BEING JESUS
During this month's Christian Camping Leaders Conference I listened to a camp director from Estonia share about how a first-time counselor impacted a young boy's life. The director told how a certain camper had been completely overwhelmed by the love and compassion shown by the camp staff, particularly that of his counselor, Valentine. One day the boy asked his him, "Are you Jesus?" Taken aback, Valentine answered, "No, but I am trying to be."
I can very much relate to this young Estonian boy. Going to camp as a boy in Canada I remember well how my counselors showed Christ's love to me. I recall little of the fun activities, Bible lessons, food and chapel talks. But what remains vivid in my mind these 30-odd years later is how my counselors treated me. Young men like Larry Schmidt, Brent Petkau & Harry Froese truly were Jesus to me.
There are countless children & youth who need us to be Jesus to them. Praise God for my counselors who encouraged and inspired me to follow Christ. Praise God for men like Valentine who prayerfully accept the call to volunteer at camps in the former Soviet Union. Pray that many more godly men & women will heed Christ's command to "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34, 35)
May we all strive to not simply be like Jesus, but to be Jesus to those who need Him the most!
— Kevin, Lena, Sonia, Maya & Deena
P.S. In case you missed it, I just sent out a four-page Hamm's Headings in which I shared in greater detail about our upcoming move. If you didn't receive the newsletter this past Sunday, you can read it online at http://hh.myinjesus.com. As well, you can easily receive future issues by sending a blank email to hh-subscribe@myinjesus.com.
COMING TO CANADA
I've been trying to prepare Maya & Deena (particularly the latter) for our impending move. During evening prayers I've encouraged them to pray for someone to buy our home so that we can move to Canada. Deena is having a hard time comprehending all of this. Today when I told we want to sell our apartment, she said, "but then we'll be outside!". When I reminded her that we were going to take an airplane to Canada to live there she said, "but where's the airplane? I don't see it!" Admittedly it's a bit hard for us adults to see how it will all work out as well. Please pray for us during this time!
Speaking of Canada, please don't hesitate to contact my parents, Jake & Elsie (204-857-3802 or jakehamm@mts.net) if you think you might have something we might need for our new home. Thank you to all who have helped so far!
BLESSINGS
Praise God for a growing pile of prepared documents. We are now preparing for bureaucracy in Canada by getting important documents translated. Birth certificates, diplomas and more need to be readable on the other side of the ocean!
We are very thankful for all of the encouragement and congratulations we have received over the past week. Thank you all for your kind words & prayers!
PETITIONS
Municipal elections are being held in Russia on March 11. Many Russians believe that elections are becoming a farce in this country. Please pray for fair elections and honest, upright representation for the Russian people.
Please pray that our home will find a buyer. Or the other way around. ;-) Regardless, this is the one major thing that needs to take place before we can come to Canada.
Just when we thought Deena had recovered from her neck injury last week (thank you for praying!), she hurt it again! Please continue to pray for her healing and safety.
DID YOU KNOW...
...that a school principal in a small town in the Urals has been charged under anti-piracy laws? He apparently permitted the installation of pirated versions of Microsoft software on 12 school computers and is therefore being made an example. This kind of piracy is common here—Sonia did all of her school computer lab work using pirated software, and rare is the Russian home or business that doesn't use the widely-available and inexpensive CD-ROMs!
ESSENTIAL INFO
Kevin & Lena Hamm are missionaries with Mennonite Brethren Mission and Service International, serving with Christian Camping International/Russia in St. Petersburg, Russia.
A printable version in Adobe Acrobat format is always available for download.
Visit www.krhamm.com/pray for links to print versions, archives and more.
For more on our ministry in Russia, please visit www.krhamm.com.
You can help! Please visit www.krhamm.com/support for ways you can help our family & ministry.
Hundreds of our recent photos can be viewed at Flickr.com. (And now Sonia's pictures too!)
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