Thank you for your prayers for our church and for my service. We really need them. We can see the power of your prayers in the life of our church.
We recently had a meeting with the brothers from the churches in Ulyanovsk region. Every three months we all meet in a different church, and now it was our turn. We were very happy to receive guests, it was very important for us, because we learned to show hospitality. Receiving guests always takes time, and effort. When we serve together, we make our relationships stronger and receive God’s blessings. The meeting went well and we had twenty brothers attend. During the meeting we strengthened our relationships and planned mutual service in developing evangelism in Ulyanovsk region. Please pray for these faithful ministers and the spreading of the Word of God in our region. We are also working to start new groups in district centers.
Also, we had two brothers visit us from Novorossiysk – they mainly evangelize in public transportation. The reason they came was to show how they do their service. They spent a week with us and we went evangelizing with them every day. The first three days we were evangelizing at an inter-city bus station, until security asked us to stop. We started evangelizing in trams as well. It wasn’t very convenient to evangelize in local transportation, because people come in and out all the time, but it was still better than nothing. We had certain difficulties and mixed reactions; some people rejected and others thanked us. We also distributed bibles at a retirement home. Praise the Lord!
Our church continues to worship God together on Sundays. Brother Nikolai and I preach. Nikolai preaches on Romans, and I am preaching on the Attributes of God. I have been using Paul Washer’s workbook, The One True God as a complimentary study tool as I prepare my sermons, and I am so thankful to God and Paul for this resource in my own language. The listeners seem to really enjoy sermons about God’s attributes. Pray for me as I study the Word and preach.
After Sunday services we started our Evangelism School again. After I listened to one sister in our church, I realized that this school has really helped. It is nice to hear from sisters and how they share the gospel.
On Fridays we have a prayer group that not a lot of members attend, I am very concerned about it and ask you to pray. And I also want to ask you to pray for the people who used to attend our services but stopped, sometimes they say – they don’t find it interesting. Please pray that those who have fallen away would be ready for support and counseling. And that the true believers would not be discouraged or disappointed when they see such passive reactions and abandonment of the church.
