Thank you ALL for your continued faithfulness in praying for us these past two weeks. We were tired and jet lagged but made it home safe and sound to our wonderful welcome party tonight.
We have many stories and pictures to share but for now we MUST SLEEP.........
Thank you for your continued prayer power!
God is blessing the mission in many wonderful ways. Today we hold the sixth and final English Club and we are so blessed with many new friends through these meetings. We have been sharing conversational English each session and an expression of God's love each day to wonderful new friends in Murmansk.
We are having lunch meeting today with five young seminary students from Moscow who have spent the summer serving the Lord in Murmansk. They are energetic, focused committed to Christ and sharing their faith with others. They are a delight to know and serve along side. We are so grateful for each of them.
And we continue to pray that our church families and church members here in Murmansk will be World Changers for Christ. We remember John 15.16-17..."You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another."
And we pray that you/we will be Fruit Bearers/World Changers, and love one another as evidence of our love of Christ. God Bless You.
God has been speaking to each of us this week and I know it will continue in the weeks ahead. Many of our new friends have exchanged emails with us and we will continue to stay in fellowship with them. Please pray that over tonight and beyond we will continue to let Christ shine through us to them. At breakfast this morning as we discussed our impressions over this past week and what we would ask our support team at home to do to help us in our final day here one answer shined through - pray. You are great prayer warriors and we ask that you continue praying for this Mission a few more days.
The stories we have to share with you....in just a few days.
Continue to pray for opportunities to share in English Club. Also, praise God for the new friendships we are witnessing as a result of English Club. Not only our new friends but the local friendships we are watching grow as well. We visited the Summer Camp today. We taught the younger children the song, "He's Got the Whole Word in His Hands". Every little seed we can plant is so important. Please pray that hearts will continue to soften throughout this week and in the weeks coming.
City of Murmansk - The population is about 340,000. Local pastors estimate 2500-3000 believers. Pray for the local government, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Pray for the Church on Mormonsk, the Baptist Church, and the Kola Church. There are so many lives to reach here be it in English Club, on a bus, or walking down the street. Pray for opportunities to continue to unfold.
We look forward to English Clubs every day. We have had about 35-locals attending each night this week simply seeking conversational English to build their vocabulary. We are making some great new friends. A few of them have accompanied us this week to the local History Museum, to the Day Camp today, and on one shopping excursion. Who were we shopping for?? You'll have to wait a few more days to find out! Each evening Tom fed them cookies and tea in hopes that they will stick around a chat a bit longer. We actually had the opportunity to pray for one new friend and her family last night. It's amazing to see all God is at work doing here. Please continue to pray for each of these participants and their families. We can't wait to share more stories soon.
We have enjoyeed meeting real people, wonderful everyday people. Students, school teachers, accountants, moms, grannies, doctors, nurses, etc. - Just a cross section of lives, really terrific people. We could be right at home in Murmansk!!
Scenery - Summer time (though brief) brings lovely trees and bushes; when the sky is clear it is a beautiful blue with an incredibly bright sun! The cool temps make our daily walking a delight!
It is amazing to see the sun shine brightly at 10pm, 11pm, midnight as it goes from western sky through northern sky all night only 1-2-3-4-5 degrees on the horizon before "rising" in the Eastern sky early each AM. Tuesday night it rained; the local friends say we are blessed with good weather. June was a very wet month. Long sleeves feel good! A jacket is always nearby as clouds and rain pop up without notice.
Breakfast @ the Hotel is a great banquet spread of eggs, potatoes, various fish and mushroom dishes, cereals, breads, fruit (banana and apples - yummmm), salads, corn, peppers, ham, and bacon, yogurt, pancakes, juices - orange and billberry) - It's all quite tasty!
Lunch is also @ the Hotel. Salads include tossed, beet, fish, and chicken. We have brown and white bread with butter; potatoes (every meal); vegetables; fish, chicken, and beef entrees; hot tea with every meal. Desserts include pancakes with jam (Ben's Favorite!) and other pastries.
Breakfast and Lunch are our main meals of the day and we eat something very lite in the evening. Last night Tim L and Ben found Mama Mena's Pizza which I think made Ben quite happy while Cheril, Tim W. and Tom found Russian Ice Cream @ about 10:30pm.
By midnight each day we are exhausted and fall into bed sleeping soundly.
FLASH - We LOVE Russian Ice Cream and are considering opening a chain - Ben & Sergei's Ice Cream! Any takers??
9am: Breakfast, Devotion, and Prayer proceeded by a bit of fresh air
10am: Tour of localities (Museum, Churches, Monuments, city sites, etc.). Often with local students connecting 1 on 1.
2pm: Lunch back at the hotel followed by Rest and Preparation for Evening Seminar (Club)
5pm: Snacks for Dinner
6pm: Prayer and final preparation for English Club
7pm: English Clubs begin. We would not have these clubs without the help of the Seminary Students from Moscow. They helped coordinate and offer assistance in translations when needed. They are a gift from God!
10pm (or a bit later): SLEEP
(Wake Up and Repeat)
Colossians 4:2-6
Prayers are being answered - each team member is having opportunity to build relationships for sharing, and in fact beginning to lovingly share faith. Each team member feels good, has found good food to help and enjoyed hot water in our hotel @ Murmansk!
Ask Ben about his ice cream - he purchased a brick of ice cream that must have been a third of a half/gallon! It was huge! He ate, ate, ate and finally gave out!
Tim Wishon is about past his cold! YEA!
Tim L and Cheri are having great experiences - we all are!
Pray for our relationships with the English Club participants mostly. We meet Monday night and expect a good group again. The Lord has been so kind to us and protected us in every way.
So, the sun shines all night! We close our blinds in the hotel, and go to sleep regardless, because we are very tired! Our bodies are still adjusting to the travel and time zone plus 9-hours to the east. At 1.00 AM, the sun was in the west on the horizon - even though car lights were on, it was very clear and bright, like at 6.30 in Nashville each morning. It is amazing!
Your prayers are so important and we pray for you each morning and day. Our day starts out with devotion/breakfast in the hotel. Today, Tim L. took a long jog. It is perfect weather to be out walking/jogging. It is cool, but not cold, in the 40's at night, and upper 50's to lower 60's in afternoon - today it rained again, as it does many afternoons. But, it is just a cool shower of rain.
The people have been very kind. Kind people at churches, at the hotel, on the streets - for which we are very grateful.
We hope for no snow, and expect the sun to be bright and pretty - however, Monday afternoon, the clouds are thick in the sky.
Thank God for each day! And we thank God for you.
Sunday night @ Murmansk, our first English Club took place. We have five seminary students in Murmansk working this summer, who are from Moscow, sharing their faith and inviting people to showing of Jesus film. They recently placed an ad in the local newspaper inviting people to an English Club experience with Americans. They had over 40 telephone responses and Sunday night, about 35 people showed up to check it out.
We met at the hotel and formed two groups - beginner English and intermediate English. Tim/Tim took the beginners, while Cheri, Ben/Tom met with the intermediates - the people were very excited to visit, and freely allowed us to introduce ourselves, tell about themselves and the city of Murmansk, and share for an hour and a half. They were very interested! We had prayer together - some did not know what this prayer was about, so it gave us a good opportunity to introduce our faith in God.
We will meet each evening, Monday-Friday at 7.00 which is 10 AM in Central Time, USA. Please pray for us these evenings (during your mornings) that we will be able to share effectively and build relationships.
We have a couple of grandmothers, several middle-age friends, many students in their 20's, and two children about 10 or 8. Our group has people from many walks of life - a chemist college student; a crane operator of over 20-years, a teacher and a librarian among many others. It is really engaging.
Monday morning, we toured the local museum - and invited our group to join us - five new friends from the English club showed up and paired off with our five team members - it was just great - we were able to share out rainbows and God's love for us; about their church relationship, and whether or not they believe in God. All are young students - all can Change the World for Christ, not to speak of the change in their lives we pray for with Christ!
So, this evening, we meet again in English Clubs - we'll begin with prayer and close with prayer, while sharing about our lives, their lives, and in our case, the place of Biblical principles guiding us - such as loving our neighbor, loving God, living with the Fruits of God in our Lives (peace, joy, kindness, patience, etc.).
Thank you for praying daily for these important groups, which we pray might eventually turn into a church start!
Monday has been a great day @ MURMANSK! This, following good travel to Moscow on Thursday/Friday.
Upon arrival Friday at noon @ MOSCOW, we were met by Lora and transported to hotel. Our luggage arrived with us = really a great thing! The flights were all fine, passing through Chicago then Munich Germany. On Friday afternoon, following a few naps (Except Ben) on the planes, we walked, walked and walked - through the terrific RED SQUARE and area of downtown Moscow. The weather was delightful, cool and no humidity, so different from our warm/dry days in Nashville, TN.
Saturday, we continued our tour of Moscow and orientation after a good night's sleep Friday night. The group went inside the Kremlin grounds to see the cathedrals, bell and cannon (claimed to be the world's largest!) and then went through the tomb of Lenin (to see his body still there, for nearly 100 years now), standing near St. Basil's Cathedral, and touring the Christ the Savior Cathedral - a majestic Orthodox cathedral which is large enough for over 10,000 people at one time! It is BEAUTIFUL! Standing on the Moscow River over the Kremlin, we prayed for the city of Moscow and the people of Russia, that Christ may be their true Savior.
Oh, did I say - NO HOT WATER in Moscow hotel...burr, showers were quick and cool!
And, we thank God for another good day before picking up luggage at the hotel Saturday afternoon at 5 and driving to the airport - another new experience, traveling on Aeroflot Airlines! Our travel agent @ Wilcox did well to provide this flight on a Boeing plane, which was very nice and well-cared for. We arrived in Murmansk at 10 PM following a two hour trip, to find the sun BRIGHT and shining! In fact, we have not seen the sun set in nearly 48-hours here!
Andrei from the Church on Murman, graciously picked us to carry us to the Hotel. A quick night's sleep and we were off and running Sunday - for a great day! Tim & Ben attended the Church @ KOLA while Cheri, Tim L, and Tom attended the Baptist Church in Murmansk. We each joined about 50 people for worship in each church. At the Baptist church, Tom met again Maxim, a deacon he first met in January 2006, and enjoyed seeing. We brought greetings from our church, and enjoyed several Baptist Hymns during the 1 and 1/2 hour service. We enjoyed worship even though not understanding too much! The same John 3.16 and God's Love story applied to each of us in worship, and we knew the brothers/sisters of faith in Murmansk, Russia, loved the same Lord we do!
Lunch was served back at the hotel, while we met with Yura and then Tim, Tim, Cheri attended worship at the Church on Murman. In the meantime, Ben/Tom walked through the city, praying, meeting new friends, and preparing for the English Club Sunday night! We were rained on briefly, and found the jacket to feel well, as the temperatures are rather cool compared to our summer in the south USA!
Check out the next posting - English Clubs a Hit!
Thank you for your prayers!!!
From our Travel Agent, Jeremy Pick
It's Friday morning.
Hello! Your group arrived in 8 minutes early. They had an on-time departure from , arriving in 26 minutes ahead of schedule.
God's grace to you in the Lord Jesus!
Praise the Lord today for the safety supplied in travel.
Pray for
Many opportunities to tell others about Christ
For rest tonight in Moscow and preparedness in Murmansk
Our team arrived in Chicago right on time. They lifted off exactly 5 minutes ago, due in Munich 17 minutes early, tomorrow morning.
And they're off . . . Our team is en route to Murmansk! We met this morning at the Nashville airport. All were (seemingly) wide awake and ready to go! Bill & Gerri Thompson, Gay Campbell, Keith Compton and daughter Ellen,
At the Airport on July 19 Jackie & Carrie Crow joined the team at the airport for prayer and send off. A photo will be up prior to days end and updates will continue throughout the week.
Pray today for
Rest during the flight.
Safe and comfortable travel.
Our team to have sensitivity to those they meet along the way that need to know Christ.
Continued unity amongst the team.
Tim Wishon as he travels independent of our team until they reach Munich.
The pastors and church members they will meet that they can encourage them and see the larger body of Christ at work.
Click on the link below to find out just how cold it is in Murmansk
http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/22113.html
Located north of the Artic circle, our team will fly into Moscow through Munich, and spend two days in Moscow before flying to Murmansk. The city has a population of some 350,000, the largest city above the Artic Circle, with very few evangelical churches. It is a port city and is the most northern port in the world to stay open year-round, because of the Gulf Stream flow.
Our missions efforts will be in the fields of evangelism and church planting. Tim Wishon is the Virtual Strategy Coordinator working support of the IMB and will serve alongside our team.
We will partner with three churches, for visitation, meeting residents and developing relationships and distributing invitations for Bible correspondence courses.
At the end of the week, the team will return to Moscow for one day, before returning to America on Sunday, July 29.
First Baptist Church Charlotte is another partner church with the church plant movement in Murmansk.
Mission Russia Team
Team Members: Tom Crow, Cheri Viar, Tim Lehning, Ben Campbell and Tim Wishon, FBC Charlotte
July 19 through July 29 to Murmansk, Russia
The trip will consist of sharing our faith, prayerwalking, ministering to Christians in the area, teaching, Bible distribution and worship within local Murmansk churches.
Please pray for safety in travel, energy to complete the tasks at hand, receptive hearts and sensitivity to Gods leadership.
