{"id":1610,"date":"2017-08-11T18:14:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T18:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/?p=1610"},"modified":"2017-08-11T18:20:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-11T18:20:04","slug":"janssen-newsletter-august-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/janssen-newsletter-august-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Janssen Newsletter: August 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Support their ministry here!<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by Ben & Marianne Janssen<\/p>\n

As we are preparing now to go to Botswana, Africa, my mind slipped back to our time in Eastern Ukraine. When we ministered there, it was still peacefully quiet. Now the people are in a war situation. I often wonder what happened to our friend Alexander.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you have to make a quick decision. An opportunity to witness for the Lord can fly away very fast. It flashed through my mind, \u201cwhat shall I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alexander came straight for our table, obviously drunk. Compassion gripped me, when I looked at his big frame. Inside of this man was a yearning heart, I knew for sure. He loudly asked if he could sit next to our translator. I looked at her and saw she was o.k. She had been a missionary in Siberia and was used to a whole lot worse situation. Alexander gripped our hands and squeezed them, in the meantime telling us that \u201che would pay the bill!\u201d We brushed it off and answered some of his questions about Canadian ice hockey.<\/p>\n

The Lord prompted us to get to the point, so we asked Alexander what he knew about God. He told us, quieter now, that he was brought up with Communism and that his god is the state of the Ukraine. I had to hide my shocked feelings. Never had I heard such a statement before. We were deep in the heart of Communism in the east of the Ukraine.<\/p>\n

We proceeded to talk about our God and his Son. Alexander did not agree, but every time he said so, he shook our hand, because he did not want to upset us. He did not know that we are not easily offended, especially not after he started to gallantly kiss my hand right over the omelets.<\/p>\n

It was a happy time, but also such a sad time. My heart ached for this big man. He told us he was the \u201csecond\u201d man in the coalmine and \u201cwealthy\u201d. He frankly told us his sins. Then I asked if he was not afraid of an accident in the mine. Where would he go if he died? His eyes became dark and he looked at me angrily. \u201cDo not talk about accidents ever again!\u201d His voice quivered. Alexander lived in fear. Later, when he kissed my hand for the last time, he asked me if I wanted to go in the mine the next day. I graciously declined, as I explained to him that I did not like to be transported half a mile below the earth in a little iron cage that was built one hundred years ago. I surely am no hero regarding mines and small Ukrainian elevators. Of course, he understood.<\/p>\n

A week later, when we were back in Romania, I poured out my heart again to Alexander in a letter. \u201cPlease, Sasha (his nickname) make sure you will join us in heaven. Believe that Jesus died for your sins! Come with us Alexander. The time is so short.” Three weeks after we left the area, 100 miners died in a mine blast close to Alexander\u2019s mine.<\/p>\n

Will you pray with us for Alexander, that his soul will be saved? Also for the many students we are going to train in church planting in the months ahead in the south of Africa, that they will faithfully start to plant new churches!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Support their ministry here! by Ben & Marianne Janssen As we are preparing now to go to Botswana, Africa, my mind slipped back to our time in Eastern Ukraine. When…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4],"tags":[205,169,65,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-1610","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-missionary-newsletters","8":"category-world-missions","9":"tag-205","10":"tag-ben-marianne-janssen","11":"tag-janssen","12":"tag-ukraine","13":"entry"},"title_es":"Bolet\u00edn de Janssen: Agosto de 2017","content_es":"\u00a1Apoyen su ministerio aqu\u00ed!<\/a> \"\"<\/a> Por Ben y Marianne Janssen Como nos estamos preparando ahora para ir a Botswana, \u00c1frica, mi mente se desliz\u00f3 de nuevo a nuestro tiempo en el este de Ucrania. Cuando ministramos all\u00ed, todav\u00eda estaba tranquilo pac\u00edficamente. Ahora la gente est\u00e1 en una situaci\u00f3n de guerra. A menudo me pregunto qu\u00e9 pas\u00f3 con nuestro amigo Alexander. A veces hay que tomar una decisi\u00f3n r\u00e1pida. Una oportunidad de testimoniar al Se\u00f1or puede volar muy r\u00e1pido. Pas\u00f3 a trav\u00e9s de mi mente, \"\u00bfqu\u00e9 debo hacer?\" Alexander lleg\u00f3 directamente a nuestra mesa, obviamente borracho. La compasi\u00f3n me apoder\u00f3, cuando mir\u00e9 su gran marco. Dentro de este hombre era un coraz\u00f3n anhelante, lo sab\u00eda con seguridad. Le pregunt\u00f3 en voz alta si pod\u00eda sentarse junto a nuestro traductor. La mir\u00e9 y vi que estaba bien. Hab\u00eda sido misionera en Siberia y estaba acostumbrada a una situaci\u00f3n mucho peor. Alexander tom\u00f3 nuestras manos y las apret\u00f3, mientras tanto nos dijo que \"\u00e9l pagar\u00eda la cuenta!\" Lo cepillamos apagado y contestado algunas de sus preguntas sobre hockey sobre hielo canadiense. El Se\u00f1or nos incit\u00f3 a llegar al punto, por lo que le preguntamos a Alejandro lo que sab\u00eda de Dios. Nos dijo, m\u00e1s tranquilos ahora, que fue educado con el comunismo y que su dios es el estado de Ucrania. Tuve que ocultar mis sentimientos de shock. Nunca hab\u00eda o\u00eddo tal declaraci\u00f3n antes. Est\u00e1bamos en el coraz\u00f3n del comunismo en el este de Ucrania. Procedimos a hablar de nuestro Dios y su Hijo. Alexander no estaba de acuerdo, pero cada vez que lo dec\u00eda, nos estrech\u00f3 la mano, porque no quer\u00eda perturbarnos. No sab\u00eda que no nos ofend\u00edamos f\u00e1cilmente, especialmente despu\u00e9s de que empez\u00f3 a besar galantemente mi mano sobre las tortillas. Fue un tiempo feliz, pero tambi\u00e9n un momento tan triste. Me dol\u00eda el coraz\u00f3n por este gran hombre. Nos dijo que era el \"segundo\" hombre en la mina de carb\u00f3n y \"rico\". \u00c9l nos dijo francamente sus pecados. Entonces le pregunt\u00e9 si no ten\u00eda miedo de un accidente en la mina. \u00bfA d\u00f3nde ir\u00eda si muriera? Sus ojos se oscurecieron y \u00e9l me mir\u00f3 con enojo. -\u00a1No vuelvas a hablar de accidentes! Su voz tembl\u00f3. Alejandro viv\u00eda con miedo. M\u00e1s tarde, cuando me bes\u00f3 la mano por \u00faltima vez, me pregunt\u00f3 si quer\u00eda ir a la mina al d\u00eda siguiente. Le dije con gracia que no me gustaba que me transportaran a media milla debajo de la tierra en una peque\u00f1a jaula de hierro construida hace cien a\u00f1os. Seguramente no soy un h\u00e9roe con respecto a las minas y los peque\u00f1os ascensores de Ucrania. Por supuesto, \u00e9l comprendi\u00f3. Una semana despu\u00e9s, cuando volvimos a Rumania, volv\u00ed a dirigir mi coraz\u00f3n a Alexander en una carta. \"Por favor, Sasha (su apodo) aseg\u00farate de que te unir\u00e1s a nosotros en el cielo. \u00a1Cree que Jes\u00fas muri\u00f3 por sus pecados! Ven con nosotros Alexander. Tres semanas despu\u00e9s de que sali\u00e9ramos del \u00e1rea, 100 mineros murieron en una explosi\u00f3n de minas cerca de la mina de Alejandro. \u00bfRezar\u00e1s con nosotros por Alejandro, para que su alma se salve? Tambi\u00e9n para los muchos estudiantes que vamos Para entrenar en la plantaci\u00f3n de iglesias en los pr\u00f3ximos meses en el sur de \u00c1frica, que van a comenzar fielmente a plantar nuevas iglesias!","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2017\/08\/Janssen-Main-Photo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb62Ar-pY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/missions\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}