Excerpt from Michail

Below is an email update from my husband's mailing list, called Quad on a Mission. His website tells his story and includes some messages he has shared with young people and some other groups. http://quadonamission.com/  The following email was sent out shortly before we left on a 3 weeks trip to Wisconsin to visit my dear family and friends.

Shalom dear friends and family!

Please allow me to give you an update and give glory to Adonai (the Lord) for His goodness in our lives.

Melanie and I are so blessed to be married for one year and eight months!  Our wedding took place in Wisconsin on August 2, 2011.  This year we will celebrate two years of marriage!  Here is a picture of from our wedding day, showing us exchanging our vows with Rabbi Eugene Banak from Canada and Pastor Dave Adams from Wisconsin in the background. We have been fellowshipping and serving Adonai at Eitz Chaim Messianic Fellowship.  In Hebrew, it means Tree of Life Messianic Fellowship.  We love our "mishpacha" (family) of believers.  We have been learning and growing so much to love the Torah and to walk in the footsteps of Yeshua the Messiah. 

This year, Passover was a very special time for us.  We had seven guests at our Passover table.  The presence of Adonai was so indescribable in the whole evening as we broke the unleavened bread together, drank the fruit of the vine and remembered Yeshua's sufferings and atoning death for us.  Many around our table, including myself, shared testimonies of how God has brought them from slavery into freedom in Yeshua the Messiah!  We completed the evening by washing each other's feet and praying words of blessing over each other.

What prompted me to send today's update is something that transpired this past week.  The seven days of the Feast of Unleavened Bread follow the Passover (Leviticus 23:4-7; Numbers 28:16-18).  During this time we celebrate Yeshua's resurrection three days after the Passover on the day of Firstfruits.  For seven days we eat unleavened bread to remind us to live a life of holiness and separation from sin following the sinless example of Yeshua, a life of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Last Monday evening, during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Melanie went to park the van into the garage.  She was almost positioned where she parks the van, and then, she firmly pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes.  She knocked off the support post that holds up the overhead shelving.  The overhead shelf came crashing down into the windshield and the van continued surging forward, crushing five of the supporting wall studs in half and pushing the exterior wall bricks out with the bumper.  It's like something you would see in a movie.  I was already laying down, and my caregiver was getting me ready for bed.  The crash of the van into the wall felt like an earthquake!  The whole house shook.

I sent out my caregiver running to check on Melanie to make sure she was okay.  I was thinking to myself that something fell down in the basement and I wanted to make sure she didn't get hurt.  Melanie came walking into the house, completely shaken up and barely holding back the tears and told me what happened.  I said to her, "It's okay honey.  The main thing is that you are okay and that you didn't get hurt."  I gave her a tight hug.  Melanie couldn't hold back the tears any longer.  So here we were, with my caregiver still in the room, and Melanie just crying a flood of tears as I was holding her.

We had no idea what to do next.  So we did what any other believer would do.  We prayed together to Adonai and asked for help.  I immediately called my friend Paul only to get his voicemail.  He came over later that night. Then I remembered my friend Arthur who is a builder and I called him.  He came to our house at 7 a.m. the next morning.  He said, "It's no problem, I will replace the five wall studs for you for free and fix the overhead shelf."  Then my friend Paul said to me, "It's no problem, I will relay the bricks for you for free."  He is a professional bricklayer.  My friends, you have to realize something: the whole back wall of the garage is going to have to be redone.  It's a very labour-intensive process.  Melanie and I have just been so overwhelmed with the support and love of our mishpacha.  It cost us only $40 for the wall studs to cover the cost of the materials.  It cost of us an additional $67.50 to pay another friend to clean the old mortar off the bricks yesterday after the high Shabbat of the last day of unleavened bread.  Adonai is so good and His love truly endures for ever!

On Tuesday we had to get the windshield replaced on the van; there was no other damage except for a tiny dent on the front bumper.  I called a place here in London, and the gentleman was so courteous: he came by our house, picked up the van and quoted us a really good price for the windshield replacement job.  I had a physiotherapy appointment and a follow-up with the orthopedic surgeon, two appointments back-to-back to have a look at my left arm that I fractured back in November (I learned a very important lesson that you shouldn't operate a motorized wheelchair and swing out your left elbow while going through doorways—the door post is stronger than the elbow.  I was getting ready to turn on the lights in my study. The light switch comes after the doorway, not before!).  Melanie and I took the city bus to the appointment.  Before I left the house, a friend called and said, "Mike, I have $300 for you to help you cover the cost of your windshield replacement."  I was so overwhelmed by Adonai's provision.  The cost of the windshield was $250 plus tax, totaling $282.50 all together.  Both of my appointments went really well.  I have another follow-up appointment with the physiotherapist in six weeks.  The orthopedic surgeon discharged me, saying that the humerus bone in my left arm was completely recovered and strong again. We called the technician from St. Joseph's Hospital after the appointments, and he graciously brought the van to us right to St. Joseph's Hospital and we were able to drive it home.  We handed him $310 to include a tip for picking up and bringing the vehicle back to us.  The $300 our friend gave us was just enough. HalleluYah!

Recently Melanie received her permanent residence status, so Melanie and I are leaving town on Sunday, April 7 to spend three weeks in Milwaukee with family and friends.  Paul will be in charge of rebuilding the garage wall while we will be away.  One more thing: Elohim knew that I have absolutely no cash left before leaving for the trip.  So today, we had to take my mom to a hospital appointment.  She handed me an envelope.  I asked her, "What is this?"  She smiled and said, "It's a gift for you and Melanie."  Melanie and I opened the envelope and it contains $80.  I will need to $60 to pay my friend to clean off the rest of the bricks.  In His wonderful sense of humor, Adonai provided me with an extra $20.

We will update you all when we get back at the beginning of May.

Blessings,

Michail and Melanie

 

From walnuts to little ships with loads of laughs

 

I have heard it is said that you are what you eat.  Well, I eat a lot of nuts, and thanks to a couple new friends, we were blessed with a bunch of freshly dried walnuts for our consumption! :)  Last night as we were visiting with a friend, we were snacking on them, and as I cracked the nuts, I remembered that our 4 year old nephew was coming over today, and I decided to save soem shells for him to enjoy. Here is what came of them. 

We made little ships with the walnut shells and a bit of wax and toothpicks, and sent them sailing on the green sea (thanks to food colouring), although Ezra rather liked to dock the ships high up on the rocks instead of sailing them with little wind gusts (or puffs). Time stood still as this little guy played with his ships. We made little sharks with melted wax, and that added to the adventure!

While Ezra played, and in between rescuing sunken ships, I made some cookies - a new recipe from a friend.  Of course I altered it to my needs :) They turned out wonderful, but I think I will put less honey in next time.  I'm sorry, but I can't seem to get my photo rotated. If you are interested in the recipe, just ask, as I haven't the time to include it here at this point when I should be headed to bed, instead of getting frustrated with my blog.

 

 

Some little laughs of the day included Ezra singing me a song about a beautiful princess who lived in a castle. She went out to walk in the garden with the principal and the king. In the garden there was a bee singing a song...etc.  The principal and the princess...I wonder if these are his mom and dad, as his dad is a high school principal, and his mom?  He told me today that his mom's last name was Gorgeous, "that's what my dad told me". 

One more - I told him that I had the same last name as his Baba (Russian Grandma). 

His reply was, "what, Pierogi?" (a traditional Russian food that Baba makes).  

He had me laughing today.  I love 4 year olds. They are so inquisitive.      He calls my juicer, "the Juicer Monster", and I play along with it.  He is so much fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daddy can I have_?

We all have been children at one time, and I think we have all at one point asked our dad for something, and especially at a young age, we really expected him to do it for us.  Why?  We had a simple trust in our dad, and some of us can say, he was our hero.  He could do anything, right?  Why do we lose that trust when we get older?  I think because when we are little, we are helpless in a lot of ways to do some tasks, such as prepare ourselves meals, go places that require driving, defend ourselves from bullies (even if they are our siblings).  As we grow in age, we also grow in self confidence, and there comes a point in life as a young person, that we don't feel we need our dad's help with things, and we often don't even think we need to ask to do things on our own.  We somehow slowly lose our trust too.  We begin to doubt the abilities of our father, and we think we can handle life on our own - we don't need anyone dictating our lives.  How soon we find out life is not so easy all on our own. 

I think of this analogy in comparison to my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  He says in Matthew 7:7-11

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! 

Can it get any more simple than this?  My Father is simply saying, "Just ask Me. I am ready to give you what you ask."  I am learning that my Father loves for me to communicate with Him as a child with his father.  He wants me to have the faith of a child, that trusts that He is all powerful, and can really do anything!  Why is it that when we "mature" in our faith, that we seem to think that our Father can only help us with the complicated things, like providing money for us when we run out, or healing someone that is sick, etc.  We don't often come to Him with the small things because, like a growing child, we feel that "I am strong enough to handle this one".  I quickly find how weak I am when I fall into that trap, and then I have to come running back to my Father, and somewhat ashamed, ask for His help. 

This past week I experienced my Father answering very simple requests of mine that were seemingly small, but ended up being something that I will remember for some time. 

On Thursday last week, I had planned to go food shopping and for one reason or another, it took me a long time to get out of the house.  I found I was finally leaving at 2pm, and come 4:30pm, we were going to have people knocking at our door for the Hebrew class we host at our house.  This did not look to favorable for me. 

My first stop was at the Bulk Barrel downtown to get some bulk flours, etc. - a place I have been to numerous times - but somehow missed the street, and had to circle around (clock is ticking).  Before leaving the parking lot after my purchases, I glanced over my receipt, and found I hadn't been charged for something I bought, and had been charged for something I did not buy!  I was a little frustrated because this was going to take away from my short time allotment, and yet I went back in because I thought I was at fault.  I turned out that I didn't have to pay any extra, but actually got $3.00 in change back!  When you are counting your pennies, it all matters! 

After completing shopping at the next place, the clock read 3:51pm (the minutes really mattered too).  I wasn't sure how I was going to make it home in time, as I still had one stop to make across town, but I decided to stop for a moment.  I asked my Father to help me to be finished at Costco in 30 minutes - for those of you who know, this is not a store you can get in and out of too quickly, as there is always quite a multitude of shoppers all the time.  When I drove into the already packed parking lot, I simply asked for a parking spot close to the door so I could be in and out (and I wasn't going to take advantage of Michail's wheelchair accessible parking permit, as he wasn't with me).

After just a couple turns, I found one - about three spots away from the door!  Remember, this is getting on to evening time now...everyone is out and about as work is letting out :)  I got what I needed and returned to my van in good time, and as I was starting the engine I just began to praise Adonai.  He had blessed me so much already, but I asked, "Father help me to get right out of this lot" - usually there is a long line of cars incoming and outgoing constantly.  Yes, you guessed it - there was absolutely no cars coming in our leaving the parking lot when I pulled out. 

As I was driving home, the words to a song came to my mind.  It's called Ayn Kamocha, or There is None Like You, taken from the book of Psalms and Exodus.  Here are the words in English:

There is none like You among the gods, O Lord, and there is nothing like Your works. 

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion is throughout all generations.

The Lord reigns, the Lord has reigned, the Lord will reign forever and ever.

The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.

I was singing it in Hebrew though - it sounds so much richer! :)

I approached my street as I made my way home, and I was just shouting.  God had made a way for me again. As I pulled into our street, the clock almost shouted out God's praises as it read 4:21pm - EXACTLY 30 minutes from when I had prayed. 

I couldn't help but run in the house and share my overflowing heart with my husband.  I rushed in, and as I began to explain how overwhelmed I was with the goodness of my Father, I began to weep for joy.  Michail rejoiced with me after he realized I was not upset :)  He had blessed me before I left that I might have the joy of Yahweh in my heart, and wow - his request was answered too!

Can I share one more verse?  This one I have pondered over and over.  It's so good. 

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 1 John 3:22

 

Whatever we ask...we receive.  There is a condition though.  Those who receive what they ask for are those who keep the commandments of our God, and do what is pleasing in His sight...that's food for thought.

Just little foxes and taking a lesson from the duck

In Song of Solomon 2:15 I have read about little foxes that spoil the vine.  Lately I think I have been learning a bit about what this means.  In my understanding, the foxes are little things that I allow to get in between me and my husband in our marriage - things that slowly creep in, and if not nipped in the bud, can take root and become something big.  It can me a misunderstanding, lack of communication, something assumed, or simply the differences there are between male and female that we are both still learning about!

It's hard.  Sometimes I just want him to understand me, but he doesn't always. I need to explain, just like I need him to explain for me, or rephrase something.  I have issues with holding on to things, even if they are small. 

Grrr...why?

Why can't I take a lesson from the duck who has a water resistant oily-substance on his feathers so that the rain just rolls off? In 1 Peter 5:7, I find that I am to cast my cares on Adonai because He cares for me.

I am learning. Let go, let go, let go. Be humble. Talk it out. Forgive.

Surrender.

So blessed my cup is overflowing!

Today was an extremely long day. I woke up knowing that we were in for a long one, and still managed to go back to sleep after turning off my alarm!  That can be a scary thing when a caregiver is going to show up on our doorstep at 6:00am!  I usually give myself a half hour to help Michail with his personal care before the caregiver comes so that we have a sense of some privacy.  This morning I had 10 minutes when I woke up...ahh!  But, I found that somehow Yahweh gave me enough grace for the day, beginning that early, and I was finished by the time someone needed to walk in our home. 

 

Another challenge was that I woke up with a headache and pain in my neck, which made me feel blah, and created difficulty in getting Michail and I ready to leave the house by 9am.  Michail was such a sweetheart after praying for me, gave me a neck/back massage with his elbow. We managed to leave not too much later, after we had stopped to start our day in prayer with our Heavenly Father.

Our first item of the day was an interview with Immigration Canada. I have been working on paperwork to become a permanant resident of Canada. We have been waiting for this day for a long time!  We were in and out of the office in about 2 hours, most of that being wait time, as the office was packed with people like us.  So, yes! I am now a permanant resident of Canada!  I am just awaiting my PR card to come in the mail, which may be up to 8 weeks.  By the way, I realized that my headache was gone while we were sitting waiting for the interview!

We went out to celebrate afterwards, and cheated on our diet a bit.   Michail loves Poutine (for those

who are not Canadians like me, and had to ask, "what?" - fries with melted cheese and hot gravy

poured over them), and so we treated ourselves, plus we stopped at our favorite falafel place in the

mall - Feta & Olives for some healthier food :)

Our next appointment was at the Hand and Upper Limb Clinic at the hospital.  My husband managed to break his arm (a spiral break to the humerus bone) 3 weeks ago, and we were referred to a specialist after getting some x-rays, as they said an operation might be necessary.  Today, five days after the last scans, they did another x-ray, and found that the bone had already begun to straighten out, and no operation was needed!  Praise Yah!  We are so grateful for His healing power! 

Can the day get better? Of course!  We have a class we are taking on Tuesdays.  Usually we share a

meal with another classmate/friend, and take her to the class with us.  Today she had a meal prepared

for us when we arrived at her house, and we could eat and get on our way to class, just like that. 

There was no stress on my part about preparing a meal after such a long day.  I felt so blessed...richly

blessed!

I realized on the way home tonight as Michail and I were talking, we were not late to one appointment today!  We were even early to our class when we are usually pressed for time every week.

HalleluYah! I am so excited to serve the Living God! 

playing catch up...soon :)

I will catch up one day...hopefully soon.  Has life really been this busy since July?  What really matters is that Yahweh is still faithful, still on the throne, and still knows what is going on in my life.  I will share with you all as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience.

Here is a post specifically for my mother in law, who I affectionately call Mama.

This is Michail and I with Mama, in front of our house.

Today we took a nice 30 minute walk to her house to help her with translation for a service technician who was doing some measuring. Mama is getting a new AC unit this Friday. Her old one broke almost a month ago, and she has weathered the heat all this time.  I am so proud of her. She is a very spiritually and physically strong, Russian woman, who has a passion for God, and loves her children so much. She cares about their souls, like any good mother would. I have seen her weep, and take on loads of stress for those who she may see to be wandering.

I am so blessed that she has accepted me into the Bantseev family with open arms! I love her so much, and its special that she lives only 5 minutes away (driving distance), and we can pop in anytime we want to visit. Like any good Russian, she always has some good food to offer.

Today we had fried salmon, and fresh garden veggies with hummus for supper at her house, quite unexpected too! She was careful to bless us even though she was very obviously exhausted herself today.

Mama Nela - ya loobloo teba, dorogaya!

P.S. My biggest challenge that I cannot afford to put off any longer, is to learn the Russian language. I so want to just sit down and have a heart to heart talk in a language we can both speak fluently!