EVERYTHING IN THE ARMS OF GOD
Report of Ministry to Bashkortostan
Written by Pastor Girts and Inta Asnevics
Vilandes Baptist Church, Riga, LATVIA
We are back from Bashkortostan. Every moment we spent
there was blessed from God.
Passing through Moscow
We left Riga on August 8th. We spent the night in the train to Moscow. The whole next day we walked around in Moscow. Big and dirty city! People are cheerless. The only thing that made us think that people were happy was brides and grooms all around in Red Square. Russian people have that kind of tradition - on the wedding day they put flowers at the Eternal Flame (that burns for those who gave their lifes in the war!). We saw Kremlin. Sleepy "prince" Lenin we didn't see, because of long lines and we didn't have enough time.
Ministry on the Train
In the evening we left to Belorecka - to spend 30 hours in train. There, we had our first surprise. We found out that we were in different sections. Only later we understood that this way we had an opportunity to share our testimony! This was the perfect time to use the Gospel cube. It helped us to tell about God's plan.
In one section there was a women with a daughter who is deaf-mute. Also for this woman we had an opportunity to share our testimony. She said that a lot of people had felt sorry for her and maybe said some sweet words, but for the first time in her life she felt so much love. The greatest joy that happened was when the girl smiled when it was time to say goodbye. (Her mother said that she hadn't smiled for years.) Also mom let us pray about them, so we prayed! So it was time to say goodbye to our new friends, with joy and thankfulness to God for this great opportunity to share our testimonies.
We arrived at Belorecka at night. The pastor came to get us and first his words for us were "Peace be with you!"
A Humble Abode
We lived in the church. That was a wooden building. Around it were a lot of apartments - many-story buildings. And so everything that ever happened in the churchyard was visible for others. Every morning we said "good morning" to all people who lived in those buildings! (That's because the water we used for washing ourselves was outside.) The brothers slept in the sanctuary on benches put together. The sisters slept on the second floor. After a great nap we got ready for Carnival.
The Carnival
To the Carnival came around 80 to 90 kids. They all were very happy. They asked if that is for free. We invited everyone to VBS which would start next day. In the evening after the Carnival, in the churchyard on the BIG screen, we showed movie "Jesus". Came about 100 people. We went to sleep at 3 am, because we had to get ready for next day.
Children Flock to VBS
NEXT day - Tuesday August 12th. We started with VBS in the morning. Kids were about 70 to 80. It was hard to count exact number of the kids, because some were coming, some were going. So altogether we had 130 kids in our journal! We prayed for 100, Sergejs (pastor in Beloreck) prayed for 20. Because we didn't have rooms, only the school's sport field, we divided the field in 5 sections. And in every section was one of the classes.
An Unusual Apology
Around the field there were a lot of many-story apartment buildings. After VBS was going for 30 minutes, we had some trouble. Came angry women from school's staff with the question: "What's going on here and WHO let you do this?" People were calling from those buildings around and were confused about great noice. So if people were confused and bothered by that noice, we thought we should say SORRY. So we turned our microphones VERY loud and I said sorry for our big noice and the trouble because of that. After that we didn't use microphones anymore.
Inta Runs for the Gospel Cube
After a while came policeman. And he said that people are calling and saying that some kind of Baptists are singing songs. Sergejs (pastor) said that with all of this, they can close VBS. At that moment we thought if God is giving us only one day than we should do our best - share the Gospel. We had left the Gospel cube at the church. So I asked Inta to go and get it. Inta later told me that while she was running to get it she had thought in her mind "I have to be fast, so it wouldn't be TOO LATE." By the time Inta got to the church there was another policeman who gave paper which said that Sergejs had to go to police office.
All Must Register
But I forgot to tell you one more thing. If you visit Russia you have to get registed in the first three days. We thought that we would be able to do that in that city - Beloreck. But NO, they told us we would have to do that in Ufa (capital). That is a 4-hour drive by train from Beloreck. So therefore Peter went on Monday night to Ufa.
Even for One Day
In the afternoon Peter sent us message that they won't register us at all. That would mean that on Wednesday we would have to leave their country. The reason WHY they didn't want to register, us we don't know. We thought that maybe they already knew something about what we were doing. So we sat down and prayed God for Peter who was in Ufa and Sergejs who was in police office. We left everything in the arms of God and trusted in Him. And thought - even because of one day it was worthy it to come. Only in the Wednesday's evening when Peter got back from Ufa we got to know that we are registered for one day through a hotel. So we were happy!
This evening we showed another Christian movie about end times. People were about 70. Many teenagers came.
Children Accept Christ
Wednesday. In the morning VBS. Kids were about the same number. There were some parents who came to take their kids away and asked us to scratch their kids out of our journal. We understood that these people were scared because their names are written down somewhere. But God gave something totally different - our prayer was answered! We prayed that we would be able to talk the way they would understand us. That was something incredible - to feel how Holy Spirit is working through you. Kids were listening very carefully. That was something new for them. 10 -11 year old kids invited Jesus in their hearts (about 20), but 12 came to talk with us later. Even now we can see those precious kids and ours prayer is this: "The seed in their hearts would grow and bear fruits and Satan wouldn't take it away."
In the afternoon we went hiking in the mountains. That was very nice moment - to see that city from above! The nature is very beautiful there.
In the very, very evening after we already have dryed up after great thunder storm, we had evening of fellowship with church members. We all shared many testimonies.
Teens Respond
Thursday. Even though we were only registered for one day, we still kept working. Kids were about 80 to 90. Most of all teenagers. Again there was a mom who came to ask us to scratch her kid's name out of our journal. This time it was kid Katja (teenage girl) who went home crying. We all were praying for both of them in our heart that moment. But on Saturday our joy would be great because Katja came to the parents night!!!!!!!
In teenager group there were mostly guys, altogether 40 - 50 kids. We shared the gospel and then asked if anyone wanted to invite Jesus in heart. After we said prayer we asked those who invited Jesus in their heart to open their eyes and look at us - that moment more than half of kids looked at us!
In the evening we had a service. Came a lot of people. We took benches outside and had service outside! We sang and showed little drama. Girts said sermon, but it was so dark outside that he couldn't even see what he had written down!
Kicked Out of the Schoolyard
Friday. This day was full of great surprises again. 5 minutes before assambly came school director and told us to leave - no more VBS in his school! Thank God he had been out of town till Friday!!!! He said that people were calling and complaining. And even he himself got in trouble because of that. The only thing he allowed us to do was organize sport games led by man in RED SHIRT!!!!
Kids were about 80. We thought - what to do? So we prayed and decided to move our work to the church's yard (small place). Knowing that parents might not be happy with our idea, we told kids to go home and ask parents' permission. We gave them 30 minutes. After a while all kids started to come back.
Enthusiasm Despite a Tight Squeeze
One little boy named Jasurs came and said that he and his brother could not come. The day before that we had taken pictures of kids to make photo frames for them. We had made photo frames for these boys and gave them Bible Verses workpaper. Now Jasurs went home crying. We prayed about him. In couple minutes we see - our Jasurs is running back screaming happily - now they let me!!!
So 70 kids came to the church and we had our VBS in great narrowness. As the kids would have to across the street with great traffic we decided to take little ones by the bus. Little moment later one mom came angry to look for her kids. The reason was that the lady from one of the apartment buildings called her and said that all the kids were taken by bus somewhere. When she saw her kids and came down then we explained what was going on. As her kids really enjoyed their time with us, she allowed them to stay till the end. She came also to the parent's evening!
When later on we talked about all this situation we understood that actually it was good that they didn't allow us to keep doing our VBS in that sport field, cause that gave us a chance to take kids to the church! God always our sorrows turned into joy! And He never let us to loose our courage.
Surprised by Beauty . . . Surprised by Pain
In the afternoon we went to the mountains and water park to take a little rest! There is a great house for Russia's President Puttin where he comes on his vacation time. We had a wonderful time! On our way back we saw wonderful rainbow in the mountains - we saw the whole thing!!! It was incredible. Actually there were two of them! Right above us.
After we got home in the evening we had another surprise. While we were gone, drunk policemen came to the church and looked for us. Sveta (pastor's wife) stayed home with her own kid,plus 8 more VBS kids. Usually kids won't come to visit - so it was a miracle! Drunk policemen tried to harass Sveta. They wanted her to go with them. Her little boy was crying very much and Sveta was praying to God a lot that moment. Policemen left her saying that they were going to take others - us. But they never did it.
Policemen can do whatever they want to do there by the way. People are scared of them. Sveta had psychological trauma. She prayed to God the whole night that the policeman would come and say sorry to her. God protected us from bad people. It was hard to say how it all would end - because we didn't have our full registration. Maybe they would take us in prison for two days to find out who we are. We understood that all the harm Sveta had to bear herself that night. Please pray for her.
So Hard to Say "Goodbye"
Saturday. Today we had our VBS in the church. And we had a great idea how to do all work in that small space. The neighboor across the street let us use his driveway for our sport. Again came about 80 - 90 kids. We prepared for Parent's Night. To this came around 130 kids and their parents. It was very hard to say goodbye to those kids. But even harder was to say goodbye to Sveta, Sergejs, Veronika, Anzela. They are just a few there, but they are doing great job. We came with thought to serve them, but they gave us so much with their love. There is alot of work to do. People know nothing about God. They are very suspicios. One mom didn't let her kid come to VBS saying that there we would sacrifice him.
Love Between Sister-Churches
Sunday Service. Everything was going on outside. Came about 70 people. That was first time when came so many people to the church. The greatest number that ever came was 20. Peter Eisans was preaching. To invitation to ask Jesus in heart, responded three.
So we cried and said goodbye. God put them in our hearts. And now we really understand why those from our sister-church, First Baptist Church of Richardson, Texas, love us so much.
Back to Latvia - Hearts Knit Together
In the evening we arrived at Ufa. We had enough time to go and see mosque. They were very kind to us and showed us everything and told about everything. And even we could take a picture together with the man who showed us everything (he was kind of a servant). The girl with name JESUS on her shirt stood next to him! We spent the night at the Baptist bishop's home. We got back to Moscow the next day in two hours by airplane (instead of 30 hours in the train!).
Then we spent one more night altogether in the train back to Riga. But we got used to each other so much that we had a great idea - to buy an apartment in Riga and live all together! Ha ha!
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