October 2001 Archives
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I made two entries today, so after you read this one be sure to scroll down and read the one before that.
Tonight we had our monthly communion service down at the church. It was packed! We had a great time of worship, a study in the scriptures, and then partook in the Lord's supper. I realized that receiving communion can lose it's meaning if I don't think about what it is I'm doing. I'm eating bread and drinking juice, yes, but I must not forget that the Lord commanded us to do this in memory of his death for our sins and also in anticipation of His coming again. Boy, it's so easy to forget that my life on this earth is temporary. Jesus is coming! Lord, help us to keep this forefront in our minds every minute of every day.
I received a letter from my good friends Marv and Linda Easter serving the Lord in Yakima, Washington. They are friends from my college days and I miss them so much. We have lots of fond memories shared together. Hi guys!
Tomorrow is the trip to the prison. Please pray that the Lord would use us to touch these young men's hearts.
This verse encouraged me today: Psalm 56:11 "In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" I needed that. Some times I fear people and what they will think of me.
Have a great day/night! Ron
Whew! A full day. Up at six, downed breakfast, and at the office by seven. Every Tuesday morning the church elders meet for an hour of prayer. We pray for eachother, the needs of the church, for the community, and our world. Most Tuesdays I'm barely awake until we're almost done with prayer, but the Lord blessed me this morning and I was wide awake from the get go. Thank you, Lord!
After prayer we had our regular staff devotion. Pastor leads us in the study of a Psalm each week. This is the one time each week he gets to touch base with all the employees at once to encourage, exhort, and make special announcements. We have several full-time employees at the church, ranging from bookkeeper, secretaries, administrator, teachers, building, and maintance are the main categories of workers. They are a great group. After the Psalm study, the elders had there weekly planning meeting. This is when we put our heads together and plan out the monthly church calendar. Everything from who's going to unlock the building for such and such ministry to planning out the details for upcoming special events (ie. Thanksgiving). After that meeting pastor usually asks me to sit in on the various one on one meetings he has scheduled each week. I'm kinda there for "back up" and also to provide insight on whatever situation is at hand. I always ask the Lord to give me His wisdom during these times as well as the ability to quietly listen and pay attention to the details of what the person is saying and what they're really trying to say. Know what I mean? I like these times and feel the Lord has gifted me in this particular aspect of my work. By the time I left the office at about 3pm I barely had time to run to the store and pick out a gift for my friend's birthday. She turned six today. She had her "adult" friends over for a party at five. We had Mexican food! Our team's favorite. It was a great evening of fellowship, gift giving, worship, prayer, and even a few congratulatory songs and a dance by the honoree's brother and sister. By the end of the evening the guinnea pigs were let loose and as cake and tea were passed out. What a great night! I'm so blessed to be part of such a wonderful family in Christ. Everyone is so loving, so encouraging, speaking kind words to one another. God is good!
So, now I'm home by 9:30 and just about ready for bed. Oh! Good news. The eyedrops have worked great and my eye is almost %100 back to normal. I'm so glad I went to the doctor yesterday. Thank you for your prayers. God is listening!
God bless you in your labors. Ron
Well, that will teach me a lesson. I wrote a nice entry for today and then lost it all in cyberspace! Next time I will save my work. Anyway, I'm too tired to rewrite it but the jist of it was a nice talk I had today on the phone with one of the grandma's from the church and a recap on how my visit to the eye doctor. I have a virus in my left eye and am taking some medication. Nothing serious. I got to share the Lord with the eye doctor! I go back in a week. 'night all! Ron
After church there was a special meeting for those in the ushering ministry. Pastor gave everyone a pep talk on the finer points of ushering and exhorted everyone to take their job seriously. Most of the ushers at our church do a great job, but there are some who just stand there like statues with grim looks on their faces. Poor things are just shy. He also encouraged them to remember that serving people is what it's all about and making all feel welcome. "You're the first face they see." At the end of the meeting pastor announced to everyone that Victor would be the new leader for the ushers. He gave a little "acceptance speech" and vowed to do his best in the new role.
I stayed home from the prayer meeting tonight because I'm still not feeling %100. This morning I woke up with one eye bloodshot and crusty. Gross, huh? Anyway, I'm bummed I missed out on the meeting tonight. Every Sunday evening in October the church has gathered for a time of prayer and worship. Pastor calls out a topic and people take turns spontaneously praying out loud. Pastor has really felt in these last few weeks that God is calling us as a church to be on our knees and seeking the Lord. We as a church wholeheartedly agree and want to see God use us in a mighty way to bring change to our city and see many come to salvation in Christ. We pray for our family members by name, for those who have fallen away from the faith, for our government leaders, current world events and for our community. Honestly, sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate and listen to all those prayers over a two to three hour period, but I know it's the right thing to do. I want grow in becoming more spirit led and in putting the flesh down. There is nothing more important in life than to seek God and worship Him.
Well, I guess that it's for today. God bless, Ron
Feeling a lot better today. Had enough energy to do some light calistenics, vacuum and dust, and sweep the stairs in our apartment stairwell. In Russia it's a unspoken rule of society that tenents are responsible for taking turns with their neighbors in sweeping the stairwell below your floor once a week. Our floor has four apartments, or flats as they're called in Russia, so technically each of us should do it once a month. Well, some apartments,like ours, have let this little rule go by the wayside and now no one sweeps at all. I decided I was sick of the dirt and trash and started doing it every Saturday. The first time there was so much dirt I could hardly believe it! I made clouds of dust and was hacking black soot for days. Yuck! Anyway, I got my little broom out (broom handles are about 1 1/2 feet long so you gotta stoop), dust pan, dawned my working clothes and headed for the stairwell. A few of the neighbors passed by while I was sweeping and either grunted a hello or quickly walked by. (I think they felt guilty!) One little grandma said, "Thank you." That was nice. So, I hope the stairwell stays clean, that others start pitching in, and most of all, that the Lord would use it to build bridges between my neighbors and I. There was a day, I'm told, when neighbors knew eachother, visited eachother, and helped eachother out. Nowadays many are leary of one another, don't meet, don't visit, and only eye eachother suspiciously. It's understandable. There's so much crime everywhere. Most apartments today have installed big metal security doors on both the individual apartments and entrances to the buildings. It's sad. I pray for my neighbors every day by name. I want to make a difference. I want our apartment building to be different because Jesus lives here! I want them to experience a close relationship with God.
Later in the afternoon I took a walk to the local "mall". It's really a long and narrow string of counters and display cases haphazardly lining the walls of the first floor of an apartment building. I bought a new winter knit cap. I try to use times like that, when I'm just out shopping, to share my faith. It's so hard sometimes. Though I can speak russian pretty fluently, it seems I get all tongue tied when I want to share about the Lord. Or else I chicken out altogether and just smile and say thank you. I know, great missionary, huh? I pray the Lord would give me more boldness and the right words.
When I left the store I noticed a little gypsy girl sitting on the sidewalk begging for money. The only thing between her and the cold asphalt was a thin piece of old cardboard box. It's only 38 degrees here right now and it hurts me to see the gypsies put their children out to beg in this weather. I gave her a little money and asked her if she knew about Jesus Christ. She nodded yes. I told her that He died for her and rose again. Her name was Zanoora. I told her I'd pray for her. She was only 4 or 5 years old. As I walked away I did pray for her, that somehow, someway, God would change this little girl's life. These are the kinds of problems that when I see them make me want to look the other way. But then the Spirit seems to prompt me, again, to make a difference - even if my little effort seems to me just a "drop in the bucket" of cure for a despairing land. God, give me faith in YOUR power to change lives.
Daylight saving ends today. Yippee! I get an extra hour of sleep. Which sounds good right now. See you tomorrow.
Ron
I decided to launch this page to allow you to keep up on what I'm doing over here in Russia. For those of you who are new, I am an american missionary who's been working with the christian church in Russia for about nine years. I won't try to catch you up, instead just jump in and sooner or later things will make sense.
I caught a cold this week so today I'm working at home. I probably shouldn't have washed the outside windows during a snow storm, but they were dirty! We're getting ready for a big regional church conference that will be taking place November 13-16. Pastors and ministry leaders from seven different churches will attend. The purpose is to strengthen and encourage us in serving and loving Jesus. (After the tragedies in America, I'm sure the pastors will have some interesting insights as they teach God's word.) So, this morning I was writing e-mails to the american pastors coming over to be guest teachers at the conference. One of my jobs here is to correspond with our american guests, helping them to arrange their ground travel, hotel accomodations, and food. I love it, but it can be difficult in that there are so many details to remember.
I got a letter today from a friend of mine in Hemet, Ca. They have offered to help put an ad in their church newspaper to try and sell my aunt's 1965 Chevy Corvair. Any buyers?
Well, time for dinner. Tonight I'm going to fix myself white rice, chicken (frozen), and some vegies. After that I'm going to continue a self study on the gifts of the Holy Spirit (I want to know!), surf the net a bit, and hit the hay early. I hope the neighbors aren't fighting tonight. My walls are paper thin and last night the brawl didn't end till 1am.
Hey, I'm hoping to get one of those digital cameras and then add some photos to this page!
By the way we had a light snow today. Out my window I can see the last of the sun draping off the dull grey apartment buidings across the way. A black crow just swooped past, probably also on his way to dinner. Good night!
Lots of love, Ron