In May, a team from Smokey Point Community Church arrived in Tobolsk to build a barn. With the rehab center housing up to 30 people, the small, wooden barn they have been using to raise animals was quickly running out of space. The team was able to build the walls and put the frame of the roof on. The rehab center is finishing the final tasks. The barn, 4 times the size of the old, wooden one they were using, will be complete by the end of July. This will enable the center to raise more animals for food as well as to sell to help make the center self-supporting.
The week after the Smokey Point team returned to the States, Pastor Timofei was asked to come to a meeting in the mayor’s office. The leader of the Orthodox Church was also present at this meeting. Timofei was afraid the city and Russian Orthodox Church were going to cause problems for the church. But God had other plans. The Mayor’s representative shared how they have been hearing about the ministry of the rehab center. For example, a local women’s prison, where the church has tried for several years to visit but was continually denied access, approached the church and requested the church to conduct weekly services. The city official went on to share how much they appreciate the ministry of the rehab center, how great a need there is for centers like this one, and then turned to the Orthodox Priest and asked: “What are you doing to help people with addictions?” The meeting ended with the city officials asking the church to help them with the increasing need to help people with additions. Praise God for this testimony.
The city officials also heard about the barn being built, which will enable to rehab center to raise more animals, and wanted to offer help. They shared with Pastor Timofei that the city would give them 10 acres of land where they could grow hay for feed for the animals AT NO COST to the center. Thank you to everyone who has prayed and supported this project. In the past 18 months over 100 people have been ministered to at the rehabilitation center.
Many of you have been asking about the “half-way house.” Although many that come to the rehab center return to their cities after finishing the program, many have nowhere to go. The half-way house is intended to help these people get back on their feet. They live in the rooms at the Old City Tobolsk Church and work during the day at different jobs. Several members in the church have started businesses (making cinder blocks, working in a small toilet paper factory, and construction) with the intent to hire those who are living in the half-way house. It was a special treat to sit together with the Smokey Point team and these men as they shared their stories of how God freed them from addiction and gave them new life in Christ.
