Privet Brothers & Sisters!!! What a blessed time we had in Ivanovo. We had a wonderful breakfast meal again; today we had belini with sweetened condensed milk and lots of other dishes!  Today we had a church service where Pastor Ilya led us through a passage in Matthew 6:1-6. We reflected on glorifying God and not ourselves. What an awesome message and reminder for us as we serve the Lord in Russia. We then proceeded to have chai and snacks. Afterwards we cleaned Ilya and Sonya's home and mowed their grass. We then had our last meal together as we ate lunch and then had great fellowship after. They played blues music for us and we then packed up to head back to Calvary Chapel Vladimir.

On the way back to Vladimir Darby, Marti, Ismael, and Jerry took a detour to Suzhdahl. We then met back up at the church and were blessed with time to shower and rest. The Lord is good! He is doing a mighty work in Ivanovo, it is not an easy city or an easy task. They have a lot of work ahead of them in this city. Please join us in praying for Pastor Ilya, Sonya, and their growing family. We are street evangelizing in Vladimir and have an outreach with the youth tomorrow night. Thank you for your prayers! May we glorify the Lord in all that we do.

Here is a brief shout out from our team and a snapshot of their impression of Ivanovo:

Ron: So blessed by the outpouring of love among the team and the Russian believers. May it spill over on all those we meet!
Rick:  God will use you if you are willing.
Ismael: The Holy Spirit was working in the city and in the church.
Jerry: God can use a willing heart.
Christine: A pure picture of faithful servants submitting and trusting in the Lord's will for their lives. The Lord is moving in Ivanovo! May we trust, glorify, and have a sense of urgency for  God in ALL we do.
Marti: Ilya and Sonya were a beautiful example of surrender and love, to me. It was an incredible opportunity to serve with them for  a short while on the streets of Ivanovo.
Darby: Memorable and you could feel God's presence as the team bonded together witnessing. Life Changing!

Suzhdahl

We pray this blesses you as we share just a bit of an amazing two days that we cannot just some up in a sentence, our hearts are too full with what the Lord is showing us!

Church in Ivanovo 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." Matthew 6:1-4 

Day 3 & 4 - City of Ivanovo, Russia

After Rick led us in morning devotions and we had breakfast, the team had the opportunity to do some janitorial work at CC Vladimir as they have a limited staff for this kind of work.  After lunch we celebrated Darby's 19th birthday with a yummy Russian cake.

Then it was off to Ivanovo with our interpreters, Vova, Pasha, and Olya.  We were greeted by Pastor Ilya and his wife, Sonya and treated to a delicious dinner in their backyard.  What a blessing it is to be guests in their home - and there sleeping room for all of our team plus the interpreters.  Their house also serves as the church building where they have services on Sundays.  They are extremely gracious hosts!

On Day 4, Saturday, after breakfast and devotions led by Ismael, we headed out to evangelize Ivanovo!  It's a beautiful and modern city, slightly larger than Vladimir.  Pastor Ilya led us to the city center where we set up in a busy part of the park.  Some of the guys did music while the rest passed out invitations to the church and shared Christ with people who stopped to listen.  At one point the guys started doing some crazy country music and many people stopped to listen.  Ron preached the gospel and small groups formed with the team and interpreters sharing Christ one on one.  You could tell the Holy Spirit fell on this place and was drawing hearts to Jesus.  What an awesome day!  Thank you for your prayers, the Lord is answering!

1st Day in Russia

Here is a brief post to summarize our 1st day and give a couple pics. We arrived in Moscow about 10am local time. Had a 4 hour drive to Vladimir. Stopped at McDonalds on the way for some Big Macs! Got settled in at CC Vladimir before attending Wednesday night service. Pastor Pasha taught, but Pastor Ron was able to share a little bit before. Had some fellowship with our Russian brothers and sisters. Went to sleep.

God Bless!

Day 2: The City of Vladimir

Hello Dear Brothers and Sisters! We had a fantastic day today, which began with breakfast and a morning devotion. We then had a meeting with the staff of CC Vladimir to get a layout of our schedule for our time in Russia. After that, we headed out to get familiar with the city, being helped by our translators Roma and Liza. Immediately after leaving the church building, Ron and Roma began evangelizing; handing out gospel tracts and talking to people about where they were going to spend eternity. With them being such great examples, the rest of us started passing out tracts to people on the streets and even getting into some conversations with the help of our translators.

On our journey around the city we performed two mini concerts singing a song we learned in Russian while Ron played guitar. One of the witness encounters we had was while we were touring a monastery for the Russian Orthodox Church. While sitting in an elaborately decorated chapel, we struck up a conversation with a man who was visiting from Brazil. He didn't speak very much Russian, but he did speak English well. After sharing the law and gospel with him, we were able to leave him with a Million Dollar Bill tract in English.

After an eventful day we then headed back to the Church to have dinner, which Lena (Pasha's wife) prepared for us.  Then we were blessed by attending a prayer and worship service with the local body at CC Vladimir. What an awesome thing to worship the Lord together. We leave for Ivonovo tomorrow afternoon. Thank you for your prayers, we continue to pray that the Holy Spirit would guide and direct our steps.

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

With Much Love in Christ-
Russia Team 2013

Привет (Hello), from Russia!

Hi everybody! Wanted to let everyone know that we made it safely to the church in Vladimir with no problems. After traveling for about 25 hours and then attending the Wednesday night service here, we are extremely tired and getting ready for bed. Sorry for no pictures, we should have time to go into more details about today's events tomorrow and post some pics. Thank you for your prayers.

God Bless!

Russia Team Twenty Thirteen.

Mission to Russia!

Thank you for following and praying for the activities of our mission trip to Russia!  We leave Tuesday, July 9th and return Monday, July 22nd.  Our team includes: Jerry Holland, Ismael Diaz, Rick Emerson, Christine Emerson, Marti Anthony, Darby Winters, and Ron Castro.  We arrive to Moscow on Wed, July 10th and will spend a few days in Vladimir, then travel to the cites of Ivanovo and Kalchugino, spreading the gospel and edifying the faith of the believers. Thank you for your prayers!  Check back often for more updates!

Hello!

We just finished our last day, and it was great. We woke up and got ready for the day before splitting up. Jeff and Caleb went to a meeting with one of the local pastors, and Mike and I (Ben) headed up to work on the house. After we finished our appointments, we met back up and got ready for a meeting over lunch with a Russian couple that we met prior in the week. The lunch was great! We built a bond with them through laughter and sharing of our lives. They really warmed up to us. Mike has plans to get in touch with them next week. Next, we started to get ready for the movie ministry. Caleb and I were going to the movie ministry and Jeff was going to teach at the Bible College. Everything went so well!!! We are ready to get to bed and look forward to being with you all again on Wednesday.

God bless you and thank you!