Russia Boot Camp Commissions

Russia Sports Ministry

The Russian Boot Camp Commissioning Service was held Friday night. We were blessed to watch all the team members light their candles. During this service, we were privileged to see the commissioning of the very first Bible, Missionary & Work Training Center student from the Russian school. Zenya will now do his one-year internship here at the Russian base. After the service the Russian teens enjoyed having their candies, cookies and ice cream to celebrate the end of their Boot Camp training. They were kind and shared their “goodies” with us, too.

On Sat. morning, one of the Russian teams left to go to their project site in Chyliabinsk and in the early afternoon another team left for the Kurgan Region to do their project. One of the teams is staying here with us in Krasnaya Niva to begin work on a nearby church building.

Saturday night we had our evening devotions time with the Russian team staying here. Miss Gay brought marshmallows and Hershey’s chocolate from the US, so we gathered sticks, built a fire, and roasted marshmallows for our s’mores. The Russian teens had a great time sharing this event with us.

The Russian Sports Team spent Sunday morning at the Baptist Church in Shadrinsk. After enjoying the worship band that was visiting at the church from Kurgan Region, we shared a song and Matt shared his testimony. Then our head leader, Steve, was asked to share the sermon. He challenged the congregation to share the Lord with at least one person this week. He encouraged them to step out of their comfort zone and share with those they meet on the bus, their neighbors, the people working in the shops where they purchase their daily things. It was a good reminder for all of us that this is the reason that we are here….not just to help build buildings, but more importantly to build people up in the Lord.

After the service, the church fed our team a delicious meal of pelmini (a round noodle with ground beef inside…kind of like ravioli without the spaghetti sauce), cucumber and tomato salad, bread, hot sweet tea, and a variety of scrumptious cookies. It was great to sit and visit with the pastor of the church and the visiting worship band.

This afternoon (Sunday) we spent time working on our memory verse reviews, did our library reading time, had some rest time (which we all enjoyed). After supper, we will do our Bible verse quizzing.