JULY, 2009

Dear Friends!

We continually thank God for your love, prayers, support, and interest in our ministry! You are a huge blessing to us for which we are very grateful! We are in the middle of summer with our street and coffee house evangelism, and have had a wonderful door opened to us at a women’s prison in Tallinn.

NEWS FROM ESTONIA

We are thrilled to pieces to have a part in what God is doing at a local prison. Jesus said that if we have done it unto the least of these, His brethren, we have done it unto Him. We never knew how exciting and alive and refreshing prison ministry could be. But when you have very hungry souls who put into practice what they are taught…well it’s just exciting, that’s all! We have continued to visit Rita weekly in prison (see the last two newsletters for her story) and met the prison chaplain, who invited us to conduct meetings with the girls every Friday. We gladly accepted this invitation and now every Friday we come to worship together with the girls, pray, share testimonies and study the Bible. About 30 girls regularly attend these Friday night prison services, and 8 including Rita have given their lives to Jesus since we started coming. Most of them get mocked and persecuted after repentance, so it is a true step of faith in God to give Him their hearts and lives. We see such a change in these wonderful girls whom the Lord loves so much. They truly hunger for fellowship and the word of God. They also constantly bring new girls who haven’t met Jesus yet and this past month Natasha, Tamara, Larissa (photos below – left to right) and Tanya repented and accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Most of the girls come from broken homes, situations of home violence and are in need of not only physical (from drug addiction and accompanying sicknesses like HIV and hepaatitis C) but also emotional healing and renewing of their minds as you can see from the testimony below. We believe that God who has begun the good work in them will complete it according to Philippians 1:6. We continue to stand in prayer for the girls. We’d appreciate you joining us in intercession for more souls to be saved in prison, for the girls to be transformed and restored by the power of Jesus Christ and to find purpose and destiny in leading others into the Kingdom of God! Here is the testimony of Irina:

“I was born into a family of unbelievers and that is why I never heard about Jesus. The only godly thing I remember from my childhood is my grandmother telling me that up there, there is someone who would judge and punish people for their sins.

Violence ruled our household. My father was an alcoholic and constantly beat up my mother and myself. I grew up as a fearful little beast fighting everything and everyone around me. I quickly learned the principle that attack is the best defense which I actively practiced in school and in relationships. I was very aggressive.

When I turned 12 my Dad left me and Mom for another woman. In my heart I branded him a traitor and all my life hated him for the pain he inflicted on me and Mom. But moreover - this hatred was directed towards any male figure that would appear in my life. I lacked social skills and was not capable of building a healthy relationship.

I was lost as could be - lived in the street, started sniffing glue and at the age of 16 was put in a facility for juvenile delinquents. There I served my first 2 year prison term. It did not improve my character. On the contrary, when I came out at the age of 18, I was even more hardened, inclined to every kind of evil and hatefulness towards the people around me.

I tried getting married, but because I absolutely could not give or receive love, I took out my aggression on my husband. Any little trifle in his behavior kindled my indignation, and our marriage soon fell apart. I was left with a small daughter but I could not take proper care of her either because she needed love which I could not find in my heart however hard I looked.

I continued down the dangerous path of drug addiction and crime, constantly blaming my problems on the circumstances and people around me and becoming more and more skilled in the ‘arts’ of lying, manipulating, conning, etc. By the age of 26 I was a hopeless case – drug addict, witch and murderer. I had been in and out of prison many times but still I thought that I was right and the people around me were wrong and ‘owed me’…

At one point in my life though, as I was in prison again, I started having rather strange experiences. I would close my eyes and see something like a video of my past – all the instances of how I mistreated people and messed up their lives. I tried to escape the conviction of the Holy Spirit and forget about those visions but I could not - they haunted me for days at a time. It brought me to the deep understanding that I am not right and I cannot blame others for my transgressions and look for excuses for my unacceptable behavior in the circumstances I grew up in. I felt so sinful, so dirty, such a swine, I was so sick of my own self… Now I knew that I was the only one to blame for the crimes I committed and the downward spiral my life took. My heart was torn between God and the devil, the fight going on for my soul… I am so thankful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit, as it is a wonderful and necessary thing to lead people to true repentance and understanding of God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.

Later I discovered that there is a chapel in our prison and believers regularly come in and conduct meetings that end with tea and sweets. Well, who in prison does not want to eat home made sweets? I decided to attend one of those meetings. At first I took a seat in the back row and mostly mocked the preachers but slowly started listening to what was preached, met some of the believers personally and came to a painful realization that they are spiritually alive and full of love while I was dead and empty on the inside.

One evening as a pastor preached in the chapel and made an altar call. I responded. I came forward and repented of my sins, asking Jesus to cleanse me and fill me with his love and life. When I opened my eyes after that prayer I realized that the pastor was wearing a GREEN shirt and one of my friends was dressed in a RED jacket. Before that the world around me seemed to be shades of black and gray. I had not noticed colors in a long time! I started hearing sounds of the singing birds, smelling smells and having feelings that I haven’t felt for so long… It was like Somebody unwrapped my head, senses and emotions as if they had been covered with a plastic bag. It was like taking out plugs from my ears and nose and pulling a veil from in front of my eyes!

In the days to follow it seemed like I flew, not walked from place to place moving around several inches above the ground! I could not care less what others thought of me! My prison cell was divided into 2 parts – in one the unbelievers sat slandering each other, and in my part of the cell I and other new believers prayed together. Thus our cell is nicknamed ‘the house of prayer’.

I am so fascinated by Jesus who loved me in spite of all my iniquities! He is teaching me now to love people and to hate sin. I am learning to smile and open up to others. God also started changing my family - my Mom stopped doing witchcraft.

Building a personal relationship with Jesus I now consider the most important thing in my life. I know there is so much more that God has in store for me and I want it.”

Irina is now one of the most active members of the church in this prison – initiating prayer group, worship practices and evangelism… In one of our recent prison visits, Gosha was able to talk and answer Irina’s questions from the Bible for 2 hours. Close by, there was another inmate, Inna receiving a visit from the relatives. Inna overheard Gosha and Irina’s 2 hour talk on God, the Bible, etc… After the visits were over Inna approached Irina asking what that ‘God talk’ was all about. Irina explained to her more specifically about Jesus and salvation and Inna repented and accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. Inna now comes to our prison church meetings too. We are so excited to be reproducing evangelists who have a love and huge heart for the lost! God is wonderful!

NEWS FROM ST. PETERSBURG

The evangelism season in our coffee-house is continuing with more concerts by BIOS band and our own evangelism band as well as showing Christian themed films, doing live drama, and having open discussions on the topics that relate to the lives of the university students and young people. Alesya (in the photo with Gosha) received a coffee house invitation on the street. She is from St. Petersburg and up to this point has been a seeker. As she described it herself, she had questions like, ‘why am I here on this earth?’ and was thinking that there must be more to life then just making a living. Alesya was looking for truth, for purpose, for love, for something that was hard to define but was obviously missing from her life.

She went to a Russian Orthodox Church but did not understand what was sung or spoken at the services that are still done in the ancient Russian tongue. She tried all kinds of philosophies but they did not bring answers. She was into the occult but it did not bring her soul peace. She looked into yoga and eastern religious practices for a while but once as she was meditating and listening to some mantras given to her on CD, such tangible horror overwhelmed her that she decided to get out of it as soon as possible. Thank God the CD player broke at the same time! At some point her neighbors invited her to a Baptist church service but she was afraid to go. And finally she found herself at our coffee-house, which she did not realize was Christian; she just came for the show!

The drama really touched her heart. After it ended, Gosha came over to her table and spent the evening answering Alesya’s numerous questions about God (see the photo on the left). As a result she opened her heart to the Lord, repented and accepted Jesus as her Savior. She immediately began daily reading the Bible and found it extremely powerful. She said she finally found what she was looking for all along! She loves to come to our prayer meetings and new believers’ classes, and also desires to share the Gospel with others and actively participates in our outreaches (see the photo on the right – Alesya is third from the left). Please join us in prayer for her continuing spiritual growth.

At the altar call at one of our weekly services, the following verse was shared: “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool”. (Isaiah 1:18) It so happened that a brother from another city was visiting our church that night – our worship CD came into his hands in his city and thus he found us while in St. Petersburg. He brought his friend Oleg to the service. Oleg served his compulsory army stint in Chechnya during the Russian-Chechen war, participating in many horrible incidents that left his soul severely damaged. His army term was long over but the visions of the atrocities he was a part of haunted him constantly and he was drowning his conscience in alcohol and drugs in futile attempts to relieve the pain. He immediately responded to the word of the Lord and came forward to repent of his sins and get forgiveness and cleansing in the blood of Jesus. Please pray for him to continue to follow God and for complete healing and restoration for his mind and emotions (in the photo on the left you see Oleg (left), Gosha (center) and Dalar (right) who brought Oleg to our church).

As you already know, we are so excited about evangelism and fruit that remains. We just wanted to proclaim that we are so thankful to the Lord to be able to be involved in Russia and Estonia, and to see lives changed, healed, and transformed on a regular basis. So, we just wanted to say, ‘Thank you Jesus, for the privilege of being here and partnering with you and the Holy Spirit in these very exciting times! Lord, you couldn’t have given us a more exciting or challenging job!’ And thank you dear friends, prayer partners and supporters for continuing to help make our work possible. We truly love, appreciate and thank God for you!

PRAYER POINTS FOR JULY:

• We have received a positive answer regarding a building to use for evangelism, church and Bible school in downtown Tallinn. Now all we need is the finances! Please join us in faith and by faith for the funds to come through in whatever ways necessary
• Gosha, who is a key member of our team in Tallinn, is presently working on his 2 year visa for Estonia. Please pray that it comes through quickly and easily
• Please pray for adequate finances to support our office and ministry staff in St. Petersburg
• For more fruit that would remain from the summer of evangelism - we want to make the most of all the opportunities God gives us to touch as many lives as possible with the Gospel
• For the new believers – to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ and personal relationship with God; to have grace and strength to overcome the fear of men and temptations that often attack them during the first steps they are taking on the path of following Jesus; for more hunger for the Word of God; for finding their place in the body of Christ
• For God to bring new students to our School of Ministry
• For the work in Estonia – more souls saved, drug addicts delivered and placed in the rehab centers.
• For prison outreach in Estonia – for more salvations, deliverance from drug addiction, physical and emotional healing, renewing of the minds of the inmates who just got born again, developing steadfast personal relationship with Jesus
• For physical and spiritual protection for our church and ministry, divine health and strength for all of us
• Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team
• For a breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. We have debt, but are continuing to press on in spite of the difficulties. Please pray specifically for $37,500 to cover debt. Thanks so much!

Thank you again so very much for your prayers and continued support of our work! If you are not doing so already we would like to ask you to prayerfully consider helping us on a regular basis. Your help is much needed and highly appreciated!

God bless and keep you all,
Your StreetCry family