Jaak

Jaak ("J" is pronounced like a "Y") is a man who has been coming to our corps pretty regularly for the last few weeks. He says that he was just drawn to come!

He always sits in the very front (on the door side, not the piano side, if you know our chapel) and often asks to say just "two words" which ends up being a long, rambling speech that even the Estonians can't understand.

Gradually we came to realize that this isn't just because he wants to be annoying, but he seems to have some real mental health issues. He says he's not homeless, and he seems to be okay physically over all.

He reminds us so much of Jerry from the Chester Corps!

He's been a real test of my patience and love, and it can be hard when we're having prayer time and he decides to stand up and give one of his speeches! It also makes us reluctant to have open testimony time.

Please pray that he will get whatever mental-health assistance he needs (Inge referred him to a place), and especially that all of us will see him as a child of God. It can be a real challenge to have an open-door policy when there are people like this around! Please pray that we will remember that these interruptions ARE our work; it's not that our more important work is being interrupted! (David Dean used to always say that when he was CO in Portland.)

Thanks for your prayers, friends!

Evelyn