Sunday was a rocky day for me. For no apparent reason my blood pressure was extremely low on the bus as we were going to church . I felt weak and spent the church service laying down in the church office. I felt bad all day. Let me add that I have never had blood pressure issues in my life. I slept very little Sunday night so I prayed essentially all night long.
I prayed that no health issues of any knid would take our focus off of what we came to Rio to do-to share the love of Christ.
I prayed that Satan would not be allowed any space3 in our week and that he would not be allowed to take away my joy. I felt that there was someone special I needed to witness to and I did not want to miss it.
The first paitent in the medical clinic was a 44 year old woman named Josefa carried in by her husband accompanied by her son. She had been wainting in line for hours and had almost passed out. She was also hyperventilating and physically distraught. Her blood pressure was 244/144. I spoke to her in a quiet voice telling her we were here because of the love of Jesus and we would take care of her and she did not need to be afraid.
We gave her a BP pill ahnd had her go lay down in a room across the hall for about an hour. When I rechecked her BP it had gone down some and she said that she felt better.
I asked her if she knew what it took to go to heaven and she answered doing good things for others and being good. I told her that I wanted to share with her about my friend Jesus. I then witnessed to her using the Evangecube.
I asked her if she was ready to accept the wonderful figt of salvation. She asked a lot of questions which I answered but then stated that she wanted to think about it. I told her that I had been praying for her since I first saw her this morning and then had my interpretor read to her my three favorite verses: John 3:16, John 16:33 and Romans 8:38-39. With tears in my eyes I told her I could not go thru life without Jesus and I wanted her to have Jesus in her life too. She then told me that she wanted to have Jesus. She and her husband Claudio and her son Claudio Jr. all prayed to receive Jesus. Tears streamed down both our cheeks - it was a glorious moment for me and an eternal moment for them.
-From Raja O'Brien
As I entered the room at th leprosy hospital there was a young lady staring at me from her bed. I walked over and began to talk with her. Ana had been in the hospital for 3 months and had been treated for over 5 years for leprosy. She has a very resistant illness. I took her hand and begin to ask her about her family. She looked at me and said that noone had been to visit her. Her family had abandoned her and the hospital administration was going to find a room for her on the grounds of the Leprosy Colony.
She said she had no one. As I leaned over her bed and held her scared hands I told her about the one who would never abandon her and loved her so very much and was preparing a home for her in a place where there would be no sicknes, pain or sorrow. Tears filled her eyes and dropped on her pillow. I asked her if she would like to meet the one who created her and loved her. She nodded her head and we prayed together..Now she has a family larger than she ever imagined!
How blessed we are to be a part what God is doing this week.
In His Blessed Service
Sharon Fairchild
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Stories from Brazil
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Final Thoughts from the Poland Team
Praise God for a wonderful trip and safe travel back to Nashville! We arrived back in Nashville on Sunday night about 5:30 after a trip that went better than we all could have hoped.
We finished our work in the cemetery on Friday afternoon about 1pm. The cemetery closes at 1:00 on Fridays in preparation for the Shabbot (Sabbath) services at sundown (about 8:20 at night in the summer). Our contact in the cemetery, Remiek, was very grateful for the work we did and said we did twice as much as he expected us to get done. To show his appreciation he invited us to the Shabbot service and a meal afterwards. The service was hard to follow, as it was in Hebrew, but it was still very neat to be a part of something that Jesus would have done. Its just so sad though, that they are still looking forward to the Messiah coming when He has already come. Please be in prayer for the Jews in Warsaw, as well as those around the world, who do not know Jesus as their Messiah. Pray that their eyes will be opened to see, their ears opened to hear, and their hearts opened to receiving the salvation that God has promised.
On Saturday we were tourists and took a bus to the Treblinka death camp where Jews in the Warsaw ghetto were sent to their deaths. Treblinka was only open for a little more than a year and a half, and over 800,000 Jews from Poland and surrounding countries were killed. Words cannot express the emotions that one feels while being there. Its hard to imagine standing in a place where only 70 years ago so many innocent people were murdered.
In addition to our team and the missionaries, we had 9 Poles join us for the day. Of the 9, only 2 are believers, so this was another opportunity for us to hang out and show them the love of Christ. While none of them made salvation decisions while we were there, we think that several are very close and ask you to keep them in your prayers.
Again we just want to praise God for the goodness and grace He showed us during our entire journey. To Him be the glory!
Team Polska 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Blogging from Poland...
After 3 days which included traveling, orientation, and a few history lessons we finally began our work in the cemetery, which also started with some travel (by foot and bus - this time and without jet lag), a brief orientation on what we would be doing and where we would be working, and finally another history lesson on the cemetery.
Here is a brief overview of the cemetery for those of you who are interested. The cemetery started in 1806 and has roughly 150,000 tombstones on about 80 acres of land. There are about 250,000 people buried here, the difference in tombstones and bodies being made up by several mass graves. Jews were buried here until WWII and following the war more have been buried. Many memorials have been built in remembrance of those killed during the Holocaust.
Our job this week will be to clear 10 zones which vary in size but are at least 1 acre. Clearing consists of cutting back the weeds, brush, and small trees that are covering up headstones. We are working with a Jewish man, Remiek, on a project to catalog the entire cemetery. This project has been going for 4 years and the zones we are working in are the last 10 zones to be cataloged. Thats good because the project is ending this year. Please pray that we get finished with the clearing and also for salvation for Remiek and those he works with, Alicia and Cora.
In the evenings we are meeting with Poles for the purpose of furthering the relationships that the missionaries are developing. Please pray that the Spirit will lead and guide these times and that He brings us in contact with many who need Him. Please remember: Kate, Pshimek, Maya, Max, and Wojtek (prounounced Voy-tek) who we have spent time with but don't know Jesus.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Saturday August 1 - in Poland
Thank you God for sleep! Its amazing what a good nights rest can do. After a long first day we all slept very well and feel much better.
The first thing we did today, after breakfast, was team orientation with Susan Carson and the rest of Team Warsaw. Susan spent the time telling us about the city of Warsaw and some of the do's and dont's for the week. We went over the goals of her team and the actions they are taking to reach those goals. They strongly believe in many of the things we are learning at BBC in regards to relational evangelism and meeting people where they are in their journey with God, no matter where they may be in that progression. It was great to see her heart for the people of Warsaw and the country of Poland. Please pray for us during our time here that God will use us to reach new people who are seeking to grow in their understanding of Him and the salvation offered to us through Jesus.
After orientation we went to the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising. For those of you who are not well learned in Polish history, on August 1, 1944 the underground Polish army in Warsaw revolted against the Nazi captives who had held the city captive since September of 1939. Though the effort to overthrow the Nazi's was eventually put down, the entire city of Warsaw leveled, and many soldiers as well as civilians dying, the Polish people celebrate this day as a major historical day for the country. Being that today was the 65th anniversary of the start of the Uprising, there were many people at the Museum and at 5:00pm they held a moment of silence in honor of those who died during the fighting. So it was pretty neat to be here today of all days.
Again we are very thankful that we were rested enough to enjoy the day and not get too tired. Thank you again for your continued prayer support!
Z Bogeim (Go with God),
Isaiah 52:11-12
Safe arrival in Warsaw, Poland
We arrived safely in Warsaw, Poland this afternoon at 12:30pm local time (5:30am Nashville time). We were very blessed as none of our flights were delayed enabling us to have plenty of time between flights to take our time and get to our gates, as opposed to the last 2 years when we ran around like crazy people just trying to get on our plane before it left the gate. Additionally, all of our luggage also made it safely and on time. There were two other mission teams on our flight from Charlotte to Munich, Germany making our flight a very desirable one to be on, considering the amount of prayers that had been prayed for all of our safety. Both of the other teams were headed to Romania - one building a chapel and the other doing vacation bible school
We arrived to our hotel around 2:15 and all got unpacked and showered before we went to the mall and ate dinner. From there we walked around to some of the historical spots in Warsaw -the Umslagplats where the majority of the Jews from the Warsaw ghetto boarded the train headed to the Treblinka death camp and the Monument for the Jewish Ghetto Uprising. We also went by First Baptist Church of Warsaw and then ended the night in typical fashion with a few cold tasty scoops of lody (ice cream).
Besides being exhausted from sleep deprivation all of us are doing well. I imagine we will all be in bed before 9:00 as we can barely keep our eyes open. Please pray that we all sleep well tonight and get caught up on some of the hours we missed from being on the plane. Also, pray that our bodies adjust to the time change and we are ready to do the work the Lord has called us to.
Z Bogiem (Go with God)
Team Poland