In Cherepovets

We are back in Cherepovets again, and it feels like home.

Our tip went well! At one point, we were kind of worried, because it looked like we wouldn’t have enough time to get to our connecting flight in Frankfurt, and we were not able to get ahold of Vitaly, our driver from Moscow to Cherepovets. But, we prayed and trusted God, realizing these things were out of our control.

Fast asleep on the plane! ;)

The weather made our connecting flight in Frankfurt late so we had more than enough time, and as soon as we got to Moscow we received a text from Vitaly. Luckily, he just waited for us, even though our flight was an hour and a half late! God is good. The ride home seemed quick and easy, we slept almost the whole way.

As we settle in I realize that this is home. God has called us here, and we believe that He will provide for us to stay and minister. On the plane I read a good book, Tortured for His Faith, an auto biography of Haralan Popov, who was a pastor imprisoned in Communist Bulgaria. He was in prison and tortured for 13 years. When he was released he started a ministry smuggling Bibles into the Soviet Union. It really encouraged me of the necessity to bring sound teaching of God’s Word to Russia. He made an interesting statement that really struck me:

Tortured For His Faith on Amazon

“No one can begin to describe in words the empty void in the heart of a Christian denied God’s Word. Nothing could be more ‘unnatural.’ It is like a fish without water, or a bird without air. Christians are creatures of God’s Word and must have that Word to grow spiritually.”

We are creatures of God’s Word, and our mission is to bring the Word to Christians, like water to fish and air to birds, without which we can’t live or grow.

Second Core Support Team Meeting

Sunday evening we got to know our core support team members better as we met for the second time at Ray and Joanne Moore’s house. We had dinner, great fellowship, and talked about the book, Serving as Senders by Neal Pirolo. Everyone shared from their hearts where they would like to help and we have assigned team members their tasks.

We are blessed to have such a great group of people who have felt led to join our ministry. They are all excited and ready to go, each with something unique to bring to the table. I am positive this is going to have an amazing affect on our ministry. As we head to Russia for the month of December we will have a good trial period to see how everything works.

Please pray for them and us as we start this new chapter of our ministry. Pray that we would all have discernment as the Lord leads us so that we can effectively minister to the Russian people. The team consists of Ilene and Corey Emmons; Ray and Joanne Moore; Jennifer Blythe; Brendan and Jennifer VanBuege; Paul Marquez; and Steve and Becky Stockwell.

We want to thank each one on our team for coming along side us! It is a huge encouragement. We pray that the Lord would bless you and lead you as we minister together.

IBS With a Fellow Missionary

For the past several weeks Amy Darouze has been coming to our guest-house to learn the Inductive Bible Study method. She is also a missionary who is right now preparing to head off to India. I have known Amy for years and she has always had a heart for missions. Her mission is to go and train locals in India, and we hope that she will be able to use IBS to work in the lives she comes in contact with.

We have been doing a very loose form study through the ICM manual. We have been doing assignments from the manual, as well as studying other parts of scripture practicing outlining and charting.

We have enjoyed our times of fellowship. Amy has expressed her excitement as she learned to see things in the scriptures in a deeper way, finding things she had previously missed. I too am amazed at how each time I review a well known text that something new always pops out at me.

Pray for Amy as she heads to India in January, and for us as we go back to Russia for a month, then return in January for a mission’s conference and to raise much needed support.

Our First "Core" Support Team Meeting

Sunday we held our first “core” support team meeting at High Sierra Fellowship. Nine people stayed after the third service to become better acquainted, pray, and discuss how they can be a part of our ministry.

The Lord has brought together a great group of people that are eager to serve Him. They are excited about what we are doing, and we have developed great relationships with them since we came to Gardnerville in August. We look forward to ministering with them and seeing what the Lord is going to do through them!

We will have another meeting in a couple weeks in order to organize more specifically what “team” each person will be a part of. There are five teams: logistical, mailing, prayer, financial, and reentry. The next couple weeks we will be praying and seeking the Lord and His guidance.

After the team has been established. We will focus on building our prayer and financial support so we can go back to Russia and minister full time.

We're in the US!

The last couple weeks Svetta and I have been packing and getting some paperwork wrapped up. We sold our car, closed our entrepreneur papers, declared our taxes, and all sorts of other fun things. Sunday evening our friend Andrey picked us up and we left for the Domodedovo airport in Moscow. About forty-three hours later we arrived safely in Denver.

Everything went remarkably smooth! I believe that can only be because of the Lord.

Our flight left Moscow and landed in Washington D.C. a little ahead of schedule. Little did we know that was blessing number one.

We only had a two hour layover to go through customs, get our checked bags, give Svetta’s paperwork for her green-card, check our bags again, and get to our next flight. When we got to customs they separated Svetta and I into two different lines. At this point I figured we would miss our flight, because Svetta’s line was forever long. But, when I got to the passport control the officer saw that I was married and asked where my wife was. I told her they put her in the visa line, to which she responded that I should go grab her. I found her at the end of the line with a good thirty to forty minute wait ahead of her – blessing number two.

After getting our bags we were directed to a small glass room to process Svetta’s paperwork. Again, I figured we were going to miss our flight because the people waiting outnumbered the officers working there about fifteen to one. Finally, when I was about to start calling people to tell them we were going to miss our flight, another officer came in and randomly grabbed Svetta’s paperwork. As he called her up, another woman commented that she was ahead of us, but the officer said that he would do us first – blessing number three.

We gave our checked bags and hurriedly walked to our gate. We got there right about the time that the plane should have been leaving to find that boarding had been delayed giving us plenty of time to get on – blessing number four. God really is good! We didn’t miss our flight, and the previous times He has allowed things to go wrong only prepared us not to stress.

Now we are hanging out in Roxborough with family. After a couple days to get over the jet lag, we will go to my aunt’s for a week. There we will go car shopping and then we will be on the road again.

America Here We Come!

On Friday we finally received Svetta’s immigration visa, and were able to buy plane tickets. Now we can start making concrete plans for our trip to America. Here is a quick tentative look at our itinerary so far:

We will fly into Denver on July 9 at 7:18 pm. I have family in the Denver area and in Colorado Springs. We will spend around two weeks there to visit, buy a car, and rest some. Then we will head down to Cortez for a week or so to spend time with family and with Faith Bible Church.

This should bring us to the end of July. And before we can get too settled we will most likely go to Kansas to visit with Svetta’s “American parents”. After a week there we will drive by Montana to visit with my sister.

Somewhere around the week of August 13 we should be in Nevada. We will spend most of our time in Gardnerville with our home church (High Sierra Fellowship), putting together a support team, and trying to speak in churches. We will make a trip to ICM HQ in Southern California to meet with Dan Finfrock and visit my grandparents in Delano. But we will come right back to Nevada and stay there until around the end of November.

We are really excited and anxious about this trip. There is a lot to do. We can only move forward in faith and trust the Lord to lead us in His will.

We look forward to seeing you all!! Thank you for your prayers.

P.S. I know that one thing I haven't been very good at is posting regular blogs. This is partly due to the lack of ministry related things to post. From now on I will try to post at least once or twice a month to keep you all updated.

Light of Hope Church and Homegroup

Homegroup Taken a little while ago.

Svetta and I have been blessed to be able to do more seminars since we came back to Russia. Finally we are starting to feel like ministry is moving forward, which encourages us all the more to continue on and further confirms the calling that we have to bring solid Bible teaching to Russia. As we have traveled these last few months, we have seen the desperate need for the ministry of ICM!

We have not only been encouraged by the seminars. We have also been teaching a home group every Tuesday. Abner and I have also been taking turns teaching on Sundays. The home group is going through the book of Acts and on Sunday we are going through the book of Colossians.

The Latest Homegroup Picture

The home group is held at the apartment of Nelya and Sasha Borisov. It is the same group of people that came to the group we held in my apartment before we went to America last summer. We have seen the gradual affect that solid Bible study has had on them. Those that come regularly have a hunger for the word awakened in them, and they have become more confident in their faith.

The church has not grown in number much since it started, but the people have grown in a similar way as the home group. There has been some resistance to sections of scripture that reveal incorrect doctrines, which have been widespread through the church in Russia for a long time, but over all people are growing in faith. Abner has a strong burden to free people from the religion and legalism that has bound the Russian church. He strongly believes in the power of the Word. Since Abner works a job and pastors, he has asked me to take turns with him teaching on Sundays. Svetta and I were glad to step in.

God’s word is moving forward. We are interested to see what is ahead as we go to America this summer. Our desire is to be able to finance at least one seminar a month in Russia and assist in the church as much as possible. Our monthly income will need to increase and we are praying for more people and churches to partner with us to meet the expenses of our goal. We are very grateful for those who have supported us in prayer and financially the past three and a half years and we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for the future.

Abner worshiping the Lord on Sunday.

Food and Fellowship after the homebroup Bible study.

Nely the blini chef.

Ira and Abner's cute little daughter Natalia.