Our ministry here in Nice – Sanremo has come to a final phase. We returned to the Czech Republic, as agreed after three years of Ministry. We are praying now to understand what God wants next from us.
Please pray for Brother Francois, he lives in Nice, his wife Olga is from Russia. He was born in Lebanon but grew up in France. However, the group loves to listen to him and helps with learning the language.
In the summer, young people from the city of Chernivtsi visited us, together we worshiped, sang songs and testified on the streets. As I wrote to you, this ministry was completely unusual for me, not as I imagined. God taught me to trust Him, and to walk “on the water” meaning to live by faith. Not having anybody who was supposed to come after me, God told me to be calm. I usually prepare a person, but this time everyone refused to take over the ministry in Nice and Sanremo. At the last moment, a family appeared. Francois and Olga have who dreamed of working with the Russian speaking population! God prepared them and this time did not need to prepare anybody.
The church from Milan took patronage of the church in Sanremo. They will conduct services 2 times a month, coming from Milan. Therefore, I am free before God. I see that now it is necessary to help new families moving to serve in Western Europe. Of course, we are weak, but God has power! Thank you from the heart for your support. We really need your prayers!
In a previous update, I wrote that a young family, Yuri and Sarah Gula, came to visit us. Our ministry here ends this summer. We will be happy if Yura and Sarah will continue this work.
Together with them we visited another family of missionaries – Sergey and Lilia Svichhev. Us and their blessed family prayed together for a new light of hope for the Russian speaking population in Lyon, France.
We met with pastors of two churches, we hope the Lord will open the door in this city so that there will be a community and a place where this community will be able to meet. They asked to pray for them and their ministry. In France, this city is called – Student City. There are many universities and students from all over the world. Of these, quite a few are Russian speaking.
Arriving from Lyon, Yuris car broke down. For a long time we could not understand why the fuel does not flow into the engine from the tank. We thought it would be expensive to fix, because the pump seemed to be broken.
But thank God, an Italian named Raphael found the cause, and quickly fixed it. Yuri and Sarah could return home without any more obstacles. These are common problems in the work of a missionary.
The Gospel in Western Europe is urgently needed so that once Christian countries do not become atheistic. If the Lord urges you to come on a mission to Europe to help open new churches, write to us. We will be happy to help with anything we can.
Thank you from the heart for your participation in our ministry!
Peace to you, dear friends! The ministry in the city of Nice and Sanremo is growing. We are studying the Scripture and organize Sunday services in those two cities.
At the beginning of April, the Lord allowed to visit the Torbetskys family in Madrid. Thank God for their ministry. They work as a whole family for the Lord in Spain, where more than half a million Russian-speaking people live. I pray that there will be more of those who open their hearts to the Gospel!
Before Easter, Brother Leonid Borisevich came to us, and we had the opportunity to serve the Lord with street ministry glorifying God and talking with people passing by in Nice and Sanremo.
Hub, a man from France, who had been chained to a wheelchair since childhood, listened very attentively to the testimony of Christ. He agreed to take the Bible and promised to read, although he said he is an atheist. On the streets we read the Bible in various languages, Russian, English and French.
After the celebrations, we met with our friends at our home, where we listened to more testimonies, had more conversations and were singing.
After Easter, a young missionary family, Yuri and Sarah Gula, visited us. They are praying that the Lord will show them a place of Ministry. We pray that they remain to serve in Nice and pray for the churches in Nice and Sanremo that they would have regular pastors. Since our Ministry ends here this summer, and we want to hand it over to faithful people!
We had our patience was tested for very long 27 days. Yes, some absurd problems, but we lived for 27 days without electricity and hot water, just with candles and we had to charge the computer and phones in the car.
Back in the past when all those amenities didn’t exist, the missionaries didn’t have any of the comfortable things that we can’t live without now. We live again in the mountains, although it is hard to reach it is a beautiful and quiet place. This is what we can currently afford.
The children visit a new Italian school. Thank God, they adapted fast and found new friends to socialize with. We began again to meet in Sanremo to study the Bible on Fridays with our Sister Tatiana, and the Sunday service is held in the church of Waldens. After the service, we drive immediately to Nice, where we hold a service with Russian speaking people who want to know the Word of God.
The project “Book Trading” continues to gain momentum. We have already organized 7 libraries in 7 different European cities with refugee camps. My goal is 100 libraries. I believe the Lord will help deliver these Gospels or parts of the Gospels in 12 languages to the refugees.
We continue to pray for a revival in Nice and Sanremo! Do not forget the family of Arthur and Narine, who want to move to Europe to minister to the Russian-speaking population and Kurds. Also for the family of Valery and Yulia Lonov, who are praying for the upcoming move to minister in Western Europe among the Russian-speaking population
First of all, Friends, I ask you to support me in prayer for the project “Book trading”. In 1821, the first edition of the Gospel was published in Russian, with the support of Tsar Alexander the First.
Many people in Russia and Ukraine and in other countries controlled by the Tsar were able to read. This is when some people felt compelled by God to sell the Gospel. They traveled hundreds of kilometers by foot, delivering the Good News to people who wanted to study the Word of God.
At the beginning of the 20th century, my grandfather Phillip bought the Gospel in Saratov on the market. He came from the village to earn some money here in the city. After that, my grandfather and his side of the family, and also my grandmother became Evangelical Christians.
One time in Mordovia a fleeing worker killed a Gospel Seller. Through this accident the Gospel reached him, he started reading it and then turned to the Lord. After that, he was a zealous preacher of the Good News in Mordovia.
At the beginning of this year, I visited several refugee settlements in France with Mikhail Medyanik and Benjamin. The Lord showed me the importance of having Bibles in their native languages there and for them to have in their libraries.
I found a ministry that agreed to support this project and allocate such books free of charge. I need to have at least 2 copies of the following languages: Arabic, Turkish, Farsi, English, German, Italian, French, Kurdish, Somalia, Urdu, Tigrinya, Russian.
In France and Italy, I meet the most refugees from the above-named countries. This summer, the ministry was not easy for us since we had to vacate the apartment, we previously occupied. Since October 1, we were able to move back in again. But before that, my family was in the Czech Republic, as the children have to take exams in school.
And I was here living in a tent to continue the ministry and I had interesting conversations and meetings. We talked a lot with Tom and George from Georgia. They have many questions about the Bible, and we had enough time to discuss them all.
After returning from a trip to Russia, Arthur and Narine were already waiting for me, they are other ministers who work among the Kurdish population. We prayed together, and we ask you to pray for them as well so that they can carry the Good News to the Kurdish people in Europe. We will be visiting the Kurdish refugees in Germany, France, and Italy with Arthur. Also, please pray for the implementation of the project ” Book trading “. Thank you for the prayers and support of our ministry!
We will learn a lot when we meet the One who is guiding His mission in heaven and many will be surprised.
We had many events and trips last month. It started with the fact that my car broke down, and I had to take it to Prague to fix it. A mechanic told me that it is not possible to travel 745 miles with this car. We only could only go by faith, so we prayed and left. Tom, an orthodox believer from Georgia went with me. The car broke again on the way there. In Switzerland, people called the police on us because the car was burning oil and created a lot of smoke but after praying we were able to continue driving.
Tom was very surprised by how God answers prayers. After visiting a church in Prague and socializing with many believers he was surprised again. On the way back, he told me that he wanted to be baptized by faith. He is a very honest person, around 20 years old and reads the bible. He sees a lot of things happening in his church that doesn’t seem to be biblical.
We also visited a church in Faro, Portugal. We are glad for Pastor Eugene because the Lord works through him. A couple from Moscow (Andrew & Lydia) was returning home on the airplane but Andrew (59) became sick and had to stop in Faro. He was rushed to the emergency. Pastor Eugene was called by friends and asked to help his wife Lydia. She doesn’t speak any Portuguese. The Doctors said that her husband’s survival was a miracle. Lydia visited the Pastors house and the church and was touched by the Lord’s grace. They don’t have a personal relationship with the Lord yet, but I think this was one way to get closer to Him.
We also want to thank you for praying for our sons. Many worried about Yuri and Andrew. For the first time in 6 years, we were able to meet in Sanremo.
Andrew has finally returned to the Lord, thank God for this. Yuri is not walking with the Lord but we see how the He is intervening in his life. His promise to the faithful “You and your whole house will be saved.” May God Bless you!
