Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man, who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. (James 1:23-24 NIV)
Ибо, кто слушает слово и не исполняет, тот подобен человеку, рассматривающему природные черты лица своего в зеркале: он посмотрел на себя, отошел и тотчас забыл, каков он. (Иакова 1:23-24 Russian)
Great and Mighty God, our Most Holy Father in Heaven ~ We bring our highest praise and thanksgiving into your presence on this new day that portends even more bounty into our laps as we consider and obey Christ our Lord. Give us more wisdom as we study the word so that we will realize our responsibility to be obedient to the One in whom we trust for eternal salvation. Please forgive us for the times when we heard what Christ said, but just walked away as if it didn’t apply to ourselves. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
After we purchased our return bus tickets in Rostov-na-Donu, (Rostov on the Don) we had a long day of just waiting around until the bus left at 5.40 PM for Odessa with a stop to drop passengers off in Nikolaev. We decided to make use of that time by first getting something to eat. We headed out toward the center of the city and found a nice little cafe near the Rostov Pedagogical University. We had a good hot meal there and asked a nicely dressed business man who was meeting another man for an appointment if he knew how to get to the address we had for the Church of Christ. When we told him it was situated at 172 Maxima Gorkova Street, he pondered that over a little, and first responded that he wasn't aware of a church in that area. Then he suddenly remembered that there is "tserkvushka - a small church there" and proceeded to tell us exactly how to get there. We were on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street and he explained that Gorky St. ran parallel with Sadovaya and was two streets up from where we were. First we would pass Pushkin St. and then we would be at Gorky. That sounded rather close, so we finished our lunch and proceeded to walk up to our destination. That was a pretty good hike itself, but was welcome after the long bus ride. When we came to Gorky, we realized we were at the block of 70 Gorky and the church is situated at 172. So we decided to walk until we could catch a tram since we noticed tracks in the street. We walked up to the 100 block and then were able to ride a tram a little past where the church is located. As we passed the building, we noticed the places on the outside wall that had been recently vandalized. It is my opinion that this act of vandalism was something that reflected the attitude of one person toward the church and not a general sentiment. This is due to the nice way the man referred to the church and was kind to give us detailed directions. When we arrived in front of the building, we were at first greeted by a large barking dog. Then a little girl came by on her way home from school and walked over and talked and petted the dog. A sister in Christ Lyudmila came out to greet us and informed us that brother Gheorge Tartarchyk was in the hospital for some treatments relating to some cardiac problems. It was considered routine treatment. She also informed us that the other minister, Artash Andriasov was out of town in Moscow on a business trip. We were disappointed that we didn't get to meet these brothers, but we had a very nice visit with our sister Luda. I have known about the Rostov church since its beginning and even before I made my first trip to Russia in 1992, I was aware of the work going on there. Then, in 1994 a group of us met in Magadan to launch that congregation through the preaching of the Gospel. One of the evangelists brought an interpreter whom he had worked with before by the name of Igor Egirev along with him. It turned out that Igor was born in the Magadan region and was a great help to our work in planting that new congregation. Nowadays he is involved with the work at the Institute for Theology and Christian Ministry in St. Petersburg, Russia.
When our bus finally left Rostov, we had smooth sailing until 03.33 in the morning when a loud noise and a bump under near where we sat. The driver kept the bus under control and pulled off the road. There is a crew of two drivers that go along on the long international trips and they have many kinds of emergency tools on the bus. They discovered that they had run over some object that wedged between the left rear tandem tires, and that had caused two lugs to break. We were all told to get off the bus, and it was cold. So, all of us passengers began scrounging around the foliage near the road and came up with enough sticks to build a fire. We were stranded by the side of the road in this very remote part of Ukraine for seven hours while these men worked hard to replace the lugs and repair a tire. They had to do most of this work in darkness and with small flashlights. We helped keep the fire going by finding wood to burn. The best part of the trip that made this incident almost unmentionable was how we prayed fervently from the time we left Rostov until we reached the border with Ukraine. The man at the same border had told us that when we returned it was possible that we would not be allowed to re-enter Ukraine due to a new law that has the provision like Russia's that you cannot stay in the country longer than 90 days out of 180 days. First there was the crossing the Russian border. That was no problem. Then, the bus drove a few meters up to the Ukraine border guards, and we are praying. An officer came on board the bus and collected everyone's passports. We had to wait what seemed hours and when the passports came back ours was handed back to us with the appropriate stamp and without any comments. It seems that this new law in Ukraine is applied according to the whims of local border guard officials. As we think back about our trip, it was difficult with the problem on the side of the road, but we met a young seaman by the name of Vladimir who is only 30 and has already achieved the rank of Chief Mate. He promised to visit our services when he is in Nikolaev. The ship he works on is home ported in Kherson which is only about an hours bus ride from us. He is trying to improve his English so he was very happy to meet an American. His wife is a Mary Kay dealer and their home is in Rostov. It is always amazing how we meet up with so many nice people. We also became friends for the night with a Roman (Gypsy) family. Thanks again for your fervent prayers. Now we prepare for today's Children's Bible Class and tomorrow's worship service.
Ибо, кто слушает слово и не исполняет, тот подобен человеку, рассматривающему природные черты лица своего в зеркале: он посмотрел на себя, отошел и тотчас забыл, каков он. (Иакова 1:23-24 Russian)
Great and Mighty God, our Most Holy Father in Heaven ~ We bring our highest praise and thanksgiving into your presence on this new day that portends even more bounty into our laps as we consider and obey Christ our Lord. Give us more wisdom as we study the word so that we will realize our responsibility to be obedient to the One in whom we trust for eternal salvation. Please forgive us for the times when we heard what Christ said, but just walked away as if it didn’t apply to ourselves. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
After we purchased our return bus tickets in Rostov-na-Donu, (Rostov on the Don) we had a long day of just waiting around until the bus left at 5.40 PM for Odessa with a stop to drop passengers off in Nikolaev. We decided to make use of that time by first getting something to eat. We headed out toward the center of the city and found a nice little cafe near the Rostov Pedagogical University. We had a good hot meal there and asked a nicely dressed business man who was meeting another man for an appointment if he knew how to get to the address we had for the Church of Christ. When we told him it was situated at 172 Maxima Gorkova Street, he pondered that over a little, and first responded that he wasn't aware of a church in that area. Then he suddenly remembered that there is "tserkvushka - a small church there" and proceeded to tell us exactly how to get there. We were on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street and he explained that Gorky St. ran parallel with Sadovaya and was two streets up from where we were. First we would pass Pushkin St. and then we would be at Gorky. That sounded rather close, so we finished our lunch and proceeded to walk up to our destination. That was a pretty good hike itself, but was welcome after the long bus ride. When we came to Gorky, we realized we were at the block of 70 Gorky and the church is situated at 172. So we decided to walk until we could catch a tram since we noticed tracks in the street. We walked up to the 100 block and then were able to ride a tram a little past where the church is located. As we passed the building, we noticed the places on the outside wall that had been recently vandalized. It is my opinion that this act of vandalism was something that reflected the attitude of one person toward the church and not a general sentiment. This is due to the nice way the man referred to the church and was kind to give us detailed directions. When we arrived in front of the building, we were at first greeted by a large barking dog. Then a little girl came by on her way home from school and walked over and talked and petted the dog. A sister in Christ Lyudmila came out to greet us and informed us that brother Gheorge Tartarchyk was in the hospital for some treatments relating to some cardiac problems. It was considered routine treatment. She also informed us that the other minister, Artash Andriasov was out of town in Moscow on a business trip. We were disappointed that we didn't get to meet these brothers, but we had a very nice visit with our sister Luda. I have known about the Rostov church since its beginning and even before I made my first trip to Russia in 1992, I was aware of the work going on there. Then, in 1994 a group of us met in Magadan to launch that congregation through the preaching of the Gospel. One of the evangelists brought an interpreter whom he had worked with before by the name of Igor Egirev along with him. It turned out that Igor was born in the Magadan region and was a great help to our work in planting that new congregation. Nowadays he is involved with the work at the Institute for Theology and Christian Ministry in St. Petersburg, Russia.
When our bus finally left Rostov, we had smooth sailing until 03.33 in the morning when a loud noise and a bump under near where we sat. The driver kept the bus under control and pulled off the road. There is a crew of two drivers that go along on the long international trips and they have many kinds of emergency tools on the bus. They discovered that they had run over some object that wedged between the left rear tandem tires, and that had caused two lugs to break. We were all told to get off the bus, and it was cold. So, all of us passengers began scrounging around the foliage near the road and came up with enough sticks to build a fire. We were stranded by the side of the road in this very remote part of Ukraine for seven hours while these men worked hard to replace the lugs and repair a tire. They had to do most of this work in darkness and with small flashlights. We helped keep the fire going by finding wood to burn. The best part of the trip that made this incident almost unmentionable was how we prayed fervently from the time we left Rostov until we reached the border with Ukraine. The man at the same border had told us that when we returned it was possible that we would not be allowed to re-enter Ukraine due to a new law that has the provision like Russia's that you cannot stay in the country longer than 90 days out of 180 days. First there was the crossing the Russian border. That was no problem. Then, the bus drove a few meters up to the Ukraine border guards, and we are praying. An officer came on board the bus and collected everyone's passports. We had to wait what seemed hours and when the passports came back ours was handed back to us with the appropriate stamp and without any comments. It seems that this new law in Ukraine is applied according to the whims of local border guard officials. As we think back about our trip, it was difficult with the problem on the side of the road, but we met a young seaman by the name of Vladimir who is only 30 and has already achieved the rank of Chief Mate. He promised to visit our services when he is in Nikolaev. The ship he works on is home ported in Kherson which is only about an hours bus ride from us. He is trying to improve his English so he was very happy to meet an American. His wife is a Mary Kay dealer and their home is in Rostov. It is always amazing how we meet up with so many nice people. We also became friends for the night with a Roman (Gypsy) family. Thanks again for your fervent prayers. Now we prepare for today's Children's Bible Class and tomorrow's worship service.
No comments:
Post a Comment