I think I'm working on about eight hours of sleep over the last two nights so this won't be long. While most of our group went out to the main camp Saturday for a baptism and a celebration of the camp's 10th anniversary, I found myself detached from the youth delegation and assigned to visit two Romanian ethnic villages still in the Chernivtsi oblast (state).
As a last minute change there was the usual mix-ups on times, who exactly was going and what exactly I would be doing. I had even stayed up to after 3 a.m. working on a sermon that I thought I was going to have to preach on Saturday. In the end I didn't need it.
The group ended up to be me; Nicoli, a Romanian preacher who helps organize evangelical crusades throughout the old Soviet Union; and my interpreter Olga, who teaches English at one of the Christian schools in Chernivtsi.
We arrived in Scherbintsy about 10:30 a.m. It's a tiny village that was too small to even show up on national map of Ukraine. We met up with the local pastor and made two visits as well as a man walking down the road. The streets in this village are beyond bad. Drivers endanger their cars by even attempting to travel them. The women at each house prayed and accepted Jesus. Keep Alexandra and Valentina in your prayers.
Later that afternoon we traveled to another village, Koteleve. This one was a bit larger, about 3,000 people and better creek-graveled streets actually laid out in a grid for the most part.
There we met with a man named Ian who was paralyzed after falling from the roof of his house. He had been visited before by others and while willing to listen wasn't ready to make any decisions. His wife has divorced him and taken custody of his children. Definitely keep in him your prayers. He's 38 and as far as he is concerned, his life is ruined.
Afterwards we met a social worker who belongs to the local Baptist Church. She wanted us to visit an elderly lady born in 1933 (sorry for anyone born that year that doesn't consider one's self to be elderly, this lady was). Her name was Maria and she took care of her mentally handicapped teen-age niece and nephew. She had nearly nothing in terms of earthly possessions but she loved God and the relatives in her care. She too accepted Jesus in her heart.
After Maria we went to visit the social worker's sister's family. They were Orthodox, strongly opinionated in the case of her nephew who taught at the finance and business institute in Chernivtsi. The two of them got into a loud discussion that even without the translator, was clear that it had started long ago, and this was just the latest on the subject of religion.
After he got up and left I tried to explain some things, both historical and Biblical, but the social worker kept interrupting usually with the thought on a totally different tangent. Afterwards, Olga told me she was ready to throw up her hands and quit, the woman was speaking so far and changing subjects almost as quickly. The social worker is a strong Christian, but when it comes to witnessing to her immediately family the battle lines have been set in stone. The rest of the family listened and responded well, but they never made a decision.
Today, I went back to Koteleve, and preached and sang at the local Baptist Church which had about two dozen in attendance. The service lasted a good two hours.
After the service and a quick snack at the church we went to the house of Vasily and Maria Lysak, an elderly couple unable to attend church due to their health and physical condition. Vasily is a former pastor. The deacon who went with us encouraged me to tell about my sermon, so I gave a shorted bare-bones version, which was about the thief on the cross (my solo is also the song "Thief" made popular by Third Day).
He had tears in his eyes throughout the visit and was so happy that he had visitors, particularly one from America who wanted to talk about Jesus.
Next we visited a couple where the man was suffering from cancer. Both were Orthodox. They understood and agreed with everything, but did not pray for salvation.
The next couple was an older couple, both suffering from physical ailments. Their names are Gregory and Yevgenia. Both were saved. Pray for them.
After the third visit we returned to the church for lunch - a vinegar-based slaw with cucumbers and tomatoes along with stewed potatoes. With the meal finished I got a chance to answer some questions from the Pastor Petro Dzetaryk, deacon Vitaly Kishlar and the local coordinator Oleg Lamba.
After lunch I thought we were finished because only three names or addresses had been mentioned when requests were made at the end of the morning service. It turns out the pastor had two more spots in mind — the homes of two of his sons, both who had grown up in and around the church, but neither had made a profession of faith.
At the first house we met with son Ivan and his wife Marina. Another brother Yuri also arrived early on and sat and listened. I told the story of how my father wanted me to play basketball, and asked me one time why I didn't practice. While I don't actually remember saying this, he repeatedly claimed later that I said I didn't wanted to play basketball because he wanted me to play basketball. I thought that maybe some of the reluctance by the preacher's son, was in part simply due to the fact that his father was a preacher.
Whatever I said and Olga translated managed to get through. With the Holy Spirit encouraging them, all three prayed for forgiveness and to ask Jesus to be their lord and Savior.
Then we went next door and spoke to another one of the brothers, Petro and his wife Natasha, along with another neighbor Raisa. There all three made decisions for Christ.
With just three minutes until the evening service was to start, we left in the preacher's car for the church. Since the service can't start until the preacher arrives, we weren't technically late. I played and sang my new song, No Matter What Happens, and then found out I was definitely supposed to preach. I started with the barest notes of a sermon I had started a couple of months ago and ended up preaching on Psalms 118.
Overall it was a good day and I'm exhausted. Others are beginning to return back to the hotel. As I get updates and time to get to the computer I will add them. Mom and Oleta's interpreter Wally blew out a tire tonight while they were coming back to the city. He hit a pothole. They had a good day as well.
