The News from Here – July 2005
Hello, again from the mission fields of Ivanovo
Russia. We are in a “whirlwind” of activity here, as
we usually are during the summer months, and seeing
the Lord’s blessings and provisions abundantly.
THE MONTH PAST
The youth are continuing their evangelism on the
streets. They continue to go out in groups to sing
and witness on the streets and have added going out in
pairs to talk to people and witness about their
Savior. This past month they have led 6 to the Lord
and we have another 3 that are attending our services
with great interest. We know it will only be a matter
of time before they will pray for salvation.
SUMMER CAMP
Our YOUTH CAMP was AWESOME! It always is, but it just
seems to get better each year.
We had between 142 youth in attendance. We carried 60
from Ivanovo. I was privileged to baptize 4 young
people while we were there and another 8 gave their
lives to the Lord. Still there were other instances
of believing youth coming to counselors for prayer for
recommitting themselves to the walk.
We had 5 different preachers to speak and their
messages all had a common theme even though none of
them spoke to one another about what they had planned
for the camp.
The theme of the camp was “Get up and Go!” and was a
challenge to the youth to walk out their faith.
My message was on maintaining the purity of the word,
studying it daily so as not to be snared by a false
teaching and to do what it says and not just read it
for “literature”.
Our youth returned with a renewed zeal as well as
being closer in fellowship to one another.
While we were there, there were also competitions to
gain points for each church’s youth team. When
campers participated in activities, such as games or
camp work or assisting other campers, they were given
points. At week’s end, the points were totaled and
divided by the number of members of a youth group that
was there to get an average (so it would be fair for
the smaller groups).
Our youth won first place by 3/10 of a point!
We received a “trophy” and a new DVD/video player as
the prize. We were very excited and it showed how our
youth are servants (we had 10 to 12 working around the
camp fire to prepare meals each day) and competitive.
THE WEDDING
The wedding of my pastor friend went off great. It
was a bit stressful, but was a success.
The funny moment was when I was directing the wedding
party as to their time to walk in during the ceremony.
I got them all in place and was sending them at the
correct place in the music. The fanfare played and I
wondered, where in Olga (the bride)?
Then, I remembered she was waiting in a room for me to
come get her when the wedding began and I, being busy
with the wedding party and all, had forgotten to go
get her!
I broke into a “mad” run to the room. She was there
patiently waiting without a clue her wedding had even
begun!
I “calmly” grabbed her hand and very quickly escorted
her to her escort and she walked down the aisle. Even
though there was that “break”, she still had plenty of
time and most didn’t’ know what had happened.
I guess I’m just a fast runner!
NIGHT OF PRAYER
We had a “Night of Prayer” from 10 pm on July 29 until
5 am on the 30th. It was a wonderful time. We had
praise and worship, three segments of sharing the word
and LOTS of prayer. We prayed for our church, the
city, the country, the world, and our families. We
prayed for the sick, those struggling and for our
evangelism events. We also prayed for our missionary
outreaches going on in the area and in the republic of
Adegayah.
Our plan is to have one “night of Prayer” each month
to concentrate our church prayers together. Each
member of the church also spends one hour each week in
the church prayer room praying for specific area so
that we are in unity in our prayers.
THE MONTH AHEAD
August 5 – 6 we are having a prayer retreat. Around
50 from the church will be traveling to a camp for 3
days of prayer and fasting as well as teachings. We
have 19 youth going and I will be sharing about “The
church walking in vision” while I am there.
August 12 – 14 we will be having a retreat for new
believers. We have 12 youth attending that as well as
those who will be going to serve.
August 15 – 19 we will be hosting and evangelism
conference.
And, August 26 will be our youth’s “End of Summer”
picnic/evangelism.
PERSONAL PRAYER NEED
Our support has dropped off slightly this past month
and I ask that you would be in prayer about that. I
am, of course, unable to return to the States to
“raise support”, so it will take the Lord putting on
people’s hearts to begin supporting the ministry.
Also, at the end of August, I must leave Russia to get
a new visa. This yearly “event” is always a strain on
the budget as I have to pay for travel, a place to
stay and to pay for the new visa. I usually travel to
Finland, but it is very expensive there and so I am
looking at finding another country to go to that is
less expensive and that does not charge a lot for visa
processing. I am also seeing how much the embassy in
any particular country charges for the visa
processing. According to the charges, I will stay
anywhere from 2 days to a week.
PLEASE, PLEASE be praying about these things with me.
They can be a distraction to the work and I
desperately don’t want that.
IN CLOSING
Thanks to each of you, as always, for your continued
belief and support in the work here. I truly am your
indebted servant.
Keep the Faith,
Randy