November 1, 2003
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ
Ephesians 1:2
Dear Friends,
I have been spending the last few days hiding from the world.
It's not because of any suspected danger, I am simply recovering
from an acute case of homesickness. I have been gone for so much
of the past month, that I just need to sit here, pet the cat,
chat with Al and the girls, and pull the swirling thoughts together.
The journeys began with a quick trip to Kostroma, a city I had
not been to before. Kostroma is actually quite famous, part of
the “Golden Ring” of ancient cities around Moscow.
Being an old city, it is also quite poor. It sits on the banks
of the Volga some 300 kilometers northeast of Moscow. It is one
of the historical centers of the Orthodox Church, with several
monastaries. I was visiting a Baptist church, a potential partner
for the Twinning Program. Kostroma is a hard place to be Baptist.
The Baptist church there has been around for a long time, but
it had grown tired and was struggling until a young man from Siberia
came to help. Sergei was a missionary in Yakutia, a very cold
region in the Far East. There is such a vital ministry in that
region of Siberia that the Baptist Union asked Sergei to consider
bringing his talents to Central Russia, where that kind of energy
and vision is needed. When he visited Kostroma, he understood
the need and agreed to move his young wife and three little boys
west. During Soviet times, churches turned inward to survive.
Since perestroika, many churches have opened up, looked around,
and begun new and exciting outreach programs in their communities.
For others, it has not been so easy to step out of that introverted
past. The church in Kostroma has begun to take the first steps.
After a relatively short time, Sergei has started new programs
and has brought a fellow missionary from Yakutia to start another
congregation in Kostroma. I was impressed. We still have some
questions to follow up on, but we hope to find a partner for this
church while in the United States on interpretation assignment
I returned from Kostroma to greet the group from Madison, North
Carolina, which had traveled to visit their new partner in Belarus.
I shared pieces of this visit with you in an earlier newsletter.
It was extraordinary, and we are excited about the future of that
partnership.
From Belarus, I traveled to St. Petersburg with the Madison group
and then returned home in time to get ready for Emma's birthday
party. She turned 7 on October 9, but I flew out that morning
for a week in Warsaw at the World Council of Churches’ School
of Evangelism for Eastern Europe. Orthodox, Lutheran, Reformed,
Catholic, Baptist, and Evangelical representatives had gathered
from eleven different countries. I presented our program as one
model of ecumenical partnership and common witness. The meeting
deepened my understanding of the challenges these churches face
as they emerge from a world in which they were united, as brothers
and sisters in Christ, against a common enemy into a secular world
struggling with the effects of globalization. It is a very different
kind of challenge, requiring different tools and skills. Still,
they have all made strides forward. Please pray for these churches—that
they will find ways to engage in common witness, because it is
clear, especially in the face of present challenges, that the
Body of Christ needs to be united.
Returning from Warsaw, I had a day-long meeting with our regional
facilitator, Gary Payton, catching up on six months of life in
Russia. Gary headed out to Perm for the weekend, and to our surprise,
we headed to Ryazan for a Thanksgiving service, or “Zhatva.”
(We had thought the service was the following weekend.) It was
a joy to be with friends, but Al and I were both tired, me from
my travels, and Al from holding down the fort. On top of this,
Emma got sick and we were up all night with her. We returned Sunday
evening, in time to get organized for the following week. Gary
and our Perm colleague, Jeff Koning, arrived in Moscow early Monday
morning. After a day of meetings around Moscow, Gary caught a
train for St. Petersburg, while Jeff and I caught a train for
Smolensk (at almost the same time from two different train stations).
I had invited Jeff to travel with me to see some of the orphanage
work of our partners, since he is involved in orphanage work in
Perm and exchange is valuable. The trip began in Smolensk and
continued to Kirovo-Chepetsk (in the opposite direction from Moscow).
Both of these churches have outstanding outreach to orphanages
in their regions. The churches were glad to hear about Jeff's
work, and it was very good for me to spend time with these partners
and catch up before we depart for six months. I was able to see
the fruits of some of the projects we have worked with them on,
projects that have helped them to deepen their relationships with
orphanage directors and children. The work is theirs, but we have
the extraordinary privilege of being partners with them in it.
Please pray for all of the churches that are engaged in this important
ministry.
Jeff and I spent our last evening in Smolensk with Ivan Petrovich
(the orphanage team leader) and his family in their unfinished
house. After ten years of labor, they have one room completely
finished, the children's. Still, it is a warm and loving home.
We sat around the kitchen table basking in the warmth of fellowship,
looking at family photos, chatting. At one point, the family began
to sing, each member carrying their part of the harmony. I cannot
describe the beauty of that moment.
Throughout my travels this month, I have felt a deep homesickness.
I have awakened each morning, counting the hours until I could
be home again, but somehow as I engaged with my fellow Christians,
the days flew by and I retired knowing I had so much to be thankful
for. After four days in hiding, I am beginning to feel rested.
Now it is time to start packing.
May the peace and blessings of our Lord be with each of you.
Ellen & Al Smith
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
94 |
