WORD OF THE DAY - Tuesday 07 February 2012

 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16 ESV)

Вникай в себя и в учение; занимайся сим постоянно: ибо, так поступая, и себя спасешь и слушающих тебя. (1-е Тимофею 4:16 Russian)

Дбай про своє життя і вчення. Будь наполегливим у цьому, бо так ти спасеш і себе, і тих, хто тебе слухає. (1 Тимотей 4:16 Ukrainian ERV)

Dear Heavenly Father ~ thank you for the brightness of your love that greets us on this new day. Give wisdom, strength and courage to all who preach the doctrine of Christ so that our lives will be in harmony with our teaching. Help us to always be vigilant in order to win more souls to Christ. We pray in the blessed name of Jesus our Lord, Amen. 

In spite of the lingering cold yesterday that still hangs on and refuses to go above freezing all over Ukraine, we were blessed to study English using the Bible and the WEI lessons with four dedicated students. Anna, Tatyana, Igor and Andrei braved the cold with us. Alexander also came by for his appointment in the afternoon, but by that time we learned from Elena the director of our building that they suffered a serious breakdown in the heating of the building. We appointed a new time for Sasha and abandoned the room when it felt like a good place to hang meat. The temperature in the building never went above 7 C /45 F. We are hoping that it will be repaired by tomorrow. Today we remained home since we got too cold yesterday and our bodies need to recover from the aches and pains that go with getting cold especially when you are young at heart. Since we use portable computers, we maintain an office here at our apartment and one at the church meeting place. Today we got out in the cold for a couple of hours to take care of some things at the Post Office and to shop for things we need for visiting the Boys Home Saturday and the University on Thursday. We regularly correspond with the church in Magadan. Olga shared some good news about one girl that we met sometime ago when her Papa, who was a friend of Ivan would give us a ride from the airport or to the airport from our apartment in Magadan. She is now 11 years old and Olga discussed the Bible with her and the excellent lessons in the children's "My First Bible" from EEM that we often use in teaching children. Her father recently died and he prevented the family from learning much about Jesus Christ since he was devoted to Islam to a degree. Now the girl wants all her family to know about Jesus! This is a very exciting development for all the work that Olga and the church have been doing in Magadan for many years with children of all ages. 

WORD OF THE DAY - Monday 06 February 2012 from Nikolaev, Ukraine

 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.  (Acts 1:14 ESV)

Все они единодушно пребывали в молитве и молении, с [некоторыми] женами и Мариею, Материю Иисуса, и с братьями Его. (Деяния 1:14 Russian)

Всі вони постійно молилися разом. З ними було й кілька жінок, а також Марія, Ісусова мати, і Його брати. (Деяния 1:14 Ukrainian ERV)

Dear LORD God, our Heavenly Father ~ Thank you for bringing us safely to this new day that pulses with even more spectacular opportunities and blessings that emanate from your vast treasure of goodness and mercy. Grant us more of the wisdom of Christ so that we will make sound plans and execute them in such a manner that many souls will be turned to Christ around the world in our generation. Help us to be more like those early disciples who always found time to pray with fervent faith. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, Amen. 

We had only 11 souls who came to our services yesterday. Nevertheless, we had a most refreshing service with a study of God's plan of salvation. Later, we had our time of "tea" or fellowship. Our brother Stepan called us on Saturday evening telling us that he was feeling very sick. We offered to visit with him and take him some medicine. He lives with his grandson, and he got on the phone and assured us that he would make sure that Stepan had medicine or whatever he needed. We missed him during worship and later called to tell him hello from everyone. We also learned that our sister Elena is home sick and we let everyone greet her over the phone. After the fellowship, we had studies with Omo and Natasha. Omo has been studying the church with me and we also discussed God's salvation. He has been sick for several days and we were very happy to see him. We noticed that he is still harboring some congestion. Natasha is one of our very first students. We met her before we were doing any regular paid advertising. She has completed all her work in the Intermediate course. Next Sunday we will present her a certificate signed by Dick Ady that he left with us from our campaign. Two people have indicated that they are ready to obey the gospel of Christ in baptism. One wants to wait for 2 weeks. We will use this time to find a suitable place for the baptism and continue to study with them about faith and repentance. Ukrainians who have lived here for many decades do not recall a winter month where the temperatures do not rise above the freezing level for any 24 hour period. In this kind of weather everything gets cold and stays that way. We are mindful of the many poor people who are looking for a bite to eat and something warm to wear. We continue to be amazed at the good people who come to us with sincere hearts wanting to learn English using the Bible. They quickly become our dear friends and we think of them like family.