December 2010

Dear Friends,

Please forgive the delay in our newsletter! We love you all and thank God for your prayers and assistance! We have had a busy, fruitful and exciting two months since our last newsletter!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

Our annual free Christmas feed-ins in Estonia and Russia are again scheduled for this year. We are expecting to feed 300 needy people in Tallinn and 250 in St. Petersburg. Besides these events, we will be having a Christmas celebration in Harku women’s prison for the entire prison population of 150. We will be bringing musicians and helpers from Russia for these events as well as working with the local Estonian church and musicians. We need to purchase food, rent equipment, rent a hall, pay for visas and transportation and purchase Christmas gifts for the women. We need $7,500.00 for all of these events and would appreciate your prayers and generous support for them. These events are always our favorites of the year, as we sense such a strong presence of God during worship, and see people commit their lives to Jesus and see new people getting free from their addictions. So far we have received one gift of $500.00 from Elim church in Sweden. Please do help if you are able!

NEWS FROM ESTONIA

We received visits from StreetCry church members in St. Petersburg who came for fellowship and to help us minister. Roman and Irina Kurshonkov (see picture on the right), a young married couple who were both saved from lives of misery, each had friends who died from the drug lifestyle they were involved in. Both are very gifted evangelists and musicians whose hearts are broken for the lost. They stayed in our home in Tallinn for a few days and ministered in the women’s prison with us. Roman lead worship, and Ira shared a message and her personal experience of coming to the Lord, then going away from Him because of the influence of her old friends, ending it with a story of how the Lord saw her in a different way then people, and spoke to her about committing her whole life to Him. A big part in her return to the Lord was played by her believing mother who stood in prayer for her soul. Some of the women in prison said that they were amazed that Ira, being so young, knew the Lord and the word of God so well and was preaching it.

We were also very blessed to have with us our dear friends and fellow graduates of StreetCry School of ministry from St. Petersburg Sergey and Zhenya Abezin (you can see their picture on the left). Being invited to preach in prison, Zhenya spoke about God’s ability to keep us away from sin when we don’t rely on ourselves but when we sustain close relationship with Him. The message was an encouragement for the inmates to continue their walk with the Lord. One of the new girls, Juliana, decided to give her life to Jesus and to forsake her old life, after the message.

After their visit to prison Sergey and Zhenya were very excited and amazed at the hunger of the girls that come to the meetings. They mentioned that it is very rare now in St. Petersburg to meet people who are so hungry to know more about the Lord.

On November 12th Zhenya gave birth to a baby girl, Lera. Zhenya had a safe delivery and she is now recuperating.

Recently we have sent another young man (Sasha) to Betel drug rehabilitation in Finland, where Marco and Vera Saba are leaders and caretakers of the boys. We met him while ministering to addicts at a methadone center. Sara shares about Sasha:

"As Natasha was looking out of the window at the center, she saw a young man coming towards the building. He had great difficulty walking and keeping himself stable, as he was partially paralyzed. Natasha’s heart was moved with compassion as she watched him struggle to walk. As he came in we asked his name and started talking to him about the Lord and His love for Him. Sasha showed no outward interest in hearing what we had to say. He came to the building with only one goal: to get drugs. We gave him some literature with personal testimonies of former drug addicts and prayed for him. He took the tracts just because he wanted to be polite to us. For some reason he was not able to get methadone that day. As he was leaving the building it started to rain hard. He asked us if we could call a taxi for him. We offered him a ride home instead. He looked surprised, but would not turn our offer down. On the way home we found out a little bit more about his life and told him about God’s power to save, heal and restore everything that the enemy has stolen from him.

It turned out that his older brother was also a drug addict and was the one who introduced Sasha to drugs. He was just EIGHT YEARS OLD when his brother shot heroin into his veins! He is now twenty seven. During those years of addiction Sasha and his brother injected bad drugs and it started the process of both of them becoming crippled. Sasha’s nervous system is now damaged; Sasha drags his feet as he walks, he slurs his words and one must listen carefully as he speaks very quietly and not too clearly. As Natasha and I took him home that day, something happened to us from meeting this young man. All the way back we interceded for his soul and his healing. We were a little bit sad that he was not interested in receiving the help he so desperately needed. From that day on he was on our hearts daily. We could just sense God’s strong fatherly love for him and his pain. Our hearts were broken for him and we prayed for him every day.

After a few days I received an SMS saying, “Sara, please help me. I cannot and do not want to live like this any more. We immediately called him back and said that we can come and see him. The next day we came to his house. He was having withdrawals, he was sweating and shaking. His mom made us some tea and we talked about God’s love and what Jesus has already done and can do in his life. He broke down crying several times during our conversation. He was very touched by the Lord, I think realizing that somebody can love him was too much for him. That night he received the Lord into his heart. Amazingly he had no trouble clearly speaking a prayer of repentance after me. He pronounced every word perfectly well. God’s presence and His grace were already there to help him. (of course, the Lord had ALWAYS been there, just waiting for Sasha).

We contacted our friends in Finland, in hopes of sending Sasha there. As we were waiting a couple of days for a response, Sasha’s mom told us that Sasha had overdosed on some pills the night before. When John, Sveta Moroz and I came to see him, he looked as if he was dying. Sveta who is a nurse, asked his mom to call the ambulance. He was taken to the hospital and later released. The next morning we received a phone call from Sasha’s mom saying that Sasha is ready to go to rehab center. We knew that he needs to go right away! We took him to the ferry to Finland, he was still going through withdrawals and didn’t feel well, but you could see that he was determined to try this new way of living. A week later we called the center to see how he is doing. We were told that he is very sensitive to the Lord; he plays soccer with other guys, and asks to put him on the schedule for washing dishes and clean up. Sasha has spent almost two months in rehab, but this week returned home. We are in daily contact with him and he is attending church with us. He has not returned to drugs, but we would appreciate your prayers for him (on the picture above Sasha is in the white sweater, free from his addiction).

TRIP TO SWEDEN

Sara and I had the blessing of travelling to Sweden for 5 days. We were hosted by Victor and Anna Avdiakov (former StreetCry pioneers in St. Pete) and their family. We were able to minister in their home church, Elim Church of Mantorp and had the blessing of fellowshipping with and breaking bread with a number of dear saints from their church. It is a very mission’s minded church that is involved with missions around the world. We were blessed by their gift of hospitality and their acts of love toward the body of Christ around the world. The Lord spoke to our hearts that He saw them as “persistent and consistent”, and that because of that they are reliable and dependable and that makes them trusted by others. They also generously passed on Christmas gifts for orphans and children of people in prison, and gave clothing and needed household items. We truly felt immersed in the Kingdom of God while with them.

FINLAND

Vera and Marko Saba got married on the 20th of October in Finland. It was an amazing, joyous time filled with excitement. Several brethren from Russia, Estonia and Sweden were able to attend. John conducted the ceremony.

Two days after the wedding Vera and Marko were on the way to Italy for their honeymoon. Vera shares their impressions about the trip.

What an encouragement and support and blessing and treasure you are for me (and for Marco)! We had an amazing honeymoon! To tell you the truth I felt and to a degree still really feel like I am in a dreamland: could all this actually be happening to ME?! (Ps 126:1 b) Since I can remember, I always wanted to be married and have a big family. Being born and having grown up in Togliatti, Russia (named after the head of the Italia Communist Party) I always wanted to visit Italy. So, lo and behold, here are both at once! Plus Riga! Plus Tallinn, which touched Marco very much. He keeps talking about the unique atmosphere of the Old Town and unforgettable lunch at the medieval restaurant and free spiced nuts at every corner.

In Italy, Marco’s family – his brothers and multiple in-laws, nieces, etc… were very happy to see us and stuffed us with tasty local cuisine. Besides us resting in the beauty of a resort area (Liguria), we spent a couple days in Betel-Genova where Marco first went for rehabilitation. What a joy our visit produced in the pastor and several leaders who 7 years ago helped him to take his first steps on the path of following Jesus. They haven’t seen Marco for many years since he went on serving the Lord as a missionary first to Betel-Madrid and recently to Betel-Finland and called the transformation God produced in him stunning.

Marco shared his testimony during the Sunday service in Betel - Genova to inspire about 30 men who are currently in the rehab program to get a hold of the grace God is abundantly pouring on us and to follow Jesus with all their lives. We also had quite a few very fruitful personal talks with different rehabilitants counseling, edifying and praying for them.

Our hosting family in Italy was Gianluigi and Camilla Magherini. Gianluigi is a very old acquaintance/friend of Marco. They knew each other when both were drug addicts – only then they did not fellowship much because they used different types of drugs which they bought from different dealers, yet they saw each other in places where the drug addicts hang out in the narrow streets of the center of Genova.

Soon after Gianluigi came to the saving knowledge of Christ he joined the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation in Genova – a small but very lively, open and hospitable bunch of brothers and sisters in Christ from more than 9 countries and 4 continents (Europe, Asia, Africa and South America). The church has an outreach in the historic center of Genova in a form of rescue coffee-shop named VeriAmici (RealFriends). So one day, newly saved Gianluigi met still drug addicted Marco who was living or I should better say dying in the streets after nearly 25 years of drug abuse – his family rejected him, he was weak and sick, in and out of prison many times, angry, bitter, trusting nobody, hopeless… It took months of patience on the part of Gianluigi and a couple other evangelists from the church – slowly, slowly talking about the love of God and what Jesus did on the cross over a cup of coffee and a hot meal and a chance to take a shower and get a place to spend the night melted the ice and Marco surrendered his heart and life to God and with the help of pastor Daniele Marzano applied for rehabilitation in Betel-Genova.

Pastor Daniele was moved to tears to see us. He said that with Marco it was his first meaningful conversation since many talks when Pastor Daniele tried to convey the Gospel to Marco, yet Marco was either incoherent (on drugs) or a hardheaded rejecter of the Word of God. He also mentioned that recently he was up against a lot of opposition in the area of evangelism and heard arguments like why should we waste time and money and efforts… the lost are not interested to hear the Gospel… there is no much fruit… But after seeing Marco he said – it was and is and WILL ALWAYS BE worth it even if only one person gets saved like this and follows Jesus, yet there are more than one! He asked us to speak in his church which we did with great joy sharing our testimonies and encouraging the people. Pastor Daniele said that our visit rekindled the fire for evangelism in the church and in him personally.

We thank God for the miracle of His provision! The church took a special offering for us that covered half of our hotel bill and the second half Gianluigi and Camilla paid as a wedding present from them to us! Isn’t God good? All the time! And He definitely does exceedingly abundantly above what we ask or think (Eph 3:20)!

Since returning to Finland, we have lived in the men’s rehab center. Marco and I have a room to ourselves that we did our best to equip to be livable for a married couple . We are looking for an apartment. Over this past week we had 2 new guys who have come to the center – both alcoholics. Andrey (30 years old) came from Tallinn to Helsinki to hang out, relax and drink with Finns… But as he arrived at the central train station where the most of it happening in Helsinki he bumped into 2 Russian speaking evangelists and ended up hanging out with them instead, they told him about Jesus and about Betel. He repented and surrendered his heart to the Lord, poured alcohol out of all the bottles he brought with him and broke all the cigarettes. Then he decided to go for the rehab in Betel (picture on the left). Nevertheless after a couple of days he left the center… BUT! Returning to Helsinki’s drinking spot turned out to be a disaster – he spent the night sleeping in the street where it is getting pretty cold these days and almost got arrested by the police, so he decided to return to the center. Plus this time in Helsinki he met an old acquaintance – Vlad (37 years old) who has been in Finland for the past 4 months – drinking non-stop all this time. Andrei told Vlad about Jesus and the center and Vlad decided to give it a try. He repented at the past Sunday service we had in the home here.

Though both new guys are very young in the Lord and still very unstable – going through withdrawals due to alcoholism, we believe God for their complete deliverance and intercede for transformation of their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. Please join us in prayer for Andrei and Vlad.


SVETA MOROZ IN MAPUTO, MOZAMBIQUE

On October 12th Sveta left for Africa for (at least) a year. She is working with 400-500 orphans with IRIS Ministries as a medical nurse. Most of the kids have “incurable” diseases such as HIV, various neurological dysfunctions, cerebral spastic infantile paralysis, blindness, and others. But she knows and walks in the power of God, besides being a nurse.

One of her prayer requests before leaving was for the Lord to get her through customs since she was bringing a lot of medicine and medical supplies for the orphanage. When she got to the customs line a young man volunteered to help her with the suitcases and they went through quickly and easily. Later Sveta said that the Lord has sent an angel because it was a miracle that she got through without any problems.

Sveta is responsible for a number of children there, and is also learning Portuguese and adjusting to a different approach to practicing medicine.
She would really appreciate your prayers for her.

Prayer points for December

• For finances for the Chritmas feed-ins - $7000.00 is still needed.

• For physical and spiritual protection for our church and ministry, divine health and strength for all of us during the cold season ahead

• Unity, love and wisdom for those in our ministry

• For Vera Abezina’s paperwork (she is applying for residency in Finland) and provision of an apartment for Vera and Marko. (ANSWERED!! – they just got an apartmet!! Thank you Jesus!)

• For the new guys in rehab, Andrei and Vlad

• For strength, wisdom, obedience to the Lord

• For Sasha and his daily right decision making

• For Zhenya Kopushu and her work with abandoned children in Tsimbalina hospital, especially for complete healing and restoration of Masha Orehova

• 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, for more salvations, deliverance from drug and other addictions, freedom from 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

• For a breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. 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.


Here are some prayer requests from Sveta in Mozambique:

• For the daily infilling of the Holy Spirit, so I can be sensitive and obedient to Him, walking in the gifts that He has placed inside of me

• For grace, love, peace, and joy for me in all areas

• To be able to make friends and be in unity with other brothers and sisters who minister there

• For wisdom how to use my knowledge and experience in medical field in Africa

• For healing and cure of sick children, and keeping them healthy

• For improvement of my English and Portuguese

• For good communication with everyone at the miistry base, for it is very vital in any relationships, for love and understanding between us

• For financial support for me personally and for the ministry here

• For the Lord to supply our daily bread

• For my safety and safety of the ministry from influences of witchcraft

• For wisdom and love in training the kids

• For evangelism on the streets, for salvations, deliverances, and healings; for the demonstration of His power and Spirit

Thank you, and may God continue to bless and keep you! Have a blessed, wonderful and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

John and Sara Russell for StreetCry

SEPTEMBER 2010

Dear Friends,

God is so wonderful! We are so excited to be alive and to be part of God’s family! God’s wonder, beauty, glory, majesty and faithfulness never cease to amaze us!

We just have so much to be thankful for, and the future is as bright as the promises of God! He continues to be not only the God of the mountains, but the God of the valleys as well. We just can’t stop praising His Name and shouting about His goodness in the land of the living!

Thank you so much for your continued prayers and financial giving to StreetCry. It is greatly appreciated and continues to be used to further His kingdom, saving souls and growing up believers, as you will read below.

We have been having a very exciting summer, with ministry at a summer camp, continued ministry at the women’s prison and at the methadone center in Tallinn.

TESTIMONIES FROM RUSSIA

Right now we have a small StreetCry church in St Petersburg and two full-time Russian missionaries. Although the St Petersburg church is small, they are faithful and dedicated to reaching the lost with God’s love. The Bible clearly demonstrates what God can do for those who believe. When his people place their confidence in Him, He repeatedly gives victory against overwhelming odds. The lesson, written time after time, is that physical circumstances don’t limit God, for "nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few" (1 Samuel 14:6).

Here is a testimony from Sergei Abezin (see picture of his family on the left), a faithful minister and deacon in our ministry for a number of years. It is a testimony of continuing to love people and follow up on them with perseverance. It is a privilege to have Sergei and his family in our ministry!

Sergei shares:

From the time when our church used to meet in another building (1998-2005), I stayed in close contact with the director of the building Inna Mihailovna and her husband Lev Davydovich. To tell you the truth, at that time, Lev Davydovich’s attitude toward us and our our faith in Christ was very antagonistic not only in words but also in deeds. The fact that he used to work as a soviet scientist played a big part in forming his beliefs.

A few weeks ago Inna Mihailovna asked me to do some repair work in their apartment. During one of the breaks I started talking to her husband Lev. Both are in their 60’s. To my surprise he started asking questions about Christianity. Besides answering his questions, I suggested that he read the Bible. The next day when I came back to work, Lev showed me his big Bible which he had made an effort to find among his books after our conversation the day before. He shared that since his childhood he heard about God and used to know the events of the Old Testament very well. He told me that his grandma used to take him to an orthodox church in secret. But as he grew up in a communist society those values were rejected with time. While we talked together, he would stop and cry about every ten minutes. We spent a lot of time talking about the Lord that night.

Later his wife called and said: “There was a double blessing from you coming to our house today: First of all, as a worker and second as a help to Lev. After your conversation with him, Lev said, ‘Inna, please don’t think I am going crazy but I have made a decision to read my Bible out loud every day’”.

These are precious souls that we continue to pray for. God is so interested in their coming to know Him. Please join us in prayer for Inna and Lev’s salvation.

ESTONIA

MINISTRY IN WOMEN’S PRISON

Over the past 3 months there have been 10 new young women who have received the Lord at the prison. Most of them are young - in their teens and early twenties, and this is very exciting. Normally the younger ones are more difficult to reach. These girls are very precious and so open to the word and love of God. Every week, we come home so excited after Bible school and church at the prison (John, Sara, Natasha, Olga on prison ministry day). God’s spirit is moving strongly among the women and it continues to be so exciting to see the changes in the women’s lives. They are true sisters and so precious to us and to God.

Olga Ryazhskikh (picture on the left), a graduate of StreetCry School of ministry, planned to spend her summer vacation ministering to the lost in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. Holland is one of the first countries Olga visited after she understood the call of God on her life to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel. A few years earlier her cousin died there from drug abuse. His death only confirmed to Olga the urgency to share God’s love and His power to save and deliver. This time she will be joining with others that regularly witness to drugs addicts and prostitutes in these two cities.

On the way to Holland, Olga spent a few days ministering with us here in Estonia, on the street and at the prison. Here are some testimonies from Olga:

The first miracle that happened was that I was allowed to get into the prison. For some reason my name was not on the list of people attending the service on that day and under no circumstances do they ever make exceptions and let people in. Natasha had just heard a testimony of God doing extraordinary miracles and she prayed to see some in her life as well. So when Olga was refused entry, Natasha sprang into action, full of faith that God could turn this seeming defeat into a victory. As the guards were trying to make phone calls and find out what was the matter, we started to pray for God’s favor. After a phone call and some time passing, the guards told us that I was permitted in. Praise God that He is the One who holds the hearts of all people in His hands and He turns them as He wills. I was the main speaker that day and God touched their hearts to let me in.

Before coming to Tallinn the Lord put a message on my heart about complete trust in Him. During the service there was such a strong presence of God in the room. After my sermon a few girls came up and asked for prayer. They were asking to be closer to God. Two other girls came up and received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They have repented of their sins and asked Christ to come into their lives.

As I was preparing my sermon the Lord gave me a word of knowledge about a prison girl who is unable to forgive her father since her childhood. After the service I shared this word with the girls saying that the Lord wants to minister His forgiveness. Right away two girls responded to the call saying that the word was for them. At the very end we all got together, holding hands and praying. One of the girls started to pray out loud asking forgiveness from the Lord and the girls. She was crying and asking them to forgive her for hurting and offending them in the past. I felt that her prayer was very sincere and from the heart. After prayer, a lot of the girls came up to her and gave her a big warm hug.

We believe the Lord continues to do His work of healing in the hearts of many women in the prison, restoring there lives and broken relationships.
After the meeting in prison Olga was on the way to Holland and we will hear soon about her trip there.

RUSSIA

Vera Abezina

Vera is now a full-time missionary, sent out from StreetCry Ministries. She is presently living at the Betel Rehab Center in Kolosok, Russia and will soon be getting married and moving to Finland to work together with her fiancé, Marco (see picture on the left), overseeing the rehab center in Finland.

Here is a testimony from Vera. “Kolosok is a converted summer camp and is very spartan compared to normal Russian living..

Slowly-slowly I am adjusting to life in Kolosok. I am included into the preaching schedule, in addition to personal counseling which is going on everyday as I work with newly saved former addicts. Every co-worker usually shares her life story, and problems she is going through right now. We pray together over those matters and I do my best to answer their questions about the Bible. So far I have ministered at one of the girls’ fellowships and shared from Luke 4 about overcoming temptations and one time preached during morning devotions on Psalm 139. Both went great. Many (including leaders) came up to thank me. I am always happy to produce more hunger for the Word of God in people. With God’s help I want to always stay the same in this regard IN AWE AND AMAZED BY THE WORD OF GOD AND MAKE IT CONTAGIOUS TO OTHERS!

Then I had a fun week in St. Petersburg helping in girls rehab and going out witnessing with them and passing out information about the center. There was a team of four girls. Two of the four girls, Lena and Marina, ARE GIFTED EVANGELISTS – they are minestering non-stop… and people are attracted to them… So for me it was rather easy to flow in such a team – no need to break through.

We stood at Metro stations and big supermarkets and spoke to every passerby willing to stop for a minute and listen. Mostly we were informing the people about the rehab center. BUT DAILY GOD GAVE ME OPPORTUNITIES TO REALLY WITNESS! I spoke with a mother whose son was a drug addict and an elderly lady taking a little girl to the Zoo – the little girl was her granddaughter and the daughter happened to be a drug addict. I was sharing with them how Jesus can really change lives and encouraged them not to give up but to refer their children to Jesus – I left with them our tracts with testimonies of former drug addicts who were delivered by Jesus. One day as we were on the Metro the drug addict sat next to us and we witnessed to him for an hour. Another day we met 2 boys in their early 20’s touring St Petersburg from Murmansk. Both were drug users. One - a drummer named Elijah… At first they were just mocking us but I ended up speaking to one of them who was very receptive and even though he did not repent on the spot, I could tell that the Gospel was touching him – we had a real deep talk. Meanwhile Marina was cutting right through with the other guy using her personal testimony. The young man shared that he began using drugs to escape from the deep pain after his father’s sudden death and his mocking turned into tears by the end of the conversation as the Holy Spirit was touching him…

I spent one week in Finland visiting my fiancé Marco. It was a fruitful week. I interpreted for Marco as he preached on Wednesday night. It was about denying yourself and following Jesus with all of your life as opposed to just getting free from addictions and going back to the world to live for yourself. I was very inspired to interpret because I agreed with every word. Marco was happy to have me helping him.

Besides seeing Marco I was very glad to talk to the “two Alexei’s” two precious young men that Gosha ministered to in Tallinn and sent to Betel in Finland (see March 2009 and June 2009 issues of our newsletter). They are growing into good leaders, and raising up a second generation now. Very inspiring!

CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS, SUPPORT AND CARE FOR ME! Love, Vera”

Sveta Moroz

This month we are excited to announce that our sister, Sveta Moroz, will be moving to Moputo, Mozambique in October as a full time missionary working with Roland & Heidi Baker’s IRIS Ministries. Nothing could thrill us more than to see these two precious women of God, Vera and Sveta, forsake all and follow God’s call to minister to the poor and helpless. It always has concerned us that we did not produce more missionaries, although we are very thankful for all of the wonderful brethren saved and those that have gone into full-time ministry in Russia.

Here are Sveta’s vision and goals:

I have a call to missions on my life to serve the Lord in different countries of
the third world. God has broken my heart for the lost, orphans, street kids, drug addicts, prostitutes, and for the sick people with deadly disease like HIV, hepatitis, cancer and others. I spent one month in Mozambique and now I have been invited back to minister there full-time. My vision for the next year is to be part of the Iris Ministries team and serve with gifts that God gave me wherever there is a need, to care for the kids’ health in the ministry and for others.

I will be ministering, witnessing, and praying on the streets, city dumps and hospitals as I did previously. I want to see young people saved and delivered. I am dedicated to serve with God's love, to care for health and fight in prayer for healings and deliverances. I feel that these verses are a calling on my life.

The Spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified (Isa.61:1-3).

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Mk.16:15-18)

Here is Sveta's testimony:

I was born in the Russian part of the USSR. I grew up in a poor family. My father was murdered when I was 6. As long as I remember, I always worshipped something or was someone’s fan. First I was a fan of ‘Alisa’ (famous Russian rock-group) and all my behavior, looks, fashion and even ideas were the expression of my fanaticism. I spent all my free time, hanging out in the sub-culture youth scene. We drank, smoked, stole people’s money, and beat up the younger kids who were new to the scene. Every week I managed to get into various rock-concerts, as a rule, without a ticket. I was fascinated by the life-style of my idols (rock-musicians) until one day I encountered their ungrateful attitude to the fans and was deeply disappointed in them. I understood, that they are people, just like us, far from perfection and, by and large, they could not care less for their fans. They were using us to make money and become famous. Disappointed in ‘Alisa’, I immediately found something else to worship and dove head first into the football world. Very soon my life was completely given over to my new idols. I shaved my head, began to go to other cities where my team Zenith played against other teams, getting on trains without tickets. Every year I could hardly wait for the winter to be finished and the football season to begin! All I dreamt about was to go to the stadium and receive adrenaline from each game shouting and going wild as much as the boys and men around me.

When we went to Moscow and other cities, we were very often opposed by fans of other teams. It resulted in cruel fights. I was quite tough and could defend myself well enough due to my experience in boxing, but nevertheless each time I was not sure if I would return to St. Petersburg alive. The probability to get my head kicked in was very high. I remember that during such life and death moments I could not think of any other help but to pray and ask God to save me. Each time I did that He was faithful to get me out of trouble without a single scratch. Then gradually I began to realize that around me there was no love, no genuine care of each other, only cruelty. Fans came to the games mostly to get drunk and to beat each other up. Even the score was determined not by how well the team played but by how much they paid bribes to the referee. All this was so fake, that I came to the conclusion that football is not worth my worship and devotion.

During this time my friends and I started to visit the StreetCry Christian coffee-house. They had free coffee and tea, live bands performing and the main thing a warm place to hang out in a dreary cold and wet St. Petersburg fall. I remember sitting in the coffee-house one day and someone came to my table, sat next to me, and started telling me about Jesus, how much He cared, how much He loved me, how much He has done, that He gave His life for me and went to the cross. We talked about the fact that deep down in the heart of each person there is - instilled by God - the desire to worship and how we all try to satisfy this desire but are so often misled into traps by the trends of this world while God is looking for those who would worship Him in spirit and in truth. He is waiting for us to take a step and open up to Him and He will take ten steps to us and reveal Himself in ways that surpass our wildest imagination! He is the only One who is really worthy of our complete devotion. I saw that worship of football and music groups did not bring any lasting satisfaction, but destruction and pain into my life, so I repented and dedicated my life to Jesus and discovered firsthand that He is for real - does not deceive, nor disappoint! Now I’ m 27 years old. I have been in StreetCry Ministries since my salvation in 1996.

To begin with I tried to help everywhere where I saw need. Soon the Lord has revealed to me, that my calling is to work with children and I started teaching Sunday school. I have graduated from StreetCry Bible School. For a while I worked at one of the Christian schools In St Petersburg teaching biology, physical training and ‘basics of security in life’ which is taught in Russian schools.

Orphans and street children were always on my heart. I worked as a volunteer in an orphanage for HIV infected children. I love to pray for sick people and to see the Lord heal them. I went to medical school for 4 years and became a certified nurse. I then completed another medical school program and became a physician’s assistant. I'm working in an intensive care unit for children and in ambulance.. At the same time I was helping in our children’s Sunday church.

StreetCry is now helping to support Sveta and Vera on a regular monthly basis. If you have any designated gifts for them, please specify. We appreciate your continued prayers for these women of God as they step out into the next season of fruitfulness in their lives.

PRAYER POINTS FOR SEPTEMBER

• For physical and spiritual protection for our church and ministry, divine health and strength for all of us during the cold season ahead
• Unity, love and wisdom for those in our ministry
• For Sveta Moroz’s final preparations to move go to Mozambique in October
• For Vera Abezina’s wedding preparations, especially paperwork -red (as in Russian) tape
• For Zhenya’s work with abandoned children in Tsimbalina hospital, especially for complete healing and restoration of Masha Orehova. Zhenya is no longer part of our church, but we strongly identify with her love and care for the orphans and wish to continue prayer for her and her fruitful ministry
• For Gosha’s healing from hepatitis C and restoration of his liver
• 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, for more salvations, deliverance from drug and other addictions, freedom from 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
• For a breakthrough with an abundant supply of finances for the advancement of the Kingdom of God. 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!

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