"As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
God has done some great things over the last few weeks with the English ministry!
One of my English students, who I privately tutor as a part of both of our jobs in the church, has massively improved in her English skills. That's surprising to me, because I'm in no way a professional English tutor. In fact, she and I have had many frustrating lessons because I don't speak much Russian and her English was about as good as my Russian.
I remember our first meeting was really hard for her, because she didn't understand barely anything I said to her. We used google translate almost completely to talk to each other. (which is difficult because Google translate is often wrong for our purposes).
Well, we've had 5 meetings, and on our 5th meeting, she told me, in broken English, how God has given her motivation to learn English and how she sees it as important for her ministry too. I thought, "WOW, praise the Lord!" She had previously been very unmotivated with learning English because it's so hard for her.
That was a few days ago, and I gave her homework to do since then. This morning I got an emil from her with sentences she wanted me to check for correctness (she's studying some of the irregular verbs now). This wasn't part of her homework, she just decided to do this on her own to help her study more! I was amazed by God's work in her heart and this change in her attitude :)
......
The other thing that God has done with English ministry is to help us start the English club for non-believers. Our first meeting was this past Thursday and we'll have 3 more meetings, and hopefully more after I get a new visa and stay in Ukraine.
This English club is based on conversation to help promote conversation about God and the gospel. We got to know our students through an informal interview style. We reviewed some new words for them, helped them with some common English sounds, and we reviewed some grammar as well.
After the meeting I could tell the students liked it by the looks on their faces. They thanked me a lot for putting on the club and they look forward to our next meeting.
Praise the Lord! His word does not return to Him void! He does as He pleases, when He pleases, and all His purposes are good!
I am so encouraged by my relationship with Christ, and the things He has done in my life and ministry lately that it all greatly outweighs any suffering I have experienced here in Ukraine.
Stay tuned for more updates!
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