What an amazing day - week - it has been! We have truly seen Him work out everything for good...for HIS honor and glory, even if at first it just seems like another problem.
I'm so tempted to start with the frosting on the cake, but will try to start from the beginning instead. In the last few weeks Eric and I have seriously been praying together that God would give us opportunities to witness and it seems like He has opened so many doors! While Eric was driving into the city one day he picked up a man who needed a ride. He ended up being drunk and kept asking Eric for money. Eric told him no because he would just spend it on alcohol. The man just gave him a knowing smirk. Eric continued to tell him that what he needed more than alcohol was Jesus Christ and to read the Bible. He kept saying what he needed was money. He did take the tract and we pray that he will read it.
Then the other day as we were cleaning the church one of the church neighbors came by and Eric was able to witness to her for a long time. She kept saying that no matter how hard she tries, she sins and because of this she has problems in her life. She was not talking about big sins, but little things like talking too much. She is already at a point where she realizes she is a sinner who cannot redeem herself. The sad part is, she is so superstitious that she is not yet willing to come to church. She believes that bad things happened to her because she threw out some orthodox icons and missed going to the orthodox church on a holiday. She is afraid that if she comes to our church something else will happen. Eric was able to give her a tract and a Bible and by the end she said that maybe she just needed to read the Bible more. We pray that she will. She has also invited the kids and I over for tea sometime, so I am looking forward to that and hoping that I am able to talk to her about doing Bible lessons in her home.
On Friday we went out to celebrate Anna's birthday (which I'll share more about in another post). After a fun day, we headed back home with cake and ice cream. We didn't get too far though before the car died. It was extremely hot and took about 4 hours for us to find someone to help us. We were able to witness some and give the taxi driver and tow truck driver a tract though, and figured that was God's plan. Without a vehicle, we tried to prepare a little more on Saturday night for our walk to church. On our knees later that night as a couple we specifically prayed that God would bring in one visitor to church. Sunday morning we all loaded up and headed out. We're quite a sight walking through the village for, not only are we all dressed up, but we have 3 kids so close in age! Wow, huh? ;) We met quite a few people on the road and passed out some tracts. We also met a babooshka who we had previously talked with and given tracts to before. We invited her to church and she said she would come. We left, but didn't really think she would...how many times have you heard that? Once people started coming into church, we were pleasantly surprised with a visit from Elena and also Valodia. Even though both have attended services in the past, we thought that might be our answer to prayer. Because Sammy was having a very hard time, probably from heat and being overtired, I ended up having to take him out. When I reached our front door I was shocked to see the babooshka and a man sitting on the steps! She had been too shy to come in so had just waited there! After she went in and sat down the man started talking to me a little. He didn't stay for very long because he was visiting a friend, but he took the tract. As I went back in to play piano for the closing song, I felt like crying. How sweet is an answer to prayer! And, OH! How quickly we neglect that precious time on our knees! Sometimes I am amazed at His patience with me and love in answering when I am so neglectful of Him! Maybe the car should break down every week. :)
