Church building and Bible lessons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!