March 2010 Update

Dearest Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,

Thank you all for your prayers and continued support, thank you for caring for ICM (Russia)! We love you and appreciate you all a LOT!

This month of March has been very busy for us both in Russia and America. The first part of the month Alex Alexandroff had the opportunity to go visit the the Salt of the World Church that started the rehab center in the city of Saratov, Russia. Alex had to travel for about three days to get there. He has been with ICM (Russia) more than 14 years and traveling to remote areas all over the former Soviet Union and is doing a great job teaching the Truth of God wherever the need and hunger is. Alex and other ICM (Russia) team members have had many opportunities to teach and preach at the churches, rehabs, and seminaries throughout Russia.

I always encourage each and every minister to be ready at all times whenever we visit a church with the Productive Bible Study Program. People here in Russia are very hungry and excited to hear from God and are not shy to ask us to pray over them after seminars. The roads up to the rehab were extremely bumpy, it is always much fun traveling bumpy roads because no matter what kind of car you are traveling, it is going to be your gut-shaking car anyways!!! Alex was also able to visit a pig farm that really helps rehab occupants get their meat. One of the top things on Alex's list to do while there in Saratov was to equip rehab occupants and leaders with a technique and know-how to study and teach the Word of God verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, and book-by-book, so that people could get to know the whole purpose of God to be set free from alcohol and drug addiction!

Another big thing and huge blessing this month, is that Victor Elizaroff and Konstantin Rogov, ICM (Russia) partners were able to finalize the progress of getting Light of Hope Shelter registered with the local government over there in their town of Severodvinsk, Russia. We have been praying about planting Light of Hope Shelter there for a couple of years! God answered our prayer this year! Hallelujah! About two months ago Konstantin started working with teens at risk teaching them the Truth of the Bible, feeding them good food, doing sports and music cafe projects. Praise the Lord!

We have also been thinking and praying for three years now about starting Light of Hope Shelter for the street kids in Cherkessk where Garik and Tanya are pastoring their church. I have been encouraging and training Garik to teach through the Bible and work with kids at risk for more than 8 years! Last year he shared with Olga and I that Tanya and him and their church are ready to plant Light of Hope Shelter in Cherkessk. We prayed long and hard about this decision and in April Garik is going to visit Victor and Konstantin in Severodvinsk to discuss the steps he needs to make in order to fulfill the Lord's task in Cherkessk, the Caucasus region! We all felt the Lord confirm that He wants us to grow and expand this vision wherever we are. All of us have decided to follow Jesus, move in to town, work on the soil, lay the foundation and build a safe place for people to come and get good food, extravagant love, tender care, God's grace and salvation. This ministry is all about Jesus! All ICM (Russia) associates and partners have been faithfully working hard on laying a strong foundation to build this safe place for people in their communities. Needless to say although such a beautiful ministry, it has been a little stretching for me and Olga, Garik and Tanya, Alex and Luba, Victor and Luba, Konstantin and Luda, Abner and Irene, Andrey and Svetlana, Olga, Nate and Svetlana to be living this beautiful Christian lifestyle! Please, please, please pray for us as we go in Jesus name and proclaim the Truth of the Kingdom to every creature, every denomination, every church throughout this cold country! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, our continued, faithful supporters that make it possible for us to continue in the ministry!!!!!!!!!!

Ministering to Shelter Kids and Orphans

Last week there was no school for the kids in Cherepovets. So the team decided to use this time to put together a program for the teens and children at our Light of Hope Center. Olga and Andrey decided to pick the theme “The Miracles We Take for Granted.” They used videos, activities, games, and the Word to show the kids that the things we take for granted; like walking, seeing, hearing, love, and even life; are gifts from God. Therefore we need to be thankful and give Him the glory in and for our lives. They had two programs, a three day camp outside the city at a Christian orphanage for the teenagers, and one for the children in the city in the mornings at nearby a youth center.

The activities were designed to show what it would be like not to be able to see, or hear and how hard life would be with everything you would miss. It did not take long for the kids to realize and become grateful for their eye, ears, legs, and arms that work, allowing them to see, hear, walk, and feel. The task then was to try to show them what a miracle it is to feel love from others, and show love to others. Then using this concept to show that it is better to help, be kind, and be careful with your words, rather than waste this gift from God by hurting each other with our actions and words.

Most of these kids don’t have any example of true love and have a hard time feeling loved or loving others at home. They are taught only to answer evil for evil and pain for pain. As I watch the way they treat each other so cruelly and harshly, I realize that this is a sign of how hurt and insecure they are. I know that when they leave the center they are instantly surrounded by friends, family and influences that are hostile to love and truth. The only thing that has the power to change anyone’s heart in this hostile world is the love of Christ. It is our desire to teach, show, give, and be an example of this love to them. I know that through the patient ministry of prayer and the Word we will be able to reach these kid’s hearts for Jesus. Jesus longs to welcome these kids into his kingdom, waiting for them with open arms like a mother hen trying to protect her chicks.

I thank those of you who continue to help our ministry in prayer and support. Please continue to pray for these kids that they would open their hurting hearts to Jesus, and that we would have the love and wisdom to reach them.

click here to see more pictures

Alex Alexandroff, ICM Russia Associate

Dearest Friends, please pray for Alex, my associate as he is coming to visit us here in the States on March 10-26. We are so excited to see him attending High Sierra Pastors' Conference here in California with us! This is his first time he will be having a retreat with pastors from all over the place. We have a packed schedule for him as we want him to see many of the ministries and people we have come to know and love here. We believe that God is going to bless him and give him all he needs while he is here! And thank you all who have a huge heart for missions and missionaries for the financial help you sent our way to help us bring Alex to the States. For those of you in California or Nevada who know Alex and would like to spend some time with us, you may want to drive to High Sierra Pastors' Conference site on March 22-24. Come out and lets have some fun time of fellowship!

Taking Care of Street Kids in Cherepovets

Dear Family! Greetings in the name of the Lord! Olga and I pray you are well in Christ and He is blessing you as you serve Him!

We are excited to report what ICM (Russia) team has been doing the last couple of weeks. Olga, the shelter director, Andrey, Nelly, Ira, and Sveta have been doing a great job working hard to reach street kids and broaden their world view. I believe that one way of reaching these kids with the gospel of Jesus is to show them that this environment they live in is not all they can look forward to, that there is a whole world out there waiting for them to come and discover it. They need to understand there is hope out there, and that they can step out and change their lives if they choose to. I believe by showing them this, they will begin to trust Christians more, begin to grow curious about life, start asking questions, and then they will be more open for the Gospel. This last week the team was able to take the kids to the city library, and to OMON (the Russian armed militia, which is kind of like SWAT) headquaters where kids participated in two tournaments with some fun games.

The trip to the library was good for the kids to see what resources are at their fingertips. They have an internet there at the library, research lab, a section for just causal reading, and even a foreign language section.

The trip to OMON looks like it was a lot of fun. Anrey and Nate took the kids to the local OMON headquarters for a presentation on what they do there and the different weapons that they use. It is apparent that the kids were having a great time when they got to come up and hold the different weapons themselves!



click here to see more pictures of the OMON presentation
The tournament was held at a nearby youth center. The team did a great job at coming up with fun games for the kids. The goal of the tournament was to teach morals, teamwork, good sportsmanship, and how to have good clean fun with the games they come up with. The kids had a lot of fun, they learned a lot and at the same time they didn’t even realize they were being taught life lessons.






click here to see more pictures of the tournament