“I am only one, but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” ~ Helen Keller

Some days you just know things are going to turn out right. Other days, well, there are plenty of “other days”.

We had just begun our outreach for the day in Riga, the capitol of Latvia, in Eastern Europe. We were a “green” team. All beginners, each a little scared in their own way. We had just finished our training and also completed our two weeks of prayer walks. We prayed in our neighborhoods around apartment buildings, parks, anywhere the Lord led, claiming them for the Kingdom. Now we were ready to “hit the streets” and practice what we had learned.

The plan was for the singers, with acoustic guitar, to start their worship songs in the plaza, as the other members of the team kind of mingled through the crowds watching for people who might seem interested in what was going on. If they stood still and watched for an extended period of time then one of us would approach them with a card and invite them to church.

It usually went something like this: “Hi, do you speak English?” (If they said ‘No’ it pretty much ended right there! Our Latvian had not progressed too far yet.) They usually responded that they spoke a little English, meaning that their English was fairly good. English is the international business language and is taught in the public schools in Latvia, so most anyone under age 30 speaks it fairly well, they just don’t think they do.

After that initial approach, we then complimented them on their English and asked if they were enjoying the music and then told them about our church, offered our card and invited them to visit our services, gave directions, etc. If they were open to more dialogue, of course we would entertain the conversation.

This particular afternoon The Sweetheart was in the crowd and I was singing. It was a very busy day and a lot of people in the center, I did not notice all that was going on but one particular young lady was standing off to the side watching the singing. The Sweetheart approaches her and asks if she speaks English. Very shyly she says, “Only a little…” He talks to her for a few minutes and invites her to the service for Sunday night trying to encourage her to come; he notices she seems interested, but a little hesitant, so he tries not to push too hard.

When Sunday evening service begins, I am at the piano when The Sweetheart comes and whispers in my ear, “She is here! And she has a friend!” He is nearly beside himself! I leave the piano and go to greet them both as service is starting, just as surprised as he is that they have actually come!

They seem to enjoy the service, they even gather around the front with the rest of the congregation at the end. But the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say, is one of God’s beautiful gems…

When Egita left “Doogalas” that day…that is what they call my Sweetheart in Latvia…she went immediately to see her friend Konstance at the jewelry store she works at just a few blocks away. Both girls had been desperately searching for a church and coming up empty, week after week.

Egita tells Konstance about this group in the park playing the beautiful music that drew her in and the “old man with white hair” who was so happy to tell her about Jesus and his church. She insisted that they visit on Sunday because she just had a feeling that it might be what they were looking for.

When they arrived Sunday night, the music started playing, the singing began and the worship went up before the Lord, Konstance grabbed Egita’s arm and said…

“God is here!”

They both knew they had found what they had been looking for!

They began to attend our mid-week House Church group and also started coming on Thursday nights to our English Club, which was a fun time of fellowship. We dearly loved these girls. They poured themselves into the Word and worked hard in the church.

One day Doogalas was working on a power point presentation and had pictures of places he had prayed over when he had taken his prayer walks weeks before. Egita saw the pictures and pointed out her apartment building. We didn’t know it but her building was one that we walked around and prayed over day after day because we felt such a burden for it! We were drawn to that particular apartment building for a reason and now we knew why! We were seeing the fruit of that labor, Egita was the reason!

We had another young man in the church that had been coming for quite some time but hadn’t made a start for the Lord. He handled some of the legal affairs for our church and was a good friend to our missionaries. He also began to attend our English Club group at our apartment. This was an outreach to Latvians and Russians to come and speak English, play English games, eat American food, etc. We had a group of about 8-10 at any one time coming of 21-30 year olds. We loved it!

We started noticing a few things blossoming and one evening I told The Sweetheart that I thought Martins and Konstance might be sweet on each other. I was so excited! Sure enough while we were gone to the States for Christmas they started dating. And last August The Sweetheart was privileged to fly back to Latvia to marry Martins and Konstance in a beautiful Latvian ceremony!

Even more wonderful is the news that Martins and Konstance are working together in the church to become pastor of one of the works there! God is so good!

So never underestimate the power of one to make a difference. Take that first step, God will honor it and you never know who will be touched, who will be saved and whose lives will be forever impacted because you were obedient!

Joshua 23:10-11. “One man of you shall chase a thousand. For Jehovah your God is He who fights for you, as He has promised you. And take good heed to yourselves that you love Jehovah your God.”

Sharing with Monday Praises