Rejoicing over what God has done

While we were in Latvia we had two students who were new believers. They had been living together before they came to faith in Christ and when they repented they broke up and decided to go to Bible School for one year to get their lives in order and pray about whether they were to be together.  We had the privilege of talking and praying with them on several occasion while there for our two weeks and helped them come up with a plan to follow when they left school so they could investigate what they were to do for their future.  Anyway to make a long story short, we just found out a few weeks ago that they are engaged and going to get married.  We love them and are so thankful for the Lords faithfulness in blessing us in our obedience.

Please pray for Rihard and Eva as they begin their new life together. 

Aren't they adorable?  

Much love, PW and Sherry

The Long Good bye

It is a beautiful Spring day today, Oh I forgot to mention it is November 18, and it is 78 degrees and sunny. So I am sitting outside enjoying the weather as long as I can.  As I have sat here and prayed and meditated on the word, I find myself getting nostalgic.

As you know my (Sherry) mom has been declining in her health for some time and as the days progress into winter she seems to be slipping away from us. Not physically, but her mind is getting a bit confused these days. It is like a long good bye. Each day I wake up and wonder if I will be spending it with my old mom or the new one.  Now mind you, the new one is as sweet and funny as the old, but sometimes our conversations are rather basic due to her condition.  I love when she is searching for a memory of some conversation we just had and she announces with a twinkle in her eye, darn that short term memory.  I don't think I could handle this if her sense of humor was not intact.  God is so gracious to us.

I was thinking back over our lives together.  My mom was one of those moms who poured herself into her family. I was an only child and when I was 10 my dad died suddenly.  I remember as a little girl how unsettling that was, but mom was a rock for me during that season of life. Even with her own pain she always had time to spend with me and take such good care of my  needs.  We would talk for hours about all the good times we had with Daddy and it would somehow make it seem like he was still with us. She eventually married again to a wonderful man named George who had two kids.  So I went from being an only child to a middle child.  Oh my what a change. But mom was always there for me and we loved our new family.  

Mom always worked during the school year as a secretary, but arranged her house so she was home when we were home.  And the best part she made sure she had her summers off so we could be together.  We like so many families have tons of memories and most of them are good.

Mom was there for me when I had trouble at School, or was sick or when I got married and was having problems and then when our daughter was born and I knew nothing about kids, mom was there.  Always with good advice and stability.  And she was and is a fabulous Grandma and Great Grandma.  Ask any of our 5 Grandchildren.

After mom gave her life to Christ she got even better.  Her life was spent serving others and caring for those God brought across her path.  She loves to evangelize even now and so no one got away without hearing the gospel at least once.  She started a blog a few years ago title The Granny Grams where she continued to share what God was teaching her and also the need for each person to give their lives to Christ.

But I have realized that as mom changes, if I am not careful I look at her each day and wait for the old mom to show up and if she does not it makes me very very sad.  So I said all of that to say that the Lord has shown me how important it is to do as Paul said  in Philippians 3:13: Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet;but one thing I do, FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND and REACHING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I PRESS ON TOWARD the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

As I tuck her in each night her last words to me are always,  I love you and thank you for taking such good care of me.  What a precious memory to add to my list of things I love about her.

So what I am learning, note I said learning, is to celebrate each day for what it is and not look back always wanting things to return to what they were yesterday or last year or farther back.  This is the season God has me in and it is to be celebrated. It will not be wasted with what ifs and I wish we could go back.   This is an opportunity for me to give back to mom all the love and care she gave to me for years without ever complaining.  This is my opportunity to model to others how a believer in Jesus shows honor to a parent and handles difficulty.  God will not give me more than I can handle. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

So as I say  my long goodbye to mom I will mediate on what the  Psalmist said in Psalm 33:20-22 My soul waits for the Lord; He is my help and my shield. For my heart rejoices in Him, because I trust in His holy name.  Let your loving kindness, O Lord, be upon me. According as I have hoped in you.

I hope this has been an encouragement to you to look at your life and see how you are handling the season God has you.

Much love,
Sherry

Times of testing

James 1: 2-4 says: Consider it all joy,  my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

I just realized today that we have not posted anything since our return from Latvia in May.  Two weeks after our return, Sherry's mom had a stroke and was in the hospital for 2 long weeks then came home and needed extra care for most of the summer. Sherry is the primary caretaker so time was definitely taken up with her care.  If it had not been for our family and those from our Church stepping up to help it would have been overwhelming.  They provided respite, meals and just encouragement. It made such a difference.  God used each one at the exact moment they were needed to help carry the load.

PW was also battling health issues. The summer was spent going to specialists, having tests done and then thankfully in September we finally got a good report and all is clear, no cancer, no lymphoma no anything life threatening.  We definitely learned a lot about healing during this summer.  Learning to stand on the promises of God for His children and rejoicing when we saw the fruition of those things for which we prayed.

At the present time both of our moms are still with us but both are getting weaker and more needy of our care as the days progress. This is a season and we are so honored that God is giving us this time with them as they finish their race on this earth.

However in light of this, Sherry is not able to travel with PW for a bit.  That means we cannot visit Ukraine or Poland this year as much as our hearts would love to go.  The Latvian Bible School is coming up in April and unless things change PW will be attending and teaching alone.  This will be the first time we have not been able to go together.  Please pray that God will work out all the details and that we will wait patiently for His will to be accomplished in this season.

We have had a busy summer of ministry also.

Had the privilege of doing many baptisms like this one. 

Our Grandson, Nathan put on a concert of his original songs to earn money for his trip to Emerging Sound in July. 

WE said goodbye to our beloved treasurer, Cindy Easthom,  who was moving to Kentucky

Hosted our friends Roger and Josiah Harsh who are missionaries in Czech Republic

Hosted our friends Ebi, Jessica and Natasha Dudzhus from Ukraine

Went to Sherry's 50th class reunion

Participated in an awesome Prayer meeting, on our town square with over 250 saints from area Churches, crying out to God for our  nation. 

Did our annual Church free and living water outreach at the Chardon Arts festival

Here are some of our youth passing out tracts and water 

Had a family carnival for our community as an outreach

So that is our update so now you know how to pray for us.  May God bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you today and always.

Much love,
PW and Sherry

Bittersweet Friday

Well today was it.  Our final day with these amazing students.

This morning I was given this scripture and I think it is appropriate for us at this season.

Our hearts are filled with joy at the work that the Lord has done these past two weeks and we are definitely leaving in peace and with peace. Our assignment is finished.  There are not enough words in the English language to describe these two weeks.  We were so in awe of how God was using HIS word to speak to hearts and then we were privileged to watch them walk it out.

Here is our class this year. 

At the end of class they presented us with this card, kind words and candy and then surrounded us and prayed for us. We are always ministered to each year when the class does this and this year was no exception. 

We ended our day today saying goodbye to everyone.  Danny and Damaris came by for a visit and then we took Mauro and Julia to dinner at Chili Pizza.  We had such a nice time of fellowship. Both of these couples are truly amazing and love God and are committed to the people of Latvia.  Argentina is their home so this is a long way for them to come. 

This is Damaris and Danny 

And so we say goodbye to Latvia and our friends here and ask God to bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you until we meet again. We love you

We leave tomorrow at 1:55 Latvian time and fly to Frankfurt and have an over night layover. We leave Frankfurt Sunday Morning at 8:15 and Lord willing will arrive home by 4:15.  Can't wait to see our family and Church.  Please pray for us to have safe travels and for PW's back to not give him pain so he can enjoy the trip. Thanks so much. 

Much Love, 

Pw and Sherry

Thursday

Hello, this has been a long long day.  PW got up at 4 to spend time preparing for our classes which start at 8:15.  He had three classes, I had one plus the group time and I also was given the privilege to speak in the Chapel today.  We had several meetings with students and then after a quick dinner, we went to Riga where PW preached at a prayer meeting in one of the Churches there.  We just got home and it is after 10.  I am going to try to fulfill my promise to post pictures.

Erland and Veronika are former students of ours and they surprised us last night with their new baby and candies for us to enjoy.  They were telling us that today their Church was doing an outreach at a school in their town, they were passing out Operation Christmas Child boxes and presenting the gospel.  They have had several other outreaches since Christmas passing out the boxes (over 400) and many have come to Christ as a result. They preach the gospel at each event.  It is exciting to know that we as a Church have a small part in sending these boxes to children all over the world but most important to us is that each time a child is given a box, the gospel is preached to them.  So we encourage Christians everywhere to participate in this important ministry.

Sherry preaching in chapel

I forgot to add that we fit in a walk to the lake across from the school in a lovely park

Wayne does not like the cold at all.  It was 15 centigrade, around 50F ? One would think he was expecting snow. Really Wayne????????

Birch trees are everywhere and so pretty

This is Natalia, she works in the office, supervises students, is a dorm mom, and translates teachings into Russian and teaches a course at the school. She is invaluable in her ministry. 

This is Wayne preaching at the Church tonight.  We gave them greetings from our Church and also from Pastor Rannie Lamento in the Philippines who is praying for us this week and sent greetings. 

Tomorrow is our last day of classes and we will be saying goodbye to our students.  IT is always a bittersweet ending to our time here.  

Please continue to keep PW in prayer, his legs are starting to hurt again.  We will once again ask for prayer tomorrow.  There is a definite battle going on. 

It has been a blessed day for sure.  Our time here this year  has been challenging for us physically, but spiritually we are seeing fruit that only God could produce and we are understanding why there has been such an attack against PW's body.  We win.. PTL.

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

Wednesday

Today has been a whirlwind of activity. Between teaching, counseling and preaching, we have not had too much free time which is fine since we are here to minister, but it is hard to catch your breath at times.

Here is a picture story of our day and the students today in their small groups as they tried to strategize how to counsel the following situation.  The case study came from RickThomas.net,  who is an excellent biblical counselor.

Paula is 18-years old. She is the oldest of four kids. Her parents have been faithful to God all of her life and they are a tight-knit family. Ron, the dad, has taught his kids that they would never date until they are ready for marriage and the right guy comes along. This has never been a problem…

…it has never been a problem until Paula’s first semester in college. She now wants to date. Ron and Becky come to you for advice on how to respond to their daughter.

Application Questions

1. Is it wrong for Paula to date?
2. What should honoring her parents look like now that she is out of the home?
3. What Scriptures would you use to help guide the parents?
4. If Paula came to you for counseling, how would you counsel her?

I felt like a proud mom as they shared the answers on how to help this family.  It is always rewarding when you see them applying what has been taught. 

Here is a picture of a birthday gift from Kristians and Anna.  There picture will follow. 

I Love apples and this is a huge crisp sweet one. Can't wait to eat it for dinner tonight. 

The card says, YOU ARE GETTING OLDER

You can't avoid getting older, but you can avoid getting old.  It's all about attitude. 

Kristians and Anna

This is Olga and Raimond

They plan to  marry this coming year. 

Last but not least we wanted to share a picture of three of our translators

Klavs, a former student, an anointed worship leader and lover of God

Julia Martinez, a former student, loving wife to Mauro, fantastic cook and lover of God

And Illva, a former student, sweet character, and lover of God

We have been so blessed to work with these amazing young people and thank God daily for the privilege.  

Wayne preached tonight at the Salvation Russian Church again.   His topic was what does God's love look like in the Church, taken from the One Another passages in the New Testament.  It was not only an excellent word, but the congregation was receptive and leaning forward as he spoke and taking notes.  This is always an encouragement.  

After the service our friends Danny and Damaris took us to dinner at Chili Pizza to bless me for my birthday. I have spent the past 6 birthdays in Latvia.  Thank you friends for the dinner and fellowship.

And just as we started getting ready to go to bed a knock on our door brought a wonderful surprise. Two of our students from a few years ago came by to introduce us to their new baby.  We will share their story and picture tomorrow. 

Have a blessed day.  We love and miss you all, 

PW and Sherry

Tuesday

Today has been quite busy. We had classes all day so have not had much free time.  What we are noticing is that as the students listen to the teaching of the word and get to know us, that the Holy Spirit is targeting areas of their lives and so they are coming to us and wanting to talk. We praise God the privilege he has given us to speak into their lives. We do not take this lightly and are trusting God to bring lasting change.  Last night PW was out with 2 of the men that he had been ministering to and I was just getting ready to sit down to dinner and one of the girls knocked on the door and wanted to talk.  I love getting to know these students.  Of course I cannot share their stories because they are very personal, but God is definitely at work.

We are making disciples and teaching them to obey whatever Jesus commanded.   Disciple making is a new concept in Latvia, even though the Churches are very diligent to encourage prayer and bible reading.  However there is a huge shift taking place.

I had the joy of having coffee with two missionary ladies yesterday in between classes.  Both have been here from the States for over 17 yrs.  I felt like I had known them forever. I guess its like that when we meet family.  :>))))

I forgot to take pictures during class so here are some that I snapped in the evening. I promise to do a better job today.

This is the primary form of transportation for some of the students

These two students at their music theory class

The teacher and another student 

The thing that always amazes us is how serious these young people are about their walk with God.  In the evenings they have prayer meetings in the chapel that last for hours and you can hear them crying out to God in intercession.  They love to pray and are truly seeking God.  

We have another busy day today and I will write about it later. 

Much love, 

PW and Sherry

Monday - a Very good day

Today my heart is filled with joy as I think about how the Lord has blessed me with such a wonderful kind thoughtful husband.  You see it is my Birthday, I am ** yrs old today.  I woke up to a beautiful email card from him.  A lovely card from my Mother in law, a FB message from our daughter and a few friends, and a card from my Mom.  At Chapel service the class sang Happy Birthday to me and presented me with a delicious cake. It is a kind of cheese cake with berries on top.  As we left the chapel, PW showed up with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

We started course 2 today and talked about Life Dominating sins. The class assignment this week is for each of them to pick a sin in their lives that is dominating their lives and write out a plan for overcoming the sin based on the teachings we have done and will be doing.  I wish you could have seen the looks we got.  Of course we assured them that they did not have to tell us their sin, but just show us the paper showing they came up with a plan.   They have all week to work on this.  Starting tomorrow we will be addressing particular sin issues that we all deal with and then we will break up into groups and they will decide how to help someone with their problems.  IT should be a fun week.

We also had the honor of meeting with a few of the students.   

And now the perfect ending to the day, we are getting a new Tempurpedic style bed for our apt.  PW is putting it together with Ragnar.  

We love what we do and so appreciate the sacrifice of our family and those who give make in sending us.  I promise you the money invested has not gone to waste. Lives are being changed and for that we thank God.   

God bless you all. We love you, 

PW and Sherry

Every tongue and tribe will praise Him

We are sitting in our apartment listening to the rain beat down on the window.  I have to admit it is rather cozy feeling and the perfect back drop for a Sunday afternoon nap.  Our day is almost over here so we have already been to Worship service.  I was thinking of how the bible talks about every tongue and tribe will praise Him.  Listening to the worship in other languages and knowing God is being worshiped is an awesome experience.   Our friends here speak 3 or 4 languages each, and fluently I might add.   We have trouble with the one we speak.  LOL

Today we ministered at the Salvation Russian Church in Jelgava.
The Church is an old time Pentecostal Church and very traditional in one sense. Many of the women wear head coverings and no makeup.  The younger women have not adopted this custom though.  The service started with a few traditional hymns led by an older sister, followed by a brother who shared a scripture from Romans 15:3 and then expounded on it for about 15 minutes.

This was followed by the choir  and worship team singing

The harmony was incredible and we were able to truly enter into worship.

They had chosen several songs we knew. King of Kings, and then Sing Hallelujah, that always helps.

Then they prayed for the children.  

Then PW preached from Mark 6:45-52 about Jesus in the storms of life and how he gets in the boat with us.

After the offering then Danny got up and preached and confirmed the things that PW had preached.
So that made 3 sermons in one service. How many of us would sit through that and actually listen and enjoy without looking at your watch?  This is normal here.  The people are hungry for the truth of Gods word.  You should hear them pray.  Oh my, it is beautiful as they all pray at the same time crying out to God for whatever is on their hearts.  The Church was almost full for the pre service prayer time.

The culture of this Church is similar to the Czechs, while you preach they show no emotion or response and one would think the message is falling on deaf ears.  Until the invitation at the end when you can see the fruit of your preaching as they come down the aisles for prayer and repentance. Many were crying and we had the privilege of praying with them.

After service we were blessed to eat a delicious mean prepared by one of the ladies of the Church.
It has been a good day all in all.

Here are some of the houses that the communists built which now surround the Church.

Tomorrow we begin week 2 of our teaching. Please pray for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to have his anointing as we teach. Pray for the students hearts to be open and for the conviction of the Holy Spirit in their lives.  We have already had some testimonies from some about how as we taught the Lord was pinpointing things in their lives that needed to change.  All glory and honor to Him who is the Wonderful Counselor.

Pray also for our moms and family. The final days of our trips are always the longest to them.

Much love,
PW and Sherry