Thank You for Your Prayers!

Me with Indian ChildrenHi!

I just wanted to say thank you so much for your prayers while we were in the villages – Yulia and I were very, very busy in all our travels to the villages in Orissa, but everything went very smoothly and there were no problems at all with any persecution. We were in safe areas.

Living conditions were, of course, sub-standard. We often didn’t have water to bathe in, and when we did have water we bathed from a bucket. It’s good for me that I do that anyway in Russia, so I’m used to it.

I became accustomed to reading in a dim beam of light coming from my window under the forest trees, because the electricity was out almost as much as it was on. Then Yulia laughed at me because when the electricity was on, I would forget to turn on the light and be straining to read my Bible in the dark.

Foreigners must drink bottled water because they often get sick drinking local water (I won’t tell you why – you don’t want to know).

When we were in the villages and I was offered water by my host families. I prayed over it and drank it. When there was a moth in my coffee at a church I fished it out and drank the coffee. I don’t like coffee in the first place, so what’s extra moth-flavouring? My host/interpreter kept saying, “You are so good. You are so good!” She went on to tell me that missionaries always bring their own water and food, and won’t take what their hosts give them, whether they mean it or not, it builds a barrier between them, essentially telling the people their food is not good enough for them. She told me the people received me much better because I ate what I was given.

I must say, however, when you are a guest, they give you their best, and a lot of it – I ate mountains and mountains of white rice everywhere we went. When I came to the big city after leaving the villages I asked my hosts, “please, no rice!” I couldn’t handle one more grain. In two weeks I think I ate more rice than I’ve eaten in my whole life.

Preaching In IndiaWe were so busy – last week I preached in about 8 churches (which was a surprise to me). I was expecting to go to two orphanages, but ended up visiting four. Met lots of wonderful people, saw lots of beautiful kids, and people who are sacrificing much to help the children. I’ll write more about it in my newsletter, I just wanted to tell you BIG thank you for your prayers. I know they are the reason everything went smoothly.

With love and gratitude and prayers for you and your family,

Nicola : )