Bible Lessons

Bible lessons with Ina and Valodia went well tonight. They seem to be paying a lot of attention during the lessons and Ina always goes out of her way to thank us for taking time to teach them. We have been doing the Bible lessons at Yuri's house and tonight his mother, Baba Shora, came in and sat for the entire lesson. Following the lesson she said that she prays to God. Lina said, "God does not hear your prayers because your sins have separated you from God." Even though she is a very strong orthodox, she has agreed to sit in for the rest of the lessons. She has continued to grow softer towards Christians and was even asking Eric to bring me, Sammy and the girls over. Please be praying for her. Pray especially that she will come to the lessons sober, as she is frequently drunk. Pray also for the salvation of Ina and Valodia.

Bible Lessons and Building

For the past few weeks, Valodia and Ina have been coming to both the Wednesday night services and Sunday services. When we talked to them at church, they agreed to start the Salvation Bible Basics lessons with us. We plan on doing lessons with them on Tuesday night at 6:00 PM (11AM EST). Ina is Christina's sister. Please be praying that they will not only start the lessons, but will also finish them and get saved.

We have also been looking into buildings here in the village for the church and have found one that looks promising. They are asking $15,000 for it and it needs quite a bit of work, but is in the center of the village and has lots of rooms and space. Pray that God's will be done concerning a meeting place for our church.

July 16,2010

It has only been two months since our last prayer letter, yet so much has happened that it feels like it has been much longer than that.

Church & Bible Lessons

We are still praying about moving the church to the village or staying in the city. Right now, our Sunday services are in the city and our Wednesday prayer meetings are in the village at our house. We have had new visitors every Wednesday night and are at the point where we can't fit anyone else in our home. We would greatly appreciate your prayers concerning this.

On Sundays, we had been renting a van to take our family and whoever wanted from the village to the city for church. On June 17th, God provided a van for us to use, which we didn't have to pay anything for except for about $50 - which a church in America had specifically sent for a van! How is that? The man was willing just to trade vehicles with us. We praise the Lord for His answer to prayer for a van.

The Lord also answered our prayers concerning the baptism of Vladamir, Yuri and Christina. What a blessing it was to see them take this next step of faith! Please continue to keep them in your prayers as they still have much growing to do.

Right at the moment, we are not doing Bible lessons with anyone. Oksana was having a hard time with the doctrine of hell and that we are cursed if we try to keep the law instead of trusting in Jesus. She argued about this a lot during the last few lessons, then quit right before the last lesson. We are still praying that God will work upond her heart to bring her to salvation.

We had also planned on starting Bible lessons with a man named Sasha. When it came time for Sasha to start lessons, he canceled saying that he was too busy. We are thinking it is because we ask them not to be drunk if they come to our home to have lessons. Also Lena, the lady we were going to start lessons with in May, left her husband and moved. We have not heard from her since. So, at the moment we have no Bible lessons going. We greatly desire to continue giving Bible lessons and ask that you pray for God to give us at least one person to do Bible lessons with.

Family & Health

Since our last prayer letter, we have had a new addition to our family! Samuel James Curtis was born on June 17th at home! The doctor that Jessica had for Anna and Lydia came out to our home for his birth too, but she was outside when Samuel decided to come. Both Jessica and baby are doing great and the girls love their new brother. We also received his birth certificate and needed paperwork with little trouble. We praise the Lord not only for the safe delivery but for allowing us to receive his birth certificate so smoothly. We still need to make a trip to Kiev to receive his American Birth Abroad certificate, ss, passport, etc., but we will be waiting until the heat subsides a little because the trains are usually extremely hot.

Thank you so mucch for all of your prayers. They make a difference in our ministry here in Ukraine.