The
Latest from the Steppe
May 14, 2009
Dear Partners,
What
a fast and amazing month April was! And May is flying by just as quickly.
We hosted two men from The Mission Society who came for the big 15th
birthday of The Friendship Corporation and the Living Vine Church. The Living Vine Church actually has split two wonderful churches. The
original one that we attend, which is all in Russian, and a Kazakh fellowship
which meets at a different facility and whose services are all in Kazakh.
There were lots of events around that weekend including a big all day
church event. The morning was a worship service with mini-sermons,
lots of praise music, prayer and testimonies by people of the Living Vine Church. Then there were special gifts given from America to the church and
from the churches to The Mission Society. A wonderful lunch was provided
by the Kazakh church for all. The afternoon service was
testimonies, prayer, mini-sermons, praise music Kazakh style and it was
absolutely beautiful. Some were familiar songs but with a different
musical twist. I wish you could all hear it. Once again there were
testimonies and then there was a very powerful skit by the university students
and special dancing by Kazakh women and one young girl did her own dance all in
national costumes. It was very, very special. The entire event
started at 10 am and ended at about 5:15 pm. A very full and appropriate
date full of celebration.
Of
course, Steve is here working with our Field Leader, Douglas, concerning lots
of management and financial issues here on this field. There have
been hours of meetings. Needless to say, the two men from The Mission
Society met with Steve several times while they were here to get reports,
discuss and help come up with a game plan. Steve is devoting a lot
of his time and energy to this process. Our field leader has been under a
lot of stress and he and his family have left for a vacation and time of
renewal in the United States this week. They will be gone until sometime
in July or August. Steve will be overseeing the field while Douglas is gone and
as long as we are here. However, we will be gone for three weeks in June
ourselves. Please pray that solutions to problems can be reached in
amicable ways with three separate organizations under our umbrella who do not
always function as a unit. Steve’s administrative background before
becoming a pastor is a huge help here along with his natural analytical
skills. His Pastor’s role must cover it all so that everything is done in
a Godly way. Your prayers for the entire process will be greatly
appreciated.
I
continue to support Steve, reach out to team members who all have their own
stress issues and work with Luba twice a week continuing my language
growth. I also meet with a national woman, Albina, to allow her an
opportunity to practice her English. She left the church a few years ago
and has not used her English in several years. Margaret invited her to a
bible study that she leads on Saturday nights. The woman seems to enjoy
it very much and maybe between the two of us, Albina will return to
church. She is thinking about it. That is a wonderful start.
Our
team went on a 4 day team building retreat. Steve did a lot of work in
preparation to leading the intro and first day’s program. It all went
very well and Douglas led an all day prayer event the last day in which
everyone got to pray for everyone else individually. It was a very
powerful time and the team said they had never had a retreat that made them
feel more like a team. Ever. Please pray that this was only the
foundation of what will become a team in unity and mutual support using
all their gifts to do God’s work together in this place.
Steve
will be going to a “Call to All” conference in Hong Kong the first week in
June. He is going in his role as Regional Coordinator representing The
Mission Society. Pray that he learns a lot about how many agencies are
trying to reach the unreached in Asia and what our role as The Mission Society
might play as part of this movement. You can look up the information
about the conference on the internet if you are so inclined.
While
Steve is there, I will be going up to the village of Sergeyevka to spend almost
two weeks with Joyce Chellis. I am very excited about this time with her
and having some special time with the national women up there. I can
speak Russian well enough to go have tea with them or stop and talk on the
street about general issues. I will carry my little dictionary, however!
The
third week of June we will travel to Ukraine. There we will visit
churches, fellowships and student ministries to see if this is where God would
have us work when we are finished with our furlough. We have work to do
here in Kazakhstan with pastors, etc. However, so far we have not been
successful in finding a way to get the visa we would need. God will
ultimately show us what we are to do. We are being faithful and taking
everything one step at a time trusting in Him.
The
last week of June we will go to Yekaterinburg, Russia for our Annual
Conference. I am thrilled that Claudia, three of the women from Komsomolsk and one man (including the couple we always stayed with) will be
attending!! Not to mention some of the other pastors Steve worked with and
people from their churches. It will be a very special time. If we
end up working in Ukraine we will be part of a different conference next
year. We intend to treasure our time this year.
The
attached picture this time is one from our team worship. This happens
every Friday at 4 pm and is our time to worship in English. We have a
guitar player, sometimes a piano or keyboard. There are a few people who
are in the states now or away for one reason or another but this is the heart
of the team. These team members work with orphans, the language program
we run, English in the Friendship School, the church and various programs
dealing with Celebrate Recovery, handicapped children or feeding
programs. Since this is not a secure email I will not offer names and
specific involvement. Suffice it to say that we have a wonderful,
talented, blessed group here.
Please
pray that we will each be a blessing to all the team here during this
time. During our time here our role is more to encourage, uplift and support
team members than to do personal ministry. That does happen, of
course. Last night Steve and I spent 4 hours with a pastor and his
wife.
We do
have a HUGE blessing to share!!! As a result of our request for help
concerning a car for our furlough, we have had an answer to prayer!! One
of our precious supporting couples has secured a car for us!! We
have wheels!! We will do all we can this Fall and Spring to see as many
of you individually as possible. Along these lines, Steve is beginning to
work on a calendar for visits and presentations. If you or your church
are interested, please email us. We will do our best to visit when we are
in our area. We will tentatively “hit the road” in early September,
heading East. We must fly out of Atlanta for a Missionary Conference the
end of October. We will return to Atlanta and head West to be back home
for Thanksgiving. The more early responses we receive the better we can
plan. Our current plan is to visit California and Nevada churches
after the New Year.
You
are all our backbones and amazing support system. We treasure and pray
for each of you individually. Thank you so much for your faithfulness.
Grace
and Peace, Blessings and hugs,
Pastor
Steve and Carol
