Marian examines a Bolivian souvenir during English Club. Our theme this week was "Vacations".
Denise tells the group about a trip she took to Africa.
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Snapshots from Tuesday Night
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Monthly Archives: March 2009
When God Provides
In 1997, during my first trip to Ukraine, I read a book called Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret. I was deeply impressed by this man’s willingness to trust God for his needs as a missionary. Hudson Taylor never asked people for money; he made his needs known to God alone. When I read that, I immediately knew that this was what God wanted for my ministry as well. Nearly twelve years later, I can say that God has indeed held up His end of the bargain. Not once have my family and I lacked for any need that we have ever had on the mission field. We make our requests known to our Heavenly Father, and He meets our needs in amazing ways. This post is a small attempt on my part to honor the Lord by documenting some of the ways that He has provided for us in recent weeks. I hope it will be an encouragement to you that our God is very, very faithful.
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“Pray everyday, all the time, everywhere.”
In Ukraine, it is not uncommon to find people who think that prayer must be read from a book or recited from an already assembled collection. Many people often pray the Lord’s prayer in a repetitious fashion, but have little idea of telling their hearts to God. The simplicity of coming to God as a Father and asking for what you need, or offering thanksgiving and worship, is sometimes foreign to them.
Jessie did a wonderful job of explaining to our Tuesday night group what the Bible says about prayer. He touched on what, where, when, why, and how to pray. We all came away encouraged to “pray everyday, all the time, everywhere.”
Jessie was excited about his subject and taught enthusiastically.
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How to Study the Bible
We had our core group of men show up last night for English Club and Audio Bible Study (ABS)! As time has passed, we feel we have really gotten to know this group and that our friendships are steadily growing.
Several men joined us last night for English Club and ABS.
Each week, the Word of God is preached and they are staying to listen. As we teach the Bible, we feel it is paramount that they understand we are not just another religious group putting forth our own ideas about the Bible, trying to dogmatically convince them of our personal views. Rather, we make every effort to show them that anything we teach comes directly from the Word of God, a source they can easily access for themselves. With some simple studying they can know for themselves exactly what the Bible says and whether we are indeed speaking truth.
Last night, Joshua did a great job of laying out simple steps to studying the Bible and drawing accurate conclusions about what it teaches. We hope that this message will benefit not only those who were present, but many others who will hear the recording of it in the days to come.
“Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” Proverbs 30:5
Our trip to Krakow
To everyone who prayed for our recent trip to Krakow – thank you! It went very well. I was able to get my visa, though not for as long a term as I had planned. There was a misunderstanding with the paperwork, and I ended up with a visa for only six months. However, in September I can apply again and, Lord willing, should be able to get my full five year visa at that time.
We got one of the locals to snap this shot of us standing in front of Krakow's Florian Gate.
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Our Love Story
Joshua and I have often expressed how much we wished we had written our love story in a more detailed manner. Outside of a short newsletter version for our missionary report, we have never recorded all that God did in bringing us together. Every time we retell the story of how we met, we stand in awe of the great God that we serve, and His love and care for His children. Recently, as we were discussing this, it occurred to us that our blog would provide us with the perfect opportunity to write our story in short snippets, without having to leave out any juicy details. =) We are quite excited about publishing a series of posts over the coming weeks that document the story of how we began our lives together.
Joshua & Kelsie - Married September 18, 2004
Psalm 118: 23 “This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.”
PART ONE
“Thank you so much!” I crooned as I pulled a cute gray sweater vest from the gift bag. “Mrs. Steele, it was so nice having you on the team this week. I really enjoyed meeting you. And Jessica, it was great getting to know you too!”
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Headed to Krakow
Once again, Kels and I are embarking on one of our mandatory, twice-a-year “vacations.” Even though we have Ukrainian multi-entry visas that are good for five years, the law still states that we have to leave the country every six months and come back in again. (sigh) Technically, there are ways around this (yes, we know about registration), but for us, a trip into Poland twice a year has historically been cheaper, simpler, and infinitely more pleasant than the alternative.
One of the many elegant courtyards inside Krakow's famous Wawel Castle.
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