Trip to Sosnovo, April 19

On Sunday afternoon, April 19, we all met at the train station to take the hour and forty minute trip to the town of Sosnovo, just north of St. Petersburg. The train trip is interesting and it makes several stops along the way. Vendors are going through each car as it travels selling everything from crab flavored potato chips to ice cream. I opted for the ice cream bars!
When we arrived in Sosnovo, Lenoid, a deacon of the Sosnovo Baptist Church, picked us and our luggage up and took us to our hotel. Shortly after we settled in, we walked to the Day Center which was close by. This Day Center is run by Youth for Christ and the director is Nadezhda, one that we’ve worked with for the past 4 years.

Dinner was waiting for us at the Day Center and we had a great time of fellowship that evening when we arrived. Pastor Slava, who used to be the pastor there, had arrived earlier that morning.

The hotel is basic, but comfortable. Even though we had made reservations several months ago and they knew we were coming, the heat wasn’t working in the large room, the hot water faucet was broken in one room, the vertical blinds were missing about half of their blinds, and we were told to keep the doors closed so the four cats that also resided there wouldn’t enter our rooms! Once there we were asked to pray for Andre’s mom. Andre is the assistant to Nadezhda for the Day Center. Due to the global financial crisis and a reduction of funding for Youth for Christ, his position was eliminated. In addition, his wife and he had recently separated. But far worse than that, his mom disappeared two weeks ago without a trace. The police are involved and haven’t found any clues. Unfortunately, Baptists are looked upon here as a “sect”. Rumors in this small town have flourished as they had heard that Andre’s mom recently joined the Baptist Church here in Sosnovo. Some have even speculated of the Baptist “sacrificing” her. Pastor Slava said that it’s sometimes hard to believe that we live in the 21st Century and people are thinking in ways that they did in the 1600’s! Please pray for Andre and that his mom would be found safe and sound.