Prayer Vision Tour update - Part Two

["bobbismisko" <bobbismisko@erols.com>]

Have Prayer; Will Travel!

Part Two:
We arrived in Moscow around 7:00 AM and gratefully recognized Chuck Sunberg
as he greeted us that morning. Our Moscow adventure had begun.  Much as Jon
Mowry had shared, Chuck brought us up to speed, as we traveled to our hotel,
about the church's vision for the city, details about the work and the
people there, and an update about themselves and their personal prayer
needs.  It was at moments like these that I saw God's wisdom in having just
the three of us for this mission.  I do not think that it would have been as
easy to share in as intimate a fashion with a large number of prayer
warriors.  It would have been a different kind of experience.

We spent the next 2 ½ days in much the same type of ministry as in St
Petersburg with one big exception.  One afternoon we were driven about an
hour out of town to the Nazarene Compassionate ministries Dacha (pronounced
Da cha).  Many Russians retreat to their summer "homes" to plant gardens and
therefore supply much needed food for the rest of the year.  Some of these
places are merely sheds with no amenities like running water or bathrooms.
Others are much nicer, and some are even palatial.  Our Dacha is a ministry
center, which is used for retreats, meetings, and other such gatherings and
was created by joining two buildings making a large but cozy multi-purpose
facility.  God used this lovely oasis to refresh and restore us with
Christian fellowship and the beauty of His creation, which surrounds the
property.

At one point, Chloe, Yoni and I took a long prayer-walk in the countryside.
As we walked and spoke to the Lord about the needs of those we had met, we
happened upon a woman Chloe knew as the "goat lady." Apparently, she
wandered about much of the day permitting her little flock to munch the
local grasses. Chloe spoke to her in her limited Russian, and they hugged as
old friends might.  We nodded hello (I found that one nods and smiles a lot
when you cannot speak another's language), and I played with one of the
goats for a time.  As I tenderly stroked the white fur, I marveled at the
opportunities to touch the lost for Christ in this far away place.  As we
continued our walk, we prayed that the "goat lady" would find the Way to
salvation.

A special treat that day was that we were sharing this time of R&R with many
others.   Heart to Heart, a musical ministry team, which was ministering in
several cities in Russia, was there as well as a group of graduate students
who were meeting to take a theology class. The Sunbergs and the three of us
"prayer ladies" finished the group.  There were about thirty-five of us that
evening.  We enjoyed a "barbecue on the grill" dinner and a time of
fellowship, gathering to eat at tables and other scattered seating in the
living area.  When everyone had finished, Chuck asked me to lead the group
in a time of prayer. We stood and joined hands, several prayed, we repeated
the Lord's Prayer together, and we sang a couple of praise choruses . . .
nothing terribly outstanding or out of the ordinary . . . but God works so
beautifully in the ordinary when His people come together in community and
call on His name!  There was a breaking down of barriers . . .a sense that
the Spirit had been loosed in our midst.  And when we were finished,
suddenly one of the young college students shared a testimony of God's
wonderful work in his life. Somehow that time of prayer had helped us to
become community, had taken many strangers and woven their lives together in
the bond of Christian love through the amazing power of prayer!  As I
experienced the blessing and the refreshment that evening, I was reminded
that often when we "go" in mission to help others, God does the greatest
work in - and for - us.

Our escort during most of our Moscow leg of the Prayer Vision Tour was a
young national named Volodye who was involved in Christian ministry with the
Church of the Nazarene in Moscow.  The day after we arrived, his wife
delivered a baby, and we felt guilty that poor Volodye had to cart the
prayer ladies around from place to place.  But Volodye had a heart for God,
and he graciously and untiringly served us throughout the two and a half
days there.  It was he who drove us to the airport on our last day, and
after translating for us so that we boarded the right plane, he waited to
wave farewell as a close friend or relative might have done.  We had made
another friend in Russia - and found a brother in Christ!

The trip from Moscow to Volgograd was interesting.  We boarded directly off
the tarmac, walking up the boarding steps that had been pushed up against
the plane.  After being on an airplane that held about three hundred
passengers, this looked like a "puddle-jumper" in comparison!  There could
not have been more than twenty-five or thirty seats. My eyes searched the
entire inside shell looking for rust and missing screws . . . I did not have
an extreme sense of confidence in this aircraft.  I gathered that I was not
the only one as I noticed that when we landed, the man across the aisle from
me made the sign of the cross several times in the way of the Orthodox
Church.  Although I had no sense of fear, I certainly understood his
concern.  We hit ground pretty hard, but we landed without incident!

Airports in Eastern Europe have none of the flair of those in the West.
They tend to be dark, dingy, and very old.  This one had one area to collect
baggage, and a guard patrolled it and demanded to see our tickets in order
to retrieve it. Lonnie Norris, the missionary to Volgograd, met us this time
and led us to the missionary van, seemingly a staple on the mission field.
No wonder!  They are always transporting teams of ministry people who come
to help in some way.  Some build churches, some perform concerts, and some
simply come to pray!  The first thing we told Lonnie as we had done in the
other two cities was that we had not come to sightsee.  "Cancel all tours to
see the city," we told him.  We had come merely to pray.

Again, we arrived to find that another team was ministering there as well.
A Work and Witness team was helping build a church, and on the second day
there all twenty-five of us hopped on a tour bus and traveled from ministry
sight to ministry sight, observing the work and then praying for the
pastors, their people and their buildings.  What an exciting time we had
together in prayer and song . . . and lots and lots of laughter!  Again,
strangers had become friends . . .we were sisters and brothers in Christ.
We may not meet again until Glory, but God brought His people together in
Christian Community to do a work that He had designed, just for them.
Ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things!  That's what Kingdom work is
all about!


To Be Continued . . .