After nearly 22 straight hours of travel, sleep deprivation, and Montgomery-like weather (without the AC), we woke up and went to the Sunday morning service at the Zhytomyr Central Baptist Church. The service started at 9:00 AM and lasted 2 hours. Though it was a little stuffy and spoken in Russian, our translators (Ina, Sveta, Marina, & Marina) were wonderful and it went by pretty quickly. The first half of the sermon was a report from 4 members of the congregation on their mission trip to Tajikistan. Just as we felt God’s call to go to the Ukraine, these brothers felt God’s call to go to Tajikistan, a nation where Christians are very persecuted. For the second half of the service, our brothers and sisters at Zhytomyr Central Baptist were so welcoming and allowed us to share with them. God was truly with us and working through us during the service. We had little notice of who would share, but God quickly gave us the words, songs, and boldness! David Gross shared his testimony on the spot, through the help of a translator. Also, a group of us sang Amazing Grace and Psalm 139. It was so neat because the church’s pianist caught the tune of Amazing Grace and started accompanying us! Praising the Lord through song breaks down many barriers we may face! God spoke through Brian as he shared about the promise of salvation God has given to us all, and Marina translated wonderfully. As Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, but the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.” Though the service was in Russian, though we dressed differently, though we had barriers, we realized that faith in Christ is our common denominator; He conquers all!
Shea
Praying that you will touch a lost soul and bring them to Christ.