Written by Sabrina Booth
I left for Russia on January 24th and have been taking some time to look over last year and wondering what this year will bring. There have been many encouraging things. Last spring, after a long struggle, Dima was baptized and he came into the assembly in early summer. His family is opposed to his new faith in Christ so it is very hard for him, but he is trying to bring the gospel to his parents, wife and young son. Please pray that he will see them all saved as well. He wants to start bringing his son out to meeting, so please pray that he will not be hindered in this.
Dima's decision to obey the Lord helped another young man, Ilya, understand what baptism was about and he was baptized at the beginning of August and has also come into the assembly. He was brought out to the meetings a year ago by Olya, a young lady in the assembly. He was afraid at first because he felt he was too sinful, but he came and got saved.
Last August Olya and Ilya were married. They wanted their marriage to be a testimony to their family and friends who were not saved. Although they received a lot of criticism from family and friends about having a real Christian wedding, they stuck to their decision. They used my Dad's wedding ceremony which was translated into Russian. We spent hours planning every little detail and a week before the wedding everything started to go wrong that could possibly go wrong, due to unforeseen circumstances. We have laughed a great deal, looking back and remembering everything, and fortunately, in spite of all the glitches, the actual wedding day went very well. Everyone said it was the first they had seen of such a wedding. One of Olya's friends said that for the first time she heard words of truth and realized she needed to make changes in her life. Another said that she would be interested in coming out to meetings. It was a real encouragement for them to see that their decision to put the Lord first could have lasting results for eternity.
I would like to ask for prayer for this couple. Olya has a real heart for God and a desire to work with children. She has always supported any assembly activities and is a tremendous help to me. She is interested in helping orphans. Lord willing, we will start to develop a children's work. Due to financial circumstances she has to work hard right now but her desire is that the Lord will bless Ilya with a job that will enable her to quit working so that she can devote her time to serving the Lord. It is wonderful to be able to have this fellowship with her.
There have been encouragements in my English classes as well. It is possible that Ira is saved. She started coming out a year-and-a-half ago and at first was very quiet. This summer she started to ask many questions about salvation. She began to stay after the class, to keep talking. She has completely opened up to the Bible. Her grandmother was a very religious woman and always thought that she knew the truth, but Ira told me that when her grandmother went to confession, she told the priest she had nothing to confess because she never sinned. I believe Ira began to change when she realized her grandmother was wrong.
Last November she asked me that if a person had accepted Christ, but had been baptized as a baby, was it possible for them to be baptized biblically as a believer? She cannot imagine how it will be with her family, but I would like to ask for prayer for her as it seems that she is saved and she wants to be baptized. It has been very wonderful to see the changes that have taken place in her this year so please pray that the Lord will give her the strength to go on for Him in spite of the cost.
Please pray for Nina and Sergei who come on Tuesdays. Nina works at the orphanage and has become increasingly interested in the Bible. We are studying Genesis right now and she did not know anything about creation and sin and God. It is all very new to her and she wants to learn more. Please pray for her salvation.
Sergei grew up in an orphanage and is in university now. He is trying hard to get ahead in this world. He is very positive in spite of the tragic situation of his life. He does not know much about the Bible but recently had some personal problems which upset him. We talked about how the Lord can help us through these difficult situations and how the Bible can teach us the right way to live. I think he has realized that he can have a different life and friends. I will start inviting him out to assembly activities as I think he will be interested now.
I also started a once-a-month study at my home on the tabernacle and offerings. Different ones from the assembly and the English class were interested so it has been good for them to get to know each other and study the Word of God together.
I finally got all my residency papers. It was quite a long ordeal and also a very humorous one but at least now I have the stamp in my passport for three years. Now that I no longer have to study for my visa I have more time, so I have been going to the orphanage more frequently and the staff has really become friendly and I have been able to talk to many more of them.
There are many other names to pray for but I will not add more for now. I just ask that you pray that the Lord will continue to open doors and work in people's hearts to bring them to the Lord. One important thing is discipling these young Christians, to help them grow and take on responsibility and develop their gifts. The tabernacle study and our monthly cooking club/Bible study, help with this and Brian and Igor from the assembly are trying to work on this too. I would appreciate prayer that the assembly will really grow and be able to truly reach out to the city around us.
Many of the ones I work with have been interested in the end times and the coming of the Lord, so we have been studying this and it really makes one think about how important it is to stand fast and not be weary in our service for the Lord as we are waiting for that great shout.
Spring 2013
Written by Sabrina Booth - Russia