Galina Ragouzina had been attending (not regularly) the church for more than 3 years when she finally gave up her fears. She understood as well that her Russian Orthodox faith cannot give her the strength she needs for her family situation, but only the Holy Spirit. (her husband heavily drinks and beats her so that she has to live at her daughter's place). We never had someone here who took so long to surrender.

Oxana was baptized when her friend Tanya visited her in her small remote village. (Tanya is one of our Christian students here in Voronezh). The village is 200 miles away from Voronezh. Ever since her conversion, she has been sharing her faith to everyone in the village so that people start coming regularly to her home to read the Bible. Her alcoholic husband who was first beating her for her evangelistic zeal has started to change his mind in seeing the gentleness and submission she has shown to him. He now allows his home to be the "Christian center" of the entire village!

Maria Vasilievna has just moved from Murmansk, a city in the far North of Russia (where the submarine Kurtsk sank) because Voronezh offers a much better climate than the Artic circle! She was invited by her zealous neighbor Larissa. (Larissa, in spite of her 70 years and her poor health comes to all the worship services). After both her daughter and son were baptized, she made her decision as well. Others in the building where she lives have started to come because of them. What a team they make!

Lubov Alexeevna came to church after her son became a Christian. She now comes to the services with one son and 3 daughters. She is a rarity in a country where most families have only one child, maximum two. She has 8 daughters and 6 sons! With her conversion many other lives will be touched. Personally, I like her as she always gives me this big unashamed smile that reveals a lot of missing teeth (She has lost many of them because of her pregnancies and her poverty, her face looks 20 years older than her age (late 40's), but when she smiles you read eternity in her eyes.)

Svieta was just passing through the town when she met one of our Christians who told her about Jesus. She got very interested because she had never opened a Bible before in her life. Within 2 days she was ready to make Jesus her Lord! She decided to stay with the church as she found a job here selling Christian books. Svieta is from a very small village way out in the boonies: when some of our African brothers came to her baptism, it was the first time in her life that she saw and touched someone with a black skin !!!

Many changes are quickly happening in a living church like ours. We "lost" one of our best families, the Demtchenko who left to look for better jobs in Moscow. Oleg Demtchenko was our song leader and he was excellent in his responsibility. In my experience, having a good song leader makes a tremendous difference for the worship.

Our African students have started a new group in their dormitory. They meet 3 times a week for Bible study, prayer and worship. More than a dozen of Africans now attend that meeting and it is growing steadily.

Olga, the wife of our evangelist Vladick, gave birth to a daughter the 14 January. She weighted 6, 6 lb (3 kg) and was named Galia. During the delivery the doctors broke the baby's clavicle so that she will have to stay a few more weeks with her mother at the hospital.

Frank Chappell, one of the elders of the Northland Church in Columbus, OH came to visit us here for one week. God really used him for a very timely purpose. The elders had many questions regarding the leading of the congregation and their relationship with the evangelists. Frank encouraged them to take a stronger role in the direction of their church and gave them a lot of practical instructions. If any of you reading this report is an elder, I strongly encourage you to visit the Voronezh Church. This is one thing when local evangelists give their opinions about the leading of the church, this is quite another when they hear it from other elders who hold secular jobs like them. In other words, Frank you were very much appreciated in your insights and encouragements!

Because the congregation is going more and more in an autonomous direction, Volodia Karlinski is uncertain about his future as well. Members of his family have already emigrated to Israel and pressurize him to join them with his parents. Volodia is "100 % " Jew, reads fluently Hebrew and has seen his mother, sister and brother becoming Christians. Only the father is left and so he is attracted by the prospect of influencing his father and the nation of Israel for the Messiah.

As some of you know, I intend to leave Russia by the end of March to go to the States. Lord willing, I want to find a congregation that I will be able to work with and grow spiritually. On the long run, I should put together a team to start a church in France. So right now I am extremely busy as I have many exams and finish writing my thesis for a BA in Russian literature and linguistics. The church here sense my departure as well and they want to use me as much as they can before they loose me for good. So I am under pressure but I have never enjoyed more my daily relationship with my Daddy. He gives me the intellectual and spiritual insights in all my responsibilities and I have great satisfaction to see how He rewards me for giving Him my time. I remember the times of my life when I would stress out in all my responsibilities and feel exactly what Jesus had said to Martha: "You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed" (Luke 10:42).