| | Pure Life Ministries | Having an International Impact | Frank and Deidre Leonetti | India | | One thing every PLM graduate surely knows is that God has placed a call on their life to freely give out the mercy they received by meeting the needs of others. We often refer to it as living the “mercy life.”
Back in June, the men of our residential program had the privilege of hearing the testimony of a graduate from 2009, Frank Leonetti. Formerly given over to a lifestyle of violence, drugs, and pleasure, his life was radically saved and transformed at Pure Life Ministries. Everywhere he turned, God was confronting his cynical attitude and doubts. Finally, he saw the cross and surrendered to the powerful love and mercy of Jesus Christ.
For the last 10 years, Frank has been giving out the mercy he received to a multitude of lost and needy souls in India! In 2018, he was married to his wife, Deirdre who cheerfully joined him in forsaking all to follow Jesus. They have a beautiful 18-month-old daughter, Ariel and are currently ministering across the United States until they are able to return to India. To find out more about their ministry, Mercy Works, please visit: www.mercy.works. | Would you please pray for: »Protection »The advancement of the gospel | | | In the same week Frank visited with us, the Pure Life staff rejoiced to see another residential graduate and former staff member respond to God’s call! On June 18th, Fred Geermann headed to Brazil where he is serving as part of a team that is starting a residential program for men in sexual sin. This program will be headed up by a team of pastors, one of whom has visited our residential campus several times, Pastor Airton Williams. Pastor Steve and his wife Kathy have been ministering in South America since the early 2000s, and this new work in Brazil is the culmination of many years of ministry there.
In 2017, Steve and Kathy spent two fruitful weeks ministering in Brazil, speaking at a conference in Brasilia for pastors and biblical counselors the first week, before travelling down to Sao Paulo, where Pastor Steve spoke four hours a day for three days at a Bible school and gave a message at a local church on the deceptive nature of pornography.
In 2019, Jordan Yoshimine, the Director of our At-Home Counseling Programs had the privilege of travelling to Brazil to speak several times and share his testimony. After so many years, it is awesome to see some of the fruit from their labors as God is birthing this new ministry for men bound in sexual sin. We are grateful to announce that they will begin receiving students this month! Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and desire to seek and save those who are lost. We are excited to see all that the Lord is going to do in Brazil and look forward to sharing more updates with you in the months ahead. | Would you please pray for: »God to send us men who are bound in sexual sin »Lives to be transformed by the power of the cross »More laborers in this vineyard »A godly atmosphere to be established here »Wisdom for our leaders »Needed funding, vehicles, furniture, etc. | Jeff and Irene Mellema | Thailand | | We felt led to work with Unreached People Groups before Jeff arrived at PLM. However, during the program we placed that perceived calling (and everything else) on the altar. After God did extensive healing in our marriage, he gave us the green light to begin preparations once again for overseas ministry. Meanwhile, Hudson was born in 2011, then right after Jade’s birth in 2013, Irene was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had it removed soon after. But God mercifully brought us to the other side, and we arrived in Thailand in July 2016.
Our ministry vision is as follows: We aim to facilitate Bible translation in the heart languages of the least-reached and Bible-less peoples of Mainland Southeast Asia--specifically the “Bui” people, who are under 0.2% Christian and lack Scripture in their mother tongue. The Bui people are predominantly spirit worshippers with a Buddhist veneer, and they currently only have some Bible stories translated into their language. The church is still very small (15-25 believers), as the people are generally quite resistant to the gospel. However, the small group of believers crave God’s word in their heart language, which perhaps could be a catalyst to evangelistic success. Their villages are 2 hours from Chiang Mai city, where we currently reside.
So far in Thailand, we spent 1.5 years studying the national language (Thai), which has 44 consonants, 32 vowels, and 5 tones. Then Jeff spent another 2 years in training, formally studying linguistics. We just returned to Thailand, after being stuck in the US for nearly 2 years due to Covid. Jeff will now finish his linguistics program, then begin learning the target language (Bui), which is not at all related to Thai. This work is far beyond us, and prayer is our direct line to HQ. | Would you please pray for: »Our family’s health »Our children, especially their schooling and the cultural adjustment »The work among the Bui and Thai people | Doug and Kristi Allee | Philippines | | Doug grew up in a Christian home and graduated from Bible college, but he was in bondage to sexual sin. Christian counselors, accountability groups, self-help books—none of it helped. He was hopeless and wanted to die.
In 2002, he enrolled in the Residential Program, and “The Lord opened my eyes to the horrifying reality of my sin—and then, to the stunning reality of Jesus. This was completely new for me.” The mercy of God deeply impacted him and put his life on a totally different trajectory.
In 2015, while Doug and his wife Kristi were working in the Philippines to plant churches and develop leaders, something began to trouble them. They noticed hundreds of kids living on the street. Hungry and destitute, many of these children were addicted to drugs.
They knew they had to do something about it. Over the next few years, they labored to establish a Teen Challenge Center in Davao City to help men break free from drug addiction through the power of God. They worked hand-in-hand with pastors to equip them to minister to drug addicts. Long term, they hope to open a center for trafficked women and children.
2020 had its challenges. They were back in the States raising support when the Covid pandemic broke out, leaving them unable to travel back to the Philippines. But they are trusting in God’s timing and plan, knowing that He is sovereignly in control and constantly faithful. | Would you please pray for: »That travel restrictions would be lifted so Doug and Kristi (and Belle and Josiah) would be cleared to go back to the Philippines »That men in the Philippines would desire to be set free from the bondage of drugs» | | | In 2016—8 years after his time in the Pure Life Ministries Residential Program—Mark was at a crossroad. He sensed that God was calling him to full-time mission work, but he had many questions. Where should he serve? Who would send him? Would he be able to learn another language? The entire prospect was daunting, and he wasn’t sure what to do.
But the call was inescapable. Through a series of remarkable events, God reassured him that he was indeed supposed to become a missionary, and the details of his calling started becoming clear. In 2018, he boarded a plane headed for a small group of Muslim-majority islands off the east African coast where, officially, he would teach English. Unofficially, however, he would be part of a missions team working on two different fronts.
First, they hope to establish the native church. Tiny pockets of native believers exist, but being a native Christian on Mark’s island means insecurity, poverty and loneliness. His team seeks to offer support to them where possible.
But they also want to see Muslims come to Jesus Christ. The religion of Mohammed binds its adherents with many rules and regulations, but offers no sense of forgiveness, no assurance of heaven, no abiding peace. Mark himself was set free from the bondage of sin, and wants to see men and women come into the liberty of knowing Jesus Christ. | Would you please pray for: »That Mark and his team would be full of the Spirit »That the church would be established »That Muslims would come to Christ | |
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