Home safely

Praise the Lord, the team made it home safely Friday evening. Thank you for your part in this project through your prayers and support! Praise the Lord for His blessings throughout the preparations and the trip.

The last stop in India

There were several important events on our last day in India. The day began in the morning with God's Word and prayer. We fasted that day. We bought food to give to poor families in the slums and bought gifts for the children. The pastor who serves in the slums met us, and our first question for him was about how we could find the boy whose picture we have here on the blog. We were quickly shown to their living quarters, but he and his parents had gone to his grandmother's in the village. However, someone promised to give him the gifts we had brought and take a picture of the family. The visit to the slums touched our entire team. This is an integral part of India – poverty, need, and a huge number of children. In the afternoon, we spent time praying for the “10/40 window,” and we went from room to room praying for the needs of the local team. We finished our fasting and prayer with a service and the Lord's Supper. Then we fellowshipped and packed till midnight. India will stay in the hearts of the entire team for a long time. Some are already thinking of coming again. India left its mark on the life of our team, and it was a big mark for some. To be continued...

Pastor Pavel

Tuesday and Wednesday

For those who read the blog regularly, I would like to say that we did not get lost but were very busy. Yesterday was a day to buy souvenirs and to minister to the children in the children's homes. The highlights include how the day began – with Bible study. The interesting topic was “initiative and responsiveness.” Then brother Vladimir led a Bible meditation for the local team on the topic of what our sacrifice means to God. We returned to these thoughts many times throughout the day. That evening, the team talked for an hour and a half on Skype with the missionary who headed up this project. He got to know the team and asked each person several questions. That night, Irina left for Russia, and when we got up in the morning, we prepared a program for visiting the slums. Today is a day of fasting and prayer for the ministry in India, for the ministers who serve here, for the children, and for our understanding of God's will in the ministries in India and in missions.

Pastor Pavel

A monument of death in the name of love

Pastor Pavel wrote on Tuesday:

Yesterday we visited the seventh wonder of the world – the Taj Mahal. Not going to this place means not having been to India. For us, visiting this place was not just an excursion, but was spiritual meditation. The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum-mosque in Agra, India on the banks of the Yamuna River. It was built by Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth. Construction began in 1632, a year after the death of Jahan's favorite wife. This monument of the emperor’s love for his wife is immortalized for the ages. Construction continued for 22 years with 22,000 workers and is completely of marble and precious stones. From 3 to 5 million people visit the Taj Mahal every year, with 200,000 of them being from abroad. These are impressive numbers. Today, it is not only a mausoleum, but also a Muslim shrine. The purpose of the building amazes me – a sign of love and faithfulness to his wife, who gave the emperor 14 children and died in childbirth. How great is God's love for us! Jesus Christ's tomb is empty. He is risen! His love is far greater than the love of emperor Shah Jahan. But in our lives, what do we dedicate to our living God, Who gave us life and His love? How much do we love our Lord, and are we ready to devote to Him the best that we have?

Religious abominations

Pastor Pavel wrote on Monday:

Today was a day of awareness of religious abominations which are confessed and practiced in India. We visited a temple complex and saw and saw the folly of people who have exchanged the truth for a lie and worship the creature rather than the Creator.

This reminded us of Nebuchadnezzar's golden image put up for worship.

Another “saint” received “enlightenment” and founded a religion of worship, and now thousands of people cry out and beg for blessings.

Worship of the male foreskin

This is a small part of the millions of gods to worship

“True worship”

Take a look and think of the blessings we have. We often argue about the form of the service and unimportant things, but at that very time, millions of people are going to hell. This is why it's important to look at this picture at least once and think about what we are doing to evangelize unsaved people.

She has learned to live

Hello, everyone!

God showed us a person who, having physical ailments, has learned to live and be content with each passing day.  When I saw this, I thought, “Lord, You gave me hands and feet.  How much time do I dedicate to You, Lord?  What do I do for Christ in life?”  Do I only receive God's love?  What am I waiting for from God, when I am doing nothing for Him and don't even value what God gives me?

We complain to God about what we don't have, but don't thank Him for the things we do have!

Pastor Alexander

From Pastor Pavel on Sunday

Part of our ministry here in India is to encourage believers. Many of them experience great spiritual pressure from relatives. They need prayer support. They need fellowship in the Spirit of Christ. They need smiles and words of encouragement.

Sunday is a day for believers in India to worship God. This is our second Sunday here to fellowship in a church where they worship the Almighty. Everyone brings a Bible with them and uses it during the services. They read God's Word with great passion when they are asked to read aloud. The sermon was about a place for God in our hearts, and I can say for sure that the Indian believers have this place. They understand the truths of God's Word and apply them in their lives, and this is very difficult for them among the heathens. One young man came to us and asked us to pray for him. He recently came to Christ from a Hindu family, and they kicked him out of the house after his conversion. We could see how he was worrying and suffering, and we encouraged him to hold on to Jesus and be in constant fellowship with God's people. In Him we have many more brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers. Please pray for the believers in India!

Sunday evening we were able to give bicycles to four pastors who minister in the slums and poor sections of Delhi. Thanks to the giving of a church in Zelenograd, we were able to get four good quality bicycles which will serve as transportation for these pastors in their ministries. We saw how each bike was thoroughly inspected to make sure everything was working properly. Then the four men on our team got on the bikes and test rode them to Pastor Joshua's house, experiencing all the extremes of the Indian roads with all kinds of transportation and pedestrians.

The pastors gathered especially to receive the bikes. The first bike we gave was to a future pastor – a 3 ½-year-old son of one of the pastors – and then to each of the ministers. We prayed especially for each pastor and blessed them in spreading the Gospel among their people. The bikes not only have a guarantee from the store, but, thanks to our prayers, they will have God's protection over them on the roads.

Pedals for Pastors

The Search

One of our goals this trip is to find the boy that became the personification of India for us. You can see his face on the bookmarks, posters, CDs and even in our blog. We know neither his name nor his story, have no information about him at all. Just this picture, a glimpse of him on a video and we know that pastor Ruben used to work in these slums.

Yesterday (Sunday) it didn't work out for us to go to the slums so we postponed the trip till Thursday. We showed pastor Joshua the video and he remembered the place we were at and called pastor Ruben. Now we are planning to go to these slums on Thursday and do a children's program and try to find this boy.

Please pray that God would arrange this meeting for us. We are very eager to bless this boy – to start with something and hope it would grow. I want to see him very much, to see how he's grown and changed!

Kristy

We were “horses” today

Today we played with kids from two children's homes, in which wonderful servants of God minister. The whole team went to a park with the second children's home, except our leader, Pastor Pavel, who stayed behind to prepare us a wonderful lunch and to do some work. In the park, the ladies enjoyed the nature around them – parrots, monkeys, peacocks, and other animals which can be found in abundance there. And the guys began to play with the children. They climbed and hung all over us. They asked us to spin and throw them. Our strength melted before our eyes. The children weren't the only dizzy ones, but the ground was falling out from under our feet, too. The children got on our shoulders and turned us into horses. Then Kristina got out the balloons, and our lungs were given an endurance test. The children blew up balloons (with our help) then let them go and then came back to us to blow them up again. . . There was much laughter and joy. . . The Bible says not to hinder the children from coming to Christ. These children had no one, and “strangers” became their “close ones". . . Missionaries from Russia and Ukraine have become their father, mother, brother, sister, grandmother, and grandfather. God gave such great hearts to the missionaries, and this is evident in their relationships with the children. The food they prepare for the children isn't spicy. The children stretch out their hands to pray and bless anyone who takes their hands. The children sing songs of praise the the Lord Jesus Christ. Each of us could smile and give a happy moment to one of these children. Thank you for your prayers!

Vladimir

Sabbath in India

Saturday began with a Bible study from the book of Ruth. Brother Vladimir noted that Ruth left her people and gods and joined herself to the Israelites. This is a very important decision in India, too. To turn from one's nation and their Gentile religions to join oneself to the living God – this is a heroic deed. Then we served the children in one of the children's homes, which was organized in Delhi a little over a year ago. Our team took the children to a park and played with them for a couple of hours. I fixed lunch during that time, and when the hungry team came back, we ate together. After lunch, we needed to conduct programs in two children's homes at the same time, playing games, doing crafts, and studying English with them. Part of the team went to one place and part to the other. We saw again how dedicated the workers are in these homes, as they work every day from morning till night, and they even have to care for the children at night sometimes. It's a blessing to be a part of their ministry.

Pastor Pavel

Namaste!

Hi everybody!

This is my first post.

And this is my first trip like that and I'm very grateful to God that He has allowed me to be here.

Yesterday we came back from Nepal and I have a feeling like I've left a home. That country has left a deep impression on me. It's so cozy and the people are very friendly, I didn't see any hardness in there eyes the way I saw in India.

I'll probably repeat some of the previous posts but these are my thoughts, too.

Pastor Samuel's orphans... When we visited with them, they sang songs for us and it moved me deeply, even tears brimmed over. They were so sincere. They were trying very hard but not for us - for God, you could see that. They want to live with God, to serve Him and they are only 4 to 11 years old. The children in the orphanage get up early every morning and have a Bible study and worship time at 7 am. It truly puts us to shame to remember what justifications we find for ourselves in the morning. Our last day when we were saying goodbye to the kids, I hugged a 4-year-old boy. He ran then and fell down and started crying. I came up and hugged him to comfort. It didn't hurt anymore but he kept crying, squeezing me tighter. Poor kids, they lack tenderness so much! Some affection, endearment, hugs... Friends, they need your love!!!

And school with a Christian foundation, with prayers is just great – the kids are really smart!

The testimonies of Nanny Grace provide a lot to ponder. I've never heard of Christians raising someone from the dead in our days, it seems incredible.

So many leaders come to study – from different places, some had to walk for 6 days to be there, there were about 100 of them. It's amazing to see how God is starting a revival in Nepal – a country where one might think it impossible. But there is nothing impossible for God.

And about worship – it's we who should learn from them and not they!

Our trip to the crematorium. Incineration is terrible, especially the way they do it! I understand that it's just a dead body, but still... the child of the person sets him on fire, there is a gag in the corpse's mouth – I shivered.

Friends, some of us are sick. Please, pray for us.

Kristina and Alexander have a cold, I have some kind of infection and a cold. Everyone is gone to play with the kids and I'm here. I feel like I'm missing out on something. But if God allows it, it must be ok. Otherwise, I probable wouldn't have written...

Kat

Pray with faith

Greetings everybody. While everybody is shopping for souvenirs and gifts for family and friends, I decided to overcome the obstacle – the absence of a Russian keyboard and type using an online keyboard. It works pretty quickly.

What were my expectations and thoughts when a week ago I sat at the airport?

India and Nepal will never worship the ONE True God, they'll never stop worshipping idols – that was an axiom for me, a fundamental truth.

A week has gone by.

I saw a lot of miracles throughout it.

The first miracle for me – boys in pastor Samuel's orphanage. They're 5 to 10 years old and they already know what they'll do when they grow up. They will study well at school to go to college... good education is very important to earn a good living so that you can by a house and a car??? No, to God's great joy this is not their dream or a purpose in life. Every child, every boy wants to be a pastor. EVERY one of them wants to take the Gospel to people that don't know Jesus yet.

And when they started singing... Not the “Jesus loves me” or “He's got the whole world” song but hymns with perfect elaborate melody, paying no attention to adults – I felt truly ashamed before God. I find it difficult to come to church once a week early in the morning for prayer while those kids in Nepal every day spend an hour before school studying the Word and singing hymns.

Then we relocated... and there was a lady... a sick woman... completely crippled... she could barely speak... always laughed like a child. I felt sorry for her. Pity was my first feeling. But only the first. For a day and a half I would glance at her and pity her but yesterday God led me into her room. For a while I couldn't figure out what she was doing in bed. In a few minutes I gave up and came up to see... My first feeling was a shock... She held a needle in one of her feet and was making a necklace with beads. SMALL beads. And she wasn't putting them together randomly – no, the was a pattern that she followed. With her toes.

My second feeling – shame. We have everything – arms, hands, legs, a head, a sound mind, parents, a job, a housing, food for the day... How much of God's grace and goodness that He gives me daily I use for His glory? Not for satisfying my ambitions and desires but for God's glory? Not much, I'm afraid... In the evening when we were living the orphanage I came up to her room again to leave her all the beads we brought for crafts. I don't know how many words she knows but the most important ones she knows for sure. She squeezed herself into me, rejoicing and repeating “thank you, bless God”...

Today we are leaving Nepal... I want to come back here very very much. To learn from them to serve people... to learn dedication from them... to learn to work hard from them... to learn to show people mercy, love and kindness from them...

I thank God that He has allowed me to see the great work that is being done here for Him and through that to come to faith in salvation for the people of Nepal.

Ira

It's all her fault!

Greetings again!

I wanted to share with you my observations about a Hindu custom.

I've been watching them and noticed that they let women go first when they are having a meal. As I tried to inquire it seems like this aspect of their culture goes back to the Bible's story about the first people. It was Eve who picked up the fruit and ate and gave it to her husband. She went ahead to take the first bite and today the story repeats itself.

Men let women go ahead and be the first to try prepared food.

Alexander Kartavenko

Let there be Christian families

The second seminar on marriage and family took place in the suburbs of Katmandu, Nepal. Around 150 church leaders gathered to build a Biblical understanding of a family. Those ministers wanted to check their own marriages and learn to give Biblical counseling to their congregations in these matters. For 4 hours without a break they listened, putting down every word because it was something they all need in their ministry. The area of family is under a strong satan's attack in Nepal. Christianity came to this country recently and today already 5% of the population are Christians. I thank you all for prayers – God gave me words to mediate Biblical truths with true-life examples. I'm hugely grateful to Nanny Grace for the translation and her comments in Nepalese.

Pavel Kolesnikov

Heroes of faith – who are they?

Many people on our team have written about Nanny Grace and many more have read about her. For me I can say now that in my Christian walk I met an amazing lady of God who has dedicated her whole life to the Lord and to people.

It blew off my mind to hear all the stories and miracles that Nanny Grace has been in. Persevering spirit, strong faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. All the hardships, obstacles, hunger, cold and other difficulties failed to weaken her determination to fulfill God's purpose.

I often ask myself a question: “Where are present-day heroes of faith who have dedicated their whole life without any reservations to Jesus, laid down everything to His feet?” We sing and we pray about the fire in our hearts, we want to be on fire but sometimes nothing is blazing, we have no warmth to draw people in. I saw a picture once of brothers and sisters at a service in warm overcoats – apparently it was very cold in the church. The inscription read: “ It's better to freeze in the House of the Lord than to burn in Hell”. Why is it that we freeze? What cools off our hearts?

Friends, until we lay down our lives on the alter of the Living God, completely, keeping nothing to ourselves, there will be no fire. I often hear that the time is different today, that people don't want to listen, that it's hard to evangelize... We find tones of reasons to avoid answering to Christ's call that is clear in the Scripture – Go and make disciples of all nations.

I understand that I haven't done everything myself yet – that I'm lazy sometimes, disorganized in some matters but I thank God that He doesn't let my rest or settle like that, He gives me desire to serve and be used as a tool in His hands. This encounter has been a great inspiration and encouragement for me. I want to be changed, I want to act, never stop at what I've achieved but always strive forward forgetting the past.

I believe that God wants to raise heroes of faith in Russia and throughout the world!

Are we ready?

Vladimir P

Is much needed???

Greetings to our dear prayer partners and visitors to our blog!

Right now I'm sitting in the midst of noise, not in a factory where machines make noise, but in a children's home where there are about 50 children of different ages. Right now, Katya, Kristina, Ira, and Alexander are playing with them. There's so much laughter and joyful giggling. It's great to see such children. Many of these children don't have parents, some have only one parent, and others have parents, but they live far away up in the mountains. Dear friends, do we need much to be able to give a smile to a boy or girl? What price must we pay for joyful contagious laughter, a smile, and a good mood? The children were so happy to receive the small toys and cars. Thanks to all who brought them in. It was not us who gave these gifts, but you gave them through us. I don't have words to write everything going on here. You have to see it!

Thank you for your prayers.

Vladimir

Ministry that requires love

One of the girls on the team is always saying that she doesn't have anything to offer or that she doesn't know what to do or how to help. But what happened this evening confirms her dedication to God. To begin with, she braided the girls' hair. Who knows what might be on their heads -- dandruff, lice, or something else -- but she did it anyway. Then she began to wipe the children's noses. Many of them have mucus running out of their noses constantly, and neither they themselves nor their teachers wipe their noses. This girl just took tissues and started wiping every nose. Many of us would not have wanted to do this, but her heart of dedication and love for the children is obvious. One must have a heart full of love to do those kinds of things.

The lesson she taught the children today was that we need to be like Jesus and do good deeds. Praise the Lord for such a person on the team!

Thursday -- Long-awaited Nepal

Kristina wrote that after two years, she is happy to finally have the opportunity to be in Nepal and see everything with her own eye. God is blessing their time there, and now the fourth day is drawing to a close. They enjoyed seeing the children's bright eyes and smiles when they met the team. They saw how happy the children were to receive even a small gift. The important thing was that it was done with love.

They met an amazing woman full of faith and trust in God and love and care for others. Although she has been through many hardships and sufferings in life, she has remained faithful to God. She shared her testimony of how God called her into the ministry at the age of 20, and for 37 years now, she has been serving the people of Nepal. A true hero of the faith!

As soon as they arrived, Kristina was to lead a seminar on worship. Church leaders traveled up to 20 hours (in mountainous regions) to gather together for a week of encouragement, seminars, and reporting. Before the worship seminar started, they sang and prayed. When Kristina heard them, she wondered what she had to offer them, but she realized that they needed encouragement more than teaching. God blessed her as she spoke in English, and the people were grateful for what they heard.

After the seminar, the team went to a Christian school to do handcrafts with the children. They noticed how the children pray together after the lessons and before leaving the school territory to get on the bus.

They had a special dinner that evening, but even better than the good food was the fellowship they enjoyed with the "grandmother" there, hearing her stories and testimonies.

Please continue to pray for health and strength for the team. Kristina wasn't feeling good that first evening but seems to be better now. Pastor Pavel led another 4-hour family seminar today, with 150 church leaders in attendance. They appreciate your prayers!

Value time

Hi everybody!

When I woke up at 6 am this morning I was pleasantly surprised by “angelic singing” floating into the room through the windows. They were sounds of the voices of children from the Christian orphanage praising God. I'm amazed at what wisdom God gives to their mentors to bring them up in God's truth. Two hours before they go to school each child takes his/her place in the sanctuary and the worship starts. They sing and in the quiet morning the most distant houses of this district are filled with voices praising God.

God used these children to talk to me. How much of my time am I willing to dedicate to Him? When I'm getting ready to go to work or to school what am I thinking about? May be such sweet thoughts as to stay in bed a little while longer and indulge my flesh and sleep for another 5 minutes intoxicate my mind instead of finding it in me to praise God?

What are you thinking about when you snooze your alarm for another 10 minutes and get up just 5 min before you have to run out to work? You have not a minute to loose, you run headlong in order to barely make it. But in fact, you didn't make it. You have already lost your opportunity to start your day with Him and His blessings and it's your fault!

How does your day start? Do you read the Bible, pray and praise God? Or are you just in a hurry? And only then later somewhere in the traffic jam on Moscow ring road you find a little time for God and your spiritual growth?

Time is flying by and soon everyone will face God. How will you account for the wasted time before God? Value the time that God has given you!

Alexander Kartavenko

God's children have God's wisdom

The testimony of Nanny Grace that we heard over supper last night has moved me deeply. She is a child of God in 4^th generation and a 3^rd generation missionary. Here's how her parents taught her to trust the Lord. When she grew up and was setting off for a mission field, her father handed her a 100$ bill and said: “All the way through bringing you up we've been investing a lot in the heavenly bank, so now whenever you are in need draw on that account”. That taught her to trust God in all financial issues. She had to go without a crumb in her mouth for days but God has always been faithful in providing for all her needs.

Pavel Kolesnikov

Nepal wins over our hearts

One day we've been in ministry but without the internet. The things we've heard and seen that day can easily make for a book or two. We got up early on Wednesday, read the Word and prayed for the Lord's guidance and blessing through out the day. We had very vague idea of what we were going to do the next 2 days. We didn't know the people, we didn't have a plan – we just trusted God. Two cars came to pick us up in the morning. They presented quite a contrast – one was a modern jeep truck, another an Indian mini-van that looked like an elephant had stumbled over it. Not a spot undamaged but it moved! After a while we came to the premises of a church and an orphanage. In 5 minutes an elderly lady called Grace came out to meet us, and she has already become for us as for many other people through out the world “Nanny Grace”. We heard her life story and it started to change our minds, our attitude to ministry. For 37 years of her ministry there were no more than 100 Christians throughout the country. And there were no Christians in the area where this 20-year-old girl settled. Here are some hardships she had to go through: prison, had to change her passport over 20 times, threats, prohibition to preach from authorities, religious fundamentalists and Mao Zedong followers. In the morning of the day that we came, they were raided by the police but God has concealed Nanny Grace. The ministry that we've stepped in has over 90 churches throughout Nepal, 2 Bible schools, an orphanage, a church of 2.000 people.

Pavel Kolesnikov

Let those who have ears hear!

I thank God for His amazing love for us. Today we went shopping to buy a sound system for the church. Pastor Puran added this request later and there was little time for us to collect the finances. But God answered the prayer of Christians in Nepal and Russia. We came up to the pastor and said that God had provided the finances for the sound system. You should have seen the pastor's face! This sincere brother couldn't keep a smile off his face. The church has been praying about it and waiting for a long time. Brothers and sisters, now they'll have quality sound worship and when the Word is preached in Nepalese everyone around will hear. The system cost 45 thousand Nepalese rupees. Today at our morning Bible study we read a wonderful passage in 1 Cor.9:19-27 - “Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible”. We are free in Christ but we enslave ourselves for the Gospel. We realize that God has given us freedom not in order for us to please our flesh but so that we could serve Him in Spirit and in truth. We can enslave ourselves to the desires that bear no fruit in the Kingdom of God or we can fast one day a week and enslave our flesh and use the money we would have “eaten up” to support a minister in Nepal or India. A lot of you who are reading our blog have done something like it – you've refused yourself something to give up the money for the work of God. I encourage you to enslave yourself for the sake of Christ shining in people's hearts. Praise God! And thank you on behalf of pastor Puran and the church.

Vladimir P.

pictures

Those who are on facebook and would like to see pictures of the team's activities can go to Kristina Kolesnikova's page for daily updates.

The first seminar on family in Nepal!

A special event took place today. The first seminar on family and marriage.

Back when I was at home I received a request from pastor Puran to speak on the family relationships issues. Over 60 people came to the church building. Some people have come from far away, others from neighboring regions, there were 4 baptist pastors among them. It was amazing to see people thirst to know what is God's intent for marriage, what are the foundations for a Christian marriage, how you build relationships between spouses and what is God's plan for a family. We spent 4 hours discussing these matters translating from English into Nepalese. A lot of the people came up to thank me and share what has especially moved them. Later I found out that it was the first seminar for them on this topic. They've had Christian weddings but they've never heard biblical teaching on marriage. The examples we used were comprehensible for all listeners. It turns out they have problems between husbands and wives and with family relationships and false expectations about married life in their country, too! The pastors were inspired by the seminar and have a desire to hold a conference for 200 pastors next year. They also want to gather worship leaders and children's workers from all over Nepal for training and encouragement. THERE IS A LOT OF WORK IN NEPAL!!!

P.S. Now is the season of weddings in Nepal so it is significant to have had the seminar at that time.

Pavel Kolesnikov

Value people while they are alive

Hi every body!

Today our whole team visited the main temple for Hindus and its crematorium in Katmandu. Of course we didn't enter the temple because there was a plate at the entrance saying “ONLY FOR HINDUS”. Since there were non of those in our group, we couldn't enter the building. But we could observe the rituals. I must say that their traditions of funeral are vastly different from the ones we are used to.

After some preparation for cremation (incineration) they put a man's body, left by the soul just a little time ago, on an alter made of sandal wood and straw. You need about 400 kg (800 pounds) of wood for an alter and some kinds of wood are very expensive. It's no secret that the relatives of a deceased are willing to pay any amount of money for the one the lost. Unfortunately, people often perform heroical deeds for their loved ones when it is too late.

A son might not give a single flower to his mother while she is alive but he decorates her tombstone or grave with multitudes of her favorite blossoms when she's gone to show his immeasurable love. Children put up impressive tombstone of precious stones on the graves of their parents after having no second thought about them during their life time. People tend to do good when it's no longer relevant.

The Hindus taught me today that it is very important to do good to your loved ones while they are alive and need your attention.

Appreciate those around you! Give them what's most precious for you while they can make use of it. Pray for them while they are alive!

Alexander Kartavenko

Monday

Sunday night was very short, and Monday came early for the team, as they had breakfast at 4:00AM and then headed to the airport to fly to Nepal. At the airport, they found that their flight had been delayed an hour. They managed to fill in all the necessary paperwork for going through customs to leave India and for visa requirements upon arrival in Nepal. They enjoyed the beauty of God's creation in the Himalayas as they flew in and are enjoying the sunshine and radiant colors.

A local pastor and host met the team and got them settled. Then they visited a Buddhist monastery. The monastery is on top of a mountain, and hundreds of steps lead up to it. This is a place of worshiping idols and false gods, and the place was full of people. Some were there as tourists; some just to look; children playing because their parents were there; others selling things. It's terrible to see how people climb those stairs and then end up going to hell! They perform many rites and don't know that God offers forgiveness of sins and eternal life freely and seeks people who will worship Him free of charge. Before leaving, the team prayed for God to deliver the people of Nepal from spiritual darkness.

Sunday

Of course, the team is experiencing many things, and they have much to think and write about. Pastor Alexander shared about seeing a world where people live without hope or perspective of the future, they have almost nothing, and yet they are happy with what they do have. God convicted him and he asked forgiveness for the envy we often experience when we see what others have that we don't have. May God give each of us a contented heart!

Pastor Pavel wrote of “daily” happenings such as late nights of preparation and no water in the house where they are staying. One of the girls was finishing lesson preparations as she was walking along the street and fell, turning her pure white outfit into a common Indian color. It's difficult to stay clean and white in India! :)

On Sunday, they took part in the morning service at a local church, had dinner and a little rest at the pastor's home, and then a time of fellowship with other local pastors that evening, including celebrating the birthday of one of the team members. Vladimir celebrated his 33^rd birthday ministering in India and said it was his best birthday ever!

Several of the team conducted a children's class after the morning service. The children had a great time making balloon animal figures. (You can see pictures on the Russian blog at http://oninevinovaty.blogspot.com/.)

Kristina wrote about seeing a girl they had met on their trip two years ago. At that time, the family had had no food for two days, and the team took them food and prayed for them. This time, the girl and her family are rejoicing in the Lord and serving Him. She asked Kristina to pray for her studies.

Arrived safely

A note to our English readers:

The team arrived safely and were able to rest for a few hours before beginning their first day of ministry in India. Thank you for your prayers for them during the time of preparation and traveling. Thank you for praying for them during their time of ministering to the needy in India and Nepal!

This first day, they were able to fellowship with one of the local pastors and visit some needy families. They took them some flour, sugar, and rice, and prayed with them.

Hello everyone!
One day left and I'll leave to Moscow. I'm thrill, feel excitement and experience - what can I do to be helpful in this trip? Every day I ask God that He use me in evangelism. I want to be an instruments in God's hands ...


Alex

Last Sunday

So last Sunday has passed
God blessed us today. We were blessed at the Sunday worship service. During the day there were a lot of helpers - drawing, cutting, counting and do what we need to do. And as well as they brought things which we need. And you can see what we have now on the picture.

Praise God for sacrifice of people and people around us.

Closer and closer the day, when we leave.

I'm in a waiting mood. At night there are a lot of things to do and just few hours of sleep. But I trust that God will give physical strength. However emotionaly and spiritually I'm becoming weaker. There are a lot of things to be done. And we need your prayers.

A step forward to continue what has already been started

5 days left til the begining of our mission trip to India and Nepal

We continue the project "They are not to blame", which we've started, and continue to step forward into this direction and send people to India and Nepal.

This time there are 7 people in our team:
Pavel Kolesnikov - pastor at Zelenograd Baptist Church and leader of the team
Anatoly Oleynik - senior pastor of Kirov region and pastor in the church in Kirov
Alexandr Kartavenko - pastor-missionary at Kinishma, Ivanov region
Vladimir Pachezertsev - diacon in Baptist Church in Kirovo-Chepetsk, senior minister in the central Russia for Gedeon Brothers mission
Irina Popova - member of Zelenograd Baptist church, teacher in Sunday school
Katya Vasilieva - member in Second Baptist Church, sing in the choir "For You"
Kristina Kolesnikova - member of Zelenograd Baptist Church, worship leader

God is great. He blesses every member of the team, send finance for the mission, blessed with prayer partners. We thank God for people's sacrifice - clothes, ballones, paper, materials for craft, toys, games, presents and many other staff, which we'll use during mission trip.

Please pray for us and may God bless you!