Dear Friends,
many of those who pray for our ministry have expressed concern about the situation in Novokuznetsk (where Tonya was born, and where her parents live). There have been some developments I would like to let you know about. Thank you for praying for the Source of Life, Teen Challenge Siberia. In less than two months this ministry has had approximately 20 various inspections with the intent to close the program. It started with the fire safety inspection, followed by the sanitation department. After that came inspections from the FSB (formerly KGB), criminal police, economical fraud investigation, center of extremism, etc. All of these inspections were initiated by the local prosecutor’s office because they received complaints from a person who hates the Teen Challenge program.
However, none of these inspections, except for the sanitation department, found any reason to close the program. The most serious offense that the sanitation department found was that there were no written instructions on the wall by the washing machine on how to do laundry and in the kitchen on how to wash dishes. The inspection from the sanitation department took place on Feb. 7. On Feb. 15, they came up with a protocol and rushed it to court. On Feb. 18, the judge ruled to close the program for 90 days. The decision was made with such major legal mistakes that the law enforcement unit could not start the process of closure. They actually had to change the decision twice because of mistakes. Last week, on March 16, the law enforcement officers came to the Teen Challenge center with the written order to close the program. On that same day, the sanitation inspector came for the second time and documented that all the regulation "offenses" were corrected.
Consequently, the law enforcement officers could not close the program, and they put the decision on hold.
On March 26th, the Teen Challenge program won in court, cancelling the original ruling to close the program. The decision of this court case is crucial because it is legal proof that the prosecutor's office is abusing its authority and applying pressure illegally.
In regards to the seven young men came into the church and threatened to kill the youth pastor, the police have not officially found any of them. The situation of the orphan who had his bank book taken by this gang is still not resolved.
Despite these disruptions to this church, they continue to minister. The church hosted a "Heaven's Gates and Hell's Flames" drama three weeks ago, where 80 people repented. The Teen Challenge program has not stopped ministering to the drug addicts, and many are finding new life there. Thank you for your ongoing prayers.
The 8th of March is International Women's Day. Never heard of it? It is one of the bigger holidays in Russia. Tonya hosted a "Woman's Tea" at Hope Center and the ladies had a wonderful time. Timothy and Vera are home-schooled, and they invited their Russian language tutor and their German language tutor, both of whom attended.
They had several activities.
Leah, who has come to help us and is an American student in a nearby University, has been keeping a web log of her adventure. Take a glimpse of her adventure at http://leahclose.blogspot.com
Movie nights are Hope Center are catching on. We are now often having about twenty people in attendance, with new people every week. The Lord continues to provide us with new wholesome and spiritual films in Russian. Popcorn anyone?
Steve and Amanda, who are presently studying Russian in preparation for long term work in Russia, were music pastors and worship leaders in the States. They are doing some teaching for pastors and worship teams. It's been really helpful to the churches here in Khabarovsk, and pastors and worship leaders are excited about what they are learning. Here is Steve teaching while Tonya translates.
We have a special prayer request. We have been doing monthly birthday parties for the orphans in one of the local orphanages. A group from the local Baptist Church have been doing weekly Sunday School lessons in the same orphanage. Recently an Orthodox Priest put pressure on that orphanage, and the Baptists are no longer permitted to minister there. We are hoping to appeal to the Director to allow them to start the Sunday School again, but are not sure the best approach. Please pray for us to have wisdom, and favor with the director and staff.
As a human interest story, when we returned to Russia from furlough this last time we brought a peanut butter maker with us (peanut butter is a rare commodity here). By trial and error we have discovered that if you roast the peanuts before putting them into the machine the peanut butter has a much better flavor. However, the last time I roasted the peanuts I forgot to set a timer, and the peanuts were, well, not quite ashes. I went ahead and put them into the machine and the resulting peanut butter has the pleasing aroma of campfire smoke. I have labeled my new batch as "fireside blend." Our peanut butter sandwiches have never tasted the same. Its actually not too bad if you have some hot chocolate with it, and you pretend to be camping.
Oh, yesterday was so WARM! It got up to about 40 degrees F. The snow is melting off and little streams are flowing down the streets. Muddy, but delightful. Maybe I'll really go camping.
May the joy of the Lord be your strength today!
In Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna
