2006 Belarus Mission Trip -- 2nd Update

Dear Oak Grove Church Family,

It is Thursday morning and we would like to recap the events and activities of the last two days.  Tuesday our total enrollment of children for the VBS rose to fifty-five.  There are seventeen on our team which includes thirteen from FBC Oak Grove and our four translators,  and there are twelve workers from the local church.  In total God is touching the lives of eighty-four people!  We, your representatives, feel like God is touching our lives the most.  The children have been great and very responsive.  When we actually thought about doing Bible School all-day long it boggled our minds......how could we feed lunch and snacks, how can the children have enough playtime, how would they be able to listen to all of the Bible study and music.... how would they be able to come through all of this and still pay attention?  God works miracles.  In addition to paying attention,  the kids continue to invite their friends because the total enrollment on Wednesday had risen to sixty.  

The children have gotten so much that many have been saved and we see growth in their spirit already happening.  Some of the children that were saved invited us to their homes to visit with their parents.  These visits were absolutely incredible.  Even one of the cooks from the church invited us to her home to meet her husband and two daughters who were not believers.  She prepared us a “Thanksgiving” meal, that was in addition to cooking all-day at the Bible school.  The meal was tremendous, but the best was yet to come!  Her husband and two daughters accepted Christ as savior.  In another home we had the privilege to pray with a Mother whose daughter (one of our VBS kids) had come through a severe surgery recently.  To minister to that Mother reminded us of how Christ must have felt when He touched and healed people.  This Mother blessed us with her special gift of being

able to play the piano.  She was a concert pianist tucked away in Belarus in a high-rise apartment “flat”. She played Bach, Beethoven, and Pachelbel. 

This is our last day of VBS and we know God is up to great things.  The team is holding up well. God has melded our hearts together to be a strong unit.  Tomorrow we plan to visit the children’s hospital and orphanage.  These two places have come to mean a great deal to us.

We will be able to minister to the children and greet the staff who has become special friends through the years.  May God be glorified in all of this !

09/03/2008Send mail to mlrushing@myav.net or  rich@firstbaptistog.org with questions or comments about this web site.