Cont. posting of 2008 missions trip to Siberia.
(readers, thank you for your patience)Back to Kulton to Minister in 2 different Teen Challenge detox programs for men, the women's center and then back to Church for a celebration. It's going to be a long day...."The joy of the Lord is our strength". Lord, show us fruit!
Katrina's devotional today was inspired by the Holy Spirit and so.... right on target. "Encourage each other" By this point in our journey we begin to learn the challenges of community living and that it is not always easy. This is a wonderful, giving, loving, spirit filled group. But, we are together and awake about 17 hours each day and so it is easy for the enemy to move in as we discover each others weaknesses. Thank you Katrina for your attention to the Holy Spirit.
We slept in a bit today with a devotional at 7:30 am instead of 7:00. To save time and get our day off to a timely start Olyia ordered breakfast ahead of our devotional time. But to no avail, we still ran late. The good news today is that we are traveling in a van. The bad news is that it is about 80 degree, we still have no air conditioning, and it becomes obvious that someone has not bathed lately. The 30 minute drive was difficult for a couple of reasons, but I was also concerned about Edyth. She was preparing to give her testimony this morning and it was easy to tell that it was going to be difficult for her. Praise God.....this usually means that God is about to do something BIG! Edyth knew that this was the perfect appointed time and place for her testimony which was perfectly orchestrated by the Holy Spirit, because I was praying about preaching tonight at the Celebration at Pastor Ilya's request but there will be little time for me to prepare today.
Edyth at the Pulpit Let the Sozo begin
Edyth's powerful testimony and beautiful singing voice ushered in a perfect wind of the Holy Spirit. The team supported her in open prayer and quickly, as if planned, the entire team began to move about the room laying hands and ministering in the Holy Spirit proclaiming freedom, healing, and deliverance. The room was alive with the Holy Spirit. Tears flowed, people sang and praised the Lord while the team moved about the crowd of about 75 people with a new and renewed boldness. Jennifer had her first experience of someone being slain in the Spirit while she was praying for her. The oldest man (77 years old) in the program whom we had met at the homeless shelter a few days earlier stepped out and blocked my path. He said nothing but looked up at me with eyes that said everything. This was a big moment for him. He never interacted with us during our other visits or looked up from the ground. But now he was looking in my eyes. I prayed and he was slain in the Spirit standing up! After the music stopped and the church was dismissed, everyone was leaving but not him. He never moved, never stopped looking up. I continued to pray and could feel him getting freedom by Gods grace. I couldn't stop praying and he couldn't move for a long time......my heart was overjoyed. Time stood still for both of us...and neither of us would ever be the same again.
Katrina ministering in Kultan
Our visit to the Teen Challenge buildings.... wow. Its seems that the original format set out by the Holy Spirit through Pastor David Wilkerson and Nicky Cruz as explained in Pastor Davids book "The cross and the Switchblade" has held fast for 50 years. No smoking, no drugs for withdrawal - only Jesus. People are being saved here every day. The presence of the Lord is here!
Yup, encouraging each other!
Another big lunch and then time to rest. Well that was the plan anyway. After our wonderful lunch we traveled back to the hotel to meet and prepare for Saturdays outreach to the Orphans at the Church summer camp. Before we knew it our watch read 4:30. We had to be at church for 5:00. I still had to freshen up, dress for church and hopefully go over my notes for preaching tonight. Here I am in Siberia with an opportunity to preach to a hungry congregation and I'm not sure that I can bring my "A" game. Come Holy Spirit!!
I was honored that Pastor Ilyia wanted to translate for me and it went well. The Spirit is always willing even when the flesh is weak. Thank God. The word that the Lord had for us this night was "We must be broken to come to the Lord".....The sermon was titled "I want to be excused".
There was no time for an alter call.....but the room was rich with the presence of God.
After a quick dinner of pizza it was 10:00 pm and the group was to meet for a night devotional. It's late, (16 hours since we rose, were exhausted......but I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of it! Lord bring rest and peace to this group.
