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Russian Mission

First Quarter, 2017, Report from the Moscow Center

Prepared and Submitted by Galina Obrovets

Christmas (Epiphany) program with a Bible-based drama theater performance for disabled children (with physical disabilities) in a town near Moscow.

This program was prepared in cooperation with Blagodat (Grace) Church. After the performance and games children from this church told their guests about their Sunday School and invited them to join it. A woman whose boy has walking problems came up to us after the program with eyes full of tears and said she had not seen her boy so happy for a long time. In about a month we received a phone call from a pastor of the church who said that this woman started to bring her boy to their Sunday school.

Christmas program for children from families facing life problems. (Held in a conference hall rented from a hotel in a town near Moscow. About fifty guests visited the program. A manager of the hotel was suspicious thinking that we were a sect; but after watching the program he asked us to lead the same program for children of the hotel employees. Thus about 90 children and their families heard the Good News about Jesus and received gifts.

Galina and Elmira went to Smolensk (five hours by train to the west of Moscow) to meet with a Baptist bishop and a woman who is in charge of women's ministry. We discussed a possibility of our future cooperation in providing programs for women and we shared our curricula:

Our third edition of the curriculum «From Hurting to Healing»;

Our second edition of the curriculum «The Unchanging Values for the Changing World».

Also, our goal was to make professional videos in a studio in Smolensk, which is less expensive than in Moscow. The two cameramen who helped us used to work for a Christian TV channel. We were able to record six10-minute programs for our website.

PREPARED AND CONDUCTED:

Three workshops for women groups which have become regular at the church for ethnic Koreans in Moscow;

Three meetings for women from different churches in Dmitrov;

A workshop for family couples.

PROVIDED COUNSELING

To 15 family couples with various problems (divorce, home abuse).

Continued to add articles to our website: www.sestra-m.ru

PROVIDED SCHOOL RESOURCES

By request of a psychologist of a new school for adoptive parents (in a town near Moscow), we provided the school with our resources: films on adoption produced by the Center and curricula.

HIGHLIGHTS AND BLESSINGS

One of the highlights of our ministry was to learn about real positive changes in the lives of the couples we ministered to. A week after a workshop on family issues, a woman who attended called us and said that relationship in her family started to improve and her husband became more attentive to her needs.

It was also a blessing to hear from a woman who attends our regular workshops in the Korean church. She was invited to celebrate an anniversary of a family couple. When it was her turn to speak and congratulate the couple, she decided to share five aspects of love in marriage which she had learned in the Christian workshop. She was amazed how attentively the people at the celebration listened to her. Many of them later came up to her and wanted to know more.

So she shared the knowledge she gained from the workshops. Praise God!

I send my gratitude to all of you who support the Mission for Biblical Literacy. We can serve God on your behalf in Moscow, and we do so with joy and hope. Blessings to you all.

-Galina

FOOTNOTE FROM BOB HARRIS:

As noted in the letter you have received, Galina has enrolled in Bakke Graduate University for her Doctoral Program. We have established a scholarship fund for her for her studies. None of the funds designated to the Russia Ministry will be used for this scholarship; however, donors may DESIGNATE that their gifts, in whole or in part, be included in the scholarship fund. These funds are to be used for Galina’s tuition expenses. Here are some of the topics she has already covered, some included during an intensive seminar in Jamaica:

“The eight BGU perspectives of Leadership; The Coming of Global Christianity; The changing picture of world Christianity moving to the South of the Globe.

I studied with students whose culture and color of skin are different from mine. I came to love these people and the Lord is opening my heart to knowing more about my place in God's plan and getting to know better how I can improve my ministry to better serve people. One of the main ideas for my studies now is my personal transformation by the model of Jesus. This is an amazing process as the Lord is moving my heart and is continuing to change me from within.

Upcoming Courses:

Effective Collaboration in Ministry

Personal Assessment which I am going to take too.