Blessings of Rain

Yesterday and today we were blessed with much needed rains. The warm weather had dried out the soil and withered some of the crops here. The recent rain has been a welcomed answer to prayer for many people.

Joshua was down at the river with our neighbors when the first rains hit yesterday afternoon. He said that nobody seemed to mind the rain and it didn’t stop them from cooking shashlyk (like shish kabob) over an open fire. The family that lives below us has a one year old girl named Natasha and an eleven year old girl named Oksana who speaks some English. They invited Joshua to spend the afternoon with them at the river and barbeque. Joshua assures us that he only swam in the “clean” part of the river.

When they got back from the river, they invited us over to their place for tea and cake. We were surprised to find out that they not only knew about God’s Hidden Treasures, but had been to their annual summer picnic for the disabled. A friend of Svitlana’s (Oksana’s mother), who was also visiting, said that her invalid brother had received a walker from GHT as well. How interesting that God would place these people in our path. We are hoping to continue to build relationships with our neighbors and are encouraged more than ever to learn Ukrainian.

Today, Edna taught a bible study at the GHT office. She was a little nervous at first, but she was encouraged by the response she got from two of the women who aren’t saved. She said they were eager to read more from their bibles and one of them started to cry towards the end. Please pray for Edna as she resumes her study next week.

I hung out with the guys down stairs in the wheelchair shop and Vadim, who handles the vehicles, talked a little about how the things of the world are nothing compared to having Jesus in your heart. He explained that God won’t judge us according to what we had in this world, but according to how we lived our life for Him. I didn’t have a translator, but I was able to understand about 75% of what he was saying. Next week, I’ll be using a translator to do a study with the guys in the wheelchair shop so prayers would be appreciated.

Tonight was the second night in a row that Nazar, one of Joshua’s friends, has had dinner with us. I think he likes Edna’s cooking. He usually brings over some candy or snacks to share with us and is always so polite. He makes it a point to shake all of our hands and say “hello” when he comes over. Tonight he even told Joshua that it was time to be quiet so we could pray before we ate. We are looking forward to getting some children’s bible stories in Ukrainian so we can share them with the kids that come over to visit. Thank you for all of your prayers in these areas.

-Greg