What??, January!!

I knew it had been a while since I posted anything, but January?! I was sure hadn't posted in March, but I thought I had surely posted something in February. I was apparently more occupied than I felt I was. A lot of things did go on, some of which (in no particular chronological order) were:

A visit to Madeira by the American ambassador---of course, the four days he and his family were here were totally taken up with his schedule. That doesn't count the days and weeks of preparation before he arrived, either.

Further travel: at some point in these two months, Abbie and I went to Lisbon, where I had a couple of days of meetings at the embassy.

Other visitors: One of the missionaries our church supports, Bro. Neilson Amorim and his family, plus another family from their church in the Algarve (southern Portugal), spent a week here with us.

Other work outside the church: It was sometime in March when I finally got all the backlog of translations finished, some of which dated back to October, when I was away in the States. The director of the language school that I do a lot of work for (especially court documents) told me when I got back that I would regret ever having gone on vacation. As I was making the final push to complete the court files in March, the director told me that I was in danger of going to jail: there were several judges upset that the translations of their files hadn't been delivered. She was just giving me a hard time, though...or so I thought. Later that morning at the office, I was served with a court injunction, "sign here please," and all that. I recalled the director's words and wondered if she knew something I didn't. But I was relieved to see that the paper was merely a court order demanding payment of €18,000 (over $24,000) in phone bills going back 5 or 6 years. What a relief! I had reasons for being relieved: 1) the injunction was for the Consulate; 2) the phone company sent us the bill that was really meant for the Embassy in Lisbon; 3) I could pass it on to the legal department in the Consular Section and not worry about it. 

Work in the church: Abbie has been working steadily since just after Christmas to get the cantata ready for Easter, and get us ready to sing it. We are now a little over a week away, and maybe, just maybe, it will all come together on the day. Somehow over all these years and dozens of cantatas, the Lord has always blessed at the end, but even in the last rehearsals there are times when it seems we won't get it right this time.

Profession of faith: Inês came forward two weeks ago, saying she had accepted Jesus as her Savior and that she wants to be baptized. She was bubbling with joy. We are praying for a couple of others who have been "almost" ready, that they will come to a firm decision.

In the prison: I only have two prisoners in the meetings at the moment, both of whom are Ukrainian. This is an advantage, as we can speak in Portuguese or Russian, whichever is more expedient, whereas, if others were in the group, there would be a limitation on using Russian. God is working in both Alex and Nikolai...

Alex's father was in the Soviet Army, so the whole family were atheists, of course. In time, as an adult Alex knew there was a Higher Power, but it has been in the Bible studies that he has learned about the God the Bible reveals and His Son, Jesus. Last week, Alex said that when he spoke to his mother on the phone, he sensed an emptiness in her life. Now a widow, and recently losing her job, she is seeking for something to fill her life. He encouraged her to read the Bible, and she said she probably would. He's evangelizing his mother!

Nikolai is more recent to the studies, but he has begun to read the Bible daily and each week he always has a question about some passage he's read. This week he turned to Rom. 6:21-23 and read: 

21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I waited for the question. He didn't have a question; he made an affirmation. He said that as he read those verses, he saw his own life being described. He has said before that the life he used to live was a complete disaster; he lived without rules. Evidence of that was when I asked Alex and Nikolai if they had pictures of themselves, so I could post them on the church bulletin board and help the members pray for them. Alex brought a couple of photos; Nikolai had none. That is, none he wanted to show. All the good pictures had been sent back to his family in Ukraine, and the only photos left are ones showing him living his "former life." "They are not suitable for posting in the church," he said. They are the "things he is now ashamed of." But God has changed that image, and Nikolai today would be right at home in the church. Maybe in a few years, he'll be able to get there.