Sunday, April 1, 2012

WORD OF THE DAY - Sunday 01 April 2012 Nikolaev, Ukraine

Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64)

Иисус говорит ему: ты сказал; даже сказываю вам: отныне узрите Сына Человеческого, сидящего одесную силы и грядущего на облаках небесных. (От Матфея 26:64 Russian)

Промовляє до нього Ісус: Ти сказав... А навіть повім вам: відтепер ви побачите Людського Сина, що сидітиме праворуч сили Божої, і на хмарах небесних приходитиме! (Матей 26:64 Ukrainian)

Almighty God, our Dear Father in Heaven ~ thank you for this new Lord’s Day that greets fellow believers around the world with the challenge and joyful opportunity to assemble with others of the same precious faith. Be with us Lord as we gather to honor our Savior with our lips and sincere hearts. Give us wisdom and boldness so that we will not be slack in declaring the majestic wonders of Christ our Lord and King. We pray in the blessed name of Jesus, Amen.

We were so thrilled Saturday morning when we called to be sure we could come be with the boys. We always enjoy spending quality time with the orphan boys. Some of the boys were still on their spring break. They must return today from their relatives. The boys we were with yesterday have no relatives who care about them. The lesson we studied from the scriptures had to do with being honest people. We love it when they tell us what the Bible verse they memorized means to them! The taxi driver who carried us out there recognized us and commented that he hopes all our efforts were not in vain. We assured him that God's Word never comes back void. Not exactly with those words, but he got the message. Many people in the community are cynical about this place because the boys all leave when they finish 9th grade and then go to trade school where they can also get a diploma. The sad statistics are that most of these young folks will get in trouble once they are back out on their own and so many eventually go to prison. That sad truth is not just about Ukraine, it is a worldwide reality. We are praying and working fervently to put some small spark of hope in their minds as they learn what it means to live with faith in the Son of God. I was telling them to never forget how much God loves them and D & G love them. Nikolai (Kolya) responded before the sentence was finished that they love us. One boy told us yesterday told Mama Galina how his mother left him when he was three. His father is serving a long prison sentence for killing a person. He has a sister that he doesn't remember and longs to have contact with her. We will try our best to help him. It will be very difficult since she lives in Russia. Galina had prepared a nice gift bag for each boy with a pair of underwear (from Pudzis), socks (Peggy Nims), toothpaste and all boys got a Hot Wheels (from several friends in USA) car and some bite size Hershey candy from Chuck in the USA. We always give them a Snickers bar that we purchase locally. The boys who were not here yesterday will receive their package next week when they return. We also gave everyone a 48 page composition notebook for their exams. We buy these locally from a merchant we met on our first trip here. As they always like to do, a group of boys followed us outside and had some fun with us. Several of them had fun trying on my tri-focals.

No comments:

Post a Comment