The Lord decided that 8 years of my ministry in the “Transfiguration” church was enough. God gave peace to the church and He appointed a man who will be my successor, and I, with a clear conscience, gave my ministry to him.
And the Lord called me to serve in the church “Glory of God.” It is far from my home, on the other side of the city. It is necessary to go from Moscow to Neftanyak. God gave me an understanding that this was His will and I accepted it.
Our daughter Yana left for a year, on a mission trip to Kyrgyzstan. So, this year we are going not to Mongolia, but to Kyrgyzstan. Yana serves in the city of Tokmak, 60 km east of Bishkek. From August 1st to 3rd, we will spend a day camp in a village near Tokmak, which is locally called “Shanghai”.
There are several large families who already started to take on quests in their homes. They are even ready to participate in the preparation of food during the days of the camp. We are planning that there will be at least 50 children. After this, there will be another camp, already in Bishkek, also a three-days long. We hope that there will be at least 50 children. Well, and then after three days we will go back but already with Yana.
Thank you for your prayers and support for these summer camps!
A local church in Moyo, Uganda, provided its premises for a family conference. About 40 pastors came with their wives and children, whom they could not leave alone in the camp.
For the pastors, it was the first experience to sit with their wives, ask them questions and answer their questions. I saw how it is not easy for them to step over cultural barriers. The wife, in most African nations, is the property of her husband! She is a thing, a subject … They did not even agree with the thought that they were also created in the image and likeness of God!
When I asked the husbands to take their wives by the hand and look into their eyes, the wives did not dare to raise their eyes. Some looked away, others looked at the floor or at the wall but none of them ever looked in their husbands’ eyes! I asked: “Does culture forbid you to do this?” They replied: “Yes, if we look in our husbands’ eyes, it is a sign of disrespect”.
I had to clarify that there are cultural traditions that have nothing in common with the Gospel. All of us, both men and women, will look into the eyes of our Redeemer. We will meet with God face to face! Are we really entitled to look at God, but not at our husbands?
The head of communication, Edward Dima, once again urged all wives to turn to their husbands and look them straight in the eyes! We heard many thank you prayers and requests to pray for their marriage relationships. The Lord began to heal hearts in this nation and in this country!
Moyo – is a small town in northern Uganda! Once again, we stayed in the Catholic center for guests. On 3-4 May, our group went to the nearby refugee camps. Having arrived in one of the camps, we were delighted that there was more organization, less garbage, there were practically no tarpaulin tents. People live in houses made of clay with thatched roofs, everything is neatly folded and clean in the yard.
The purpose of our trip was to conduct an open-air evangelism in the camp. We put the sound equipment near the market and the local church choir began with the program. Children are among the first to hear the sounds of music and songs and came running to the evangelism. After the sermon by Dr. Salter, a local brother named Joseph, shared his testimony how he found Christ and called for repentance! Many of the local preachers speak loud and are almost shouting but he spoke calm, confident and very sincere.
About fifty people responded to the call to accept Jesus Christ. I thanked Joseph for the testimony, and he said: “I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. I grew up on the street without parents, but God showed me that He is my father. Therefore, I am not ashamed to speak of Him.” Truly, the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.
Dear brothers and sisters, local churches ask us to help them acquire vehicles and equipment in order to hold more such events in all camps. Thank you for your prayers and participation in this ministry!
The refugees from Syria, Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon were looking forward to meeting with us. Hearing the melodious sounds of violins in an oriental flavor was a cherished dream of many kids, young people, and adults. Meetings were held in various audiences. Including schools, concert halls, garages equipped for prayer houses.
In the services, we felt and experienced the presence of the Spirit of God and saw the Lord doing his saving work in the hearts of wounded people. For the first time in many years of ministry, we saw the results of many sacrifices, labors, and prayers for Lebanon. After the call, many came out to pray. People cried and repented! Others asked for the Lord to give them the will to repent. In Tyre, we held a service in a general education institution. Teenagers and youth enthusiastically listened to our songs and testimonies. The administration invited us to visit them again, promising to gather a large audience of people.
Despite our exhaustion and physical limits, we held up to 6 services a day. The weather was cool and the overnight rooms were poorly heated. Part of our team, the violinists, became sick. Julia, due to her high fever, could not participate in some events.
During the services, people were open to accepting the word of God, asking for prayers about their needs and worries. Most of those present, at the services, are refugees from Syria and Iraq. Tired from the uncertainty of the war, people are drawn to God, opening their hearts to His love.
Speaking with a student at Beirut University, we heard a testimony of God’s mercy and love for these people: “I was a firm Islamist. I knew the Quran well. But through the supernatural intervention of God in my life, I became a Christian and accepted Jesus as my Lord. God changed my life.”
Dear brothers and sisters, continue to pray for the awakening and repentance of the peoples of the Middle East. For many centuries the light of the Gospel did not penetrate into these regions. And today we are witnesses of the grace and mercy of God to these nations. God opened the door to the Gospel for these people, and we must make every effort to use it for the glory of Christ and the salvation of these people.
Jesus said: “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, how they turned white and ripe for the harvest.” John 4:35. People are waiting for good news. Who will go? Who will preach? Who will the Lord send? How can they believe if no one tells them about Christ?
We believe that the Lord entrusted us with this ministry, and we ask us to pray for us. We will have to travel to Iraq, Turkey, and Syria – Damascus. We ask God for the courage to proclaim the Word without fear. Thank you for participating in our needs, for the funds that went towards the tickets. May the Lord richly reward you, because we are accomplishing this ministry together with you! God bless you.
Our dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we would like to greet you with the proclamation: JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! Please accept our sincere gratitude for all of your financial support and especially for your prayers through which our Lord has blessed us greatly this Easter because He gave us a chance to celebrate His wonderful resurrection twice! We were blessed to make small Easter presents with sweets and put into each gift a card that said “Jesus Christ is Risen!” in three languages; English, Vietnamese, and Russian.
Christians in Vietnam celebrate Easter April 21st and after the Easter Sunday service, we took half of the presents and went through the town giving out gifts to all the Vietnamese people who we run into and prayed for them. As we gave gifts, we told everyone the phrase ‘Jesus Christ is risen from the dead’ in Vietnamese. One of these people was an elderly woman (on the photo) who we usually buy bread from and we gave her a gift and showed her the card on which it says that Jesus Christ is risen, and she just became so full of joy! Glory to God for He works even through a few words!
Now, a lot of Russian people live in our city and because Easter in Russia is celebrated on April 28th, we were blessed to celebrate this joyful day of Christ’s Resurrection again. We took the rest of the gifts and again, after our second Easter Sunday service, drove through the town giving out the gifts to the Russian population, congratulating them with Easter by telling them in Russian ‘Jesus Christ is Risen!’
Finally, we had a few gifts left so we went to the hospital in our city thinking to maybe find Russian speaking people there, but as we looked up last names on the patients’ doors, none of them were Russian. We got to the last floor and didn’t know what to do with the two gifts. We then saw an elderly Vietnamese man with his wife and the Holy Spirit urged us to go to him and we gave him the gift and the card that said that Jesus Christ has risen and to our surprise, he took the card and held it in his hands staring at it, so we prayed for him right on the spot, and his sad face transformed into a smiling man. Meanwhile, a much older Vietnamese man was wheeled out of his room and he just sat there looking out the window. Again, the Holy Spirit lead us to this man and we gave him our last gift and told him that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and that He loves him. We prayed for him as well, and the Lord filled our hearts with joy as we left the hospital! May we not forget to always proclaim to everyone that our Lord is alive!
Peace and grace to you, dear friends and the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Here is some information about me: my name is Eugene, I am 40 years old and married to Marina for 12 years. During this time, the Lord blessed us with four beautiful children: Polina (8), Simon (6) years, Yefim (4) and Yana is 3 years old. We are expecting our fifth child.
In 2005, while being in the rehabilitation center, I heard the joyful news about Jesus and I accepted Him as my personal Savior. At that time, Alexander Kulpin was leading the ministry and under his leadership, my life began as a Christian. Subsequently, we became friends, and God has been leading us together for many years. From Alexander, I took over the ministry of Mercy “Bethesda.” Thanks to your participation in this good ministry, the work didn’t stop to this day.
In 2017 during winter we had a baptism. One brother of Bethesda, who is partially paralyzed, made a covenant with God and was baptized. Today, we have three more who pray and prepare for the baptism in summer. We currently have 26 people. Fifteen of them are between the age of 50 to 70 years, eight people have physical disabilities: amputation of limbs, partial loss of speech and coordination. Many of those who live here do not have any documents or receive pensions. There is still a lot of work to do. But our goal is not only to assist people with physical limitations. We pray and work to create and organize, an active children’s ministry in the village and our local community.
During the summer we organize playgrounds. Praise the Lord, the administration of the village is friendly towards us. We organize Christmas concerts and Easter concerts, with the help of brothers and sisters from the Omsk communities. In the Christmas week, we held 2 events, presented 130 gifts and shared the Gospel with over 250 people.
We thank God, for what he has already accomplished, for the development of His work here in Omsk land and we continue to pray for His help in order to bear fruit.
During the fall, the construction of a sauna began, because there is nowhere to take a shower and we prayerfully ask you to help us. There is already a foundation, the basement is laid out and the lumber has been purchased. We need the interior and exterior material of the bath complex. This requires us to purchase basalt wool, siding, a furnace for heating and pipes – all materials are will cost approximately $2000. Thank you for your prayers and material service. May the Lord reward you for your help
