From: Yves Perriard Date: Friday, September 25, 1998 1:52 PM Subject: Voronezh Report September ANDREW BAPTIZED Andrew Ambroise had to escape his native Nigeria because an extremist political group wanted to kill him. A friend helped him to flee to Russia so he could be safe for some time. In the last 20 months he has desperately been waiting for his brother to find money and a solution to get him out of Russia. With no resources, no reason to stay and nobody wanting to help him, he literally survived for 20 months in a country that had become his prison. Finally, one Sunday night, as he was passing by the Movie Theater in which our Church meets, he entered the building with the desire to watch a movie. He bought a ticket, but one of the Russian ladies mistakenly led him to the room where we were holding our worship service. Indeed, she was so accustomed to see Africans coming to our meetings that she thought he was going too! As Andrew came in, he was quite surprised, but then as he started listening, he decided to stay. Touched by the atmosphere of love and acceptance, he started coming to all the meetings of the Church. Over the next 2 months the Church had become his family. Last Sunday, the 20th of September, he buried his old life to start a new one. He told us: " God definitively had a plan in bringing me to such a far exile. All the members of my family are believers, but I was always the rebel strongly opposed to all Christian values. The Almighty broke the rebel in me, and He brought me back to Him." Pray that a way can be found for him to get back to Nigeria, and that there he will be protected from those who wanted to attempt to end his life. TWO KINDS OF FOUNDATIONS We arrived "home" safely into a home that was not so safe: as we entered our flat, we discovered that in our absence one of the walls in the apartment had partially collapsed! A long crack along another wall could be observed. Two members of the church, who are building engineers and PhD's, examined the situation and told us that that our nine story building is slowly sinking down. The foundation is crooked. Within 5 to 7 years there is a good possibility that the whole house will crush down! Our first reaction was to move out as quickly as possible, but I found out that I will have some real bureaucratic problems if I do so: we are registered at that address and changing it now will make the process for the visa difficult and risky. (Talking about visa: As you know, I obtained a 3 months' visa to enter Russia. The local officials told me that if everything were OK, then my visa would be extended for 7 months right after it finishes in November. That can mean anything. Let's see. :) If the foundation of our house is not stable, that is not the case of the Voronezh Church. In fact, the whole summer confirmed that a solid foundation has been laid down, and that church is ready for the storms! Sergey told me before I left that the church would be weakened in my absence. As soon as I arrived he said: " I was wrong. Our church is stronger than I thought ". Indeed, not only the attendance in July and August was normal, but also even 3 new persons started to attend services and are now ready to be soon baptized! It is encouraging for me after 2 months of absence to come back and discover some new potential brothers and sisters! Indeed I can better understand the joy Paul expressed to the Philippians in 1:27. Another expression of that maturity is Dima Kossarev. This summer, when Volodia left for 6 weeks, there was no song leader left, because I was gone myself. Dima was the only possible man left who could lead the singing. (None of all the other men can carry a correct tune). Necessity is the mother of song leaders: when Volodia came back, he found out that the church had officially adopted their favorite song leader! PEACE LIKE A RIVER Just before our arrival in Voronezh, our sister Nina left us to join her Lord. It is not a painful cancer who took her away, but her Lord. Her glorious example in spite of suffering greatly inspired the church. Nina had had her share in life: Her son was mentally handicapped from birth; she lost her husband after just a few years of marriage and if that was not enough she got cancer 5 years ago! Vladick told me that just before she passed away, he had visited her and he was deeply impressed by her Christian example. She was tired of fighting her sickness, but had enough strength to smile and think of others first. On her face there was no complaint, no regrets, no sadness. Only peace. Peace like a river. As they prayed together, Vladick was moved almost to tears by her request: she did not ask a single thing for herself; instead she only prayed that many others in the city might know the grace that had touched her. Joyful praise and gratefulness is all what was on her lips. God will not forget the prayer of the righteous. THE MEMORIAL OFFERING (Acts 10:4) Through the special fund for the Christian poor you have helped the following persons: - 40 $ for Emma and 40 $ for Tonya: Both are widows and retired and they have not received their monthly retirement money since already 5 months. (Their monthly rent is now about 30 $). If that were not enough, inflation has caused prices of food to increase by 30 % in Voronezh, while rents remain the same! We felt there was a limit to survival and borrowing money! - 120 $ for Christian. His room had virtually nothing when he moved in. And all what he had with him was a few clothes. For that sum of money we managed to "buy" him a table, 4 chairs, a closet, a bed, a sofa, a carpet, curtains, a fridge, a music box and a TV! (Christian jokingly said that his tennis court was turned overnight into a palace!) Any money order or check can be wired at: Northland Church of Christ 4581 Cleveland Avenue Columbus OH 43231 (Mention: " for the Russian poor ") PRAYER REQUESTS: -Volodia Karlinski has gone 2 weeks to Moscow for an intensive evangelistic campaign there. Pray that he will be successful in specifically reaching out to Jews (he is Jew himself), add more converts to the Moscow Church, and strengthen his ties with the Russian leaders of that Church. - For possible baptisms in the near future: Zhenya Sergey family of Sergey, Ira and Daniel - For Yves to get his visa extended in the middle of November