Missionaries2Ukraine

Church Neighbors

2011-10-22T12:04:00.000-07:00

The Lord has given us many opportunities to talk and witness to those living around the church. Many of them are interested, but too superstitious to step foot in our church doors.

A lady named Valentina lives directly across from the church. After talking with me for a little while, she accepted the Bible I offered her but said she would not come to church because she would be cursed by the Orthodox if she did. She is also very afraid of the gossip which might be spread about her if she attended.

Tatiana lives next door and has stopped in occasionally. She dislikes the orthodox priests and wanted another place to go. When she enters she does a cross over her chest and one time she left some canned goods. She usually only stays a few minutes to fulfill some religious duty, then leaves. She has a desire to be religious but is not concerned with the state of her soul.

Last Friday while putting tracts on doors, we met Maria. She was very excited about our church being here, especially since it was so close to her house. She had been attending a protestant or charismatic church in the city, but it was hard for her to get to. She appeared to be sincerely interested in coming but was having some memory loss problems.

Pray that God will defeat the religious superstitions of these people that they might be saved. Pray for this one woman that God will give her the memory to come out.

Salvation of Slavic!

2011-10-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your prayers concerning this man. We are thrilled to be able to share with you the news of his salvation. On Friday evening we had our last Bible study. As we came to the end of the lesson, I asked Slavic if there had ever been a time in his life when he had truly been born again. He explained that he had gone forward in a charismatic service some years ago. But as I questioned him concerning his salvation it seemed evident that what he was calling salvation was not what the Bible calls salvation. As we continued talking he admittedly said even though he claimed this experience as salvation his life never changed. He still continued in sin and drunkenness and he was even put in jail for stealing. I then asked him if he wanted to sincerely repent of his sins to turn away from his alcohol and other sins and totally by faith trust Christ as his Savior and follow him the rest of his days. He said that he did. Then in his own words he asked the Lord to forgive Him of his sins and told the Lord that He would now sincerely try to live for him and serve Him according to His word.

This man has been very quiet through all the lessons, but he seemed sincere in his decision of faith to forsake all and trust in Jesus. Please pray that he would grow in his faith as we continue to disciple him. When we all finished praying I went and shook his hand and said now you are my brother. He lit right up with a big smile.

God really worked miracles Friday to see this man saved. Earlier in the day he had attended a party in a nearby village celebrating it's birthday. He explained how he was offered alcohol many times but refused it because he was taking Bible lessons. How like Satan it is to present temptations on the day of salvation! Again, thank you for your prayers. They do make a difference.

Baba Maroosa

2011-10-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

This week I'd like to share with you a woman who calls herself Baba Maroosa. As I was walking one day I met her, talked with her and gave her a tract. She was surprisingly friendly and open to the gospel. We did not come in contact with her again until one Sunday morning. Because our van has been in the shop, we have been walking to church. On our way, we pass out tracts to those we come in contact with. Baba Maroosa was on the road and stopped to talk with us because of all of the kids. When we gave her a tract and invited her to church, she said she would be there. We continued on our way wondering if she really would come or not. Church services were almost over and she still had not shown up. Because Sammy was acting up, Jess took him out for a minute and there sitting on the doorstep was Baba Maroosa! Jessica told her to come in and sit down. After that, Baba Maroosa faithfully attended our services. Jess has also had her over for tea (you can read about that visit here).

Baba Maroosa grew up in a very hard time and is part of the generation known as "a child of war". She witnessed many things, including the death of her mother. Because both of her parents were victims of the war, she was raised by her grandmother. In her eyes, if Christ hadn't already "saved" her she would either be dead or an alcoholic like most of the other children of war. She also says that she has seen Jesus and Mary, which she claims as proof of salvation. At the moment, she is not interested in doing Bible lessons. We are greatly burdened for this woman and pray that God will save her before it is too late. She is in her 80s. We recently saw her sitting at a friend's house. Her face was all bruised and bloody. They said it just happened because of an illness and she was living with her friend now. We believe that her drunken son beat her. She kept telling us that she was just going to die. Please pray that God will save this woman. Because of her "condition" she is not coming to church nor does she want us to visit. We have found that many times when Ukrainians have something wrong with their faces they do not want to be seen and hide themselves away until they are healed. Pray that God will either quickly heal her or that she will allow us to visit her. How sad it would be if a bruise kept her from salvation!

Last Bible Lesson

2011-10-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight we will be having the final Bible lesson with Slavic. Up to this point he has said that he "already knows" everything that we are showing him. We are asking that you pray for him that he will not rely upon an experience and baptism for his salvation, but only on the blood of Jesus Christ. Pray that God will show him his need of salvation and for me as I present the last Bible lesson in this salvation series to him. The lesson will be around 10 AM EST.

That They May See

2011-10-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." 2 Corinthians 4:4

9 AM Sunday morning on our way to church I began to talk to a man walking towards us, inviting him to church and offering a tract. He replied he was too busy and even at that early time, was already obviously drunk.

Not too far behind him was another man. As we approached he, understanding that "we believers" don't drink, immediately informed us that "it" wasn't for him and he was on his way to buy vodka so he could get drunk.

Returning home after the services we came across another man on the road, so drunk that he wasn't able to walk straight and even fell over once.

Today while I was working on the fence, one of our neighbors stopped by. In his drunken state, he began talking to me about life telling me that alcohol makes things better. I began witnessing to him and he asked me to come by with Yuri to talk with him. (His name is also Yuri.)

Alcohol is one of the devils greatest tools in getting these people to ignore God and His Word. On numerous occasions, it has been the reason people have not shown up for Bible lessons or come to church as they had promised.

The god of this world has blinded their eyes, making them believe that alcohol makes everything better - life easier to live, so that they have no time or desire to learn about the one who can truly give them the peace they long for. Please pray that God would work in the hearts of the people of Vvedenka, opening their blinded eyes to the truth that can set them free.

We especially ask that you be praying for the visit with our neighbor Yuri. Pray that he will still be open to us when we visit him later this week.

Slavic

2011-09-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

For maybe 6 months now, Slavic has been faithfully attending services and taking Bible lessons. We have mentioned him in almost all of our recent prayer letters. We met Slavic through Yuri.

Yuri came in contact with Slavic at the local train stop. Because of drinking problems, he was homeless and looking for work and a place to stay. Yuri invited the man to work and stay with them on one condition - no drinking. Except for a short period of time, Slavic has kept that agreement.

He has been involved in a charismatic group and believes himself to be saved because of different "experiences" he's had and also because he was baptized in the charismatic church. He has testified that before meeting Yuri and our church, he disliked his life and had contemplated suicide. We praise the Lord that God saved his physical body from death, but we pray that God will also save his soul. He is reaching the end of the salvation Bible Lessons (only 3 left) and our prayer is that he will see, it is not some experience or even baptism which saves us but only the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For an update on Slavic click here.

Coming Soon

2011-09-21T04:58:00.000-07:00

We have decided to start a series of posts introducing you to the people we come in contact with. We will try to weekly highlight someone we are ministering to (a neighbor, someone we meet on the street, someone we are doing Bible lessons with or a church member) so that you may better know how to pray for them and us. We trust that this will be a blessing to you and look forward to giving you a better glimpse into the lives of the people God has called us to.

Prayer Letter

2011-09-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons

The past few months have brought us many witnessing opportunities. For one, I have started meeting the train—the gate of our city– a few times a week passing out tracts and brochures. Then, God turned the problem of a broken vehicle into an opportunity to witness. As we walked to and from church we passed out tracts to those we met and introduced ourselves. We know that work here will be slow. Many here are either very hardened to anything outside of their Orthodox church or so superstitious and afraid of something bad happening to them if they attend. Even with that, God has blessed us with a few visitors as a result of passing out tracts and our testimony here in the village.

Baba Maroosa is one of those people. She has started coming to church, but is still a little shy about taking Bible lessons. Jessica had her over for tea one afternoon and talked with her about salvation. Maroosa believes that she is saved because she has had some visions and also how God has kept her over the years. Please be in prayer for this lady as she is already in her 80s.

Valodia has continued coming to church off and on, whenever he is not working. He is still interested in finishing his Bible lessons, just after he is done working. We have found that to be the greatest hindrance to our ministry here during the summer months—work, even with the Christians. It has been an answer to prayer this summer to see Yuri and Kristina put God before work.

Slavic has continued his Bible lessons and we are praying that God will convict him and show him his need of salvation.

We still have not had contact with Ruselan, but continue to pray for his salvation.

A while ago we mentioned a lady named Sveta. Since she works for Yuri and Kristina and her boyfriend has been working on the church yard, we have regular contact with her. But she still has not started Bible lessons or come to church due to her drinking problems. They are both frequently drunk. She also is a drinking partner of Yuri’s mom. Alcohol has such a grasp on many of the people here, young and old, and would be among the top things keeping people from God.

For those who have helped with the purchase of our building, thank you. We are now down to $ 12,150.

Family, Health & Registration

Jessica is 6 months pregnant now and, besides exhaustion, everything seems to be going pretty well. She has had a more difficult time with the doctors as they keep finding things “wrong” with her, only adding to her exhaustion. We have decided to meet with the previous doctor for private consultations, which will help us know how to handle situations which arise with the doctor who she needs to be registered under. Please continue to pray for a healthy mom and baby.

As a family, we are still dealing with the parasite problem. We have tried both natural and medicinal things, changed our drinking water, etc., but it continues to be a problem. We have been especially concerned about how this will affect Samuel as he has only had a few normal bowel movements. So far this has not affected his weight and or growth. We are thinking it is in our water system and have started not only using purified drinking water, but have started boiling water for dishes and washing our produce as well. We are starting another round with a natural parasite medicine we found that helps the best and appreciate your prayers.

Answered Prayer

2011-08-14T11:29:00.000-07:00

Jessica posted this on her blog and I thought I would share it here...

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. :)

Prayer Letter

2011-08-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons
We are now officially in the village. There is still a LOT of work to be done, but the ceilings and walls are finished in our main meeting area and hopefully we will be able to complete the other rooms by the end of the month. Everyone came out to help paint the main room and are anxious to do whatever it takes to finish the rest. Praise the Lord for willing workers! We also greatly appreciate all of you who have sacrificed to help us purchase this property. So far we have had $1,4050 come in towards the purchase which leaves us at $13,050.

Since moving to the village we have been faced with some discouragements. Shortly before we moved out here a Pentecostal group started meeting here in the village. Also, Valodia quit Bible lessons and coming to the services near the end of his lessons. The Lord did open up the door for more Bible lessons with a man named Slavic. He believes that he is saved (as do many here), but we are praying that as he continues the lessons he will come to see the need of true repentance. Baba Shora, Yuri's mom, has also been sitting in for the lessons and is very attentive. What a blessing it would be to see her saved! She is known around the village for her drunkenness. We are praying for her salvation and for God to completely change her life for His honor and glory.

Ruselan is on his last lesson and should have completed it by now, but we have not heard from him. During the winter months, we were sometimes his only supply of food so it is possible that this was the reason he wanted to continue with his lessons. I am planning on visiting with him this month and ask that you pray for me and for this young man's salvation.

Family, Health & Registration
We were finally able to get Samuel and Lydia's registration. Other than making us wait a while, we had no problems.

In early July, Brianna also returned to the states. We praise the Lord for how smoothly her trip went.

In June, Sammy came down with whooping cough. We were not aware of what it was until later in July after the girls came down with it. Needless to say, much had to be put on hold (including remodeling of the church). It has been a very rough couple of months and we are praising the Lord that everyone is starting to recover. We greatly appreciate all of you who have kept up with us through our blogs and let us know you were praying for us during this time. Your prayers were greatly appreciated.

Lastly, we are excited to announce that we are expecting another little boy! Jessica is about 18 weeks pregnant, putting our baby boy due around Christmas/New Year's. Please pray for a healthy pregnancy, safe delivery and healthy baby. Also strength for Jessica as she deals with the Ukrainian medical system and opportunities to witness.

(More remodeling pictures here, and pictures from our first services in the new building here and here.)

Open Doors

2011-06-10T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, Valodia has not been coming as frequently to church or Bible lessons. He is still very friendly, he just has other things right now to keep him busy. We pray that God will use the scripture that he has heard to work upon his heart.

God has blessed with more people interested in taking Bible lessons. On Thursday we started lessons with Slavic. He is working for Yuri and Kristina. When we showed up on Thursday we were only expecting him, but Sveta (the lady who never showed up for Bible lessons with Jess) was working for Yuri and stayed for the lesson, and Yuri's mom (Baba Shora) sat through the lesson.

Today as I was driving to meet Yuri, I gave Sasha (Sveta's boyfriend) a ride. We had planned Bible lessons with him in the past, but he was always too drunk to come. Today he was very interested. He said that Sveta had told him about the first lesson and now he is planning on doing lessons Monday at 6 PM (11AM EST). Pray that his drinking will not keep him away.

Pray that God will work upon these hearts and bring them to salvation.

Jess and I are also counseling Yuri and Kristina. While I talk to Yuri about the biblical role of a husband, Jessica and Kristina are studying the role of the wife. Please pray for this young couple that God will protect and strengthen their marriage.

Church Remodeling & Bible Lessons

2011-05-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Yuri has been working very hard on the remodeling of the church. He is doing an excellent job. I praise the Lord for such a trustworthy worker. The paperwork (switching our church from the city to the village) should be finished in about 2 weeks so if at least the main room is finished, we should be able to start meeting there by the end of June. We are anxious about moving in, but we know that God's timing is perfect. We have posted a video (above) and pictures below of all of the work that has been done.

Until recently, Valodia has been extremely faithful to both Bible lessons and church. This week he missed both Wednesday night service and his Bible lesson on Thursday. He says that he has work, which is very possible. We are praying that this is not just an excuse for him to quit. He is planning on attending services this Sunday so we will talk to him about changing the Bible lesson times to work around his schedule. We ask that you pray about this.

Prayer Letter

2011-05-25T03:57:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons
The church is doing very well. We are all excited about the new building. So far we have received $1,000 towards the purchase, leaving us at $14,000. We have started remodeling and the building has come a long way. Lord willing, it will be ready to meet in by the end of June. We have been told that the paperwork for the church will be ready in about 3 weeks. Little by little the news is leaking out that our church will be starting in the village. Please pray that God will prepare the hearts of these people to receive the Gospel.

Valodia is still coming every Thursday, now at 10 AM EST. He has also been very faithful to services. As his lessons come to an end, we pray that he will accept Christ as his Saviour.

Ruselan has moved to an in-between prison house, where he is allowed to work and have a phone. He has also been reading the Bible on his own, along with the lessons that we are sending him. This week I will be sending him the last lesson and will be following up shortly after. Please pray for him to have clear understanding of the Gospel and that he also will accept Christ as his Saviour.

Visas & Paperwork
Our trip to Poland went very smoothly. We received our visas but the embassy accidentally gave Lydia and Sammy residential visas. There is a new law here stating that if you have a religious visa, you do not need to get registered, which was a blessing that saved us a lot of work. But since they gave Lydia and Sammy residential visas instead, we have to work on getting them registered. Pray that this gets taken care of quickly and smoothly. It is always a lot of work and takes a lot more of my time than I desire.

Family & Health
While we were in Poland, we had no problems with parasites, but have had problems since returning. We recently switched to bottled water and are praying that that takes care of the problem.

As you pray for our ministry and work here in Ukraine, we ask that you remember the salvation of our children. It is our desire that each of our children be saved and fully surrendered to Christ. Anna has already made a profession and still seems very sincere. Lydia and Samuel are still too young to understand, but they are growing fast.

Thank you for your prayers and support.

The Curtis Family

Visas

2011-04-21T02:35:00.000-07:00

We received our visas with no problem and they are good for one more year. We will be leaving Poland tomorrow morning and are anxious to be back home in Ukraine. Thank you for your prayers!

Visas

2011-04-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

We have applied for our visas and everything looks good. We should be able to pick them up on Tuesday.

Prayer Letter

2011-04-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Church and Bible Lessons In our last prayer letter we mentioned a man named Valodia and said that he was not interested in Bible lessons. Just a few days after we sent out our letter, he came forward after services and said that he would like to meet with us weekly to do Bible lessons. This is a huge praise for us and we are excited to see what God will do in his life. He has been coming to church every time the doors are open and has also had two Bible lessons. His Bible lessons are every Thursday at 11:00 am EST. We are still keeping regular contact with Baba Nora, our elderly neighbor. She has come over for tea once with Jessica, but didn't stay very long. We are still praying that God will reach her heart before it is too late. Bible lessons with Ruselan seem to be going well. He is always very excited to have us visit as right now we are the only ones visiting him. The guards come by frequently to listen, but we think it is more to make sure he doesn't tell of the conditions they live in then out of interest for the gospel. God could still use that though. Recently God has opened the door for us to purchase a property and building here in the village for the church. This is an exciting step for us, though we know it will be hard as village people are very hard, but we know this is what God would have us to do. There is still much work to be done on the building and lots of paperwork to switch the church address before we can start meeting there. lord willing, we will be able to start meeting there by summer. Valentina recently had a skin cancer spot removed. We praise God that all went well and she is again back in church with us. Our church was recently hit with a hard virus, so we had to cancel a Wednesday and a Sunday service. Everyone seems to be recovering except for Vladamir Vonovich who just came down with it. He has missed a Sunday and will miss a Wednesday because of it. Family, Health & Visas Once again it is time for us to renew our visas. We will be gone from April 6-22. We ask that you pray that we receive our visas without complications and for our safety traveling. We are also looking forward to getting some rest and visiting with another missionary family there in Poland. We have had an up and down struggle with the parasites and it again seems like they ahve returned. We have started treatment once more and pray that we can be rid of this problem. We have had some excitement here as Jessica's sister, Brianna, is visiting with us. She flew into Kiev on January 26th and will be with us until sometime in July. She has been a big blessing and help to Jessica.

It's Ours!

2011-03-17T21:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon, after many hours spent at the lawyer's office, we finalized the purchase of the church building! This is a very exciting step for our church and we are anxious to get moved in, but it will still be at least a little while. Lina will be working on getting all of our documents in order to move our church to the village and we will be installing doors, windows and fixing up one room to meet in. We are planning on having many tracts ready to do a major "tracting" of the village once we get there. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we get things ready and for prepared hearts.

Church building and Bible lessons

2011-02-19T06:23:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have brought a few answers to prayer. The first is a possible building for our church here in the village. We have made a downpayment on it and are now just waiting for them to finish the paperwork. Below are a few pictures of the property and the little building on it. I didn't take any pictures of the building we would using for the church. I did take a video inside the bigger house, but I haven' t been able to get it to upload.

The second is that Vladimir (Yuri's friend who has been coming faithfully to church) agreed to start Bible lessons. His first lesson was on Thursday evening. He was very attentive and asked many questions. He has also studied with the Jehovah Witnesses but was unsatisfied with their answers. It seems like most of the people here that we have met have studied with the Jehovah Witnesses at some point and time. Praying that he continues to be faithful to church and Bible lessons, but more importantly that he will be saved.

I also visited with Ruselan in the prison on Friday. He seemed more open and friendly than he has been. Right now he has no one coming to visit him, and his wife has said she is filing for a divorce, so he is very eager for fellowship.

Thank you for your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

January 27, 2011

2011-01-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

Church and Bible Lessons

Everyone in the church has been very faithful lately, including Vladamir. Now that Vladamir has gotten his affairs in order after the death of his wife, he has been to every service. Alina has not been allowed to ocme back since that first time. Be praying that God will work in this family. A man named Valodia, who lives here inthe village, has also been coming to every service for the past month. He is not interested in Bible lessons at the moment, but continues to come.

Not only have Yuri and Christina been faithful to church, but they have also come with us on evagelism to pass out tracts. We are very excited at how they have been growing.

Baba Nora, our elderly neighbor is still very friendly. Since she didn't seem very open to studying the Bible with me, Jessica is planning on having her over for tea and seeing if she will come over for weekly tea and bible lessons.

I visited with Ruselan a couple of times since our last prayer letter. We were told on the first visit that there was a minister's room where we could meet in to do Bible lessons with him that was never used, but before we left they told us that we would need to get permission to do this. When we went to ask about getting permission, they said that there were enough ministers with permission to the prison and it would be hard for us to get one. They also said that they would have to send someone to evaluate our church again. Because of this, we have decided against trying to get permission. We will continue to send him the Bible lessons through the mail then we will talk about it when we meet, we just won't be able to meet in a private room like I had wanted.

We have been looking at buildings in the village again and found one property that we were really interested in, but at the moment the owners do not have their paperwork in order for us to be able to purchase it. Please be praying that God's will be done.

We had a New Year's meeting at Yuri and Christina's house and Lina's husband Dema came. We continue to pray that God will work upon his heart that he will be saved.

It seems like God has really been working in Pasha's life, but Pasha keeps hardening. He understands the gospel perfectly and can explain it better than some Christians, but still refuses to believe in God. We pray that God will soften his heart.

Family and Health

Our prayer for our children has always been that as soon as they understand the gospel that they would accept Christ as their Saviour. During our regular morning devotions a few days before Christmas, Anna asked to pray and asked Jesus to clean and come into her heart. We were shocked at her understanding of the scriptures and praise the Lord that He has answered our prayer for Anna much sooner than we expected.

Since our last prayer letter, we have had a few more bouts with the Giardia. For the last month we have been taking a pill against parasites. We just went off of it on Sunday and are praying that we have finally seen the last of it. Please pray for us. We are still not sure that we are through with this problem.

The Importance of the Family Altar

2010-12-22T03:34:00.000-08:00

Some great things happened this morning during our family altar time. Please check out Jessica's blog to read about it!

God promises that His Word will not return void!

Growing in the Lord

2010-12-19T21:36:00.000-08:00

No, maybe not in numbers, but the Christians here are definitely growing in the Lord. Not only are they faithfully attending services, but now they have slowly one by one started coming to our church soulwinning day to pass out tracts. Up to this point it has always only been Lina, Max and our family. A few weeks ago, Yuri started coming. He went out even though his foot and hand were swollen and in a lot of pain. Then last week, Christina went out with us. It was freezing and snowing, but even with this, Lina said Christina was very bold. Christina testified on Sunday what a blessing this time had been to her! We are very excited about their growth in the Lord and are praying that the rest of our church will be out there with us as well. Vladamir has expressed a desire to come but has not yet been able too. He has started faithfully attending services again. We praise the Lord for this growth and ask that you pray for continued growth and for people to be saved.

Sometime before New Year's, I will be trying to visit Ruselan at the prison again. Again, we are praying that we will be given a private room to do Bible lessons with him in. We were doing them through the mail, but know it would be much better if we could meet with him in person.

Also before New Year's we will be bringing food and a Bible to one of Yuri's friends who recently got sent to prison. Yuri has witnessed to him in the past but the man was too attached to his alcohol to listen. Pray that God will work upon this man's heart.

Ruselan - Prison Visit

2010-11-29T10:09:00.000-08:00

I visited with Ruselan today. At first I wasn't sure whether I would get to meet with him or not, but we were allowed to see him. He is no longer in prison, but in a 'prison farm'. Because of this we were able to meet with him face to face, without the glass between us. This made the visit much easier. He seemed sincerely interested in continuing his Bible lessons. We agreed that it would be better to continue the lessons in person rather than through the mail. We are praying that God will make a way for us to meet with him in a private room instead of in the open visitor room. Ruselan said that he would talk to the warden about it.

Please be praying for these visits with Ruselan. He is on a 'prison farm' on the other side of the city from us which means it will take an entire day with one way travel more than 1 hr 1/2. How exciting it would be if God opened up even more doors there! Ruselan has already mentioned that his 'roomate' just lost his mother. Pray that God will give us grace with the prison wardens and open doors.

Sweet Spirit

2010-11-27T02:35:00.000-08:00

There has been such a sweet spirit in the church the past few weeks. After the many weeks of divisions and strife, it is very refreshing.

Alina has not been to church for a couple of weeks. Two weeks ago she didn't come because Yuri and Christina couldn't come and last week her great-grandmother wouldn't let her come because her grades at school were bad. Please pray that she will be able to continue coming to services. She was so excited when she was coming.

Yuri and Christina seem to be growing by leaps and bounds. Yuri is always bragging about how Christina is trying to be a godly, submissive wife and they have also been putting money in the tithe box at church. Money has had a very strong hold on them and in the past they would skip church if they had a chance to make more. After they started being more faithful to church, God provided them with steady work that does not hinder them from attending services!

I headed into the city on Tuesday to go visit Ruselan, but Tamara called as we were heading out and said that he was not able to receive us on that day. Lord willing, I am planning on visiting him this upcoming week. Please continue to pray for this visit.

Prayer Letter

2010-11-20T10:26:00.000-08:00

Church & Bible Lessons

In our last letter we mentioned that an elderly neighbor of ours, Baba Nora, was interested in doing Bible lessons. We keep in contact with her on a regular basis and she has been recently making comments like "You have your religion and I have mine. And I will die in mine." She is still very friendly with us and our prayer is that she will still allow us to do Bible lessons with her.

We had also mentioned a couple named Ina and Valodia. Although they have not been to church since our last letter or expressed a desire to meet with us, Ina's oldest daughter, Alina, has recently started attending services. Alina is living with her great-grandmother and we are praying that she will continue to let Alina come to services and maybe even start Bible lessons.

Recently I received a call from Ruselan, Tamara's son. He will be getting out of prison this upcoming year and is now in a place where he can receive visitors. He asked that we visit him. We will probably be meeting with him this upcoming week.

Since the death of his wife, Vladamir has rarely been in church. We believe that he is starting to lose his memory and sometimes forgets what day it is. We wish we could do more to help him, but he doesn't like to accept help. He did allow me to help him take some trash and metal to a recycling center. We praise the Lord that He used us to lead him to salvation before he started losing his memory.

The church is doing better. We finally had to church discipline Boris and Ala. They have threatened now to stir up problems for us, not only with the people in our church but have also threatened to go to religious affairs (where we get our visa permissions) and place a complaint against us. We do not think that they will be able to cause problems for us, but still ask that you will pray. Especially for Valentina because Ala brought her to churc hand they continue to keep in contact.

Sammy's Papers & Registration

We now have Sammy's papers finalized. We are always amazed with the order and promptness at the American Embassy. Everything was easily taken care of.

The laws here are constantly changing and usually it is more of a hassle, but this time it was actually to our benefit. When we went in to get our registration this month, we were told that it was no longer necessary. All we need now is our visa and the stamp when we cross the border. This will save us a lot of time and work. The laws here change very quickly though so we may have to get registered again some day, but for now we are enjoying a little less paperwork.

Family & Health

We have some HUGE praises in this area. Not only is Jessica's asthma doing much better, but for the past two months our family has dealt with severe stomach problems which was due to a parasite called Giardia. It was so severe that it forced us to cancel 4 services the past month. It looks like we have finally been able to get rid of it, but we ask that you continue to pray that it does not come back.

Lydia just celebrated her 2nd birthday and really enjoyed all of the cards sent in.

We greatly appreciate your prayers. Thank you!

Health Update

2010-10-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so our family has been hit with some serious health problems. First Jessica's asthma started getting worse, then we had off and on severe stomach problems. We thought it could be something we ate, next we thought it was a flu, but have found out that we most likely have a parasite called Giardia. From what we have read, they usually die off without medication in about 6 weeks. We are using garlic daily to help get rid of the parasites and hopefully keep away any colds. Thankfully, after having to cancel 2 Sunday services and holding 1 at our house due to the need to be near a toilet, we are all starting to feel a little better. Jessica's asthma has also gotten much better. Before she was having to use her Ventolin inhaler to the max of the recommended dosage (2 puffs every 6 hours), and many times she was still struggling, wheezing and coughing 2 hours later just counting down the hours until she could use it again. Thankfully, she barely has to use one puff a day now! We are into our rainy season and people have almost stopped burning, so that probably helps her greatly.

Thank you so much for your prayers and please continue to pray that we can completely get rid of this parasite.

September Prayer Letter

2010-09-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons

Thank you all for your prayers considering us moving the church to the village. After much praying and testing of different doors, we have decided for the moment to stay in the city and have also moved the Wednesday night services back to the city. Does this mean that we have given up on the village? Not at all! In fact, our ministry there is just beginning! I recently had the opportunity to talk with the elderly lady living behind our house. She declined the Bible I offered her because she said her eye sight was too bad to read it. But when I offered to read it to her and give her Bible lessons she seemed to like the idea. She is busy with preparing for winter right now, but said that she would start this winter.

In the last letter we asked for prayers concerning people to do Bible lessons. God answered our prayer request by bringing us Ina and Valodia, but they have since moved and not expressed a desire to start up lessons again. We ask that you continue to pray that God will bring more people for us to do lessons with.

During the past few months we have dealt with numerous problems and struggles in the church. Most have been settled but there are still a few lingering issues. We would appreciate your prayers for this very young group of believers and wisdom for us.

Sammy's Papers

The heat has finally subsided, so September 22-24 we will be traveling to Kiev to work on getting Sammy's American Birth Abroad certificate, etc. It is a 9 hr. trip by train, but we have decided not to travel at night this time, which will make it a little easier. Please pray that we receive everything smoothly and have safety traveling.

Family & Health

Everyone seems to be doing well. The kids are growing fast. I do ask that you pray for Jessica. She just got over a cold this past month and it is "burn season" here, so her asthma/cough/wheezing has started acting up again. The move overall has greatly helped her health, but the village is covered right now in a cloud of smoke from everyone burning everything they've cleaned out of their gardens.

We want to say thank you for all of the birthday cards sent in for Jessica and Anna over the past few months and a special thank you to Victory Baptist Church for the boxes that they sent. Also, thank you so much for all of your prayers. They make a difference in our ministry here in Ukraine.

Bible Lessons

2010-08-10T11:37:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-02T10:07:00.000-07:00

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.

Sammy's Papers - Update

2010-07-02T10:44:00.000-07:00

We received all of Sammy's papers from the hospital AND they were marked with the correct date! Eric said this was the easiest and quickest that he has ever received any of the kids paperwork. We are now in the second part of paperwork...applying for his Ukrainian birth certificate. We have two weeks left to receive his "Ukrainian birth certificate" or we will have to go back to the hospital for more paperwork. After that, we will go to Kiev and apply for his birth abroad, SS, passport and visa. Even though he has the Ukrainian birth certificate he will not be considered an Ukrainian citizen because they do not allow dual citizenships. In order to get his American one, though, we need the Ukrainian birth certificate. Thanks for your prayers!

Prayer Request - Baby Sammy's Papers

2010-06-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Eric spoke with the doctor today and at first she said that Sammy and I would have to come to the hospital and stay for two days. She wanted us to call an ambulance to take us to the hospital, then have all the paperwork written out like Samuel had been born today instead of last week. Eric told her that, first of all, there was no reason for us to go to the hospital and second, we weren't going to lie. So, she called her head doctor to see what to do and now he is calling his head doctor. They are supposed to call us back tomorrow. Sometimes it's so frustrating having to abide by the rules and regulations of the country. Legally, we have the right to have a home birth, just not many people know that. When we were trying to get Anna's paperwork we had a little bit of trouble too and called the American embassy. They told us that there was nothing they could do for us. Please be praying as we'd rather not have a long, drawn out battle. We have proof that I was pregnant, witnesses to the birth and saved the placenta and his umbilical cord when it fell off. We would also like to keep our ties with the hospital good for future pregnancies, as it was hard to find a hospital that would accept me. One thing I am thankful for is that they can't see me before Tuesday and at the moment, I have a very bad cold that I caught from the girls and they would probably try to separate me and the baby.

Thank you for your prayers.

Jessica

A Week of Blessings

2010-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, June 17 at 12:27 PM (5:27 AM EST), Samuel James Curtis was born. Both mother and baby are doing well. To read more about the many answered prayers concerning the birth of our son, visit Jessica's blog. We ask that you pray that we will receive his birth certificate, passport, etc. without any problems.

That same day, God answered another prayer request by providing a 9-seater van for our family and church.

Another praise is that we were finally able to get a hold of Oksana. She has not been to services or Bible lessons for the past two weeks and we have not been able to contact her. We were beginning to wonder if she was through with Bible lessons and avoiding us. Today, Lina talked with her and we found out that she has been out of town. Lord willing, she will be starting up Bible lessons again on Monday. Please be praying for her salvation as she has had a hard time letting go of her Orthodox heritage.

Lastly, a prayer request. On Sunday Vladamir Vonovich (the elderly gentleman who was recently saved and baptized) told us that his wife who had alzheimers had passed away this past week. He has been taking care of her for many years now and recently had not been able to attend many services because of her increased need of care. Please be praying for this man and his family. I wish that we could say that she was saved.

Two Week Review

2010-06-06T10:44:00.000-07:00

In the weeks following the baptisms of Yuri, Christina and Vladamir our church was hit with a very strong virus. There wasn't a family unaffected and some were in bed with high fevers for almost 2 weeks! It was such a blessing to see everyone almost recovered and in services today.

Oksana is still doing Bible lessons on Mondays, usually at about 3 PM our time (8 AM EST). It seems like the further we get into the lessons, the more she struggles. She is a strong orthodox and is having a very hard time turning from what she has been taught. Please be praying for her as we draw closer and closer to the end of our lessons. Pray that God will soften her heart and that she will stop fighting against the Holy Spirit.

In our last prayer letter we mentioned that a man named Sasha was going to be starting lessons. He has since told us that he has too much work right now. Even though it is planting season here and Ukrainians are very busy working in their fields, we don't think this is the real reason. Not only are they working in their fields almost all day, but they usually are drinking alcohol the entire time "for energy". We think that our request that those coming into our home be sober might be what is stopping him. We ask that you pray for God to give us wisdom as we work with these people.

Baptisms

2010-05-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night in the river in Vindinka normally used for just fishing, drinking and swimming, I had the privilege of baptizing Yuri, Vladamir and Christina. They had all expressed a desire to be baptized and it was exciting to see them take this step of obedience. For Christina, it was especially hard. An hour before she was supposed to be baptized she called and said that she was not ready. The whole time during the message about baptism and when Yuri and Vladamir were getting baptized, I could see the struggle on her face. She desired to get baptized but was not wanting to be harrassed afterwards by Yuri's mom and her friend. After I climbed out of the water I told her whenever she was ready to let me know. She said, "Let's do it now." Praise the Lord!

Prayer Letter

2010-05-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons

The Lord has continued to bless and it seems as if the work here has grown very quickly. We are not sure is it will continue, but for the moment we are not lacking in work, just workers. We are considering moving the church to the village and praying that if this is God's will He will open up a place for us to meet there. Right now we are very tight on space.

The Bible lessons we are doing with Oksana seem to be doing very well. She listens intently during each lesson and always has many questions. Please be praying for her salvation as we bring these lessons to a close within the next month.

We will be starting Bible lessons with a man named Sasha on Monday. We have tried to encourage Sveta, who is living with him and previously expressed an interest in Bible lessons, to come but she doesn't sound like she will. We will also be starting lesons in the middle of May with a lady named Lena who has come to church with Olea. We will be meeting at Olea's house and are praying that Olea and Costa will also sit in for the lessons.

Ruselan has said that he is still interested in continuing his Bible lessons. We will be continuing these by mail and also hope to go visit with him again sometime.

Visas
We received our new visas with no problems even though we were in Poland during a very crazy time. With the of their president and with air travel being restricted because of the volcanic ash, we were afraid we would not get back to Ukraine as soon as we had hoped. Praise the Lord that everything went smoothly and when we returned to Ukraine we received our registration with no problems.

Family & Health
The girls are growing and loving living in the village. They have made quite a few friends in just the past week. Jessica's pregnancy is going well, thouse she has been very tired lately and is having a hard time sleeping. With only 7 more weeks, we are very busy trying to squeeze in doctor's visits and last minute preparations. Please be praying for her to have a safe delivery and also for us to receive the baby's birth certificate and papers with no problems.

2010-04-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Poland went well. Even with all that happened while we were there (the death of their president and canceled flights due to the volcanic ash) we were able to get there and back home safely and received our visas without any problems.

Since returning home on Saturday, we've resumed Bible lessons with Oksana (Lina taught them while we were away). Oksana always has many questions and seems very interested. She has been coming pretty regularly to services and really enjoys the fellowship at our church. Please be praying for her salvation.

We had a full church on Sunday, partly due to the fact that Elena came and brought 5 children with her! She sounds like she is going to start coming regularly and bringing the children with her.

We turned in our papers for registration today and should be receiving it on May 13th.

Lastly, even though Tamara is no longer attending church, her son Ruselan has said that he is still interested in continuing Bible lessons through the mail.

Prayer Letter

2010-03-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Church & Bible Lessons

The past few months have been very busy for our little church group. On February 12th, Yuri and Christina were married. We praise the Lord that they chose to take this step of obedience. They have also said that they would like to be baptized, but were not able to make it the day we rented a place because of sickness. Even though they were not able to be there, on Sunday, March 14th, I had the privilege of baptizing Max. What a blessing it is that even though his dad is not saved, he has not stopped Max from coming to church or from being baptized. We pray that God will put his hand upon Max's life and use him for the glory of God.

Our Valentine's banquet went well and we had many unsaved attend, including Lina's husband, Dema! This is the first time he has ever attended any of our activities. A lady named Oksana came and has recently started Bible lessons. She seems very open to listening. Please be praying for her.

Tamara is no longer coming to church and her mom has stopped taking Bible lessons. We found out that while she was coming, she was still practicing witchcraft. She would even sit behind people at church and try to get them to let her tell them their futures DURING the services! Ruselan finished the first Bible lesson. We are not sure if he will continue to do the lessons now that his mom is no longer coming to church, but we are going to send him the second lesson anyways.

A young lady named Olea has been faithfully attending services with the man she is living with now and her two sons. She is maybe 18 and already divorced. Please be praying for them. She claims to be saved. Costa (the man she is living with) is not.

On the 20th of March, we rented out a space with two ping pong tables for a church family day. We had a good group come out, again, mostly unsaved. Dema came for the second time to a church activity and Valentina's son Roman and his step son, Arteome, came for the first time. It is exciting to see people that we have been praying for start to come out. Even though Roman did not stay in the room while I gave a short salvation message, we know that God can still work on his heart.

Visas
It is almost time for us to renew our visas, so we have been preparing the needed paperwork. We mentioned in our last prayer letter about receiving a 3 year visa and applied here for the document that we were told we needed for that. When we called, they said we could not receive a 3 year visa without an "excuse". We are not sure what type of excuse is needed and no one is willing to give us that information, so we will only be able to get a 1 year visa again. Please be praying for our trip and that we will receive our visa without any problems. We leave for Poland the 8th of April.

Family & Health
Jessica's pregnancy is going well and we have been told that our new little addition will be a boy! She was able to get registered at a hospital and with a doctor, though not the same one she had for the girls. Please be praying for continued health and for a safe delivery.

2010-03-17T22:30:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I had the blessing of baptizing Maxime, the first Ukrainian I had the opportunity to lead to the Lord. We look forward to seeing how God will use this young man for His honor and glory. Yuri and Christina have also said that they would like to be baptized, but were not able to make it because of Yuri's health. Please pray that Yuri, Christina and Vladamir will soon follow in baptism.

Also, tomorrow our church is having a "Family Day". We have rented out a room with two ping pong tables and look forward to spending time with family and friends. More than that, we are praying that God will work upon the hearts of the many attending who are not saved.

Trying and Strengthening

2010-03-01T09:22:00.000-08:00

The past few months have been an exciting, trying, sad, and strengthening time for our church. We've been excited about the professions of faith made, the spiritual growth amongst the believers, Yuri and Christina choosing to get married...but like always, when God is working, satan is also at work. We found out a few weeks ago that during all of this, Tamara had been trying to practice fortune telling, healing, and other forms of witch craft amongst the believers at the church - sometimes even during the middle of the services! We pulled her aside and talked with her, showing her from the Bible that this is not of God. She still insists that it is a "gift" and has not been back to church since. Pray for her, as only God knows her heart. Through it all, we have seen God work on the heart of the believers and strengthen our little group.

Valentine's Banquet 2010

2010-02-20T01:15:00.000-08:00

This year we had our 2nd Valentine Banquet. It is not a usual Valentine's banquet because it is open to everyone, not just couples. This year's theme "The Most Important Relationship". We didn't get as many pictures as usual because Jessica was busy serving and handed the camera over to me and Valentina. The women all worked very hard and not only was there more than enough food, but it was all excellent.

Oksana, Lina, Anna, Jessica and Lydia - the main servers (the girls brought the bread baskets to the tables)
Unsaved: Oksana, Anna and Lydia

Alla, Boris, Constantine, Olea and Pasha (Dema, Lina's husband, also came but requested that his picture not be posted due to the fact that he is in the military. This is the first church activity that he has attended. What a blessing it would be to see this man saved!)
Unsaved: Constantine, Olea ?, Pasha and Dema

Valentina and Elena
Unsaved: Elena ?

Evan, Yuri, Christina, Lela (Christina's mom), Max and Vladamir
Unsaved: Evan and Lela

During the banquet, we had a few activities and contests. Pictured below are wives from our church holding "portraits" that their husbands drew of them. After the husbands who wanted to participate drew the pictures, the wives had to guess who was who. They all guessed correctly.

Please be in prayer for the unsaved who attended. We praise the Lord for those saved in 2009 and are excited to see what the Lord will do in 2010. We ask that you pray for the ministry here as satan would like nothing more than to stop the unsaved from coming to Jesus, but also to destroy the work here and hinder the growth of the believers.

Bible Lessons

2010-01-27T10:01:00.000-08:00

We have sent Ruselan his first through-the-mail Bible lesson. We ask that you will be praying that the Holy Spirit would work upon his heart showing him his need of salvation as he reads the Bible.

Also, Tamara's mom (Baba Shura) has agreed to start Bible lessons. We were supposed to start today, but she was sick. We are planning on meeting with her next Wednesday at 3 PM (8 AM EST).

On Sunday, we had two new visitors to church, a man named Constantine and a woman named Oksana. Both have expressed an interest in Bible lessons, but we have not been able arrange them with them yet.

Prayer Letter - January 16

2010-01-27T09:46:00.000-08:00

Bible Lessons

For many months now we have been requesting prayer for an elderly gentleman named Vladamir. On Sunday, December 6 after finishing our last lesson, Vladamir bowed his head and asked Jesus Christ to save him. He admitted that he could not do it on his own, but that it was only through the blood of Jesus that he could be saved. We greatly appreciate all of you who have been faithfully praying for him.

We were able to visit Ruselan in prison, though not in November. We had a good visit with him and he has agreed to start Bible lessons through the mail. Also, while we were there, we met a lady who was very interested in learning more about us. She gave us her phone number and address. We have contacted her and hope to meet with her sometime and start Bible lessons.

Tamara's mom has also started coming to church. We are very excited about this as she has convinced others in the village not to come. Her name is Baba (grandma) Shura.

It seems like God is opening many doors for Bible lessons right now and we are praying that some of the "older" Christians would be willing to teach as well. Pray as we work to not only see others come to Christ but teach those same people to lead others to Him.

Church

God is continuing to work upon the hearts of our little group of believers. Not only are they faithfully coming to church, but we have noticed a growth in their spiritual walk with the Lord as well. They are seeing the importance of putting Christ first in their lives. God has also been doing a work in Yuri and Christina's hearts and they have their paperwork almost complete for marriage. They go to sign papers to officially be married around the 13th of February.

Tatiana has also started to be a little friendlier towards us, but still has not come back to church.

Registration

We received our registration with no problems and will be able to stay in the country until we have to renew our visas in April. As we mentioned in our last letter, it may be possible for us to receive a 3 year visa. We would greatly appreciate your prayers concerning this.

Family & Health

After about a month of the flu, we all seem to be doing well. Jessica's breathing problems and cough have gotten better. Not only is she doing better, but is also pregnant again! The baby is due July 2nd.

Thank You!
Lastly, we'd like to say thank you to all of those who sent Christmas cards, to Albemarle Baptist Church for the card with little goodies in it, and for the boxes our church family and Bill & Carol Curtis sent. Thank you all so much. It was such a blessing to know you were thinking of us!

"Baba" Shura & Tamara

2010-01-27T02:45:00.000-08:00

2009-12-29T08:56:00.000-08:00

We have been excited and waiting to tell you about an answer to prayer for a few weeks now, but have been unable to because our computer has not been working.

For more than a year now, we have been praying for a man named Vladamir Vonovich to get saved. Ever time someone questioned him about his salvation, he always pointed to his good works. He agreed to do Bible lessons. It did not seem like we would ever get through them. His wife is sick and bedridden, so he was not able to attend when he couldn't find someone to watch her. When we only had one lesson left, he did not come for at least 4 weeks. What a blessing it was on December 6th when he bowed his head to accept Jesus Christ at the end of the lesson. Now if you ask him about his salvation he will tell you that it is ONLY through the blood of Jesus! Thank you for your faithful prayers for Vladamir.

Today, Eric had the opportunity to visit Tamara's son, Ruselan, in the prison. When Eric, Tamara and Lina got there, they almost didn't let them in because of the holidays. Praise the Lord He made a way! Ruselan was very humble and open to talking with them. He feels like no one cares about him and has been very grateful for all the help we have given him. He does have a wife and two boys, but since he has been in prison his wife has lived with other men and hasn't visited him in a long time. We had given him some food and a Bible earlier (here the prison does not provide food). He said he was reading the Bible, but didn't understand anything. He said that he was interested in continuing to meet with us and willing to take Bible lessons through the mail. Please be praying for Ruselan.

Thanksgiving Day

2009-11-28T08:33:00.000-08:00

Prayer Letter

2009-11-17T11:22:00.000-08:00

Bible Lessons
Vladamir has still not finished his Bible lessons. We only have one lesson left, but it seems like there have been many hindrances to him coming. Pray that God would remove any hindrances so that he can finish his lessons. Most importantly, please pray that he would truly understand salvation and get saved.
A few Fridays ago we met a lady named Tamara who was searching for the truth. She came to our house the next day and talked with us from 8 AM until 3 PM. She then bowed her head and received Jesus Christ as her Saviour. She has been faithful to every service since then and is continually praying for her son's salvation. I will be going to visit her son in prison November 20th. His name is Ruselan.
In the lst letter we mentioned Lela, Kristina's mom. She has not started Bible lessons yet but we would still like to meet with her.
Church
Our church seems to have grown overnight. Not only has Tamara been faithfully coming, but also Ala, Boris, Yuri and Kristina. Yuri and Kristina are still living together but Yuri has openly admitted that it is sin and expressed the need for them to get married. Please pray that God will continue to work upon their hearts.
Since the time that Jessica talked with Tatiana, she has not come back to church. When we left her she was still very friendly but since then has gone out of her way to avoid us. We are still praying for her.
Witnessing Opportunities
God has continued to give me opportunities to witness in Russian, especially with the men working on our house. They all seemed very open to the Gospel but still no one has come to church.
Also, many of you have asked about Pasha. He is still working with me as a translator and he still talks with me about the Bible, but he still rejects God.
House & Registration
We have finally moved into our house in the village. There are still a few things needing to be done before winter, but we are enjoying our new home.
We are also working on getting registered at our new home as our registration runs out on December 24th. Pry that there will be no problems. We have recently heard that it might be possible for us to get a 3 year registration, which would be a huge blessing.
Family & Health
Both of the girls are growing up fast and are both healthy. Jessica was better for about 2 months after she came back from America but recently her coughing has started again. She is also having some breathing difficulties. Right now it isn't as bad as before but please pray that God will help us find a solution.

Prayer and Prayer Updates

2009-11-12T05:02:00.000-08:00

On the side column of our blog, we have added two new sections to better help you keep up with our prayer requests and praises. Thank you for praying!

Alexander

2009-11-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

Eric arranged to meet with Alexander at 2pm. At 2, Eric called him and Alexander said that he had to do some paper work on his car but still wanted to meet with Eric sometime. Eric is going to call him and invite him to church on Sunday. Please be in prayer for this young man.

A Call in the Night

2009-11-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Tonight as we were settling in for the evening, Eric received a call on his cell phone. All the guy said was, "Eric, call me back and I will explain who this is." Eric called him and the man said that his name was Alexander. Eric had met him in the market while passing out tracts and had talked with him for quite some time. Before he left, Alexander asked for Eric's phone number. Now about a month later he calls with a question, "Why doesn't God hear my prayers?". He called himself a Christian and said that he believed in God, but does not attend a church. Eric told him that the only way God will hear our prayers is through Jesus Christ and unless we are saved through Jesus Christ we are considered the enemies of God. Eric is planning on meeting with Alexander tomorrow. Please be in prayer for Alexander that God will continue to work upon his heart and for Eric to have wisdom as he meets with him.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-11-04T04:18:00.000-08:00

Saved on "satan's Day"

2009-11-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Lina, Tamara, Jessica

October 31st, while most in America were preparing to celebrate Halloween, satan was trying desperately to keep control of a woman named Tamara. For 52 years she had been under his control, living in a home with a mom who practiced witchcraft and practicing it herself later. At the same time, she was searching for the truth. Seeking for answers through the Russian Orthodox church, a charismatic church, the Jehovah Witnesses...all telling her the same thing-she must do something for her salvation. They told her that right now her "gifts" were from satan, but that after she was "saved" she could use them for God. She came to our house Saturday, October 31st at 8:30 AM and talked until 3 PM. First she told of all of her visions, experiences, and "gifts" asking us if they were from God or from satan. She wanted to know "What is truth?" and "How can I KNOW that you are telling me the truth?". She pointed to a book she had brought and said that the man who wrote it was older than we were, so how could we claim to know more about the truth than him? Each time Eric would point her to what the Bible says. Near the end, she said "I believe you because you have not once said nice words to convince me, you have only pointed to the Bible." What a blessing it was when she said she wanted to receive Jesus as her Saviour! She bowed her head and prayed accepting Jesus into her heart but didn't stop there. She then prayed for her son, who is in prison for stealing, that he might find the truth like she had saying that she knew he was where he was because of her. So, on a day many consider "satan's day", satan lost control over another soul!

A Woman Seeking the Truth

2009-10-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

One of our church members has been sick for about the past week and after evangelism today we stopped by to drop off some medicine, juice, etc. When we got to her house, there was a lady named Tamara there. Tamara is earnestly seeking for God and talked with us for about an hour. She told us that she was Russian Orthodox (like Catholic), but she also practiced (what sounded to us like) different forms of witch craft. She also told us that she had studied with the Jehovah Witnesses for a few lessons then told them that they were welcome to come visit but could no longer bring their materials because she did not believe that it was truth. She told Eric that she would tell him the same if she thought he wasn't preaching the truth. She was very anxious to talk with us and will be coming over tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM. Please be praying for her. She kept saying that she just wants to know truth. She said she has lived about 53 years and still does not know what life...especially hers, is about. Please remember to be praying for Tamara and also for Eric and Lina as they talk with her. He is going to try to get her to take Salvation Bible lessons.

In the Markets with the Blinded

2009-10-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

The past few weeks have been a great encouragement for me as God has given me the ability to speak more and more fluently in the Russian language. This has given me the opportunity to witness more to people as I am out passing tracts and has also helped me see more clearly what the people I am ministering are like.

Now, when someone rejects a tract telling me that they are Orthodox (like Catholic) I ask "Why won't you take it? You believe the Bible right? This is only Bible about Jesus Christ." Some will take it after that, but most still reject it saying that they only believe the priest and what he says.

Pray for me that God will give me wisdom in dealing with a people who are blinded by religion.

ALMOST FINISHED!

2009-10-10T08:30:00.001-07:00

A corner in the kitchen...girls room on the left, living room/our room on the right

Entry way/dining area?

The girls' room

The kitchen going into the girls' room...the walls are the same color green. It's just the lighting.

Living Room

The bathroom is almost complete too. Just needs paint and the sink and toilet hooked up. It has a beautiful white floral tile on the walls and a cream floral on the floors (though, I don't think you would see the floral print in pictures because it is almost the same color as the tile). I am so thankful for the beautiful little house that God has given us and I can't wait to move in! I am like a kid asking "Are we there yet?". I think that it just might be the most beautiful little house in all of Ukraine!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-07T00:05:00.001-07:00

Because you can't really see it in this photo, need to explain this picture...these boys were smoking outside of our apartment building.

Prayer Letter

2009-09-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

Family & Health
First of all I would like to thank all of you who prayer for Jessica and the girls while they were traveling. Your prayers were definitely needed. We also appreciate your prayers concerning her health. She was able to visit a doctor while in the states and is doing much better. I ask that you would continue to pray for her though because she still has a little cough and I'm concerned that it could get as bad as before. Also, shortly after returning to the states Jessica miscaried our third child. We were both discouraged but we know God is in control and His plan is perfect.
House
My goal was to have the house ready before Jessica returned home, but there was just too much work to be done. We are making good progress though and we hope to be moved in by the end of September. Thankfully, the owner of our apartment has allowed us to stay one more month since he couldn't find anyone else to rent it. Thank you for your prayers. We know God intervened to allow us to stay here longer.
Bible Lessons
Vladimir has continued with his lessons and hopefully we will finish before our next prayer letter. Please pray for him that he will clearly understand the Gospel and trust in Christ and Christ ONLY for his salvation. It seems as though he understands better each time.
We have continued to disciple Yuri and Kristina, but as of right now, they are still living in sin. Pray that God will convict them and give them a desire to do right and live for their Saviour.
Church
In the month of August, one of our most faithful members, Emmanuel, left to continue his education in Sweden. He will be greatly missed as we are few in numbers anyway. Valentina, Lena, and Maxime are at church every service and others come sporadically. How nice it would be if everyone would come at the same time! Our midweek service has been moved to the village on Thursday night at Yuri's house. Usually we have more on Thursdays then we do on Sunday. Elena has been faithfully coming as well as her son Ivan. Please continue to pray for his salvation.
Tatiana has continued to come off and on. The last time she came, Jessica confronted her about her salvation. She believes that she is saved because she was baptized in the Jordan River. When Jessica talked to her about doing Bible lessons she asked why she needed them if she was already saved. Jessica shared verses with her and talked with her for about one hour. She then gave her some Gospel literature to read. Pray that she will realize that baptism will not save her and turn to Christ.
Witnessing Opportunities & Language
It seems that all through the month I have been given many opportunities to witness in Russian, especially to those who have been working on my house. One man named Alexander has expressed his frustration at the problems of life. He said that he is definitely interested in coming to church and was going to come this past Sunday, but had to help his father who was sick. I have witnessed to him and given him a Bible and some literature.
I also met a man named Vasily who was a Seventh Day Adventist. I talked with him about salvation and he has said that he would like to meet with me later.
Lastly, there was Lela, Kristina's mom. I only got to speak with her briefly, but she has invited me to come to her house and speak with her and her friends. Please pray for all of these that God has put in our path, for more doors to be opened, and for greater ability to be able to witness in their language.

Thank you for your faithful prayers for our ministry.

Updated pictures of the House

2009-09-07T00:33:00.000-07:00

This is what the house looked like when the girls and I returned from America. A HUGE difference from the last time I saw it! Eric was working hard. Be praying for one of the workers. His name is Alexander. He said that he was going to visit our church on Sunday.

New Windows!

Kitchen then girls room

Kitchen...Look at the cute little table the workers found. You'll probably see that somewhere in the house later.

Corner in the girls room

Living room/our room

Bathroom

House

2009-09-06T23:57:00.000-07:00

Here is an old video of the house before Jess left for America.

Our Home

2009-06-29T10:55:00.000-07:00

Right now, we don't have water or bathroom facilities. We started today by pulling up the floor and leveling it. We're hoping to have everything in livable conditions by the end of July or August.

Good News

2009-06-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

We just received our registration; Yuri is allowing us to continue Bible lessons with them; AND we have the key to our new home! Thanks for your prayers!

2009-06-20T10:29:00.000-07:00

Yuri and Christina are again living together. Christina is under great conviction over this, but Yuri is against them separating because it will affect his business. He does not want to have to hire workers to work in his garden. They wanted to talk to us about it on Thursday. They said that it was too hard for Christina to live with her mom because they weren't saved. We offered for her to stay with us until they got married. I also offered to help Yuri with his plants and to drive Christina out to help. Yuri does not seem open and only wants us to say that what they are doing is okay. Please be praying for the Lord to soften Yuri's heart. Right now, he is very angry.

2009-06-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

We have made a down payment on a house! The house is in the village where we do Bible studies right now. If everything is in order, we will be buying it by the end of the month and should be able to start work on it. It needs quite a bit of remodeling and water and sewer to be hooked up. There is also a vacant lot with a house next to the one we are buying. We are praying that God will open the door for us to buy that as well to use for the church.

God has also been doing a work in the hearts of Yuri and Christina. They are no longer living together. Please pray that they will stay separated until marriage. We will be talking to them about baptism on Thursday night.

Vladamir's Bible lessons are going well. Tatiana came back to church on Sunday, but did not stay for the Bible lesson.

Lastly, we have applied to be registered and they received our papers. We will get our passports back by the 23rd of June. This time was a little harder. I went 3 times before they finally took our papers.

Sunday Lessons

2009-05-31T07:59:00.000-07:00

Today we had a Bible lesson with Vladamir. Tatiana did not come to services or to the lesson. Vladamir has a very hard time with the fact that all sinners are the same before they get saved. A "good" man without Jesus has the same fate as a murderer. We studied the 10 commandments today and by the end of it he said that he definitely would go to hell. He still wants to justify himself though. We were surprised how alert and attentive he was. He wanted to argue after discussing each commandment. It was a lively lesson! PLEASE be praying that God will work upon his heart and bring him to salvation.

Stories of Salvation

2009-05-30T00:23:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night was our last night with Elena. At the end of the lesson, Eric had Elena draw a time line. (when she was born, when she started school, when she started her first job, etc.). He then asked her if there was ever trusted Jesus. She pointed back to when she went to a charismatic church. She said that she had repented of her sins and believed in Jesus Christ to save her. She quickly got side tracked, though, so Eric then clearly expounded the gospel unto her and asked her again if there was a time when she had gotten saved according to the Bible. She pointed once again to the time at the charismatic church. Her testimony seems sound and we believe that she is saved, she just has very little knowledge of the Bible because of all the different churches she has been in. Pray for her to grow and to continue to attend services even though we questioned her.

Thursday night started out hectic and we clearly felt Satan trying to hinder the lesson from getting started. It took forever to finally get everyone to sit down. Christina ran out to do dishes, Max was running back and forth, Lydia and Anna were a little fussy, but finally we got settled. As soon as we sat down, a young man walked in, very proud and scornfull. Eric told him we could give him a Bible and one of the lesson books if he was interested. He snickered and said no. We asked him if he would like to sit in for the lesson, he again snickered and said no. He stood there for a little while, then sat down by Christina (we later found out that he was trying to get her to go outside and smoke with him). He eventually left, but Christina sat away from the group until Eric asked her to move in closer. When the lesson was finished, Eric had Yuri leave so he could talk just to Christina. He asked her if she was saved. She said no. Eric then asked her if she would like to get saved. Christina said, of course, BUT I'm too bad a sinner. I can't get saved. No one in the village will talk to me and they call me crazy because of all that I've done. Eric then shared with her Romans 10:13 "For WHOSOEVER shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL BE SAVED." "What did that say Christina," he said. "It said whosoever. We are not any better than you without Jesus. We are all sinners. Look at some of the men in the Bible who got saved. Moses was a murderer. David was a fornicator and a murder. Paul murdered Christians." He then had Lina share her testimony with Christina. At the end, Christina was ready and repented of her sins, trusting only in Jesus Christ to save her.

Christina then left the room and Yuri came in (I left the room also to go fellowship with our new sister in Christ). Eric had Yuri pull out his time line. He asked him if there was a time when he had trusted Jesus as his Saviour. Yuri pointed to a time when he was in prison. He heard music, then a "whoosh" came over him and he had a glowing around his head. "Is this BIBLICAL salvation, Yuri," Eric asked. Yuri said that it wasn't, but still tried to justify it. Eric then brought him to Acts 10 and talked to him about Cornelius. The Bible says that he was "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway." Eric explained that Cornelius believed in God but he wasn't saved until Peter shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Him, because it is only through Jesus that you can be saved. Eric finished sharing a few more scriptures with Yuri and then he asked him, "Yuri do you really have Biblical salvation." He said "No, but I want to be saved. And I want to be saved according to the Bible." Yuri then in prayer repented of his sins and trusted in Jesus as the only way to get to heaven.

As you can imagine, there were many tears and much rejoicing in that little house Thursday night! We did not get home until about 1 o'clock in the morning!

Please continue to pray for them as they have much growing to do. Yuri and Christina are not married, but are living together.

2009-05-27T00:55:00.000-07:00

The last week has been an exciting and full week. Bible lessons on Wednesday and Thursday. Evangelism on Friday. Church on Sunday with Bible lessons following. Praise the Lord He keeps us busy. This is actually a pretty normal week for us. Though we need and desire your prayers every week and day, we are especially asking that you be praying with us today (Wednesday) and on Thursday. We will be finishing up Bible lessons with Elena today. She claims to be saved, but I have not heard her testimony. I believe she may simply be religious. Also, Yuri and Christina will be finishing their Bible lessons on Thursday. Christina doesn't claim Christianity but Yuri claims to be saved. Every time he shares anything remotely close to a testimony it doesn't line up with what the Bible calls salvation. Please pray for these three as we finish Bible lessons. The Bible lessons are very pointed and they bring a person to a point where they must make a decision. All have paid very close attention to the Bible lessons. Please pray that God would allow them to get saved.

Also we asked you to pray for a lady named Tatiana. On Sunday she came to church again. As we closed the services she saw that Vladimir was going to take Bible lessons and was interested in staying and taking them with him. When we finished she said it was very interesting and that she wanted to continue lessons. Please pray for both her and Vladimir. They are both religious, but I don't believe either one of them is saved. Right now they are only at thee beginning of their Bible lessons, so please pray for them every Sunday as we continue to expound the Scriptures to them concerning salvation that they might truly get saved.Elena
Christina & Yuri

Prayer Letter

2009-05-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

City Church
In our last letter we had mentioned having a Resurrection service. We had everything almost ready and were just getting ready to print out our invitations when our translator said that she and her husband would be gone that week. (Her husband is not told when his vacations will be until right before he gets one.) So, without our translator, our special service was canceled. We still had regular services on Sunday, which Pasha translated for, and regular Wednesday night prayer meeting, which we held without a translator. Elena is still coming to the Wednesday meeting and we will soon finish Bible lessons with her. Pray that she will make a decision for Christ. Also her son, Ivan, has stopped coming since he found a job, but we are still hoping to do Bible lessons with him as well. Pasha's mom, Ludmilla, also has not come for a while. Her employers are now wanting her to work 7 days a week. When she does get a Sunday off, she mentions coming, then doesn't because it's her only day off. And lastly, we have started Bible lessons with an older gentleman named Vladamir. He has been attending our church since we got here, but when I asked him about his salvation he told me what he knew about the Bible and that he was a good person. Pray that GOd will open his eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we share the scriptures with him. PLEASE continue to pray for all of these people.

Village Bible Study
Due to Lina being gone and an injury of Yuri's, Bible lessons in the village were canceled a couple times. We still went out to visit and help him during that time. He almost cries every time that we leave. At this last lesson, only Yuri and Christina were there. We were actually not even expecting Christina, but were pleasantly surprised to see her. She was very attentive and asked many questions. Pray for us during this time. Yuri's testimony is very unclear, and Christina does not claim to be a Christian. Please pray that Yuri and Christina will make a decision for Christ as we get ready to finish the Bible lessons in the next 3 weeks.

The Bible study is every Thursday evening at 6 PM (11 AM EST).

Visas & Registration
We experienced much trying of our faith on our trip to Poland as both girls were sick and Anna had stomach cramps the whole 12 hour trip. We seriously thought that we would have to take her to the hospital in Poland, but praise the Lord she recovered quickly after we arrived and the rest of the trip went well. We received our visas without any problems, and when we returned hoome, our registration as well. Our rental contract runs out in June, so we need to register again by the end of June, so please continue to pray for us concerning this.

Family & Language
I and both the girls seem to be in good health and Anna is no longer coughing, but Jessica still has a bad cough. The doctor said she has Bronchitis. Please pray that GOd would allow her to get better soon as many times she coughs all night. We are also looking to buy or rent a house in the village to help with both the girls and Jessica's health. The city is very polluted and I know it contributes to their health problems. So please pray that God would provide a place for us in the village.
As for the language, we have been able to converse a little more freely, though we still have our tough days when nothiing comes out right. It is exciting to see some progress though.
Also, we had requested prayer concerning thieves in our area. Thankfully we haven't had any problems with thieves the past two months. Thank you so much for your prayers concerning this.

Thank you for your faithful support of finances and prayer for our ministry.

"...Immediately we endeavored to go...assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them." Acts 16:10

Registration

2009-04-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to let you all know that our paperwork went through at ovir, and we now have our registration. Because our rental contract runs up in two months, we will have to register then too. Please continue to pray for us as deal with the paperwork needed to stay here.

2009-04-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

In our last prayer letter, we mentioned that we were having things stolen from us. Praise the Lord, we have not had a single problem since then! We know that many of you have been praying for us concerning this and we greatly appreciate it.

We had also asked you to pray for our special Resurrection services. Just as we were getting ready to print out the invitations, our translator told us that she would most likely be on vacation. Her husband is not saved and works for the military. He is not told ahead of time when he will get his vacations and found out only a few days before we did. Because of this, we were not able to hold a big service. We are still holding regular services with Pasha translating, but we will not be doing the village Bible study while Lina, our church translator is gone. We are also doing the Wednesday night prayer service without a translator while she is away. Please pray that God will enable us to be able to freely converse as we need to during these services.

Just recently we have started looking at buying a house again. We had no peace about buying a place last year, but this year prices for homes are much cheaper. We are specifically wanting a house in the region near the village where our Bible study is, or even in that village.

Thank you for praying!

Comments

2009-04-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

We received some emails from people not able to post comments. We changed the settings, so you should be able to post comments now.

A Walk to Church

2009-04-05T11:30:00.000-07:00

Thought that you might enjoy taking a walk to our church. We are renting two rooms on the second floor of an office building. This video was taken before services this morning.

Bible Lessons with Vladamir

2009-04-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

Today I started giving salvation based Bible Lessons to an elderly man who has attended our church. His name is Vladamir Vonavich. He is religious and claims to be saved, but every time I have talked to him and asked for his testimony, he starts telling me all that he knows about the Bible. He has head knowledge of Christ but he still wants to rely on his works. Please pray for him! Our Bible lessons will continue every Sunday after our regular services.

Visas

2009-04-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

In our last prayer letter we mentioned that we had to take a trip to Poland to renew our visas. Besides the girls being sick at the beginning of the trip, everything went smoothly. We applied and received our visas in one day! We praise the Lord for safety traveling, smoothly receiving our visas, and for giving us a chance to get some rest.

In the next few weeks, we will be working on getting registered. Please pray that we will have no problems, otherwise we will have to leave the country again in 3 months. We will also be having to find a new place to get registered after two months. Pray that we will either have a home of our own by then, or find someone who is willing to register us.