Sunday (Is it true?)

Tonight after the meeting I met Vladimir. He told me (through Natasha, of course) that he had come both nights. Then he asked bluntly, “Is it true?” It turns out that he is a scientist and teaches science at a nearby university. “Is it true?” he asked again. “If so, then I have been teaching a lie to my students all these years.” He went on to say that he has read the bible many times and has read many books about the Bible but he has never understood it. And then he said, “What should I do? I feel guilty. I don’t understand or believe the Bible. What should I do?” We shared with him that we believe in a God who is the God of science and the God of the Bible and that the two can agree. We encouraged him to keep coming and promised that we would pray for him. Please help us pray for him. I hope to have good news about Vladimir in the coming days.

Things were going well and we were in full swing this evening when it suddenly screeched to a grinding halt. I had just read a Bible verse and was waiting for Natasha to interpret when she called my attention to the screen. The verse wasn’t there! Somehow, in the middle of the presentation, the slides had become un-synchronized. I quickly reset the presentation but it didn’t help so for the next several minutes I had to compensate manually any time there was a Bible verse. On a verse slide, I would say my part and then I would back up to the previous slide where verse was displayed. After a while I got pretty good at it. Eventually the slides became synchronized again. I can guarantee that I’m not going to let that happen again! I’m going to personally recheck all slides after all our editing is done to make sure they all make sense together.


After the meeting, I was sitting in my room minding my own business when in walks Natasha and the church doctor. Earlier, I had made the mistake of telling Natasha that my throat was starting to feel scratchy. A word of advice…never tell Natasha you think you might be getting sick. Twenty minutes later the doctor left but not before twisting my body in ways that it was not meant to be twisted, cracking my joints including spine, knuckles and wrists, and rubbing my ears (circulation, I gather), After he left, I was subjected to a do-it-yourself program of disease prevention (or die trying). The first course of treatment consisted of tea. First a cup of chamomile, then lemon (with no sugar), and last (gasp) crushed garlic and hot water straight up. After three slices of raw lemon we moved on to the next step. The plan was to do some hot and cold fomentations on my feet, but, just then, the power went out and I was spared (which just goes to prove that there still is some good in this world). By laptop light, we moved on to the last course which consisted of a foul-smelling compound that I rubbed on my back (the pastor helped with that), chest, neck, and feet. With a vitamin pill for good measure I finally made it into bed. I think the treatments may have worked. Knowing that the treatment is worse then the sickness I have decided that I will just simply not get sick. After all, it’s all mind over matter, right? But seriously, we’re praying hard about this and continue to appreciate your prayers.