Check out my @constantcontact newsletter

Check out the @constantcontact newsletter from Moscow

Update on Shestopalov Family (3)

On Tuesday, July 28, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with our Russian overseer Vladimir Shestopalov and his wife Aphrodite. It was the first time for me to see them since the tragic events from last month (see earlier posts). I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I think they are holding up well considering what they have gone through.

Aphrodite is still wearing a cast for her broken elbow. Vladimir is still taking pills for the kidney damage from the accident. The second oldest daughter is healing on schedule from her broken legs. But the patient with the longest path of recovery ahead is the oldest daughter Christine. She has several fractures of the facial bones and will face future surgeries once the current bruises / swelled areas have gone area. Due to the swelling, an acurate diagnosis has been slow in coming.

In describing the accident, the police calculated that Shestopalovs were traving about 60 mph *100 km/h) on the highway when an upcoming car doing 100 mph (160 km/h) crossed the yellow line and hit them head-on. Both cars rolled over several times before coming to a stop. It's a miracle that anyone survived the accident - and of course, there was one fatality.

The Shestopalovs have had strong support from the local church and from their ministerial colleagues in Russia. And they are also grateful for the prayers and support they have received from abroad. But they continue to be in our need of our prayers.

Update on Shestopalov Family (2)

Many of our readers of the blog and/or newsletter have been asking about the Shestopalov family. The funeral for the daughter was held this past Monday at the seminary. About 200 guests came from all over Russia, and a number of family members from outside of Russia. After the church ceremony, most of the guests accompanied the family for the graveside ceremony. Later in the afternoon, there was a meal for the family and guests at the seminary.

Bishop Shestopalov and his wife, Aphrodite, were able to attend the funeral. They were temporarily released from the hospital on Monday morning. They returned to the hospital on Tuesday morning. The two oldest daughters remain in the hospital and were not released for the funeral. (The two youngest daughters not in the accident did attend the funeral). The 2nd oldest daughter who had broken both legs continues to improve. The oldest daughter who suffered many head injuries is stable but will require further surgeries. We had antipated that she would be operated on last week, but this action has been delayed.

Thank you for your prayers. The Shestopalovs still face many challenges with their health plus the adjustments of losing a daughter/sister.

Update on Shestopalov Family

Many of our readers and those receiving our updates via email have asked us for updates.

Yesterday (Wednesday), Brother and Sister Shestopalov were finally transferred to a Moscow hospital, but I'm not sure if it is the same one where the two oldest daughters are.

The funeral for Sabrina is scheduled for Monday, June 22 to be held in the seminary chapel. Exact time .... I haven't heard yet. This will be coordinated with the cementary.

The overseer, Vladimir, has suffered some kidney damage from the accident and needs time to mend. He will be released on Monday just for a couple of hours to attend the funeral. Aphrodite, the wife, is suffering from low blood pressure and psychologically / emotionally is having a most difficult time.

The oldest daughter, Christine, remains in ICI with "head damage." and swelling. She has been brought out of her coma, can open her eyes and can think. Due to swelling, she has high pressure in the head. Her vision isn't the best; one eye has trouble shutting. And there is a part of the skull that has been shattered and needs to be replaced. Today she was transferred out of ICU into a regular room. I hear there is a surgery scheduled for Friday, but I'm not sure what is being done.

The 2nd oldest daughter, Diana, who had the broken legs is sitting up and might be released from hospital in the next couple of days.

Thank you once again for your prayers

Urgent Message from Moscow - Update on Shestopalov Family

Immediate Response Needed
Church of God World Missions Project Number #132-4002

Daughter Killed in Car Accident
On June 13, 2009 Russian National Overseer Vladimir Shestopalov and his family were traveling in the Moscow region when they were hit head-on by an coming SUV, causing them to slide into a ditch and roll over several times. In the van with Bishop Shestopalov were his wife, Afrodita, and his three oldest children.

Unfortunately, the Shetopalov's third daughter Sabrina died of her injuries shortly after the accident. The other two daughters in the vehicle were seriously injured and were medivaced to a hospital in Moscow. The oldest, Christine, is in critical condition with sever damage to her head. Another daughter, Diana, has broken both of her legs below the knees but is otherwise stable.

Bishop Shestopalov and his wife remain hospitalized near the accident site with numerous cuts, bruises, and internal injuries. The will be released to attend Sabrina's funeral but still require further medical treatment.

This horrible tragedy affects the entire Church of God family and Russia and throughout the field of Eurasia.

Prayer: Please pray for the Shestopalov family. They need much love, comfort, and emotional/spiritual support in this time of loss. There will cert ainly be many painful and unanswered questions to arise in the weeks and months ahead.

Give: The Russian medical system promises free health care for only the most basic of needs, but patients must pay for effective medicines and operations. Many Russian churches responded with offerings within 24 hours of the news, but we anticipate the family's medical expenses to be well beyond these available means.

Since medical treatment in Russia is largely dependent upon the ability to pay in advance, the Shestopalovs will require immediate assistance for their hospital expenses.

Please help us respond to this need today by sending donations to:

Project #132-4002
Shestopalov / Medical Needs
Church of God World Missions
PO Box 8016
Cleveland, TN 37320-8016

Or call toll-free at 1-800-345-7492
Or donate online at www.cogwm.org

If donating online through our secure server, please make sure to check the box: "My gift is specifically for Missionary Support, National Workers or Special Projects as listed below". (If you use the20link above, the project number should already be listed in the form.)

PLEASE NOTE: This is a different project number than the one listed yesterday. Instead of using the seminary's project number (710-0072), we ask that all donations for the Shestopalovs go the number highlighted above.

ETSM represented at EPTA Meeting

Did you know there is a fellowship and joint research entity for Pentecostal schools and scholars in Europe. The European Pentecostal Theological Association (which is the European equivalent to SPS in North America) began many years ago. Our denominational sister schools in Germany and Romania have been member schools since almost EPTA's inception.

Some three years ago, ETSM began to participate in the European Pentecostal Theological Association. However, we have not always been able to participate in the annual meeting. Fortunately, this year we were able to have three representatives at this year's "compressed" conference at our denominational sister school in Germany.

Representatives from most of the Pentecostal seminaries in Europe came together and examined more closely the roots of Pentecostalism in Central and Northern Europe. As a result of this meeting, one of our faculty members has been invited do additional research / presentations in connection with postmodernism and post-Soviet Russian Pentecostalsim.

Easter in Russia

My blogging has been in a slump as of late. As you can see below, I worked on two newsletters and I would be duplicating a lot. So, here is a report from Jeannette Chesser, a guest teacher at our school in Moscow, who shares her experiences from the past week in Russia.

Russian Easter

Because they use a different calendar, Easter is different than the US; this year it was April 19. The Russian Easter weekend starts Thursday night with communion and foot washing service.

After a late lunch on Thursday afternoon, I was sitting in the dinning hall chatting with another guest teacher. He told a staff member that some students in class had complained that no foot washing service was scheduled here at the seminary and they wanted their own service. (Students are assigned to different churches upon arrival at the seminary so it had been assumed that students would disperse in different directions for the evening.)

The visiting teacher and I strongly encouraged him to consider establishing the practice here. During the next 5 hours there was scrambling: spreading the news; assigning someone to go to a store to buy suitable basins; and, another to find enough clean towels. The visiting teacher was asked to teach/serve communion; and I was to give a message on foot washing.

At the end of the service, the women went to a portion of the library that had been set up for us. When I took a survey, only half of the women had ever witnessed such a practice. They were shy, self conscious, and an awkward hush permeated the room.

After demonstration a few had the courage to start, stiffness began to dissolve and little by little they entered into the spiritual experience. What happened was beautiful. Once they started praying for the person whose feet they washed, then they wanted to go to someone else. Before long it was evident that everyone was committed to wash the feet of everyone there.

Those on duty around the seminary came in late and the whole cycle started all over again. One woman said as she went around several times "Now that I have experienced this, I don't want to stop".

The water had to be brought from the kitchen in big pails and poured into the basins. I lost track of how many times someone went for another pail. Several hours later when it was over, every towel was soaking; there were prayers, tears, joy, laughter, singing, hugs,

On Saturday afternoon I was shocked to see lines so long they that wrapped all the way around a complete big block where people were slowly making their way to the entrance of a nearby Orthodox church. The purpose was a tradition to present eggs and bread for the priest to bless at the time he also blessed them.

For evangelicals in Russia, late Saturday night is the traditional church service with somber songs, prayers, and scripture reading. At midnight the sound changes to joy. The minister states "Christ is risen”, answered in unison by the people, "Indeed Christ is risen" thrice in succession, followed by shouts of praise and joyful singing.

Easter Sunday, the temp was near freezing, and the wind strong and piercing. There had been enough snow flurries to whiten crevices around trees and sidewalks. Families were out walking and the bells of the Orthodox were peeling. All day Sunday people were greeted with "Christ is risen" and the expected response would be "Indeed Christ has risen."

How wonderful to have the reality of Christ within, not just following a tradition. How blessed we are because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, His blood was shed for the remission of our sins; not just a covering but blotted out, never to be held against us again.

Love and blessings, Jeanette

Update

The April newsletter from the school in Moscow is now online.
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs072/1101898662382/archive/1102552465064.html

Introducing Jeannette ChessThe Life of a Missionary Print E-mail Image Jeanette Chesser preaching Six weeks of my three monther - Missionary

The following article was written by one of our guest lecturers in Moscow. You can read it also here.

Jeanette Chesser preaching

Six weeks of my three months in Moscow have now past at the Church of God Eurasian Seminary, living in a dorm room. There is plenty of noise; someone practicing the piano in the room below me every night, traffic all day and night on a major boulevard in front of the building, small children of some married students running down the hall with a toy, etc.

Ministry Trips

My teaching is scheduled during the middle of each week so that I have long weekends for ministry/teaching trips to cities where I have established relationships during the past 16 years.

The first one was in mid-February. I went to Izhevsk near Siberia, my adopted Russian town since 1995. Four days were filled with fellowship, church services, dinners in my honor and much tea drinking and food.

Church members wept on my shoulder, hovering around me with hugs and Russian kisses. These expressions of love come from the closeness developed during seven years there, living like they live, helping them be established in Christianity and teaching the Bible. I am now introduced as the spiritual mother of the people, a title I feel humbled to hear.

Story of Perseverance

Recently I was included with staff members as guests at the Seventh Day Adventist seminary compound, over an hour's drive from Moscow. Theirs is a beautiful story of perseverance. Twenty years ago when legislation for freedom of religion was passed in Russia, all denominations came to establish a Bible school and/or churches in Moscow. Property costs were very high. Seventh Day Adventist finally began to look in regions farther away.

In a small village (with the ever present Russia electric train running through the middle), development was concentrated on one side of the railroad tracks. The other side consisted of an old school built by the Germans many decades prior that had been gutted by fire. Village leaders gave it to Seventh Day Adventist for restoration, along with property surrounding it.

Using donated labor from around the world, over 1,600 Seventh Day Adventist members came during the first year alone. When villagers saw their standard of life and commitment, another 25 acres on the other side of the tracks was purchased for very little. Now, the compound has an administration building, school rooms, dorms, a publishing house, three-story library, gymnasium, cafeteria, other buildings and 90 staff with 300 enrolled in the Christian school and seminary.

Getting the Job Done

Without industry of any kind, the snow on the ground was pure and brilliantly white in that rare winter day of sunshine. I remembered the scripture in Isaiah, "Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow".

I sorely needed the use of a washer and dryer. I had washed small items in the sink from time to time but the bigger items could wait no longer. The old saying, “Necessity is the mother of invention" can be literally translated, “Pressing need is the mother of creativity.” I put the big items on the floor of the shower, soaked them with water, added soap, got on my hands and knees and started kneading them like dough. When my knees could no longer hold out, I took off my shoes, stood on the clothes and began a ritual than could only be described as stomping grapes. It got the job done!

St. Petersburg

There was flu or virus that some of the students had here at the seminary. Without much attention to spreading germs, I felt as if I was coming down with it too just as I was preparing to go to St. Petersburg the first week of March.

I traveled on the five-hour express train alone and a delegation met me at the station. St. Petersburg is 400 miles due north of Moscow, and there is a prevailing strong wet and cold wind blowing from off the Bay of Finland that hit me in the face as I disembarked.

The host pastor, Valery, was quite perturbed that the owner of the flat used as the office/guest quarters did not first check with him in advance and went forward with a project to paint the interior doors. To help eradicate the strong paint odor, Valery opened all windows. The outside temperature was below freezing, so you can imagine that inside was not much different with all windows open.

That night, after waking often, shivering, I finally put my fur coat on top of the two thin blankets, and repeated it all four nights.

I managed to get through the four teaching sessions of the seminar and Saturday went well during prayer ministry with members and pastors from five churches in the region. Sunday we had a regular church service.

Missionary Cravings

Russian food is nutritious here at the school but the budget does not allow for a lot of creativity and the menu is repetitious. It is normal for me to start thinking often of American food after I have been in another country over a month. Funny thing is that I crave things that I rarely order in the U.S. because of awareness of eating healthy. But at the moment a big fat hamburger with everything on it and a chocolate milkshake with real ice cream would taste mighty good.

The Need to “Own”

The current situation for all denominations in Russia has been hard on the growth of Christianity. The Russian Orthodox Church has much clout in the government and has always objected to evangelical growth. They pressured the government to issue an ordinance preventing any public building to be rented to a religious organization.

Of course this did not affect those with their own building, but those are few, and churches with sizable congregations that formerly rented a large cultural hall or theater were forced into small places rented by private individuals. Attendance has declined greatly everywhere.

The seminary building is presently being used by three different congregations.

Latest News from Moscow

The latest newsletter from Moscow is now available. To view, click on this link.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs072/1101898662382/archive/1102520172097.html

Dinstinguished Guests in Moscow

On March 3-4, ETSM had the honor of hosting Drs Donald E Miller and Tetsunao (Ted) Miller, authors of Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement.

Dr. Yamamori has served in various positions, perhaps most notably as the International Director for the Lauasanne Committee for World Evangelization. He is an expert missiologist who has also 18 years of seminary teaching experience.

Dr. Miller is an expert in the area of the sociology of religion. Donald E. Miller is Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California and executive director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture. (It took me a bit to place the name, but I had actually cited him in my own dissertation about the growth of Evangelicalism.)

The CRCC was awarded a $6.9 million grant to establish a Pentecostal and charismatic research center in the birthplace city of American Pentecostalism. Awarded by the John Templeton Foundation, a natural and social sciences philanthropy, the grant is the largest amount ever given towards Pentecostal-charismatic research and will be used to establish the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative (PCRI) at USC. For more information about this study, look at this article posted by the FaithNews Network.The purpose of Miller and Yamamori's visit to Moscow was to become familiar with the Pentecostal landscape in the former Soviet Union. The first day we spent getting to know each other; the next day we criss-crossed Moscow interviewing various sociologists and church leaders from various Pentecostal/Charismatic movements.

Perhaps there will be a possibility for ETSM to be a part of the research project - that is at least our aim - that will help us better understand the church whom we serve. A couple of us at the school must develop a proposal and submit it in the not too distant future. So....let's wait and see.

Accreditation Success

We have some exciting to news from Moscow! During the last week of January, ETSM hosted the "visiting committee" of the EAAA (the Eurasian Evangelical Accrediting Association). We at ETSM had held candidate status and were seeking full accreditation of our two bachalor's degrees. After a thorough investigation of the school's academic programs, administrative procedures, and overall operations, the committee has recommended EAAA to grant us the much sought after accreditation. The final decision will be taken by the annual conference of the entire EAAA assembly this summer.

EAAA is the regional accrediting agency of the International Council of Evangelical Theological Education (ICETE). The Church of God is, in turn, a sponsoring denomination of the ICETE. Thus, ETSM becomes one of select few Church of God schools outside of the United States to achieve such status.

A great amount of appreciation must be expressed to Ilya Okhotnikov (Provost) and Alexei Gorbachev (Academic Dean) and the faculty and staff in Moscow! Way to go guys!

My friend and our provost at ETSM in Moscow gives the following report from his blog about the new family and marital ministry program at ETSM.

Greetings from Moscow, Russia! Last 4 days including Saturday I taught Theology of Mariage and Theology of Family Ministry in a Local Church. The class is #1 class of 12 classes program on Marriage and Family Ministry Extension Program ETSM has opened this January-February 2009.

In my class we have had very good discussions on theology of marrige, theology on divorce, theology on re-mariage, theology of life (pregnancy, birth, church's responsibility), theology of sexuality and in all - the practical application of those in a context of a local church.

I had 12 students in the class. They were leaders of counseling ministry or those who have taken the are of family ministry in their churches. 1 pastor from Moscow (exacutive from a Baptist magazine) came also. Other people came from Belorussia, Ukraine, Russia, including Moscow. When we took the pictures some one would not like to be in it or leave earlier for work (see both pictures on the left side).

Sister Svetlana from Rostov-on-Don, Russia leads Family Ministry. At the end of the last class (after hearing the final test result ;-) she says that this class has helped her to be assured the things she feels and teaches back in her church are the right things! She has been established in the truth firmly and eger to be back and keep teaching and counseling church members for what we've discussed.

Brother Yuri from a Belorussian city has received material he was looking for and the Lord has given him so much of clear teachings on Marriage, Family, divorce, remarrige etc.

Natalia from a Ukrainian city has now found the confirmation of the things she also been for all the time, but not sure. After the class she has a clear theological and so that they would go on in teaching and preaching. Some were saying they wish their pastor would allow them to establish family ministry (which is premarital counseling, family counseling, retreat, etc.)

Sister Olga from one of towns in Russia got it all organized in her mind and on paper, written in order and has a systimic approach to Marriage and Family Ministry from the biblical perspective.

I am encouraged very much! Thank you for your prayers!

On the one of the days of the class - Friday - I got a food poison problem. In 2 hours after lunch I felt growing discomfort and in 2 more hours after finishing the day my body let the poison food out - and I felt right away much better, but for the rest of the day I did not eat. Yet on th enext day I was in class all right in the morning.

While I taught from 8 a.m. till 6 p.m. in between I still had to take care of all the administrative issues of the Seminary, solve conflicts, answer authorities etc. Day-to-day operation had to be supported. And the Lord has given us His favor and His blessing!

Video - Now on YouTube

Here is a link to the same video that is on Facebook, this time on YouTube

Video - Commercial for ETS Moscow

For anyone that is interest, here is a link to a newly made commercial for the bible school in Moscow. Although the video is in Russian, it still provides a good visual introduction to life at ETSM.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1090159733895

New Family and Marriage Program in Moscow

The school in Moscow is beginning a new program under the leadership of our provost, Dr. Ilya Okhotnikov. This is his blog report.

January 21, 2009 ETSM starts a new Marriage and Family Ministry (MFM) Program for church leaders. Purpose of the MFM Program is to train ministers to help and serve families in the church (and society). Upon completion of the program the graduates will be able to

1. Formulate the Biblical foundations of marriage\family.
2. Know contemporary theoretical approaches to analysis of family issues.
3. To know and develop in self qualities of a counselor. 1Tim.4:16.
4. Receive skills for counseling families (to know how to begin, continue and end a counseling session)
5. Understand psychology of children and teen's behavior
   -- including aspects of human growth according to the age
   -- discipleship of teens for sexual integrity in a local church
6. Be able to conduct premarital, marital, second-marriage, post divorce, while in divorce counseling.
7. Organize Marriage and Family Ministry in a church (formulate goals and aims, direction and methods of reaching the goals)
8. Analyse marital dynamics skilfully using methods of research (PREPARE\ENRICH) and counseling techniques that are in line with the Bible
   

• January 21-24, 2009 Seminar on "Biblical foundations of mariage and family". Ilya Okhotnikov
• January 26-30, 2009 Seminar on "Basic Counseling Theories". Ruslan Naduyk, Pastor, Dean of Sociology Department, Russian-American Christian University, Moscow, Russia
• February 2-6, 2009 Seminar "Premarital Counseling". Rocky and Terri Morris, Clarion Call. Communicating the message of hope.
  http://clarioncall.createsend5.com/t/ViewEmail/r/58B91C3EC496C013/73C4C150156E84722540EF23F30FEDED

Following seminars will be held between June 8 and 26, 2009.

Thank you for your prayers for this event in January.
Ilya Okhotnikov

Russian Patriach Passes Away

This piece of news is available through many news outlets, but may not get the prime time coverage in the West. Alexei II is to the Russian Orthodox church what the Pope is to Catholicism. As you can see below, he has had an interesting impact on Russian society. And it will be interesting to see who his successor will be.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who presided over a vast post-Soviet revival of faith but was accused of making the church a force for nationalism, died Friday at age 79, the church headquarters said.

The Moscow Patriarchate said he died at his residence outside Moscow, but did not give a cause of death. Alexy had long suffered from a heart ailment.

Alexy became leader of the church in 1990, as the officially atheist Soviet Union was loosening its restrictions on religion. After the Soviet Union collapsed the following year, the church's popularity surged. Church domes that had been stripped of their gold under the Soviets were regilded, churches that had been converted into warehouses or left to rot in neglect were painstakingly restored and hours-long Masses on major religious holidays were broadcast live on national television.

By the time of Alexy's death, the church's flock was estimated to include about two-thirds of Russia's 142 million people, making it the world's largest Orthodox church.

But Alexy often complained that Russia's new religious freedom put the church under severe pressure and he bitterly resented what he said were attempts by other Christian churches to poach adherents among people who he said should have belonged to the Orthodox church.

Alexy successfully lobbied for the 1997 passage of a religion law that places restrictions on the activities of religions other than Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. Under his leadership, the church also vehemently opposed schismatic Orthodox churches in neighboring Ukraine, claiming the Ukrainian church should remain under Moscow's control.

He was born Alexei Mikhailovich Rüdiger on Feb. 23, 1929 in Tallinn, Estonia. The son of a priest, Alexy often accompanied his parents on pilgrimages to churches and monasteries, and he helped his father minister to prisoners in Nazi concentration camps in Estonia. It was during those visits that Alexy decided to pursue a religious life.

Under Soviet rule, this was not an easy choice. Lenin and Stalin suppressed religion and thousands of churches were destroyed or converted to other uses, such as museums devoted to atheism or, in some cases, stables. Many priests and parishioners were persecuted for their beliefs.

The persecution eased somewhat during World War II, when Stalin discovered that the church could be used as a propaganda tool in the fight against the Nazis. But the Soviet authorities never fully loosened their grip, penetrating the church at the highest levels.

Alexy was ordained in 1950, progressed through the Orthodox hierarchy, and was consecrated Bishop of Tallinn and Estonia in 1961.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles - Getting Home for Thanksgiving in Germany

Remember the old comedy with Steve Martin and John Candy, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. That's a little bit of what my last trip to Moscow and back was like.

The Trip to Moscow
It began with a beep on my mobile phone during church. Since we were attending a district conference, it was pretty easy for me to step out and listen to my voice mail in which an agent from the airlines indicated that my flight from Stuttgart to Holland was canceled and the trip to Moscow was also questionable due to an oncoming snow storm. Fortunately, I was able to take an earlier flight via Paris to Moscow; but I had to leave church immediately in order to catch the train to the airport. (And at least the train ride was without incident).

Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport is one of Europe's largest airports, but has no train shuttle between the terminals (or halls). Imagine going from Atlanta's (Hartfield's) atrium to terminal E without the automated train. Ironically, in order to go from Terminal D to Terminal E, I had to walk over the local train station (for trains going into the city). However, the police had cordoned off the connecting corredors. The only way around the blockade was to go out on the street and walk around it.

Once on the plane, we waited at the gate for 1.5 hours until they asked us to deboard. Apparently one passenger was not allowed on the plane and they had to find his/her luggage. It was 4:30 am before I arrived at the school in Moscow.

The Trip Back to Germany
My flight was at 9:15. Even though we left the school at 6:15 am, it took us 2.5 hours to get to the airport. Long story made short, a new driver thought he knew how to beat the traffic -- we didn't. Missed my original flight to Paris (and the connection to Stuttgart) and had to buy a replacement ticket. After all, I had to get home for Thanksgiving. The rest of the trip, however, went without incident.

Thanksgiving at ETS-Kniebis
Our family was invited to celebrate Thanksgiving with the faculty and staff of the European Theological Seminary in Kniebis (bei Freudenstadt), Germany. It was a great meal and time together with some American colleagues. However, by the time a picture was taken, our kids were outside playing in the snow (which was about 18 inches deep at the school, located on top of a mountain in the Black Forrest).

More News from Moscow

This week, I (Tom) have been in Moscow minding shop. The main purpose of the trip was to join the faculty in a meeting with the national overseer from Russia. We have a good, solid residential program, but very few people can take advantage of what ETSM has to offer. So today's discussion was about expanding our extension ministries throughout the country. It was a good, first conversation. The follow up meeting will be in a couple of weeks.

After the meetings, Ilya and I chilled out at a local mall and enjoyed a Sbarro's pizza. And tomorrow, I'm on my way back to Germany.

News From Moscow

One of these days, I'll figure out how to post the newsletters from our school in html format and blooger doesn't try to mess up. Until then, I simply post a link.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs072/1101898662382/archive/1102332063257.html

This monthly newsletter from the seminary in Moscow highlights two students and the experiences they had during their recent week of "missionary activity".