Hello again from Perm!

I know we just sent out an update about the outreaches, but we wanted to give everyone a picture of some of the other things that are going on in the ministry. So here we go!

When I started writing this update a couple days ago it actually began snowing again. That's right, we're in the month of May and it's snowing!! Just figured I'd start with that to give you a renewed sense of appreciation for your own local climate. However lest you think we are in a constant state of winter I should also let you know that the snow has since melted and today we were able to go downtown to see a Russian military parade. Today is the 9th of May and the day Russia celebrates their victory over the Germans in WWII. Praise God that our victory is in Jesus!

As a church we continue to study the Gospel of Matthew in our weekend service and the book of Acts in our Wednesday night, mid-week study. I've been challenged over and over by other pastors to simply "Teach the word and love the people." At first it seems simplistic but I can tell you that it is effective. Consistently washing with the water of God's Word and a genuine love for the sheep (imparted by the Spirit of God) does amazing things! His Word is living and active, it is inspired and profitable. The hearing of his Word produces faith, without which it is impossible to please Him. As we know Him we cannot help but love Him and from this love flows every good and praiseworthy thing in our lives and ministry. We thank God for the many blessings of His word!  

Having this as our foundation, God has led us in a number of different ministries as a family and as a church. I would love to elaborate in detail but unfortunately time simply does not allow for that now. Instead, I would like to give just a short explanation for each of the key events and ministries that have taken place over the last couple of months.   

Our first business meeting: This was a huge mile marker in our church. It established a high standard of integrity both morally and financially. It revealed to the church that the leadership is sincere, transparent and committed. I can't begin to explain what this means to Russians. I feel this meeting brought a peace and rest that the church did not have before.     

English competition: Rayma and I made a connection with a Russian woman who is an English teacher at a University in town. She was in a competition among other teachers for the best class presentation. We were guests in her presentation as native English speakers in not only 1 but in 3 competitions. She won the Perm City competition among others and almost went to the national level. We were thanked by her entire administration and were able to have lunch with the president of the school. When we have our outreach in October they are excited to have us back to tell their students about our concerts. I love how God opens doors. 

YWAM Coffee shop: God led a new couple to our fellowship several months ago. Their names are Roman and Tamara. Roman was instrumental in starting the YWAM that is now here in Perm. He has since passed it on to someone else and is involved in a number of other ministries. Roman said, "When we came to Calvary Chapel we felt like we finally came home." One of the other ministries Roman is presently leading is a Christian Coffee House. It is still in its beginning stages and is very rough around the edges. Our church feels led to work in conjunction with him in this ministry. It has a long way to go but has amazing potential. We hope to do some ministry in this coffee shop during the outreach in October. Please pray for this ministry.     

Teaching at DTS: Since we're on the subject of YWAM… A month ago I was asked by John (who heads up YWAM's discipleship training school here) to do some teaching at the school. It was a great time. I think I taught for a total of 10 hours on 6 different subjects. My last teaching was on the presence of God. By the end of the teaching we were all in tears. It was a great time. 

Easter: We had a regular Easter service along with a sunrise service. For the sunrise service we met down by the river, read some scripture, worshiped and prayed. It was a refreshing experience. I was surprised to see as many people at the sunrise service as were at our regular meeting. During this time we learned a new Russian phrase: "Christos Vas Kress!" "Jesus is alive!" After it was all over we met for food and fellowship. 
  
Orphanage: As many of you already know Sarah returned to America about a week ago. However, before she left she maintained a very consistent presence at one of the main orphanages here in Perm. It was a wonderful blessing for her to be there to hold and feed the children. Each time she came back from the orphanage, she would share stories with us of the kids. Besides the normal children there, the orphanage also takes care of HIV positive babies and many children with defects. It's so hard to hear of children so disfigured and helpless. We're glad Sarah was able to give God's love to these children.  

Village outreach: A group from our church felt led to reach out to some of the villages in our region. So we sent 5 from our fellowship to some of the most remote villages in our region. It took 7 hrs by truck. The first day they visited a site where many years ago human sacrifice was performed. The team decided to worship the true and living God in that place. The second day their truck got stuck in the mud and they had to hike to a nearby village. It appeared to be a ghost town yet they searched every house and finally, after several hours, found 6 people who still lived in the village. They shared the gospel with these 6. The next day they went to several other villages and despite the rain shared the gospel at over 50 houses. They plan to return in two months to visit these again.   

Last Girls meeting: Rayma and Sarah held their final girls' meeting several weeks ago and over 15 showed up. It's amazing that they began with a group of just 3 or 4 of the girls who got saved after the concerts. It began as an English class and became a great Bible study for the girls in our church. However with Rayma and Sarah leaving for America there is no one who feels called or capable to lead the meeting in their absence. The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few. Please pray that these girls will stay strong.

Elias sick and schooling with mom: For a week or so Elias was sick. Rayma did an amazing job as always in restoring him to health. She has continued teaching and training him in so many ways. In fact several other mothers have even asked her how Elias is so well-behaved and happy. They marvel at his ability to sit through a service.
  
Non-Christians: Rayma and I have been able to make several Non-Christian friends by divine appointments at coffee shops and on the streets. Please pray for these, especially Inna and Sirgay.

Sarah's Goodbye party: We just recently had a goodbye party for Sarah. The church loved her and blessed her. Before the night was done the girls all gathered around her, laid hands on her, and prayed for her return. It was a beautiful thing to see and I think every eye had at least one tear. 


We will soon begin several meetings in the church and would appreciate your prayers for these as well. 

    1) Men's and Women's fellowship: We feel it's time to share the work load and have asked several upcoming leaders to begin a men's fellowship and a women's fellowship. Please pray for Veronica, Olga, Max and Peter.

    2) Servants' meeting: This is a meeting for those involved in worship leading, translating and teaching. Pray that Rayma and I will be able to challenge, encourage and refresh them in these important times of ministry. Please pray for Max I., Max M., Barb, Olga, Peter, Veronica, Alexander, and Victor.  

    3) Prayer meeting: Twice a month the church will be gathering to pray for the needs of our fellowship, personal lives, and lost souls. Please ask God to give me wisdom in leading these times. And please ask God to teach our fellowship to be men and women of prayer.
 
    4) Worship night: We're starting a once-a-month worship night. The Church has been pleading for this ever since we got here. We now have two worship leaders in our church and are able to facilitate these times. Please pray for Victor as he leads us in these times of praise and worship. 

New People: Please pray for many of the new faces who have been coming to our fellowship I don't know many of their names and we are not able to have deep fellowship with all of them. Please pray that the Word of God will do its work in their lives and that they will feel at home in our fellowship. Our weekend services are usually between 30-40 people yet in all the ministry serves about 50 people. It's hard to gauge what work is happening in people's hearts but we trust God and pray for more than surface-level impact. 

Ukraine trip and Family plans: Our plans have changed a little bit and we would like to let you all know what is going on. Rayma and I must be out of the country by June 14th (which is the day before our aniversary) since that is the end of our one-year visa. Rayma and I will be flying out of Perm to Moscow on June 10th, Rayma and Elias will leave for Albuquerque, NM, on June 12th. There she will spend about a month with family and then head up to Oregon some time in mid July. I will also leave on the 12th for Kiev, Ukraine. It is the best and cheapest place I can go to get another visa. About a week or so later, if all goes well, I will make my way back to Perm. Please keep me in prayer. 

In August I will return to the states for about a month for the delivery of our new child. Our due date is August 27th and by the way, IT'S A BOY!! Sorry we don't have a name yet, however the ultrasound showed everything to be healthy and on schedule. After this I'll leave again for Perm sometime in themiddle of September and finish the preparations for the outreach on October 1st. Unfortunately, Rayma and the children will not be able to return with the team in October. We have found out that it takes 8 weeks after delivery to get a visa for the new baby. Rayma will most likely be returning inNovember. Our church out here is so excited for this outreach in October. It will be such a breath of fresh air. Please keep praying for the Outreach team and all of our preparations.  

I hope all of this gives you an idea of what we have been doing and where we feel God is leading us. A majority of the fruit we've seen in our time here is not reflected best through words on a piece of paper, but in witnessing first hand the transformation of people's character and lives. I wish I could email these things to all of you so that you could see with your own eyes the glorious treasures God has placed in hearts and lives. It is so beautiful to see Jesus coming alive in these people, to see their passion for Him and their love for each other. God is being glorified in Perm, Russia, and Jesus is continuing to build His church.   


In Christ,


David, Rayma, Elias and baby brother.  
Perm, Russia

P.S. We'll be posting some new pictures on the web-site soon. www.daveandrayma.com. God bless. 

Hello Everyone!


We hope you're all doing well! Rayma and I are doing great although Sarah leaves us tomorrow morning and we're anticipating her absence. We have wanted for some time to share with all of you about the fruit from last year's outreach concert as well as some of the ideas we have been thinking about for this upcoming October. Let me start by saying we are so excited to have a group of you coming out here to minister in Perm. Tomorrow I will be preaching on Matthew 9 where it says, "The harvest is ripe but the laborers are few." It really is true. We can't begin to explain how much it means to us to have a group of harvesters and laborers coming to join us in the field.

Last year's outreach was amazing! I will never forget my installation service, it meant so much to me, and I know it meant a lot to the church. Before the team came I talked about the McMinnville Calvary as our sister Church but it didn't mean much. By the end of the outreach the church here understood that our connection is real. The team did such a great job of showing love to our fellowship; the impact has continued 'til this day. I know that several from our fellowship still email you and many of your names still come up often.

I asked Max (one of the leaders in the church) what he thought about the outreach last year. One thing he said was that before the outreach the city had no idea our fellowship existed. Now much of the city knows who we are and where we are. This is so true I often meet people while walking the streets who remember me from the concerts. Something else significant that happened during last year's outreach was the unexpected ministry in the schools. The team received 6-8 invitations to come to the schools to share about America and the concerts. Many of the people that came to the concerts were from the schools the team visited. This was amazing! What many don't know is that not too long ago every Christian group in the city was kicked out of the schools in Perm. I heard from someone connected to Campus Crusade that they were kicked out of every school and university in town. Our presence at the schools was the first this city has had in a long time. Praise God! Who would have known?

Most of you remember that several months after the outreach we Baptized 3 new Christians from the concerts. This was a huge landmark in our church. Recently I went to 4 or 5 of the group that got saved at the concert and asked them if they wanted to share how they felt about the concert with you guys. The following are some short comments they made about the last outreach. Enjoy!


"Hi, my name is Tamara and I am a young Christian now. I came to know God through the Christian concerts last fall and I am very, very thankful for that! I can tell you for sure that such concerts are so important to give people who don't know Jesus an opportunity to get to know Him! Thanks." ~Tamara Sherbakova, Perm

"Hi, my name is Natasha. My best friend was a Christian and I heard about Jesus from her from time to time. But when she invited me to the concerts it was so great! I met so many other Christians and I came to know God! I am so thankful for those concerts! God is so good to us!" ~Natasha, Perm

"Hello, my name is Kate. I'm still in school and I'm 16. I met Jesus at the concerts in autumn 2006. The concerts changed my life a lot and now I have God and He helps me in life and teaches me, and I have my church! Such concerts can change a person's life!" ~Kate, Perm

"Hi, my name is Veronica. I think these concerts are so important for youth! I know a lot of people began to think more about God after last fall's concerts. But even for the Christians who want to tell their friends about Jesus these concerts are a great opportunity. I think we need Christian concerts like these in Perm!!!!" ~Veronica, Perm

"Hi, my name is Ruslan. I want to tell you how I met Jesus. I have always loved music: I would wake up with music, then on the bus I would listen to music because it helps me to distance myself from the crowd. But my story is that in autumn 2006 I had just became a student in one of the Universities and everything was so new. I had new friends, new experiences. They were interesting and exciting on the outside and yet empty and lonely on the inside. I would ask people about life and most of them just said, "Don't worry! Just live!" But I didn't know how to live knowing that one day I would die! And then it happened! Everything good in my life happens unexpectedly! One day a friend of mine called me and invited me to go to the concerts, I decided to go. I loved the music and everything was great but I couldn't stop thinking that the concerts would be over soon and I would be back in my empty life…then suddenly they started to talk about God. The soil in my heart was just ready! My heart was opened by music and I received Jesus into my life. I just wanted to say that music is the language that young people understand. Through music you can tell them about God! I am so very thankful to the music groups 'Out of the Ashes' and 'Narrowgate'! God used you guys to give me life; He can use you to give life to others also! We're waiting for you!" ~Ruslan, Perm


I have been talking with some of the leaders in the Church about this next outreach so we can plan our summer in a way that builds excitement in our community for these upcoming concerts. We have decided to look for a new place to meet for our Wednesday night Bible studies and are hoping to find someplace near the center of the city so that when we have the concerts we'll have a great place to invite people on Wednesday nights. Please pray for us, this is a huge step we're taking. We are also planning to double the number of flyers and posters we put up to promote the concerts. In fact, our plan is to put together a number of resources we didn't have last year. Free Christian CD's, some new Russian tracts, new invitations to the church, more Russian Bibles for those who want them, etc. We are also planning to start a new believer's Bible study after the concert ends and thinking about other follow-up events, like showing the Passion of the Christ but in a rented hall, and maybe having a Pizza Fellowship time for those who want to know more. We are also planning to visit the schools again and maybe a couple of coffee shops. Please pray that God will give us wisdom in all our planning and that He will provide for the team that is coming. If any of you have more questions about this outreach or our ministry please feel free to send us an email.

Thanks for all your love God bless,


In Christ,

Dave, Rayma, Elias and Sarah - For one more day...