Odessa Mission
February 2006 Newsletter
Tseliy E Drugi Sobweeti!
(Goals and Other Events!)
At the beginning of January, I preached a message on goal-setting and challenged everyone to set five faith-based goals for 2006, that is, if they could think of that many. Of course, I admitted to them that the number five was simply chosen at random. Thus, based on that disclaimer and coupled with the content of my message, we each set out on the goal writing course together. Recently, we had several of our members publicly share their current reflections and it was really inspiring to hear them express themselves. I won't take the time to mention all of their goals since some of them are still rather tentative but I would like to share a few with you. Oxonna has determined to pray for at least fifteen minutes a day, which is quite a commitment for someone who's only known the Lord for about a year, is going to school, and has school related homework, etc. to do. She's also committed herself to participating in both of our outreach pageants scheduled for this year. Tatyana has decided to fast at least one day a week, which is probably something completely new for her. She's only seventeen and she, too, has only been a Christian for about a year. During Tatyana's fasting-debut, I happened to be visiting with her mother and in the midst of our conversation Tatyana actually called Mom to ask if eating a few sunflower seeds would violate "THE RULES". As much as it hurt to do it, though, Mom had to be honest and say yes. Hopefully, the next time will be a bit easier for Tatyana. Adding to that goal, she has also chosen to spend at least an hour a day studying her Bible. What about Ira? Well, again, she's intent on developing more quality outreach events for both the Easter and Christmas holidays which is a ton of work in and of itself. She's also decided to fast once a week and has made some personal commitments related to our marriage. I'm hoping that has something to do with cooking but I'm doubtful. Anyway, I've also made a personal promise in regard to my marriage that will hopefully both strengthen our home and honor God. I, too, have made some fasting goals for 2006 and have chosen to spend more quality time doing strategic planning for KRCC and its future. I expect that extra time to enhance the content of our newsletters and updates. [Note: The Elders and some others from the Northampton Church of Christ have agreed to fast on the first day of each month in support of the Odessa Mission. Would you be willing to join us? Wednesday, March 1st is our next scheduled fasting date.]
Although Vladimir is an official member of the Baptist church, he frequently likes to visit us too. At times, I even allow him to give brief devotionals and he usually does a pretty good job. However, a few weeks ago he decided to say that repentance was the moment of salvation although he's well aware of our position on baptism. I corrected him in front of the congregation and afterwards I asked the Lord for wisdom on how to approach Vladimir about the incident. I certainly didn't want to scare him off but, at the same time, I couldn't allow those kinds of things to occur either. That Sunday evening, I thought to myself: "Man, if only Jack Cottrell's book on Baptism was still available in Russian. That would really help here." Although we do have several Russian copies of Rees Bryant's book on baptism, I'm not totally sure that it would answer all of Vladimir's questions. Nevertheless, I still planned to loan it to Vladimir . About a year ago, I had sent several emails in search of Jack Cottrell's book, Baptism: A Biblical Study but regrettably, my search was unsuccessful. In fact, the last time I had seen a Russian copy of Cottrell's book was about seven years ago and that was in Crimea which is 14 hours away by train. Well, on Monday afternoon after the incident with Vladimir , I was heading to a friend's house and deliberately decided to stop off at the Christian bookstore to buy a video about UFO's (that is another long story) that my friend really needed to see. I knew exactly where the video was located because I had been to that bookstore just a few days earlier. Since I was in a hurry, I didn't plan to look for any other materials but incredibly enough right next to that video just happened to be the Russian version of Jack Cottrell's book on baptism. I literally did a double-take; I couldn't believe my eyes! I immediately requested several copies and I was more astounded to find that it was the only copy they had. Wow! GOD IS AMAZING! Vladimir is presently wading through both books and could surely use your prayers at this time.
Finally, this month, my heart is really nudging me to mention a family that desperately needs prayer. My friend, Gregory, has visited KRCC a few times even though he usually has to work on Sundays. While his family has never attended our worship services, they have come to English lessons. There are several reasons why I'd especially like for you to pray for them: 1) Gregory is starting to become a fairly close friend of mine so I'm beginning to build some quality rapport with him; 2) Gregory's influence on his family is extremely powerful and one visit to their home would convince anyone of that fact; 3) The family is rather large because all of the his relatives live in Odessa proper; 4) The family seems pretty open to the gospel despite their overall confusion concerning spiritual issues. They actually consider themselves to be Orthodox Christians but there's also a mixture of eastern philosophy as well as a fascination with astrology and the like. However, due to the English lessons, the friendship evangelism, and your prayers to Almighty God who makes all the difference, there is hope! Thank you so much for being so faithful in the things that matter most!
Love, John and Ira
Kind Road Christian Church