January – February 2007
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” Colossians 2:6
Dear Pastors & Friends,
Warm greetings from the Slobodians! We thank God for the prayers and support from God’s people who are enabling our ministry to Russian and Eastern Europe to go forward. The fact that you take the time to read this letter and pray for our efforts and needs is a great encouragement. Great news on the family front which we received earlier this year: Susan our second oldest is engaged! The young man’s name is Matt Harvey, and the wedding date is May 19th. We praise God for this exciting event and covet your prayers for their future home together.
Before Sam was able to get this prayer letter out, it was off to Ukraine, then Istanbul, Turkey, from where this letter comes. It was a blessing to participate in an ordination council of a pastor in Fastiv, which was one of our earlier church plants. This church is doing well. They are filling their new auditorium and have become the mother church for two nearby church-planting efforts. It was a great privilege to participate in this ordination service together with Pastor Peter Rumachik, the well-known Russian pastor who was imprisoned for the Gospel for over 18 years. He was in the area for a special conference celebrating 140 years of Baptist history in these countries. What a blessing! Praise God for 2 men saved in the evening service in another church in Kiev. By the way, the morning service with the ordination ceremony was 4 hours long and the evening service was 3 hours long with a youth meeting afterward!
Besides the enjoyable times of soul-stirring services, preaching, as well as always-exciting church planting and evangelistic activities, we have spent considerable time addressing the mountain of paperwork and endless bureaucratic hurdles which pop up in receiving our container, which has arrived in port here in Ukraine. It is always amazing to see the patience, creativity and boldness of our workers who are gifted in such challenges of life and business in a land that can be so difficult. This time they had to get paperwork approved by 12 different government agencies in order to get the container released, which is quite a challenge. Evidently success is around the corner, and everyone is looking forward to unloading it upon its release from customs.
We ask for special prayer as Sam is making a trip to Central Asia after Ukraine. The focus is an important meeting in Istanbul with BIEM missionaries and national workers from Muslim countries where we are expanding our efforts and hoping to launch some new church plants. It’s too dangerous for some of these persecuted and faithful servants to meet with Americans in their own country, where missionaries and evangelism are strictly illegal. This trip is reminiscent of our Bible smuggling days in the old Soviet Union. We must take special security measures and adjust to sudden changes in plans. In fact, Sam was to travel on to Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan with 2 BIEM missionaries and nationals. However, Sam’s visa was rejected by Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan rejected the visa of the Ukrainian who was to travel with Sam. Amazingly, Sam did get a visa for Turkmenistan and hopes to get in. Therefore, our team is split apart, with some going to Uzbekistan and some to Turkmenistan, but with all hoping to meet together in Istanbul to compare notes and seek God’s direction in these efforts.
The Muslim countries of Central Asia are a stronghold of a militant Islam that is violently opposed to Christianity and Americans. Nevertheless, these are souls for whom Christ died, and it certainly seems that the Ukrainians and Russians we are training are going to be able to assist and expand outreach to these countries in ways Americans never could. Please pray for us as we go forward in some new areas of remarkable opportunity. May God bless you all!
The Slobodians