Every week I check out the Generation Belarus website. It's the ministry that I was involved with on my last two missions trips. (I guess my ads are going to be locked in at missions for sure now that I'm talking about it again.) Anyways, every week, they update it with pictures. It's really cool to see my friends on something that is updated so often especially since they are so far away. Today I was extra excited though cuz I saw Andre in one of the pictures. Andre was a young guy I met over the summer. I asked him one day if there was anything about the teaching he didn't understand. He told me that he prayed to receive Christ, but he never felt any different since then, so then he didn't believe that it was true. I asked him if he ever read the Bible, or prayed, or went to church? He said no to all of those. So I spent about a half hour explaining to him how important these things were for the Christian growth. These things don't secure our salvation, but they are things we should want to do because we are saved. After explaining to him, I asked him if he was willing to do those things. He said "nyet". I'll have to admit, it was a bit annoying to hear my translator say "no" after I heard that. I know what "nyet" means, I thought. It's one of the few Russian words I know. ("Cacashka" is another. It means "poop".) Anyways, I was a bit frustrated, but this is a very common response where the gospel is new to people. People often receive white washed preaching focusing on being saved. They hear that if they just pray a prayer then they will be saved. Everyone wants to be saved. Nobody wants to go to hell. They aren't told to count the cost of their salvation. That being a Christian could make you an enemy of your family or government. But it's not the prayer that brings salvation. It's not the prayer that saved you, but the belief in your heart that God died for your sins so that you don't have to and your submission to follow Him. You were saved from being a slave to sin, but that makes you a slave to righteousness. That is the true gospel, to be saved from sin and follow Christ, not just to be saved from hell. Anyways, I was discouraged when Andre told me that he wasn't willing to follow Christ. He thought that prayer would change his life, but his heart was always the same. But today, I am encouraged because he is still a part of that ministry which means he is still learning. I remember praying that he would keep coming to the meetings so that he could understand what it means to be saved. So I'm happy to see that he's there. I'll have to ask Gleb how he's doing. If you clicked on the link, Andre is in the lower left picture wearing the black sweatshirt.