Where There is Love...

An ancient latin hymn (Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est) says that "Wherever there is love and charity, there God truly is." We experienced the presence of His love in the last week as Liam was hospitalized with high fever and Bill cut his trip to the US short to come home to Russia.

After Olivia and Gillian had fallen to a bad cold before Bill left, Liam got a high fever (104*F) that just wouldn't quit. Seeing that this was not the same virus the girls had been dealing with Priscilla took him to the American Medical Clinic not far from us in Saint Petersburg, Russia. By that time he was dehydrated, so they put him on an IV with an antibiotic drip. Friends helped Priscilla juggle the household duties with her vigil at the hospital, but she was getting worn down quickly. Liam was in a lot of pain and difficult to handle. And without a concrete diagnosis, it was hard to discern what to do, esp. from a distance.

Bill was able to change his return flight quickly and inexpensively and rushed off to the airport on the day his second set of meetings were to begin; it was an Imago Christi Gathering where he would be leading the main training modules. The leader and community graciously let me go. No one is indispensable, and other community members covered admirably.

In other news the conference center (St. Malo's in Allenspark, CO) where Imago Christi usually holds its Gatherings suffered a serious fire the day Bill left. We were blessed that the Lord had led the community to try out a new venue (The Potter's Inn, Divide, CO)!

Bill arrived home in Russia Tuesday evening and went straight to the hospital. Liam was doing better, but a lower grade fever was still persisting. Bill slept off his jetlag in Liam's room, and helped him through more tests and the hospital food. Meanwhile Priscilla was able to get more rest and bring order and normalcy to the girls at home. After three more nights Liam's temperature came down and they released him to recover further at home with various meds.

Priscilla and the kids have often made the sacrifice of letting Bill/Dad go on these ministry trips. It was a powerful message of his love for them to put everything else aside and sacrifice the ministry for them and their needs.

 

Ministry Update, November 2011

Several of our supporting churches recently asked for Ministry Updates in preparation for their Fall Missions Emphasis events of various kinds, and we thought it might be helpful to post for everyone to see.

Here is a recent Ministry Update and Prayer Requests.

Our ministry in Saint Petersburg, Russia is very full as we prepare for a yearlong furlough next school year (mid-June 2012 thru July 2013). Some recent highlights:

• Gillian has finished four of her six college applications, and recently scored very well on a Russian Language Proficiency Test! She already has her first acceptance from Messiah College!
  
• Priscilla returned from a "Women of Influence" conference for women in our mission agency: Church Resource Ministries (CRM), held in Malaga, Spain, where she got some much needed rest, made new relationships and received spiritual renewal.
  
• Bill finished a sermon series at our church in Pushkin (south of Saint Petersburg) on Wisdom Literature in the Bible. He finished with the Song of Solomon, and he led a couples' gathering afterwards on "The Love that Overcomes," and "Appreciating Your Spouse." A woman came forward to receive Christ during one of the messages on Ecclesiastes (to see the O'Byrne Report Blog, click here)!
  
• Bill continues to teach Old Testament Introduction at Saint Petersburg Christian University (SPCU) to the first year class of students mostly from Russia's far east, or neighboring "Stans" (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc.), and one immigrant from America! Bill recently submitted an article on "The Semantics of Worship in the Old Testament" for the first edition of SPCU's new journal.
  
• Priscilla and Bill are providing pre-marital counseling for one of his students and his fiance.
  
• Bill also wrote an article on "The Path of Spiritual Transformation in Scripture" for a special "current issues" publication.
• Bill's ministry continues to focus on the area of the spiritual formation of church leaders, and he mentors a number of church leaders in Russia, but also other CRM missionaries too (via Skype).
  
• The International Academy is the international school that our school aged children attend. Bill is the chairman of the board of trustees and has a number of duties preparing a new and expanded board for launching a financial campaign and also preparing them for his absence next year.
  
• Bill recently finished writing the chapter in The Imago Christi Spiritual Formation Coaching Manual on a Spiritual Mapping Tool, and will be leading a training seminar for using that tool in ministry in November.
  
• Bill continues to co-lead Imago Christi -- the Spiritual Formation Ministry in CRM, which involves mentoring staff and coordinating training events and seminars in the area of spiritual formation. He'll be leading a Spiritual Formation Discovery event in Denver before the Imago Christi Gathering near Colorado Springs in November. He will also be presenting an extended Discovery event for Denver Seminary's Masters in Spiritual Formation program in January 2012.  

See also our new "Current Prayer List" page (here on the right panel).