Missions Trips 2007
An Evangelistic Trip to Soltsy
One day a group of our students visited an orphanage in the village of Viebiti, where they had gone last year. It turned out that the children there remembered the students of SPbCU; they and even the teachers of this orphanage had been eagerly waiting for them. After various sports games which expressed Bible lessons, our team led a Bible study on the theme of "The Good Shepherd."
Our students were delighted with the response! Many of the students started to really love the young people in this city and want to continue serving there. They said, "Glory to God that He gave us an opportunity to be there and to make friends with these young people! We saw how God showed Himself, how He kept us safe us during our extended trip."
Many of our students loved the children of this city and would like to continue their ministry there. We believe that God will continue His work through us and that these young people will be our friends.
A Missionary Trip to Elista
The main purposes of this trip were to learn something about the culture of Kalmukia and to provide a special program for local children and youth. The people of Kalmykia, as in old times, believe in different spirits and they also accept Buddhism as their religion. There is a Buddhist temple in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, which is larger than any in Europe. People there would more easily believe a Buddhist monk than a Christian, even if they talk about the same things. That is why one of the purposes of the trip was to learn more about the culture of this region.
When the group arrived in Elista, all the students stayed in the building of a local church. The first days of the trip were devoted to learning the culture of Kalmykia, to sightseeing and so on. During this time the group, together with the pastor and the youth-leader of the local church, were planning strategy for the upcoming events. At the end of the first day of the planned activities, someone told them that they had to stop because they didn't get prior approval from the local government.
The next day the same man came with police and told the team to stop their activities, in spite of the opinion of the children and their mothers, who wanted the program to be continued. So the team spent the rest of the evening in a police station, giving their explanation of who they were and what were they doing. The following morning the team was taken to another police station because the policemen there had received a complaint from a woman who said that the students had been talking to children about God without permission. So the students had to give their explanations again and then they were released.
The pastor of that church invited the students to come next summer and to help organize a summer camp for children.
Today we are praying that God will give us not only a desire but also the possibility to go again to Kalmykia and do more there for Him.
A Report About Summer Practice: Crimea 2007
From July 1-15, 2007, a group of students from St. Petersburg Christian University went on a missionary trip to the Crimea.
We spent two days in the outback, in the city of Belogorsk, where we helped a local missionary hold a worship service. We also helped spread invitations to the church and in the evening we sang and prayed for that church. The next day we took rakes, choppers, and spades to clear the area in front of the city's central hospital, serving the people not only by words but also by actions. The last few days of our trip were spent in Listovoe, where we helped with housekeeping chores at a rehab center, organized games and Bible studies for the children, and participated in a service led by a local missionary.
Glory to Jesus for this trip, for the revelation of new possibilities! We have a new perspective on missionary service and gained practice on overcoming cultural barriers. We learned a lot from the children about the style of their life, about life in a Tatar family.
We hope that we manage to fulfill another missionary trip to Crimea in the next year.
About a Missionary Trip to Yakutia
One day we planned a trip to the village of Kachikatsy, to a large family. We went there by car. This village is situated on the other side of the Lena River. It was necessary to go by ferryboat. One sister in Christ from my church arranged with her brother that he would take us over for free. But when we came, he wasn't there. So, we paid the required sum for the ferryboat -and it turned out that we didn't have money to go home.
We brought a lot of soft toys, pampers and food and gave them to the family. The words their grandmother spoke to the children were quite amazing to us; she said, "Wait a bit, please, don't touch anything. Let's just look. We never had such toys." It seemed that boys 6-7 years old would not be interested in these toys. But some time later they took them and didn't let them go.
Then we had to return. When we were going to the river we pinned our hope only on God's will and a miracle. And wonderfully God was merciful to us. They took us on the ferryboat for free.
All the members of this trip want to go once more. Now we are solving the question about adding more people. We need some of the brothers to go with us. We are also keeping in communication with the local churches and leaders. We want the project for next year to be not only our ideas; we want it to be a combined project.