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!

Siberia, Into the future, Day 1

In order to get to Siberia from Massachusetts we had to go into the future.

We left Springfield by bus at 10:30 AM on August 8th. The bus brought us to Hartford where we boarded a train to New York. We met with our team and then we took a van to JFK in New York at 4:30. We took off from JFK at 7:30 PM traveled 10 hours to arrive in Moscow (time change 8 hours ahead of Mass) However ...to get to Siberia, you must lay-over for 8 hours during which time you drive 2 hours to another airport. Then we flew another 5 hours to Siberia and arrived in Novokuznetsk, Siberia on Sunday morning at 7:30 AM. (time change and additional 4 hours). We are now 12 hours in the future.

Also to note that the morning we left war broke out between Russia and Georgia and we were not sure how this might effect our trip.

We were met by a wonderful team from the church in Novokuznetsk and brought directly to church for breakfast (amazing spread) and service. Totto were not in Kansas anymore! Our hotel was clean and accommodating but different. It was 90 degrees the day we arrived and the hotel does not have air conditioning. The windows open but they do not have screens so the mosquitoes also welcomed us.

What a blessing that the church sanctuary is air conditioned. The service was awesome. While we did not know the language and we knew the presence of the Holy Spirit. Our interpreters, Rustam and Olyia were marvelous, trying to keep us aware of every spoken word. They worked so very very hard to take care of our every need. They were such a blessing to us.

As soon as we began to praise and worship God with our Russian Brothers and Sisters the language did not matter and we felt no fatigue or jet lag....all we felt was the powerful presence of the Holy Spirit. We wept in His presence as though we understood every word. After service we went to lunch and so begins our intense week of ministry and great food.

Our first day we were brought to Zapseeb which is known as the district of drugs. Joined by our tow interpreters we split into tow groups and entered the slums. Broken down apartments worst than any "project that I have experienced in the states. The dirt ground and broken pavement was filled with trash and discarded syringes and needles, young children and adults wandered aimlessly, lost and high on drugs or alcohol. This place was dead and cold! Lord, how will we minister to them when we do not know the language...I prayed.

We greeted people with "hello" in Russian but many were cold to our greeting. However, then we came upon a couple of men in their 40's with some women who were sitting on a bench and drinking beer. We stopped to say hello and immediately became rock stars because we were from America. "We don't get many foreign visitors in Zabseeb" stated on man. Children and other adults began to gather. While Jen and Cathy were overwhelmed by excited young girls I focused on the men. Alexander, an addict who met the Lord and was in rehab for a while had fallen back. He wanted out of his life and was willing to listen to us. Another man came by and was a bit argumentative..."if God is so good, why do I struggle, why does God only help rich people?" Then another Alexander arrived stoned, skeptical but open to the word. He said "I drink to numb the pain of life. I'm a truck driver, but my truck has been broken so I have no work and my father is dying of cancer. God gave us an opening so we asked to pray for his Dad and his truck. As we began to pray this hardened addict began to cry...and cry. The others looked on in silence. The whole atmosphere changed. He accepted Jesus as his saviour, then another . We invited them to church and /or to enter the "Teen Challenge" program. One man that we prayed for challenged us "when I know that God has changed me, you will see me in church" I responded "see you in church....God has already changed you!"

An hour had passed and so we went back to the church with a good report. The 3rd service in this church that holds 450 people was packed. Most of those at the service are from the Teen Challenge program and so they are healed, saved, born again men and women who were formally addicts or alcoholics. It was powerful worship. The Spirit was willing but the flesh was weak. We went to eat and off to bed after prayer. Our hotel room was small, hot, filled with mosquitoes smelly and our bodies were exhausted. By 8:00 we were all in bed even though it was full daylight outside. Praise the Lord for our time so far. We could never even dream of what was to come. "To Him who does exceedingly and abundantly above all we could hope or think" Alleluia!

Greetings from Siberia

I am writing this quick Blog today from the office of The Church of Novokuznetsk in Siberia. Today was our second full day to minister here in the city.
It is amazing to see that although we are on the other side of the world from where we live in America, that our Christian Brothers and Sister are all the same. Their love for Jesus is intense and they are very committed to serving Him. The church here is growing fast because of their commitment to serving and ministering to the lost.
The church capacity is about 450 and each service is full with many who originally were living a life of addiction and prostitution. Now many of these same children of God are the church deacons and Teen Challenge administrators.
The needs of those on the streets here is no greater than those who we minister to in the Streets of Springfield. MA, however, their desire to get well and be free seems much greater. They need the Lord and they know it.
The structure here is simple and effective!
If someone wants to change their life the good people of this church will introduce them to the Lord and immediately welcome them into their church. If they have an addiction, they are welcome to the Teen Challenge. This includes 3 month detox and then they are invited into a long term program.

On Sunday we had the opportunity to minister in Zapseeb, a district in the city known as "a district of drug. Many accepted Jesus and others joined us at church immediately.

The devil is very clever but not very smart. It is easy to identify his Spirit of hopelessness on these streets because it is the same spirit that oppresses the streets in Massachusetts and every city in the world. The devil's cleverness only works when he can isolate the weak sheep and then gather them together with others of his flock made up of the weak, oppressed and wounded. They live in poverty and darkness and so they live in despair.
The solution is the same in Siberia as it is in America.......we must introduce the weak wounded sheep to the Light of Christ. We do this by bringing His light into the darkness. His light dispels ALL darkness. It works every time. Alleluia!

Today we also had the opportunity to minister in one of the Taijina and Osinniki Teen Challenge centers. I preached the message of Ezekiel 47. We invited the 13 men who attended to go deeper with God into the healing river of the Holy Spirit. Scripture proclaims that everything touched by the river is healed. Each and every man came forward to receive a touch from the Lord, Our team of 6 laid hands and prayed for these men. The Holy Spirit brought tears and healing. It is an honor to serve God in this way.

I cannot upload photos or video at this time, but when we return home on the 19th of August I will blog a full report.

Until then...please hold us in prayer.

From Novokuznetsk , Siberia......
May God Bless you beyond all you could hope or think!
Jack & Cathy Desroches