May - June 2010

Victor’s Mother

After Victor was saved last November, he brought his mother to church with him. She came to our services four or five times during the winter and spring, but she had some minor health problems that kept her at home a lot. Victor said they were reading the Bible together at home. We gave her a clear presentation of the Gospel, and she expressed some interest, but made no definite decision. One morning, in the middle of May, Victor called me to say that his mother was very sick, and they had taken her to the hospital. We prayed for her. He called back a little later to say that she was in serious condition. At noon he called back, crying. His mother had died. I went to the funeral with him. It was obvious that the Lord’s grace was supporting him. His biggest concern was that maybe she did not get saved before she died. We can only hope that the seed we planted bore fruit before she went into eternity.

I had a unique opportunity to visit Israel for 8 days with an organization that was helping military families. Many of them spoke Russian, so I was able to talk with them. Most of my expenses were paid for by a church in Texas. I was able to do some sightseeing, and saw Jerusalem, the Mount of Olives, the holocaust museum, the Wailing Wall, the garden tomb, Gordon’s Calvary, Mt. Carmel, the Valley of Armageddon, the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River, and Caesarea.

While I was in Israel, I had a Ukrainian pastor come to preach in our church in Oryol. He was trained by some good missionaries. Our people really enjoyed having a native pastor speak to them, and enjoyed the fellowship with him and his family. I told them to pray for the day when we will be able to have our own native pastor.

We have paid $46,750 for our church building, which is about 90% of the loan amount. You may want to help by sending a gift to: BIMI, P.O. Box 9215, Chattanooga, TN 37412. Designate it for “Ossewaarde - Project Russian Church Building”.

In the service of the King,
Don Ossewaarde