She was Russian and had married a good friend’s son. They had met overseas and had continued the relationship via email and now they were married and she was looking for a job. She had experience in bookkeeping and we needed a bookkeeper and so we hired her for one day a week. It was a good fit. She was detail oriented, a quiet and conscientious worker and lifted some of the burden from our office manager’s shoulders. And she spoke fluent Russian which didn’t seem to be a plus at first but later proved invaluable.
**************************
Charlotte Reeves had adopted a Russian child and through that had become involved in Russian ministries. One day she sent me an email. CNLTV, a Russian Christian broadcasting company was looking for fresh programming. She thought they might be interested in The Amazing Collection and so I made the call to their US office and Mark Patterson, International Director of CNLTV. He was going to be at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in two weeks and so we agreed to meet there.
CNLTV had a booth close to ours and so the meeting took place quickly. The cost would be $250 a program plus another $250 per program to cover translation costs. Being a mathematical genius, I figured it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and so told him we were not interested.
Several months later I was in my office and Yulia, our Russian bookkeeper came in and asked me if I had ever considered getting The Amazing Collection on a Russian broadcasting company. I told her of my experience with CNLTV and her eyes lit up. “Did you know I was the secretary to the president of CNLTV when I lived in Kazakhstan?” Of course that was new information!
“I think you should call them back and ask them to reconsider the price. And besides”, she added, “the translation would only cost a little over $16,000!”
That was a far cry from my imagined “hundreds of thousands of dollars”!
So I made the call. Once again I talked to Mark Patterson. He was kind and pleasant and seemed to be glad I had called. He said they were going to be choosing programming the very next day for the fall season and would be glad to consider The Amazing Collection! I asked if he wanted me to overnight some of the DVDs and he said he had some sitting on his desk! He had kept them from our meeting at the NRBC!!
Two days later he called back. They REALLY wanted our program and would also waive the program fee if we could please pay for the translation! I was shocked, dismayed and delighted all once…and so grateful to a God who works in the most creative ways!
The next day we received a call from a man who wanted to pay for all of those fees, and so we began a warm partnership with CNLTV. Through them The Amazing Collection has been shown to well over 100 nations in the Russian language over three different satellites.
As for Yulia, she ended up translating four of our workbooks into the Russian language. She has now followed her husband to Norway for extra schooling but she was a great gift to us. And who would have guessed that of all of her many gifts, it would be her Russian contacts and language that proved to be so abundantly helpful!
CNLTV had a booth close to ours and so the meeting took place quickly. The cost would be $250 a program plus another $250 per program to cover translation costs. Being a mathematical genius, I figured it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and so told him we were not interested.
Several months later I was in my office and Yulia, our Russian bookkeeper came in and asked me if I had ever considered getting The Amazing Collection on a Russian broadcasting company. I told her of my experience with CNLTV and her eyes lit up. “Did you know I was the secretary to the president of CNLTV when I lived in Kazakhstan?” Of course that was new information!
“I think you should call them back and ask them to reconsider the price. And besides”, she added, “the translation would only cost a little over $16,000!”
That was a far cry from my imagined “hundreds of thousands of dollars”!
So I made the call. Once again I talked to Mark Patterson. He was kind and pleasant and seemed to be glad I had called. He said they were going to be choosing programming the very next day for the fall season and would be glad to consider The Amazing Collection! I asked if he wanted me to overnight some of the DVDs and he said he had some sitting on his desk! He had kept them from our meeting at the NRBC!!
Two days later he called back. They REALLY wanted our program and would also waive the program fee if we could please pay for the translation! I was shocked, dismayed and delighted all once…and so grateful to a God who works in the most creative ways!
The next day we received a call from a man who wanted to pay for all of those fees, and so we began a warm partnership with CNLTV. Through them The Amazing Collection has been shown to well over 100 nations in the Russian language over three different satellites.
As for Yulia, she ended up translating four of our workbooks into the Russian language. She has now followed her husband to Norway for extra schooling but she was a great gift to us. And who would have guessed that of all of her many gifts, it would be her Russian contacts and language that proved to be so abundantly helpful!
I Corinthians 2:9
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment