Baltic Church Planting

In January I attended the houses, the families of those children who attended our Christmas holiday, and have been attending our Sunday school. I chose some addresses from the list and I went to those apartments. I thought that evening hours are more comfortable, but anyway I had a chance to meet only with one family. I met the family of a girl who came to our church first time this winter. Her parents work in a very good company, her mom is a technologist, but her father is an equipment specialist, I talked to her mother, as far as I understood her husband is not very talkative. Zhanna, the mother of the girl, has graduated from the faculty of p'sychology, so it was quite interesting to talk to her, and she also promised me to give some books to read about p'sychology. Our first meeting with them was very nice and friendly.

We decided that I will visit them again, and I think that it is very important for me to do that, as I think that is one of my priorities to visit the families of those children who have attended our church, the Sunday school. We have started coming together on Thursdays with kids for our drama club. There were only three kids at the lesson, but |I believe that in the future we will have so many more. We have a plan to develop the drama club and also the puppet theater. In January I leave for the conference in St. Petersburg, there will be a conference for all the leaders of Christian Summer camps. The conference is being carried out by the organization CCL, that got its roots in Russia. I was one of more than 300 participants from all around the Europe, and Asia. The aim of the conference is to provide the leaders of the camps with all the necessary material, and knowledge for the summer camps. 

There were different seminars during the conference, during which the teachers shared their personal experience, told their secrets, and wanted to help us not to make the mistakes they had made in their ministries. “The therapy of the hurts and depressions” the course was carried out by one couple that works with that kind of children in the orphanage in St. Petersburg. The method of the work with children had been carried out by Merlin Murray fro the States. I and 28 other people attended those lectures. I was shocked by the things told by our lecturers. How much pain and sadness is in our hearts. No matter how we look outside all of us live in a kind of inner sad world that has been developed because of all the experience in our lives. And it influences us, no matter we notice and know it or no. It was a very special time at the conference that I spent with God.
I was able to notice some mistakes in the relations with my wife and my children and other people around. I got a clearer picture of the behavior of children and realized the consequences of our relations. I think that the topic needs deeper knowledge and I was glad to take part in the conference. During that time my helpers carried out the services in Liepaja. I am so glad that our church has grown and now there are people who can help me lead the services when I am not in Liepaja. 

I also met brothers and sisters from many different churches and countries. In our fellowship we shared our experience in the work with children and also exchanged addresses. So I met the leader of the conference, Den DeGoat from the state Texas. And we also exchanged our addresses. I brought many CDs and different materials for the work with children and for my ministry. I am very grateful for this opportunity to attend this conference. I am also very happy to confess that the churches in our city get closer to each other. Right now only pastors meet, but I know that this is the beginning. We meet with the pastors of the Latvian Baptist church and also with the pastors from other churches, and we plan our common work together and also plan some further steps as well as we pray together. I have a vision of a common work in the future. The work which is not may be based on the theology but on the Gospel.  

I plan to have these kinds of meetings with pastors also in the future. In January one friend of my childhood came to me. His name is Vasily, I wrote about him already before. He was at ours half a year ago the last time. He had different difficulties during those months in his life. This time he was standing before me so sad and unhappy. He was cold and hungry. He doesn’t have a place to live and he doesn’t work. The most important thing is that I heard from him: “Please, help me I don’t want to live this way any longer. I couldn’t let him go, because he didn’t have a place to go, so I allowed him to stay at my house. We changed his cloths, fed him, and talked to him. We realized that his situation is really very bad. His documents with the passport are lost, and he doesn’t have a chance to get a job. Already a month has passed since the last time he drunk an alcohol, but he didn’t know what to do next, how to live.  

Then he remembered about me, the next day I started working with his documents, and he will get his passport again at the end of February. He started attending all the services at our church and was quite well welcomed in our church and he himself also enjoyed the company of believers. An in one wonderful evening we were sitting at the kitchen and he Expected Jesus into his heart. So his new life began. He was so glad that he came to our house and that now he knows Jesus. He has many questions and we talk a lot, and it is seen that he is honest in his searchings. In two weeks I asked him to take a position of a person who is in charge of the heating og our church. He does a great job. Noew there is a possibility for Vasily to get a job, that was not possible befor without passport and all the necessary documents.
God does wonderful things. And it was a big testimony at our church.
The plan for February: the wedding of Igor and Tamara, the development of the children’s service, visiting unbelievers.