Rick & Pam Barry Prayer Letter - March 2007
Dear family and friends,
I think I finally understand Peter’s emotions when he was walking on water. He probably thought, “This is incredible! I can’t do this. I’m just a nobody from an unimportant town. I can’t walk on water. But with God’s help—I’m doing it!” That’s close to how I felt during my recent trip to Ukraine and Russia. Even as I preached, I thought, “I can’t do this. I’m just an ordinary guy from a small town. I don’t even have Russian roots. I can’t preach in Russian—but by God’s grace, I’m really doing this!”
In fact, Pastor Mikhail Trofimov of Kazan said the Lord improves my Russian while I’m preaching. That’s an answer to prayer, since I don’t want to distort God’s Truth through bad grammar.
During this 2-week trip I was able to visit many Ukrainian and Russian co-workers. I preached 9 times and led 1 college/career age Bible study. Three people accepted Christ (2 teens; 1 elderly man). On Feb. 18 the church in Fastiv, Ukraine, held a special snack time and asked me to tell about my days working with Georgi Vins, since many of them had heard about him.
In Goncharovsk, Ukraine, I spent a day and a half with Igor and Aleksandra Fomichov. They moved to this town to start a new church. Some souls have been saved, and they have connected with children and teens by starting a Sunday school and a sports club. But they do crave adult Christian fellowship, as there are few other believers in the area. They both were encouraged that I took the time to visit and get to know them better. Please pray for more fruit for the Fomichovs’ ministry.
In Vyatskie Polyany, Russia, the church received me like a long-lost relative. I had helped to raise funds for them to build their building about 10 years ago. From the pulpit the pastor told the people that if we had not done that back then, they wouldn’t have a church today because building prices in Russia skyrocketed. I preached at a youth conference on Saturday night, then was whisked away to nearby Kazan, where I preached 3 times in 3 different places on Sunday. Twice I joined men from the church as we traveled in a car that BIEM recently helped to buy for evangelism. They use the car several times per week solely to visit smaller towns and villages to share the Gospel and to help new believers to grow in the faith. (One of these men trusted Christ while in prison through the preaching of Gennady Yelizarov, my old friend who died last summer. I also visited Gennady’s widow with Pastor Trofimov to leave her a small monetary gift.) I gave the Kazan church another $1000 for gasoline and other needs related to evangelism, since they are especially dedicated to sharing the Gospel.
Thank you so much for your prayers and gifts to BIEM’s “Barry Account,” which not only allows Pam and me to pay our bills, but to make these periodic trips to “the Russian front.” Back in the U.S., we’ve been preparing the ministry’s next newsletter. On March 29 I head to Northland Baptist Bible College to represent BIEM during Missions Week, and also to teach 3 classes.
Meanwhile, my faithful wife has been holding things together on the home front and spending more time visiting her dad, who has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
As always, thank you for the prayers and financial gifts that enable us to be in this ministry!
In Christ,
Rick & Pam Barry