On April 19th all of Russia will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Russian Orthodox calender is a little different and usually follows a week after the Jewish passover and is appropriately called Paskha which means “Passover”. Also interesting is that several weeks before Paskha every business in Moscow has colorful posters displayed in the windows reminding of the day of Resurrection. Many of these color posters display the words “Jesus has Risen” On Resurrection Sunday here in Russia a common greeting is “Jesus has risen", and then the other person replies without fail “Jesus has indeed risen” Even an atheist will respond when greeted. "He is not here, for He has risen" declared the angel, Jesus conquered death and the grave. He defeated the enemy that pursues every person born, death. Jesus said "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. John 5:24. “Jesus Has Risen”. Indeed He has risen!
I almost forgot. April 12 was
Cosmonaut day.Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin (Russian: Юрий Алексеевич Гагарин) The first man in space and hero of Russia.
Emanuel and Jowanna
Veronica Gardiner, our dear sister went home to the Lord last week. It was a real shock to the fellowship. Veronica had sent me a SMS on my mobile Sunday and said she would not be at the service, that she was not feeling well. Evidently two days later, while she was home with her son Emanuel, she had a heart attack and went quickly. She was an amazing woman. Our loss, heavens gain.
Veronica and her husband Martin came to Moscow to study at the University here as young parents with one son Joseph. I first met Martin her husband at the church. He attended with a group of other men from Ghana. It was some time later Martin tragically fell down in the street and died of a head wound. It was at Martins funeral that I met Veronica for the first time. We have been friends ever since. While Veronica and Martin were living in Moscow they had three more children, Theodora, Emanuel and Jowanna. Joseph moved to Las Vegas about 4 years ago, Jowanna, the youngest daughter went back to Ghana to live with her Aunt about 5 years ago and has not see her Mom since. Theodora who knows no other country but Russia, and was born and schooled here in Moscow, had to leave the county about a year ago and return to Ghana . Even though she was born in Russia, she did not have a passport to continue to live here. She was with her little sister Jownna at the time of Veronicas death. Emanuel, who is about 17, will return also back to Ghana where both His parents and all his relatives are from. Emanuel speaks fluent Russian and has never been to Ghana in his life. Please pray for Emanuel for having to leave a country that has been his home his entire life. He will be leaving many friends behind. And the greatest trial will be that he no longer has his beloved mother. Also for Jowanna , who has been away from her Mom for many years….. And for Theodora who also grew up in Moscow and has many friends here. She was waiting on a Visa to come back to Moscow to be with her mom and her friend and so she could continue her education . Pray for Joseph who is in Las Vegas, who has not seen his mother in years as well. The entire situation is a complicated one, but we have a great God. Veronica had many trials here in Moscow, but you would never know it. I never witness a time when Veronica did not have a big smile. She knew what trials were all about, raising her family for the last 8 years without a husband in a foreign county was not an easy task. But Veronica by her own testimony would say “God is great” She recently wrote a devotion prayer for the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy where she was a member and volunteered every week to work in their soup kitchen. Here are a few of her quotes from that devotion : “Prayer plays a very important role in the day to day life of Christians. Jesus is our finest example of how a human being in a world of evil can grasp the mighty power of God through prayer and prevail.”
Righteousness is gained by faith not by deeds. When walking by faith you must learn to trust in the word of God and believe its honesty. With the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13)
Veronica could say those promises of God with conviction because she lived them. This was her closing prayer, “Father, thank You for reminding me that my salvation is not by works, but by faith. You did the work, I simply believed. Thank you for the faith You have put in my heart to believe. Salvation is all of you and I am so grateful. Amen”
We who are in Christ will see her once again…
Spiritual Freedom update
For the month of March 1307 Bible courses were completed by the students. We are excited to see a study rise in new requests to start the Bible courses. We continue to give thanks to the Lord who has put on the hearts of people to support the work here in Russia. As of April the first we were unable to pay the staff payroll for the month. As each day ticked away, we just waited not being able to control the situation at all. But on the 7th of April Lenna the bookkeeper went down to the bank to check on some paper work. She was surprised to see that the Spiritual Freedom bank account had the money to cover the payroll! We should not have been surprise but we were! When Alexey the director heard the news he e-mailed me to let me know of the surprise and exclaimed “Our God is awesome!!!”
Please pray for the students, that there would be a great harvest in the prisons. That new believers would take advantage of the Bible correspondence courses and the many other books and resources offered, as to prepare them for the work of the ministry whether in prison or when they are released. Please pray for the staff at Spiritual Freedom as they grade the courses and respond to the students. The Lord blessed us with a huge amount Christian resources all for free. See photo of Sergey and Sasha.
Geno says hi to all of you. He continues to lead the prison fellowship way up in northern Russia. Continue to pray for Geno, he still has about 8 years left. He is growing in his Hebrew language studies as well as discipling some of the guys. Geno sent us the picture of Alex who just received a new pair of glasses from Spiritual Freedom. Without glasses Alex was not able to read his Bible.
THIS IS MY GOOD FRIEND MIKE, WE GO WAY BACK A LONG WAY. I HAD NOT SEEN MICHAEL IN MANY YEARS......IT WAS GREAT TO SEE THAT HE HAS RETURNED BACK TO THE LORD......IT WAS A GREAT BLESSING AND SURPRISE WHEN I WAS HOME TO BE REUNITED WITH HIM...
Tyler has left for America. Who is Tyler you may be asking? Tyler is no stranger to Russia. He has come with many short term teams over the years to Russian and the Ukraine. Last year he decided to come and live here in Moscow, and for the last 6 months he has been one of my roommates. It was interesting to watch how the Lord opened up unique opportunities for Tyler to bring attention to Jesus Christ. Tyler is a professional Wrestler and had the opportunity here in Moscow to team up with a professional wresting organization. He even appeared on national TV in one of his matches. Then Tyler went from throwing guys out of the ring to sitting down with small children and teaching them nursery rhymes. (First proverb for a missionary : “blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken”) One other door that opened for Tyler was teaching children English. Olga who is Tyler’s boss has a passion for teaching English to young people. At the time she met Tyler, she was doing a DVD project that used cartoon characters reading English fairytales to children and they needed an English speaking person that they could superimpose in the cartoon. Well Tyler was the one Olga was looking for….. It was no easy job getting a such big guy like Tyler into a little bitty cartoon, but modern technology and a good ole Mac, Olga was able to produce a very professional DVD. We are going to miss Tyler, he was personally for me a great encouragement and was a great blessing to the fellowship. I will miss serving with him and him giving me a “motivational speech”. Please pray for Tyler as he will spend 6 months back in California. Both he and his girl friend Melissa have a heart for Russia. Pray for God’s direction in their lives……..
