Hi everyone!
It is Wednesday evening here, and its been two days since I have written in the blog...so I think I better bring all of you up to date. We are doing well. It’s been a great week and gone by very fast.
After Monday’s study concluded, we went back to our favorite new restaurant - the Goose & Swan. Over dinner, Kipp did an absolutely fabulous job of turning a conversation into an opportunity to speak with Vera about obeying the gospel. Through her translation work over the last 5 years, Vera has been absolutely instrumental in helping us teach and equip the saints here. She has worked with us, as well as several other teams of preachers. With her translation of our studies, preaching, and written material, she knows a great deal about the gospel, but yet has not made the decision to become a Christian. She told us she does think about it, especially when you start to consider what is to come. She went on to say how difficult it would be, how her family would not understand, etc. As we continued to talk I thought I could see her eyes tear up, just a little. And then, wouldn’t you know, the band and karaoke singer downstairs turned up their music to a level where we could barely hear each other, and the conversation ended. We solicit prayers on Vera’s behalf. Each team of preachers that has been here has endeavored to plant seeds in her heart, and we just trust that with time and the right situation that those seeds will bring forth a new spiritual life.
On Tuesday, we spent the morning here at the hotel and then enjoyed a good part of the afternoon at the home of Evgenia. It was a delightful afternoon. She served us lunch, and it was just good to talk with her and catch up on how she has been. She was one of the original converts from 2002. Evgenia quit worshipping with the congregation in late 2006. She cited some problems going on in the church that she could no longer tolerate as for her reasoning of not attending. Evgenia was especially excited to hear of our coming, and has been at most of the studies since we have been here. She has assured us that she is going to continue worshipping with the saints after we leave. We feel that this is a real accomplishment and testimony to the value of our being here over the last few weeks. Did I mention she served us lunch? She just kept bringing out food. We were treated to Ukrainian borsch, some steamed beef wrapped up in some eggroll type thing (we just ate it..didn’t ask questions), and some ice cream and cookies! It was just a great afternoon.
Today, we exchanged some money to meet some benevolent needs of the Christians and walked around town for a little bit. After that, we came back to the hotel for lunch. You know, when we walked in, we noticed the waitresses glance our way, and then there was this shushed, but animated discussion. They were fighting over us. Yes! That’s right! No..it’s not what you’re thinking. Since neither one of them knew English, they weren’t excited about serving us. The young lady who lost out, finally came to our table. She gave us English menus. We pointed to the item we wanted. She then would write it down in English and then go and compare it to the Russian menu. She really tried hard, and was actually friendly. We appreciated her attitude, so we made sure to leave her a good tip.
After lunch, I spent a good part of the afternoon prepping for tonight’s study...on the role of women. We decided to teach on the subject for two reasons. One, we have observed Valentine’s automatic dismissal of and refusal to listen to the women in the congregation. He needs to learn to treat them with respect and value their opinions. They are part of the congregation too. Secondly, Valentine asked us why we used Vera as our translator at Sunday worship services and not a male translator. So...I used tonight’s lesson to teach on this subject from those angles. As for the female translator part, we explained that when Vera translates ... she is not teaching over a man ... she is simply repeating our words in the Russian language. As one of them told us during the discussion, she is assisting in breaking down the language barrier between us. She has not assumed a leadership role and this in no way violates the scriptural prohibitions in 1 Tim. 2. I also broke down 1 Cor. 14 for them and explained that it was written to address a specific situation in the Corinthian church and the prohibitions in 14:34-35 were to a certain group of Corinthian women (the wives of the prophets) and not to the church as a whole. 1 Cor. 14 does not apply in situations today as we do not have spiritual gifts in the church. We wrapped up the study by speaking directly to and challenging Valentine. We told him he needed to be more respectful and appreciative of the women. He is the only male in the congregation capable of leading them in worship (Mansoor is mentally handicapped). These guys seem to get offended easily and we encouraged them to work on overlooking each other’s imperfections and concentrate on working on growing closer together. Overall, I feel that it was a good study tonight.
With tonight’s session, the teaching part of this trip is effectively over. On Thursday we will be here at the hotel in the morning and hope to get out a little in the afternoon, before going back to Valentine & Galena’s for dinner. Everyone in the church wants us to come over for a “farewell dinner.” It should be a great time. Everyone here has invited us to come again and have let us know how much they appreciate our teaching and encouragement.
I just cannot say enough about how this trip has been a blessing to us. We have been humbled by their kind expressions of love and the gifts they have given us. And, all of this would not have been possible without the financial support of many of you who read this blog. Thanks to all of you for your prayers. We ask for your prayers again, as we will be on our way home over the next few days.
More later!