I'm sitting in a hotel lobby in Uzhgorod, Ukraine(border city in the far western part of Ukraine, bordering Slovakia). I have to spend the night here, because the train gets in at 1pm, but the bus crosses the border at 7:40am. Soo, I get a little time here in Uzhgorod. Today is not the nicest day, with highs in the 50's and the weather is being rather bi-polar- bright sun and then sudden clouds and a downpour. I got caught in one downpour as I walked to the hotel from the Bus Station, carrying all of my stuff. Boooo.
Today I got an awesome gift from God. It was super exciting for me. I've been in Ukraine for over two years and for the very first time ever, shared the gospel entirely in Russian. I've thought many times about what I would say, but since we usually work with English speakers, I've only shared in English. So today, mistakes and all, I had a long, interesting talk with an older gentlemen in my train compartment. He was very interested in what I'm doing here in Ukraine and of course, we ended up talking about religion. Western Ukraine is very religious (unlike the rest of the country) and because of its Polish and Austro-Hungarian roots, also very Catholic.
It was very sad to hear him say that the only way we can come to Jesus Christ is through Mary. When I asked him where that was found in the Bible he replied that he didn't know, because he doesn't read the Bible, but the writings of the Catholic Church. He wanted to talk a lot about the history of the Catholic church and asked me how old my church was. I kept trying to bring him back to the Bible as God's word and that God said that the only way to Him was through faith in His Son, not because of faith in Mary. So sad, but quite exciting to me that I could have a long conversation about the gospel entirely in Russian, and with a man only speaking to me in Ukrainian. =-) That was rather difficult, because I don't understand a lot of Ukrainian, but I did surprisingly well and was very thankful for the opportunity that God gave to me. I just pray that the words this foreigner(me) spoke will make some kind of an impact on him, or at least make him curious enough to actually read the Bible and not just accept the teachings of his priest. May God have used my stumbling tongue to share words of life today.
2 comments:
Hi Honey! thanks for sharing this! I can envision this setting after having just been with you in western Ukraine, on trains, and all the churches we saw that are so sadly entrapped in religious tradition, yet don't know the glorious assurance of simply taking Jesus at His word that "whoever believes in Me has everlasting life"! We'll pray with you for the seed planted...love you, Dad
Hi! This really is Baba Julie! Your dad try to open his own acct and it made him me!! (:
Yes, thank you very much for this. We are excited for you! I had 3 really good opportunities at the Center today! Very receptive young ladies! Praise the Lord for how He allows us to be used for Him!! Love you! Mom
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