teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20 ESV)
уча их соблюдать всё,
что Я повелел вам; и се, Я с вами во все дни до скончания века. Аминь. (От Матфея 28:20
Russian)
і навчіть їх виконувати
все те, що Я вам заповідав. І будьте впевнені — Я завжди буду з вами, аж до
кінця світу». (Матей
28:20 Ukrainian ERV)
Our
Dear Father in Heaven~ we exalt your name on this new Lord’s Day as we examine
and apply the teachings of Christ to our daily lives. Give us wisdom and
boldness so that the entire Church will begin to march as one great force for
good against the prevailing evil in this world. Above all, help us as we teach
the gospel message and demonstrate its importance in our own lives. Thank you
Jesus - for always being with us, so that we have no fear to go into situations
and places knowing that your great power is always present. We pray in the
blessed name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
Yesterday as we were making
preparations to visit with the boys at the Boys Home, we learned that Natasha
the boys’ teacher is now sick with the same virus that they have been fighting.
We asked if we could visit some of the boys in the hospital. She told us that
Nikolai (Kolya) has had pneumonia after the flu, but is not now in isolation.
Two other boys from the home are there with him until Tuesday. They are not in
the 9th grade group, but we had them in our classes back in the summer. We
asked what we could bring them and Natasha said that Kolya wanted to eat! The
other boys also complained that they were hungry. Hospital food is bland
hospital food anywhere in the world it seems. We received permission to bring
each boy a Big Mac Menu (combo). They were so excited when we showed up with the
McDonald's bags. They wanted to run back to their ward and eat while it was
hot. We also included one of the Hot Wheels cars for each boy, a Hershey's
chocolate bar, a hard rubber ball for exercising your hands. We also gave each
one some of that instant soup that you can boil water and have a little snack.
We gave Kolya a Russian language New Testament. He is facing graduation from
the 9th grade which is cheerful news on one hand, but for orphans it means some
more harsh uncertainties. Most of the boys go to a vocational school where they
learn welding, car repairs, construction trades, etc. While in vocational
school, they live in a dormitory, then when they finish that training, they are
out on their own back in a hostile world. Jesus remembers them and all His
people banded together can help shepherd a few of them as we have the
opportunity. The floor where they were being cared for at the Regional
Children's Hospital is the same floor where we purchased a flat screen TV for a
break room for kids in the hospital. That was a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately, these boys were in isolation and could not go into that room
with the other kids. Hopefully, they will lift that restriction before they are
released on Tuesday. After we finished walking up to the hospital with our
goodies, we decided since it was a pretty day to just catch a bus we'd never
been on and ride to the end. It took us out past the train station. We got off
and walked across the tracts to a settlement on the other side of the tracks where
21,000 people live. Each day it seems we uncover some new mission opportunity
for those who will hopefully come after us. When we had walked a few streets
and decided to come back to the bus stop, we got stopped by a train with 84 -
70 ton grain cars. Galina always counts the train cars. I'm usually too busy
talking and gawking to do that. Later in the evening, Inna and her daughter
Nastia sent us a message that they would like to meet us for just a few
minutes. Of course we agreed and met them in front of the large market near our
house. They were joyfully carrying an Easter cake that they had baked. Today is
Easter Sunday in Ukraine, Russia and some other Eastern Orthodox countries.
Easter cakes are part of the local tradition. They also gave us some decorated
boiled eggs and chocolates. Inna is one of our very good WEI students and
Nastia is a student at the Shipbuilding University. God is always so good to us
in our work wherever we go. We meet so many wonderful people. Our camera seems
to be on its last leg and the picture I took of Inna and Nastia didn't come out
at all. We have probably just taken too many photos. As we were leaving
McDonald's yesterday with our sacks of Big Mac's, we noticed a billboard with a
picture of Dan McClintock the professional basketball player who plays with
Nikolaev's team that is part of the Super Euro League. We know Dan and his wife
Alicia because they come to church services with us. Alicia has already gone
back to the States with the boys, and Dan will leave in a few days.
"Christ is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" That is how many
people greet and respond to one another today. It was also done as a
traditional thing during the 72 years of the dictatorship of the atheistic
communist party. Thank you for the faithful and fervent prayers.
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