Blessings to all who support us!

Dearest Partners,
Thank you for your prayers and financial support for this trip to Eastern Africa and other trips we make to train and equip people of God.This Africa trip was the most difficult for me (I became very sick on the malaria and intestinal infection) and, at the same time, the most rewarding trip I have been privileged to make! Without God’s help, your prayers and financial support, it would not have been possible, and fewer lives would have been touched for the cause of Christ. Please continue to pray that the seeds that were planted and those that were watered will grow and produce fruit that is pleasing to our Lord! Thank you! Thank you!

Ministry in Boma

On Sunday Alex, Peter and I traveled to Boma by “dolla-dolla” bus which is the cheapest way of moving around in Tanzania. It was so fun to ride a “dolla-dolla” bus because we have such buses in Russia as well; we call them “marshrutka”. We enjoyed the ride for 10 minutes and all of a sudden, we stopped in the middle of nowhere, very soon we found out that “dolla-dolla” bus broke down on us! What a bummer! We were asked to come to church on time because I was teaching. I decided to do what we usually do in a situation like this in Russia: let’s flag down a car!!! And it did work for us! Hallelujah! An older gentleman stopped and picked us up; we traveled to Boma in a very nice vehicle. Hallelujah! We got off at a bus stop in Boma and the driver didn’t even charge us! Thank you, Lord! About five minutes later a brother from the church showed up and took us to the site. The minute we stepped in to the church, we felt like at home! The place was packed and worship was upbeat and lively! The heavens above opened up and it was pouring down on us… the Holy Spirit presence fell and filled up the place! Alex turned to me and said he was going to dance like he had never done before. Hahaha! Oh my! You should see him dancing! My supporting crew was right on!!! Peter was amazing – he translated for me from English into Swahili, took good care of us letting people around know that we are not bunch of rich white folks from the West! At the service I spoke from the book of James and chapter one. That was one easy service about 3-4 hrs overall, people there were really receptive helping me with bunch of hallelujahs and amen! After the service we were surrounded by the most beautiful kids I have ever seen in my life! They were cute! Alex and I took lots of Russian candies on the trip; we passed them on to the kids praising the Lord for this opportunity to make this trip to Boma. On the way back we had amazing views of the mountains! It was so close and surreal!

Imparting into faithful men in Africa...

Looking back on the seminar done in Moshi, I am amazed and humbled that God allowed ICM-Russia to be a part of something so great to the advancement of God’s Kingdom. It was also a blessing to serve with Pastor Dan, Dr. Bill, Troy and Jen (missionary couple in Tanzania), Moses (minister in Uganda), Peter (minister in Kenya) and Alex (minister in Russia) God was so good to us all!!! We were so very happy to have great time together!!! Despite of the tiredness, the ICM staff had a burden for Bible teaching and the equipping of the believers in Tanzania by entrusting Inductive Bible Study teachings to faithful men in Moshi district who will be able to teach others as in 2 Tim 2:2. It was a three days dynamic leadership training seminar. God was indeed gracious to us during this trip and the seminar, as we trusted Him through what we have been able to accomplish.

Ministry in Moshi, Tanzania

Wow, it has already been 2 weeks! The transition is pretty interesting, because you find that you can get pretty close to people when you spend your entire days with them. Some of the pastors attending our seminars chose to ride their bicycles, sometimes as much as 80 kilometers, to get to the seminar venue and sleep on a concrete floor at night in order to be taught how to study the Bible inductively. Their eagerness to be taught and gratitude for the teaching was humbling. At the seminars, a couple of women cooked for 75 pastors, using wood for fuel with three rocks to hold the pot. They cooked in this manner, rain or shine. The choices they made allowed the participants to attend and the seminar to continue. I wish to report to you on the IBS seminar held in Moshi, Tanzania from November 4 to November 8, 2008. The Seminar brought together 75 rural pastors, cell group leaders, and church workers from different congregations, and denominations. The seminar time was used well, and I believe we have left an impact that will blossom. We taught the IBS seminars every day from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. I thank God that we had good time with pastors every day to teach from Inductive Bible Study manual. Every pastor was very encouraged, and at the end, one pastor came up and said, “ I have been a pastor for a long time. I have never heard teachings like these. This is my first time to see and hear about studying the Bible following the rules of observation, interpretation and application. Also, I did not know that the Bible was written by 40 authors. I say from my heart that am blessed, and I promise to teach my people in my church. God bless you brothers. Pastor Peter from Kenya said to me, “In this seminar, my passion has been renewed, because I have received something which will help me and my congregation. I did not know much about the Basic Principles of Observation, Interpretation and Application, but now by using these principles in personal preparation, I will reach and mentor many young leaders for the next generation, praise God.” It was so humbling to have evangelists, laymen and young pastors thanking Intensive Care Ministries and aggressively saying that they had never been to a Bible seminar like this–a place of sound teaching. Every pastor we had in a seminar asked ICM to return to Tanzania to teach the Word even more. This is the very heart of the mission ICMinistries has chosen, to equip young leaders and empower them to teach pastors in rural areas and make them reproduce so that we can expand the kingdom of God today, tomorrow and forever more by teaching the word of God accurately.

Mountain Kilimanjaro is always shy and...

trying to hide its beautiful pick under the cloudy scarf...
Highest peak in Africa 5,895 meters (19,340 feet)

Tallest free-standing mountain rise in the world.
Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano. No volcanic activity is expected but apparently there are fears the volcano could collapse.

The glaciers at the top of Kilimanjaro are rapidly melting, over the past century the ice cap volume has dropped more than 80% and it is predicted that all the ice will be gone between 2015 and 2020.

Arriving in Arusha and ministering in Moshi, TZ

Mzungu, not sure if the spelling is right...but that is the swahili for white person. Basically, me and the other missionaries stick out like sore thumbs here. Where ever we go people are saying "Hi" and "Muzugu"... the kids gather around us and hold our hands. They say "Hi", laugh and giggle! I truly feel like a traveling circus act!! It is so funny. I must say HI top a million people on my walks around town and back and forth to the seminar venue! We are also asked for money and candy wherever we go. Learning more and more swahili, "KaKa" would mean "a brother"! Why are the men always called KAKA and not the women? Everything is really going great so far!!!! I'm sorry for not posting a lot of entries. Internet is so slow. And my pictures are not uploading. Ugh!!!!!!!!

On the way to Africa...

Brethren,

In less than 10 hours Alex and I will be on a plane to Kili, Tanzania to equip African pastors with the life-changing Bible Study course.We will be giving out copies of the teaching manual translated into their language. We have been doing this for a longtime here at ICM-Russia and we are excited for pastors in Tanzania to get hold of the gospel of grace through this powerful course. Many Africans are somewhat religious and are used to a formal public worship, sometimes this is beneficial and sometimes this is a hindrance. Pray for the effectiveness of this course in the lives of all our African brethren.

Our friends and team members came to the train station in Cherepovets to see us off! They are praying for us!