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Life On The Mission Field
On assignment as a seminary instructor in Moscow at the Good News Church (Pastor Rick Renner)
Journal Entry: July 2005
Coming back from Russia has been an eye opening experience, particularly when it comes to my spiritual walk. Christianity and a true relationship with our Father is in its infancy stages in Russia.It has been spiritually frustrating living in a place that does not consider God as its source of strength, power, and leadership. This has resulted in a nation that has a lot of knowledge, but lacks wisdom; a nation with great resources, but an inability to put them to work; a nation that has great people, but has squelched the spirit for them to excel.
One of the first things I noticed upon my return is the great sense of freedom we have in the USA. Not just in our freedom of speech and opportunity, but in our freedom to worship and praise our God without fear of retribution. God wants us to worship Him always with all of our heart and soul. As I sang worship and praise in our services, I was overwhelmed by the presence of Holy Spirit at a level I have not experienced in quite some time. All I kept thinking about was “freedom”. The people of Russia are learning about spiritual things and are beginning to walk in them, but how I appreciate the level we have achieved in our great nation!
Jesus set us free from the bonds of sin when He gave us the great gift of salvation. Our government in the USA supported that freedom, which we must protect. Religious freedom has not reached Russia as yet, but through prayer (1 Timothy 2) we can penetrate the forces of darkness that have kept the light away from the Russian people. Join me as we pray that God’s light shines brightly in that land, that there is a free move and outpouring of Holy Spirit, and that Russians are given the opportunity to come to know God at the level and with the freedom that we in the USA have come to. Please also join me in praying for the USA that we do not take for granted what we have and that our people go forth with a spirit of gratitude and thanksgiving as we raise our voices to our Lord!
When I return to Russia, I will be starting the church’s single’s ministry to teach single’s God’s word on how to live as a righteous single person. I will also be starting the church’s business school to teach Christian business principles to people in business and who work.
I will be returning to Moscow on August 15th. Please continue to pray for me and the people of Russia. Continue to look for these journals in the CWNT newsletter and on-line.
Journal Entry: January 19, 2005
My first week in Russia has been filled with interesting events. Upon my arrival to the Moscow airport, I was presented with my first opportunity to negotiate. I brought eleven items of luggage and customs wanted to charge me $1000 to bring it through. They allowed me to get someone from the church to interpret and she got the price down to $300. The person took the money and walked in a different direction away from customs!!! Hmmmm - I knew life would be different (I am smiling as I write this).
Living
I am staying at the church apartment with another family from Florida. They are teaching at the seminary also. They have one daughter, who is 7 years old. She is learning Russian quickly and has adjusted very well. She will probably be interpreting for the rest of us before too long.
Grocery Shopping
We went to the grocery store for the first time last week. There are several different types of stores. Some are like regular grocery stores, some have items on the shelf behind a counter where you have to ask the clerk for the item, and others are a small building where the items are on display to the public on shelves at the window. You then go to a smaller window (like a ticket booth) and ask for the item. We are getting good practice on how to handle ordering food using this process. Except in the larger grocery stores, you usually cannot get all items in the same store. An example is, we went to the market which had food, but were unable to get plastic bags or toilet paper. So far, I have not seen any stores where you can get both food items and such things as Tylenol or vitamins, even in the big grocery stores. You have to go to the pharmacy for the latter items. It is a different way of life, but I think I am adjusting quickly to it.
Medication
From what I understand, you do not need a prescription for medication. A friend told us that you can go to the pharmacy and tell them what you want and they will give it to you. Sometimes the pharmacist will ask you if you have seen a physician, but will give you the item even if you have not. I think I am glad I am a nurse!
The People
The people here are very extreme. Once they come to know you, they will give you the shirt off their back. It is a community/people oriented society, so individualism is a low priority. They want to be sure that we new Americans are comfortable and have what we need. They go out of their way to assure we lack nothing. They are kind and loving. On the street, people do not smile and rarely make eye contact. Now me, being a smiley kind of person, have been looked at very strangely. To this day, I think only one person has smiled back!
Ministry
We started teaching classes on January 11th. I am teaching Ministry of Helps this term. The anointing on the teaching is strong and the students are fired up at the end of class. Thanks to the awesome teaching I received at the Bible Training Center at Word of Faith, I have been able to provide solid teaching on how to operate in the Ministry of Helps to support the vision of the church under Pastor Renner.
Points of Interest
Of interest, is there is no word in Russia for "integrity" and "character." A new class offered this term is Character Development and the term had to be developed and explained to the students - INTERESTING!!
The hardest part of being in Moscow is that I cannot be with my friends and family and there are not that many people in public who speak fluent English!
Journal Entry: January 22, 2005
Life in Russia:
In many ways, I feel like I live in the 1950's. There are no garbage disposals and dishwashers are a rarity. The washer machines are a washer dryer combination (not stackable or side by side, but what goes in gets washed and dried all at once). This sounds cool, if it worked! It takes 4-5 hours to wash and mostly dry a load of laundry. The process seems to pull the color out of clothing. Some of my clothes have a blue or pink tinge to them. I now know why everyone wears black!! (smile). You not only have to separate the wash by darks and lights, but really should separate into reds, greens, blues, etc. The washer capacity is about 25% of what we can put into a load. Everything here takes more time.
Cooking has been adventurous. Those of you who know me well, know that cooking is not my forte. The poor Speers family (the people I am living with). I cooked many evenings and experimented on them! No one got sick so the pre-meal prayer was very effective! The oven is in Celsius, so I never really know at whattemperature to cook things. The package instructionsare in Russian, so I've been winging it. There have been some strange concoctions from the kitchen. Even the spices are inRussian so half the time wehave no idea what our mealswill taste like.
Despite what to those of you reading this may appear to be difficult circumstances, I am at peace. I do not feel stressed and truly believe this is where I am supposed to be at this time and place. the students are soaking up the Word of God as it is ministered. The church is growing and the ministry is solid.
Journal Entry: January 26, 2005
I have found an apartment directly behind the French Embassy and very close to the Presidential Hotel. It is very safe because there is a lot of security in both of these areas. I live in a very quiet "neighborhood" and my apartment building is yellow (not gray or beige - Hallelujah!).
The weather has finally turned cold (and I mean cold) which makes shopping in the open markets quite an experience. I do not have a grocery store very close to my home so I have to shop in the open market for food items. This involves going to different vendors for the various food items you need (similar to eastern market in Detroit or other farmer's markets in other areas around the U.S.). Of course no one speaks English so it is quite an adventure. I had to buy sheets the other day (I did not bring any) and had quite a time talking to one of the vendors. Finally someone overheard our struggle and kindly took the time to interpret for me. The people areincredibly helpful here despite the frowns they have on the streets.
So the dreaded event happened!!! I was stopped by the police! UGH! Wouldn't you believe it, I had left my purse at someone's apartment because we were going to the market and my passport, registration and visa were in there. I had nothing! Thank God for His favor. We had an interpreter with us and she did not have her registration and it looked like my "gratuity" money was going to have to be used. All of a sudden, he smiled and waved and said "Bye Bye" and off we went - whew!! That taught me a lesson!
Classes have been wonderful. The students are enjoying them and the Word is going forth in a powerful way. You can see how some of them are changing their attitudes and their approaches to different areas of life. I have been taking some of the other classes and am learning a lot. We had a healing service this weekend and I think 900 people had hands laid on them! It was an anointed service and was incredible.
Before I close, I want to share with you about my apartment. When I came to see the apartment, this little old Russian woman was here. Even though we did not speak the same language, we instantly connected. The apartment was going for $1700 but she said $1400 is what I could have it for. I was waiting to hear about another apartment that was 200 sq ft bigger and told her I would call her the next day. In the meantime, someone else called and offered them $1600. The little old lady told her daughter, "No, I want Kelsey to get it." When I called, they accepted my offer. When I went to sign the contract, her daughter and son-in-law were there. I asked where Mama was (I thought I was renting from her), but they said she was at home. They were very pleasant also. The next day, one of the employees from the church brought Mama something from the apartment and she asked where I was and then said she wanted to come to our church! I think I have a new friend and we will have a new member to our congregation!!!! As you can see, my angels are really working on my behalf.
Psalm 91 is manifesting in my life Big Time!!!!!
