2008 Missionary Conference in Millstatt, Austria.

Taylor family in Moscow

the TAYLORS are back!!!!!!

THE Taylor family is BACK!!! The Girls - Shannon and Britney and their brother JT are doing concerts outside of Moscow and in the Russian cities Tombov and Kuluga. Please, pray for the many young people, they attract to their concerts, would surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. Also pictured is their mother Maureen. Ron will be joining his family in a couple of weeks to support the outreaches. It is always good to have the Taylors stop in on our Sunday service.

Eggar goes to Ghana

Wycliffe Bible translators

This is my friend Eggar Petrov from St. Petersburg Russia. I have know Eggar for about 9 years. Eggar on his way to Ghana, Africa stopped by and stayed a few days with me in Moscow. Eggar is part of a 7 member team from Russia that will be doing outreach and a vacation Bible school in Ghana. I think it is very exciting to see missionaries from here going out across the world. Eggar and his team will be visiting a Russian family who were sent from Moscow by Wycliffe Bible translators to create a written language and then translate the New Testament into a Ghanaian tribal dialect. I was amazed to know the Wycliffe bible translators were here in Russia. Then I learned about William Cameron Thompson the founder of Wycliffe Bible translating society. After serving for 50 years on the mission field Cameron decided that he was not quite ready to retire. So at ripe young age of 71 Cameron and his wife decided that Russia needed Bibles translated as well. Cameron asked himself, “What about the Iron Curtain countries? Shouldn’t all languages there have God’s Word?” Cam and Elaine arrived in Moscow on October 3, 1968, on their first visit. They both felt strongly that any further invitations to the Soviet Union and, hopefully, permission to do Bible translation would depend first of all on God and, second, on extending a hand of friendship to all they met.
As Cam said in a letter to a friend in the Soviet Academy of Science in 1969 after the first trip, “I am determined to do everything we can to draw our people more closely together in bonds of friendship—the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. In this way we’ll be performing a real service to our country and to the lovers of peace everywhere.”
The Door Cracks Open
By their eleventh trip in 1979, the Townsends had traveled more than 10,000 miles and given away hundreds of scripture portions. They openly shared about linguistic research and Bible translation taking place in Latin America. They had written two books, The USSR As We Saw It and They Found a Common Language.
Cameron and Elaine had also been invited into hundreds of homes where their hosts showered them with gifts and courtesies. They were graciously given the privilege of importing a car and travel trailer and were allowed to travel unaccompanied for months at a time. The Townsends enjoyed wonderful fellowship in packed churches, especially in Moscow.
Cameron never shied away from presenting his hope to university academics and others that one day the 160 languages of the Soviet Republics and Eastern European countries would have God’s Word available to them. Through friendships they had made in the Soviet Academy of Science, four translations of First John were eventually completed by a Russian linguist. What an amazing testimony of God’s hand on Russia.

Worship songs

Hello everyone! Please, listen to some of newly uploaded songs on our site CCSokolWorship.
Also some of you may know Zalina Fedotov - talented song writer and dear sister in the Lord, who was leading worship at CC Sokol some years ago. She is currently serving at Koinonia Fellowship in Rochester, NY and is a part of Koinonia worship team. Zalina gave me permission to upload her songs and you can listen to them over at http://www.esnips.com/web/ZalinaSongs
As you read posts on this site, you can scroll down, turn on the player and listen to a worship song. Enjoy! Blessings! Natasha

Our God is an Awesome God!!

Saturday as I was studying for our Sunday service, a hard rain had ended and I got ready to see the rainbow to appear out my window and sure enough it appeared, a rather large section of the arch full of color. My camera recently broke and so I pulled out my mighty 4 pixel Kodak digital that I bought in 1998 before moving to Russia. The battery case is held by some good old scotch tape, and it has seen better days. As I started to take pictures of the rainbow, the batteries kept dying. So I found 2 used batteries and kept shooting. Well the clouds moved in again and an electrical storm started. I was thinking “God it would be great to get a photo of the lighting” Considering the condition of my mighty Kodak, that was a real prayer of faith. Well I took five shots trying to anticipate the sequence of the electrical storm which is really saying I was just wasting my time. So I went back to my studying. I then noticed that the clouds had a beautiful color and so I snapped one last shot. To my amazement at that very moment the lighting struck and my mighty 4 pixel digital Kodak, which has a very slow delay between the click and the image registering on the memory card, caught this shot. Knowing the odds of the speed of my camera catching a lighting strike, God showed me that even in the little things He loves to bless His children.

You have served Russia well!

Hello everyone, today Rick and Rebecca Emenaker returned back to California after serving here in Moscow 7 years. Rick was the director of Mission Aviation Fellowship here in Russia.

Rick has been a good friend over the years and I will miss him. I will surely miss the wonderful thanksgiving dinner (with a real turkey) that they have hosted. The Emenaker family lived in South America before coming to Moscow and have been on the mission field since 1992. They will be returning to their home in southern California for the next year. Their home church is Calvary Chapel East Anaheim. Their three children Hannah, Nathaniel and Rachel are already moved back to the US. Please pray for God’s will for the Emenaker family. We will miss them, they have been friends to Russia.

That the word of God will go forth...

Please pray for our good friend Dima, he has returned home for one month. His home town is in the coutry of Tajikistan. Dima is a Christian and his faith in Jesus Christ is not well received in his town. Please pray for Dima, for the Lord to open up the opportunity for the Good News to be shared to his mother and his relatives. thank you

Geno's update

Here are some recent photos of Geno from the zone. Usually I speak to him once a week but these are the first photos of him that I have seen in a couple of years. He is looking healthy. For those of you who may not know our dear brother Geno, he is in prison in the Arch Angel region in the far north of Russia. Geno is the church leader in his small fellowship there. Geno also is a worship leader, writes songs, and is seriously studying the language of His ancestors, Hebrew. We consider Him our missionary to the Russian Prison zone. Geno is a part of the tremendous work God has done through Spiritual Freedom Russia. Dale was the first known American to be allowed into the Russian solitary confinement of the prison. He then was allowed to speak with Geno and share the gospel with him. Please pray for Geno and his small faithful fellowship. That the blinders would fall off the eyes of so many of his fellow inmates and they would come to the knowledge of Christ. Pray for Geno’s continued health. Thank you.

Geno's photos

Summer smells and wedding bells

Greetings from Moscow, hard to believe we are already knocking on the door of July. Summer is always a nice time to have weddings here in Russia. On the first of June, Steve and Julia became man and wife. It was a sweet simple wedding after our morning church service. Julia is an amazing woman and has been a part of our fellowship for about 5 years. Julia rarely misses the opportunity to study the Bible. She and her 3 children Veronica, Dima, and Sveta have been a great blessing to our fellowship. Steve came to Moscow to build a golf course in north Moscow, Steve is a professional turf grower. Steve now is building a golf course on the coast of China, and Julia and the kids will be moving there soon . It will be exciting to see what new adventure God has for this family, we are going to miss them……

Mr. and Mrs.Steve Bruton

Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Kalinin

Evening on the Volga River, Cheboksary Hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Kalinin

Also on June 14th Olga and Eugene were married in Olga’s home town Чебоксары (Chebokcary) it is a beautiful city almost 400 miles east of Moscow located on the Volga River. It was a wonderful 2 day event. Olga‘s brother Misha , who is a Calvary Chapel Pastor in Sochi officiated the service. I have known both of them for the last 8 years. After a very intertaining wedding party, we all that evening took a river cruise on the Volga, it was very charming. The next day Eugene and Olga put on a BBQ and then later we all went on bus tour of the city on the river Cheboksary. Cheboksary has it’s own unique culture, and language. It also has its own Calvary Chapel. It is so wonderful when you see the Lord bring two people together and Eugene and Olga are a sweet witness of God’s plan for man and woman. Also Christina Dixon came back to Russia to visit. Christina is a great friend to Russia and has many friends here. She worked at the CCBible College in Moscow. It was great to see her back. (see photo Christina on the left, Olga who did a great job with the wedding party, on the right)

Please take time to view the SFM video

Pray for Spiritual Freedom

Please pray for "Spiritual Freedom" (SFM) the ministry to the prisoners in the Russian prison system. (Please take time to watch video about this great ministry.) The ministry is going through a difficult time. Please pray for the resources to continue. The Lord has blessed this ministry for 15 years. We believe the Lord will provide the resources to continue. Please pray for our situation. As we met with the staff today the life of George Mueller was mentioned and how the Lord provided for his ministry to the orphanages in Bristol even to this day. George never sought money; He just prayed and believed God for their needs.

Andre " Growing in the knowledge of Christ"

Please pray for Dr. Tom he still is waiting to have a hip operation. It has been drawn-out for 3 years now. Tom desperately needs to have his hip replaced, please pray that the operation will come, and that all resources needed, will be supplied. Also Tom is living with his friend Andre. I have known Andre for about 6 years. He was one of the guys who would hang out with a group of homeless guys at the University Metro. Andre would usually show up at our outdoor meetings under the influence of alcohol. Andre was never interested in the gospel. He was one of the few that did not responded to Christ. Fast forward 6 years and Tom moved in with him. So we started meeting once a week for a Bible study. Andre would join in and listen and he started responding to the Good News. Andre one night last December left the house to join up with one of his friends for a night of drinking that resulted in Andre severely breaking his femur bone. A metal rod put in his leg. It has left him for about 6 months confined to his bed. But the blessing of all this is we have seen Andre grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. He now understands the gospel. Both Tom and Andre are pretty confined to the house. Please pray for God's continual work in his life and the recovery of his leg.

Pray for Dr. Tom, waiting for a hip operation

Pray for Victor

Please pray for an opportunity to visit another TB hospital. I met Victor when Dr. Tom was in the hospital as his roommate. Victor was next to Sasha the young man who past away in February. (see blog the March link) Victor was in the hospital to have his leg removed. He went home in December. I got a call from Tom last week that Victor just had his other leg removed and that he was back in the hospital. So I was able to get back into the hospital to visit Victor. I visited Victor for the first time last week. Victor is not a believer. Please pray that he will be open to the gospel. Perhaps with the loss of his second leg God may have his attention. Also the last time I was there a group of patients were sitting outside. So I handed them all the book Daily Bread in the Russian language. As I walked away one of the young guys yelled to me, "Sect!!" I just kept going and he yelled it again. I believe what happened next was as close as you can get to righteous anger, I turned around and headed back to the young man and told him that what I had given him was God’s word from the Bible. He listened closely and when all was said in done we were the best of friends. Hospitals are a great place to share the gospel. People have time on their hands and usually they are under difficult circumstances.