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3/31/2007 - Martin's "God Wants to Help Me" Update

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope this email finds you well. I am doing fine, and feeling fine! I have just had the most awesome revelation. God wants to help me! Well, to give it the right emphasis…God WANTS to help me! You may be thinking to yourselves, “Marty, you knew that. God has been helping you for years.” I have always known that I could go to God for help. I have trusted God, and believed Him for big things. However, somehow it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks how much God wants to help me, and how much He really loves to help me. I don’t mean to sound conceited, He wants to help you too, and you should get excited about that fact!

I think that too often we think of ourselves as part of a herd of Christians that God will help if He needs to. Instead we should see ourselves as God’s children whom He loves to bless and help individually in a very personal way. He doesn’t just want to help in emergency situations; He wants to help us in every way with everything in our lives. We just have to ask Him for His help, and He loves it when we do. Just let that sink in. It will leave you rejoicing!

This has been a very eventful couple of weeks. First of all I am happy to report that I got the court decision that I have been waiting on. Praise the Lord! Everything went through without a problem, so the foundation is officially moved to Sevlievo, and its new name is Balkan Hope Foundation. The Sunday evening services are still going well. I made my first soccer goal since I last wrote. Can you imagine? And at just the tender age of 43! I almost made a second goal, but I had kicked the ball in the wrong direction—so I am glad that it was blocked. (I didn’t realize that we had switched sides!) I witnessed a hit and run accident while out paying my bills, and wrote down the license plate number. When the police came I was able to give it to them. I also went to a computer game arcade. Rado (the boy that I have mentioned before) has been coming to my apartment around supper time quite a bit lately, and he is now bringing friends. They like to eat and play games on my computer. Rado thought it would be great fun if I went with him to this computer game arcade, so I agreed. Rado insisted that I play a game too, so I played Monopoly. (I really don’t understand how to play most computer games. I never advanced past Ms. Pacman!)

Many people are asking me when I am coming home. I haven’t bought a ticket yet, because I still have to apply for my visa renewal. I can’t do that until all the documents from the courts arrive. Nothing else could get done until I got the court decision stating that the foundation was officially located in Sevlievo. I have a residency visa, and so it is linked to my national ID card with my registered address. I have to show my lease, and the address on my lease has to be in the oblast (county) where my foundation is registered. Now that those changes have been made, many other documents must be changed as well. I am now waiting for another certificate from the courts stating that the foundation has an “active” status. I made a trial run to the visa office this week just to see if I had all the papers that I would need once I get the document I am now waiting for, and they told me that I needed another certificate. I have it, but it has our old name and ID number on it. I hope that will not be a problem! Help me pray about that.

Well, I had better go for now. I am preaching twice tomorrow, so I still have some preparation to do. As always I am thankful for your faithful prayer support and financial support. If you would like to make a tax-exempt donation to this ministry you can send a check or money order to Obedient Life Ministries at P.O. Box 267, Clarion, PA 16214, or you can donate by credit card through our secure PayPal link on our website, www.obedientlife.org.

Be blessed in Jesus’ Name!

Martin Sutton