Dear Friends,
It is hard to believe it is already March. The first two months of 2013 have been packed full with travel, meetings, and stratgetic planning for our team here in Russia. We were able to begin the new year with Michael and Timothy visiting us here in Moscow. Timothy even braved the cold weather to be at Red Square at midnight to start 2013. The rest of us celebrated at home in our warm apartment. Benjamin wasn’t able to be with us for the holidays, but enjoyed spending Christmas day with friends skiing for the first time.
Here are some of the highlights from the past two months:
**Bob was able to attend the board meeting for our National church’s camp on the Black Sea. After many years of helping to develop this camp, “Mountain Springs Camp” is now self supporting. This last year they saw 1500 children attend their summer programs. This year they are expanding their overall program to include winter camps, English camps, and retreats for churches and Christian organizations.
**A video team from the Alliance recently spent several days in St Petersburg filming at our cafe/community center as well as our Central Asian outreach center. They also took footage of some of the famous sites around the city, like the Hermitage Museum. These videos should be coming out in June, so be on the look out. You might even get a glimpse of Bob in some of the videos.
**Our National church partners are increasing in their desire to reach Russia with the gospel. One of the exciting parts of working with these dedicated men and women is seeing this vision for church planting spread across the border to other countries such as Ghana, Nepal, Israel, India, as well as countries in Central Asia.
**The church in Tobolsk continues to see people come to Christ. There were 8 baptisms in the Rehab Center since last summer. And 15 people were baptized in the Tobolsk church this past fall. The church is getting ready to start a new church plant in another town where there is no evangelical witness. A couple, saved and discipled in the Tobolsk church, is preparing to lead this new work.
**Our ministry among Central Asians working in Russia continues to grow. This past month saw 3 new followers of Christ. These workers, numbering in the millions in our city, come from some of the most repressive countries in our world.
**One of the hardest aspects of leading our team of Alliance workers in Russia/Ukraine is making tough decisions regarding our staff. One of our families, Nate and Kirsten Belcher, along with their three daughters joined our team this past August. Nadya, their four year, has struggled with food allegeries most of her young life, but with a strict diet she was able to do just about anything. After the new year, Nadya began to struggle with new food allergies and began losing weight. After hours of prayer and many conversations, we decided it was best to release the Belchers to return to the States to care for their family. It is discouraging to lose a family who are called by God to share the gospel with those who desperately need to hear about His love. We don’t understand why God allowed this to happen to this young family, but we will trust in Him, through our tears and sadness, knowing He is good.
Prayer Requests
**Pray for the Belcher family as they resettle back into life in America. They will need to find a place to live and jobs to support their family. Pray also for Nadya, that God would guide doctors to diagnosis the source of her problems and bring healing to her body.
**Due to changes in the laws, Mountain Springs camp can no longer use bunk beds. This cut the camp’s capacity in half, to 96 campers. In order for the camp to continue to develop and remain self-supporting, they need to build another dormitory that would hold 40 kids. Pray for God to provide the resources and for teams willing to come to help with this building project.
**Pray for the start of a new church plant in the town of Mendeleev (about 20 miles from Tobolsk). Shaun and his wife, Oksana, have begun meetings in apartments. With no church in this town, they are hoping to move there this summer. Pray they would be able to find an affordable apartment to rent.
**Timothy will be coming home for Spring break the end of March. His senior year is going well. Pray that he will have a good ending at Black Forest Academy as he transitions to college next year.
**Michael has been accepted as an intern for the summer with Next Step Ministries. He will be the construction project lead for their work in Hancock County, Mississippi, repairing homes and buildings damaged from hurricane Katrina. You can check out their ministry at www.nextstepministries.com
**Our Russia/Ukraine Alliance team will be gathering together the first week in April for our annual Field Forum. Pray for Bob as he leads these meetings, guiding our field staff in times of worship, fellowship, prayer and planning.
**Bob will be attending a Church Planting seminar in Germany April 15-19. This material is specifically designed for planting churches cross-culturally. Pray for wisdom in applying the principles learned at the seminar to our church planting projects in Russia.
