Russian Winter

Winter is upon us here in Russia. We have had snow several times and soon the ground will be blanketed until next spring. Winter here always reminds us of the harsh reality of life in Russia. Many Russian believers live below the poverty level set by the government. Orphanages struggle to cloth the children in their care.

We are often amazed by how little money Russian families live on. We recently met a Russian Pastor and his wife,Nikolai and Irina This couple has 6 children, which is a huge family by Russian standards. The average Russian family has one child. All other pregnancies are terminated by abortion.

Nikolai and Irina subsist on about $200 US per month. This is way below the poverty level. Their children range in age from university student to toddler. Nikolai works as a car mechanic often working 14 hours a day. Due to the destruction of the Russian economy and widespread unemployment, this is the only work he can find. Nikolai is a qualified pastor who leads a home Bible study. We hope to work with them in the near future to plant the first Foursquare church in Nizhny Novgorod.

Karen and I will be helping this family this winter. We though that our readers would want to know of ways they can do the same. If you would be interested in helping to bless this family or other Russian believers like them there are several ways you could do so.

• You or your church could collect good quality used or new clothing and mail it to us. We could then distribute it to those in need.
• You could make a financial donation which we could use to purchase clothing or food here in Russia.

We were thrilled to hear that the Bath Maine Foursquare church is sending a box of mittens, scarves hats and other items for us to distribute to orphans. This is a real blessing and we could use more items like this.

If this is of interest to you please let us know via email or by posting a comment to this article.