Friday, August 26, 2011

WORD OF THE DAY - 27 August 2011 from Magadan, Russia

It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)

во время долготерпения Божия, к показанию правды Его в настоящее время, да явится Он праведным и оправдывающим верующего в Иисуса. (К Римлянам 3:26 Russian)

Con la mira de manifestar su justicia en este tiempo: para que él sea el justo, y el que justifica al que es de la fe de Jesús. (Romanos 3:26 Spanish)






Our Dear Heavenly Father ~ Thank you for the spectacular gift of life on this new day that breaks over the horizon with proof positive that we are loved and cared for by your providential care. Give us wisdom as we think about those who boldly presume that their sins are insignificant and hidden from your eyes. Help us to be more effective in communicating your message to the lost that we can be fully justified in your sight because of our faith in Christ our Lord who died on the Cross to remove the guilt we bear and the penalty for our many sins. With faith in Jesus, we pray in His name, Amen.
Dima, who is he son of our Olga has "grown up in the church", came by yesterday for some conversation and counsel. We enjoy talking with him and sympathize with his attempts to get some direction in his life. Our study with Maxim began on time and he was well prepared and when he realized that he would not have only one more class before we leave Magadan tomorrow, he decided to complete Advanced Course Lesson 7 & 8. We plan to spend a little time with him later today going over his results. We had good attendance and participation in our Bible study about the Kingdom of God - the glorious Church. Following the study, we had our usual time of tea and fellowship. Olga always has some snack prepared to share, and we decided to buy another watermelon since it is a rare treat here in Magadan. Then, Anna came in with some freshly cooked halibut and some salmon caviar. It was another feast and occasion to enjoy one another’s company. As we were setting up for the tea, a young man came in with his girlfriend and asked about English classes. Alexander is 21 and Rita is 17. We went over the World English Institute course in brief with them and explained that we will be leaving on Sunday. He asked "and what are we supposed to do?" So, we will meet with them again today for a few minutes since we have so many people to see today. We suggested that they register for the WEI on-line course and ask for DB to be their teacher. They agreed with this and Alexander said they would go and register immediately. While we were having tea and I was still discussing our lesson with Maxim, Ivan was helping Vasily get registered as a student with the Institute of Theology and Christian Missions in St. Petersburg. Ivan is already a student with ITCM. Earlier in the day, Galina helped me scan and send a letter of recommendation for Vasily who was baptized along with his wife Katya here in our bathtub over 12 years ago. Vasily preaches when Ivan is working or away from Magadan as he will be soon when he comes to Nikolaev to preach for several Sundays while we are in the USA. We are getting down to the wire as the time approaches for us to leave Magadan and we realized how much this trip means to us and the local church since they very seldom have any visitors either from the USA or Russia. Hopefully, regular airline service will be resumed between Alaska and Magadan in the near future. Thank you for the prayers for this work and our work in Nikolaev, Ukraine.

Friday, August 5, 2011

WORD OF THE DAY - Friday 05 August 2011 Nikolaev, Ukraine





Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (John 3:23 NIV)

А Иоанн также крестил в Еноне, близ Салима, потому что там было много воды; и приходили туда и крестились, (От Иоанна 3:23 Russian)

Y bautizaba también Juan en Enón junto á Salim, porque había allí muchas aguas; y venían, y eran bautizados. (Juan 3:23 Spanish)

Dear God, our Gracious and Loving Father in Heaven ~ Thank you for this new day and the message of salvation that motivates sinners to surrender to Christ as Lord and be baptized for the forgiveness of their sins. Help all new Christians who have been saved by the blood of our Savior to remain faithful to their sincere repentance, confession of faith and baptism that unites them with all other believers around the world. Give church leaders the wisdom they need in order to restore New Testament baptism to its proper place in preaching and teaching. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.
We had another highly charged day as we basked in God's amazing grace. At 09.30 we went down to the river for a brief Bible study, prayer and then we heard Olya's confession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Even at that time of day, we had the usual crowd of bikini clad senior witnesses who stopped what they were doing to witness all details of this baptism. After Olya came up out of the water we heard a Hallelujah from the shore and thought it was probably Natasha. Back on the shore, we sang our favorite baptism song "O Happy Day" and prayed again before we went back up to the church meeting place. Elena the director of the hall was there and shared our joy as did a few others. We have more pictures of this joyous event, and I will post more on Facebook. When I put too many pictures with E-mail it gives some people severe complications to open their mail. We had English classes using the Bible and World English Institute courses yesterday with Olya, Dasha, Maria, Anna, Oksana and Lera a new student brought by Oksana. Then in the evening, we had our Thursday night Bible study with Luda, Stepan, Natasha and her neighbor Tatiana. The 6 of us enjoyed a good time together in thanksgiving and being discipled by the Word. Thank you for your prayers of faith for this mission work here in southern Ukraine.