Dear Friends and Family,

Well, as of today about 3:00 PM I am finally back online! I was expecting to be back online by Wednesday before last, but today is fine! God is ever increasing my hope! Tribulations work patience, and patience proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint. That is what the Bible says, and so I believe it. I am getting more hopeful all the time! Actually God has been so faithful, and He has just recently shown me how that I am not nearly as impatient as I was when I started all of this a few years ago. During my first long-term trip to Ukraine I bought a weapon!

It was a huge spiked club called a bolivar. It is a traditional Kossack weapon, and a symbol of authority. Most people buy them as souveniers, and usually they are small, and fit on a key chain. I bought the biggest one I could find--life-sized! My Australian missionary friends saw it and asked, "Why did you buy such a big one?" I told them that I wanted the option!

Today it hangs on my office wall in America next to a Bedouin dagger that was an unwise gift choice for my then twelve year old nephew, Ryan, while I was living in Israel. The bolivar was the last weapon I bought, and my patience, character and hope have been increasing ever since.

I have learned some things since moving to Sevlievo. 1) Hanging an 18 foot long curtain along two walls by oneself could qualify as an endurance sport. 2) I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me--even plumbing. 3) Not all plumbing parts and fittings are standardized. It took me four trips to the hardware store, but I finally figured out how to get water into my washing machine and down a drain! 4) If you forget to put the drain pipe from the washing machine into the bathroom drain it will make a mess. 5) They still use fuse boxes with real porcelain fuses in Bulgarian apartment buildings. 6) You cannot run two wall heating panels, the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner at the same time without blowing the main fuse by the electric meter. 7) You cannot run two wall heating panels and two stove burners on high without blowing the main fuse. 8) Porcelain fuses can be very hot right after they burn out--be careful. 9) If you blow a fuse at night you will wake up cold. 10) Fuses are cheap in Bulgaria!

The move to Sevlievo has gone very smoothly. I am really enjoying my time here. The fellowship has been so good, and I am enjoying my work with the church. Tomorrow (Saturday) I am doing a teacher training seminar with them, and with workers from two other churches. I am presently working on developing a children's Sunday School curriculum. There is some material available here, but they mostly just teach Bible Stories, and don't seem to have a methodical structure of teaching and training. They have volumes that have most every Bible story in the Old and New Testaments, and they are good resources, but the teachers want something more than just good bible stories. I am presently developing a three month (13 week) curriculum on Christian character. I am using the nine fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance) along with honesty, obedience, generosity, and hope. Each lesson has a Bible story, a memory verse, a detailed lesson aim, and a teacher's tip on how to best use the story to direct toward the aim. There will also be a secondary, more modern story to reinforce the lesson aim, along with an activity. By helping them to coordinate already existing materials I believe that we can help the Sunday Schools here become more than a children's Bible story hour, and transform them into a way to train and disciple children by teaching them on-purpose. I am very excited about this! Help me keep this in prayer.

I am still not exactly sure what date I am coming home. I hope to get to the lawyer, and get the necessary foundation papers filed next week. So far as the foundation here, we are restructuring to start actually working with children now. We have already connected with a Christian social worker, and are developing a plan to reach children at risk. Everyone involved here is very excited. I am going to another city, Tryavna, this Sunday to preach and deliver some children's teaching material. I am so happy to have been able to get refocused, and am looking forward to all that God has for us to do here.

Prayer points.

1) Pray for my health. I have been doing verywell, and am losing weight!

I haven't had problems with athsma lately either! Pray that this trend continues!

2) I twisted my ankle pretty badly last Friday. It actually didn't bother me at all that evening, but it has gotten worse, and it has kept me up for the last two nights. There isn't any swelling, but it is quite painful.

Some days it hardly hurts at all, and other days it hurts very badly especially at night. Today I twisted it again. If there isn't some improvement I will need to go to the doctor. I know that God can take care of this for me, agree with me in prayer about this.

3) Pray for continued finances for the ministry.

4) Pray that all the details for my going home for a while will all fall into place.

5) Pray for our missionaries, Wayne and Sunne Gregg, as they are planning their return to Bulgaria. Pray for Wayne especially as he must now to go to the hospital to get a machine to help him breathe while he sleeps due to sleep apnea.

I want to thank all of you for your faithful prayers and financial support. Obedient Life Ministries is a tax exempt, non-profit corporation registered as a 501(c)3 organization with the IRS. If you would like to make a tax exempt donation you can send your donation to Obedient Life Ministries, P.O. Box 267, Clarion, PA 16214, or you can donate with your credit card from our secure PayPal link from our website at www.obedientlife.org. Again thank you for your faithful support.

Be blessed in Jesus' Name!

Martin Sutton