September - October 2011
The big news in September was the marriage of our son Alan to Jessica Nunemaker! She is a lovely young lady, and we are very happy for them. They met at Providence Baptist College. Alan is a senior this year, and he plans to graduate in the spring.
The fall weather has been refreshing, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. We have had plenty of rain this year, and the local government reports that the wheat harvest is one of the best on record. We have been raking leaves at the church and doing the last bit of yard work for the year.
We make and distribute about 1000 Gospel tracts every week. Many of these go into the mailboxes in apartment buildings. In the last few years, we have placed a tract in nearly every mailbox in our city of over 300,000 people.
Eight university students from Africa have been attending our services recently. They come from 5 different countries in Africa. One of them, Kevin from Congo, recently had an accident in the dormitory. As he was helping to move a wardrobe cabinet, a heavy object fell onto the top his head. He was dizzy for a while. A short time later, he saw two of his friends starting to fight. He tried to get in between them to make peace. Just as he stepped in, one of them threw a punch and hit Kevin by mistake. This second blow to the head was enough to send him to the hospital. Ruth and I went to visit him there, but the security guard would not let us in, because it was not visiting hours. We called Kevin on his cell phone to see if he could come down to the lobby to see us. Soon, he called us back to say that the security guard would not let him out of the ward. We went around to the side of the building and were able to have a nice visit with him at the window of his ward. He is doing well now.
Tamara is now coming to our services every week, even though she has to come into town from her village. She likes to bring us gifts, like vegetables and herbs from her garden. She gave us a large pike that her husband had caught, and it made a tasty fish dinner for us. She gave us some very large potatoes that she had grown. Her neighbor laughs at her because she believes in God, but this year Tamara’s potatoes were very big, and the neighbor’s were very small.
Ruth had some unusual medical symptoms that prompted us to go to a clinic in Moscow. She received the treatment that she needed, and we appreciate your prayers for her health.
I am pleased that the Russian government did away with clock changes this year. I have always thought that it is a bad idea to change clocks twice a year. Russia will stay permanently on Daylight Savings Time, so we will be 10 hours ahead of Chicago time in the winter, and 9 hours ahead in the summer. No more changing clocks!
President Putin has announced that he will run for president again next year. He has already served two terms, but the constitution only limits him to two terms at a time. He made a deal with current president Medvedev to play “musical chairs” with the offices of president and prime minister. The usually apathetic Russian people are very upset about this deal, especially since Putin’s friends in the parliament changed the constitution to make the presidential term six years instead of four.
With the October payment, we have paid a total of $60,552 on our church building loan. We expect to make the final payment of $890 in November. Praise the Lord! We are very grateful to all of you who made special donations to this need.
In the service of the King,
Don Ossewaarde