What an amazing time we had in the presence of God as He touched lives. Many testimonies of healing. A young man who surrendered his life to Christ was healed of a herniated disk in his neck. A woman with curvature of the spine testified that she could stand straight for the first time in 48 years. She said she had constant pain with this condition since childhood. Her husband confirmed that her back was straight and came up for prayer too. Another man started to bend over as he could not do before. Pastor Ilya who brought me to the meeting testified of his healing of unbearable pain in his head due to blood pressure. He also testified of how God answered prayer and held back the snow and freeze until they were able to cover the roof of the church they are building. We closed the service with special prayer for the Missionary Bible School students from the church who will now go into missionary work.
Pastor Igor was excited about the prospect of opening additional churches. He was director of the school we just completed in the region of St. Petersburg. Now the students are being sent out for practical application and church planting. They came from various area churches.
I arrived the day Pastor Ilya (Elijah) finished covering his roof. He met me at the airport with a warm cup of coffee. I appreciated the coffee even more as I stepped out into the freezing strong wind that began to blow. The next day it began to snow as we arrived at the Bible School out in the country. It continued for 2 days, bringing the first major snow and very wintery conditions. It took us over 3 hours to get back to St. Petersburg. It was amazing to see the people braving the cold and heavy snow on the ground to come to the service on Saturday. (Pastor Igor’s church has to meet on Saturdays due to availability of the hall they rent – but this availed him to start another church outside of town where he serves on Sundays). I am getting ready for another service with Bishop Sergey today.
Tomorrow I head to Moscow and on to our school in Zaporizhiya, Ukraine, and then to Donetsk.
Please pray for the pastors and churches in Russia. They work in very challenging circumstances. Please also pray for the students who just completed the training program and are being sent out into new fields to plant churches and assist in those already started.
Thank you for your prayers and support of our ministries. May God recompense you greatly as you rejoice with us in the fruit of our joint labors.