I have two items of good news. First, the snow is finally melting. Finally! Yes, it snows some still to replenish the landscape, but we are taking two steps forward and one step back just about every week, and I've got just about enough cabin fever to start a medieval plague. As an interesting note, yesterday morning I was surprised by a flash of light and a loud explosion. I first thought that it had to be some sort of factory or building exploding, since given the state of things here, that wouldn't be too surprising AND that sort of thing happens even in the US and European countries, and, of course, it simply could NOT be thunder and lightning - it was snowing outside. The talk of the town later that day was that, in fact, it had been a thunderstorm, a SNOW thunderstorm, something that is so rare that Vera Petrovna has seen it only once before in her entire life. So there you have it. It IS possible for there to be thunder and lightning in a snow storm.
On another note, please start praying. We have set a date for our movie night at the church and it will be Sunday, April 20th at 6:30pm watching "Lillies of the Field," a classic American film with good Christian themes. This will be the first, and perhaps best, opportunity for my students to get acquainted with the church. We need the Spirit to work to convince the students to come to this off campus event, and then, to have a good enough experience to do the impossible - come back on their own. Thankfully, we have lots of time to pray and it is the week before Easter, and if there is any day that Russians consider visiting a church, it is Easter.The last bit of information is a little more dire and at this moment, I ask for your prayer for Russia as a nation. Recently, we at the Christian Center have been accused of being a cult, actually a specific cult that we have never heard of, but the fact remains that any Christian organization that is not Orthodox is generally considered by the public at large to be a cult. Now, you would think that it would matter to the people here that these 'sects' allow people to freely come and go, disagree with them, are engaged in no coercive conversion tactics, and are considered in most Western nations to be within the normal stream of public religion (even by it's detractors). Hence, this label of being a cult is not only far fetched, but very dangerous, because it allows all non-Christians to dismiss the church without seriously considering it's beliefs. What is even more inconvenient is that, when pressed, many Russians will say that, "I am Orthodox in any case," which far too often means that they were baptized and go to mass on Easter and Christmas if they feel like it, and thus gaining little real knowledge of the gospel message that the Orthodox Church actually teaches. Thus, it is hard, we are opposed on all sides, mostly by ignorant convenience, and which in a way is convenient for us because in this case, no human argument or human will cause any change to occur. We are left to the New Testament principles of love and mercy, and then the power of the Holy Spirit to change hearts and minds to be opened to the Truth of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain for the sins of all. So if you are looking for something to pray for in your daily devotions, please pray for Russia as a nation, that the hearts and minds that have been closed by material distraction and willful ignorance will be reopened by the loving hand of Jesus. It is the Wild West of Christianity here and unfortunately there are too many Cattle Barons, too many Billy the Kids, too many compliant shop keepers, and too few Open rangers and Wyatt Earps.
Thanks again for all your prayers and support. As I approach the final three months of my mission, I cannot express enough gratitude for how I have been lifted up by all of you back at home. Please continue vigilantly, for outside of Christ I am weak, and your prayers for me are a necessary component of what strength I have been allotted.
Below, for your viewing pleasure, is lake Onega, and what it looked like two weeks ago before things started melting. Ice fishing is alive and well in Petrozavodsk!
Sincerely,
Peter.
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