Ministry in the Czech Republic

On Monday, May 3, I flew to Prague, Czech Republic to visit Pastor Slava and to explore opportunities for SAC to do ministry work in this part of the former Soviet Union.  My plan was to fly there Monday evening, explore on Tuesday, and then fly back to the USA on Wednesday. 

It was a two-hour flight from St. Petersburg to Prague.  Pastor Slava was there to meet me in the airport and we drove 2 hours to his home in the northwest part of the country in Teplice.  This town grew up around a women’s Benedictine monastery in the mid-twelfth century.  It’s known as a famous spa town and for its hot springs.  The district surrounding the town has a population of 128 thousand.  The hills to the north mark the German border.  The lush greenery, plant life and rolling hills remind me of northwest Oregon.  Yet Slava told me that the Czech Republic is very atheistic and that this district was the most atheistic in the country.  With all the beauty around them, I guess they don’t see a need for God.

Slava had made arrangements with a lady from his church that had a large apartment and would allow me to stay there.  When we arrived, Irina had dinner ready for us.  Irina is a healthy 78-year-old widow who had the energy of a 50 year old!  She spoke Czech and some Russian.  Slava translated from Czech until he left.  Then she and I had to speak in Russian!  Before Slava left, we took a walk around the city square at twilight.  It was comfortable and beautiful to walk around this old well-kept city. 

The next morning Slava arrived at 10:15am while Irina and I were having a nice conversation.  Slava said, are you ready to go?  You are speaking at a school in 15 minutes!  This was my opportunity to “flex” and be ready for anything!  I grabbed a few things I thought I might need and we raced to the school.

This High School was an Economic Business Academy with 330 students age 15-19 years old.  I would be speaking to two classes of third year students at this four-year school.  Most of the students had a couple of years of English and they wanted me to speak in English with them and to get them to ask me questions about America, culture, Texas, and hopefully religion. 

No one had told the kids I was coming, so when I came into the class it was a complete surprise.  Many were shy and didn’t know what to say.  But I tried to break the ice and went around the room and introduced myself to each student.  They all told me their name in English.  I told them where I was from and how to say “Hi” in Texas.  They all learned a new English word… “Howdy”!

Questions started to come and I would “pick” students to ask me a question.  They would form their questions and ask things like, “What kind of car do you drive?”, “What do you think of Obama?”, or “How long was the flight?”.  One girl who had little English training asked me after being whispered to by a friend asked, “How are you?”  I replied, “I’m fine”!  :-)

 

I would look for an opportunity to share about God and what they believed in the Bible.  None of them had read any part of the Bible, yet they were open to what I had to say about it.  When I asked one 18-year-old boy about the need for God he just said he didn’t need Him.  Slava had said they were very atheistic, but that even if they didn’t agree with you, they wanted to hear and learn more about your perspective. 

 

Between the two classes, the principal took me to the school tower.  From there we could see the whole town and walk around on the outside-railed ledge.  It was a spectacular view! 

After speaking to the second class, we departed and had lunch at a Russian café.  After visiting down town to exchange money and going by the Chamber of Commerce we went to Slava’s apartment to have afternoon tea.  There we rested and shared about what could be done in Teplice.  At around 7pm we went back to Irina’s home and had dinner.  I was stuffed!  Slava left at about 9pm and would return at 1:30am to take me to the airport.  The flight left at 6am and I had to be at the airport at 3am. 

 

We had a great conversation in the middle of the night on the way to the airport.  We even stopped at a newly opened McDonalds to get coffee for the ride into Prague.  We prayed together, talked about examples of prayer, and answers to prayer.  We also talked about disappointments and how church groups would come in with grand strategies, when what was really needed was simple lasting and ongoing relationships.  In the military vernacular we would say they needed, “Boots on the ground”. 

I’m convinced that SAC can minister effectively in the Czech Republic and it can start with this school.  The principal is very open to us and knows we would come in and share the Gospel.  I don’t have a grand strategy, but just to invite people to come and join with us to build relationship for Christ in the community of Teplice, Czech Republic this fall.  Look for upcoming mission trip dates to the Czech Republic to minister to young people with open minds!  

Helping a Broken Church

When I arrived in Sosnovo, I began hearing about the problems of the local Baptist Church and it’s decline over the last several months.  It was sad to hear the various situations and the decisions that had been made that lead to a disintegration of what had been a great Christian fellowship and a point of light in this community.  SAC has always tried to work through and with the local church as a further outreach to lift up the local church.  However, relations and support of the Day Center by the Sosnovo church has declined since the departure of Pastor Slava three years ago. 

For a couple of years I had heard how the church needed another pastor like Slava.  He lived there and knew and witnessed to the people.  Currently, they have a student preacher come from St. Petersburg every Sunday to deliver a message, but he is not there to “Sheppard” the flock of believers.  As a result, the flock has dispersed and the “wolves” in the community have consumed some. 

Some of the problems include:

-  The church paid for meals for the kids at the Day Center through a local café who gave yesterday’s leftovers, but this support has stopped.

-  The building occupied by the church and the Day Center had been available for sale, but the church didn’t take advantage of this and now the sanctuary room where the church met has been closed by the mayor, unoccupied, and subsequently had flooding due to recently installed city supplied heaters.  The church must meet in apartments.

-  A self-appointed church council has made decisions without a church vote.

-  Three members are specifically causing dissention among other church members.

-  Youth Sunday School has been recently closed as leadership didn’t see the need.

-  Complaints against Nadezhda about her teaching occurred without observation.

-  Accusations have occurred against members without investigation.  

-  The church has disassociated themselves with the Day Center ministry.

As a result:

-  Membership has declined from 26 members to 18 members

-  One member returned to drinking

-  Some members refuse to go to church anymore, and opt for a Wednesday evening Bible study held at the Day Center.

-  No outreach program, no Sunday School, and the church is not working with the Day Center.

-  No church building due to in attention.

Normally, I would stay out of the local church politics and problems.  However, the closing of Sunday School disturbed me and the lack working together with the Day Center was a deep concern.  So, on Wednesday, April 28, I set up a meeting with the “Bishop” of the Central Baptist Church in St. Petersburg.  In Russia, the Bishop is the leader of all churches and pastors of the 38 Baptist churches in the Leningrad Region surrounding St. Petersburg.  Sometimes as an “outsider”, I can serve as a catalyst to get conversations going and problems out in the open.  Several in Sosnovo were afraid to approach the Bishop with their concerns.  Much of that is due to Russian culture and their authoritarian environment. 

We all met at St. Petersburg Christian University.  Victor Sipko, the Bishop of Central Baptist Church, was very friendly and responsive to our concerns.  I emphasized with him that I wasn’t there to place blame, but only to give the facts that I knew and let him resolve the issues.  He listened very carefully and asked Nadezhda, the director of the Day Center, several questions.  He called Shamil, the current Sosnovo preacher to verify some information.  The meeting lasted about 50 minutes. 

As we all left the building and walked toward the metro station, Nadezhda kept proclaiming… “Praise God”!  She was happy all these things were now out in the open.  A follow-up meeting is planned in Sosnovo on Tuesday, May 11, with Victor Sipko, Nadezhda, and Shamil.  Later that day they will meet with the mayor to discuss use of the building. 

My hope and prayer is that the Sosnovo Baptist Church will be on the road to recovery and again become a place of warm Christian fellowship and that they will join together with the Day Center in outreach to connect the youth of Sosnovo with God’s Kingdom.  

Sosnovo Day Center

This is our 5th year working at the Sosnovo Day Center. It’s seen a lot of trials and obstacles these past 5 years and it seems even more so during the last 2 years. Despite these issues, the Day Center continues to be a light of hop to these at-risk children in the Sosnovo community.

This year we had again invited Pastor Slava from the Czech Republic to join us on this mission trip. Pastor Slava used to be the pastor of the church in Sosnovo and was and still is greatly loved and missed by the community. Unfortunately, the Icelandic Volcano prevented him from flying and coming to be with us. For me, it felt like someone was missing the whole week.

We stayed at the small hotel that we had stayed at in the past. It was under new management and they were working to renovate a section of the hotel into a store that had previously been a gathering room for our team to enjoy tea and prepare our ministry things for the next day. As it turned out, the rooms were not being renovated, but the rest of the hotel was! When we got there, there were no working heaters in the room. They had to go get the previously installed electric heaters and set them up on a block of wood in front of the new heaters. I guess the new heaters hadn’t been fully connected up yet. The most precarious thing was getting to our rooms. New outside steps were under construction and then there was no floor between the entrance and the hall to the rooms! That first night we had to straddle the support beams balancing our suitcases to make it there! It was quite a circus!

My son Sergey had made arrangements with Andre, a long time volunteer with the Day Center, to have the team eat at his home. Lunch and sometimes breakfast was at his home. Ladies from the church would come to Andre’s home to cook our lunch in the morning. Breakfast items were usually brought in the morning (meat, cheese, bread) while other things had been bought by Sergey at a large store called “Lenta” (much like Wal-Mart) in St. Petersburg. Thanks to Sergey, Andre, and all the ladies who helped cook for our team!

Lenoid and Galina last year cooked for our entire team and would bring us out to their dacha for lunch and dinner. Our team, that included several volunteers, was lager this time and so meals were held at Andre’s home. Nevertheless, one evening we were all invited out to Lenoid’s home for dinner. It’s always a great fellowship and he always fires up the “Samovar”, the big Russian tea pot where the water is heated with pine cones and coals. Lenoid and Galina have been tremendous hosts!

Early in the week, I stood at a bus stop waiting with Sergey for our bus to come to go to the other side of town. A young teenager walked past me starring at me and I recognized him. He was one of the kids I knew at the Sosnovo Orphanage. Since I had no team members last year and I know the orphanage was going through a transition, SAC hasn’t visited the orphanage in a couple of years. I went to greet him. He’s now 14 years old, but he remembered me. He was a little shy and he didn’t seem to have that joyful smile I remembered when I had seen him last at the orphanage two years ago. I reminded him that God loved him and he nodded slightly in agreement.

One morning, we went to visit the Sosnovo Orphanage. It had moved from its location in the town of Sosnovo to a new location about 20 minutes away. I wanted to visit Rayisa the Director to reconnect and to see the new location. About 3 weeks ago, the kindergarten that was occupying the building traded locations with the building in Sosnovo. The building we had worked at in Sosnovo is now a kindergarten. The new location for the orphanage is one train stop south at stop #69 of Sosnovo. It is very hard to get there. The roads are not paved for the 3 kilometers drive from the main road. It is very hard for the staff to even get to work. Taxi to this location from Sosnovo is 300p, or about $10 each way. With salaries less than 15,000p a month, I’m surprised that people continue to work there. Conditions there are worse than at their other location. There is no sports hall and no general hall to have activities for the kids like dance and other extra-curricular activities. Rayisa told me that even though the kids helped with the move, the kids are depressed and “don’t care about their lives anymore”. One boy that I know and remember tried to commit suicide by jumping from the roof. It was the same boy I saw at the bus stop. Please pray for these kids at the Sosnovo Orphanage.

In the Day Center, the kids had been waiting with anticipation for us come for a long time. They knew us and we’ve seen several of the kids grow up as they continue to come to the Day Center. They also know that I’m there to bring crafts, play games, and lead them in a Bible Lesson. Each day I brought a lesson that had us doing a game and then a short study in God’s word that related to the game. Kids like it when I do a game and bring a short Bible lesson. More of Biblical truth is absorbed with kids if they hear one truth and then have the rest of the day to think about it. Kids here are very resistant to “preaching” and usually tune out or don’t attend at all unless there are activities that are geared to their age and interest.

One new activity that really interested the older kids was building clocks. I had bought the quartz movements, hands, and numbers for the kids to build wall clocks. Sergey and I went to the store and bought some wood for them to design their own wall clock and then I would help them install the mechanism. Many kids had never used a saber saw before. It was good experience for them to use a power saw and drill (with my supervision) and to be able to create their own clocks!

On this trip I found out that Andre has kids over to his home each Saturday evening for a time of fellowship, singing, and Bible study. This weekly youth club meeting was something SAC has wanted to see happen as a further way to promote the church and have the Day Center and the church work together. Out of his own pocket, Andre spends about 200 rubles a week (~$7) for food to encourage these kids to come. Recently, the Sosnovo church had stopped having Sunday School (another problem) for children and this has become another way to reach the kids.

Andre is also busy beginning a drug rehab program. He invites drug users who want to quit to his home. He talks about addiction and leads them in a devotional that addresses the issue of drug addiction. We were there one morning after breakfast and Andre had a meeting of these men. While we were there we encouraged them and fellowshipped with them. One of the men there had retired from the military after 20 years of service. He was a former Major in the Russian Army. I told him I too had been in the military and had served for 7 years. He stretched out his hand immediately to shake the hand of a fellow soldier. He shared his struggles and seemed to find a sense of hope in our meeting.

On the last day, I was able to share the Gospel with them again. I was glad to see almost all the hands raise when I asked if they had asked Jesus into their lives. I’m convinced that if the Day Center was not there, these kids would go through life without hope and without knowing the saving grace of Jesus. With the Day Center, despite all the tribulations they continue to go through, it’s an effort well worth the cost. Thanks to Nadezhda’s dedication to work there every day to bring this love of Christ to these children in this community. Please pray that the obstacles, daily problems, and forces of evil working against her will not overpower the hope that is brought to these kids through her leadership of the Day Center in Sosnovo.

Icelandic Volcano!

When I left for Russia, I could have never imagined that a volcano in Iceland would affect our mission trip! There was no way to plan for that!

On Wednesday, I was doing e-mail in the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage that evening and read a Skype message from a friend that told me about the volcano eruption. I went to news websites to read about it and the current status with the airline. I told our team that evening and then wrote the team in St. Petersburg.

News reports said that 40,000 Americans were stranded by the volcano. The airline industry said it was the worst airline disruption since 9/11. Tony & Martha Leone were to return to the states on April 18. They didn’t get to return until Friday, April 23. Jonathan Furr was also due to return from St. Petersburg to the USA on April 17th. He didn’t return until Friday, April 23 as well.

Tony and Martha stayed in a home owned by some Americans that were not there. One of our volunteers going with us everyday knew of this lady watching the home and we connected up. It was later I found out she also knew Mike Cantrell, president of MIR, our partner in St. Petersburg and he had stayed there before. That was a God thing as we were provided the connections to ensure the Leones had a place to safely stay while they waited out the volcano.

Jonathan Furr continued his stay at the Transition Home in St. Petersburg. He was able to log-on and do some work remotely from Russia since his job is in computers and he can connect from anywhere with an internet connection.

I realized a little later that for our team, we were allowed to make it to Russia and Estonia BEFORE the volcano erupted. It allowed us to do our ministry and continue to work for the Kingdom. Had the volcano erupted a week earlier, it would have prevented us from starting our new work in Estonia, prevented the St. Petersburg team from going, and likely would have cancelled our entire trip! Nevertheless, God was in control and we completed our mission and our teams returned home safely… a few of us later than expected! It’s amazing what something like this can do to affect a mission trip!

Sillamae, Estonia Orphanage

This is a sweet little orphanage east of Johvi, Estonia about 45 minutes from the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage that we were staying at. The director of the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage made arrangements with the director of the Sillamae orphanage to coordinate our teams’ time that we could be with the kids. Are arrangement was that we would work with the orphans at Sillamae from 5-6pm. As the week went on, our time gradually was extended after the counselors saw what we were doing!

There were about 15 school-age kids that would be waiting for us each day. After the first day, they were waiting outside for our arrival the second day. At the end of each day, they could ask what we were doing tomorrow! They thoroughly enjoyed all the games, crafts, and activities we had planned for them. We had to move fast as I had planned to be there two hours and not one hour!

On Friday we were all set to share the Gospel. I set the stage with an active game. After the game I sat the kids down and talked about what we played which was a lead-in to our Bible study. Today was a short comparison as we talked about God, and the moment was right to invite Tony Leone to share the EvangeCube. It’s amazing that when folks pray, moments like this just seem to work perfectly. We usually had a two year old that would come with the group. Sometime he would be a distraction. Today he didn’t arrive until right after Tony had finished presenting the Gospel! We had no interruptions! The kids were able to hear the Gospel clearly along with a couple of counselors!

We gave the orphans some parting gifts and then I passed out the book of Luke to each child. The book was provided by the church in Johvi, Estonia we were working with. Of course, the kids asked what we were doing tomorrow. It’s was hard to tell them that this was our last day. But I know great relationships were built and we will be able to come again!

The Kohtla-Nomme Orphanage

When we arrived late on Sunday evening, most of the kids were already in bed. We were shown our rooms and then several of the counselors wanted to know more about us. They had only been told that some “English” people will be staying with them for a week. We told them about ourselves and what we would be doing. Everyone was friendly and hospitable.

The next morning we waited until the kids departed for school so we wouldn’t interfere with their morning routine and then we spent the morning planning our day and having another meeting with the head counselor. She called the orphanage director in Sillamae to coordinate our times with the kids. It was arranged that we would work with the orphans in Sillamae from 5pm – 6pm, travel the 45 minutes back to Khotla-Nomme, eat at 7pm and then at 7:30pm begin our work with the orphans there. All orphanages have fairly rigid schedules with kids in school, homework time, and special activities or clubs like dance, music, and other interest classes that we have to compete with. So scheduling work at two separate orphanages is often difficult.

The first two days in Kohtla-Nomme was difficult as the kids had never had anyone stay with them. Many didn’t want to have anything to do with us. They had had groups in there before that would “preach” to them for an hour, pass out some small gifts, and then leave. The kids didn’t want to be preached to. However, our approach has always been to do games and activities with the kids relating to the Bible truth we were wanting to share. It took a couple of days, but by Wednesday we had a group of core kids that would participate in what we were doing and would listen to our story after an interesting game.

Thursday was an interesting day. When it was time to be with the kids, most of them were out walking, sitting on a picnic table out front smoking and listening to music on a cell phone, or poking the fire where they were burning brush. There was only a handful in the room to begin our activities. So, I had the others start the craft activity and I went out to stand with them to see if I could encourage them to join us. The head counselor and her sister who lived nearby was there along with some fo the kids. The translators were upstairs, so I used my limited Russian skills to tell about my family, where I was from and to ask them about their lives. After about 20 minutes I told the head counselor that I was discouraged that more kids didn’t want to be with us. She seemed to understand and I left to return back to our group. She must have rounded up the kids and strongly encouraged them to come be with us. So, another 8-10 kids came in and I told a Bible story. It led to some questions and we had a heavy discussion about faith in God.

One girl named Karina was a believer and several older boys in our meeting were atheist. She passionately defended her faith and this led to our lively discussion! With the help of our translators, I let the discussion go on so that questions could be answered. Several conversations were going on at once and even the translators were having difficulty giving me bits and pieces of the general subject of discussion. We were amazed when Karina went to her room and came back with her Bible. She read the chapter we were discussing in the Estonian language! This all set the stage for our final day.

On Friday evening, I wasn’t sure what would happen. It seemed that on Thursday the lines were drawn as to who believed in God and who did not. I’m sure the discussion of religion had never been brought up before in a group setting. But now it was Friday and the moment was set to share the gospel. We played a game, and then I sat them down to talk about it and how the game related to faith in God. They listened as I made the short comparison. The moment was right and created a perfect lead-in to share the Gospel. Tony Leone was ready with his EvangeCube. It was amazing to see how they listened quietly and were intrigued by the cube. It was also amazing that there were no interruptions!

The seeds of Gospel truth were planted that week and I’m sure there will be more lively discussions as they think about their relationship with God. That evening we gave them some small gifts bags that we had prepared for them. We also gave them Bibles of their own that were donated by the local church we were working with. I encouraged them to discover the truth inside that book, but that it was their choice and decision. Knowing how youth keep things private, I told them that if they prayed to God and asked Him into their lives… even while lying alone in bed at night… He will hear their prayers. I may never know if those words encouraged them to choose Christ, but I do know that there are orphans at Kohtla-Nomme that now know how to have eternal life.

Estonia Arrival!

We all arrived on Saturday evening in Estonia. The Tallinn airport is nice and has only 14 gates! It was a quiet modern airport and easy to get around. We had all our bags and were in a van heading to Johvi within 40 minutes. The trip from Tallinn to the Kohtla-Nomme orphanage near Johvi is was about 2 hours. We stopped half-way to eat some shish-kabob called “Shalik” on our way. We didn’t arrive at the orphanage until nearly 10pm. We were settled in rooms and briefly met the director who was leaving on vacation and needed to be in the airport at 3am. All of us as the staff that were there met around a table for tea to introduce ourselves and allow them to ask questions. All they knew was that some “English” people were coming for a visit! So we explained that we would be here a week and that we were Americans from Texas. We built relationships that evening, but I had really planned to have a meeting like this on Sunday afternoon, not the night we got in! But they had questions and wanted to know more about us. It was about 12am before we got to bed after being up about 30 hours!

Sunday we went to church and worshiped together for about 2.5 hours that morning with a group of about 40 members. Our new friends prepared lunch for us at the church that afternoon. We met with Pastor Artur Pold that afternoon. He was leaving to go to the USA on Wednesday so that would be the only time we got to see him. Later that afternoon they took us around Johvi and we visited some waterfalls pouring into the Gulf of Finland. It was a nice day to do this and with some snow still on the ground in piles, it created a temptation to throw a few snowballs!

On Sunday evening we met with the head counselor and the schedule told to us on Saturday evening was changed. She coordinated with the Sillamae orphanage on the timing on when we would come. For most orphanages, it is better for them for a group of visitors to come in the evening. So, there were competing time slots. Nevertheless, we worked it out and we travel to Sillamae 1 hour to work with those kids from that orphanage from 5-6pm. Then travel to Kokla-Nomee from 6-7pm. Eat a quick dinner and then begin our program with Kokla-Nomee orphanage from 7:30-about 9pm. Then we sometimes get to have some social time with the older kids in the orphanage who are not interested in the crafts that the younger kids would do. It’s a great way to reach them.

Sunday was a great day, but also a day of rest from the long trip. We were excited to begin our activities the next day!