Miracles of Healing

Each Sunday service we have special prayer for the needs of our congregation. People write their requests, and then we read them during this special time of the service and pray. Sometimes we call a person to the altar and pray for them, laying hands on them. Last month we heard several testimonies of how God had miraculously healed when there was no hope.

In our church there are many former drug addicts. They have various diseases acquired by using dirty needles.  The most common of these are hepatitis C, HIV and AIDS. We understand that the doctors have no cure for these diseases, and so we encourage these people to completely trust in God and in His healing power! In my previous letter, I wrote how God had miraculously healed a young man in our church named Dmitry of hepatitis!  After his testimony of healing in the church, many people cried out to the Lord in prayer. Faith in God’s healing power rose up, and recently two young ladies, Ekaterina and Julia, came forward with testimonies of healing.  Ekaterina testified how the Lord had healed her of hepatitis C and Julia testified how the Lord had healed her of uterine cancer and hepatitis C.  At the next service we heard testimony of how God had healed another young lady, Olga, of stomach ulcers! God is a miracle-working God! Please join your faith with ours as we pray to God for revival in our city!!!

Christmas time

We celebrate Christmas twice here in Russia! It’s a peculiarity of this country. The Russian people celebrate Christmas on December 25th with the Western countries and the USA, and then they celebrate Russian Orthodox Christmas on the 7th of January. We get the opportunity to preach twice about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. On the 7th of January, our church had a big celebration. We had a full house that day with many newcomers in attendance. The sanctuary was so full that many in our congregation had to stand in the foyer because there wasn’t enough room for everyone to sit. We had over 50 children at our Christmas Day Celebration!! The church gave a Children’s Study Bible and a box of candy to every child.  The kids we so happy to have their own Bibles!! Our church also gave special gifts to the children from our orphanage. These are special children, and we love them very much. Every child has had a difficult life. Each one has been rejected or abandoned. Our ministry is to enfold them in God’s love and to provide the care that a father and mother would provide. Each child wrote what they wanted for Christmas in a letter. Those letters were then given to our home groups and families of our church who committed to pray for them every day this coming year. Then each family or home group bought each child what they had written about in their letters. During the service we called all of the orphanage children to the front, prayed for them, and presented them their gifts.

New year in Moscow

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
We pray for Russia!

Merry Christmas

God’s Miracles

God is powerfully moving in our services. We have a tradition in our services that we pray for the prayer requests that our people have submitted before the service.  Sometimes we invite people to the altar and anoint them with oil for healing.  I would like to share with you a miracle that took place in one young man’s life.  His name is Dmitry, and he had been a drug addict for many years. The drugs had completely destroyed his health, and he was still infected with hepatitis. The Lord found him and rescued him from this life of drugs. Dmitry has been in the church for 4 years now. He ministers as the leader of a small group and serves at the orphanage. Recently, Dmitry was feeling badly and went to the hospital for tests and other examinations. While he was there, the doctors saw that he was positive for hepatitis and sent him for another blood test.  Before having the test done, Dmitry came to one of our Friday night prayer and healing services. During that service a call was given for those who needed healing in their body. Dmitry responded to that call and came forward for prayer. God’s presence was very real. People were touched by the Holy Spirit. The next day Dmitry went to the clinic and had the blood test run.  When the doctors saw the results, they were all shocked.  The tests were negative.  There was no hepatitis.   Dmitry was completely healed from the virus!!! The doctor gave him a clean bill of health!  All glory to our God!  Such testimonies encourage our people and build their faith. We believe it’s only the beginning of what God wants to do. 

The Orphanage:

            The Lord is blessing our orphanage. Since the fall, we have had a lot of new children who were picked up on the streets and brought to the orphanage by the police. These are kids who were living on the street, sleeping in basements, and also children taken from families in crisis with drug or alcohol addicted parents. We believe the Lord is touching people’s hearts and changing their lives with this ministry.

          Not long ago an 18 year old girl came to live at the shelter. Julia was pregnant and had been living on the street.  She has now given birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she named Vera. Now Julia lives at the shelter and helps on a daily basis with the housework and other domestic duties. She has started attending our church services and even brought her little daughter to be dedicated. 

It was a service full of joy!

Julia and Vera

Daniel and Camila

Camila's Birthday party in orphanage 

Camila

Thanksgiving service

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving service! The church building was filled to overflowing. My wife, Irina, with some other sisters, decorated the church with the fruits of the Ural earth. Over 200 people came to thank the Lord for His gifts and blessings. Our church celebrated Thanksgiving Day for the first time. Russia doesn’t have such a holiday, but we as God’s Church have begun this good tradition in the Urals.