CIS Prayer: October News

[CarlaSun@aol.com]

Dear Prayer Partners,

Greetings from Moscow.   I want to thank so many of you for your prayers and kind notes over the last few days.   Life in Moscow has been somewhat stressed lately but we keep trusting in the Lord.   He is good!

The last month has been a real blessing.   Dr. William Greathouse was in Kyiv to teach the Doctrine of Holiness class.   It was a wonderful time.   There were a number of new people at the class and there were two women who accepted the Lord as their Savior during one of the classes.   Praise the Lord!   A number of people shared with us that the Lord had helped them grow spiritually during that week.   A real revival was experienced by those in the class.

Following the class Dr. Greathouse traveled to Moscow to share at the Pastor's conference.   The Holy Spirit's presence was so real at the conference.   There were those who sat on the edge of their chairs trying to catch every word that Dr. Greathouse spoke.   Afterwards there were those who shared that they really finally understood what it meant to be filled with the Spirit and to live a life of holiness.   

Moscow First Church celebrated their 10th anniversary on October 6.   It was a wonderful day with the climax being the baptism of a man who had come to know the Lord and the church through a book.   This man lives more than an hour outside of Moscow but had gotten one of our books and began writing to us a couple of years ago.   Through this written communication and prayer he eventually came to know the Lord and wanted to come to the church and be baptized as a part of the celebration.   We rejoiced together as a church family.   It was also a great privilege to have a number of guests present to share with us on that special day.   

Dr. Bob Prescott and a team from the Compassionate Ministries office attended the 10th anniversary and then set off on a tour of the European part of the Field.   What a blessed time was had as we toured orphanages, schools, medical clinics and brand new churches.   We traveled from highly urbanized areas to the rural corners of Ukraine and Armenia.   We stayed in hotels and small farm houses with outdoor plumbing.   The Lord helped us as we dreamed of pig farms and water plants to help support the ministry in these emerging parts of the world.

Chuck has been off in Central Asia traveling with Michael Park.   They have had the privilege of going to new areas the Lord seems to be opening for the work.   Please pray especially for Malika as she is hoping to begin the work in a new area.   Chuck and Michael were able to get down to see her and this was a real miracle in and of itself.   

Cara and Carla were able to travel to the town of Rostov-on-the-Don and worship there with the congregation in Chalter.   What a wonderful Sunday of celebrating with this congregation, made up of 90% Armenian people.   God has been working in a miracle in this congregation.   They have been praying for the men of the community to get saved and last Sunday there was an entire section of the church filled with the 'brothers.'   A whole group has been saved in the last six months.   They are an incredible witness to the entire community.   They have stopped drinking and smoking, they are paying off their debts and people are trying to figure out what has happened to them.   Praise the Lord.

We continue to have many prayer requests.   Please join us in prayer for the following:

1)   Please pray for the child sponsorship program in Compassionate Ministries.   We have kids' clubs in a number of our churches which are reaching out to latch-key children.   We still have a need of sponsors for some of these children.   If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please contact the office of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and tell them you are interested in a child from the CIS.   We would appreciate your help.

2)   Please pray for the many new works emerging in Ukraine.   Especially pray that God will give strength and wisdom to the Skinner and Wright families as they work in this incredible harvest field. The Lord has really opened the doors to ministry in Ukraine and we need His guidance and direction.

3)   Please pray for the work in Armenia.   Especially pray for Karen (Car - en) as he leads the work there.   The Lord has opened the doors and there is a small congregation meeting on Saturday evenings in the town of Gyumri.   We pray that the Lord will continue to work and help us with the registration process.

4)   Please pray for the work in Central Asia -- especially in new areas.   The Lord is opening doors but we need His guidance and direction.   Especially keep Malika and Michael Park in your prayers.

5)   Please pray for the students in the CIS Extension program and for those teaching the classes.   At this time we need you to pray for the following classes:
Preaching class in Viazma
Spiritual Formation in Moscow
Nazarene History and Polity in Kyiv
Nazarene History and Polity in Volgograd

6)   Please pray with us that more men would come to know the Lord here in the CIS.   

7)   Please continue to pray for safety and safe travels.   The activities of the last few days have brought home to us the fact we really do need your prayers on a daily basis.

Thanks for partnering with us in this work!

Chuck and Carla Sunberg and the CIS Field Team

Thank you so much for