Psalm 118

"Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord. These gates lead to the presence of the Lord, and the godly enter there. I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory...He is for me; What can man do to me?...This is the day that the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118: 19-20, 6, 24

Psalm 118 has really stuck with me during the past week.  I was challenged to genuinely desire the Lord and to be intentional about seeking His presence.  It was also an encouraging reminder to live with an eternal purpose and a hope that we will one day enter His gates and be with Him forever!

I've also been burdened to pray for people at home too from things people post on Facebook or prayer requests from church.  For one, Pastor Jim, my pastor from church, is battling an unexpected cancer and he was just put on hospice.  This was hard news to hear, but I also read that there would be a prayer vigil at 7pm at my church.  After reading Psalm 118, I asked God to wake me up at 2am if he wanted me to pray with my fellow church members at the same time (with the time difference).  Anyways, I went to bed that night only to suddenly wake up to my roommate yelling in Russian.  By the way, she also started slapping me!  When I looked at my clock it said 2:11.  Oh my, God works in funny ways! :)
There are so many people suffering and hurting, but we can trust in the Lord's might strength and provision.  One of my students mentioned that he didn't see how the Bible related to his life now thousands of years later.  This was sad to hear, but I'm praying for him.  He has been coming to all of the evening activities, including the discussion of the book of John.  There is a small group of students who are Christians; they came to church with us on Sunday.
Thanks for your prayers and let me know how I can pray for you as well!

Group A students in class

Out to lunch with Group B students

Singing and Dancing was the afternoon event on Monday.  Here we are learning how to line dance Canadian style.  I taught them the Cha Cha slide as well and some of the girls taught some Ukrainian moves.  It was very hard and involved leaping into the air!