At the beginning of the year, the Omsk Church of the ECB held a water baptism. Timofey, a brother from our local Church “Word of Truth” was also baptized.
He comes from a Christian family, attended Sunday school since childhood. Here is where he learned a lot about sincere faith. As he grew up, he thought about his life and dedication to the Lord. After a while, Timothy consciously repented of his unbelief and decided to be baptized.
Timofey is the youngest of four siblings. The elder brothers, already members of the Church and are actively engaged in serving the Lord. The oldest is Daniel, responsible for the prayer service. The next one, Matthew, is preparing musical worship in the Church. Igor, more on the handy side, helps at the construction site and occasionally replaces the church teller. Now they were joined by Timofey! Even before he made a covenant with the Lord, he became actively involved in the ministry of the Christian children’s club “Joy”. Blessed are the parents who have put their sincere faith into the hearts of their sons. The words of the Holy Scripture are reflected in their life: – “… I and my house will serve the Lord.”- Joshua 24: 15
We celebrate Christmas from the 25th of December to the 7th of January and we spent Christmas in the orphanage with the children. We rented an 85 feet long bounce house, the kids were delighted when it was time to play. We performed a skit and gave the kids bibles and other presents. Sixty kids and twenty volunteers heard the good news of Jesus!
I also want to say hello from Rita, Eugene and their baby Alex feels well, and they are waiting for the test results, the last analysis showed that the tumor had disappeared. This looks like a Christmas present from God to their small family! They are still under the supervision of the doctors and are in need of our help.
Sadly, on January 10th Misha went to eternity. I wrote a lot about him, we were helping him for a whole year. During that time there was a bond of friendship that grew between us and with his mother Lena. It makes me happy to think that shortly before his departure he told me that he believed strongly that Jesus is his Lord and Savior. I still continue to communicate with Lena. We helped her with the funeral and continue to participate in her life. God permits different circumstances in our lives, but looking back, I am convinced that we have not lived in vain. Thank you for your prayers and support. Thank God for your help!
Greetings brothers and sisters! I can’t wait to share the news with you. There is an answer to our prayers and participation in the life of little Alex! After passing the tests, the doctors could not find a tumor. We thought that the tumor would stop growing or shrink, but the Lord did a miracle and it disappeared! Now he is put in the hospital and will be re-examined. Thank God for this miracle.
Alex is a gift from God to us, we will be next to his family. They have a long course of rehabilitation and observation ahead.
A little bit about the events in Omsk. On December 20, we held a Christmas concert at the Children’s Cancer Hospital. For our team, this is not the first time, but what made me particularly happy is that this year the team consisted of 12 people, most non-church goers. All the children gathered for Christmas, even those who were previously discharged came!
The children were very pleased, and we gave everyone a children’s bible. Brothers and sisters, we had a great celebration and for many of those who came, it was vitally important! These children are at risk and they should know their Savior! We thank God for your prayers and participation. We keep needing your support! On January 7th, we organized a Christmas Celebration in an orphanage, about 50 children were waiting for us there. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
We heartily thank the staff and partners from the New Fields Ministries. Only thanks to your participation and looking at God’s greatness and the power of His glory, the joy that our hearts have experienced, became possible.
Six months ago, it was difficult to imagine that the Lord would make such a significant step forward in the construction of the House of Prayer in our community. We hoped and believed that help from God would act at the right time.
Thanks to joint efforts, last year we were able to built the walls of the Prayer House, made and installed metal structures for the roofing system. Now we are completing the assembly of the metal frame and preparing for the installation of metal tiles.
But we are facing a problem, we do not have enough money to purchase the roofing material. It is extremely important to cover the building with a roof this year. If we manage to insert the windows, we will be able to do some internal work during the winter!
We pray for God’s mercy and timely help.
With respect and prayer, Elder of the Church “Word of Truth”
While socializing with the local people of the northern Yamal, we noticed that they have their own special history of settling in these once-lifeless places.
Even their faces are more adapted to the harsh weather conditions! And the bodies of the indigenous people, it is clear that for centuries they have adapted to the harsh realities of the North. But they need Christ! With all their health and fitness – without God, they are lost sinners. I am convinced that He wonderfully planned the salvation for perishing unbelievers!
By the grace of God, I was able to participate in several evangelical trips. Together, we have traveled more than one thousand miles off-road. In our journey from hut to hut, and from village to village, we were periodically accompanied by difficulties and breakdowns.
One time, because our all-terrain vehicle broke down once more, we had to spend three days in the open tundra, far from any civilization and essential human necessities at -22 degrees Fahrenheit.
While being in a warm snow truck, during the quiet hours of thinking about the Word, our brothers got the right idea for solving the breakdown. God had planned our breakdown in advance so that we were not in need of anything: food was there, material for the repair was not far off in the tundra, and we had enough fuel. Even a cellular connection – miraculously worked in this place among the tundra, however, for it to work we had to climb on the roof of our snow truck “Tracola”.
I can’t keep quiet about the fact that in spite of all the beautiful things that we saw during our travels in the tundra, leaving the North – sadness remains in my heart. I feel for the missionary families who are far from other Christians, suffer from lack of communication and care. In these difficult circumstances, they lead a sacrificial life, leaving a good mark in the hearts of the non-Christians around them.
It is also sad to see for those Christians who live in tents, far from any church, they receive visitors, who can and encourage them, only a few times a year. I will never forget the family of our Nenets believers: Victor and Veronica are members of the church. They live in front of the White Island, near the Malygin Strait. I still see Veronica crying when we were leaving them. Seeing us driving away, she sobbed, fell on her face down into the snow, and did not stand up until we disappeared from her eyesight. She did not hide the reason for her grief because she knows that the next time the evangelists would come to them again will only be in a year.
It makes us sad to see how our friends remained at the very edge of the earth, far from the church or brothers and sisters – and surrounded by many deer. Although the deer are not a burden for them, but the relationship to other Christians is hard to forget.
This was only one family, but there are still many other Christian families out there! Let us pray for them, that God will support them and strengthen them in following Him!
In early October, I flew to Moscow to visit Eugene and Rita with their adopted son Alex. He has been on treatment for three months now and they are emotionally and physically tired. He lost his right eye to cancer and it has been removed, and now they are fighting to save the left eye. It has two malignant tumors. When I arrived, they were supposed to do the third chemotherapy, but the doctors could not do it because the catheter was festered, and they were allowed to go home. Together with Eugene, Rita and the little Alex, we spent time in fellowship and prayer. I conveyed all the greetings, delivered part of the funds from the church and news from the ministry.
Rita is a member of our volunteer team, and we have been visiting children with leukemia for two years. Now she herself is in the hospital with her Son in her arms and hope in her heart, if this child were left without a family, his life would probably be over. And today God shows His miracles through this.
Rita for many mothers has become an example of perseverance and patience, although she shed many tears along the way. The next day I stayed at home with Alex and sent Rita and Eugene for a walk around Moscow for the whole day. It was difficult for her, she wrote every hour and worried about us, but we were having fun, Alex was unusually happy and cheerful.
Friends, Eugene and Rita thank you all for the prayers and support. It is very difficult for them to fight for the life of a child. The chemotherapy affects his liver and the heart. After the second therapy, the tumor shrunk – this is a real miracle. We pray that not only Alex’s life would be spared, but his left eye, too!
Please pray for us. We will be grateful for any help because many procedures need to be paid for out of pocket. The right eye needs to be replaced every month because it is temporary up to his 5th year. It needs to be paid out of pocket by them. May God bless you abundantly!
