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January-February, 2003 Dear Praying Friends: SALVATIONS Alexei, a 9 year-old has been coming to church for almost ten months. His parents did not object until he trusted Christ as his Saviour. Then they told him he could not come anymore and made him give back the Bible he received as a gift. He was brokenhearted but God intervened and he is now coming again. He was so happy he wrote to us and said "I wish to you happiness and all good things. I like to be very much in the Sunday school. We are learning now New Testament." Please pray for the salvation of his family that they too may have this same assurance. Helen, an 11 year-old from the village recently accepted Christ as her Saviour. She has been coming since October and has also been very faithful. She also wrote a letter expressing the joy of her salvation. While in a restaurant in Alabama I handed some tracts to two young college students at a nearby table. During the course of conversation I found out that Mark was saved but Brooks was not. Upon learning that I was a missionary Mark reached into his pocket and handed me a very generous love offering. Blessing number one. Several minutes after I returned to my table the waitress came over and picked up our tab and said Mark had paid for it. Blessing number two. Later that evening I received a phone call at the hotel where we were staying. It was Brooks. He asked if he could speak to me. I met him in the lobby and he told me he had accepted Jesus Christ as his Saviour as a result of our conversation at the restaurant and reading the tracts I had given him. Blessing number three and this one was the best of all. After one of our meetings in Texas a 14 year-old girl named Leanne came forward and asked to be saved. Susan had the privilege of leading her to the Lord. 1 JOHN 1:9 STILL WORKS An elderly lady named Vala who was saved last spring started to backslide toward the end of the year. Two weeks ago she went to the hospital for x-rays and the doctors told her she was in the final stages of tuberculosis. She went to another hospital and they took the same tests and came to the same conclusion. Just before she was to go into a sanitarium to live out the rest of her life one of the ladies in our church talked to her about her spiritual condition. With tears in her eyes, Vala repented and asked for God's forgiveness. Then she went to the doctor but they could not find any traces of the tuberculosis. Skeptical, they checked and re-checked but still could find no signs of it. The doctors said it was impossible for Vala to become healthy in three days. But the Bible says in Luke, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Sasha had just finished preaching on 1 John 1:9 and seeing God's hand in this situation has really increased the faith of our people. NEW CONVERTS HUNGRY FOR GOD'S WORD Sasha reports that he has finished the second course of lessons for the new converts and will be handing out certificates for 16 more people. There are now 20 new converts currently attending these discipleship classes on Christian growth. PRAYER REQUESTS Please continue to be in prayer for us as we travel that the Lord would protect us and keep our vehicle in good running condition. Please pray that more will come to know Jesus Christ as Saviour both in Ukraine, and in the States, as tracts are given out and people are witnessed to. Please pray for the Stepanchenko family in our village church. They are going through some tough times right now and their faith is really being tested. They have been a real blessing to us personally and also to the church. Please continue to pray for Sasha who has much responsibility on his shoulders. He is 25 years old and only three and one half years old in the Lord. He is a real blessing to us and we love and miss him very much. He writes us every week and we keep in touch with our church folks through him. Please pray for our health. With the constant changes in the weather and all the traveling we are doing I have been battling colds, flu or bronchitis these past few months. Susan will be going to a heart specialist on March 17th and 18th. We are requesting prayer for an accurate diagnosis and proper course of treatment for her condition. For we are labourers together with God: Sincerely in Christ, |