Divine appointment

Tonight after our Bible study, I stopped by a store to get some groceries. As I walked around looking for things, a lady came up to me quickly and asked for a mirror. A mirror??? In a store??? Why would somebody need a mirror in a grocery store??? Well of course there’ can be many reasons why, and especially for a woman, but I could not think of any. I guess, I looked so puzzled that the lady said, “I need to look in a mirror, because I’ve returned to the store after I already bought things and to return means bad luck.” She asked me again if I had even a small mirror, then realizing that I cannot be of any help for her she walked away mumbling, “It is a bad luck, I need a mirror.”
I’ve met superstitious people before and it’s very common here to spit three times over left shoulder if a black cat walked across the path or if a person whistles to let him know that he will whistle all his money out (Dean got in trouble with this one). Or not to give even amount of flowers, because it means death or something, and so on and so forth.
Today, however I’ve realized how bad it can get, so bad that it becomes bondage to a person who believes all that stuff. I felt really sorry for this lady and I immediately remembered that I have a copy of “Living water” with me, which was in my handbag for a longest time and a few times I wanted to give it away, but it never happened . I knew I had to give it to this lady. She already went trough the cashier and as she was exiting the store, I held out the booklet to her with the words “This is better than a mirror.”
To be honest I was a little afraid of the reaction, because last time a tried to do the same thing and give the booklet to a man who was asking for money, he yelled at me “Are you from a sect, I do not need this kind of stuff, go away!!!”
So the lady took the booklet and I was about to walk away and continue my shopping when she asked me for my phone number. I was blown away, she was so open. I asked for hers too and told her that I will pray for her. So would you please join me in prayer for this lady, her name is Ludmila and she is in a desperate situation. She told me about her son who is a hard drinker, demanding money from his mother. Ludmila said that last time when she did not give it to him; he tried to commit suicide by cutting his veins, So please pray for him too and also that the Lord would help me and use me in this. Thank you and may He bless your today. Natasha

Mission trip to America

Hello everyone from sunny California (sorry my beloved Moscowvites). After staying up for about 50 hours I arrived in San Francisco at 10:00 in the evening of the same day I took off from Moscow. I gained one day!!! Today I just got back from the Northern and Central California's pastors conference which was for 3 days at the beautiful retreat center Mt. Herman. No not in Israel but in the Santa Cruz Mountains here in Northern California. It was amazing that I ran into so many people that I had met in Moscow over the last 7 years that had taken short term missionary trips. Jeff, and Rich from CC Grass Valley who came on the trip when Pastor Chuck Smith visited Moscow 3 years ago. Terry and his wife, Dave Johnston who is now pastor of CC Santa Cruz, Manny, Matt who is now a Pastor, all who came to Moscow with CC San Jose 6 years ago. Dan who is from CC Weed California who came to the Russian Men's Conference 2 years ago. Mark Piester, who stays with Dale when he does his winter and summer youth camps here in Russia. Mark came with his Pastor who was here and did outreach in Tver (Russia) with his band. He is the Pastor of CC Marrow Bay. Rob Nash who is a friend of Russia, and who has been here many times. I'm going to visit him in Southern California. The teaching was awesome and it was a great encouragement for me personally. My home church CC Modesto organized the conference and Jeff and Franz did a great job. CC Modesto also did all the worship and it was wonderful. And as always I had a great time with my pastor!! It was so encouraging to see so many of the people that have come to visit us in Moscow are serving the Lord. I have many opportunities to share what the Lord is doing in our church. So many people are interested in what is going on here in Russia. So many people are praying for our fellowship, it is so encouraging. Friday I will be speaking to the singles at our church. I may have a few words to speak about the single life, its one of the few areas that I have had the most experience in. Hope to see many of you that may read our blog site while I'm home. God Bless you, dean

New address and our life in a new place

Just want to give you our new address, in case you want to visit us. It is metro Sokol (still:-) Chapaievskiy pereulok, 12, second floor, room 141 and in Russian it is Чапаевский переулок, дом 12, 2 этаж, комната 141. Our new place is right across the largest apartment building in Europe “Triumph palace”. Here is the picture so you just get an idea.

Monday
On early Monday morning, Dean flew to the States, so now all of you who read this blog from that side of the world, California in particular, have a pleasure to meet Dean and fellowship with him for the next month and a half. That’s fine, we’ll try not be jealous, I mean, we really really have to try, but we’ll not be jealous!!!!:-[
Monday night Dale begun teaching on the book of Psalms and it was an incredible encouragement to those who was able to come.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, we sent off our missionary to Washington D.C., Olga. She is going to be working there at least until January. The beginning of her move was a bit rough; as she was going through the customs; her luggage was checked to and fro, then she had to take some things out because one of her suitcases was overweight and she was unable to pay for it since there was not much time left before the departure. After all, her stuff got lost somewhere between New York and Dallas. She is a little discouraged right now, so, please pray for Olga as she is trying to adapt to a new place and to find and plug in to a new church that solidly teaches the Word.

Wednesday
This Wednesday we had a worship night and it turned out to be a beautiful evening. It was so sweet just to worship the Lord together and quiet our hearts before Him. Vova shared a little from Psalm 31 (32 in English) and we took a few moments to pray. I am really looking forward to what the Lord is going to do through these services.
Please keep us in prayer as we continue to follow our great Shepherd, Jesus.
God bless you! Natasha

Latest news

Hello everyone, greetings from Moscow. Tomorrow is the 859 birthday of Moscow old.We have had rain all week but the mayor has promised to seed the clouds and chase them away as there will be an amazing 2,000 concerts going on throught the city.Well it has been almost a month since we were asked to leave our 11 year church location. But last week we found a hall in a hotel close to where we were meeting.We had our first Sunday service there last Sunday and it was a wonderful time. It is a little small for our needs but it is a peaceful place and the management have welcomed us. It is interesting that the Hotel is owned by the army. We are able to use the hall 4 times a week and so we will be returning to our regular schedule. I'm so thankful the Lord opened up the opportunity so quickly to find a new location especially as I'm retuning for 6 weeks to California. It will make my trip a lot more enjoyable knowing we have a place to worship. During the last of our Sunday outdoor services in the park, which would have been two weeks ago, I was a bit discouraged. It looked like it was going to rain any minute. The best place in the park to have the service had 2 men that were drinking and were under that influence. We could hardly chase them off. I still remember that popular acronym WWJD. But one by one people begun to show up. Yuri was at our old location directing people to the park. One man called me on my cell phone trying to find us in the park. He and his family had gone to the old location and were directed to the park. As I went out to the street to meet them it was a great surprise to find it was Ilya and Zalina former worship leaders at the church of Sokol. They had moved to the USA before I moved to Russia. It was such a timely visit as they joined our outdoor service and did worship for our communion service. The Lord encouraged me so much that day, He turned the circumstances completely around and we did not get one drop of rain. God did the cloud seeding that day and gave us a great service.

We are settled for the moment and it will give us time to find a location where we can better serve our community. A place where we can have the church open 7 days a week. Almost every building has a basement, they are huge and most have natural light and they even have kitchen. Please pray for the Lord's guidance.

On Monday I will be traveling home, and I look forward to seeing many of you once again. Please pray for Natasha, Vova, and all those that will serve in my absence. The Lord is doing a wonderful thing in our fellowship. God Bless and see most of you soon!! dean "The Lord has done great things!!!"

Missions Conference

Thanks very much to all of you who prayed for my Austrian visa. This year was unlike any year before, I had to go to the embassy 5 times and each time to be there for nearly 2 hours, but it is all in the past now and I already went to the conference and got back two days ago. I had some time in Munich where I went on a free tour around the city and enjoyed great weather (for pictures-click here). Then the next day, I took a train to Spittal where the conference was taking place. Brian Brodersen, Bil Gallatin, Ray Bentley and Samy Tanagho were speaking this time and as always, it was good teaching. Men & women’s session had a little different setting this year – we got together in small groups and had prayer and a time of sharing and encouragement. I liked that very much, because this way we were able to meet more people and to get to know each other better, ministering to each other in more personal way. Also the Lord has really blessed me by fellowship with my friends from Nice, France and it was a special treat to see them again.
Truly, it was blessed and fruitful time. The Lord answered many of my prayers even while I was there. I just love times like this, when my soul can rest in Him and can be quiet before Him and I get a little glimpse of Heaven as we worship, fellowship, enjoy Him and each other every day for a whole week. I cannot wait for the day to come when we will have not just a week, but eternity. Until then, let’s continue serving Him and others faithfully, wherever He’s called us to be.
God bless you! Natasha

Trip to St. Pete & more

Hello everyone, as most of you know last week on Sunday the church ended 11 years of meeting at the same location. I will talk a little more about that later.

Last week some of the servants in the church had the opportunity to attend the first Calvary Chapel conference in St. Petersburg. It was timely and it was a great encouragement for all of us. The teaching was right on as usual for a CC conference. Pastor Ken Ortize of CC Spokane, Lloyd Pulley Old Bridge New Jersey, and Gale Erwin taught over the 3 day conference. I had the greatest birthday party: I got to see Gale live and in action, we got to take a boat ride down the canals of St Pete (The Venice of the north) and had so many friends that I have made the acquaintance in the last 7 years in Russia. For more pictures of St. Pete trip click here.

Today we had our first service without a building as we met in the park across the street from the church.The Lord gave us acceptable weather, as it looked as if it could have rained a few times. We had a perfect time as we worshiped the Lord, and partook of communion today. Lord willing we will have a place to meet next Sunday, if not we will meet once again in the park.

Pray for Natasha as she is going for her Visa on Monday, so she can fly to the CC European leadership conference in Austria. God Bless, dean

...no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly

Greetings from Moscow, today was like any other Sunday, I was up early preparing for the lesson in the Book of Mathew 18:15. I ironed my shirt, at which I’m almost as good as my Mom, grabbed the piano, Losha followed with the guitar, Yuri went to get grape juice for communion today, and Roma went to the store to buy all the things needed to make sandwiches after the service. On the way to the church which about a 10 minute walk, I met my neighbor Luba she is about 75 and she told me she is having trouble with her eyes and not able to read the LARGE PRINT Bible I bought her. Today our plan was to go to the park after the service, but we received an unusual (almost) 24 hour rain. Upon arriving at the college we met Jacob, Olga and Natasha. The guard usually comes and opens the door for us but today we were greeted by Sasha. Sasha is the one we have been praying for, for a long time and he is the boss of the security guards. Sasha usually has a dry humor and so today he told us that we were no longer able to meet at the college. We are thinking that Sasha is joking and we are waiting to see him laugh but he is not laughing and continues to tell us the new director said to tell the church they are done. One by one the church began arriving only to hear there was not going to be a service today and that we need to find a new place to meet. I can tell you I have perfect peace about this. We were told one month ago by the administrator of the hall we rent ( Rufic and Nellie the husband and wife that we have a great relationship with) that current director was fired and a new director was coming. We knew at that time that our time at the college might be over. But Rufic felt confident that all would be ok after he talked to the new director. So Natasha and I were not totally shocked. We have so much to be thankful for. The church has been at the college for more than 10 years, without really any inconvenience. I know some churches have had to move many times, and don’t have the space that we have had. We have nothing to complain about, God has been so faithful to our fellowship. We are confident that God is moving us in a different direction. We have prayed off and on over the last 7 years that we might find a different location but it was just not God’s will. The church building had many positives, but it also had some negatives. We would like to find a place where we can use it 7 days a week. And that our time would not be limited. We are on the 5th floor without a lift and it has been difficult for people who may not have the best health. If a street person would like to visit the church they are not allowed in the building because it is a school. We would like to reach more out to the displaced people in our area whom we have an abundance of. Please pray for us to find a location easy to reach with public transportation, most of our members do not have cars, including myself. Pray for a place where we can meet as often as we want. And pray that it is in our region. It is not easy finding places in Moscow, one of the most expense cities in the world. But God is in control and it is His fellowship. He has shown Himself so faith to our fellowship, answering so many of our prayers.

Friday Dale was finally able to take his daughter Dasha to America. It was a miracle of events, but the church has faithfully prayed for the situation and today Dasha is visiting her other family in Minnesota with Dale. Please pray for the 8 of us that will be traveling to St. Petersburg tomorrow night on the train to attend the first CC St. Petersburg leadership conference. Gayle Erwin is going to be one of the guest speakers. Since we had all ready made plans to go with all the tickets bought I felt that we must go, and that the Lord is going to work out our new location. We have many people that have ideas about where we might be able to rent. Next week we are going to meet in the park across the street from the church for our Sunday service. If you’re in the area please stop by we will have church in the park. God is faithful to the church He gave His life for, and so we rest in that. God bless you all who love and pray for CCSokol we love all of you also!!! dean

bringing Life to Big City life

Greetings everyone from one of the world's most expensive cities to live, Moscow. Where you will not see more Mercedes Benz this side of Stuttgart Germany. You won’t see more luxury sky rise apartment under construction anywhere. You won’t see more shopping malls this side of southern California, or this side of the world. There are over 170 metro subway stations in Moscow and they are determined to build monster sized malls at almost every stop. Moscow is a fast city moving faster. Why am I telling you all of this? Because I have not written in a while and I needed something to write about. Really, Moscow is a great city to be a Christian, there are so many great ministry opportunities here. Everything has been going fine with the church. I had to leave the country at the 6th month mark two weeks ago. It is required by law that foreigners leave the county every 6 months and get a new immigration card. I’m thankful to the Russian government for this law because it gives me an opportunity to take a short excursion across the border. I traveled with Dale, another missionary (many of you know him) to the city of Kiev in the Ukraine. It was the first time I had been there, and found it to be a beautiful city, or should I say village, only 3 million people, compared with Moscow upwards of 14 million. It was interesting to see how they are doing and it seems they are moving along well. We were able to see the tent city in the center of town as they await the outcome of the future government. I must say they are well organized and the camp was very orderly. Calvary Chapel has a very healthy church in Kiev and has planted numerous churches in Ukraine. The Ukrainian language is very similar to Russian and so it was easy to move around in the city. Oh, by the way that is where Chicken Kiev came from and yes, we tried it. The prices on food and transportation, and housing were delightfully less than in Moscow.

I just finished the Ken Ham “Answers in Genesis” on C.D. that took place at my home church CC Modesto. Perhaps we will do a mini one and a half day Answers in Genesis type of meeting. It is as much for the believer as it is for the non-believer.

God has been so good to His church here in Sokol. We have seen the Lord answer many of our prayer requests. We will be planning another prayer retreat for November.

Please pray for Chas, He is the young man from Africa. He lost one lung to T.B. and the other lung is healing very slowly. The doctor told him that he can not continue to take the medication for the T.B. because it is affecting his heart and liver. Chas needs a miracle. Only God can bring him through this. Chas really should have died according to him while he was in prison. Out of all the men that were in the prison T.B. hospital, Chas is the only one that survived. I believe God has a great plan for Chas. Also pray for Dr. Tom, many of you know him, and we have worked together for about 7 years. Tom needs to have hip replacement surgery. Tom is in a lot of pain but he will never let you know. He has been seeking an operation for about one year.

Update on Geno, I am able to talk with him once a week, and he is doing great under the circumstances. God is using him, and his prison church is growing. Please, if you remember, pray for Geno and the work God has called him to in the prison.

Look forward to meeting with some of you in September when I come home visit. God Bless you and what God is doing in your life. dean

Prayer list update

If you would like to pray for our church, here is our prayer list.
God bless you!
Natasha
P.S. You can enlarge the prayer list by clicking on the picture.

The Lord has completed the work

On Saturday, in the afternoon, the Lord moved Olga’s mom, Nina from her earthly tent to His heavenly home. She left this earth peacefully and quietly while her daughter was right there by her side. And as the Lord gives to a body the breath of life, so He takes it back to Himself to be with Him forever. When Olga saw that her mom had gone home, she experienced great peace and wonder at the same time.
As I was on my way to meet Olga and Dale (who came to Olga’s house to help and support her), my heart and mind were in confusion, I could not really understand why, but the Lord gave me comfort through His Word as I read Psalm 116, which gave me an assurance in Nina’s salvation.
“I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
I believed, therefore I spoke, “I am greatly afflicted.”
I said in my haste, all men are liars.”
What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.
O Lord, truly I am Your servant; the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!”

I want to tell you a little about Nina and the way the Lord has touched my life through her. For the last 20 years of her life, she was suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. There is no explanation to what causes this illness and from what I’ve learned and have seen in the hospitals it can appear at any time and then slowly destroy the body, afflicting person by a great pain, making crippled to the point that it is impossible to hold things or perform simple tasks. Person looses a lot of weight and muscles and bones become very weak. When I first met Nina, which was in the begging of May she was in the condition that I’ve just described and in addition to that her leg was broken. As we got to know each other a little bit I found out that in spite of this condition she had a unique sense of humor and also that before her hospitalization she was fully taking care of her self. She had a very sweet smile and beautiful bright blue eyes. She had very much life in her and as I mentioned before she was open to what we were telling her about the Lord. Nina also was telling me about her life and I was just amazed how in such a weak body can live such an unbroken spirit. As I thought of Nina’s life and all of her suffering, I suddenly realized that all of it was used by the Lord to bring her life on this earth into completion and these last months of her life were the finalization of His work. He did as He has purposed – to save Nina’s soul it took 20 years of pain and suffering and 2 and a half months of complete disability, that her unbroken spirit would be tamed by the great LOVE of her MAKER, that she would put her TRUST in HIM.

The previous time I was asking you to pray for Nina, she was still in a hospital, but on July 5th the hospital was closing for a remodel, she was moved and for her last 10 days stayed in Olga’s apartment.
Dean and I were able to come and visit Nina more often. My last visit was on Thursday and it was a difficult time, but before I left that evening both Olga and I prayed for Nina out loud and then Nina and I said “Good bye” to each other, it was quiet and a little sad. On Friday, Dean was there and before he left he told Nina “Olga loves you, Natasha loves you and I love you too!” Olga told me that that same evening when she came home, her mom and she had a good time together talking and than Olga said, “Mom, you need to receive Jesus in to your heart.” Nina kept quite, but then said “I know, Dean also told me that God loves me.” Olga prayed for her.
This reminded me today of a song: “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so….Yes, Jesus loves me!...”
The night followed, at 4am Olga felt prompted to pray for her mom by her bedside, some time after Nina went to be with the Lord.

Through this time, the Lord was teaching all of us and for me it was a great lesson on the power of FORGIVENESS and the deadly poison of unforgivenss, which can ruin many people’s lives. I have also learned to appreciate and to enjoy more the simple things that the Lord blesses us with, such as beautiful blue sky, or a thunderstorm, green trees and white clouds, flowers or just an ability to walk on a soft silky grass. These first things always caused Nina’s amazement and excitement, but the last – was her great desire, which I believe now is fulfilled. Praise the LORD!!!

I want to ask you to pray now for Olga’s brothers. We would like to invite them to a memorial service, which is planned for the 30th of July. So, please, pray that the Lord would give them a desire to come and use that time in their lives so they would come to Him.

Thank you for being with us in prayer through this time.
Natasha

God's small world

Hi everyone, sorry it’s been a while since the last update. IT”S SUMMER time in the big city and for someone who is from California it has been great. Vova who is our worship leader is up in the far north of Russia with a team from south California. A Few of the team members visited on a Sunday. It was interesting to find out that one of the girls on the team was from Hughson. Kristen Ensley I believe was her maiden name. Her parents are now living in Turlock. God’s small world, getting even smaller.

Next week I have to leave the country. Every 6 months I have to leave Russia. It is just a matter of crossing the boarder and then returning. It looks like I will be going to Kiev Ukraine which is an over night train.

Please pray for Charles, I spoken about him in the past, he is the young man from Ghana that has lost one lung to T.B. It is a miracle that he is alive. But now things are complicated, by receiving so much medicine for his T.B. his kidneys are now in jeopardy. Charles has drawn closer to the Lord during these last 5 months. I believe God has a great plan for Charles.

It appears Lord willing that I will be coming home on Sept. 5 and will be in the states for 5 weeks. I’m looking forward to fellowship with my, family and friends, God Bless, dean

Multipurpose missionary’s service or counting my blessings

Today I came to church at 11:00am and we did a quick 15-minute set up before the service. Since our worship leader Vova went to Tver’ for an outreach, Dean asked me to fill in on the worship team today. So before Marina (our keyboard player and singer) came, I was doing sound check for two mics and a keyboard all by myself. I am not omnipresent or omnipotent like our Lord, but somehow He helped me to accomplish this task and I even enjoyed singing into the microphone today, which usually is a big struggle for me, because I am a little afraid of them. For me the worship was beautiful today and I hope for everyone else at the church too. When the service begun I remembered that our two wonderful Sunday school teachers went to Tver’ (where they are both from) for an outreach. So, after worship I ran into our Sunday school room and found 5 kids waiting for me there. One of them was Katia, who speaks Russian and who came with her little sister Tessa, who does not speak any language yet. Another one was little Jessica, who is from Brazil, but knows quite a bit of Russian. Still one more girl Diana, who came to the church the second time and spoke English, even though her mom is Russian. And lastly Patrick, who spoke only English with some incredible pronunciation. So, what could I do with this amazing bunch of kids by myself? I thought that it is always great to share the Great News, so I got out colored bits and began to tell them about it both in English and in Russian. Soon I switched to English, because I’ve realized that Diana and Patrick were not familiar with the story. Both Katia and Jessica were very patient with me and just listened and tried to understand what I was saying. Closer to the end of the Great News story Patrick began to ask me a lot of questions and I tried to answer as soon as I was able to understand what he was saying (remember? the incredible pronunciation :-) We came very close to the most important question of salvation and also to the most important decision making…but…the time was up and I had to finish and go back to the main hall. Before I left, Katia was begging me to tell her what I was talking about. I am glad that I was able to keep my promise and she was very excited to take the little bit cross with her and also to tell me that she could understand some English.
After the service and fellowship, we had men and women’s Bible studies. I was sharing about faithfulness: Lord’s faithfulness and ours as well. We usually have only Russian ladies come, but today Sarah came and she does not understand very much of Russian, so I tried to translate the main points for her. I think the study went well:-).
As I reflect upon this day I just want to stop and praise the Lord for all the blessings He blessed me with today.

I did not really want to share about this day at first, because I did not want to sound as if I am boasting. However, it is just dawned on me; the Lord was faithfully answering those prayers that you faithfully bring before Him on our behalf. So, it is a praise report. And also He was showing me His faithfulness as I was trying to be faithful in these many little tasks He has given me for this day. He is so wonderful!!! He is our Faithful God and I am thanking Him for His wonderful faithfulness and also I want to thank you for being faithful in prayer. Natasha

P.S. Please, pray for Diana and Patrick, that their hearts would be open for the Lord and that they would make the most important decision in life.

Please, pray!

Once again, I would like to ask you to please, continue to pray for Olga’s mom Nina. Dean and I went to the hospital today (we’ve been doing it every Thursday) and it was a difficult visit for various reasons. However, one thing I know: the Lord is working and His work is powerful, but it appears that a real spiritual battle is going on right now, the wicked one does not want to lose his positions and he tries really hard to sow disappointment, discouragement and distrust. Nevertheless, I believe that he will no get his way, because the Lord hears our prayers, He is in control of all things, and He will get the glory. Please, specifically pray for our Thursday visit, I might go to the hospital on Monday as well. Pray for Olga and strength for her: physical and even more spiritual, that she would continually keep her eyes on the Lord, for the Lord’s comfort both for her and her mom, also patience for both of them. That Nina would give her life to the Lord and trust Him with everything.
Thank you very much! Natasha

Familiar faces

You never know who will drop in on ya on a Sunday service here at CCSokol. These two are not strangers to Big Moscow. Alisa and Michelle both out here in Moscow for the three month intern program, Alisa and her family planted CC Tushino almost 5 years ago and Alisa knows her way around the language very nicely. Michelle was here last year with the team from CC Modesto. It was nice to see her always smiling face again.

On the way back

It’s just so happened that Dean, Sergey and I missed the train that everyone else took, however I had my special agent there and she took some pictures for me, which indicate that fellowship continued :-)
I also have some more pictures here for you too look at…
God bless! Natasha

3 DAYS OF PRAYER

The preparation
As we were planning the retreat I was constantly reminded by the Lord, that prior to such event will be a spiritual battle going on and there was. But the greatest thing is that every time discouragement and desire to give up would come, I knew I should go on and trust the Lord, knowing that everything will be wonderful at the end. He is Faithful and He made it wonderful.

P.S. Shopping was quite serious event too :-)



On our way
As we were preparing to leave after church to go to the camp site in Moscow region the dark clouds hid the blue sky and pretty heavy rain started, but before we left for the bus Dean encouraged us not to be surprised, but trust the Lord. We prayed for the good weather, because all of our sessions were supposed to be outside. The Lord answered and for me it was a special blessing to know that this event was His doing from the very beginning. (Look at the “3 days of prayer weathercast” here)

As we got on the bus, I asked people to start signing up for the 24-hour prayer. The schedule looked kind of blank scary, but by the time we arrived it was filled up completely.
On the way, I was thinking how to arrange the prayer room, because when we came to look at the facility the first time, the room, which we were going to use, looked more like an office with desks & chares, not very comfortable. BUT …now … as I walked in, I could not believe my eyes, the room was totally transformed, it looked just like I imagined it should look: quiet hideaway.
During the whole time, I had constant awareness that the Lord is everywhere ahead of me, I just followed, without even thinking about details, things were falling into their places and it was another special blessing for me, because there was no stress, no tiredness, but wonderful time of fellowship with Him and with the others. He also blessed me with a great helper, Marina, who served in many ways.

The start
As Dean mentioned the 24-hour prayer began at 10pm on Sunday and from this point on the room was never empty, at times there were even much more people than signed up. You had to see our kids: they were faithfully coming for their hour of prayer whether at 11:00am, or midnight, or even at 2:00am and sometimes they would stay longer. There are many testimonies that I will write about too.

Our time together
As the 24-hour prayer was going, the rest of us gathered for times of worship and teaching, we also set a time for personal communion with the Lord.

Since we had kids and they are always ready for fun, so we had fun and adults joined them gladly. (Special video report & pictures from pastor’s room:-)

Monday evening we had a special SHashLiK dinner and great fellowship time (mosquitoes were very excited about our coming and gathered together around our bonfire :-) Dean is a professional ShashLik maker:-) so we had incredibly delicious dinner prepared by our pastor.

We also had a time of fellowship and worship.

The Lord’s doing
There is no doubt about that the time when we come into the Lord’s presence is the most valuable for our lives. This is where we find peace, joy, comfort as He touches our hearts by His Spirit. So it was for every person who would come to the prayer room and open up his or her heart before Him in quietness. Those who were weary and tired form the cares of life, received renewal and refreshment. Those who were embittered by circumstances, softened under gentle touch of the Lord. Those who were looking for answers found them. Those who just wanted to talk to Him and spend more time with Him received this opportunity.
However, most of us still wanted more time :-), because every full hour seemed like 30 minutes or even less. It never was too long it always was too short.

Testimonies
Marina shared that the first night she had a little plan in her mind and decided what she will be doing. Her time was at 4 am and she thought that she would read, take a shower and go to bed before the early rise. She even thought of what she was going to pray about. However, the Lord had a different plan. As Marina was trying to go to sleep as her flesh demanded rest, her spirit was awake and she decided to yield and to go pray. Soon she realized that the Lord was leading her in a different direction and she prayed for the people that she did not really think of before. It was the most amazing time and even thought Marina did not get any sleep, she did not feel even a little tired or drowsy. She was overjoyed being able to fellowship with the Lord over extended period of time, and to receive a special blessing communing with Him.

Ira said that before this retreat she was tired and felt that she is being consumed by the cares and worries of life. Her “wings” were pulled down (it is a Russian idiom) and she was under much pressure. This time of prayer helped her to renew strength and leave the heaviness in His hands, so, she can fly again :-).

Jacob shared that he had experienced a beautiful time with the Lord, even though he had different opportunities before to participate in various prayer meetings this setting was much different. His attitude toward prayer was changed, because while he was bringing his requests before the Lord, the Lord gave him a verse from 1 Samuel 23:4 when “David enquired of the Lord…and the Lord answered…” . For Jacob it became so much simpler to come to the Lord with confidence knowing that the Lord answers.
When Jacob came back to Moscow, his roommate told him that two of his friends that Jacob was praying for at the retreat were kidnapped and tortured. Jacob’s response to his roommate was “Do not worry. Let’s pray!” The next day his friends were released. Praise the Lord!!!

Denis expressed his experience in a simple phrase, but with a meaningful intonation “It was woooooooonderful!!!”

I can write much more, but I think most of the testimonies can be summed up by Denis’ statement: “It was woooooooonderful!!!” As for me, I am in agreement with those who say that we should get together for another time like this, so that we grow in our prayer life, draw closer to the Lord and learn more about Him and His character. Until then, my desire is to continue to grow, to draw closer to Him and to learn more about His character in my everyday life.
Praise the Lord for His wonderful work, for this time that we had with Him and with each other, for His listening ear, for His answers that already came, and yet to come, for His many blessings, that He pours out on us. Praise Him and thank Him for His amazing love!!!
And thank you for praying for this retreat. He has answered in an amazing way :-)
May the Lord continue to bless you as you seek His will and follow Him. Natasha

Where the idea came from?

My first week in France (in November 2005), the 24-3 prayer was introduced by Tonio (pastor Pierre’s son) who was putting it together. I did not sign up for it, because I was not too sure (since my understanding of French was very limited and still is :-/), what was required for the participation. The 24-hour prayer began on Sunday evening and continued for three days. I came to church (CC Nice) on Wednesday night and found out that the prayer is still going. Than Nancy, pastor Pierre’s wife asked me if I would like to see the prayer room, I did and she took me upstairs where I ended up staying for 2 hours. First hour I prayed with Delfine, and the most of the second hour I spent by myself just singing aloud praises to the Lord. I was really touched and moved; I loved the time I had spent in that room, it was wonderful experience and a special blessing to be a part of this 24-hour prayer. That same evening the church gathered for worship and some people shared what the Lord did during this special time.I was very excited and eager to share this experience with my church at home. The only problem was, we do not have a place to use for 24-hours and even if we had, Moscow is so huge that it is practically impossible to travel somewhere in the middle of the night, when transportation does not work. Anyway, I thought of it and soon the Lord gave me this vision for the “3 days of prayer” retreat, which just took place to my great joy and excitement.

simple people simply praying

Hello every one, greeting from a rainy evening here in Moscow. I just wanted to give an up date on our first prayer retreat. Natasha will follow with photos and what took place, but I just wanted to share a couple of high lights. First I was rally amazed at the response we had. We had 41 hours of prayer time to fill and every hour time slot was filled up. We started praying at 10:00 on Sunday night and finished on Tuesday at 3:00 pm. The theme that emerged in the teachings was the simplicity of prayer. That there are no great deep, deep theological insights to prayer. That a PHD is not needed, that prayer is simply trusting in our God. The first deep, deep truth about prayer is seen in a small child. A small child asks his mommy and daddy for every thing it has need of. They are quick to ask for all things they need without hesitation. They know that they can call upon mommy or daddy, and they will respond. They don’t think it over, they just simply ask.
The second deep, deep truth is seen in a child’s persistence to ask. Mommy, can I have some candy? No! Mommy, I want some candy. No! Mamaaaa, I want some candy!!! I said, no. Mama, I Really Want Some Candy!!! Ok, here, have some candy.
But then the last deep, deep truth in a believer’s prayer life is seen when mommy or daddy say no! Because a parent knows that there are times when the answer has to be no. Because a parent knows what is good and what is not good for their child, and they love them enough to say no!!
Prayer is simply relying on God for all things, being persistent in our request to Him, and knowing that some times God’s answer is no. The simplicity of our communication with our Heavenly Father could not be any simpler.

One moment that stood out for me personally, came in the closing moments of the retreat as we were waiting for the shuttle bus to take each group to the train station. One woman by the name of Sveta, who came with one of the ladies that attends the fellowship, came up to me and shared her story that she has been battling with cancer. And that the doctors told her that her cancer was incurable. She told me that when she heard the news she rejoiced because she knew then that only Jesus could heal her, that she didn’t have to put her confidence in man but only in the hands of the Savior. I marveled at her response to humanly tragic news. But is it not what it is all about, all the teaching from the Bible leads to one conclusion, simple trust in our God. That as a believer we have been bought by His precious blood and we belong to Him, and Him alone. That what ever happens in the life of a believer, that life is in the hands of our all mighty God. God Bless you, dean

Amazing Grace

Hello everyone, just a quick up date: on Sunday after church we will be boarding a bus that will be taking a group of us an hour and a half outside of the Big city to the beautiful forest. There we will be having our first prayer retreat. It will be from Sunday night to Tuesday night and our plan is to have continual pray during the retreat. Please pray as we as a church seek the Lord. That the Lord would fill and refill us with His Holy Spirit.

Also Geno sent me this picture of his first 2 disciples in the prison, the picture tells it better than I can. God is doing a wonder thing in that prison camp. Geno’s first disciple is Sergey on the right and Dima on the left. Please pray for the work that God is doing. It is very exciting to hear what the Lord is doing in the Prison Zone. It also has great challenges. Geno lives 24 /7 with these guys. He also lives with many non- believers 24/7. It is ministry in very difficult circumstances, but God is giving Geno the grace he needs to be His servant in that prison zone.

Please pray for the upcoming CC pastors and leaders conference in August. We are very excited about the up coming conference.

Losha has been back for about 2 weeks and God has touched Losha’s heart. We see a real peace and humbleness in his life which is the real Losha that we know an love.

Today I met with my neighbor Luba who is in her early 70’s and gave her a large print Bible. She is not a believer but has questions. Please pray as we meet with her, that she would open her heart to the eternal truth of Jesus Christ. God Bless you all, and thank you for taking the time to read about what is going on in our neck of the woods. It is very special that you would take the time to know what God is doing in these precious lives over here.

Please, pray!

Please, continue to pray for Olga’s mom Nina. We (Marina, Dean, Dale & I) had an opportunity to visit her four times since she went to the hospital, and her heart is wide open for the Lord. It is a praise report and an answer to all of our prayers that we lifted up to the Lord together. He is working miracles in this lady’s life, but we're still praying for one more – miracle of salvation. So, please continue to lift Nina up in your prayers. Also, please pray for Olga, she is taking care of her mom and comes to the hospital 3 times a day, therefore she is very tired. Now the situation became a little different because Nina was moved to another hospital yesterday and it is in Moscow, which is better both for her and Olga. It is a praise report as well. I will try to tell more about this later, but for now, I just want to thank you all for your prayers. Natasha