Dear Ones,
We’ve had a frustrating, difficult, rewarding & exciting week, all at the same time. Mike had a nasty lung infection (as many have here) so we tried to keep him home. I called on Ivan, our new designated Sakha taxi driver to be my wheels this week. He spent several years in Scandinavia & speaks English. He’s so open in our talks with him about faith. He helped me converse with the pharmacists, to buy medicines for Mike, and took me to food stores and wherever needed and only charges us 50 rubles ($2.00) per trip.
Mike began his systematic training course at our Sat. home church meeting. For 3 hours he taught 18 attributes of the Father with our new Sakhalyy study guide. We’re adapting the Diploma in Christian Studies program from Masters Graduate School of Divinity: a perfect foundation for this flock. Next week he’ll teach Jesus, as God the Son. The people are so eager to learn the Word & they have so many questions. Mike stressed that our study of God isn’t for information, but for transformation. Our knowing becomes worship, & true worship is bold faith & obedience. God’s person & attributes cannot be separated from His will for our lives. A person cannot love God and ignore His will (Matthew 7:21).
It is really exciting to see Ludmila grow as she translates for us. How exciting it was for me to see a light of understanding go on when she realized that Jesus was pre-incarnate & existing with the God the Father before He was born as a baby. I was explaining that all things were made through Jesus Christ–as He was a co-agent of creation with the Father in the beginning. She hadn’t understood John 1:1 before. In the Sakha Bible it says that in the beginning was the “Tongue” (Word), relating to Jesus. She did not understand this concept. There is so much we take for granted. It’s really eye opening & thrilling teaching believers who have never before had any exposure to scriptural or Christian concepts!
After the meeting, I prayed for one of our ladies. A neighbor’s big dog attacked & viciously bit into her abdomen. Providentially she’s a large lady with “padding” so no vital organs were cut. I prayed for physical healing & for the Lord to take away any fear. She’s so precious. The people really love us & we’re honored & humbled to be serving them. God has given us an important charge of sharing His Word and His love with His people here. I’m still working on the Sakha song book, as we share and learn the songs together. I play my guitar at the meetings and the people love to sing with the guitar.
 We teach conversational English classes to all 2nd year students at the college this week, 3 hrs a day Tues.--Sat. Next week we have all 1st year students Mon.--Sat. We brought our 120+ DVD movie library with us, & this week we’ll show the film: “End of the Spear”, the story of 5 US missionaries martyred in 1954 in the Amazon jungle—and of the subsequent conversion of the tribe via the wives of the slain missionaries. We’ll take a couple days to discuss the film in English with the students. Pray God opens their hearts. We meet weekly now with the college dance teacher & her talented students. It’s great exercise, time with the students, & learning dances from across Asia, plus tango, cha-cha, & waltzes!
I’m really missing fresh veggies & fruit. The “road” to Vilyuisk is closed for many days due to major flooding & the stores are very low on supplies. But I thank our Lord for all we do have. Soon the rivers will thaw & Vasili will be back with fresh fish & duck. I think we’ve found a new favorite food! As nicely as I can explain it: when the moose is decapitated & de-furred, all “soft” material inside & outside the skull is removed, ground-up together & mashed into a pate’ (like sausage or “scrapple” for you PA folks!). Cooking it is optional. Luda can’t give a precise English definition for it [perhaps that’s good], so we’ve dubbed it “Bullwinkle’s Surprise”—not flashy but satisfactory for something; MMMMM—so tasty!
All our love in Christ,
Diane & Michael Meagher
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