Prayer Letter

October 27, 2012

Church

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6  What a blessing it is to be able to be used of God!  He definitely does not need us, but chooses to let us take part in His plan.  Over the past few weeks, multiple people have come forward acknowledging their need of salvation.  We are unsure how many have prayed, but among those were Valodia (the man we did Bible lessons with and who came faithfully for years), Ruselan (the man we did Bible lessons with in the prison) and Baba Maroosa!  Slavic has grown abundantly over the past year and the others who came forward were a result of his witnessing.  One lady in particular seemed to be greatly burdened over her need of salvation and Slavic himself had the opportunity to lead her to the Lord!  Her name is Olya.  Although we had met her and given her tracts a few times, she did not start coming to church until recently.  She has been quite faithful during the time the Whites were there and appeared 

greatly convicted after every sermon as Mike White clearly presented the Gospel each week.  The others that came forward were Olya’s sister, Nastia and her daughter Naomi, Tonya, Olya’s friend, and Arteum and Sergay, friend’s of Slavic.  We are excited to get back and talk with these people.  Since the Whites were required to leave the country, the church is without a Pastor for two more weeks.  We praise the Lord that He allowed Brother Mike to stay there two weeks longer than expected!  Do remember to pray for our little church.  Especially with so many newly saved, we know that Satan will try to hinder their growth.  Even with no one there, the church is continuing to see around 20 people in attendance.

We also ask for you to pray for Slavic as Yuri has sent his nephew to persecute him, trying to get money from him, threatening to beat him and throw him in prison.  Satan does not like Slavic’s witness and we are praying for God’s protection on him during this time.  They will think that without a missionary there, Slavic will be more vulnerable, but God is still there!

 Family

We have our passports, visas and plane tickets and are ready to be home.  We fly out of Washington, D.C. November 8th at 5 pm!  We have said goodbye to our family and friends, though Jessica’s parents may be making one last trip up to see the kids before we fly out.  You all have been a blessing and encouragement to us.  Some of you knew about Daniel’s ER visit due to 3 days of fevers around 105 and we greatly appreciate the gifts you sent in for that.  We also appreciate the money sent in to replace our transmission.  I don’t know if we could begin to express our gratitude for the blessings you all showered over us during our furlough.  We came, intending to be a blessing to you and leave overwhelmed by your love.  Thank you all for your prayers and support over the years!

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Church Neighbors

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. 

Baba Maroosa

 

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!

That They May See

"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

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

 

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.