"Suffer the Little Children..."

This past Thursday evening, Nov. 15th, 2012 as we were holding services at Lena's apartment for her and her family, Yosya, her youngest son, expressed his desire to accept Christ. David, our daughter, Rebekah, and Lena were in their Bible study while I taught our boys, Rita, and Yosya a Bible lesson in the other room. Once our lesson was done, I talked more detailed with Yosya and asked him several questions about salvation. He clearly understood and was more than ready to accept Christ. Once his mother, Lena, was available, I shared this news with her. I also asked Lena about Rita because the week before Rita had told me that she had accepted Christ as her Savior on her own in her bedroom a few weeks prior. I was curious if Rita had mentioned this to her mother and sure enough she had.

Lena and I confirmed with Rita that she understood and she calmly and confidently answered all of our questions and was 100% sure that she would spend eternity in Heaven! At first, Lena was a bit shocked by Rita's confidence but I reminded her that Rita had been attending services for at least a year longer than Lena herself had been! She then smiled and understood that it was totally possible for Rita to know exactly what to do to be saved!

Once we finished talking with Rita, Lena and I took Yosya into his bedroom where we sat him down on the chair to talk more with him. When asked about why he needed to be saved he too was very confident in his answer that Jesus was returning and he needed to be ready to spend eternity with Him. He talked about how strongly he would like to be in Heaven with his whole family. He also quoted me telling him before that, "Now is the day of salvation," as the Scripture says in II Corinthians 6:2 - "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." As I asked him if he believed that Jesus died to pay for his sins his voice began to break and huge tears fell down his cheeks. 

It was such a precious moment for Lena to see her son's tender heart and understanding of what Jesus did for him on the cross! Lena wanted to remind Yosya that this was a very important decision that changes your whole life. I shared with little Yosya and Lena what a great thing it is to trust Christ as your Savior at such a young age. Momma was in tears as Yosya kept his reassuring her that he was ready to be saved!

I told Lena that I thought it would be a wonderful blessing if she could lead Yosya to Christ and pray with him. She agreed and they knelt together on that same chair where her friend, Marina had accepted Christ a few months ago. 

Listening as Lena led her son in the Sinner's Prayer was one of those moments you never want to forget!

Afterwards, Yosya had a smile on his face that you could not take away! He was thrilled to be a new creature in Christ!

Lena and I with Rita and Yosya just after they shared the news with our family that they had accepted Christ.

(I apologize for the poor quality of this photo. 

It was taken with a phone and therefore the lighting was not the best!)

PLEASE continue to pray for them and especially for Lena's husband who is a Muslim.

 Lena also has an older son, Sasha, and she is praying for her Mom and stepfather to come to Christ as well.

Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in this family's life!