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Dear friends,
I thought that you might be interested in this
report that I had sent to our Board Chairman and to our President. This of
course will save me some time and hopefully inform you about what our ministry
in Russia is accomplishing.
Love and Prayers,
John Novikoff
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has
empowered us to continue His Work. Amen.
Margot and I departed from the Savannah area on the morning of September
9th. Transportation was by our mini-van since a flight to Seattle, WA
was out of the question for Margot who fears flying, hence the travel
west took some 9 days by way of San Francisco. We decided to visit a
nephew who had just had a heart valve replaced a few days earlier. We
also visited Margot's brother Walt and his wife Susan while there and
stayed overnight. From there, we continued to Spanaway, WA to the home of
Reverend and Mrs. Arne (Virginia) MacFarlane. Virginia is Margot's
younger sister who graciously has taken care of Margot on several
occasions when I left the country and had consented to take care of her
again.
- I departed from the Seattle, WA airport (SEATAC) on September 19th.
The security of the airport was very tight and in spite of it all, I
cleared through quickly and boarded the place without too much of
problem. The flight was uneventful except that when we flew over New
York City, one had a clear glimpse even at our altitude of the massive
destruction that took place at what once was the WTC. I found myself
choking back the many feelings of rage that was taking place inside of
me.
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John
Novikoff and Galina Obrovets. |
The flight into Moscow was smooth and upon arrival, I was met by
Galina who also provided transportation. I stayed at the apartment
of
Vladimir and Galina Obrovets while I was in Moscow.
- On Friday, Vladimir and I visited the Bible League office in
Karoleva where we met the President, also named Vladimir. Since the
building for the Bible League was recently constructed, I was given a
quick tour. I have to confess that I have never seen so many Bibles in
one place as I did in that building. After the interview, we went to a
"dacha" (summer home) which is also used to quarter visiting
missionaries
of the Bible League. There we enjoyed a "banya" (Turkish steam
bath)
which is common in Russia.
- Prior to leaving for Chita, Siberia I was invited to visit Colonel
and Mrs. Valery Belaglosev, a retired Russian
army officer that I have known for the past 6 years. MBL helped Valery
to raise some funds for a children's rehabilitation center in Moscow about four years ago.
- Galina Obrovets, Natalya Longinova, and I departed from the Vnukovo
Airport in Moscow on a Russian Siberian Airline on Saturday night, the
24th of September. The flight to Irkutsk, Siberia was 5 hours long and
we arrived on Sunday morning at about 8:30 AM. We were met by my friends, Yakov Bukharov and his wife, Natasha. These are old friends of
Roger Carstensen and who now serve a church in Irkutsk where Yakov, a
Jew who was converted to Christianity by one of Roger's former students.
(small world, huh?) Yakov is now the pastor of that church.
- Yakov drove us to the train station where we took an eastbound train
(Siberian Express) to Chita. That was a 19 hour trip that seemed to
never end.
- We were met at the train station by Pastor Mikhail who drove us to
his apartment where we had an opportunity to shower and have some
breakfast before we drove to the conference in which we participated.
Although we expected some 300 persons, mostly women, it turned out that
there were about 85 people from all over the region. Most of them were
professionals such as doctors, teachers, psychologist, etc. But
nevertheless, we had an excellent reception from all of them. The
conference lasted for three days and I have to give Pastor Mikhail a lot
of credit for his vision of building a church that is speaking out to the
community. I did not mention that Mikhail is a Pentecostal preacher that
grew up in the same Baptist Church in Beloreus as Galina's husband. But
Mikhail's heart is out to all people and especially to the many wayward
people in that locale The church is very open to caring for street
children. His church operates a van that goes into the surrounding
villages and provides a hot lunch to the tots. Also, clothes are also
given to those that need clothing. Where possible, children that are
without homes are assisted by church members who help to find them a
home.
- Natalya Loginova who is mentioned in the above paragraphs, is a
diplomat from the government who also is providing leadership and
guidance to churches and other agencies regarding the tremendous
problem of street kids and orphans. She was one of the principal
speakers who also led group sessions on the 2nd and 3rd day of our
conference.
- The church's coordinator for children's work will be sending me some
information later regarding the need for further sponsorship and the
partners in the USA who are providing help.
The church is heavily invested in working with teen agers and young
adults who are addicted to alcohol and other drugs. For that reason, I
was asked to provide some my expertise to the many families and
professionals who are dealing with this problem in Russia which is a
very serious problem. I provided two full days of lectures on the
spiritual aspects of alcohol and other drug abuse. I also modeled a
twelve step program with about 10 volunteers. Later, some counseling
was afforded to those who needed to ventilate their frustrations with
loved ones. I also met a number of recovering patients who were now
working in church related or government related programs.
- One highlight of our visit was to be taken to a cabin that was in
the foothills not far away from Chita. The Pastor drove us there late
one evening (around 11:00 PM) since it was our only opportunity. We
were greeted by about eleven individuals - nine male and 2 female- all
who were in recovery! They shared their experiences and later, they
sang some hymns to rejoice in their recovery! Then, we prayed for about
45 minutes for everyone in the room! In a sense, I felt like we were
back in the New Testament when the Christians all gathered in Troas and
had services around midnight! Nope, no one fell out of the window!
- What is important is that this congregation, led by its pastor
views intervention into an addicts life as something that they are
called to do -it is their ministry! Mikhail has a real vision for the
church!
- Galina Obrovets brought with her, many copies of the publications
that our Center for Biblical Resources
is making available to churches. Our manual People, Passages, and
Places is still in demand but our supply is low for both the Russian and
Armenian translations. Also, a revision is needed before we contemplate
further printing.
- The new journal "CECTPA" (SISTER) is finding its way into
many
hands now and subscriptions are increasing. While Galina reports
that
financially the journal is not at a break-even point yet, nevertheless
there is not only interest where she "pitches' the journal, but that word
is now coming back from Vladivostok where the publication for the
Christian Military journal is published. The editor is interested in
the journal SISTER and will subscribe to it.
- I have just sent off twenty copies to a Russian minister in
Minnesota who will be helping Galina with subscriptions and another
five copies to June Hunt in Dallas, TX.
- There has also been a demand for a small manual that was translated
from the lectures that Dan Carroll provided a few years back to the
Bible League. The manual is about grief recovery and to our knowledge,
no other book of grief recovery was available at that time. The manual
is very much in demand and needs to be reprinted.
- At the conclusion of our conference in Chita, we had the opportunity
to fly back to Irkutsk by commuter air transport. We stayed overnight
in Irkutsk at the Bible League quarters where we had the opportunity to
shower and get back to some normal meals. In Chita, I stayed in a log
house and slept on a small cot but at my age, going to the toilet at
night was a bit troublesome as the outhouse was about 50 yards away. It
happened that this old house is one of the few remaining in the city
although in many cities, the old log houses are still standing up.
- We flew back to Moscow. The flight westerly is 6 hours from
Irkutsk. Upon landing at Vnukovo Airport, we noticed that our baggage
took a long time to arrive. When we finally picked up our baggage and
walked out of the airport terminal, we noticed militia all over the
airport with submachine guns. We learned later that there had been a
terrorist threat against the airport but thank God, there were no
incidents of violence.
-
Attended church services at the 2nd Baptist Church and was given a
little time to bring a greeting to the congregation. This service was
the equivalent of our Thanksgiving Day service in that harvest vegetables
and fruit are brought and placed under the pulpit to commemorate God's
provision to His people. Afterwards, we
were joined by Galina's husband and some other friends where we went to
a restaurant in Moscow to celebrate Galina's 40th birthday.
- Monday October 1st. Though there was the intention to travel to
Smolensk and Armenia, we found that the time required was inadequate.
But as it turned out, we had an opportunity to meet with the Baptist
bishop of Smolensk Victor Ignatenkov, who we originally were to meet
with in that city. We discussed the orphan problems and found that
there are over 20 orphanages in that area that are run poorly by the
government. Bishop Victor invited us to come to Smolensk next summer
and provide vacation bible school and possibly participate in some
repair projects. We are to receive specifics by e-mail within the next
few weeks regarding what is required.
- Since I am already making plans for a Volga River cruise next year,
it is conceivable that a work force for the VBS/repair projects can be
scheduled to visit the Smolensk area, perform ministry there for about
5-6 days and then catch the cruise ship in the Moscow harbor and sail on
to St. Petersburg which takes about
a week with a two day stay in St. Petersburg. I will have some figures
for cost sometime before the end of this month.
- If this is to work out, we will need to advertise by e-mail, web,
and any other means that we have. The best time for the project/cruise
will be early in August of 2002.
- The Armenian minister, Vagan Frankyan was also in Moscow and we had
a chance to meet with him instead of going into Erevan, Armenia. He
invited us to meet some people at a luncheon. It turned out that
Reverend Jirair M. Sogomian, Executive Director of the Armenian
Missionary association of America happened to be visiting. We got
acquainted and I discovered that Jirair is also a United Church of Christ
minister who lives in Pramus, NJ. We talked about the possibility of
approaching the UCC Mission office to see if any funds for the Armenian
project such as the People, Passages, and Places could be available.
- Departed Moscow on October 2nd. Arrived in Seattle that evening
and met by the MacFarlanes.
- Worshiped at the First Christian Church of Kent, Washington. Our
mission was recognized by the Associated Minister from the pulpit.
- Departed Spanaway, WA on October 9th. Arrived in Savannah
on
evening of October 14th.
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