THe summer is over in Russia. We get on a plane tomorrow and go to England for a few days. I'm going to have to think about everything that happened a bit more before I say much about it. So far, I've realized that I'm very lazy with my faith. I'm not as zealous as I once thought. Haha. I'm not zealous at all! All that is done in and through me is done by Christ! He is my zeal. I need more commitment to that idea. We all do!
Once nugget to think about is the fact that I've been gone for 5 weeks to a foreign country, but you've also been in a foreign country. As believers we are foreigners from the Kingdom of God. Our identity is in Christ. I hope that God has blessed you in the past 5 weeks with many opportunities to share what God has done in your life. I look forward to speaking to anyone who reads this blog :)
Until then, POKA!
-Sam
Home Soon....but not yet!
Though we are in our last couple of days of ministry God is not finished here. This weekend we have invited many friends to come to church with us to help them get plugged in and I am excited to see who comes! God has been doing amazing things and I have some truly great stories, but I don't have time to share them all...so I will share one.
All summer Linda Robinson, our director's mother-in-law has been here and she visits the park everyday with the kids. While at the park she works to do meet English speaking mothers and grandmothers who she can share the gospel with. One day she met a young girl named Julia who happened to be Sarah's penpal. It has taken all summer but finally on Thursday Sarah and I got to sit down and meet with her. We were able to share our testimonies through soularium and because our time was cut short I just gave her a 4 Laws booklet, asked her to read it and told her I would love to talk more about this the next day.
The next day, Sarah met with her while I was out with another student and she talked to Julia about it. Julia said she wanted Jesus to be in her life and pay for her sin. Sarah explained that a simple prayer would give this to her and Julia said she would do this in private by herself! Sarah is going to see her again on Monday!
How cool is it that God keeps changing lives even when we are worn out! He will not stop even when we leave! Praise Him for that!
Sorry that is all I have time to share...I am late and everyone is going to be waiting on me :/
Love you all!
All summer Linda Robinson, our director's mother-in-law has been here and she visits the park everyday with the kids. While at the park she works to do meet English speaking mothers and grandmothers who she can share the gospel with. One day she met a young girl named Julia who happened to be Sarah's penpal. It has taken all summer but finally on Thursday Sarah and I got to sit down and meet with her. We were able to share our testimonies through soularium and because our time was cut short I just gave her a 4 Laws booklet, asked her to read it and told her I would love to talk more about this the next day.
The next day, Sarah met with her while I was out with another student and she talked to Julia about it. Julia said she wanted Jesus to be in her life and pay for her sin. Sarah explained that a simple prayer would give this to her and Julia said she would do this in private by herself! Sarah is going to see her again on Monday!
How cool is it that God keeps changing lives even when we are worn out! He will not stop even when we leave! Praise Him for that!
Sorry that is all I have time to share...I am late and everyone is going to be waiting on me :/
Love you all!
Pictures! Enjoy!
We went to an English class one day at the local university and met several students. It's hard to learn English in Russia...Fact.
Yay! We like to have fun and play games!
A day at the Russian horse races...not quite Keeneland.
Diplomacy. A guy I know and his father own a heraldry salon (specialized store). It was one of the nicest places I've been in Russia.
Somehow we found a jungle in the middle of Russia. This palm tree has been growing for almost 90 years in Russia! Of coarse it's in a temperature-regulated green house. But it was a surprise to see a palm tree in Russia.
More from the green house. Several cacti from all over the world in the corner of Russia. I'm still amazed.
Feast your eyes on this!
A dollar to the one who translates this first.
This is the old train station. It's so cool.
I guess they'll make a statue out of anything. Probably cheaper this way.
The tall building in the background wasn't there last year. This is where we got off the train.
Russian space man says, "Everybody look up, it's all in your head." That's for all the Killer's fans out there.
A mosque that has stood for 107 years. There used to be three, but now this is the only one.
Geralyn Strange. Loves Jesus more than administrational duties. She's awesome!
The Russian train sounded like a good idea...then I realized I had to sleep in a space that wasn't quite as tall as I was. It was a good experience.
Hope you've enjoyed our updates so far. Please continue to pray for Russia as our time here draws to an end. God has been doing, is doing, and will continue to do amazing things here!
He Will Make HIS Name Known
Your prayers are always answered! God always wants his name to be known and so you can't go wrong when you are praying for that! Throughout this week we invited the friends we have made to come to a skit night where we wanted to hear what they thought about God. We really wanted to hear their opinions, so that we could share ours as well. As we were inviting people we were also planning for the event, and it was funny how something that seemed so overwhelming on Sunday when the Holy Spirit put it on the outreach team's heart to put together, ran so smoothly and seemed so easy. When God asks you to do something he always equips you to do it! This was so true for our team!
On Monday and Tuesday night we broke up into smaller teams. Most of the team went to write skits which asked 3 questions: Does God exist? What is God like? How can I reach him. The other team was in charge of preparing testimonies and some type of visual aid for the stage. The skit team took off! It was amazing! A task that seemed so daunting, flowed so well. It was fun to watch the body of Christ work! It was easy to see that God had gifted us all with many different talents and each one was needed. The testimony team started off trying to climb over a wall. At first we wanted to share the gospel through what is called the "Love and Justice" diagram, but we felt this would not be easily understood without explanation, and we just didn't have time for that. We raddled off a few ideas...none seemed quite right, and we eventually hit a wall. We didn't know what to do or where to go, but we knew we were supposed to do something. This is when one member of our team began to ask questions about the night. She asked us if we had given these people a chance to make a decision. We had planned on sharing the gospel 3 times through testimonies, but never really made it clear that a decision needed to be made. By the soveriegnty of God we began to see that we needed our visual to be the 2 circles that are seen in a booklet that we use to help share the gospel. In one circle self is on the thrown of your life while Christ is outside and in the other circle Christ is on the thrown of your life and self is bowing before the thrown yeilding to it. Once we were settled on that idea it was smooth sailing from there.
Tuesday night it was all hands in to make sure everything ran smoothly. We began the night with a little bit of pray and praise to settle us before the craziness began. The skit team continued to practice, the testimony team finished preparing testimonies and circles, and with the help of our Russian friends everything would be translated easily. At 10:30pm we were ready to run through it all. By 11:30 we were finished with details and all we had left to do was to continue to pray and invite people.
Bathed in prayer, Wednesday evening came, skits were ready, testimonies prepared, and circles hung. 40 Russians came to share their thoughts on God. There was no disguising what we were doing. We wanted to know their thoughts and we wanted to share Christ with them. The first skit came up and asked the question, "Does God exist?" The students discussed, and then Serge, one of the Russian believers shared his testimony. The second skit was done and the second question was asked, "What is God like?" Cam, a student from EKU shared his testimony on how his beliefs about what God is like have changed since knowing him. Finally, the third skit was done and asked the question, "How do I reach God?" Students discussed, and Sean, a student from Moorehead shared how his journey through different religions displayed that he could never reach God, but that God had to reach him.
Each time a testimony was shared the person giving the testimony would walk from the left circle to the right when they said they made a decision to make Jesus Lord of their life, and Sean actually bowed before the thrown in the right circle when he gave his. Sean stayed there while Dasha, a Russian believer, explained the 2 circles and why a decision had to be made. Students continued discussion after that answering 2 questions, "Which circle are you in?" and "Which circle do you want to be in?" Many students had a lot of questions and were not able to answer that question. The comment cards we have collected have been so encouraging. Of the 30 or so comment cards we have so far, only 2 have said they do not wish to talk about spiritual things and we know of at least 2 that have prayed to recieve Christ! There are several others who indicated they made the decision, but as of now we need to follow up with them to make sure they understand the decision they made. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers. It was so fun to work as the body of Christ and see God shine in everyone's talents. It took everyone and it took your prayers! Thank you so much. We have a little over a week to meet with students still. Please pray that this time would be fruitful and that we would be able to follow up with as many students as possible from our outreach last night. Remember your prayers are powerful because you have the Holy Spirit who intercedes and petitions for you!
In Him,
Kerry-Lyn
PS: Pictures to come. I will try to get Sam to put them up tonight!
On Monday and Tuesday night we broke up into smaller teams. Most of the team went to write skits which asked 3 questions: Does God exist? What is God like? How can I reach him. The other team was in charge of preparing testimonies and some type of visual aid for the stage. The skit team took off! It was amazing! A task that seemed so daunting, flowed so well. It was fun to watch the body of Christ work! It was easy to see that God had gifted us all with many different talents and each one was needed. The testimony team started off trying to climb over a wall. At first we wanted to share the gospel through what is called the "Love and Justice" diagram, but we felt this would not be easily understood without explanation, and we just didn't have time for that. We raddled off a few ideas...none seemed quite right, and we eventually hit a wall. We didn't know what to do or where to go, but we knew we were supposed to do something. This is when one member of our team began to ask questions about the night. She asked us if we had given these people a chance to make a decision. We had planned on sharing the gospel 3 times through testimonies, but never really made it clear that a decision needed to be made. By the soveriegnty of God we began to see that we needed our visual to be the 2 circles that are seen in a booklet that we use to help share the gospel. In one circle self is on the thrown of your life while Christ is outside and in the other circle Christ is on the thrown of your life and self is bowing before the thrown yeilding to it. Once we were settled on that idea it was smooth sailing from there.
Tuesday night it was all hands in to make sure everything ran smoothly. We began the night with a little bit of pray and praise to settle us before the craziness began. The skit team continued to practice, the testimony team finished preparing testimonies and circles, and with the help of our Russian friends everything would be translated easily. At 10:30pm we were ready to run through it all. By 11:30 we were finished with details and all we had left to do was to continue to pray and invite people.
Bathed in prayer, Wednesday evening came, skits were ready, testimonies prepared, and circles hung. 40 Russians came to share their thoughts on God. There was no disguising what we were doing. We wanted to know their thoughts and we wanted to share Christ with them. The first skit came up and asked the question, "Does God exist?" The students discussed, and then Serge, one of the Russian believers shared his testimony. The second skit was done and the second question was asked, "What is God like?" Cam, a student from EKU shared his testimony on how his beliefs about what God is like have changed since knowing him. Finally, the third skit was done and asked the question, "How do I reach God?" Students discussed, and Sean, a student from Moorehead shared how his journey through different religions displayed that he could never reach God, but that God had to reach him.
Each time a testimony was shared the person giving the testimony would walk from the left circle to the right when they said they made a decision to make Jesus Lord of their life, and Sean actually bowed before the thrown in the right circle when he gave his. Sean stayed there while Dasha, a Russian believer, explained the 2 circles and why a decision had to be made. Students continued discussion after that answering 2 questions, "Which circle are you in?" and "Which circle do you want to be in?" Many students had a lot of questions and were not able to answer that question. The comment cards we have collected have been so encouraging. Of the 30 or so comment cards we have so far, only 2 have said they do not wish to talk about spiritual things and we know of at least 2 that have prayed to recieve Christ! There are several others who indicated they made the decision, but as of now we need to follow up with them to make sure they understand the decision they made. Praise God! Thank you for your prayers. It was so fun to work as the body of Christ and see God shine in everyone's talents. It took everyone and it took your prayers! Thank you so much. We have a little over a week to meet with students still. Please pray that this time would be fruitful and that we would be able to follow up with as many students as possible from our outreach last night. Remember your prayers are powerful because you have the Holy Spirit who intercedes and petitions for you!
In Him,
Kerry-Lyn
PS: Pictures to come. I will try to get Sam to put them up tonight!
A Prayer Request
This week the outreach team has planned a skit night to propose 3 questions: Is there a God? If there is, what is he like? and How do we have a relationship/get to God?
After each skit we will have a discussion to allow Russians to share about what they believe and then we will have American and Russian believers share their testimony about what they believe about these questions. We are hoping for an army of 2000 to be praying about this as we boldly proclaim Christ as Lord this week. We are inviting back the 40 people who said they were interested in talking about spiritual things. Pray that the Lord will display for them who he is and that the lives of many will be changed. Pray that the gospel will be displayed clearly and that students would see that we are sharing this with them because we love them. Pray that we would take steps of faith and take steps that cause us to trust in the Lord. Thank you for your prayers!!!! They are definitely noticed here!
Kerry-Lyn
After each skit we will have a discussion to allow Russians to share about what they believe and then we will have American and Russian believers share their testimony about what they believe about these questions. We are hoping for an army of 2000 to be praying about this as we boldly proclaim Christ as Lord this week. We are inviting back the 40 people who said they were interested in talking about spiritual things. Pray that the Lord will display for them who he is and that the lives of many will be changed. Pray that the gospel will be displayed clearly and that students would see that we are sharing this with them because we love them. Pray that we would take steps of faith and take steps that cause us to trust in the Lord. Thank you for your prayers!!!! They are definitely noticed here!
Kerry-Lyn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
