Daily pray for others

God answers our prayers, sometimes even doubling our request. Sunday was a day of encouragement. A young guy repented after the morning worship time. He is very dear to me; I have been praying for him daily. The most wonderful thing happened though. After he prayed, his best friend did, too. You know, sometimes all people need is a little affirmation. Today is the day to start telling others how much you care and think of them. A few words of encouragement may be just what is needed for someone to take that next step. God bless you!
In His Love,
Les

Somebody’s watching you.

As we walk the streets and ride the metro in urban Moscow, we move along at a normal pace and sometimes do not focus on what is happening around us. Let me tell a story about what took place as we ventured to church one day. For this kind of event, I should have been paying more attention. As our family traveled the subway with millions of other passengers and blended in with our dark colored coats, we stepped into the wagon and settled into our seats as usual. Or, so I thought.

That morning I had a heavy heart. I was worrying about some things and feeling rather guilty about some mistakes that I had made. The family was spread out. I was sitting by myself. One child was across from me, another to the right and Buck and the other child were across from the door. Since we had about a 45 minute ride, I began contemplating. Eventually I lowered my head, prayed and asked the Lord’s forgiveness for where I had failed Him. I started to repeat my prayer over and over again. “Lord, please forgive me. I love you.” But then a still, small, not audible voice, said, “Move on and just feed My sheep.”

Wow! With tears forming in my eyes and a light heart now, I was not expecting the mission that was about to be handed to me. I was not paying attention to the somebody that was watching us. Buck was aware of what was taking place this time, but I was not. A lady was sitting near our family and crying. We arrived at our stop, the last on the north train line, and exited onto the platform. I generally make sure the kids make it off first for fear of separation, so I was behind the family. A lady with a large, weaved bag of goods stopped me. I just knew that she was ready to sell me something. She forced a pair of tights in front me and said take these. I shook my head and firmly said, “No.” She insisted that I take them for my older daughter. She replied that they were a gift. I was caught off guard. I took the hose and said, “Thank you.”

As she was walking away with the flow, I remembered what the Lord told me: “Feed My sheep.” My thoughts were: How am I going to catch up with her? Yet, I knew that I had to. I turned to Buck and asked if he had a tract. He did. He was prepared. I looked at Buck and without saying a word he knew that I was going to chase after her. As he watched the kids and waited on me, I ran and stopped the lady. I said to her, “You do not know how much you have blessed me today. I just wanted to let you know how much this gift has meant, especially right now.”

She began to cry and share with me about personal matters. Coming from a recently broken home, she listened as I tried to consult her and share about God’s love. She told me that she was watching our family and noticed the love between father and children—between us. She wanted to reward us with a gift, because we appeared to be a family that stays together. After sharing the Gospel with her, I handed her a tract. We parted and went our separate ways. I will never see her again or know of her true relationship with the Lord. But I learned a lesson: Somebody is always watching you, so be ready at all times to bring the lost to Him and feed His sheep. Even when I least expect an opportunity, I must be watching.
-The Chosen Path, L.Burch

Last great snow

I think that we have had our last great snow of the year. Here is a pic of Amielle and me right outside our apartment door in the courtyard.



And soon our snow will be melting away. It has actually been above freezing this week. And this morning we heard the men knocking the snow and ice off the tops of the buildings. We live in a building with only seven floors now. We have lived on the 20th floor before. However, this job has to be done regularly on these not so tall and older complexes. Here are a few pics taken from our apartment window. How would you like this job? Unfortunately they do not use ropes for protection. They are not aware, but I pray for their safety.

Lizzie Viola Arnette, age 93, died Feb. 20, 2010

Grandmama definitely was a person of stamina. Her age was even proof of that. She always followed through with her responsibilities and commitments. She was a quiet person yet strong and vocal where her beliefs were concerned. She was a great listener, for I know that she would sit for hours and hear my thoughts. She was a great encourager and constant companion. She daily stayed by Granddaddy’s side over the years no matter what. She was a determined person. For this reason alone, she desired to be in the presence of her children for so long. She was not a quitter; she endured to the end.

I heard that Grandmama opened her eyes on Friday for three minutes one last time. And what did she see? She saw her three daughters standing by her who loved her very much. She saw the three sisters who were always faithful. It is special that she gave each a minute a piece. That is all she needed. I think that may have been her way of saying, “Thank you for all you did, my Darlings.”

I talked with Grandmama that same morning. I remember hearing her rhythmic breathing over the cell phone as I said my last words to her. She did not respond; it was not necessary. She heard me though. I also prayed with her and asked the Lord to just let her rest and sleep and awake to see Him. I did not tell her goodbye. I could not bring myself to do it. So, in my heart I said, “Grandmama, I will see you soon.”

God does all things in His timing. It was Grandmama’s moment to see her Master face to face. I trust that she stood before the Lord that Saturday morning and heard His sweet voice say similar words like these: Welcome Home. Share in this joy—this wonderful place that I have prepared for you.

I thank the Lord for Grandmama’s testimony. We can say that Lizzie Arnette served the Lord well and was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and friend to many. May we all trust in the Lord as she did!

In closing I found a poem that I want to share. The author is unknown.
Life is but a stopping place,
A pause in what's to be,
A resting place along the road,
to sweet eternity.
We all have different journeys,
Different paths along the way,
We all were meant to learn some things,
but never meant to stay...
Our destination is a place,
Far greater than we know.
For some the journey's quicker,
For some the journey's slow.
And when the journey finally ends,
We'll claim a great reward,
And find an everlasting peace,
Together with the Lord

-Les, 2010

My Grandma!

This is a picture that was taken several years ago of my beautiful grandmother. One of the hardest things to handle while living on the mission field is not being able to drive around the block or across town to see your loved ones. I would right now if I could.

When I was a little girl, I would actually ride my bike down an old dirt road and across a wooden bridge to get to grandma's house. You could actually see the water flowing beneath you as you steered carefully. Spending the night with my grandparents was just the thing to do. She always fixed me just what I wanted and that was usually fried chicken, peas, rice and cornbread. Well, granddaddy and I would sometimes crumble the cornbread up in a glass of milk at the end of the meal. Have you ever had a better dessert than that? Memories. I love my grandma!

Coming soon...

I often mention the importance of your e-mails, Skype talks/chats, comments, etc. I cannot say it enough though. I enjoy hearing from you and sharing in your lives as well. I know how much you pray for us. For that we are appreciative, but today I want to say thanks for your friendship!

Coming soon...It seems like each month a theme develops for these posts. Apparently for the month of February it has mostly been about family and homeschooling. It looks like as we head into March that we will be discussing partnerships. I am presently gathering my journals about "Women Partnering Cross-culturally". Today I posted a link to the most recent video with Dr. Robert White, executive director of the GA Baptist Convention, about the GBC partnership with Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia. Watch it here.

Please at any point share ideas with me about your interest for future post. God bless!
In His Love,
Les

A homemaker.

For many years now, homeschooling has become the most pleasurable part of my day. I remember even when I had elementary-aged children and Buck often traveled that I still found ways, though, to be involved in other ministries. I have been talking with a couple of my closest friends lately about these very things and setting priorities. Having spoken on this topic years ago at a seminar, I want to list four facets of ministry: 1) Ministry to husband; 2) Ministry to children; 3) Ministry to the lost; and 4) Ministry to national believers.


The order of importance is imperative but not restricted to isolation. In other words, I found myself learning to be multi-tasked more and more as a homemaker. Naturally I prefer to stay focused on one project until I complete it, but I learned how to devote my attention on more than one thing at a time, especially since I homeschooled while living on the mission field. I began making more use of my time, energy, gifts and devotion in a variety of ways.

Let me explain. My responsibilities to my husband are to help him and to be his best friend and devoted lover. I also need to support him in all that he does by building up his male ego and encouraging him constantly. I found myself making sure that I supplied all his needs. If I did not know what those needs were, I asked. And when I questioned him, I made sure I did what he wanted. That is the key factor and hard part. If I asked, I had to be willing and committed to follow through. I am to be his helpmate.


My ministry to the children is to love and care for them, supply their needs and disciple them. Supplying their needs meant nursing them at a young age, homeschooling them, making sure that they were involved in extra-curricular activities and that their social needs were met. I often found friends for the kids. I would purposefully meet parents and neighbors, so the kids could make new friends.


I would label the third facet a ministry to the lost. Revisiting the reason that I came to the field as a missionary, I concluded that we are to tell people about Jesus. I looked at it this way: No matter what position we are in, what we do on a team, what role we hold in the family, we must evangelize. Many times I found myself even searching for opportunities to witness. In actuality most of the opportunities presented themselves right before me (i.e., landlords’ visits, repair men, neighbors, teachers of my children [language or music], people in the markets and stores). These are all ministry opportunities from the home.


The last one is ministry to national believers. My desire for ministry in this area is to encourage and disciple women. Whether coordinating a women’s conference with Russian sisters and American volunteer speakers via internet, facilitating small groups in the home, encouraging young girls who stop by or using the gift of hospitality, ministry can happen right from the home. I actually found that ministry automatically happened. After the children got a little older, I started other ministries outside of the home once a week.


I have more written about these matters that we may discuss another time. However, I have begun to approach the topic of priorities and ministries quite differently in the last few years. Ministry is family and all that blossoms out of this beautiful setting. In earlier years as I led women’s groups in the states, I used to teach that you must put your priorities in order: 1) God, 2) husband, 3) children and then 4) church. This idea is a good one but a little shallow in thought. We must think on a deeper level. Our ministry involves all these things; they are all an outpouring of one another. Of course, God is always at the top of our “list”. But, think about it, we—our husband and children, eventually church family and colleagues—work together for a great cause; everything we do is ministry. It is all done together. It is like a package deal. This is why I have labeled the various areas facets. What a deep discussion to explain in a few paragraphs but one warranting dialogue!
-The Chosen Path, L. Burch

Thank you, prayer warriors and supporters! We have had the funds to homeschool our kids while being IMB missionaries. Your gifts to Lottie Moon Offerings have been put to use. God bless.