Greetings dear friends, with the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. This summer has been saturated. We had an international team. To help us, we had four brothers from America and three sisters from Kazakhstan. We were able to conduct 4 children’s camps and begin repair of the building of the church in the village of Pobeda(Victory).
It was the first location where we went this summer for camp. The only way to get there was by river ferry, there is no road for vehicles in the summer, unless its winter and we go on the frozen swamps, bogs and through the woods. There are many difficulties when traveling by river ferry, very difficult to solve, because it is usually full of people. But God revealed to us another way – through the sky. A brother in Christ and our friend from Khabarovsk, has passed a pilot school in Alaska and being driven by the desire to serve God here, for a few years has tried to register the first Russian missionary purpose aircraft. And this year God opened the way, and the first, in the history of the missionary flight in the skies of Russia, he took off, transporting a part of our team and inventory. The rest soon arrived on the ferry.
The program with children was conducted by our sisters, while brothers well armed with tools began the construction work. However, right from the start, we often had tools stolen. It was impossible to buy good quality tools in the village. We tore down the old fence, and built up a new one, also changed the boardwalk to the building of the church and changed the front door to the house. The local church members along with our team are very grateful to God for the fact that He touched the hearts of some people who got involved in this project in prayer and finances, as a result we have a blessing.
A week later, we packed up and drove on. The second location of our service was the village of Ulika National with the indigenous population of a local peoples – Nanai. We’ve been going there for about 15 years, but the last few years, we could not conduct regular camp there. But thank God, this time He sent Korean missionaries who, seeing people who are ready to accept Christ, built a house of prayer there. We have met with them, and now are working together in God’s field. This is a great blessing that God in His ministry united different peoples. When we were in the river ferry, there with us was a group of Korean missionaries.
Having a guitar we sang Christian songs, the Koreans in Korean, and us in Russian at the same time. People were interested to hear that. An interesting detail; when we were in the first village, a strong storm has passed in the Khabarovsk region. The storm raged for three days. In Ulika we base our camp in tents on the bank of the river, and God’s providence was in that He delayed us leaving for the camps exactly by three days. There were worries that we would not make everything on time, but the main thing was – trust in God. And we started the camps later. At the time when we were spending the last two days in the first village (The storm had not reached this village, there were just heavy rains), it swept through Ulika, and closer to another village, it tore down electric poles and in our village we lost electricity for two days. Locals say that if we had arrived earlier, we would a good have been carried away with the tents, because the wind was so strong that it took down trees. But, thank God, He has everything under control, even when we think the opposite. It was a good lesson of trust in God for all of us. After a week of service in Ulika, we returned to Khabarovsk. We faced a difficult task, to carry out two week long camps in one week. But God strengthened our hands and hearts, and in the morning we did camp in the city, and in the evening went to conduct it in Zaozerne, that is where there are three colonies(prisons). There was a certain miracle; when the weather forecast showed rain, but our leaders and the children prayed, and instead of rain the sun was shining, the clouds scattered in front of our eyes, passing sun’s rays more and more as if someone had chased the clouds away. Thank God, He has given us His task, and accompanied us everywhere.
Please pray for our ministry, for our common ministry to which God has called us. We’ve got more winter mission trips coming up and other Christmas projects that require first of all strong prayer support as our enemy, too, does not sleep, to sow more evil and chaos. We remind you that the whole Khabarovsk Region(the part of the Far East), which in size is a little smaller than Ukraine, has less than one and a half thousand members in the Church of our Lord.
Dear friends, we ask you to pray for us and the people among whom we live and labor, so that many have a chance to be reconciled and believe in our Savior, for the time is near.
“Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel… ” Eph.6 :14-19
Grace and peace to you, dear friends. Be blessed.
– With love in Christ, Svyatoslav, and the brothers and sisters of Revival Church and the church in the village of Pobeda.