Sunday, May 22, 2011

Newton News, 22 May, 2011

Please be in prayer for our dear sister in Christ, Cristina. Many of you have prayed for her cancer and she has been in remission for a while now. All of her exams have been clean lately, but she called me tonight asking for prayer. She is in a lot of pain and unable to sleep.

Helena and her son Alexandre continue to come faithfully to the services. I had a really good opportunity to witness to her husband, André not long ago. He seemed to listen well. He says he doesn't want to be a hypocrite, so he doesn't want to make some profession that he doesn't really mean in his heart. He said he prayed the "sinner's prayer" several times in his mother's Pentecostal church back in the Ukraine, but he only did it to get the pastor and his mother off his back. I was encouraged by his honesty, and by the way he seemed to want to understand. Please pray that he will truly be born again!

I joined a local community choir. They sing in mass sometimes, so we had to establish the ground rules. I guess they were pretty desperate for a tenor, 'cause they took me anyway (they have been very respectful to me). I have made good contacts there and have already had some chances to witness for Christ.

The director of the radio station where our program is aired wrote me last week saying that they (at the station) are avid fans of the program and that they would like to put us in another time slot along with the one we already have. He wanted to increase our listening audience by putting the program on at 6:30 PM (we are on during the lunch hour right now) to catch folks going home from work. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse; the second spot half price, and free for the rest of May. I took it!

I have the privilege of going to Lithuania a week from Friday to teach a week-long seminar in their Bible institute. We met Pastor Audrius when we were there a couple of years ago looking at cabins. We were impressed with him and his work and invited him to Portugal to present that work in several churches here. Our church and two others here have taken him on for financial support. He has been running an institute there with almost 30 students and another in neighboring Latvia with about the same number, all this on a very modest pastor's salary. His 22-year-old son, Paulus, is also developing a great ministry with a government orphanage. This work has been at great personal sacrifice as well. He even delayed getting married for a year in order to fulfill all the demands the orphanage put on him. The results are already being seen as he is able to witness to those kids and has even been able to start bringing them to church. Our church felt led to support these servants of God.

Summer is almost here and we are preparing for camps. We have had some wonderful help over the years to get this ministry going and just in the past year we have been able to make some important advancements. Please pray as we prepare that God will receive all the glory.