feeling of nostalgia

God wants everybody to be saved and come to truly know Him. (1Timothy 2:4)

Sometimes Americans find themselves having a feeling of nostalgia when they live in a foreign country that has a McDonald’s. There are times when a family just needs a hamburger and French-fries. However, in this incident I had a purely Russian experience under the “Golden Arches” and praise God for it.

Our family attended a Russian Baptist Church on the south side of St. Petersburg this past Sunday. We walked and traveled by metro train for about an hour for Buck to have the opportunity to preach and for our family to worship with one of the four Russian Baptist Union churches in a city populated with 4.7 million. Before the service a gentleman approached me whom I assumed to be a believer and asked me to meet with him and his two daughters to help with English as a second language. One of the daughters attends a university in Saint Petersburg. She was having a written exam on Thursday of this week, and the father was concerned for his daughter’s learning and asked me to dialog with her. We exchanged phone numbers to set up a meeting time and place.

Two days later Buck talked with the father, and I met the family at McDonald’s on Wednesday. Sitting down to eat, I noticed that they did not ask a blessing; therefore, I suggested that we pray before we eat. I began to notice certain things that were indicators that possibly they were not believers. After our prayer, we began introducing ourselves. This family is from Murmanskaya oblast, one of the most northern regions of Russia located to the right of Finland by the White Sea. The father is visiting the oldest daughter attending the university. The youngest daughter will be coming to live in Saint Petersburg next year.

Immediately I remembered Buck casually saying, “Leslie, this may be a witnessing opportunity for you because the girls may not be saved.” I had the privilege for an hour before we started speaking in English to give a gospel presentation in Russian. I finished by asking specific, culturally based questions about beginning a personal relationship with God.

Then three miracles took place. The father, Anatolly, his elder daughter Anna, and his younger daughter, DeAnna, prayed to begin a relationship with the Father on the top floor at a middle table in McDonald’s. Wednesday, July 24, 2002, only twelve days before we leave the country for stateside assignment, God allowed me to have the privilege to share with the people of this area about Him and see three new children born into His family. Praise God people can find the Old Rugged Cross anywhere, even under the Golden Arches that day. (A Winter’s Path, 2003, devotion 16)
In His Love,
Les