IBS Seminar in Klimovskaye

During the week of the 11 - 18 of December Svetta and I were able to do an Inductive Bible Study seminar in a nearby suburb of Cherepovets called Klimovskaye. Alexey’s wife Luba is from there and he organized the seminar for us. Sunday the eleventh, Svetta and I announced the seminar and preached the sermon. We taught from Acts 8 about Philip and Simon the Sorcerer. We held the seminar on their Wednesday evening Bible study and on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The church is rather small. More than half the church came to the seminar, totaling 10 people. So far it was one of the best seminars we have taken part in. Usually, as we get into the word, people tend to have a hard time because of misunderstandings and false doctrines they have been taught. People especially start to argue when we go through Jude. But in this church there was little to no resistance. They were very receptive, not only to the IBS method, but also to the doctrines that are taught once you let the Bible speak for itself. They were greatly encouraged! At one point one of the men said that he had been asked to do a Bible study once, but he didn’t know how to do it, but next time he would be able to.

That is the reason we are doing these seminars. Our desire is not just to give people fish, but to teach them how to fish. I believe that as we continue to do this the Lord will grow His seeds.

This will be the last seminar we do for the year of 2011. So far Alexey and I have been able to do three seminars this year. We already have about three lined up for 2012 starting in February. We hope to do a seminar every month until we come back to the States some time in June.

Jonah preaches to the Orphans

Saturday the November 12th Svetta and I were able to visit the orphanages in Suda and Krievets with the Light of Hope team. It was a blessed time! There is already fruit from our monthly trips to these orphanages. Coming regularly has caused many of the kids to become more responsive and warm towards us. They long for the affection that we give them and I do believe that what we are saying is becoming interesting to several of them. There are a few kids that don’t participate, but we continue to love them and to pray that the Lord would open their hearts to the gospel.

Our topic was Jonah and obedience to the Lord. We watched a cartoon of Jonah and the big fish, and then Abner led a short discussion of the story from the Bible encouraging the kids to be obedient to the Lord and His word. The team had prepared a craft for the kids. We cut out and colored fish and wrote 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,” on the back. We pray that this verse and the story of Jonah would plant seeds in their hearts and that they would land on good soil. We believe that these seeds will one day produce the fruit of repentance and new life.

We plan to continue to go to the orphanages every month. Our next trip will be for the New Year and Christmas celebration. Please pray that the Lord would now be preparing their hearts to hear the gospel message and that we would be filled with the Spirit as we tell them of the love of Jesus.

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IBS Seminar in Izhevsk

Alexey and I went to Izhevsk to do an IBS seminar from Oct. 29th to Nov. 4th. The seminar was at a seminary at the Business of Faith Church. On Sunday Alexey preached about Cain and Abel at their three services, and I introduced myself at each of the services. Unfortunately, Svetta was not able to come on this trip, so I spoke in Russian. It went really well.

We had five morning and evening sessions from Monday through Friday. The beginning of the seminar is always a mixture of confusion and excitement. The first assignment leads them through Mark 2, the healing of the paralytic and gets them digging into the word finding things they have never seen before. This gets them excited. However, it usually takes a while for them to get the hang of outlining and charting on their own. Most of them are not used to digging for themselves or thinking about the scriptures on their own. By the time we got done with the second assignment they were getting it. By the end of the seminar the students were tired, but they caught the idea and many expressed their intentions to continue using this method to study the scriptures at home.

Alexey and I were most encouraged by a message Alexey received on Vkontakte (the Russian Facebook) the week after the seminar. A woman wrote to thank Alexey because before the seminar her husband did not take an active role as spiritual leader of their family and didn’t read the Bible claiming it was uninteresting and not understandable. However, after our seminar he was encouraged to study the word and has been gathering his family to study the Bible. This is a great example of how giving people this study method can change the lives of Christians, setting on fire those that were previous in a lukewarm stupor.

Alexey and I were also invited to speak at two different home groups. Alexey went to a group with business men and politicians and I was invited to a home group for the leaders of the youth ministry. Alexey taught from Romans 13 and encouraged the men to change the way they do business if they really want to make an impact in Russia for good. I taught from 1 Samuel 3 about the calling of Samuel. This was the first time I have tried to lead a Bible study in Russian. It went rather well. I still have a long way to go, and would not teach a study on my own in a larger group, but it is till encouraging to see that I am that much closer to being able to preach and do seminars in Russian without a translator.

This trip has opened to doors to come back and do more seminars in some of the smaller churches of the area, as well as to go to a different church farther east. The Lord is moving us forward. We are excited to see what the Lord is doing!

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Permanent Residency, We're Almost There

Finally, we were able to file for my permanent residency, and just in the nick of time! It was quite the process.

It all started when we went to Vologda, our region capital, and asked the head of the permanent residency department in the Vologda region how to fix my name. Unfortunately, since Houlmiere is a French name, not only have I had to live with people not being able to pronounce it correctly, but when I got my visa two years ago that started the whole residency process the people in the Russian consulate translated it incorrectly, giving me what sounded like a German last name. To make things worse, I didn't notice the mistake until well into the process of getting my temporary residency. When we asked about it the person consulting us with my temporary residency, she said that it would be easy to fix when we would file for permanent residency, and we shouldn't worry about it. So we didn't.

In September, after coming back from America, we started working on getting everything together to file for permanent residency. But when we asked about changing how my name was translated we were told we wouldn't be able to. We were not happy about that! So we went to see the boss in Vologda. After listening to us she said that all we had to do was collect all the certificates I needed with my old name and to write a request to change it to the correct pronunciation and get a translation my passport with my last name translated correctly. So we left happily and went on doing exactly what she said. A couple weeks later, after coming back from our Moscow ICM Forum, we went to file for my permanent residency in Vologda. Of course the girl that was helping us had not been informed of our unique situation, and freaked out. She wouldn't continue till she could talk to the boss, who for some reason hadn't come in yet. We waited most of the day for her to finally show up. And when she did she decided that now she was going to change the name in my temporary residency stamp, and we needed to redo all our certificates and everything into my correctly translated name so that all the documents matched. This would not have been a problem if she had told us this from the beginning, but now we had to rush to get everything changed because the medical certificates that we paid good money for were going to expire on October 8. However, she was going to be nice and allow us to file our papers in Cherepovets, so we didn't have to travel to Vologda again.

So we got right to work, scrambling to all the places I needed to go to get my last name corrected. Finally, we were able to change everything to my correct last name on Monday the third. But before we went and tried to file, we wanted to make sure that nothing was going to change. We called the head of the department in Vologda and asked her to brief the person in Cherepovets about our situation, and make sure we still had the same understanding. All was well. So Wednesday we were able to go and file the papers. But of course every person thinks things should be filled out differently. The girl didn't like that my six pictures were different. When we had gone the first time we had only gone with four because that is what was on the list we were given from the boss in Vologda. But apparently, they need two extra. So they said just to get some other pictures taken and that will be fine. However, this girl thought they should all be the same. We had to fill out the papers a couple more times because she decided something wasn't correct that she hadn't noticed before. And in the end she said she couldn't take the papers until she was able to ask the head of the department in Vologda about what we should write on one line. The question was if we should write that my name had been changed or if it hadn't. So, she said that she would call to find out and, in the mean while, hold onto the papers while we went and got pictures that were all the same on Thursday, and we should come back on Friday, which was the last day we could file our papers before my medical certificates would expire.

On Friday we went with pictures and the same pen we filled out the application with. We were pleased to hear the the girl had been told to just write that the name had not been changed since it was only a correction in translation. So we wrote in the last few words on the application and left with a paper saying that in six months we should receive the answer to whether or not I am approved for permanent residency. So that is where we are now. We are waiting and praying that I would be accepted. I see no reason why they shouldn't, but still, prayer is a good idea. If you do remember, please do keep it in prayer for the next six months as we wait. This will make our life here a lot easier. I will be able to work without any problems, I don't have to do any paperwork for another five years, and can come and go as I please.

Moscow Forum 2011

From September 13 to the 17 Svetta and I were in Moscow at the annual ICM conference where everyone who shares with our mission in one form or another gathers from all over Russia and the Ukraine for a three day seminar. These are people who at one time might have helped do seminars, want or try to do seminars, or are pastors that teach inductively, or support us in prayer and, when possible, financially. Every year we are joined by a team from Northern Ireland, and for the last few years they have been leading us through John Maxwell’s Million Leader Mandate handbooks, training us how to be better leaders and raise up better leaders. We are a motley crew of Russians, Armenians,
Ukrainians, Americans, and Northern Irish. It is always good to get together and spend time with these people and encourage each other in the Lord to go out and continue in ministries.

Svetta and I drove to Moscow with Svetta’s mom on the thirteenth. We dropped Svetta’s mom off at her aunt’s where she stayed while we went to the seminar. Svetta and I had a great time at the seminar. We enjoyed the fellowship with all our friends from Russia, and the Irish. Svetta and Igor took turns translating as the Irish took turns taking us through the book and giving some messages separate from the book. It was a great encouragement. We learned a lot about ourselves and what we need to do in life and ministry. Lewis, the pastor of Jordan Victory Church in Northern Ireland, taught about the importance of showing love, how to show love, and the importance of encouraging people with our words. We also spent a lot of time in prayer and worship. The team from Northern Ireland loves to pray for people and speak words of encouraging prophecy. This demands as many translators as possible. So, Olga Prokopiev, a man from Vologda named Alexey, and I were all called upon to help translate. I am not yet comfortable
translating since my Russian is still not very good, but I did my best and tried to get the point across. This encourages me all the more to learn Russian, and I would appreciate prayer for that. Pray that the Lord would give the ability in the Spirit to learn quickly, and to have the motivation to study harder. By next year I would like to be able to translate better.

Everyone left the forum encouraged and ready to show people love in our ministries. Please keep us all in prayer as we seek the Lord and try to apply what we have learned. Loving is hard, but in the Spirit all things are possible.

After the seminar was over, Svetta and I spent the night at Svetta’s mom’s aunt’s apartment and drove home on the seventeenth. Please keep us in your prayers as now we are tackling the cumbersome job of working, remodeling our apartment, filing for my permanent residency, and somehow fit in ministry. In a week or so I should be able to give an update on the residency process, and the apartment, so stay tuned. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers.

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Ministering in Anisomovo

Some of you may remember me talking about possibly starting a church in a little village called Anisomovo, about 200 km from Cherepovets. A little over a year ago Andrey moved out there with his family and have started a small home group. Andrey leads the group when he can, but his work requires that he travel a lot, so Igor and Abner often cover for him.

Last Sunday Igor and Andrey went to Cherkesk with a team from Northern Ireland, and Abner taught in our Light of Hope Church, in Cherepovets. So they asked Svetta and I to go and do the service. We had a good time. It is a quaint little Russian village. It was good to spend some time with Svetta, Andrey’s wife, and with Olga Prokpiev’s parents. We also had a good service. Right now the group that comes faithfully is rather small. There was Andrey’s family, a little girl that hangs out with Andrey’s daughter, and a young man named Sasha. We taught on Mark 1:14-15. We expounded on what the kingdom of God is and how to enter that kingdom through repentance and belief in the gospel. Then we went over what the gospel is.

You can definitely keep this church plant in your prayers as the Lord leads. In Russia if you are not Russian Orthodox you are considered part of a “cult.” So many of the people are resistant to Andrey and the gospel, thinking that we are trying to deceive them, take their property, and even take them into the forest and kill them. Strange ideas have gotten into their heads, but they believe it. They are very provincial. Andrey and his family need prayer for strength and wisdom, and the people need the Holy Spirit to touch them and break through the lies of the enemy that has them so trapped. Please keep them in prayer as they seek the Lord and to spread his kingdom in the hearts of men.

Back to School Celebration for Orphans

This last Saturday the Light of Hope children’s ministry team went to two orphanages in Krivyets and Cuda to bless the kids there with school supplies. Often times the orphanages are not able to order the materials that their kids will need, or if they can they will always get them so late that they might as well never got them. Thanks to the support given both from the members of our Light of Hope church and from the generous help from foreign supporters we were able to provide them with them with what the kids need to be prepared to go to school.

At Krivyets.

We went with a team of six: Igor, Olga, Abner, Nelya, Sonya, and I. It was a good trip. The kids were happy to see us. The orphanage workers were happy to see us as well, which was nice, since sometimes they are very leery of us sectarians. We gathered the kids while Abner did a short message encouraging the kids to study at school because it will prepare them for their future. Then he asked them if what they learned at school would help them not sin and enter heaven, and they all agreed it would not. He continued to tell them about the freedom and salvation of Jesus Christ and how Jesus has changed his life. Then we gave them their school supplies and played games.

Nelya prepared several games to play and the kids had a great time. They don’t have very much and for us to come spend time with them is a big deal, even more than the material blessings. It is great to see the once shy kids come out of their shells and have fun.

Igor and Olga have been coming to these orphanages for quite some time now and know some of the kids pretty well. One boy in particular is more receptive of our message than the rest. This time he was proud to show Igor his certificate of baptism. In the Russian Orthodox Church they issue a certificate when you are baptized. This is a good sign. He has been listening. But still the message has not been able to fully sink into his heart. Keep this young man in prayer that the seeds of faith would continue to grow and blossom in to salvation.

Igor talking to the boy that was baptized.

We hope to be able to spend more time with these kids in the following months. We would like to go out the orphanages monthly and teach them skills for life like how to manage money, how to cook, how to sew and knit, and to do a small Bible study. When we brought this up to the orphanage leaders they were very receptive of the idea. Keep this in prayer please that we would be able to do this and that this would produce fruit in the lives of these kids.

Thank you for your prayers and all that you have given. I can’t say enough that is through your prayers and support that we are able to do these things. Please continue with us in the ministry as the Lord leads you.

In Suda.

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Our Apartment... Getting Closer

The floor plan as it is now.

We finally have the keys to our apartment. Svetta has been waiting for the apartment to be finished for almost three years. Now that it is finished, they still have not hooked up the gas because not everyone has paid for it, and there are still a lot of things that will need to be done or redone. The company that was building the building is bankrupt and just needed to finish the project as fast as they could. Because of this, and several management problems, many things were done incorrectly or not at all. Since the company is out of money and they were able to get the paperwork out to the people who own apartments, the owners now have to pay to have these things fixed and done. However, when it is all done, it will be a very nice place to live! There are four buildings in the complex and people are already living in three of the four. We are in the last one. We are hopeful.

Aside from that, the apartment is bare walls with just plumbing, electric, and some basic fixtures. This means we have to finish the whole thing. We also have decided to move some walls around. Right now it is a two room apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and a corridor. We are going to rearrange the layout to give us a bigger kitchen and a living room instead of a corridor with two smaller bed rooms. It is only about 700 square feet, so there is not a ton of playing room. But with some smart planning and hard work I think we can do it. Right now I am working on the floor plan. (I finally get to put to use some of what I studied in community college before I went in to ministry.) I found a free CAD drawing program. It is somewhat limited, but it is good enough.

All this means we will have to live with Svetta’s mom for a while until we are able to get the place in such a condition that we can move in. We don’t need much. All we need is to smooth the floor out, clean the place, wait for the gas to get turned on, and get a washer, a fridge, and a bed before we can move in. We will do the remodeling little by little as we can afford it. I am not sure how long it will take to get it all done. Our main obstacle is finances. I was a carpenter in the States, and I know that I can do pretty much everything that we will need to do. I will just have to do some things a little differently than I am used to. They build a little different over here and they use different materials. But I am sure I will pick it up quickly.

Please keep us in prayer. Pray that the Lord will provide for what we need to be able to finish the apartment and move in. There is a lot we need to do, and we can’t do it without the help of the Lord! If the Lord leads you become a part of our ministry, there is prayer, contact, and support information in the right column. Thank you and may the Lord bless you all!

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Back in Russia

Svetta and I spent our last week in the States with family in Littleton and in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My aunt Lisa lives in Colorado Springs and my cousin Mary lives in Littleton. We tried to hang out with both families before we left. It was a time of relaxing, work, packing, fun, and mixed emotions. We were both anxious to get back to Russia, but were also hesitant to leave family and friends.

In Littleton the school year had already started for the three Wilinchus girls: Madison, Leah, and Jayne. So they were all busy with school while Mary and Lee of course had to work, but we enjoyed visiting in the evenings. The girls are fun and enjoy spending time with us as much as we do with them. I am amazed at how fast they are growing and maturing. It will be interesting what they will look and act like when we come back next year. While everyone was at school or work, Svetta and I got some last minute shopping done. I needed a book, and Svetta needed a dress for a wedding we are going to in Russia in September. She didn't really have a dress right for the occasion. We really enjoyed our time in Littleton.

School was also starting at my aunt Lisa house, but we found opportunity to spend time with my little cousins. They are also growing fast. On the weekend we were able to get on some horses. Last year Svetta rode a horse for the first time, and we wanted to do it again at least once before we went back to Russia. My aunt and grandma took us on a nice little trail not too far from my aunt’s house. Svetta fell in love with the horse she was on because she was a good calm horse. We really enjoyed the ride. We also met with the mission’s director at my aunt’s church and we pray that we are able to build a relationship with them.

On Wednesday the 17th we got on a plane for Russia. It was a long trip: 10.5 hours from Denver to London, 9 hours in London, 4 hours to Moscow, and then 11 hours in a minibus to Cherepovets, about 34.5 hours in all with little sleep. We arrived home at 5:00 pm on Friday the 19th tired and ready for bed, but not before we went to check out our apartment. We are still getting used to the time. But life goes on. We are starting to get back into teaching English, and trying to get all our papers in order for Svetta’s new identity as Svetlana Pavlovna Houlmiere and to finish my residency process. We are praying about how to get started in ministry; things are already starting to develop and we are waiting to see what the Lord has planned for us. We are excited to be back, ministering in Russia. Please keep us in your prayers as the Lord lays it on your heart.
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