New Challenges

Summer has arrived in Siberia.  Often this means everyone is out planting and working their fields as well as trying to squeeze in as many activities and as much "work around the house" they can fit while the weather is warm. For these reasons, church attendance is often low here in Russia during the warmer months. Although a few people who attend our services have jobs for the summer months, they have been faithful to attend as much as possible.
Summer for us means Vacation Bible School. For the past five years we have held VBS during the first week of July here in the village of Elita. This year we planned accordingly asking the directors of the cultural building, where we have services, in advance for permission to use the building for that particular week. We were given permission and were looking forward to this year's program. Approximately two weeks before it was to begin, on a Wednesday evening as we entered the building for services we were approached by the assistant director and asked to come into her office. She began the conversation by saying, "I really don't want to have to tell you this..." and then continued to say that we would no longer be allowed to meet in the cultural building for church. As she explained, a regional commission group had come through the village for a routine check. During their walk through of the cultural building, they inquired if we were still meeting for services and she replied that we were. The commission then told her that we could no longer meet in the building. Praise the Lord, even this assistant director pleaded our case and explained that we have presented them with any documents they required of us and we have already been meeting there for the past five years. However, the decision was made and she had to pass along the news to us. As she explained the situation she was fighting back tears since we have had a great relationship with the ladies there since we were allowed to use the building.
The rest of the story will be told in the next post but we need to stop and share with you how things went our first Sunday after we were no longer allowed to meet in the cultural building. We were obviously a bit numb after being told about the decision that had been made. We wondered why, if the new leadership was against our ministry even though we had not sensed that from the lady now in office (who was previously the secretary to the man who was in office last term), or if it was related to the fact that now that the doors of the Orthodox chapel in the village had finally been opened. We had known for some time of someone from the Orthodox church holding Sunday school in the cultural building. However, children had told us that no matter what time their signs announced Sunday school, no one ever showed up to teach and no children ever came. Now that there is a chapel for them to meet in, they conveniently hold Sunday school at 11 am on Sunday. This is the exact time we have held Sunday school for the last five years! But, once again, as the children tell me, they have not had anyone in attendance.
With all of these questions in our minds, we went ahead and planned to hold Sunday school out in the soccer field everyone in the village uses for various activities. It is located across the street from our house. We were excited that the weather was nice, even hot. As we were planning how we could set up the flannelgraph by using the bed of our truck, we received a call from one of our ladies, Sveta, letting us know she had been called out to work and would not be able to attend that morning. She added that she had two guys standing next to her who had walked up to her to find out where they needed to go to find us. The time being only 10 am, still one hour before services were to begin, David went to meet them and bring them to our house where we had planned on holding the services for the adults. These two men were from builders from Armenia who were working on a new subdivision on the other side of the village. It was Sunday so they walked into the village to a store to ask where they could attend church. The lady at the counter told them where the Orthodox chapel was and they replied that they wanted to find a Christian Church. She then said, "Well, the Baptists meet in the cultural building every Sunday." She pointed them in the direction of the building and they "happened" to meet Sveta who works right beside the building and inquired of her about the services! So, Misha and Garrick came to our house with David and enjoyed the Sunday morning message. It was a great encouragement to us as we saw how the Lord led visitors to us even on the first Sunday when we had to meet in our home.

David with our two first-time visitors, Garrick (left) and Misha (right).

Meanwhile, Dee taught Sunday School in the soccer field. We realized attendance might be down a bit with the change. We enjoyed the warm day and it was a good opportunity to "test" out the new set up for the Bible story. Praise the Lord for the encouraging day despite the challenges!