Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Siberia, Day 2 August 11, 2008

It is obvious that are days here are going to be long and strenuous on our bodies, but it is also obvious that God will equip us and bless abundantly by the power of His Holy Spirit to do this work. I am beginning to grasp the scripture that proclaims "the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak". But today we have also experienced the scripture....."when the Holy Spirit comes He will come with power!



Our day today began at 7:00 AM for team devotional, 7:30 breakfast at the hotel (fried eggs, bread and tea/coffee would become a morning ritual) and ended at 11:30 PM. We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but full of the Holy Spirit. This first full day of ministry has been fruitful beyond our expectations.



A 30 minute drive (stuffed in two small cars without air conditioning) in 80 degree weather is a drive that should have taken at least 45 minutes. Our driver is one of the directors of Teen Challenge. He is a wonderful man that the Lord has saved and healed from addiction and violence. We grew very close to "P" over our visit. We became very fond of him and his ability to get us to a location quickly and safely. However he drives over the country roads and through the city like we are in a car chase. It was a bit exciting, but a few of us are prone to motion sickness...HANG ON! But wait, a CD in English by Terry MacCalmon is leading us in worship along the road. We all sang along loudly!










Our first destination is a Teen Challenge for Men in Taijina. We arrived to a very basic and humble location. It used to be a school but at the moment it is under construction to become a a special foster home. Two married couples have each agreed to take in 5 orphans each. The 14 of them will live in two apartments currently being renovated on the second floor. A missions team from Canada spent months here last year helping to begin renovation and they are scheduled to return in September to complete it.

In the meantime the old facility is an incredible place of healing and home to 13 men recovering from addiction. We gathered into the Directors office to share. Edyth asked that I would give them a Word, and God had me teach them about the river of God in Ezekiel 47. As I preached, the Holy Spirit moved and the atmosphere changed, the men and most of the team began to know the touch of the Holy Spirit. I made an alter call for those who desired to go deeper in the river of God. The team will pray with you I exclaimed. None of this was planned or rehearsed. As a matter of fact Edyth never asked me to preach until we were leaving the hotel......but God knew what was going to happen.












All of men bolted forward for prayer. WOW, the anointing was so powerful none of us could hold back. Tears began to flow and men were crying out to God. The team laid hands and prayed like seasoned pro's....God had given us all the provision we needed. Alleluia!

We enjoyed tea and a bit of table tennis with the men and then we were off to our second location.

Traveling by car through the Siberian country side with "P" taught us a whole new way to pray! No doubt we had God's travel mercies upon us. Thank you "P" for taking such great care of us!

Next stop another Teen Challenge Center for men in Osinniki.



We arrived at a wonderful little church Pastored by a bold man of God....Pastor Andre. Each of the 6 or so men that are recovering at this center shared there testimonies with us and some of our team shared with them. We prayed together and encouraged each other and then off to Pastor Andre's home for lunch.



The lunch put on by Pastor Andre and his wife Tanya (in blue) was a feast. Borsh, salads, pork patties, tomato with cheese, cucumber, candy, banana cake and more. We ate and shared for a couple of hours.
I had no idea that we would gain weight on this trip. We were fed like the children of a King everyday. We are so very grateful to our brothers and sisters that blessed us each day during our visit. We love you.


We returned to the Novoilyinskaya Church office to share our day with Pastor Ilya and his wife, use the Internet and just relax. The long flights, time change, new food and our emotionally charged and Spirit filled day was beginning to catch up with us. Many of our team members just laid down and rested. Some with fatigue and some with stomach problems. The devil was determined to slow us down..but God had other plans. Praise God that Scripture proclaims that "we have authority over all the power of the enemy". We were going to need to use that authority over the course of this mission trip. Cathy and I are grateful to God that at this time we did not experience any sickness.


JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU COULD REST......GOD NEVER SLEEPS!


Pastor Ilya and his wife Janet along with their daughter took us to a new mall near our hotel. By now it was 8:00pm and so they panned to bring us for a quick meal at the food court and then we could get to bed at a reasonable hour. Yeah Right!





As we sat down to eat Jennifer, Katrina and the Pastors daughter returned from the ladies room with 3 young ladies in tow. It turns out that these three girls were drawn to our women speaking in english. The Pastors daughter interpreted as the girls apologized for having liquor on their breath. (See the girls photos above on the right side of picture). They were about 17 and 18 years old. They followed the women to our table. We invited them to join us and share a soda.... they began to share their stories. The red headed girl told us that her mother died of an overdose, and then they all began to share. We shared Jesus with them. Right there in the middle of the mall we bowed our heads and prayed for them. Tears began to flow...the Holy Spirit was at work in their hearts. All of a sudden we forgot how tired our bodies were. Curiosity turned to laughter and fellowship. We invited them to join us for ice cream and they stayed with us for hours. We invited them to church and teen challenge and left them with hugs, the promise of salvation and the light of Christ. Praise God for His Divine appointments!

Finally, off to the hotel for our team meeting and sweet sleep.
Oh yeah....no sleep yet. I would preach at the women's Teen Challenge in the morning and wanted to be prepared. It was 12:45 in the morning and the Lord continued to bless me so fast and with so many wonderful messages for the whole week that my pen could not keep up.

THIS IS A DAY THAT THE LORD HAD MADE.......LET US REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT!

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