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Happy Valentine’s Day!
May God fill you with His love on this holiday. He is love, and He has fully demonstrated His love through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:8). Jesus calls every believer to love others with His sacrificial love as the great ongoing testimony of the church. Remember, God made you special, and He loves you very much!
English Camp Weekend
The last weekend of January was English camp weekend. This was designed as an event that not only helps people learn English, but also facilitates relationships between believers and unbelievers and serves as a bridge event where aspects of the gospel can be shared. The theme of the weekend was ‘Stories’. So students shared their personal stories, learned about the moral of the story, and also heard some stories Jesus told. Lynda was one of the leaders of this camp, along with our Alliance team mates Alan, Trish and Donnie. Although morning devotional times were optional, everyone attended and listened to stories like the Prodigal Son. People were challenged to come back to the Father who loves them. It was 48 hours of English, fun, learning, games, discussions, and heart to heart discoveries. There were a number of campers from our church there as well. When believers and unbelievers start forming relationships and share their stories and their lives, well, you just have to agree - that is when the church is really being the church. Keep praying for spiritual awakening in the lives of those we meet with every week.
Community Center Update
Some people have been asking for an update on the community center. Just before the English weekend, we had met with the manager of a 3 story mall to rent the third floor on an hourly basis. We planned to move our English club to this new facility right after the English camp, and our church planned to move worship services to this facility beginning in February. We already had verbal agreement about the contract, and we had communicated to church members and English learners about the coming move. Chairs and tables were moved in. At the 11th hour, the owner changed his mind and wanted more time before experimenting with an hourly rental business plan, something which the ownership group has never done. That left us with egg on our face, a bitter taste in our mouth and back to our knees looking for God’s leading.
There is still a possibility that the owners will accept this new method of renting. There are a multitude of other options to lease, but then we are back at square one in the process and would probably need to create a legal organization to enter into agreements with other owners. So pray that God’s would give us clear leading and favor in this matter.
Youth Group
On Thursday night, Perry has been involved with a small group of college and career young people. It is both a Bible study and discussion club, attended by youth from our church, from other churches, and unbelievers we have come to know through English club, English camp and English movie nights. Our theme the last two weeks has been love, dating and sexual relationships. It’s not hard to get a discussion going on that topic. But what is really cool is that there were three or four students who aren’t believers but are coming to this group. One girl, Julia, bought herself a Bible a couple of weeks ago. So seeds are growing and we need to keep watering them, and praying for them. Pray for Julia, Nadya, Victor, Michael, and Pavel to open their lives to Jesus.
Olympics
We're thinking more of Canada now that the Winter Olympics have started. Go, Canada, Go! Why not pray for us in Russia every time you see a Russian athlete win an Olympic medal? Thanks!
Thank you for your gifts to the Global Advance Fund that make it possible for us to continue to minister here in Russia.
Blessings!
The Friesen family
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