OUT THE GATE

Today we had the joy of meeting our students for the first time and starting our classes.  This group of young people are from places like Estonia, Lithuania and Riga but they speak Russian and English so we only  have one translation going on. In past years we have had as many as 3 translators speaking at the same time translating into Russian, Spanish, German and other languages.  So this year it is not as distracting.  One of our translators is a former student from last year.

Sorry the picture is not better. Tomorrow will be I promise.

We have 15 students this year.  Usually the school has between 25 - 30 students but God had a different plan this year. This group is more mature and very serious about learning.  They are hungry and like the Berean's want to check everything that is said with the Scripture which we love.  There are two students that have said that they know the Lord has called them into full time ministry for Him and one who says he thinks God might be calling him but is waiting for more confirmation.  5 of the students are Pastors children.  We think it is going to be a good week.  Classes start tomorrow at 8:45 and go until 5.

If you have the list of names we gave you please pray specifically by name for each one and ask God to open up their minds to receive what He has for them.  One student already shared that her mind is so full from knowledge this year and also that she has a struggle with obeying God and is very disgusted with herself concerning this so she is looking for answers on  how to change.  

The weather today was once again warm in the 60"s.  We are all enjoying the warm air and sunshine. But this is Latvia and winter might hit again a few more times before Spring finally arrives.  We were able to get out side after class to take a walk and pick up some groceries.  Hopefully the weather will be as nice tomorrow.

So that is our report for day one.  Thank you once again for all the prayer support, it is truly making a huge difference.  We have not had hardly any jet lag at all which is a miracle.

Ephesians 6:19 "and pray on my (our) behalf, that utterance may be given to me (us) in the opening of my (our) mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. "

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

TEARS OF JOY

😂 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

LUKE 15:7

"I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

This is from Beliefnet:

Similar to Luke 15:10, the angels are able to rejoice when a sinner has turned to God. Here though, the angels show their deeper love by celebrating those who admitted their faults and sins but were able to humbly ask for forgiveness. The angels rejoice more for the repentance of one sinner than they do for millions that have not fallen. They know that there is value in those who are grateful to God.

REJOICE WITH US, WE WERE JUST TOLD THAT ONE OF THE WOMEN WHO ATTENDED THE MEETING LAST NIGHT REPENTED AND GAVE HER LIFE TO JESUS.  

Another soul for the kingdom and another marriage hopefully made better by the power of the Holy Spirit as this new saint learns to walk out her faith in her home. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

GOD IS FAITHFUL

Wow today all I can say is God is faithful.  We asked you all to pray and God showed up. Tonight's meeting was amazing. It was such a joy to minister to these hungry young couples. There were even 6 non believers who came and one even asked some questions on marriage.  We shared our testimony and then PW did some teaching on marriage and we  had questions and answers.  The couple who hosted this event were students we had 2 years ago who put Jesus as center of their relationship and now God is using them to reach all these couples.  The meeting started at 5 and the last person left at 10 p.m.  Instead of feeling tired we are energized.  During the fellowship time we had the privilege of counseling with several couples and also to hear the stories of many more.

Below are some pictures we took of those who attended. 

Former Student Oskars and Maija and new baby

She is very interested in marriage LOL

One of our translators, former ice hockey player, Arturs Irbe.  Those of you who love ice hockey might know of him for his time playing for several teams in the U.S. he was a goalie. 

Two more of our students. Allan and Elizabeth and their new son

Rihard driving us home

Our hosts Rihard and Eva taken 2 years ago before they married. 

Please continue to pray for us this week.  We head to the School tomorrow and begin teaching on Monday.  We are very excited to meet our students this year.  CCF peeps, please pray for the by name using the sheets that were in the bulletin last week.  Their last names are first on the list.  

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

SUNSHINE AND WARM AIR

Well we have arrived safely in Riga Latvia after 20 hours of travel.  Thankfully the sun is shining and it is actually very warm for this time of year. Today's high will be 65 so we will have our windows open wide to let in the warm air.  When we arrived yesterday evening it was still in the 60's.  As you can imagine everyone here is happy for the spring like weather which is unusual for this time of year.  We are more thankful. LOL

Our travel this year was wonderful.  We had a day pass to United Club so we put it to good use when we arrived in Chicago for our 6  1/2 hour layover.  The Clubs are like a luxury  hotel lobby, comfy chairs, lots of soft music, phone rooms and free food and beverages.  It helped the time past quickly.

Our flight was a real blessing.  We had been bumped up to Premier economy which is actually Business class on LOT airline. Our seats were huge, we had 38 inches between us  and the row ahead of us, and they served us on real china , real glassware and  real silverware.  We also had pillows with real cotton covers and nice thick blankets.   The first thing we did upon getting seated was to call our friends Lud and Mur Golz from the plane to tell them we had been bumped up.  We have a running joke with them since Lud gets bumped up to first class on a regular basis and always call us from the plane to rub it in.  Well this time it was our turn.  Business is definitely not first class, but close.  Anyway, Lud's laughter was delightful and made our day knowing he was rejoicing with us on such a huge blessing from the Father.  And Sherry was like a country girl in the city for  the fist time saying such things as golly will you look at that.  We also both slept on the plane which made a huge difference in how we feel. The jet lag is minimal today.

Our hotel room is lovely. We stay at this hotel each year for a few days to get over our jet lag before we start teaching but this year we will be ministering right away so won't have the same rest time.  Tonight we will be speaking to a group of around 50 young adults who are either engaged or newly  married.  Some are not believers yet.  Please pray specifically for our time with them to be fruitful.  We will be sharing our testimony, teaching and answering questions and praying for those who want prayer.   We will update you tomorrow on how it goes.

Lastly please pray for Sherry's phone and computer. For some reason we are not able to download the pictures she is taking and therefore cannot share them with you.  :<((( Not a very spiritual request, but  important no less.

God bless you all.
Much love,
PW and Sherry

CHOMPING AT THE BITS

I had a mental picture today of a horse in the starting gate quivering all over and chomping at the bits to get out and run the race.  🐎

That is how we are feeling this week as we prepare to leave for Latvia and Poland.  Every year when we get ready is always an exciting time. This trip we will be visiting with old friends and making new ones and hopefully sharing the things God has on His heart for those we will be with.

Our itinerary is as follows so you can pray.

Thursday 12 - fly to Lativa
Friday arrive in Riga
Saturday evening - ministry to about 20 couples, there will be several non believers
Sunday travel to Baltic School of Ministry
Monday through Friday teaching 6 hours per day on Biblical Counseling. And hopefully meeting with students as the Lord leads.
Friday afternoon 20 - fly to Poland
Saturday afternoon - visit with our hosts Jan and Barabara Sharbek, Mary Jill Callery and one of our Ukranian translators Valya and her husband and little boy.
Saturday evening - speaking and ministry at Tarnow Womens Aglow couples meeting
Sunday morning - Preach at Jans Church in Tarnow
Sunday afternoon - not sure what the Lord has up his sleeve but we are available.
Monday - Tour Krakow Poland and Auschwitz
Tuesday 24 - fly home

As you can see we hit the road running with little time to recover from our travel so please pray specifically that we can sleep on the plane and get on the local time zone quickly.   Also pray for God to anoint our ministry while there and to give us divine appointments with those who cross our paths, for health and safety for our family and Church family.

We will start posting each day starting on Saturday the 14th.  Thank you so much for praying and for giving and for following our blog.

Much Love,
PW and Sherry

Sunshine and Ohio blue skies

The sun is shining outside today and it never ceases to lift my spirits. I love sun, I love heat, I love green grass, fresh air and bird song. Can you tell I should be living in some warm sunny place year round? But the Lord had an assignment for us in chilly Ohio so we appreciate sunshine more than most.

It reminds me of this verse from the song 10,000 reasons. It has been running through my mind all day.

The sun comes up It's a new day dawning It's time to sing Your song again Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me Let me be singing when the evening comes
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul Worship His Holy name Sing like never before, o my soul I'll worship Your Holy name

We never know what a day will bring in our life but God does and He can be trusted. I have learned to worship and praise Him no matter what is going on.

As you know the past month was a rough one for us with my mom going home to heaven, but still the words of this song ring true in my heart.

We are so excited to be going to Latvia in April. We will once again be teaching at the Baltic school of ministry. Our topic for the past 6 years has been Basics of Biblical Counseling. We love interacting with the students and have made quite a few life long friendships with some of them. Please keep us in prayer as we prepare to go and especially pray that all the finances come in soon so we can make final arrangements for this trip.

Much love,
Sherry

Final Goodbye

The Final Goodbye

We knew this day was coming for 2 1/2 years but one is never truly ready for the final good bye.  On January 15 Sherry's mom had a massive stroke which left her paralyzed on her left side.  She spent 3 days in the hospital and the doctors all agreed that she was not going to recover so we made the decision to move her to Hospice House for her final days.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I treasured those 5 days as I stayed with her 24/7.  I was able to minister to her in ways that I hope gave her comfort and alleviated any fear she might have had.  Our family came daily and each one of them was able to say goodbye and spend time alone with her along with multitude of friends from Church and elsewhere.  We read scripture to her, prayed with her, laughed with her as we shared memories, told her how much we loved her and held her.

I want to leave you with a glimpse of the kind of woman my mom was through life. I am going to use Proverbs 31:10-31 as my jumping off point because as I read these passages today I saw my mom.
These are the qualities that made Dorothy P. Witt.

She was a faithful wife to my dad and to her second husband George. Never once did she flirt with other men or give them anything but loyal support in their life work or care for our family.

She was frugal and the best bargain hunter ever. She would go into a store and end up getting the items for even less than the sale price.  We all loved to shop with her.

She was excellent with finances and just knew how to make a dollar stretch. She helped so many people with their budgets that I cannot count.  She worked as a book keeper until she was 90 years old.

She taught me to be content with what I had.  Mom grew up in the depression and did without so much but enjoyed the things she had and never felt slighted that she did not have more.

She loved to feed us.  Whenever I was struggling she would go into the kitchen and whip up a cake or pie or some other goodie because that is just what she did.  She also would get up and fix us breakfast, a quality I did not inherit.

She was willing to work hard and long.  Her work ethic was exemplary and no matter what she set her hand to do she did it with excellence.

She loved to help people and was always looking for someone who was in a difficult place so she could come along side of them and minister.  It was not unusual for  her to anonymously go pay off a lay away Christmas or electric or other bill for a single mom or widow or sometimes a family that was just going through a  hard time.

She was great at planning out what she and everyone else would wear or what we would eat or where we needed to go the next day or week or month or even year sometimes.  She was great and remembering birthdays, anniversaries etc and always had cards in advance to send to people.  I did not inherit this trait either. LOL.

She was kind and thoughtful to everyone and loved to share bits of wisdom with each one.  Even last week as she lay in the bed paralyzed she was writing down last bits of wisdom for her family.  One of which was to couples,  you should always save the wife income because the husband can't get pregnant and lose his job.  She was amazing.

My dads coworkers were all jealous of him because mom was such a good wife and they were always wanting to come home for dinner with my dad.  She loved it because she loved people and loved him.

She set the tone of our home.  She was consistently happy and cheerful. And if she was having a bad day, she would get over it quickly after spending time with the Lord.

She taught me to look ahead not back.   She would say to me "Sherry, let the past stay in the past, today is a new day and we need to live in the present."  Great advice especially now.

She was fiercely loyal and protective of her family and friends.

She was never idle so these past few years were very difficult for her because she could not do too much physically.  But she wrote devotions and was working on her life story when she died.  You can access her writings at thegrannygrams.blogspot.com.

Her main focus in life was telling others about Jesus.  Her spiritual gifts were Evangelism, Giving, and Service and she was faithful in each.

I want to end this post by saying what an incredible privilege it has been to not only be raised by mom but to care for her these past few years.  I am rejoicing in my heart that she is now with her Savior and enjoying the fruit of her life work.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.  Proverbs 31:30.

POWER OF WORDS

I was recently talking to a lady who is in her 90's and she was telling me that she is ugly and has been her whole life.   I asked her why she thought that and she told me of an incident when she was 7 years old where a friend of her moms had come to the house for tea, while there this little girl was playing in the next room and the lady said to the mother, how can you stand having such an ugly child?  This little girl heard it and immediately believed the lie this woman had spoken.  The sad thing, she is a beautiful woman but for 80 years has believed the opposite due to the unkind words of one person. She gave that woman power over her without even realizing it and has continued to live under that power.

I met man who was in his 50's and said he would never amount to anything in this life. I asked him why and he said his dad told him so often while he was growing up that he guessed it was true.  He has jumped from one job to another all his life constantly feeling like a failure.

I was talking to a young person who said they had no friends, I asked why and they informed me that one person started telling others falsehoods about them and everyone believed them and so avoided them.  The consequence was a lonely young person who was hurting very badly.

I overheard a woman tell another woman out of the blue "that dress does nothing for you".  The other woman looked shocked because she had not asked this person what she thought. I later asked the woman who had been hurt if this other woman was a close friend and she said no, they had only had a casual relationship and seldom saw each other.  Really who needs friends like that?

A friend was recently telling someone about a medical issue they were having and the other person immediately began to tell them about every person they knew who had a bad experience with that same issue. Not one word of hope given just all the negatives.

A mom of 8 was telling me that she is often told by others, even complete strangers, that they are so glad that they don't have that many children, or that she is nuts to have so many.

A guy I know decided to get a new haircut and people who hardly knew him would come up and say what on earth have you done to your hair ?  Really? What business is it of theirs anyway.  Relax people it is just a haircut, it grows back.

I remember once hurting a dear friend by my careless words about a dish she had prepared for her family, instead of asking for a sample to taste, I informed her it looked like dog food.  I cringe now remembering how badly I hurt her. Those words can never be taken back even though I asked and was granted forgiveness.

Our nation today is bombarded with careless words.

I could go on and on of things people have said to others that are just plain hurtful or at the very least unthoughtful.  

The bible addresses this issue quite clearly in Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

I do not think we truly understand the power our words have in the lives of others.

So my encouragement to all of us is to think before we speak.  It is better to remain silent unless someone asks for our opinion and even then we need to season our words with grace and be kind.  Lets be a people who encourage others, who are like a breath of fresh air because we say things that edify and do not tear down.  Try it this week, you will find that the fruit is much sweeter.  And the best part...the Lord will be pleased.

Grace and Peace,
Sherry

GOT SIN?

Well who doesn't?  

The Scripture says in 1 John 1:8" If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." Pretty clear isn't it?  I know it is hard sometimes to admit that we sin.  Think about yesterday for example, maybe you didn't do one of the BIG sins, ya know the ones you think of when you think of sin, but did you have a bad attitude? Gossip? Tell a lie?  Judge someone?  You get the picture.  The problem as I see it is that many of us like to think we are better than so and so.  Or we focus on our sin and the result is we live in shame and condemnation and defeat.  

Well I have good news for you............are you ready?  1 John 1:9 says," If we confess our sins, HE is FAITHFUL and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."  WOW  

Brothers and Sisters, we can have Victory over our sin. We can live an abundant life full of joy and peace.  Don't be afraid to humble yourself and ask God to forgive you and then accept His forgiveness.

I love the old hymn Victory in Jesus, absorb the words as you read it.  If you know it, you will find yourself singing it.  

I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.

Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.

I heard about His healing,
Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.
How He made the lame to walk again
And caused the blind to see;
And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,
Come and heal my broken spirit,"
And somehow Jesus came and bro't
To me the victory.

I heard about a mansion
He has built for me in glory.
And I heard about the streets of gold
Beyond the crystal sea;
About the angels singing,
And the old redemption story,
And some sweet day I'll sing up there
The song of victory. 

So today as you go about your day, meditate on the truth.  We win brothers and sisters, through the blood of Jesus.  Focus on that not your sin. And then share this good news with someone.  You won't be sorry.

Much love, 

Sherry

Lessons Learned Truth reaffirmed

The Lord has taught me some lessons about myself and Him this past year and a half that I could not have learned any other way.

Lessons about myself.

1.  My heart is desperately wicked ( I am  more aware of this then ever.) That is why I need a Savior.
2.  I am extremely selfish.
3.  I am impatient.
4.  My identity needs to found as Fathers child, not in the things I do or don't do.
5.  I love being home and caring for my family.
6.  I love giving hospitality.
7.  Family is important to me.
8.  My husband is truly my best friend.
9.  I can have victory in my life when I walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.
10. I fight my situation without even realizing it.
11. I whine a lot. :<((((  and need true friends to point it out to me when I do.
12. Ministry outside my home had become an Idol of sorts to me.
13.  I am satisfied and at peace, when I focus on Him and am thankful for the season.

So these are some of the things that He has taught me about Himself.

1.  God is good all the time - I always knew this but now I really know it.
2.  He assigns us to things that we don't even know we need.
3.  He is conforming me into the image of Christ.
4.  He gives us do overs when we fail.
5.  Nothing is wasted with Him.
6.  He loves me unconditionally.
7.  He loves to spend time with me and I don't need a conference or anything else to be in His presence.
8.  He refreshes my soul.
9.  He gives joy unspeakable.
10. His grace is sufficient
11. I don't have to go anywhere, He sends those whom He wants me to minister to, to my home.

This season has been difficult and challenging, but it has been such a blessing.  I am so thankful that God exposes in me everything that is not like Jesus so I can repent.  I am so thankful that God has given me this time with my mom to make more memories.   I have always tried to take care of my home, but did not realize how much I was gone and how many things I had let go so I could "minister".  I have enjoyed being home and cleaning and doing laundry and cooking and working in the garden and making a home for my husband and family. God knew what He was doing when He told us to be keepers at home.  I no longer feel guilty for not having my calendar full of appts. each day.  I am learning to just BE.....what a gift God has given me.

I pray that as you find yourself in different seasons of life that you will embrace the season and realize God is the one assigns the season.  The steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord.

The day will come when He releases us to travel again but until then I am going to enjoy this time and not feel guilty. His grace is sufficient.

Much love, Sherry

The Nations are coming to us

As you know we have not been able to travel lately because of our mothers, so the Lord is sending the nations to us during this season.  We so love our mission trips and getting to fellowship with saints from all over the world.  This past week we were privileged to host our friends from Poland and in a few weeks we will be hosting a friend from Costa Rica.   Now we only need the Ukrainians, Latvians and Czechs to come and we will have had our fix.

Mary Jill Callery, Michael Wielgus and Pastor Jan Skarbek were coming to the states to attend a conference and we were the B and B on the way. We had 3 wonderful days of fellowship on their way to Branson and then 1 night and half a day on their way back to New York where Mary Jills family lives.

They have their heads in the clouds it seems. LOL

Obviously selfies are not my strong suit, but MJ looks great. 

MJ had cut her thumb in Poland and needed a nurse to remove the stitches so our dear friends Paul and Melissa Howard came to the rescue. This was in the operating room.  

Sherry, MJ and Granny 

I love this picture of our friends.  They love to laugh and have fun.

Doing some serious You tube viewing. Men bond differently I guess. 

Granny enjoying a little visitor during their stay.

Just chilling on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather.

Michael translating for Jan

This is Brooke and her daughter Jocelyn, a cousin of Jan's whom he had never met so they made the trip and spent the morning with us.  Such precious time as Jan shared with Brooke all about her family in Poland.  IT proved to be a divine appointment and we got to pray with Brooke and her boyfriend Andrew before they left.  Don't you love when God arranges something unexpected?

For some reason I was not able to download the picture of Jan, Michael and PW at the shooting range. But I can tell you that Jan loves shooting and was giddy with joy when he found out PW knew someone with not only a shooting range, but owned a company where they actually make the guns.  PW arranged a tour and then shooting.  If you go to our FB page WayneandSherrySanders  you can see the picture of them with their guns.

These three were wonderful guests. We laughed a lot and talked at great length about the things the Lord is doing in our times.   Some guests feel like family from the first time they walk through our door and the Poles fit that category.  We look forward to the day when we are able to join them in Poland. 

I wanted to give an update on the moms also. Both are doing well, it is amazing to me how love makes a difference in someones life.  I think back to a year and half ago when my mom was so sick and her doctor told me she probably had 6 months to live at most.   Well God is the one who decides and meanwhile we have been making tons of memories.  God is good. 

Thanks for dropping in. We covet your prayers for us and would ask that you ask God to give us clear direction on our mission trips. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

Update

It has been months since we have posted.  Life has been busy for sure.  Sherry's mom continues to need more and more care.   It truly is a long goodbye but we are thanking God for each new day we get to share with her. Her sense of humor has been intact so we laugh a lot in our home.

Since April we have focused mainly on our congregation. We sensed the Lord was reassigning things and so we wanted to be sure to be seeking Him and hearing clearly.  In the midst of it all, the Lord has been so faithful.   We have had baptisms, outreaches, joint worships, bible studies and love blooming in our grandchildren. Our two oldest granddaughters have accepted engagements from two of the most wonderful young men.  We are very excited for Christopher and Hannah and Will and Leah.  Both plan to marry this coming year so weddings will be a major focus.

Oh and we took a 3 week stay cation. We were tired and in need of rest,  We took our Leah for her graduation trip to Williamsburg Va. in the midst of our 3 weeks which so much fun.  God provided sitters at night for Sherry's mom and Jen and her husband watched her during the day so we could go.

Wayne and Sherry on our last day of vacation 

 Our Church joining with 7 other Churches for worship on our town square

Jesus said we will be known by our love for one another and this visibly demonstrates to our community that truth, it is always the highlight of our summer.

 Christopher and Hanna as they announce their engagement

 Two of our Church members passing out water at the Annual Arts Festival 

 Ladies summer bible study 

 One of many baptism this summer

 Will and Leah happy about their engagement

 Leah in Williamsburg- we take all the kids somewhere for their senior trip

 Granny waiting for her milkshake and burger, she loves to eat out

 All of our Grandchildren and Granny 

 Praying for our Grandson Nathan as we send him off to another year at the Emerging Sound Music Camp

Sending a group of our young people, including our two youngest grands, for a summer mission trip

Adrian and Jen....we are so proud of them both.  They are awesome parents and a wonderful example of a godly Christ centered marriage

We continue to pray for a spiritual awakening in our nation which is so divided. We know that the Lord is the only answer to the turmoil.  Our prayer is that the body of Christ will be walking epistles so that the world may know.

Thank you for taking time to read our update.  We anticipate a busy fall with international visitors and special speakers at our Church.  We hope to be able to travel together to Latvia this coming spring and of course we want to be able to visit Ukraine this coming year as well.  God will order our steps according to His plan though so we wait on His direction.  

God bless you. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

FRIDAY

Good morning from Latvija (their spelling).  It is -2C this morning (28 F). Nice and crisp with freshness in the air.

View from PW's room on this crisp morning

The trees are budding, the tiny flowers in the grass are popping out, birds are singing, and students look sleepy  :-)  They have been incredibly attentive all week - several students who looked glum and detached on Monday, have been attentive and smiling at the end of the week.  These students have had lots of fundamental teaching over the past 11 months, and as several have confided in me, this class (counseling) brought a lot of the teaching together.
You can see light bulbs going off when counseling topics are taught, probably because it touched their life.

One young lady confided about her family life in her country.  Terrible situation with father, but Christian mother, and lots of personal emotional pain.  She is determined to overcome the family obstacles and work in ministry  :-)

Today we are teaching on the importance of homework.  Jesus gave homework (for instance, the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:16-22). Today is the day they take the test (this morning), and before we began class, the students were quizzing each other on information that was taught this week :-)

Yesterday the students had the afternoon off (after 2:30 pm). They had a bar-b-que (Latvian style) with grilled chicken legs and beef, and boiled potatoes, sliced cucumbers and white bread (treat!).  They surprised Wayne and Paul with a plate of food.  It was an honor and treat !!!!  Then .... they brought us ice cream ... made with real cream !!!  What this told us was they appreciated the teaching.  For the most part, they have moved from glum students to smiling students.

The translators: we have had several translators during the week. Ilva is on staff, was a student several years ago, and translates most of the day.  She also uses her notes from her student days to follow the points as she translates into Latvian. Alex (student 2 yrs ago), on staff, translates from English to Russian. In the afternoons the students translate. This is impressive!!!  When Ilva gets stuck on a translation, some of the students quickly offer translation solutions. The real interesting thing about this ... when you have to translate a concept from one language to a totally different language (English to Russian or Latvian) you are pondering the concept twice.  That improves memory of the concept. 

Ilva was a prized student of ours
Her note book has very detailed notes and often she will ask if we are going to cover a certain point which she found helpful in  her time at BSM or she will point out we forgot to add something.  She keeps us on our toes. 

Alex is the guy with the ear contraption

This is Jesus....he moves around the classroom daily, one never knows where he will land

Test time

This evening PW and  PH are meeting with two former students of ours. Rihard and Eva were our students last year and are now newly married. Their story is amazing and if given permission I will post it soon.  It is always a special privilege for us to continue relationships with those we ministered to and this couple is no exception.  They contact us regularly asking for advice etc. 

Other information: please pray for this school and the ministry.  The building was built in the Soviet era. The walls are thick (1 foot thick concrete) and sound. The students room are adequate, and the kitchen is sufficient. Please appreciate that the facilities are spartan; however, adequate for the purpose.   The biggest concern is the heating system and the facilities for the visiting teachers.  A church team from Florida is coming this summer to work on the apartment for visiting teachers (pray for their safety and that all the materials are ready when they get here). The school director (Pastor Danny Pedraza) informed us that the heater system is the next critical issue. It is old (Soviet) and in the winter, they have to turn off the building heater to have hot water for showers (too inefficient for both hot water and heat).  Please pray that (1) the school will get a reasonable price for the replacement and (2) that churches would feel impressed from the Lord to help with the support for a new heater.

Danny and Damaris Pedraza

Please pray for safe travels for Wayne and Paul to the US, starting Friday night in the US. They leave the school at 4 am Latvian time on Saturday, catch a 6 am flight to Frankfurt, then arrive in Toronto at noon on Saturday. They drive to Chardon from Toronto arriving Saturday early evening.