Russia 2014
Psalm 139: 5 – ‘You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.’
We got this distinct impression on our trip to Russia this year. The team was myself (Tim Stone) and
Nigel Elliott from SCF, and Rob Carter and Geoff Potts from HCF. We had smooth flights, smooth
transitions between airports and destinations, and overall a sense that the way before us had been
perfectly planned out, even if we weren’t quite sure of it!
It was a real joy to see our Russian friends from ‘Jesus is Lord’ Church again. They were as generous,
friendly and hospitable as they have always been, and we fully appreciated being taken into the
homes of our two hosts. They send their love to our Church family here in Southend, and remember
almost everybody that has gone out there in the past; they really love us being over there.
We flew out under the impression that our work for the week was going to be based around doing
some work with toilets. However upon getting a proper look at what needed to be done, it turns out
that Russian plumbing is really rather different from our own! So, we were given new tasks - levelling
up and cementing the floor of one of the halls. So we got to work on drilling and chipping away at
the floor, making it level for the cement to be poured.
We worked for four days out of the week – with a break on Wednesday for a day trip to St.
Petersburg. So Monday/Tuesday and Thursday/Friday were hard going on the muscles! The first
three days consisted of shovelling sand, mixing cement, and breaking up the floor to be levelled. We
left Nigel to the more technical laying of the cement – and an excellent job he did! So we got this
first larger hall done, and they gave us another room to do! It was a smaller room, so less cement
mixing/shovelling involved, but the floor was tougher to break up so we spent quite a while with the
big power drill going at it! But we got there eventually.
Friday was a little different. Nigel was still going with the cement for the smaller room, whilst the
rest of us were given a giant tree stump to chop up! Armed with axes, pickaxes, shovels and hoes,
the other three of us went at it for a good 3-4 hours and reduced it to….a slightly smaller tree stump.
It was a tough opponent!
The work was hard going at times, but definitely so worth it. To be able to bless the Church in that
way was a privilege and we all enjoyed serving alongside the Russian men and women who were
working with us.
Our evenings were all full on too. We had a youth meeting on Sunday night. We had home group on
Monday night, where we didn’t really know what was going on due to the lack of a translator, but it
was still good fun! Tuesday night we travelled to a place called Kotle, where there is a drug rehab
centre that the Church is involved with. Wednesday night was a late one coming back from our trip
into St. Petersburg. Thursday night was a mid-week Church meeting, where we were asked to do
some worship. So Nigel lead us very ably, whilst the other three of us gave questionable vocal backup! Friday night we went to another drug centre in Prebajenka, which was a great evening. And
Saturday we came home!
Pastor Sasha is taking it easy, as he is currently undergoing dialysis three times a week. He travels to
St. Petersburg to do this, so journeys there and back an awful lot. He led the Sunday morning
meeting that we were at, and did so ably and enthusiastically. His health is very much up and down
at the moment, so our continued prayer is definitely needed. The whole Church is behind him in his
recovery.
We very much felt that God was with us every step of this trip. But two specific occasions that this
was really obvious was at the two drug centres. At each of them we had a meeting, where we
started with a great time of worship. At Kotle, myself and Geoff spoke, and at Prebajenka Rob and
Geoff spoke, whilst Nigel lead some worship. The atmosphere from when we walked into the room
at the start compared to the atmosphere at the end of the meeting was totally different. The Holy
Spirit was there and was at work amongst us and the guys who were part of the programme there.
At the end of both meetings we asked if anyone would like to be prayed for, and a large number
stepped forward each time, which was amazing. We prayed for healing, we prayed for a deeper
relationship with God, and we prayed for restoration and encouragement. These evenings were
particular highlights of the trip.
We had a great trip. I can only encourage anyone who is interested to go and seek the experience
for themselves.