— Updates —

December 2024

A note from the LTCC Missions Team: Please check out the Latvia Christmas giving opportunity being held December 8th-15th!

Please Pray for the Bulis’

• Please pray that as Pastor Janis and the social worker identify community needs, they can fulfill them and build relationships that will draw people to Jesus. 

• Pray for the continued recovery of one congregant, who was able to have a much-needed surgery because of the gift LTCC sent last year. Pray for strength as she now helps in their outreach and volunteering. 

• Pray for Janis and Anita as they balance their work in the ministry with career and family responsibilities. 

• Pray that Mersrags Baptist Church will reflect the love of Jesus to Latvia, and that people will be drawn to Him through our ongoing partnership. 

  
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June 2024

We are glad that we can continue to partner and pray for each other. We are always following the prayer needs of LTCC.

 I celebrated by 50th birthday in May, but on June 16, I was ordained as a Pastor. Previously I served in the church as a Preacher for 8 years.

 We are preparing for baptism in July. At the moment it looks like 4 people will make a covenant with Jesus Christ. 

 We have restarted the construction of the parish house which you helped put a temporary roof on almost 20 years ago. This building is intended to be used for organizing various events and camps.  There will also be rooms where Pastors and their families can rest to recover their strength for serving their congregations.

Prayer Requests

• Pray for God’s guidance in these church development plans, as well for God’s wisdom in guiding us through these processes.

• Pray for a man named Uvis who has returned to Christ and wants to be baptized, but because of past sins has been convicted and forced to go to prison for a year. May God give him the strength to keep the faith as he goes through these trials.

 In Christ,

Janis and Anita

Enjoy these recent pictures of the Bulis family and the Mersrags church family below:

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FEBRUARY 2024

We are honored that you support our ministry! We are glad that God has blessed the church with different areas of ministry that we have restored after covid, as well as starting anew!

I serve as a pastor, but I have two assistants - Janis Siders and Aleksandrs Balisevs, who each lead religious services once a month. We regularly have Sunday school, which is led by Anita, as well as men's service twice a month. We are trying to restore the youth ministry, which is succeeding with varying degrees of success. Thanks to you, we have been able to serve the neediest residents of the neighborhood in the social field. At the turn of the year, we distributed 40 packages with food and household goods, as well as those we have helped with firewood for heating.

Last year I got my master's degree in theology. In parallel with my service, I work in my car repair shop, where two mechanics help me. This work helps me to make new contacts with local residents, especially men. Some of them have become involved in men's ministry in the church. Anita still works in a kindergarten, where she also has the opportunity to testify to Christ and attract children to the church's Sunday school. Oldest son Tom, 25, just graduated from university with a bachelor's degree in business psychology. He lives in Riga and visits us once a month. The second son Nils, who is 22 years old, works as a cook but lives with us, the daughter Luize, who is 16 years old, is studying in high school, the second daughter Tereze, who is 11 years old, is studying in the 5th grade, and the third son Klavs, who is 8 years old , studies in the 2nd grade. The school is a five-minute walk from our house.

Pray that God will continue to bless our ministry. We feel His blessings more and more. The first years of service were more difficult. It was depressing that there was no baptism, but in the last two years, there have already been three baptisms and we are preparing for baptism again in the summer.

In Christ,

Janis&Anita Bulis

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SEPTEMBER 2023

Ministry Update: 

Please pray for the new activities we started this year.

• Bible study for men in the evenings and choir. 

• We continue Sunday school and prayer evenings. 

• We baptized two young girls and a boy at the Easter service. 

• The teenagers started meeting in the evenings. We are looking for new leader for the teenager group.

• I have two helpers in church, who can preach and lead Sunday services.

We are happy for Christmas help project with LTCC and look forward to continuing it this year.

Family Update:

Our family is doing well. 

• Our oldest son Toms (24) is almost finished with his studies and living in Riga.

• Nils (22) works as a cook in Riga, but often comes home.

• Luize (16), Tereze (11) and Klavs (8) living with us in Mersrags and study in school which is 5 minutes from home. 

This summer we traveled in Poland. 

I graduated this summer from the University of Theology with a Master's degree. I am thankful for the support of my family, especially to my wife! 

Thank You for your church support, it means much for us.

God Bless You!

In Christ Janis and Anita.  

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APRIL 2023

Easter was amazing! We baptized 3 young people. I have 2 disciples who preach sometimes in services. Together we started men activities every second week! We have Sunday school every week and few months ago we started youth activities. Soon I will finish my theology studies in master level.
God Bless You!
In Christ, Janis & Anita

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NOVEMBER 2022

They are slowly returning to normal now that covid restrictions have been lifted. Anita restarted Sunday school, but they do not have many children attending. Pray that they can minister well to the children who are coming and that they may be able to reach out to others in the community.  

They are beginning to hold meetings for men every second Friday night. Pray that there will be interest among the community and that they can encourage and support one another through this ministry.  

Church attendance hasn’t recovered from the mandatory covid closures. Please pray that God will guide people back to church and strengthen their community.  

They currently do not have musicians for worship and are praying that someone will come with those skills and a desire to lead that ministry.  

Pastor Janis has an assistant (another Janis) who is able to manage services once a month. Thank God that they have the extra help and someone to share the burden of preaching. 

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 JULY 2022

Due to Covid, many church members of Mersrags Baptist Church have stayed home and not attended church in person. Some of them are watching services through Facebook where the church streams services every Sunday. This Sunday a meeting is scheduled to make plans to restart the many ministries that have been on hold since the beginning of Covid. They would like to kick off Sunday School, and Men and Women’s ministry activities in September.

Please pray for the church in Mersrags. Pray for a renewed commitment of its members to attendance and ministry.

Praise the Lord for a few candidates for baptism the end of July!

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JANUARY 2022

Dear Lake Tapps church!

Thank You for Your open hearts and generosity! We made 30 food and household packs for poor people, large children families and lonely old people. Some of people received clothes, bed clothes, pots, frying pans, iron, ironing board, toys, desk lamp, even catfood, tools for young self-employed couple, who started attend our church few month ago. We share bibles and children books. I very happy for annualy Christmas project and hope for Your involving in the future.

In Christ

Janis Bulis

Mersrag’s baptist church preacher

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OCTOBER 2021

Please be praying this week for Janis and Anita Bulis. Janis is the pastor of our sister church in Mersrags, Latvia. In addition to pastoring the church, Janis runs an auto repair shop in town. Please pray for him as he balances ministry, his business, his Theology studies and family life.

PRAISES:

• Praise that Mersrags has not been hit hard with Covid cases.

• Praise that Janis, Anita and their five children (ages 6 through 22) are healthy.

• Anita is still able to teach Kindergarten in person.

• Janis and his fellow employees continue to work in his shop.

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Pray that Covid restrictions will ease up so they can resume singing in church.

• They need some musicians to attend their church.  Someone with musical talent recently came to their church, but that person normally attends another church.

• Pray that more people will return to in-person services. Many still watch the service on Facebook.

• Pray for a man and his wife that recently came to the Mersrags Baptist Church after he had a dream, telling him he needed to know about God. They were able to share about the Lord with him. Pray that the couple will come back to hear more about the Lord.

• Pray for Janis as he is studying Theology at the Baptist Seminary. 
  

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May 2021

Please be praying this week for Janis and Anita Bullis. Janis is the pastor of our sister church in Mersrags, Latvia. In addition to pastoring the church, Janis runs an auto repair shop in town. Please pray for him as he balances ministry, his business and family life.

This last Christmas we were able to partner with the Mersrags church in a Christmas outreach project. We were able to give Christmas presents and Christian literature to a number of families in Mersrags. Please pray that the seeds that were planted would continue to bear fruit.

Please pray that the church would grow in love for the Lord and one another and be effective in their outreach.

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December, 2020

We are partnering, once again, with the Mersrags Baptist Church to help meet the needs of families in their community. The need is especially great this year due to the pandemic and many people losing their jobs. Pastor Janis and Anita sent us a list of 19 families. Many of these are single parents, or people with disabilities, and individuals that only make about $79.00 per month. We are praising the Lord that to date we have sent $2,032. The total need was $2,500. If you haven’t already and would like to give to this project, there are still ornaments on the tree with specific needs (please turn these in ASAP), or you can give online. Please pray that they will be able to share the love of Jesus with those in their community through this project.

• Janis and Anita are very thankful for the partnership we have together. They regularly pray for LTCC.

• They are currently meeting together at the Mersrags Baptist church on Sundays, but they are required to wear masks and are limited to 20% occupancy.

• They have started recording sermons to share with church members.

• Many Latvian people have lost jobs in tourism and the restaurant business. Their oldest son Toms lost his job at a restaurant. He is now looking for a job in the food delivery business. Please pray for those who have lost their jobs that God will provide for their needs.

• Praise the Lord, Janis owns a car shop and has been able to provide enough income for their family.

• Anita works as a kindergarten teacher.

• Two of their children, Nils and Luize study from home.

• Tereze is able to attend school in person.

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August, 2020

Janis Bulis and his family serve Mersrags Baptist Church in Latvia. As our sister church, we have partnered with them on many projects and events over the last two decades.

Because of Covid-19, they were unable to gather as a congregation from March to early June. During that time, the board gathered to pray and called church members regularly. They have now resumed in person meetings.

Please pray for their safety and health as they gather together. Also, pray the church would be able to reach out and meet the needs, both material and spiritual, of the church family and community members who’ve been negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The tourism industry in Latvia was heavily hit by the travel restrictions. Please pray for provision for those relying on tourist activities for their income.

As they resume normal activity, the men’s group is planning maintenance around the church including work on the playground that was built with a group from Lake Tapps Community Church sixteen years ago. We thank God for this ongoing friendship and partnership with our Latvian brothers and sisters.