A story of a church member that came to outreach with one of the One Year for Jesus teams.
One Year for Jesus teams continue to reach out. They put all efforts to share the vision with churches and individuals to become witnesses of Christ. In Omsk Nehemiah Church some of the lay people have opportunity to join the team for a day or two during the weekend. Here is a story of one of the church members that joined the team for a day.
– The day when I went to outreach with One Year for Jesus team from our church was the day of excitement. God filled it with special joy. On that day the team carried the message of salvation to people in the village of Mikhailovka and visited our Christian sisters in the town of Leninsk.
We arrived to Mikhaylovka village with the Good news that God loves people, forgives their sins and can change lives, crippled by sin. Mikhailovka is a very small village in one street. Sixty people live in this village. And although now is the time of mowing the hay, people welcomed us and listened to what we had to say. Not every one of them agreed to reconcile with God. A lot of disbelief, a lot of hope in their own strength, a lot of resentment against God… Satan deceives them. They are blinded by their own lawlessness. Many people blame God in their troubles, whether it is a child's death or social disadvantage. Speaking of death of children, one woman told us that one of her sons went through the first Chechen war campaign, he returned to his home village safe and sound. He was not an alcoholic, but once he was at a drinking party, where he drank a lot, on the way home he fell asleep in the street and froze to death.
In spite of all that the Lord gave wisdom! With love and patience we turned people’s eyes and hearts to Christ, who gives answers and cures hearts. We rejoiced when one soul repented. And those who did not pray with us took a booklet with a prayer of repentance. Some people gave us their addresses for correspondence.
Leaving the village, I remembered that one young man said that Mikhaylovka was an abandoned and forgotten village. And I thought how wonderful that God has not forgotten it. And what a joy, that on this day we became a tool in the hands of the Lord to reach people's hearts.
Before heading back to town, we had another mission. We met with our sisters in the village of Leninsk. By the way, for whatever reason one cannot find this little town on the map. But there are three precious sisters who love the Lord, three old women there. On the way to them we picked up a young man who worked in Leninsk and invited him to stay with us for Bible study. He stayed. We prayed together, read the Bible, sang the songs of praise, and had lunch together. The young man was very happy that he joined us and said he would come again to visit our three sisters.
Our brothers helped one of the old women to cut woods. She was very thankful and happy.
Returning home, we sang to the Lord and joy filled our hearts! And for some it was a typical day...
Lyubov Malyutina
Nehemiah Church, Omsk
