to be told there but blessing to blessed special thank you for that all right without further ado brother Willoughby you can come on this missionary with church has supported for 15 years I believe and over there in Estonia he's gonna give us an update this morning and then preach for us brother Well, it's been a blessing already to be with y'all this morning. I was just sitting there and watching everything, listening to everything, and I hope you realize how blessed you are. The choir number, the young ladies with the instruments, and everyone here singing, and the talented folks that are leading everything. You are really blessed. What I wouldn't give to have, you know, a church like this in Estonia. You know, my kids can tell you that sometimes it's lonely over there. You know, our church has remained small for years and years. And when I mean small, I mean really small. And it's such a blessing to be here to worship with so many people who believe the same as we do. Thank you all, as Pastor mentioned, y'all been supporting us since the very beginning. I don't know exactly when we came through the first time, 2007, 2008, and y'all took us on for support, and you've been with us this entire journey. And without churches like Slippery Rock Baptist Church, we wouldn't be there. So we thank you for that, and we thank you for your faithful support and for your prayers. We thank you also for taking care of us while we're here. We used to fit into the prophet's chamber here. I remember staying there at least once, and I think we've outgrown it. So thank you for taking care of us anyway, though we're a little more expensive now than we used to be. Went to the mission field with one little baby, and now we've come back with three, four big kids over here. Well, we've been in Estonia for 15 years. Hard to believe myself when I say that, that we've been there that long. And I'm going to share in the video. Oh, by the way, when I share the video, I understand that my voice on there isn't working. You'll hear the music, but not my voice, so I'm gonna do my best to talk you through the video so you know what you're looking at. But anyway, we first came to Estonia, and I had very definite ideas of what I was going to do, what needed to happen, and God has taken us on a little bit different path, so at this time, Share the video. This is our annual Vacation Bible School. This is really where God has led us the most into working with children and with adults. We had, last year, the first time we had Raivo, as you see him there helping run the games. He came, he's from Australia, an Estonian who believes just like we do, and he was helping out a lot that week. Another ministry that we have now is each year we have in August a couple of big events. This one is the Petri Fair. It's a little local fair in the park where we live. We're able to have a booth there and to hand out tracts and literature and try to talk to people. And most people are there to get some flowers or something, or some honey or homemade things. We're able to share the gospel, put some games out. And that draws people in who otherwise wouldn't give us the time of day. But as they're enjoying the games, I'm able to talk to them and give them the gospel. And Raivo was there last year to help us with that. The other big event in August when we get back is at the end of the month there is a cafe day. This is another community event where just people in the neighborhood open up their yard and set up a little cafe and you can come and get something to eat, get some coffee, some desserts. And so we use our little booth that we purchased to participate in that as well. The girls make little goodies to entice people to come in. We put the games out and that gives another opportunity that we can talk to them, tell them about our church. So most Estonians are not religious. I was sharing with someone earlier, they're rather agnostic. They don't really know is there a God and they're not really concerned about it. But for that reason, it's been difficult. But this is showing our weekly Bible club that we have. It's a result of all the years of VBS. And VBS will have around 20 children. But we are able to have 5 to 10 each week for Bible club. And so I've been trying to start that for years. It finally caught on a few years ago. And from that, we have our youth group that we started. As the children get older, and now my children are older, we do a lot of the same things, but we can be a little more crazy and a little more fun on a teenage level. But it really is the same games. And so we have a pretty good group that comes each week. That represents our typical group that we have. So what you've seen in the video is not exactly what we imagined our ministry to be when we first started out with just us and the little baby, but God has led us into reaching children, reaching adults, or reaching teenagers. Many of the things that we've tried to do haven't panned out very well, but we're We're focusing our energies into the ones that God has given us, which is the young people and the children. Our hope is that these young people, as they graduate through the programs, that one day we can tell you that they've grown up and now they have families and now they're making up our church. But we thank you for praying for us and being with us all these years. So, I understand that our video, if you watch it on your phone or on a computer, or maybe even the back floor, I think you have our video available. I think it'll work there and you can hear me talking. But I said more or less the same thing. But... Yeah, we just got here from Estonia on Monday. And so we've not quite been a week in the States. I think we're more or less adjusted. The kids are sleeping at night and not in the daytime. And so that's good because we're eight hours difference. In Estonia, Sunday is almost over. It'll be, I see the clock says 11. It will be, I have to think about that. Seven o'clock, I suppose. Seven in the evening in Estonia right now. And so, over there you saw Raivo in the video, and I'm really excited about him. He's come again this year to help us out. And he's covering for me while we're gone. And so he, apparently he ran the service this morning and did the Bible club for me. I hope to maybe talk to him sometime this afternoon before he goes to bed and ask him how that went. But I'm really pleased, I've never had anybody that could cover for me while I'm gone. And so I'm really glad that God has given him to us, at least for a time. He's an Estonian who lives in Australia, but when we talked to him last year and he helped out at VBS, he shared with me that he actually really has a burden to come back to his country and to reach his own people with the gospel. You may have noticed on our prayer card, on our video, our tagline is, you know, in the least religious nation in the world. And some people might think, is that really true? The least religious out of all the countries in the world? Well, what I have to back that up is a Gallup poll from, I think, When was it? 2014, 2000-something. And they actually did a survey asking people the question, is religion an important part of your daily life? And of all the countries in the world, Estonia ranked last on that, with only 14% of people in Estonia saying that religion is important in my daily life. And that is really our experience. If you talk to people, I talk to my neighbors or people on the street. That basically is your average Estonian is not religious. And they're not religious, and they know that they're not, and they don't want to be religious. And so that makes it difficult for us to reach adults. But of course, the children and the young people, they're a little more easy to get to them and to share the gospel with them. Some parents are totally, don't want me witnessing to them at all. they'll send their child to our VBS, and I'm telling them about the gospel every day. Some parents say, no, they can't go, but many do allow that, and so that is something that God has given us, and we're very thankful for that. So, speaking of VBS, though, Vacation Bible School, oh, I hear that your Vacation Bible School is coming up soon, and praise God for that. We had ours, Let's see, this is Sunday, so it's the next week. We had ours the week before we came. So I guess it started about two weeks ago. And so we had it that week. And every year, as I say in my video, God gives us exactly the people we need, just enough help that we can have a good week. Because if Angela and I have to do everything that week for the VBS, Even though we're talking about 15, 20, 25 kids, if it's just me and Angela, it's a rough week. I think maybe we did that once, and it was tough. But usually God sends us the right people. And this year, I wasn't sure what God was going to do, because there wasn't anyone coming. There was no one coming to help us. There were no Estonians. Raivo said he was gonna come, but he wasn't gonna get there and be able to help until Thursday. Thought, well, so three days we're on our own. But God did provide this year. He provided it through my own kids. Rosalyn and Ryland are, you know, they're too old for VPS. They're 15 and 17. But they helped a lot. Rosalyn's been helping us for years, and she helped us again. Ryland, he really stepped up this year. He did a lot. He was constantly asking me, Dad, anything I can do right now? And so I'd have to think of, okay, what is there to do? And he was ready to do anything, almost anything, as long as he didn't have to come up and talk in front of people. But he did a little bit of that. You taught the verses this year, right? So he did something, he got up there. He's been practicing in Bible Club each week. So that helped out that he'd be ready. So we had another good week. We had, maybe just over 20 different children came throughout the week. And so we were glad for that. And Raivo was there for Thursday and Friday. And he, the theme this year was the answers in Genesis Zoomerang. I don't know if you're familiar with their VBSs, but that one is actually an Australia theme. Kind of like this boomerang. And so he came back and he, Raivo just came from Australia. He brought a big bag of boomerangs to give all the children. And so that was kind of neat. And he told us where he lived. I had painted this big map of Australia. He said, oh, I live in Brisbane. So I showed the kids where Brisbane is. I showed myself where it is too, because I didn't know. I've never been to Australia. But God has taken care of us even this last VBS. I always hate coming back, actually, to the States, because it's encouraging and it's great it is to be with you all this morning. When I'm in Estonia, I think, I don't want to leave. There's so much to do here, and we just had the VBS, and then we just leave. I want to see if I can get some of them into our Bible club. Well, thankfully, Bible's there, and he can help with that a little bit. But that's where my heart is, that's where God has put us. But we're glad to be with you this morning and we're seeing family while we're here. Well, I do have a message. I'll stop talking about all that. And I do have a message this morning. If you turn in your Bibles to Ezra chapter seven, Ezra chapter seven, that's where we'll be, that'll be our first passage. And kind of continuing the theme of the presentation, we had some grand ideas, or at least I did. Angela was busy taking care of the little babies at home, and I said, that's all you need to do, dear. Don't have to start a women's Bible study while you're trying to take care of the kids and change diapers. But my vision was, we go to Estonia, of course we learn the language very quickly. We start our first church. You know, people start getting saved and we start a church. And then maybe we start two or three more. You know, I've been there for 15 years, so I thought, well, by this point, 15 years, my goodness. Obviously, I'll have like three, four, five churches started by then. By then, we'll have, we'll definitely have a Bible institute and we'll be training men to be preachers. And probably by then we'll be sending missionaries out to other countries like Finland and Russia. And for many of those first deputation meetings, that's exactly how I said it, and maybe even grander than that. And maybe by that point, I'm just kind of a facilitator, I'm the missionary there, checking on the churches and training the men and that kind of a role. But that's not exactly how it's gone. God has led us a little bit differently. Some of the things we've tried to do just have fallen flat. But in the areas with the children, with the youth, those things have been slowly building up momentum over the years. So I have the thought, the main thought of the message, What has God set before you to do? What does God have for you to do? You all live in Slippery Rock, or at least close enough, you can come to church here. You're not in Estonia, but God has put you here. What has God put before you that you can do? Now, that's what I've had to face these years in Estonia. Well, this is what I'd like to do, this is what I think God wanted us to do, but God has put in front of us this and this. So what do I do? Do I shove that aside and say, no, I have to go this direction? What has God set before you that you can do and serve Him? Well, first of all, When you're thinking about that, you need to get a vision of what God can do. Start with something. Like I said, I just told you what I started out with. This vision of starting so many churches and it's gonna go so well. But you need to start with something. You need to have a vision like that. Imagine what God can do. And that's why we're in Ezra chapter seven. Ezra chapter seven in verse 10, it says, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. That, during my Bible college seminary days and early deputation, that was a very important verse to me. And I considered it, at the time, maybe my life verse. I see in this verse three stages of what Ezra had set out to do with his life. It says in the beginning, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord. He had decided he wants to seek the law of the Lord. He's gonna get into it, he's gonna study it. In the Sunday school this morning, One of the best explanations about how you can study your Bible and get more out of your devotions, I really appreciated that. I think it was a help to all of us. And that's what Ezra was doing. He was getting into the word of God. He was studying the law of Moses. He wanted to know every verse. He wanted to know everything that God expected of him, forwards and backwards. He was seeking the law of the Lord. And then secondly, he set out to do it. He didn't want that just to be a head knowledge or, you know, I know what the Bible says. He wanted it to be something that he was doing and he was living. And then finally, it says, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. It wasn't just gonna remain something personal for him that he was benefiting from. He said, well, the end game is this. I'm gonna go to Israel and I'm gonna teach this. I'm gonna teach this to the people so they know what God expects of us and so that they will do his will and so that God can bless our nation. That was his mission. Now, at the time when I was looking at this, I saw that, you know what, this is a good pattern for my life. A time of preparing, of studying. Well, of course, I was in the Bible college and seminary. I was studying and learning. wanting to know what the Bible says. And there was many questions in my mind I wanted to figure out before I finished this studying phase. You know, what does this mean? And what should be my position on this thing and this thing? And then to do it, yeah, I wanted it to be real for me. Not just that, well, I've been to seminary and I have these degrees, isn't that wonderful? big deal. It needs to be in your heart, right? You need to be practicing it. You need to be telling others and witnessing and discipling, and it needs to change your life. You know, well, you know the God's Ten Commandments, or you know the teachings of Jesus, has it changed your life at all? I wanted it to change my life, too, so that I could go to Estonia as someone transformed by the Word of God, and so that I could be there and show them what God can do in your life. And then the last part, a time of teaching, Yeah, I was all about that. I'm going to go to Estonia. I'm going to preach the gospel. I'm going to be discipling. I'm going to be training, all these things. That was my vision. As I knew, when in that time of preparation, this isn't going to last forever. This is just getting started. This is just so that I can get to my real mission. But what is your vision? Has God given you a vision? Or have you been thinking about what could God do with my life? How could God use me with the gifts that God has given me, the talents, the interests that I have, and the place where I live? What could God do with my life? You need to think about that. You need to think about would God, you know, specifically with your life, what he could do? And you know, every one of us is different. You can read in 1 Corinthians and see how God has given us different gifts and in Romans as well. God has gifted us all differently. We all have different personalities. You know, some people wouldn't do well at a particular ministry. And in fact, not everyone here is meant to go to a foreign mission field. It could be that God has you in slippery rock, because he wants you in Slippery Rock, and that's your place of service to him. That could very well be. Maybe God has other plans for you. But get a vision of what God could do, how he could use you, where you are. Think about that. But then, number two, you need to adapt to the situation. Well, that's what I'm here to tell you. I had to learn that, adapt to the situation. Yeah, I had some big plans, and I thought I knew everything that God wanted me to do, but I had to adapt. I had to stop and think, well, this isn't working. You know, this door seems to be closed, and I can't get into this, but look what God is blessing. Maybe God is trying to show me the direction I should go. Adapt to the situation. I really like Genesis chapter 24 verse 27. I'll try to read that quickly. Genesis 24, 27, of course this is when Abraham had sent his servant to find a bride for Isaac. And he says in verse 27, and he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth. I being in the way, the Lord led me to the house of my master's brethren. He had gone to the right place, He had gone on the way and God led him. If you pick out that phrase, I being in the way, the Lord led me. That says it all. I being in the way, the Lord led me. God is, doesn't typically tell you everything. They're kneeling by your bedside and praying or sitting in your church pew. He's probably not gonna tell you everything, every detail that's coming. For one thing, it might scare you to death and you'll never even take the first step. But probably what's gonna happen is he's gonna say, go in that direction. When you start going in this direction, say, I don't know what's gonna happen. And then God says, okay, now that you're here, I can show you this direction. I being in the way the Lord led me. He'll take you each step, but you have to start taking those steps. Maybe you need to start attending the soul winning program at this church. Maybe you need to start tithing. Maybe you need to join this church. I don't know what the next step is for you. Learning how to be a better father or mother or whatever it is. You take that step and you don't know what's next maybe until you get to that one and God shows you the next. And you need to learn how to adapt. When I was studying for this, I was thinking about, let's see, what Bible character had to adapt to the situation? And so I started looking through the Bible for a Bible character that something unexpected happened. And the more I thought about it, the more I started writing down names, I was like, well, Boy, what Bible character didn't have something unexpected happen, and didn't have a strange twist to his story? Think of Paul in his journeys. I mean, it comes to my mind, Acts chapter 16. I'll just read quickly what... his decision making process and how God was leading him. Acts chapter 16 beginning in verse six. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia in the region of Galatia, they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they had said to go into Bithynia, but the spirits suffered them not. In they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And immediately, and after they had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Did Paul have to adapt here to the situation? Well, yes, he thought he knew exactly where God wanted him to go. You know, to, where do these regions? Bithynia and Galatia. He started going that direction. The Holy Spirit said, no, no, no, not there. Okay, then we'll try this direction. Nope, not there. Where do we go? I guess we'll go to Troas and see what happens. And as soon as they had gone there, God says, okay, now you're in a perfect position to cross this body of water into Macedonia. And so he let them know Macedonia is the next place to go. They had to adapt. Think of people like Moses. I think he was quite happy to spend the rest of his life there in the Midian wilderness watching those sheep. That was relaxing. He had gone through a very traumatic, stressful experience there in Egypt. Yes, now I can just watch these sheep. They're eating. I'll bring them to the water. That's all I have to do. I found a wife here and we've had a child. I think this is a good place to bring up some children. And then God shows up and says, guess what? Moses, I've heard the prayers of my people. They need to be delivered and you're the man to do it. Moses, of course, if you know the story, no, no, no, no, no, God, that's not possible. And I mean, I can't speak. I can't lead the people. They'll never believe it. Well, eventually God got him over there and did use him in that way, unexpected. In his prophet Amos, it says he was a gatherer of sycamore fruit and he had maybe some flocks and herds. He was just a farmer. He didn't have in his plan that, oh, I'm gonna be a prophet speaking to kings and speaking out to the people what God has said. He was happy just to be a farmer, I think, taking care of his fruit and his fruit trees and his flocks. God totally changed the direction of his life. We know the story of Jonah. Did something unexpected happen in Jonah's life? Well, yeah, God said, go to Nineveh. He said, no, I'm not going to Nineveh. Well, God eventually got him there. Unexpected, pretty much all the disciples. Jesus comes to them, some were fishermen there, and Jesus said, come and follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. You're not gonna be fishermen anymore. He came to Matthew at the receipt of custom. He was a tax collector, and he said, come and follow me. I've chosen you as well, Matthew. I don't think any of these men were thinking that they would be picked as one of Jesus' 12 disciples. Think of the life of Jesus. He had some twists and turns in his ministry. If you read to the Gospels, in the beginning, He was calling the nation to repentance. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Well, once it became clear that they were not going to repent and they did not accept him as Messiah, we see that he's speaking in parables to the crowds because they don't believe they just get parables. But I'll explain everything to my disciples. And he focused his attention on those 12 that were following him with all of their heart. There's There's twists and turns in our lives, in our lives of service. We need to learn how to adapt. You say, well, I don't understand. I'm so disappointed. I thought God had this ministry or this opportunity for me, and it's not really working out. It's not going the way I thought. That's okay. Stop and think and pray. Ask the Lord what he does have for you. Maybe look around at the opportunities that are right there and realize, well, maybe God has something different that I hadn't imagined that I could be used in the youth department or with teaching a Sunday school class. I thought I could never do something like that or tell someone about Jesus. I mean, that's scary. but maybe that's exactly what God has for you. Something like that, or serving in music. I don't know what it is, because God has a different path for each of us. This is the story that I'm telling on our furlough this time is that we set out with an idea of what God had for us. And I was confident, I knew exactly how things were going to go. You know, maybe with other missionaries, you know, those kind of lame missionaries, they just start one church, and it takes them like 30 years, and then finally, maybe they're starting another one. Okay, I can't say anything anymore now. I've been there 15, and yeah, we're still starting that first church. But God has blessed our ministry to the children. I've always thought, you know, I don't really wanna be just teaching kids little Sunday school stories. I want some family, some adults, and we can go deep into some deep things. I can like, you know, teach guys at the Institute. But no, God has humbled me and says, no, what I have for you, is with your seminary degree and all that. You can teach these kids, elementary age children. You can teach these teenagers that need to know what sin is and who God really is. Is He just an energy force out there or is He a personal God? Let's start with that. And before we get into the systematic theology, maybe someday, but right now, that's where I'm at. I'm telling people what is sin. I'm telling people who God is. I'm telling people who Jesus is. That's what he's using all my training and learning for. It's humbling, but it's fulfilling. To tell someone for the first time who Jesus is, I mean, what greater opportunity is there We, I always imagined that we would have an Estonian ministry. I didn't want to waste my time with an international church. That's what we started out in, an international church helping out there. Now then I struck out on my own, I want an Estonian church. Everything, the singing's in Estonian, the preaching's in Estonian. Well, guess what? The only person who comes faithfully to our services at the moment is a man from England. who doesn't think it's worth his time to learn the Estonian language. So, we have basically an international church. We have, you know, my family of Americans, his family, and he has an Estonian wife, and so we have some Estonian and some, you know, English, I guess, British. That's what God has given us. And so, that's who we minister to. We sing our songs in English and in Estonian. I preach usually in Estonian, but I record it ahead of time for Eugene to hear it in English. That's what God has given us, we've had to learn to adapt. Maybe God is working in your life, and you need to learn to adapt as well. Maybe God has some direction. He's trying to get you to go in that direction. You're resisting. No, that's not what I thought. That's not my comfort zone. But God is still nudging you that way. You know you should do it. Maybe it's time to say yes to that opportunity. But then lastly, remember your original vision. Remember your original vision. Now, this comes to mind because when, let's see, it was that last, I don't know, the Saturday or Sunday before we left, I was with Raivo again and I was, yeah, this was on Sunday after the service, and I was explaining to him a lot of the things I just said here that, you know, oh, Raivo, you can't imagine. You know, I thought we'd be doing a Bible Institute, and we'd have four or five churches started, and we'd be sending out missionaries, but, you know, I guess God has led us a different direction. But see, Raivo is the kind of person that he's very motivated, and he's very, like, gung-ho, and, you know, we can do this. And so he stopped me, and he said, now hold on, Rob. Don't give that up. You know, we still want to do that, don't we? We still want to see God do great things. And so I had to stop and think, you know, I think he's right. Because ultimately, as a missionary in Estonia, well, that is like the ultimate goal, is to start churches, Bible Institute, training of men to be the leadership in these things. And I thought, well, you know, maybe God still wants to do that. I mean, why wouldn't he want to do that still? It's just taking a little more time. It's just the journey has been some, had some, you know, some twists and turns and unexpected things have happened, but probably God still wants to do those things. And so we'll keep going towards that goal as the ultimate long-term goal Maybe that original vision, or that thing that God put on your heart originally, maybe that was still true. Maybe that is still something God would like you to do at some point, but maybe not yet. Don't give up on that. If that is a biblical thing, and if you feel in your heart that, well, actually, someday, I believe God has that for me, don't give up on that. God may still do that for you in your life and in your time of service. For this, I think of Abraham. God told Abraham, he said, leave your family, leave your country, and go to a land that I will show you, a promised land. And this is a land that I will give to you and to your descendants, a land of blessing. So Abraham left the city of Ur, and eventually it was just he and his wife, even split off from Lot at some point. And there he was, believing that that is what, not having inherited that land. When it was time to bury his wife, Sarah, He didn't own any land in Canaan. What he had to do was purchase a piece of land from the Hittites, a cave where he could bury his wife, Sarah. The same for Isaac.