As we were walking back up the long hill from the bay, I noticed a beautiful old fountain. This one dates from the 1870's. I recall seeing similar fountains in Khabarovsk in the early 90's. This spot was a place where the last Czar visited in his royal yacht. Thank you for the fervent prayers about our work of spreading the saving message of God's plan of salvation.
Valentina and Sonya immediately became friends. We figured out that if Sonya tries to pull you in her direction, she likes you.
After the Bible study with Valya, we walked down to the river which is part of the large bay system that empties into the Black Sea. The area she suggested for her baptism today is near one of the local "yacht clubs". At that time of afternoon, many people were using the beach area as a playground, and that is why we plan to have her baptism at 10.00 today when it is not so hot and when there will not be some many people around. That doesn't bother me, but I can understand her concern.
Sonya had the camera and took a photo of our Bible study with Valya.
In the afternoon, we had our Bible study in preparation for Valentina's baptism today. She is a wonderful person and we used this time to also become better acquainted. When we were about completed with our appointment a little after 5.30, a couple of men appeared to talk with me. They were on a mission to meet various "evangelical" leaders in the city and invite them to join a hyper church organization that exists to help various followers of Jesus get to know one another. I asked them about their goals and purposes and had the opportunity to tell them about our work of restoring the church that Christ established in the first century of this era. I explained to them that I could not belong to anything that took even one minute away from our limited amount of time to preach about God's true grace. Nevertheless, as with all people we will try to maintain cordial relations.
After our time with the boys, we made the long walk in the heat back up to the main street where we can catch a bus. On the way we were longing for some water, and there on the sidewalk a woman had set up a little business with sundries. She went inside her house and came back with some cold water from her cooler. It turned out that she also used to live in the northern Magadan region. It was one of the far north remote settlements that Galina used to be flown to by helicopter to help locals have access to library books. This was when she was working at the Magadan Regional Library. She and her husband are of German descent, and there is a large ethnic German community here in the Nikolaev region that trace their roots back to the time of Catherine the Great. You can imagine the harsh time they had during WW 2 when the Germans became the hated enemy number one. Many Americans can recall the atrocities that were done toward many Japanese Americans during WW 2. We hope to make more stops at Elvira's little shop. Yes, I couldn't help but to hear the Oak Ridge boys wailing Elvira in my head as we continued our walk.
They always want us to make a group photo and someday we need to get them a copy. That's the problem sometimes with digitized photos. You forget to make folks a copy.
We learned that the boys are in need of many small necessities that are not provided. All the boys who are here during the summer months are true orphans. During the school year some of the boys who are normally with us have parents who have been deprived of parental rights, and can be with another relative during the summer. Here the boys are writing down their sizes for us to purchase some flip-flops for them to used this summer. Margarita also told us about their need for personal things like soap, towels, detergent (they wash their clothes by hand when they go to shower), deodorant, tooth brush and tooth paste, etc. We will go shopping as soon as we have one minute of time. They agreed for us to come one more day a week during the summer. So, we plan to go back out this Friday if we have no other commitments. Of course the boys said "you can come every day!" We remain deeply thankful for all people who responded to our plea for help a few months ago when we needed to purchase shoes for all the boys.
Yesterday morning when we arrived at the Boys Home, we were a little early and the boys were at the 'swimming hole'. They quickly ended that when they saw us and came running to hug us even though they were all wet. We hadn't seen them in over a month.
Margarita is a sort of guardian for the boys, and she is always present during their various activities. She is more of a mother figure since she looks out for their interest and is concerned for their welfare. It is a job, but a great calling for which she is suited. The director Vladimir dropped by for a moment to say hello. We all remembered that the last time we were there our dear friend and brother Nikolai Tkhor was with us. Vladimir mentioned that we are the only people who help them out when they have a need. He asked three different organizations for some help to buy paint and some small items needed to make some repairs over the summer. We restarted our Bible studies and they all participated with as much gusto possible when you have to give up swimming to come inside.
She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:27)
Она говорит Ему: так, Господи! я верую, что Ты Христос, Сын Божий, грядущий в мир. (От Иоанна 11:27 Russian)
Вона каже Йому: Так, Господи! Я вірую, що Ти Христос, Син Божий, що має прийти на цей світ. (Йоан 11:27 Ukrainian)
Blessed and Only God, our Dear Father in Heaven ~ Thank you for this new day that radiates with increasing evidence that we are constantly under your providential care. Give us wisdom as we work with a renewed sense of urgency to persuade all people in the world that there is only One Lord – Jesus Christ. Give us courage as we seize every opportunity to prove that you have only One Savior for all nations, races, languages and various other people groups in the world. Help us to publish this greatest of all news to the entire world before time ends. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Apparently the city must have received some funding for public works projects. This hole in the street has been in this spot next to our apartment building since a year ago. There are not any visible major projects going on to improve the infrastructure - just various attempts to patch things up. My meeting in the afternoon with the prospect who called interested in studying English didn't turn out too favorably. She didn't have enough knowledge of English even to read the most simple words. But, she has a desire to know enough to get to America. Unfortunately that doesn't translate into a prospective student of the Bible. That's OK, we get to meet all kinds of people each day. Also, one woman who works as an administrative assistant at a security company that has an office in the same building came over to introduce herself and promised to visit the church sometime when she has time off. Both of these people received literature with information about the Lord Jesus Christ. Galina gave me her daily report on her work as an orderly, nurse, cook and housekeeper. What is even harder than taking care of Mama is the preparation for Sonya to leave tomorrow when Maya arrives. That brings on the tears for both of them. Thanks for your prayers.
The beautiful park that surrounds the palace of culture where the church meets is normally well cared for. This year no one has been cutting the grass. Yesterday, some workers must have finally received an invitation to do something about the grounds where many neighborhood families like to spend time all the year round.
On one of the shortcuts that I take in my walk to where the church meets, I regularly see many containers coming from the port in Odessa. Containers find their way all over the world. It is like looking at a geography book when you think about all the places those shipping containers have been. This one belonged to a company in the USA at one time.
Marigolds decorate an area near a large memorial in the center of the city here in Nikolaev, and one of the many beer gardens has taken over the sidewalk in front.
