Date: 26 Feb 96 17:59:17 EST From: "Sterling F. Chappell" <73364.1500@compuserve.com> To: Brian Arnold <71361.1127@compuserve.com>, Jim Condon - North Atlanta <73052.2242@compuserve.com>, Jimmy Eaton , Rob Brown <75204.2442@compuserve.com>, Lynn Turner , Bailey Barton <73504.1426@compuserve.com>, "John F. Bradley" , Wendell Broom <102705.3153@compuserve.com>, Denny Calloway <75762.3104@compuserve.com>, "Charles Porter, Webb Chapel" <74601.2175@compuserve.com>, Nat Cooper <73424.3133@compuserve.com>, Jonathan Davis <102346.1046@compuserve.com>, Terry Harrison <75512.3025@compuserve.com>, Doyle Kee <100121.2163@compuserve.com>, Don Milnor , Terry Moore <74132.2161@compuserve.com>, Ray Myers <74732.3727@compuserve.com>, Jerry Sizemore <73003.1336@compuserve.com>, Tom Stafa , Jack Evans , Gerald Stockstill <75112.2606@compuserve.com> Subject: Report -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: Report Date: 25-Feb-96 at 08:07 From: YVES PERRIARD, 102655,517 To: Sterling F. Chappell,73364,1500 Dear brothers and sisters, If I had to express through a Bible passage the feelings I have concerning this report, nothing would be more adequate than Lamentations 3:31-40. "For men are not cast off by the Lord forever.Though He brings grief, he will show compassion,so great is His unfailing love. For He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men. To CRUSH underfoot all PRISONERS in the land,to DENY a man HIS RIGHTS before the Most High, to DEPRIVE a man of JUSTICE : would not the Lord see such things? Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and GOOD THINGS come? Why should any living man complain when PUNISHED FOR HIS SINS ? Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. " The following is the story of prisoners crushed, of a sinner punished and of all the good things that come out of an injustice: Slava, one of our preaching school students, was converted from a very wordly background. Before his conversion, the mafia had threatened to kill him because of a car accident where he was innocently involved. He escaped them, but he did not escape the vodka he was using to cover up his fears. Later on, as a Christian, he still sruggled with it, even to the point of endangering his staying in the preaching school. One night, in the beginning of November,the police arrested him on the street because he was drunk. Because he had no documents on himself and because he looked like a photo-portrait of a criminal they were looking for, they threw him in jail. There, for three months, he discovered the horror of a world that is feared by most Russians. Before they put him with the other prisoners,the jailors tried to persuade him to work for them as an informer.That is, he was supposed to report to them about anything usefull concerning the prisoners.The danger with this is that if the inmates discover a traitor, they will kill him. So Slava refused. Because of this, they beat him so much that he lost five of his front teeth. Then he was thrown into a 10 x 20 foot cell where over 30 other convicts were packed. Needless to say, he did not get a lot of nights of rest during the next three months. If he had more than three-four hours of sleep a night he was happy. This was not only because of a lack of space, but often because some people would cry outloud all their despair .Some had almost become insane. One of them, Slava told me, had even swallowed some needles with the hope that his loud pains would take him out of prison into any hospital ! The cold as well was enough to keep them awake and moving. The siberian temperature often drops down to around zero F during the night . Some prisoners that were ''caught'' without a very warm coat would often freeze. Of course,it did not surprise me that there were days when they went without food. Recently, I saw on the TV that the jailors went on strike because they had not been paid for the last 10 months! If the government has no money for them, can you imagine what it must be like for the prisoners ? The jailors would sometimes "use" the convicts for the training of guard dogs or for boxing. I saw myself the marks of a big bite that Slava had on his leg.The worse part about his experience, Slava told me, was the fact that most of those incarcerated were not older than twenty years ! Often, their jobless parents were out drinking and leaving the teenagers to a life of stealing and hopelessness. Slava was released at the end of January without any explanations and apologies. He told me of one man in his cell who had already been imprisoned one year with no charges at all.That surprised me very much at first. But then I heard that one rich member of the church in Barnaul had innocently been put in jail for four months, because they had suspicions about the honesty of his business. I asked a lot of people about it. Now I am no more surprised. I did not tell all this to put the police down: there is a lot of corruption and dangerous criminals that make their job often difficult and dangerous. I told you just one story to show you how difficult it is for Russians to trust each other. They don't trust their authorities, and basically they don't trust anybody that is outside of their family or a very restricted group of friends. Almost every aspect of their life is affected by mistrust and pessimism. We Americans,in spite of our strong individualism, have still so much trust in our things, people, and institutions that we can forget how much of a blessing it is to our daily life. But most of all, I told you all this so that we can turn ourselves to the most trustworthy person in this world, our Lord. He decrees things and they happen. The Almighty opens His mouth, and both calamities and good things come. When He brings us grief, it is so that we can discover His compassion. To me it's the most comforting explanation of why Russians suffer so much, and why they are so open to the Christian hope. Slava has found good things in his calamity. He has seriously repented from alcohol. I pray that he will never forget the lesson he had to learn. I pray that his experience will be usefull to transform him into a powerfull preacher. The last time he preached, he talked about his being broken and returning to the Lord. We were all hanging on his words as he described his own experience. God's unfailing love is so great ! as he described his own experience. God's unfailing love is so great ! There is another good news that has personally encouraged me very much: Do you remember Slava, the 48 year-old man who was an eager Bible student and Eugene Schegolkof, one of the three professors of the preaching school who went to work full time for the church? Slava had a 50 year-old step-neighbour, Tamara, who was interested in the Bible. In his zeal, he started to study with her, and Eugene joined them. She was baptised three weeks ago. Now, Tamara has a friend who's a medical doctor. She too, is studying the Word. Recently , the son of Slava has started Bible studies as well. The most encouraging thing to me is not so much those conversions, but the following : Because Slava lives very close to Eugene and both live far from the center, Eugene has started to build his" local ministry ". Those people now meet often during the week to study and pray.I personally believe that nothing will better meet the spiritual and physical needs of the Russians in Barnaul than such local groups.To make this happen, we need leaders like Eugene and evangelistic brothers like Slava. My wife is doing very well for her pregnancy: Thank you so much for all your prayers. My abilities to communicate in Russian are improving as well: Thank you for your supplications! The weather is warming up: it's around 10 F. We think of you more often than the reports. Thank you for all the ways you encourage us in our service here. The Lord is doing great things. To Russia with Love, Yves and Anichka