30
Carelinks | Russia
I
t was at a Moscow Bible School in 2002 that
we baptized a married couple, Andrej and
Tatyana, from a small town near Rostov in
southern Russia. They placed adverts in their
local newspaper, resulting in the baptism of
Sergej in 2006. They raised their daughter
Veronika in the knowledge of the Lord and we
baptized her at another Bible School in
Ukraine a few years ago. Now she is a univer-
sity student, holding to the faith. Sergej raised
his daughter Karina in the Lord, and now at 19
it was our pleasure to meet together for a
delightful time of Bible study and fellowship,
and baptize her. The daily reading of the Bible
according to the Bible Companion was a big
factor in the conversion of these young people
and for all of them in maintaining their faith.
We rented a sauna with a convenient plunge
pool and had a very intense time of Christ-
centred fellowship. Andrej brought tears to
our eyes by bringing out some Sunday School
pictures of Moses which the girls had drawn
when they were very small and they had done
Bible lessons together.
The production of literature and making it
available in digital form has also been highly
significant in the spiritual growth of this lovely
group. Many folks these days don’t have a
computer; they just have a phone or tablet.
This is in practice how many are reading the
Bible and our literature. Russia is changing, in
some ways moving back to the spirit of the old
Soviet days. Pictured right is a splendidly
preserved statue of Lenin in central Rostov.
The Lord’s hand was again evident in that we
had initially planned to arrive in Rostov on the
very day of the plane crash there, which
claimed the lives of 62 people. In fact we were
one of the first flights allowed to land after
the debris had been cleared from the runway.
Our original plans wouldn’t have worked out
as the airport was closed for 2 days after-
wards. So we can only give thanks, that the
word we preach doesn’t return in vain; and
that all the huge effort and expense in
producing and distributing literature, press
adverts and running Bible Schools over the
years has brought forth fruit that remains.
Please continue to support this work- it
definitely has God’s blessing behind it.
T
he new legislation signed in to power in
Russia is very serious. No religious litera-
ture may be produced without prior registra-
tion [which the Government is only granting
to the Orthodox churches]; and an American
who entered Russia on a tourist visa to visit
Christians has been arrested, imprisoned and
is now being deported*. This means that
Russia has returned to a more aggressive
stance against Protestant Christians than
even in the 1980s. All meetings however
small and attempts to evangelize by Russian
citizens, even via email or the internet, are
now forbidden. Please pray for our brothers
and sisters in Russia facing this terrible situ-
ation.