We returned to Moscow on Monday
to wonderful news. At long last our training manual for Sunday
school teachers has come back to us from the printer. I worked
with a team of seven Russian authors for two-and-a-half years
on this project. I am delighted at the result. A few of you contributed
humorous stories about children in Sunday school for this 272-page
manual. We thank you and we gave you credit on the opening page.
In addition to this training manual we have published four other
books this year: Bridge to Terabithia and The Great
Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson, Harriet the Spy
by Louise Fitzhugh, and Following the Wandering Sunflower,
by Viktor Krotov. We plan to publish two or three more books by
the end of the year. All of our books are published in Russian,
either by translation or by a Russian author.
This past week Narnia Center held a five-day children's ministry
leadership training seminar outside Moscow. This event was held
together with a team of six Americans from Logos Systems Associates
who arrived from the United States on Friday, October 3. More
than 40 people have participated, including Lutherans from Kazakhstan,
Methodists and Baptists from several cities in Russia, two Russian
Orthodox, evangelicals from Belarus, and one Seventh Day Adventist.
This is by far the largest number we have ever had for one of
our seminars. Some of you are familiar with the Logos Program
for children and youth in churches. Logos teams have presented
their program to individual churches in Russia in the past, but
this is the first time leaders from a variety of Russian churches
have come together to be trained systematically for this ministry.
The team was extremely well prepared. Russian participants were
deeply impressed with the way in which this team, with members
from age 45-65, was dedicated to a ministry of building Christian
relationships with youth and doing whatever it takes to reach
them with the good news of Jesus Christ. They were also impressed
to see folks with grandchildren who knew how to have lots of fun
with children. The response to this seminar was very enthusiastic,
and many have requested them to return to do more training. Please
pray that God will strengthen those churches that are returning
from this seminar in the hope of beginning a Logos-type youth
club ministry.
Prayer requests
- Participation in the Children's Ministry Resource Expo in
Kiev, Ukraine, October 17-18. Because of strict customs regulations
we have not yet been able to make our literature available in
the Ukraine. So no one knows about it. We hope to change that
through our involvement in this event.
- The International Christian Book Exhibition in St. Petersburg
Russia November 5-7. We will present our new books and hold
a meeting for the editorial board of our children's ministry
magazine. We will also be meeting with students at St. Petersburg
Christian University, which we hope in the future will be using
our materials to train teachers in Russia and Siberia.
- December 7-22 trip with Harold Kurtz of the Presbyterian Frontier
Fellowship to northwest Siberia to coach missionaries working
among the native reindeer-herding peoples, the Khanti, Nensi,
and Selkupi. This trip was planned for March but had to be postponed.
Our friends in the north remember the last time Harold Kurtz
and I visited, and they are eagerly awaiting this visit also.
Family news
This fall we began our seventh year as a family in mission service
in Russia. But our call to serve God in Russia really was heard
more than ten years ago in January 1993 when I told Laurie I wanted
to make a two-and-a-half-week trip to visit Russian churches.
Her response surprised me. She said, "You need to make that
trip, but you need to realize that our family will soon be living
in Russia, because I know what kind of a person you are. You don't
get into things half-way." Laurie had caught God's vision
ahead of me. Her words have become reality. From 1993-1997, while
an associate pastor at Third Presbyterian Church, Richmond, Virginia,
I made eleven trips to Russia, leading six groups on short-term
mission trips. In 1997 we were officially appointed by our denomination,
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to the ministry to which God
has called us.
The year behind us has been tumultuous one, with my undergoing
surgery three times. Over the summer our family made a trip home
to the United States, and I was able to get lots of rest, fresh
air, and exercise (including hiking the Appalachian Trail on three
occasions). I am feeling very well. Christiana attended basketball
camp. Christiana, Jeremiah, and I attended the New Wilmington
Missionary Conference. Laurie, Hannah, and I visited colleges.
We saw our family, friends and our doctors.
The coming year also promises to be a year of major change, as
our oldest daughter, Hannah, is in her last year of high school
and prepares to leave us for college next fall. Like so many parents,
Laurie and I often look at each other and say, "How did these
kids grow up so fast? We aren't old enough to have kids going
to college."
While Hannah is a senior in high school, Christiana is a sophomore
and Jeremiah has begun middle school with sixth grade. All three
of our children are playing soccer in one or two leagues here
in Moscow.
Laurie continues her work at Opora Center, a Christian training
center for dependency recovery ministry in Russia, where she is
helping by being an encourager among the staff. She is greatly
appreciated by the staff members for the way in which she encourages
each one, including the cook.
May God bless you.
Donald Marsden
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 94
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