Friday - December 15, 2006

I was the first American up. Anna had been up before me. She and I asked questions about each other’s country. She had fun using her English, which was very good. It was rather funny because Anna would often correct our English. Her English was better than ours because she didn’t use slang or other such things.

We ate at Pastor M’s house and hung around there until it was time for the meeting that night. We drove for one hour and arrived at Dnepropestrovsk. Justin T had the sermon about Ellen White as a person. The people were very warm and friendly. There was standing room only in that church, which was good since it wasn’t heated. (More people, more body heat.)

We got back to Pastor M’s house at 10 or 11pm and ate supper. It was strange at first, eating at odd hours, but as the days went by, I began to get accustomed to it. We always had tea when we ate. I drank more tea in the ten days I was there than I had in my entire life. (New experiences are always good.)

We got back to the church and started preparing our seminars for the next day. Some people went to bed at 2, others at 4 or 5. We had to get up the next morning at 6:30, eat breakfast, and be on the road by 8.

It was hard, but during the entire time we were there, God always gave us the strength needed for the day. Sure, we felt tired, but it was not when we needed to speak about God. When it was time to present our seminars or work behind the scenes, God removed our weariness and gave us strength.