One Big Happy Family

Hello! What a great time I’ve had lately enjoying the Father’s goodness and seeing Him work. This weekend was a special time for our country. We celebrated one of the most important holidays of the year: Kurban Ait or Eid al Adha.  This particular holiday is very significant because it is to remember Abraham’s obedience and willingness to sacrifice his son and to remember the grace that Father showed him when He provided an animal. It is also a time of forgiveness and reconciling with others.  It is quite possibly the coolest holiday that I have participated in because it a reminder of the Greatest Sacrifice in history.  I believe and have recently read that: “The Son has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other priests, He does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for His own sin, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when He offered Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.” (Heb. 7:22, 26-28)  How cool is it that I get to share this story of redemption and grace with people who already understand the meaning of sacrifice?  

The blood is a significant aspect to focus on also.  The traditional beliefs of this holiday include the sacrifice of a goat – the scapegoat – as it was meant to be representative of all of our sins, which are forgiven with its death. Many families in villages slaughter a goat or lamb during this holiday, but here in the city it is rare to see (or hear!) this done because everyone is in such close proximity. No doubt, people on the outskirts of town may still kill goats in their backyard. My “family” here bought lamb in the supermarket that was already cut and prepared. Traditionally, a portion of the meat is kept for the family and 2/3 of the meat is given to the poor.

Thankfully, we do not need to celebrate this holiday like our cousins because the Son paid the price for our sins and sacrificed Himself for us. He was the scapegoat and because of His blood shed, there is no need to continue sacrificing lambs or goats. “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Ch., who through the HS offered Himself unblemished to Father, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living G*d!” (Heb 9:13-14). 

In this country people celebrate by spending time with family and friends.  Also, businesses and schools are closed; with the exception of some small stores in which people can still buy last-minute food items and things.  It is customary to have people in your home for a meal, which could happen at any time of the day really, but we chose to have a dinner celebration.  We invited our friends from the dorms as well as one of our friends’ family members to our supervisor’s house.  As I walked to their house in the morning to help prepare food, the air was filled with joy.  Usually people do not look very happy. They may smile sometimes, but they just do not have real joy.  But on this special day, people were so happy.  It was like Christmas in America!

At our dinner we enjoyed a huge meal of roast lamb, chicken and pepper pasta, salads and lots of fruit.  We drank peola after peola of tea and juice.  Afterwards our supervisor’s family presented a small drama of the story of Abraham sacrificing his son in which the Truth was presented.  Many of our friends had questions and it was the perfect opportunity to talk about the Son and His sacrifice.  We were able to share the entire story with some girls.  There was also a talent show time where girls played the dombra, sang and played the guitar.  It was so cool!

My friend, Mulan*, came to our dinner and was so interested in this story.  She has heard the Truth a few times, but Father has really been softening her heart lately.  Last week she was presented the Truth in her native language.  She had many questions about what her family would think and what she will do when she does not go with them to the big white building.  She was really counting the cost of following Him.  BUT now she has told us she has so much joy after knowing about the Son.  She has made the decision to follow Him. How incredible!! All I can say is glory to Him! Be asking Father for her new faith to be strengthened as she learns more about what it means to be His child.

The Harvest

Hello my friends and family! I hope this finds you well. I had been sick the past couple days but now rejoicing that I am feeling better today! It seems now our whole team has been hit with the flu, or something like it, and are recovering.

This past weekend Gabi and I traveled out of town. Do you remember the folks we stayed with before and after English camp? Well, it was our host granddad’s birthday so we decided to go and help them celebrate it. The trip was much needed, with lots of time for catching up on some rest and breathing the fresh-air of the Steppe. The air was crisp, the sky nearly empty and the trees sheading their leaves. It smelled like fall with burning leaves and furnaces being started. It reminded me of good ole Heritage Days. Just add the smell of fresh cooked apple butter and kettle corn and it would have been a little more like Warsaw :) But really, I love it there and it is one of the coolest places to be in the fall time.

Our host granddad (Vas) asked me which is better: the village or the city. “Konyeshna, dryevna, kak doma.” – “Of course, the village is what I call home.” Vas really got a kick out of that. He said that their town was our home and the city is just where we go to school.

On Saturday we also helped teach two English classes with some students who attended the summer camp. It was really good to see their smiling faces and get to talk with them about their lives since we last saw them. They were equally as glad that we came to visit, but three days was not long enough! We shared lots of laughs and took lots of pictures together. I think sometime around Thanksgiving we’ll travel back up there to visit and have a mini Thanksgiving party with them. I can’t wait for that!

In honor of Vas’s birthday, we celebrated every night we stayed with them. He wasn’t in town on the first day because he was out goose hunting. With the help of his son, there were five dead geese in the summer kitchen after our Saturday English teaching, ready for plucking. Sadly, I did not get to join in the fun of preparing these geese; I only got to enjoy the wonderful borsch made from them, a culinary concoction of the sweetest little babushka I’ve ever met: Baba Nadia (who is Vas’ mother-in-law). She helped with cooking meals all weekend, which was dangerous because I think she shares secrets with Paula Dean. ‘More butter (or sunflower oil) is better!’ is the motto.

Another great event of the weekend was joining in the Harvest Festival at Vas and Nat’s fellowship. It was a time of worpish and reflection with Scripture reading, sharing a large meal and even a talent show. In a way it reminded me of the historical Feast of Tabernacles (part of the Festival of Weeks), as well as the American Thanksgiving. Sunday morning everyone gathered to celebrate, bringing an offering of something from their garden to give back to Papa. The front of the room was decorated with so many fall colors from gourds, pumpkins, flowers and even some fruits. Giving a portion of their crops served as a ‘thank you’ to Papa for His great blessing on their fields and lives throughout the past year. With the harvest food collection, the fellowship will be able to give back to the community by feeding the people in their rehab center and giving some away to the poor.

Along with this being a celebration for Papa’s provision in their lives, it was also a reminder of His harvest, the harvesting of souls. John talks of this that the Son’s “winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn.” Luke 3.17. We are helpers in this process, serving our Master to give Him honor. Paul writes: “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will also reap destruction; the one who sows to please the HS, from the HS will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” Gal. 6.7-9. What a great reminder this is to Gabi and I while we are in the fields laboring for the harvest. (And I hope it is of great encouragement to you too!)

The last significant point of the celebration was its reminder of the harvest to come when the Son returns. This point was the hardest to translate into English, but after the man up front read the passage of Matt 13.37-43, I understood more. In Matt. 13, the Son of Man explains a story of the weeds in the field. “The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.” What a great picture of the Son coming to collect his crops! It gives me great motivation to keep sharing with and praying for people around me, in hopes that they would not be found as weeds.

As I mentioned earlier, there was a talent show! After much arm twisting, Gabi and I sang “Days of Elijah” accapella in English. It was a lot of fun.

Some exciting things happened while we were away. Our friend Addie asked our sister to borrow her copy of the Word. She stayed up an entire night reading it. She started with Paul’s writing of love and then decided to start reading from the very beginning. Wow! She has said it is the best literature ever written and cannot stop reading it. Addie is so excited about the Word that she talks with her roommates about it all the time. They are always asking her what the latest thing she has read about.  She has also read it during class and discussed it with her classmates. She is a little m worker in the making. It brings me so much joy to see Papa working! The fields here have tough soil, but we are asking Father to loosen the earth so our seeds can be planted. What a blessing that He is moving so quickly in her. Please keep Addie and her roommates in your thoughts as we continue to share with them.

May Father bless you and keep you well today!

Proclaiming His Name

Hello everyone and happy fall to you!

It is a nice day today but last week there were a few very ‘wintery’ fall days here.  There was even some snow for a couple days! The word for snow is ‘snek’.  The snow was very pretty and I think I could have just stared out the window all day long.  It was not quite cold enough to stick to the ground so I didn’t mind walking around outside.  All semester it has been hard to imagine this land with a blanket of snow, but it will come soon enough I am sure.

Language is slowly making more sense. The other day in class we spent a couple hours asking each other questions like, “What are you doing?” “Where are you going?” “What will you do today?” etc., etc.  A local friend has taken the time to have tea with us and go over the homework our teacher gives in class. Every day before we leave our class teacher says, “Know these things by heart. That is the only way to know Russian.” I believe that advice is no doubt the wisest thing she has said. Six months is not near enough time to learn this language, but it is a privilege to begin learning it and ‘knowing it by heart’.

Some incredible things are happening here. We have continued to have good conversations with our Cardamom friends about love and life and the real Life-giver, but it is difficult because they are all guys.  We look for alternative ways to hang-out with them because it is not appropriate to host them in our rooms, which ends up being a good chance for them to get plugged into Student Life Camus M. and meet our local brothers. And PTL for them! They have just been such a blessing to connect our guy acquaintances with.

I’d like to introduce you to my friend Addie. She lives in my dorm; she is very intelligent young lady and loves English. I met her in the elevator one day and we have just cliqued. She has either been to our room or we have all gone to her room every night. We have had a lot of good conversations about love, family and life. Sara has talked with her a lot about her family. It seems her father is distant and not very loving. Sara has shared her story and talked of our heavenly Father quite a bit.

{One of my favorite salty conversations happened last night when we had music playing in the room and she asked about the artist, Josh Garrels. Sara explained that the artist is a brother and showed a video he made where he talked about love and the love of the Son. The pinnacle was when Addie asked, “What happened that this man believes in something so deeply? And how is he able to have a ‘year of Jubilee’ where he gave away his music for free?” My heart leaped for joy at just one more opportunity to tell of the Father’s goodness and truth. PTL for this artist’s passion for Father and for the chance to use his story in talking with our friend!}

Another great thing… Addie went with us to Sunday morning meeting!! We are studying Gen 3 and during the message, she asked some really good questions about following your heart and listening to Father. She said she really enjoyed it and wanted to go back! This is really exciting and usually hasn’t happened this fast, but I have a sneaky suspicion (call it the HS) that this friend will become a sister soon! I encourage you to be lifting her up and interceding for us in this. Also pray that we would have to words to say to her and she would have ears to hear.

Something else you can be talking with Dad about is sp. warfare. The night before Addie went with us to meeting; we all had a restless night, so much that we were physically and spiritually exhausted the next day. Things happened all night long and all I could do was pray. I heard voices and noises and physically swatted away things I believe were trying to attack me. The enemy really doesn’t like us being here and sharing the truth. He wants to snuff out our tiny little flickers of fires we have going in the dorm. Please be praying for our hearts and minds to be strong in the Father. Pray that while we are sleeping (and not fully on guard) that the HS and His angels would protect us and guard our rooms.

Thanks so much for always keeping me in your thoughts and talking to Dad for me and Gabi :)