Tuesday, 7-12-11 "Peter Paul"

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles…” Hebrews 12:1

            Robert led devotion this morning and brought to us a great statement that I should keep in mind. He wasn’t sure of the source, but the quote reads: “The work of God does not depend on the servant of God. It depends on the Spirit of God. The servant of God must be available to God and be willing to be used by the Spirit of God. The servant is a vessel, and no less. Do you depend on you or are you open to depend on Him?”

            This morning was great, we have had great breakfast every day; we always have honey that Volodia has collected from his own beehives, fruit preserves, and some days we have had fried eggs. The weather was good, a little chilly but it felt great to be able to go and play with the kids and not become so overheated. There were, however, fewer kids today than yesterday, most likely because of the weather, but another possibility for the absence of some is that today was Peter Paul day, an Orthodox holiday. They celebrate the apostles Peter and Paul by drinking a lot…seems a little backwards to us…anyway, many kids knew their memory verse from yesterday, so they won prizes. A brother and sister knew their verse in English, also. After camp and lunch, we walked to the house of one of the families who we bought groceries for. They are two sisters, and each is a single mother. It was a 30 minute walk, and we now understand how far they walk every time they come to church. This week they have walked this route every day to come to the discussions. When we arrived, they prepared tea and snacks and even broke out some of the things we bought for them. They are such a gracious family, and we were so humbled by their kindness.

            The evening church meeting was on Matthew 16; we discussed that it is important for us to know what we believe and who we believe Jesus is, because one day we will have to answer this question for him. We discussed that God will reveal Himself to us when we earnestly seek Him. We asked the church people about the purpose of Peter Paul day, and some said it was pointless, but some people were saying that it is so that people who don’t know who Jesus is will remember who Peter and Paul were and know that they were apostles of Christ. There is still a little disagreement in the theology of the Bible between some of the church people and us, but it seems more and more that a few are understanding more of the messages we are trying to send.