The visas, a conversation in Russian, and the persecuted church

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

I have only a few minutes this morning, but I definitely wanted to update everyone on what is going on here. The great news is that our Letters of Invitation are in, the visa applications and all the stuff that goes with them are on the way to the travel agent, and we are well on our way to being only a week to ten days delayed. That's not too bad! I know that many, many of you prayed on Sunday in your Sunday School classes (or Family Life Groups if you are at FBC Middleburg), and your prayers paid off. Isn't it nice to see that God is absolutely listening? Isn't that a comfort to you, especially during those times when it just seems that nothing is going right? I am not always good at faith--that is Marc's department (and my Momma's). But I am more and more realizing that God is already at work where I am and where I will be, and I just have to join Him where He is. It's exciting, I must confess.

One of our big worries has been learning the language, and even in this God is faithful. We borrowed the ILC van yesterday and went to overnight our stuff to the travel agent. While we were out, we splurged and had dinner at Chili's and then went to Payless to buy shoes for Hannah (who is going to be really tall if her feet are any indication--I swear to you, she's grown a size bigger since we got here). The clerk was Ukrainian, and she and I had an entire conversation in Russian. Now, before you get too excited, it was the kind of conversation that an adult would have with a two-year-old (and not even a particularly bright two-year-old), but we still understood each other. I was so excited to practice my Russian, and she was so excited to hear someone speaking to her in Russian. It was so fun. I did not get the chance to witness to her, because all I could think to say was, "Ya Eesus Hkristos" which loosely translated means, "I am Jesus Christ." I'm pretty sure that's NOT what I wanted to say. :o) So I'm going looking for a Russian tract that I can practice and go back and witness to her. I am really, really excited about this. It's hard to be bold. It's hard to mess up and not speak a language perfectly. But the payoff! If you could have seen her face...it made me even more determined to really get the language down quickly.

Our emphasis this week is the persecuted church. The couple teaching the class live in an African country, and were in another African country where basically the entire church in that country was wiped out. The stories they told...they broke my heart. But you know what I thought was really, really interesting? I had imagined that the believers living under persecution would want the persecution to stop, that a cessation of troubles would be their prayer request. Instead, they want us to pray that they hold up under the persecution and don't allow themselves to be silenced. Amazing. The thing the presenter said over and over was, "It is not a tragedy when a child of God is killed and goes to Heaven to be with God eternally. It is ALWAYS a tragedy when a non-believer dies and goes to hell for eternity." I am praying for a heart that is broken for the lost of the world. I am praying that as I sit on the balcony of my apartment and look out over the 50,000 or so people who will be in the block around me, that I am struck not by how different their language or customs are, but how much they need what I have found--Jesus. I am praying for boldness and a sense that I must give away the faith that has brought me so much peace and joy. Aren't you longing for that, too?

On a different note entirely, yesterday was my sister's 30th anniversary. Unreal! You know what that means? We are getting so old!!!! Anyway, they are in Florida with my other sister and brother-in-law, and they were at Momma and Daddy's last night. I got to talk to them all, and it was so fun. Have I mentioned how crazy I am about my family? What a blessing they are to us. I am just in love with every single one of them. So if you are where you can hug one of your siblings--do it today! They are the people God gave you for your whole life. I would love to wrap my arms around my sisters, trust me. So you do it for me! I love you guys. Thanks for reading this. Blessings to you and yours!
His,
Kellye