January 20, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ! We hope that you have had a good beginning to this new year. After a good rest with the holidays, we have begun 2006 refreshed.

You may have heard about the arctic cold that has hit central Russia this week. It is indeed a serious situation, though we are safe and warm in our apartment. Our girls are home from school for the third day in a row. We don’t have “snow days,” but we do have “cold days.” When the thermometer drops to -30 C (about -24 F), they close the school. It is unusual for it to get this cold in Moscow, and even more unusual for it to last so many days. The forecast is for more cold.

Rob Weingartner, director of the Outreach Foundation, arrived last week ahead of the cold front. While the weather was still only mildly cold, we set off with Donald Marsden, another PC(USA) co-worker in Moscow, for Oryol, where Donald and Rob taught a seminar. It was a privilege for me to sit and listen and watch the dynamics of the classes. Their teaching was very well received. I could hear the men staying in the room next to mine enthusiastically discussing the lectures each evening.

From Oryol, Donald returned to Moscow while Rob and I drove on to Smolensk. This was Rob’s second visit to that city and a chance for him to get updated on projects and reconnect with the church community. We saw renovation work being done at the church, including work to construct a sound studio—something the whole region anxiously awaits.

We visited with the television studio and watched clips of some of their latest projects. Rob will be carrying back one of the two videos Al translated into English in December, a video about the broad ministry of the Smolensk Baptist Church (SBC). If you would like a copy, contact the Outreach Foundation. We helped the orphanage ministry team prepare nearly 300 gift bags for their Christmas outreach and then joined them in their visit to two orphanages.

Smolensk continues to be a model for us in orphanage outreach, and we continue to seek ways to support them in their efforts. Orphanage ministry teams in that region are now visiting 19 orphanages and shelters and are considering adding another. The video about SBC has a very good section on this ministry. Currently, they are planning a seminar for February to train regional churches in this vital ministry. They hope to do quarterly seminars. They also hope to begin a club for graduates from the orphanages, many of whom have come to Smolensk. This is a ministry that I have been listening to for years. Models for post orphanage care are urgently needed. It is the next step, and we rejoice that the Smolensk church is ready to move forward in it. We will be discussing this with them over the coming months, seeking ways to stand with them in this effort.

I know that I have shared with you the grim statistics for the young people coming out of the orphanage system. Too many boys end up in gangs or criminal organizations, too many girls end up in prostitution. Drug and alcohol addiction are prevalent. Many will end up in prison and 10 percent will commit suicide. There is only a 10 percent success rate.

Rob and I had the privilege of meeting one of this last 10 percent—the 10 percent who are able to adapt and succeed, the 10 percent that are able to develop healthy relationships, marry and raise families, the 10 percent that are able to find work and stick with it when it gets difficult.

Sasha spent the first 10 years of his life in his only family, but ended up in the orphanage system, from which he graduated at 18. A missionary helped Sasha find his way. This missionary took Sasha and three other orphans into his home and told them they could stay as long as they needed to. The missionary served as mentor and friend. Sasha entered the university and studied English. He is quite proficient. He began attending church regularly and found a wife there. They have been married for a year and a half and have a small son. Sasha, like so many young people in Russia, cannot find a job that uses his education, but he has a job and is supporting his family. He has the support of his wife’s warm and loving extended family. Praise the Lord, he is succeeding. There is a wistfulness to Sasha that may always be there, but there is also courage and hope.

Please pray for the Smolensk Baptist Church and for their ministry to orphans, for the seminar they are preparing, for expansion to the twentieth orphanage, and for their efforts to establish the club for graduates from the orphanage system.

Currently, Rob Weingartner is in Siberia with our colleague, Donald. As cold as it is in Moscow, it is even colder there. Please pray for their safe travels.

May the peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with each of you this day and always.

Peace and blessings,

Ellen

P.S. We are already getting ready for summer. There are several circumstances that make planning this year more complicated. The Hotel Rossiya is now closed, drastically reducing availability in accommodations. We are also due to be back in the United States for a mid-term break and will be gone for most of June. If your church is planning to bring a group, please be in touch with us as soon as possible.

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 188