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January 22, 2003
Following are prayer requests from the local pastors in
Ufa:
1. The local leadership is negotiating with Donetsk Christian University to
get a traveling Christian art exhibition to come soon to the Ufa area.
Pray that the negotiations conclude soon and that the exhibition will be used
by the Lord to open doors for sharing the gospel.
2. Pray for the continued renovation of a local facility which will eventually
become the first known evangelical bookstore here in Ufa. This
bookstore will help meet a crucial need for evangelicals throughout the entire
Republic of Bashkortostan.
3. Pray for Valentin Konbratets as he ministers in local prisons every
Friday. He has an opportunity soon to minister God's love and good news
to more than 500 prisoners on a regular basis. We assisted Valentin recently
with the purchase of a dependable cassette/CD player which he can use to share
Christian hymns and music during worship times with the prisoners.
4. Pray for Alexander and Lena Shishkin as they go to Moscow this
weekend to meet a new ministry team which will soon accompany them to the
Republic of Karelia (just east of Finland) to start the first evangelical
churches in the 3 most populous cities of Karelia. Pray that the initial
meeting bonds the workers' hearts together with a common goal of
a church-planting movement.
5. Pray for an evangelism team from Ufa which will head to four
different cities here in Bashkortostan to conduct a general evangelism project
in order to start evangelistic bible study groups. They will minister
Jan. 27-31.
6. Pray for the Jesus film team here in Ufa as they are constantly
seeking and accepting invitations to show the film in hospitals, cultural
halls, theaters, and local churches, with the express purposes of leading
viewers to faith in Jesus Christ and for the formation of new evangelistic
bible study groups.
7. Pray that the Lord would raise up a person to serve as an youth ministry
leader for the Baptists of Bashkortostan. This is an emerging area of
ministry here and the need is heavy on the hearts of the leadership here.
8. Pray that printing of materials will soon commence for a major
evangelistic training conference to be held in April. We are somewhat
concerned that the printing process has not yet started. Pray that it
would quickly begin and that the materials arrive in a timely manner in early
March.
Thanks for your intercession before the Lord on behalf of the lost of
Bashkortostan!
Chris Carr
IMB Strategy Coordinator for Bashkortostan
January 19, 2003
Greetings in the name of Jesus from
the Carr and Moon families in Ufa, Bashkortostan! We wanted to share with you
another prayer update about how God is at work here in the Ufa area:
1. Praise the Lord with us that Larry and Josie Moon arrived safely in
Ufa early on the morning of January 9th. All of their luggage arrived safely
with nothing missing. They are beginning to use the public transportation
system and will hopefully start full-time language study in the next week to
ten days. Pray for their adjustment to a new culture & language, as it will
not be easy for them in the coming months. There will be numerous temptations
to be overly discouraged and maybe even want to give up. Pray for God's
sustaining grace in their lives for the foreseeable future.
2. Praise the Lord with us that we were able to share some key
components of our work during an annual meeting of believers here in Ufa this
past week. We were able to hopefully give some concrete examples of how we
want to further deepen our working relationships with the existing Evangelical
churches of Bashkortostan. We receive our visa support from the Russian
Baptist Union, and such mutual understanding and partnership is important to
our work.
3. Please continue praying for the bible study group that meets in our
apartment. We had a new young university student join us in the study this
past week. We do not know if she is a believer or not, but the gospel was
clearly presented and she gave clear indication that she understood what was
taught and discussed. Pray that she returns next week, as the next lesson
deals with "the only way to heaven". Pray for her (L.) and her other
classmates who are considering joining with us in the bible studies.
4. Praise the Lord with us that Chris was able to speak to a group of
English teachers three times in the past week. He lectured on topics such as
ethics in the home/workplace, religion in American culture, and American
holidays. He was able to show about 10 minutes of the Jesus film (in
English), make a gift of Bibles to each participant, and make a gift of the
Jesus film (Russian version) to each participant. We hope to soon receive
copies of the English version of the film in order to relay them on to each
participant. Pray that the participants read the Bibles, read the tracts,
& watch the Jesus film so as to personally come to the knowledge of the
truth and need for Jesus as Saviour.
5. Praise the Lord with us that we have been able to get Nathan into a
kindergarten here in Ufa. The administration and staff are very friendly and
well-trained, and Nathan is already beginning to make new friends. Pray for
him to eat better (all of the food is Russian and he is not used to it yet!)
at lunchtime. He attends on Tuesday and Thursday.
6. Pray for our team as we seek to get solid commitments from volunteer
groups from the states to help us in the coming months and next few years. We
are searching for groups of any size to come help us fulfill specific segments
of our church-planting strategy, such as scripture/Jesus film distribution,
Christian concerts (English), prayer walking, sports evangelism, cultural
exchanges, orphanage ministry, leadership training, special event evangelism,
evangelistic bible studies, etc. If you are interested in assisting us,
please write us directly at: carr@ufanet.ru
or also at chrisandeileen@iname.com.
Last, please periodically check out our ministry website at:
www.hope4ufa.com We have some outdated
material on the site (since we were so consumed with the births of our newborn
twins while stateside last year), but we hope to soon get it much more updated
and informative. As a part of our team, please pass on our website address to
others who might join us in praying, giving, and going to assist us in the
work here in Ufa. We especially thank each and every one of you for your
sacrificial giving through the Cooperative Program in your local church and
also to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Int'l Missions. Without your
support, we could not be here on the field and be able to fully devote
ourselves to the work. If you are not a part of a Southern Baptist church and
would like to be of financial assistance to not only our work, but to the work
of over 5000 other missionaries, then please visit
www.imb.org and you will find a link there to
give toward the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and can also learn more about
the work of the Int'l Mission Board around the world.
Much love to you and thanks again!
Chris, Eileen, Nathan, Timmy, Heather, Stephen, and Seth Carr
IMB Strategy Coordinators serving in Ufa, Bashkortostan
January 3, 2003
Hello from cold and snowy Ufa! It has
been -35F recently and we had blizzard conditions this past week. But that
hasn't stopped us from continuing the work to which God has called us here in
Bashkortostan. We'd like to ask you to continue praying/praising with us for
the following needs and situations:
1. Pray for the soon and safe arrival of Larry and Josie Moon, new team
members who will join us on Jan 9. They are scheduled to depart from USA on
Jan 5 and arrive in Moscow on Jan 6. Pray for decent traveling weather and
that there would be no baggage problems, especially in light of new
restrictions concerning the locking of luggage. Pray that their flight arrives
on time, that they retrieve all their luggage, and that they clear passport
control and customs control without any delays. Also, be praying that we can
get their visas registered in a timely manner without any problems.
2. Pray for the small bible study group that continues to meet in our
apartment. Pray that additional people, whom we have invited, will
begin to participate in the bible studies. Pray for God's guidance in
expanding opportunities to minister among university students in the
downtown area of Ufa.
3. Pray for the preparations Chris is making to speak to a group of English
teachers in Ufa this month. It will be a wonderful opportunity to share about
religious influences and ethics in the home, workplace, society, etc.
4. Pray for us as we prepare to make an annual report of projected activities
through our Baptist association for the coming year. Pray that we are able
to clearly communicate our goals and that we will be able to clearly cast our
vision for a church-planting movement.
5. Pray for us as we prepare for a Christmas evangelism project in our
apartment building during the days of Jan 6-8. Orthodox Christmas occurs on
Jan 7 and is a natural time for us to share openly about Jesus' birth, death,
and resurrection for our salvation. Pray that we are able to
access/distribute copies of the Jesus film during this project, and that those
who view the film will be convicted of sin, judgment, and righteousness, to
the point of having saving faith in the risen Christ.
6. Pray for wisdom as we meet with the director of a kindergarten next week.
We feel that Nathan should attend the kindergarten at least one day a week in
order to have more interaction with children his age, so that he will more
quickly learn Russian language, and so that witnessing relationships can be
developed with administrators and other parents.
7. Last, pray for those Int'l Mission Board workers that you know personally.
We have all been deeply impacted and grieved by the martyrdom of the
three IMB workers in Jibla, Yemen this past week. We all live with the
knowledge that we are now potential targets for such violence not merely
because we are believers in Jesus, but also because we are Americans.
Pray for the families of those who lost their loved ones in this murderous
action, as well as for the other workers who remain at the hospital in the
Muslim-dominated country of Yemen. As Christian workers, we most show through
our actions that God's way of love is eternally more desirable than the
violence of radical Islam.
We thank you for your continued prayer support of God's work here in the Ufa
area. We also thank you deeply for your sacrificial giving to the Lottie Moon
Christmas Offering for International Missions. We are thrilled to work with
Southern Baptists in their efforts to fulfill the verses of Rev 7:9-10:
"After this I looked and there before
me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe,
people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the
Lamb...they were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their
hands...and they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who
sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!". Dear God, may it be so! Use us to
fulfill your desires!
Much love to you and Happy New Year!
Chris & Eileen Carr
IMB Strategy Coordinators for Bashkortostan
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