Written
11:00 PM on Sunday. Today marks the halfway mark of our trip. Time is flying
by. I asked myself: What would I do if I were arriving now for a two week trip?
What would I focus on? Thus far we have preached (Steve twice), exhorted, taught
in universities almost every day, instructed in the Uganay Bible school,
prayed, visited in apartments with a young family (Alexi and Katia), participated
in a wedding in Pogrinichny, taken part in youth meetings on both Saturday and
Sundays, etc. I also desired to be faithful with my blog (narrative plus
pictures) so I could convey the missions experience to as many of God’s people
as possible.
Saturday morning I was exhausted as we had crawled into bed at
1:00 AM after arriving back from Pogrinichny and Victor and Valentina’s wedding
the night before. We taught at the Bible school from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM. I
taught on the Trinity, specifically the relationship between God the Father and
Christ the Son. In case you are wondering, I am using James P. Boyce’s classic Abstract of Systematic Theology as my
primary source. Dr. Boyce was the president and principal founder of the first Southern
Baptist Seminary. It was initially located in Greenville, SC, but is now
located in Louisville, Kentucky. Initially (and naively) I assumed I would get
to speak around 40 hours over four weeks in the Bible school for two subjects
(20 days x 2 hours/day) – Church History and Christology. That now looks like
7-9 hours total to teach, so I intend to only focus on Christology. Flexibility
is a key word! J However, we have given each
student a translated-into-Russian copy of S.M. Houghton’s Sketches from Church History for their use.
Today in Bible school we received Philip as a
new student. He walked for two straight
days from the north of Primorsky Krai region to the school. Philip struck
me as a very humble man. Apparently he had been a resident in a rehab program
associated with the church here several years ago. I asked him to read several
passages of Scripture associated with my lecture to see his reading ability. He
read great, but we discovered he only had a New Testament. We remedied that on
Sunday. Look for a picture of Philip on the blog, but more importantly, pray
for him. The Bible school here in Uganay is virtually primitive conditions,
like a camping experience. Yet for a man committed to studying the Bible, it is
an opportunity for concentrated study.
We had a great youth meeting tonight. Alexi (“Losha”)
has their trust and can influence them for good. Funny experience after our youth
meeting: I practiced with the praise band on keyboard for a 1 ½ hours in
anticipation of playing with them on Sunday. My blog has a picture of the paper
which contained all the chords for the five songs we practiced. A cool experience,
but you talk about learning on the fly!
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteIt is Sunday afternoon here. We just finished an excellent visitor's luncheon. The Brushy Creek group hosted, and man, was the table ever laden down with lots of wonderful food! We really have some loving folks in our Body. Had a couple of young families that look like they're going to keep moving toward us.
I know those youth loved your keyboard playing. You have such a nice touch. Those folks really get into your heart, don't they? Sorry about the teaching time. That makes it rough to try to condense so much good stuff that you wanted to share. The Lord knows. Give em the best bulk of truth that you can, brother. The Lord will use it.
Clemson did well. Not SC. Wow, that was a blow out.
I'm revamping my David Brainerd stuff into two hours to present in Georgia this next weekend. I've done it in one hour and I've done it in 5 hours (Malaysia). Now, there, was a missionary! Set the standard. Carey, Judsen, etc. wanted to be like him. His piety was out of my league. If Brainerd was the major leagues, I am "B" league. (B for bush)
Well, you take care, Mark. Give my warm greetings to the dancing missionary. We prayed for you guys today and, by God's grace, will continue. Wow, only 2 weeks left. We will be so glad to see your face again. Keep your eyes on Jesus, brother.
Bob Selph
Hi, Mark!
ReplyDeleteI've been following you through Bob these many days now, and at last am sitting down before heading back to church this Sunday evening to teach the 3-5-year-olds. I also have a blog on Blogspot, though I haven't changed it in a few years ~ don't seem to readily know how to do some things, and now it's off my radar ~ maybe this will get me started again ;)
Cheryl and I and Janice and Becky Gonzales prayed for you as we gathered as elders' wives to pray last week, and it was good to hear from Cheryl something about your trip as well. We just prayed, among other things for you, Mark, that the Lord would surprise you by leading you into all His holy will for the trip there ~ giving you things to do for His name that you weren't even thinking about when you planned the trip. It will be great to hear a report from you when you get back. WOW, the time is flying by! Two weeks and you'll be home again.
Last weekend when all your kids were home for fall break it was so good to see Alicia and James and Philip; we miss them a lot week by week, and it's like water on dry ground to have them worshiping with us again when they are home. Can you believe that you and Cheryl are empty nesters? (You just have your lifelong friend, Kristen there to make your lives exciting, but really no kiddos per se anymore.) We still long for our kids, but are so happy that they are all living the lives the Lord has laid out for them.
I am so enjoying the Ephesians study that Cheryl and I are part of, Mark. Sinclair Furguson's book, plus one by Stewart Olyott and one by Wilson (Banner) are expanding my mind and heart and filling me with joy and peace as I read and prepare. Janice is splitting the teaching with me this year, and I hope some others will want to take a turn as well. We are now reading for the first half of chapter 2. I've heard Bob teach this passage many times, but am learning new things and being reminded of things I learned before.
We've been made alive in Him, having been dead in our trespasses and sins. May the reality of that form our daily walk; you there, us here.
Gotta go, Mark. Good to imagine sitting down with you for a cup of good cheer.
Cathi