October 22, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I (Ellen) am back at work, and other than a nasty autumn cold, am doing fine. We have had three groups in this past month and the visits have gone well. For those of you wondering whether I drew any boundaries with the groups, the answer is yes. I made sure that I gave myself a few days of rest between each group, and everyone fully understood. The most important thing I did was put off travel with the last group until after Emma’s birthday.

Our first group to visit was from Kirk in the Hills Presbyterian Church in Michigan. As their partner is Central Baptist in Moscow, I didn’t have any extended travel. I spent a wonderful week with the team and their partner as they deepened the relationship begun a few years ago. Sergei, one of the pastors, spent the entire week with us, showing us things in Moscow that I had not seen. He introduced us to an amazing museum that I will be sharing with many others, the Gallery of Ilya Glazunov. Glazunov is a Christian painter that painted much of his work during Soviet times, and captures much of the chaos in Russian history. Sergei had seen an exhibit of Glazunov’s work in 1978 and had never forgotten it, but had never been to the museum. Sergei also took us to Sergeiev Posad, the monastery north of Moscow where the Russian Orthodox Church held on during Soviet times. As we walked along the monastery wall, Sergei shared how his aunt, an Orthodox Christian (he was very clear about this), was healed in a profound way through prayer at this monastery. It was good to hear the respect in his voice for another tradition. We spent time with other leaders of Central Baptist as well, including a wonderful lunch of shashlik out at their camp facility near Sergeiev Posad. The visit passed all too quickly, but I think everyone felt that they had accomplished what they came for.

Our second group of the fall was from Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church in California. I let a friend take them up to Kostroma so that I could catch up a bit and rest, and I met them there later in the week. They spent the first half of the week celebrating Zhatva (Russian Harvest Thanksgiving) and enjoying fellowship with church members (including mushroom picking, which I have always wanted to do). I arrived mid-week, in time for last minute preparations for the big event of their visit, a one-day women’s retreat.

The seven women of the Fair Oaks team had spent nine months in preparation. This is not a model that they have in Russia, but it has been clear to me for a long time that one was needed. I had mentioned it to last year’s team from Fair Oaks, and they took up the challenge with faith, love, and prayer. There were plenty of hurdles along the way, but the Lord provided and what came to pass is still a wonder to me. We had an excellent translator, so the hard work of the team was not lost in translation.

The Lord provided a wonderful space at another church in Kostroma and brought women together from five different churches from the Kostroma region and from Yaroslavl. The retreat included two excellent speakers, a funny skit, two lovely craft projects, music, prayer, good food, and warm fellowship. At the end of the program, a number of the Russian women came up to me to express what they felt. One told me that it would be a memory she would hold for her lifetime. Another thanked us profusely for giving her a rest from Russian life that day. Another told me that she had been to many seminars that were full of things to remember, but this had been a unique and special day, a day of spiritual refreshment. I honestly think that the pastor of the church in Kostroma had been skeptical about the women’s retreat idea, but he went along. After the retreat he told us that next year we needed to think about doing this kind of program for the men or the youth. His wife, standing beside him, quickly responded, “no.”

Our last team, three women from two churches in the Pittsburgh Presbytery, Eastminster Presbyterian Church and Bull Creek Presbyterian Church, came to put on a seminar about how to construct a vacation Bible school program. We had planned to go to Novoviatsk (Kirov region) and Chelyabinsk, but at the last minute Chelyabinsk had to cancel so we added Perm instead. The team had prepared packets (translated in advance into Russian). Their program emphasized the need to begin planning early. This is not a Russian attribute, but everyone acknowledged that it would make a good difference if they did. They shared different approaches to prayer with children, developmental characteristics and styles of learning. A presentation from Children in Worship captivated the audience. My job was child care (hence the cold).

I was very glad for this trip, as I met leaders of a number of churches involved in exciting ministries. Yuri and Nadya came to the northern reaches of the Kirov region from Uzbekistan, when it became too difficult to continue in that country. They have a wonderful camp ministry to at-risk children and are interested in the Roma Network.

Sergei and Nadya, also from Uzbekistan, came to a small city in the Perm region. They have a camp ministry for their community and another with a nearby orphanage. The doors at the orphanage have now opened for weekly ministry from their church. Oleg, from one of the churches in Perm, is reaching out to children’s shelters and has a wonderful camp ministry that includes orphans and children from non-believing families. He invited us to a rafting camp this summer. I was deeply impressed with all three of these churches and will be seeking partners for them. They are a little further off the beaten trail, but wonderful things can happen in the hinterland.

I have a week and a half at home before I head to the United States for the annual Russian Network Meeting. I will actually be Stateside for two months, as I have a number of church visits on my calendar, and we are hoping that our Orthodox delegation will receive their visas for a December visit to half-way ministry projects. Al and the girls will join me in mid-December for Christmas with our family.

As fall moves into winter, we wish you the warmth of Christian fellowship.

Peace and blessings,

Ellen and Al

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 186