Sasha; now face to Face

2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

The Apostle Paul understood the reality of Gods promise to the believer. That to die is to gain. That the Father by the giving of His precious Son, He gave the beliver victory over death. Paul would declare to be absent in the flesh (death) is to be present with the Father for all eternity. This is the reality of a relationship restored to the True and Living God. Death has no sting for the believer in Jesus Christ

It is with sadness that this week while waiting for my visa in America, Natasha told me of the passing of my good friend Sasha. Sasha had been suffering with the affects of TB for over 2 years. I met Sasha more than a year and a half ago in the TB surgical hospital here in Moscow. And over the year and a half I have seen the Lord working in his life. He was a great inspiration for me of one who was suffering but always had a smiling face. Sasha was literally bed redden for more than a year. He had recently been transferred to a sanitarium out side of Moscow so he could build up his blood count and get ready for the second operation on his spine. We all had high hopes that this would be the end of a long sickness for Sasha. The last time I saw him was a few days before I headed to America to receive my visa. Sasha was a most amazing young man, and I had high hopes for him in his simple faith in Jesus Christ. But the Lord had greater plans for Sasha, His struggle on earth is now over. No more suffering for Sasha, as he left this fallen world behind. Back in January before I left for America, I went with Sasha in the ambulance, to the sanatorium. The ambulance was a small station wagon and in it were all of Sasha’s earthly possessions. It amounted to about three normal sized boxes. Sasha had no home, or car, and no relatives. His total net worth were packed into 3 cardboard boxes. But Jesus called Sasha rich. What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world but lose his soul. Jesus also said in the Gospel of John John 14:1-3 “ Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 “ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am there you may be also. I will miss my friend Sasha. I considered it a great privilege that God gave me the opportunity to be a friend of Sasha.

Shockwave 2008

This past weekend 29 February to 2^nd of March, more than 50 nations all over the world were praying for the persecuted church. Our small, but ready youth group was participating in this event as well. I felt that it was very important, because people in our country just 15-20 years ago were persecuted for their faith as well and I am sure that many Christians all over the world prayed for Russia (former Soviet Union). The Lord answered this prayer!!! and I praise Him for that.

So for the last two or so months I was telling our kids the true stories of persecuted people and countries, so they would know the price some Christians have to pay and appreciate the freedom we have now in Russia. So on the 1^st of March our group met and we learned some more about countries where people suffer for their faith and then prayed for them and for specific people, whose stories we read. Then I asked kids to write a few card and to encourage their brothers and sisters in the Lord. It was such a blessing to see how they were thinking about what to write, picking passages of scripture in Russian, then carefully copying those verses in English, and decorating their letters. It was a really special time for our small group and I know that our prayers along with others made a difference. We also called Dasha, she was unable to meet with us this time, but she promised to pray too.

The next day, March 2^nd I shared about Shockwave at church and after the service we had another prayer time for the persecuted church. Two special guests came to our prayer meeting today, Katia (about 11 years old) and Tessie (about 3), they are sisters and their father is from Nigeria. So together, we prayed for their fathers’ people as well as for others and since March 2^nd was the Election Day in Russia, we prayed for our country too and thanked the Lord for His mercy and faithfulness.

If you want to know more about the ministry of Open Doors and the Shockwave, follow the links and please, see this video and be encouraged to pray.

Blessings, Natasha

Alexander (from the http://www.odshockwave.org) -Shockwave 2008

Week of service and encouragement

The following week after the conference was yet another blessing for those who had an opportunity to meet with the ladies from American team, who stayed in Moscow for a week of ministry and encouragement. As the other parts of the team went to Omsk and Volgograd to do two more conferences, the team in Moscow visited different fellowships in the city.
Our church had a privilege to have our guests at the Jewish
fellowship and another meeting at “Prospect Mira” (at the building where the church meets) and to hear wonderful teaching on the “Anchor of hope” by Karen Koczman and her very touching testimony, which to me personally, was a great comfort and an encouragement. Some of the women from our church also went to the meeting in Krasnogorsk on Friday. I was very glad to see Valya with her two kids there, especially because she was going to go to the conference, but at the last moment it deed not work out for her, so it was good that she came to this Bible Study.
Follow this link and will see some more pictures:-)

Women’s conference 2008

This year’s conference took place at the Christian center about 1,5 hours from Moscow on the 15^th trough 17^th of February. It is always a blessing to set aside all the worries, concerns, business and even thoughts to let the Lord to fill this time fully with Himself, to let Him work and soften your heart and speak gently His words. This year’s theme was the “Vessels of Honor” from Ephesians 2:10 and one of the ladies, Darlene, who came with an American team did an incredible performance and teaching on this subject, she illustrated the relationship between Creator and the creation, on the potters wheel. You can see a video of the part of this performance here.

Darlene's Work
As we were watching, the Lord spoke to many of us: just as the potter’s hands are always holding the clay, shaping and molding it according his design, adding water so the clay would not get too dry, but just enough so it would not get too damp and become useless. Just as he applies strength to push out the clay from the inside and to form it on the outside, but just enough so the vessel would not brake, and at the same time would yield to the patter’s plan. So the Lord works in our lives, holding us close in His hands and shaping us in to His Son’s image. It was a beautiful picture of our Father’s love.
This process of making a vessel and then letting it to wait and dry for some time, just to continue to work on it, reminded me of another teaching on the passage from 2 Timothy 2:20-21. It says: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified (or set apart) and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”
How to become a vessel of honor, a vessel made of gold or silver, if you are a vessel of wood and clay, is it something that is possible to change?
If you try to do something with wood and clay to make it gold and silver, you will fail, because there are no natural ways to change wood into gold or clay into silver, but it has to be Supernatural, something that only God can do and we can ask Him for it. The closer we are to Him, the more we can be like Him and to honor Him with our lives. It is His desire for us to become the vessels of honor and He will do it if our hearts desire to honor Him.
Besides the time of teaching, we had a very special time of prayer, fellowship and fun. First, about prayer – one of the churches from Moscow region prepared a special room for prayer time using prayer stations, where people could come in and pray about different things and needs. I really loved it, because it was time of quite and sweet fellowship with the Lord. You can see some pictures of the prayer stations and more on our picture site just click here.
The time of fellowship was also very special; we had a talent show and a time for making different crafts. It was fun, it was great and it was edifying. I will not write much about it, but let you see for yourselves.

Talent Show - horse race

Talent Show - song

Oh, one more thing, all of us Russian ladies received beautiful gifts from our American sisters. Well conference is already a huge gift for us, but as an addition, we got very nice, worm, pretty, sweet and girly gifts:-) - sleepers, which were a great blessing and very fitting for the pajamas we got at the last year’s conference.
So I would like to thank all of you who took time and prayed for this conference and also to thank the American team ladies, who blessed us so much by giving their love, their time and much, much more to come to Russia and to minister to their sisters here. Natasha