Picnic on the Volga River

Yesterday we received a phone call from Pastor Nick, asking us if we would like to join his family for a walk along the river. Of course we said yes, so about an hour later, he arrived with Irina, his wife and their youngest daughter, Anya. We packed ourselves into his trusty little Oka automobile and headed to the river, which is about a 10 minute drive from our apartment. When we arrived at the river bank we saw that Nick’s son, Igor and another daughter, Masha, had walked to the river so that we could ride in the car.

We spent about ½ an hour walking and talking, and then Nick chose a place to build a fire and have a cookout, Russian style. Most of us ran around picking up trash and litter while Igor gathered firewood and started a small fire. We roasted hot dogs (chicken dogs, not my favorite) on sticks over the fire and ate them with bread, apples and oranges. We had some warmed home-made fruit juice to drink. The whole time we were chatting with one another, using all the English and Russian we knew, trying to understand and be understood. It was nice to see this well adjusted Russian family spend a Sunday afternoon together, and to be invited to be a part of their family time.

The afternoon was delightful. The weather was warm and sunny and we enjoyed watching the boats passing up the Volga River.

The only thing that marred the afternoon were the quantities of trash that littered (covered) the entire riverside. Nizhny Novgorod is a very dirty city, and the riverbank is no exception. The embankments look almost like a landfill in places. Many Russians will drop their trash and litter wherever they are. It doesn’t matter if there is a trash container nearby, they will still throw their trash on the ground. To us this reflects some of the deep spiritual sickness which grips this country. Why would you trash the place where you live? It seems to be a symptom of a deeper sense of hopelessness and despair. Added to this was the thought that nothing belongs to you, so why take care of it, which was the result of 75 years of communism and centuries of serfdom. We long to see this spiritual despair turned into new life through Christ. Only a living relationship with God can cause the changes that are needed here. The Gospel message of hope and life is desperately needed here. Pray with us for more laborers in the harvest.

Picture below

Trash along the river bank

Monastary on the Volga River

Above the monastary is the apartment building where we used to live

In the far distance you can see the

Bridge over the Volga river

The Case of the Missing Documents

It has been only one month since we were last in Tallinn, Estonia, but visa renewal issues necessitated our going again. Tallinn is a logical choice for us as it is only 24 hours away by train and probably the closest foreign consulate to where we live. Finally, we have returned home to Nizhny Novgorod.

Picture above: Karen in our compartment on the train

We had hoped to be in Tallinn only for about 7 days, but as things turned out, we were there for 18 days, including travel. After arriving in Tallinn we had to wait for some vital documents to be sent to us by DHL currier from our sponsoring organization in Nizhny Novgorod. This should have taken 3 days. Imagine our surprise when we see on the internet tracking site that the documents which were supposed to be delivered that morning had apparently gone from Helsinki, Finland to Central America! As we followed the tracking information for the next several days it seemed that they went back to Brussels, Belgium, and then to Venezuela; from Venezuela to Madrid, Spain and finally back to Helsinki, Finland where after being missing for several days they were flown by helicopter to Tallinn, Estonia. This took an additional 5 days so we had to wait an extra week to apply for our visas. Finally, with documents in hand, we submitted them to the consulate and two days later received the visas.

When we arrived home and spoke with our friend who works for DHL here in Nizhny Novgorod, she shared with us how amazing this episode with the documents was from her perspective as an employee. She had sent a whole sack of parcels to Tallinn from Nizhny together with our documents. She then followed the progress of the shipment in her internal DHL network. Everything that she had sent was delivered to its destination in less than 3 days except for our documents. Apparently what had happened was that when the shipment was re-sorted in Brussels, our parcel was mislaid by human error and effectively ‘lost’, never actually leaving Brussels. The scanned information from our parcel was then flying back and forth across the Atlantic, but the parcel itself was sitting in obscurity in Brussels, Belgium. Our friend, Natasha, told us that when that happens it is nearly impossible to find a lost parcel because DHL employees are so overworked they can rarely get away from their computer screens. All validation of a parcel is done by what is seen on the computer and if that is erroneous…well, “tough luck!” (Not her exact words).

God knew of our need, however, and brought the parcel to someone’s notice so that it could continue its journey on to Tallinn.

We enjoyed being in Tallinn. It is a lovely, medieval city with loads of history. After living in Russia for over two years the cleanliness and orderliness of Tallinn was very relaxing and soothing. Despite this, we were anxious to get back to Nizhny Novgorod. We missed our friends and the work that is being established here.

Street Musician in Tallinn

Ministry Opportunity

We have an invitation to visit the country of Georgia (south of Russian and a part of the former Soviet Union) in June. The trip would be an exploratory trip to meet church leaders and assess an possible involvment in ministry there. Foursquare currently has no churches or missionaries working in Georgia.

We don't have the finances available for the trip in our regular operating budget. The total cost for the trip would be $850.00, which would cover all our travel expenses for the week. Food and lodging would be provided by local believers. We are mentioning this trip in order to make people aware of the opportunity and to ask anyone interested in sponsoring this trip to contact us via email at Missionarcouple@Comcast.net . Should the finances not become available we will assume that the Lord has other plans for now.

Thanks

Mike and Karen

Visa Update

Entrance to Old Tallinn - Church Door - Old Tallinn
On April 25 we will be leaving Nizhny Novgorod by train, going to Moscow, and then taking the overnight train to Tallinn, Estonia. In Tallinn we will work on a new visa which will allow us to stay in Russia for another three months. This is our second trip to Tallinn. We made the same trip last month and were only able to receive a 30 day tourist visa, which allowed us to briefly return to Russia.

We are currently waiting for the regional authorities to approve our 3 year residency visa. We are hoping that we will receive this much needed document in the next three months. Otherwise we will need to leave Russia in early August, and apply for another 1 year religious workers visa.

Please pray with us for the successful completion of the 3 month visa and our receiving the 3 year visa soon. Please pray the the necessary funds will be provided to cover the expense of our travels.

Old City Tallinn View of Tallinn city street The medieval city wall -Tallinn

Good Shepherd Church is Born!

This month we are celebrating the official birth of the first Foursquare church in the Nizhny Novgorod area!

The church meets in a rented room in this cultural hall.

Good Shepherd Foursquare Church is now a reality. We have been working with Pastor Nikolai for 6 months building relationships, casting vision and providing support. During this time Nikolai has gathered and merged two separate house groups and established a weekly worship service. One of the brothers, who is a Christian businessman, has located this hall and pays for the rental.

Children at church

The church meets together on Saturday morning and has an average attendance of 16 adults and 6-8 children.

Pastor Nick has been busy working with the national Foursquare leadership to begin the process of legally registering the church. The church now meets on the lower side of the city, across the Oka river. Nikolai is considering moving the location to the upper side of the city, where there are currently very few congregations.

Pastor Nick and Andre