has been a substance abuser since he was a teenager. Our friend Droplaug, whom we’ve known for many years and for whom many have prayed, has been sharing her faith with R. and invited us to meet her a couple months ago. Bets has stayed in contact and while visiting her last week, R. invited Christ to come into her life. Please pray for her. Now Betsy and I are asking again for your prayers as we launch into a very full month. Yesterday, my sweety left for the U.S. We had planned to take a summer Home Ministry Assignment last year, knowing that Erika would be out of school and need a place to live. That was before her engagement was announced and so now we are planning a wedding and will also be visiting churches and supporters until we return to Iceland on July 28^th. I will join Betsy in the U.S. on May 25.

Please pray for Bets and Erika as they make wedding plans and for us as we make plans to connect with our support team. In the meantime, I am getting ready to leave tomorrow (Friday, May 8) for a two week trip to Romania and Ukraine. I would really appreciate your prayers as I supervise the LifeQuality project in Romania from May 9 to May 18. Our team of three Americans and three Canadians will be working with 3 different Romanian groups. Please pray for team unity, for safety, and for the Holy Spirit’s enablement as we serve our Romanian friends. Pray for Ionel Sinaci, the host leader of the project in Romania. He has a lot of responsibilities, plus his own life burdens to carry. The main topics for the project will be: Effective Team Leadership and Ministry in the Workplace. Pray most of all for those who are coming, both believers and non-believers, that the Lord would meet them in a powerful way through this project. From May 18 – 21 Elvin Thiessen and I will be travelling to Zaporozhye, Ukraine to meet with our LifeQuality ministry partners with International Partnerships. We have worked with them since 2003 and feel we need to review our relationship and collaborate in planning for the future.

Please pray for us that we might use this time effectively, that we might understand one another and have wisdom for strategic planning. As I have in the past, I’m looking for 10 people who would be willing to pray for me daily while I’m on this trip. If you’d like to be one of those, please send me a reply and I’ll make sure you get the full itinerary and receive updates from the field.

Once again, thank you for your prayerful part in our lives and ministries!

Warmly yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins, director

LifeQuality International

Vindakór 1, Nr. 102

203 Kópavogur

ICELAND

(U.S.) +1-215-723-1100

(IS) +354-551-9908

greg@lifequalityintl.com

www.lifequalityintl.org

Romania Overview Train-the-trainer with Ionel Sinaci on Monday AM turned out to be beneficial for both him and the team as they had never walked through the SYPS material in its entirety.

Ministry in the Workplace in Arad with approximately 20 attendees from CBMC and Forum 21 (International Needs) – Monday and Tuesday evenings was well received and appeared to be very helpful to all who attended.

A visit to agricultural business in Arad on Tuesday morning was a highlight. The owner and manager shared his testimony about coming to faith and how he has used his business to serve God, establishing an orphanage and live-in program for people who are intellectually impaired. This inspired one of our team members to want to return and engage in a similar project back home.

Effective Team Leadership training in Timisoara with around 28 attendees from New Life (MentorPlus) networks on Wednesday and Thursday went very well. One demonstration of the power of working through our affiliates as well as being careful to “walk the LifeQuality talk” came on Wednesday. We visited StudentPlus, a Christian owned language-learning company. Lucian and Marion, a lovely, dedicated couple, are the managers. They shared with us their vision, not only to teach languages, but to evangelise through their work. One area which they would like to work on was to offer week-long summer camps for families of businesspeople where there would be professional training in English offered by N. Americans, along with a children’s program for the kids. All of us on the LifeQuality team were drawn to this couple, their ministry and this vision. We agreed to stay in touch about this as I have in mind a number of folks who because of their work are only available to participate in projects during the summer. Marion then attended our “Effective team leadership” training in the evening. As I greeted her after the seminar, she had a tear in her eye. “Even though you didn’t mention him very often,” she said, “I could see Christ in you all this evening”. She went on to talk about the helpfulness of the training. This testimony was an affirmation to me that the vision (relationships of trust) and mission (encouraging balanced, productive lives, centered in Christ) were being advanced through this project.

Visit with Ionel Dragan (New Life / MentorPlus) and his staff, very meaningful. We had a chance to do some consulting work with him and the staff regarding project follow up.Our siteseeing day where we visited a citadel called Falcon Heights, along with a beautiful Greek Catholic cathedral in a nearby area on Friday was a wonderful experience. The Wings retreat (International Needs) on Saturday at a nearby retreat center where we led about 20 young people through Sharpening your People Skills training was wonderful. We were very impressed with the kids, staff and program. I was proud of the team as they played sports with the kids and really showed an interest in each one. Cindy Thiessen spoke effectively and powerfully to women in Arad and Timisoara during the week on the theme of “God’s artwork in individual lives”. She was well received in both venues. Church service participation on final Sunday, where the team ministered in music, testimony and preaching was a great cap-off to the week. The team functioned extraordinarily well. Great attitudes! Willingness to help, step in, adjust, flex was there. They enjoyed themselves, the people and the assignments. Really no major problems to speak of... We had a good mixture of ages, both sexes, diverse backgrounds with great overall spiritual maturity. I would have any or all of them back again.

Following the Romania trip, Elvin and I spent the past two days in Zaporozhye, Ukraine. It was helpful to connect with our affiliates at International Partnerships with whom we’ve worked for the past 6 years. We reaffirmed our commitment to work with them to reach professionals in the city and we will be continuing to prayerfully seek to make our efforts sharper and stronger. Praise the Lord! He is faithful! Please pray for our partners CBMC, MentorPlus and International Needs as they follow up on the work we did together during the project. Betsy has been busy in the U.S. while I’ve been gone, helping Erika finish school, and preparing for our 10 weeks back in the U.S. including the wedding. Please continue to pray for me as I return now to Iceland for the weekend and then on to the U.S. to join the family.

Thank you once again, for your thoughts and prayers! Warmly yours,

Greg and Betsy

Request for some additional support

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to a number of you on our supporting churches’ team to share a need with you. You may have read our most recent regular-mail letter where we were asking you to pray about the possibility of increasing your part in our regular support.

During the past 6 months, we have seen our account at Greater Europe Mission slide into the negative twice. One thing that I did not share in that letter was that we also were hit with a bill for back income taxes which we were not expecting. This along with a loss of some regular support over the past year has put us in a tight situation. GEM’s policy does not allow missionaries to collect a full paycheck if our account is in deficit. Thus we received half our salary last month and the same thing may happen this month.

As we are back on Home Ministry Assignment (HMA) this summer and because of savings we’ve been able to tighten our belts and get through, despite also trying to pay for a wedding. However, we will end up having to return to the U.S. again after this HMA to raise additional support if we don’t see things turn around for us in the next 4 weeks or so. I’m wondering whether you and the church might prayerfully consider a special one-time gift to help us out of the deficit situation we continue to find ourselves in. Donations can be sent with preference marked for “Aikins, account #00340” and checks made payable to: Greater Europe Mission18950 Base Camp RoadMonument, CO 80132 People and churches can also donate on line by using the link below and choosing “Aikins, Greg and Betsy: 00340” from the sub-category menu on the giving page. http://www.gemission.org/Donate/

Thanks very much for your prayers and consideration! Gratefully yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins, director

LifeQuality International

Vindakór 1, Nr. 102

203 Kópavogur

ICELAND

(U.S.) +1-215-723-1100

(IS) +354-551-9908

greg@lifequalityintl.com

www.lifequalityintl.org

Oct 2 2009

Dear prayer partners,

Thank you for your prayers for us over the past few weeks. This week I sent out the announcement about my stepping away from being the director of LifeQuality international and what the implications were for the ministry. A number of people wrote to encourage me and assure of their continued prayers. Deeply appreciated! Today, before the weekend, I really feel that Betsy and I need your prayers in a special way in the light of the changes and challenges facing us.

Christa and our two granddaughters are leaving on Sunday after having been with us over the past 7 weeks. Timothy has completed his military duty in Greece (the reason they were with us) and they will once again be reunited. The apartment will seem really empty after they’re gone and we’ll need to adjust to the bittersweet of being just the two of us. So if you think of this, perhaps you could pray for both a safe trip for the girls home to Greece as well as for us two here. Thanks!

Droplaug, our friend whom many of you have prayed for so often, is again very ill. Since her latest back surgery two weeks ago, she has back and forth to the hospital and has been once again the target of demonic attacks. We would ask you to continue to pray for her healing and deliverance. Also pray for her husband and adult son who themselves have suffered because of these attacks of the enemy.

Sesselja, our new LifeQuality Iceland staff member began her job this week. Pray for her as she seeks to help us develop the organization and our material for the secular market. Pray that she will quickly acclimate to the team, that she will feel appreciated and enjoy her role. Also pray that the Lord will supply the needed funding for her salary through donations and income through training we are offering.

Laugarnes Lutheran Church has once again asked us to help them in outreach to the community through holding a seminar series under the title: “Confirmation classes for adults”. We taught our first session of Sharpening your People Skills with 43 people in attendance last week! This 4 week seminar will be followed by “Family Life” training which will then be followed by our “Developing Your Spiritual Life” evangelistic Bible study. Our goal along with pastors Bjarni and Hildur is to help people in the community become followers of Jesus. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of the many who have already attended the first seminar session and for him to work to change lives through this series.

We both continue to lead training at the Ekron vocational rehabilitation center. Betsy’s work with those dealing with learning disabilities is going very well and has begun to bear fruit in their lives. I have been working with the staff in team building using the people skills material and have been asked to provide an evangelistic Bible study with those clients who would like it. We plan to start this on Oct 14th. Please pray for this study that the Lord would touch the lives of those who come and help them to grow in their understanding and desire to follow Jesus. Through all of this, we’d ask for your prayers that our relationship with the Lord would stay strong. It is so easy to be busy and drift away from the heart of Jesus. Also pray for protection over our marriage. We just learned of a marriage break up of a prominent Christian leader here which has saddened everyone.

Please stand with us in prayer!

Thanks again so much! Warmly yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy

Oct 2009

Dear praying friends,

Greetings from the Copenhagen airport where I'm on my way to a symposium in Brussels, Belgium where 15 Christian leaders from across Europe will be meeting around the question: "Can Christians and churches be effective in Europe?" While this may seem like it needs no answer, the purpose is to assess where the church finds itself, what the current trends are across Europe and how Christians and Christian leaders can specifically impact the nations. I'm honored to be asked to participate in this "think tank" and believe that this will help Betsy and me as we seek to serve Jesus in Iceland and beyond. I would appreciate it if you would pray for me and for the other leaders during the next two days that the Holy Spirit would give us insight and that this would lead toward more effective ministry in Europe.

Answers to prayer!

Droplaug has been doing much better and we believe it is in answer to your prayers! Thank you.
Sesselja, our new director of development, has been a tremendous help to us in the ministry and seems to be fitting in very well to the team. She has helped us create a website in Icelandic and an Icelandic presentation of our ministry which we were able to use this month.
The People Skills seminar at Laugarnes Lutheran church went very well with many people asking what the next offerings will be.
Our regional leader, Forrest, was with us for three days this past week. During his visit we met with 15 or so Christian leaders with whom we have been praying with on Wednesdays and serving during the past year. Forrest shared with them about how the Lord enabled his church planting team to start a church in a pub in downtown Stockholm. He and I spent some time prayer walking the main street in Reykjavik, praying for that neighborhood. Praise the Lord for the encouragement that Forrest brought to us and these leaders.

Please pray for these things:

In an effort to meet the needs of the 35 or so people who attended, Pastor Bjarni has asked Betsy and me to provide family life training on Wednesday nights. Betsy will also be working with the pastor to facilitate a practical seminar on prayer and fasting on Tuesday nights during the month of November. A number of these people are spiritually hungry and some have deep personal needs.
o Pray for us as we develop the family life material based on Ross Campbell's book Relational Parenting.
o Pray that the Holy Spirit will use us in these efforts to develop followers of Jesus.
Bjarni's wife, Jona, is also a Lutheran pastor. She has been so excited to learn of the response to the People Skills seminar that she and her parish leaders have asked me to teach the seminar at their church in November as part of their own "Confirmation for adults" series. They have plans to follow this up with a Bible study after the first of the year. Please pray for me as I start teaching this seminar at Vidalin Lutheran church on November 3^rd.
The Bible study at Ekron was moved to start on November 4^th. Pray for me as I lead this study with the clients in the rehab program. Please continue to pray for Betsy as she works with those dealing with learning disabilities.
Pray that God will lead the leaders of churches in Reykjavik to step out in faith and try new approaches to reach and disciple people in the city.

Thanks again so much for your prayers for us!

Warmly yours in Christ,

Greg and Betsy

Dear prayer partners,

I just wanted to write and share a couple of reasons to rejoice!
R. is not only an accomplished cook, but taught cooking both at home and at the grade school where our Katie had her as a teacher back in the early 90s. This October, R. took part in a seminar we taught at her local parish church because she wanted to improve her relationships. After reconnecting with her there, Betsy also had the opportunity to deepen the relationship as she took part in another workshop on prayer at the church. They decided to start meeting together to read the Bible. At the first meeting a few weeks ago, R invited Jesus to come into her life. Wonderful, right?! But that's not the end of the story...
This past Tuesday, as they enjoyed their weekly lunchtime Bible study, R told Betsy that her grandchildren, ages 11 and 9, had been playing upstairs in her house last week in the special play room she has set aside for them. As she was cleaning the room afterwards, she found several posters with Bible verses on them that the kids had been making. When she asked them about it, they said, "Well Grandma, we were "in the Word" like you have been."
What amazing things happen in families when our God touches the life of one member!
On Wednesday, I taught the last session of a seminar at the Ekron rehab center called "Developing your Spiritual Relationship". Between 8 and 12 people have taken part in this basic survey of the Gospel from the Scriptures. At the end of the final session, I invited the group to join me in a simple prayer, expressing repentance and faith in Christ to save us. I sensed that nearly everyone in the group had prayed with me. Afterwards three individuals came up to hug me and thank me - which is unusual for Icelanders. All seemed genuinely interested in participating in the ongoing discipleship training which we intend to offer after the first of the year.
I can think of no greater Christmas gift than this, the joy of seeing people take steps to begin new life in Jesus.
Thank you for your prayerful part in this work!

Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins, director
Lífsgæði (LifeQuality)

January 2010

Happy New Year to you all! How thankful we both are for your faithful prayer support during the past year and that you walk with us in prayer into 2010.

Our holidays were especially blessed this year by having Betsy's Mom with us over the holidays. She is a special lady and it was a joy having her here to meet our friends as well as celebrate Christmas and New Years - complete with fireworks! January has also already been special for me because of the opportunity I had to travel to the U.S. to celebrate my dad's 80th birthday. My siblings and I surprised him by showing up for a birthday dinner and also throwing him a party the following day with about 50 people in attendance. Betsy and I are so thankful for our parents who have both weathered the loss of their spouse and continue to be strong in the Lord!

Betsy continues to meet weekly with R. whom we wrote about last month. She has been really showing a tremendous hunger for God's word as she is now on her second time through Mark's gospel.

Droplaug, for whom many of you have prayed, has been doing better after a recent surgery on her back. However today Betsy found out that she has some possible nerve damage in her neck that is causing her nausea and weakness in one of her arms. Please pray for her! Droplaug continues to trust God and holds fast to Him, her Rock. But she does grow weary. She is also a faithful prayer warrior.

Thanks for praying as well for my discipleship class at Ekron with about 30 participants. We are studying the gospel of Matthew and these clients who are all in rehabilitation after a history of substance abuse are at various places on their spiritual journey. Please pray for them as we meet around Matthew every Wednesday morning. Gudbjorn, Droplaug's son is assisting me with this. He is a fine young man who wants himself to be a missionary. I'm truly thankful for the opportunity to mentor him.

Sesselja, Ragnar and I are also preparing to teach a Personal Leadership Development class to about 15 leaders starting February 2nd under the auspices of LifeQuality. Please pray for this! Our goal with this, as with all that we are doing, is to be catalysts for a movement of discipleship in this country.

And finally, please remember to pray for me as I preach at a little church near us this Sunday. The leadership of this church has asked us to consider assisting them part-time in the areas of pastoral leadership. We are praying about this and would ask you to join us.

Thank you once again for remembering to pray for us!

Warmly yours in Christ,

Dear friends,

Thank you for your prayers for me and our family during the past several weeks. I'm just writing to tell you that I arrived safely back home again after Dad's funeral and the aftermath. I'm blessed to have had such a wonderful father and doubly blessed to have been the recipient, along with my brothers, sister and our entire family of such an outpouring of love and support from many people. I was also privileged to, as Dad's executor, go through his things and meet with the attorney about settling his affairs. This gave me some additional time to grieve which was good. Your prayers are so appreciated.

Betsy is using the opportunity to visit her mother in Florida and she will return to Iceland on the 31st. Thanks in advance for praying for her peace of mind and safety in travel.

Praise the Lord with us that our son-in-law David found a job in Exton, PA! He and Erika are living with his parents temporarily until they can find an apartment in the area. Please continue to pray for Erika who has been interviewing at pre-schools and child-care places in the area that she will find work.

Pray for the Ekron rehab center where we teach. They are going through some extremely hard times financially and were in danger of closing. However an "11th hour" agreement was reached with the social service civil authorities to grant them funding for another 3 months. It is also exciting to see the clients taking an active role in fund raising for the center. They are planning to hold a benefit concert and sell used items at the local flea market for Ekron. They are also showing the government that they are not only "On the take" but are giving back by offering to clean up an area of our local community here for free. Pray for the "Balanced Life" course which Betsy and I are teaching every Friday. It is a wonderful opportunity to share the Gospel with the folks there in very practical ways.

Pray for us as we start working with the Kefas Free Church. I'll be meeting with the leadership team in the next days to work out the arrangement with them.

Pray also for me as I seek to bring together Christian leaders to consider the task of making disciples in the current situation in Iceland. Patrick from Youth with a Mission would like to work with me to bring a "think tank" of Christian leaders together for this purpose. Pray for the Lord's guidance.

Finally, please continue to pray for Droplaug and her family. Both she and her son Steinarr are having serious physical problems. Droplaug continues to trust God in the midst of it all. But pray that the Lord will bring healing and strength to the family.

Thank you, dear friends, for your continued prayer for us!

Warmly yours,

Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins
GEM Iceland field leader
Vindakór 1, Nr. 102
203 Kópavogur
ICELAND
(IS home) +354-551-9908
(From N. America) +1-215-723-1100
gregaikins@gmail.com

-----------------------April 17 2010 after the eruption_______________---------------------------

Several have written to ask about us in the light of the volcanic eruption you may have heard about. We are not directly affected yet here in the Reykjavik area. Please see the advisory we received from the U.S. embassy below. You can also go on u-tube if you want to see the latest or go to http://en.vedur.is/ for more information. We’ll have a more comprehensive update for you next week. Love, Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins

GEM Iceland field leader

Vindakór 1, Nr. 102

203 Kópavogur

ICELAND

(IS home) +354-551-9908

(From N. America) +1-215-723-1100

gregaikins@gmail.com

The U.S. Embassy in Reykjavik alerts U.S. citizens traveling to and residing in Iceland that a volcanic eruption under the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in the southern region of Iceland began in the early hours of April 14. The volcano caused part of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier to melt and severe flooding has occurred in nearby areas. In addition, volcanic ash continues to be emitted into the air, which has caused significant air travel delays both to and from Iceland and other parts of Europe. Affected travelers are being advised to monitor the news and their airline?s website for updates on flight schedules. International weather observatories and the Icelandic meteorological office are closely monitoring weather conditions and the projected path of the volcanic ash cloud. The Icelandic authorities have restricted travel on roads into Vik and Myrdalsandur in the southwest part of Iceland, and to Kirkjub?jarklaustur in the east. Repair work on damage caused by flooding continues on the bridges in Markarfljot.

Dear fellow travelers,

In my last update, I thanked you for praying for us as we, once again, journeyed to America and back again because of my dad's passing. I had no idea that Dad's home-going would affect me as it has. I've found myself nostalgic, weepy, weary, thankful, thoughtful, in various amounts at various moments. This, along with concern for our children, the general tone of hopelessness due to more and more corruption begin exposed throughout Icelandic society following the banking collapse, and the recent calamity caused by Eyjafjallajokuls eruption have presented great emotional and spiritual challenges to us as a couple. Once again, physically, we are fine as the eruption has not affected us in the greater Reykjavik area. We also learned on Wednesday that Betsy's brother Stephen (with GEM in Germany) suffered a heart attack and underwent quadruple by-pass surgery. He is doing well following the operation, for which we thank the Lord!

So I'm writing to say, once again, how thankful we are for you and for your prayers.

I would like to ask you to continue to pray for the following matters:

Family. Scattered on three continents, with various needs, and we so far away it is easy to feel guilty and compromised by being here.
o Pray especially for job provision for Katie, as well as a job for Erika and place to live for Erika and David.
o Continue to pray for our family as we adjust to life without Dad.
o Pray for full recovery for Betsy's brother Stephen, strength for Susan his wife and for Betsy's mother who is concerned and so far away.

Ekron. We continue to serve the clients and the staff at this vocational rehabilitation center. The financial outlook still does not look good and the staff members have been told that without further funding they will be laid off at the end of June. This is quite discouraging as you can imagine, since not only will the clients be impacted but their families as well. We continue to teach in the program.
o Pray for Betsy as she teaches cognitive enrichment every Monday and Thursday morning and for me as I teach "Balanced Life" every Friday.
o If the facility does close, we may have to relocate our office, so we'd appreciate prayer for that as well.

Kefas free church. Our work with Kefas officially started this month. I'm working especially with the leadership team to research the immediate neighborhood of the church, consider the church's history - where they've seen the Lord work in the past, and consider what Jesus is calling the church to do to engage in His mission in their neighborhood. We've gotten off to a good start.
o Pray that the leaders and the church will be encouraged and will sense the Holy Spirit's calling to participate in what God is doing.
o Pray for me as I prepare to preach and teach 3 times in the month of May.
o Pray that people will be drawn to Jesus and will become his followers through this body of believers.

Discipleship in 21st century Iceland. Patrick Jonge, the leader of the Youth with a Mission team here, and I would like to call Christian leaders together to work on being more effective in disciple making, as I mentioned in my last update. We would like to invite several to an initial meeting before the summer.
o Pray for the Lord's timing and guidance in this.

Personal ministry.
o Droplaug continues to need your prayers as she suffers a great deal of constant pain. Her preliminary diagnosis of MS has not been confirmed. Pray for the Lord's healing and for her faith to hold firm.
o We are praying for a number of friends to come into a relationship with Christ like B&G a couple we've known for a long time, as well as for two men F. and K. Pray the aforementioned men's wives who are believers that they will continue to love, honor and pray for them.
o Pray for the 10 other families in our apartment building that the Lord's love would touch them and they would come to know him.

LifeQuality network. Finally, we want you to rejoice with us that the legacy of LifeQuality International continues to live on. Thank the Lord with us for the following:
o We have begun conversations with colleagues in N. America and Europe about forming an association of ministries which would continue to touch the lives of business and professional people, and promote balance, productive, Christ-centered living.
o Right now, former projects manager Elvin Thiessen and his wife Cindy are in Finland, ministering in churches and having just finished teaching in the Free Church seminary there.
o An outreach project was also planned for this month with our partners in Romania bringing together Domi from Croatia, Elvin from Canada and Fred from Greece. However the no-fly ban due to the volcano here led to postponement of that project.
o Another colleague, Ron Jones who, encouraged by LifeQuality, started his own ministry, was recently in Ukraine working with a local ministry in an outreach project along with a member of his local CBMC chapter in Carlisle, PA. The response was outstanding and the two of them had many opportunities to share their faith and minister among believers.

Once again, thank you for your prayers! We are so grateful!

Love,

Greg and Betsy

W. Gregory Aikins
GEM Iceland field leader

Greg and Betsy