JUNE 2010

Dear Friends!

Thank you very much for your continued prayers, friendship and financial giving to our ministry! We really appreciate you and thank God for you! Again, we are happy to share with you the exciting things the Lord is doing here in Russia and Estonia!

Sara and I just returned from a blessed and inspiring 3 months in the US. We were able to attend our daughter Katya’s graduation from Forerunner Music Academy in Kansas City and being with her for that was the highlight of our trip. We also were able to fellowship with a number of wonderful pastors and churches and speak in churches from Virginia to New Hampshire to Kansas City and places in between. It is always a privilege and honor to be with God’s people. Thanks to everyone who hosted us, we love and appreciate you!

While in Indianapolis, our car was rear ended by a truck, and Katya and Sara received mild to moderate back and neck injuries which has required regular chiropractic visits. Katya has torn ligaments in her neck and we would appreciate continued prayers for complete healing from God’s miraculous, loving, healing hand as torn ligaments do not heal naturally. Thank you. As she is a drummer, we believe that this is an attack from the enemy on her in an area where she needs to be pain free.

NEWS FROM RUSSIA

The local church has changed its name to the Russian version of “Open Heavens” which we all hope will be more relatable to Russians than the English name “StreetCry”. The church worship team has also just finished a beautiful new recording of songs, 10 of them written by them. This is the fulfillment of many people’s dreams and we are thankful for this milestone.

Vera Abezina, one of the founding members of our church and ministry since 1994 has passed on her School of Ministry leadership responsibilities, and is preparing to move to Betel rehabilitation center to work together with Marco Saba, one of the Betel leaders as preparation for marriage. Although they have known each other via correspondence and occasional brief visits for three years, they will now have the opportunity to work together closely and decide on their future. Vera is our daughter, sister and co-laborer in the Lord, and the most sacrificial and dedicated servant of God that Sara and I have had the pleasure of working with in all of our lives. We will truly miss her anointed teaching and her boundless spirit of joy. We wish to honor her as the scripture says “honor to whom honor is due” and she truly is a saint that will have great reward in heaven. Please pray with us that her time with Betel and working with Marco will be fruitful and that God will have his wonderful way regarding her future. If anyone would like to help with her wedding with any type of love offering, it will be greatly appreciated. We know no one who is more deserving.

There has been a significant shift with regard to the ministry in Russia. At present, there is a strained relationship between one of the 3 people we left in charge of the ministry, and ourselves. So far we have had 3 meetings to try to resolve issues, but things have not have improved. The root of the problem is difference in understanding regarding Biblical accountability, counseling and communication. It is our hearts desire for this not to be, so we would appreciate your prayers for God’s will to be done and for His kingdom to be manifest in this situation. We know that God is much bigger and greater than this difficulty.

There are a number of people who either were born, grew up or were trained in our ministry in Russia that have significant anointings and callings on their lives. Some are evangelists, some teachers, and others have strong healing and prophetic gifts. It is our desire to help them to reach their full potential and destiny, and we will continue to feature them in our newsletters and to financially donate to their work.

EVANGELISM

We started having the home group for new believers 2 times a week. Because most of its members are university students and live in a dorm we meet weekly to have a Bible study for the new believers and another time for evangelistic meetings - to invite unbelievers: friends from university and neighbors from the dorm. Vika (photo on the left) is a dorm neighbor. She visited our meetings and church several times and and listened with great interest. One evening in the midst of a spontaneous hot discussion on the topic of witchcraft (very widespread in Russia) Vika suddenly interrupted: “May I ask a question not on the topic? How do I repent and get right with God?” Ilya who leads the new believers’ home group prayed with Vika. She repented of her sins and accepted Jesus right there in the dorm room. Now she is an active participant in the church and new believers meetings.

Gosha spent a month in his hometown Vologda taking medication for his liver and resting. But he could not rest from sharing the Gospel and helping people in need to find Jesus. Yulia (with Gosha in the photo on the right) happened to be in prison in Vologda in the same cell with a girl whom Gosha witnessed to and helped to get into a rehab program a while ago. Unfortunately, that girl did not stay in the center and as a result of returning to the path of sin was put in prison. Nevertheless, she told Yulia about the chance to radically change her life right before it was time for Yulia to be released from prison and gave her Gosha’s phone number. Once out of prison Yulia found Gosha in Vologda and she came to Jesus after one week. Gosha shared with Yulia his personal experience of being transformed from a criminal and a drug addict into a dedicated Christian. As a result, Yulia made the decision to go to the girls’ rehab center in Ust-Izhora village near St. Petersburg run by our School of Ministry graduate Yura Bugakov (his testimony is published in the October 2006 issue of our newsletter). She has been in the center for about a month now. Please pray with us for her spiritual growth, complete deliverance from addictions and restoration of her life.

SCHOOL OF MINISTRY GRADUATION

June ended the school year in our School of Ministry. We are now moving on into the season of summer evangelism and putting into practice what was learned in the classroom. During the ceremony of receiving diplomas, several graduates shared what the Lord has done in their lives over the past nine months. Rejoice with us over their encouraging testimonials:

NASTYA SHTURMINA

“I am so grateful to God for putting the desire in my heart to come and learn from Him. I thank Jesus every day that His ways are high above my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts – His thoughts of me are for good and not for evil, they are to give me a future and hope. He lovingly led me to this school and more than just that – He gave me a new family and I am so happy about that!

The time of study in the School of Ministry has been a great time of equipping and training for me. Over the past year, the Lord has so drastically changed my heart and He keeps leading me into even deeper relationship with Him.

The course of Foundations of Christian Growth was packed with revelations for me! I discovered a whole lot new about myself, about God, His amazing love to us – how we are accepted in the Beloved, about righteousness, which is in Jesus, not by our works, about God’s provision for every area of our lives!

Classes on prayer and spiritual gifts triggered me to practice what I have learned and created a deeper hunger to get to know Jesus personally, to fellowship with him daily. My faith grew and patience increased.

The school taught me a great deal to organize my time and to discipline myself. I greatly benefited by memorizing scriptures – it helped a lot to renew my mind!

I thank God for all the teachers who contributed materials, especially John Paul Jackson. I am gifted prophetically and his 101 Course was an eye-opener to me in so many ways! Thank you to all who invested their time and hearts to teach us and for all who donated finances to enable the study process!”

VALENTINA SHKOLENKO

“In the summer of 2009 I was in a dry season of my spiritual life – felt exhausted, defeated in many areas, desperate for God and His help. In response to my questions and prayers, Jesus led me to the StreetCry School of Ministry.

Over the past school year, God showed me the areas of my life where I still trusted in my own strength. He demolished the wrong foundation that I had built and laid down a new one – firmly founded on the rock of his Word. My faith got strengthened. Not only I have faith now but Jesus taught me to trust Him completely and rely on Him in every area of my life.

The past year was a year of revelation of God’s love – to me personally and to people in general. I discovered that His love is greater than my limited mind could contain and His mercy is much deeper than I could only imagine! It blew my mind and broadened my horizons. God reveled Himself to me in ways I did not know Him before. He drew me closer. He proved Himself a Provider like I never dreamt about. I experienced His attention and care continually and saw how attentive He is to our needs. I discovered that there are no details too small for Him to notice and no problems too big for Him to resolve. He does not slumber nor sleep - the One who keeps us!

Jesus also taught me that meekness and humility are my weapons.

I used to be rather lonely and did not have friends but a practical part of the studies in the School of Ministry helped me to build relationships with so many more people than I ever had before. And God gave new quality to those relationships. Doing things together in ministry helped me to feel a part of the Body of Christ and helped me to find my place of belonging. It made my life so much more abundant”.

NEWS FROM ESTONIA

Our team continues holding Bible School classes and services in women’s prison in Tallinn. And we are very thrilled by what God is doing among the girls! As they study the Word of God, He immediately gives them situations where they can practice what they learned from the Bible. Recently, one of the students named Aigi (see her testimony in the March 2010 issue of our newsletter) shared a testimony of how she is learning to forgive and trust God in the area of relationships:

“I am a friend with one of the ex-inmates, but it was not always like that. I shared a room with 8 other girls and were getting along with everybody pretty well. But one day, this girl became envious of me receiving clothes from humanitarian aid and as a result she started slendering me to others, saying that I was a liar and a thief. My first reaction was saying rude things to her but then God showed me my wrong attitude toward someone He loved. I repented in my hatred and from that moment on, I started praying for her. But the tension in the room was getting worse – once this girl even rose her hand to hit me, but I believe it was the Lord who didn’t let her do that. Finally, I had to move to another room. Some time later, this girl visited me in my new room. I offered her a cup of coffee and told her about Jesus. Time went by, the girl was released from prison. She sent me a postcard. I answered her with a long letter about God, choices, the way of life and the way of death. I did not get any answer yet, but I believe that God is dealing with her. When she was persecuting me, I forgave her as Bible tells us to forgive and bless our enemies. I know for sure that God resolves our problems and situations when we trust in Him and when we are open for His help. And my desire is that people would never lean on their own understanding but would give their burdens to Jesus”.

God is moving among the girls who come to the Bible School and the services and uses them to share the Gospel with other inmates. Every week the Lord draws many unbelievers to our services with hunger in their hearts. Last week two girls named Alyona and Marina in response to the altar call literally ran toward the front to repent before the Lord. Three weeks ago, one of the prisoners was openly mocking Christian girls. However, last week she came to church and sat in the front row attentively listening and asking questions about how to forgive and how to be forgiven.

PRAYER POINTS FOR JUNE:

• 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 the graduates of our School of Ministry in St. Petersburg – for finding their proper place of usefulness in the Body of Christ; discovering the callings and destinies God has for them; putting in practice all they have learnt in classrooms and for open doors for them to minister
• For the outreach to the student’s dorms in St. Petersburg to be fruitful bringing many new souls to salvation
• For the home group for new believers - growth in faith, strong personal relationship with Jesus, hunger for the spiritual things and power to resist temptations that the world and the devil are constantly bombarding the young people with
• For new evangelism strategies for the summer season
• For Gosha’s healing from hepatitis C and restoration of his liver
• For monthly financial supply for the work in St. Petersburg and Tallinn. We need more regular support. Every single person, church and ministry that gives to us helps our ministry to preach the Gospel. Every single donation is needed and received with much gratitude. Thank you for your continued help!
• For the work in Estonia – more souls saved, drug addicts delivered and placed in the rehab centers, and for establishing a greater, stronger presence there
• For prison outreach in Estonia both in men’s and women’s prisons – more salvations, deliverance from drug and other addictions, peer pressure and fear of men, for physical and emotional healing, renewing of the minds of the inmates who just got born again, for their spiritual growth and developing steadfast personal relationship with Jesus
• We have debt, but are continuing to press on in spite of the difficulties. Please pray for an infusion of $72,000 to cover ministry expenses for the next 6 months. 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 if you would prayerfully consider helping us on a regular basis. We need your help to help others! All help is much needed and highly appreciated!

God bless and keep you all,
John and Sara Russell and your StreetCry family

May 2010

Dear Friends!

Thank you very much for your continued prayers, friendship and financial giving to our ministry! We really appreciate you and thank God for you! Again, we are happy to share with you the exciting things the Lord is doing here in Russia and Estonia!

As we also mentioned last month, John and Sara are in the US for a couple months visiting friends, churches and ministries that have been helping our work here. In order for our ministry to continue to bear more fruit in both Russia and Estonia, we need to raise our support base to previous levels. There is so much to do in both of these ripe countries and at present, we see that financial provision is one of the greatest needs in order for us to get more done! If you are interested in having John and Sara visit or minister in your church, or just for them to come and fellowship, you can contact them by email at john.office@earthlink.net or by phone at 603-322-3090 (John) or at 603-322-3089 (Sara).

NEWS FROM RUSSIA

Our evangelist and missionary Arkady Ledkov (photo on the left) recently took one more trip to the Far North of Russia joining an international ministry team uniting Canadian missionaries and local Russian pastors and evangelists (see reports of his previous trips in March 2009 and November 2009 issues of our newsletter).

This time the team targeted a specific village that during their previous trips was very closed to the Gospel. The village is called Laboravaya and is situated in Yamalo Nenetskiy territory. The place is controlled by depression, alcoholism and poverty spirits. Most of the adult men are heavy drinkers. Home violence flourishes. Food is brought to the village only a few times a year by helicopters and prices are too high for many to afford even the bare necessities. But the greater the darkness the brighter the light of the Gospel may shine!

One Christian nomadic reindeer shepherd recently moved to this area with his big family – besides his own children he adopted several orphans. He invited the missionaries to come and minister in the village and lodged them in his home.

The team went door-to-door and visited every house in the village bringing food packages to every family. That was very needed, received with great thanksgiving and melted the hearts of many. Lots of fruitful conversations about the Gospel followed.

In one home, the landlady was initially hostile but as they kept inquiring about the needs they found out that the lady’s daughter had complications after the gum problem and now her face was disfigured because the nerve was damaged. They shared about the love of God and offered prayer for the girl’s healing. She felt immediate relief and that opened the hearts of both the mother and the daughter to the Gospel.

Finally everybody got together in the local school for an evangelism meeting. In spite of -50 C degrees outside many villagers came. Holy Spirit touched the hearts during the time of worship, then Arkady shared his testimony – how he grew up in a very similar village, how he met Jesus and what God has done transforming his life! His story was a great encouragement to the young people not to give into depression, alcohol and other destructive lifestyles but to accept Christ and follow the path of life. As a result, many received Jesus. Arkady also had a lot of good conversations with the local teachers encouraging them and sharing insights gained from his own experience of working as a teacher in one of such villages in the past.

So the place that was closed to the Gospel before, now opened the doors and the hearts and invited the team to come back in August. Please pray with us for the greater harvest of souls and planting new churches in the North of Russia.

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT – LIZA BACHI

In this section of our newsletter, we continue to introduce you to the new students of the School of Ministry. In the photo on the right is Liza Bachi, 26. She recently received her medical degree from a University in St. Petersburg and works as a cardiologist in Mariinskaya hospital of St. Petersburg. God often moves through her in the gift of healing. She has a heart of compassion and love, which moves her to intercession for the poor, needy, sick, for people who do not know Jesus yet. She is a big blessing for everyone she comes in contact with. Here is her story:

“I initially accepted Jesus in 2001 at the age of 17. Growing up in a Jewish family, I knew religion as a set of rules to obey. But when I began to ask myself questions like “Who is God? Why do I live?” that set of rules did not give me any satisfactory answers.

But one day my close friend Nastya Tsarevskaya (see her testimony in November 2008 issue of our newsletter) told me that she became a Christian. I saw drastic changes in her and wanted to know more about it. Thus, I ended up going to her church. Once the service ended in an altar call for repentance – I came out and prayed the sinner’s prayer led by the pastor.

Still for quite a while, I stayed religious as opposed to having a vibrant personal relationship with God. May be because I was always a good girl and even after praying the sinner’s prayer, I did not have an understanding that I cannot live Godly life by my own strength. Time went by. I attended church, prayers, outreaches – because it was proper. Not even noticing how I was turning my newly found faith into just a set of new rules to obey…

At the same time, I studied medicine in a university. One guy in our group was direct opposite of me. I was a believer - straight, good and righteous and he smoked, drank, partied and skipped lectures more often than not… Nevertheless, we kept company and were buddies for a year and a half. Sometimes looking at him, I thought that he was leading a more honest life following his basic instincts than I did trying to obey my rules. Then one day out of sudden, he told me he loved me… I turned him down because it was proper. However, somewhere deep inside I wanted to have a relationship with him. So several months later, I gave in to temptation and we started living together. Needless to say, I stopped attending church…

God did not stop speaking to me though and calling me to come back. Neither my friend Nastya who initially introduced me to Jesus stopped calling me and visiting me and reminding me of the right way to go and praying for me all the time. But I decided to go with the flow carrying me farther and farther away into sin.

Gradually our relationship grew colder. I knew I did not really love him. From time to time, I would turn to my Bible, to prayer, which usually left me in tears and my boyfriend furious. My heart was hardening more and more and I was becoming completely worldly. Half a year into this relationship, my boyfriend was diagnosed with cancer.

Then, on September 6, 2006 with my heart broken to pieces I really cried out to God! Not that I wanted God, not that I felt anything; simply I realized that there was nowhere else I could go for help. That is why I offered God a deal: “Please heal this boy! In exchange You can tell me to do anything and I will do it for You!” I knew that God heard my prayer because supernatural joy filled my heart in spite of the natural grief of the situation that I was in.

Actually, my prayer life became really deep at this season of my life and slowly-slowly I realized that I want God, that a relationship is developing between me and Jesus. At first, I was ready to sacrifice myself and do God’s will for my life with no regards to my own desires – just because He answered my prayer and because I promised Him to do whatever He would say. But very soon I realized that I wanted to be with Jesus because of Jesus Himself and for no other reasons!

God miraculously intervened into the situation and completely healed my boyfriend. But he did not want to hear anything about Jesus. And I found myself facing a choice – Jesus or my boyfriend.

But by this time Jesus stopped being just a religion for me. He became my Love and my Reason for living. Needless to say, I chose Jesus!

It was not easy to come back to the church where everybody knew my situation only too well. But to my great surprise nobody reminded me of my past sin and everybody was happy for my repentance and return. I completed my medical studies and went to the School of Ministry and am continuing to discover the will of God for my life and to follow Jesus with great joy”.

Since Liza put Jesus first in her heart, God put His man in her life – Arkady Ledkov. At the end of April, we celebrated their wedding. Please pray with us for blessing of this new family and for them to bring more fruit in the Kingdom of God together!

NEWS FROM ESTONIA

Our ministry team in Estonia faithfully continues with the outreach in the local prison and methadone center. Our evangelist from St. Petersburg Olga Ryazhskih often visits and joins these efforts.

In methadone center, we met and witnessed to a drug addict Lena (in the photo on the left with Olga Ryazhskih). She was touched by the Holy Spirit, took our phone number, and later on called and invited us to visit her at home for further discussion. We did so and as a result, Lena repented and accepted Jesus as her personal Lord and Savior (in the photo on the right – at Lena’s home with her son). We are following up on her encouraging her to join the local church.

Galatians 6:9 tells us: “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”. This month God gave us a chance to see the fruit of our labors more than on one occasion and we cannot help but thank Him!

In our October 2009 newsletter, we wrote about Olga Ryazhskih ministering in prison in Sweden. A couple weeks ago, we received a letter from the family hosting Olga there. A young man approached to the husband in the street, happily greeting him: “Remember me?” He happened to be one of the former inmates who heard Olga’s testimony shared in prison. Soon after that meeting he attended, he was released from prison. All this time the Holy Spirit kept knocking on the door of his heart and finally he repented, dedicating his life to Jesus. As he came out of prison, he found a church where he became an active member and now is steadily growing in the Lord taking steps in the new life for Jesus!

Recently we got a call from a man named George (photo on the left), who told us he needed help from the Lord and wanted to go to a rehabilitation center. George is 46 years old and he has been an alcoholic for many years. Due to this problem, he lost his family and his life was completely broken. Last Christmas George attended our first Christmas Feed-in in Tallinn (see our January 2010 newsletter for the report on it).

„I was sitting in front and listening to Alexey (one of the first guys from Estonia whom we sent to rehabilitation center Betel in Finland) sharing his life story from the stage. I was sitting there and crying. Afterwards I came up to Alexey and started talking with him. Alexey introduced me to Gosha who also told me that God could change my life. They gave me a red tract with a phone number on it and told me that I can call this number when life gets really tough. The life got really tough and I did call. I realize that no one but God can restore my life. I want to turn over a new leaf and I hope God will help me“, – said George before boarding the ferry to go to Betel, Finland.

Now he is successfully going through rehabilitation process. Please pray with us for his complete deliverance from alcohol addiction, new heart, and new life in Jesus!

PRAYER POINTS FOR MAY:

• For physical and spiritual protection for our church and ministry, divine health and strength for all of us during the cold season
• For John and Sara’s itinerating in the US – that it will bear much fruit.
• Unity, love and wisdom for the leadership team
• For the students in our School of Ministry in St. Petersburg as we are approaching the end of the school year – for growing in wisdom and maturity, for releasing the gifts of the Spirit; for discovering the callings and destinies God has for them; for immediately putting in practice all we learn in classrooms and for open doors for them to minister
• For the outreach to the student’s dorms in St. Petersburg to be fruitful bringing many new souls to salvation
• For the home group for new believers - growth in faith, strong personal relationship with Jesus, hunger for the spiritual things and power to resist temptations that the world and the devil are constantly bombarding the young people with
• For our newlyweds Arkady and Liza – that God would bless this new family and help them to be fruitful in every area of their life together
• For Gosha’s healing from hepatitis C and restoration of his liver
• For monthly financial supply for the work in St. Petersburg and Tallinn. We need more regular support. Every single person, church and ministry that gives to us helps our ministry to preach the Gospel. Every single donation is needed and received with much gratitude. Thank you for your continued help!
• For the work in Estonia – more souls saved, drug addicts delivered and placed in the rehab centers, and for establishing a greater, stronger presence there
• For prison outreach in Estonia both in men’s and women’s prisons – more salvations, deliverance from drug and other addictions, peer pressure and fear of men, for physical and emotional healing, renewing of the minds of the inmates who just got born again, for their spiritual growth and developing steadfast personal relationship with Jesus
• We have debt, but are continuing to press on in spite of the difficulties. Please pray for an infusion of $72,000 to cover ministry expenses for the next 6 months. 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 if you would prayerfully consider helping us on a regular basis. We need your help to help others! All help is much needed and highly appreciated!

God bless and keep you all,
John and Sara Russell and your StreetCry family