6th day

Yesterday, Katherine and I were allowed to relax a bit after the morning sessions, and we went to another town and enjoyed a choir concert at St. John's church, commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where Admiral Lord Nelson was killed.
Got to sing with the crowd:
Rule Brittania! Brittania rule the waves!
Britons never never never shall be slaves!

Anyway, we're in the home stretch for story collection. Here's another for you to read and pray about, as God leads:

5 years ago, a young Albanian woman, "Mira," came to know Jesus through some national believers that a Firestone team works with, and she began meeting with them regularly. Almost immediately, her Muslim family began to put pressure on Mira because of her decision. Her grandmother was a well-known healer (the equivalent of a witch doctor) in the area. Mira struggled to grow in her faith for about 6 months, then she gave up. She burned all of the literature she had received, including her Bible. Mira wrote a letter to the small fellowship, denouncing her faith, denouncing Christ, and ordering them to stop greeting her or praying for her. "Burn this letter when you're done," she wrote. "Bianca," the believer who had been discipling Mira, let her know that they would not stop praying, believing that Mira still belonged to God.

Soon after, Mira went to Italy for a year to study. During that time, she continued feeling convicted by God about what she had done, and she met two evangelists while in Italy. The pressure of their presence helped her resolve something in her heart. Later, she told the fellowship, "I knew that you were praying for me because constantly, in my mind, God was talking to me."

After her return from Italy, Bianca came to meet with Mira and found her to be much more open toward Christ. The believers eventually asked Mira's mother if they could meet at the home periodically, and she agreed. They prayed that the darkness that seemingly covered the home would be lifted, and this happened. Later, Mira's spiritualist grandmother died. One year after returning, Mira came back to the fellowship and repented of her denunciation of her faith and Christ. Last spring, she was baptized. Her mother and sister-in-law are now also secret believers. Pray for this family, that all of them may grow in Christ and share their faith with others. Pray for this small fellowship to grow in faith and boldness as they keep seeing their prayers answered.