Project: Otradnoye, Luban district, Minck region
Area: rural
Population: 800 people
Institutions: a kindergarten (about 50 people), a school (120 pupils) a collective farm, a medical centre
A house of prayer: 20 people
The first day:
In the morning we started our work. We had to tidy up the church building and the territory around it. Brothers were working outside. Sisters washed the windows, put curtains. In the evening brothers went to distribute invitations and sisters prepared the dinner.
The second day:
Before breakfast we had a time of devotion. We read from the 1st Corinthians and prayed asking God to help us in our work and bring fruit in everything we would do. Then brothers set the projector and sisters cleaned and cooked.
On that day we decided to have the Lordās Supper in our church and show a part from the Jesus film about His triumphal entrance into Jerusalem and His Last Supper. Not many people came. We listened to the Word of God, prayed, watched a part from the movie and had comunion. Another day passed.
The third day:
On that day we spent time with children helping them to learn poems for Easter service, learned some new songs, prepared to celebrate Easter. After the rehearsal sisters prepared games for childrenās meeting we were panning to have after the service. We wanted to invite children and tell them about Christ, sing songs and have fellowship.
In the evening we went to Soligorsk. Praise the Lord for another wonderful day.
The fourth day, Sunday:
Today we celebrate Easter. We are a little bit anxious. How will children sing? Will unbelievers come and if they do will the Spirit of God touch their hearts? Children came long before the service. They were also anxious. Apart from everything we watched a video seminar about sin by Bruce Wilkinson at the evening service.
After the meeting we had a picnic with children. We played games with children. Children were very active. The winners received rewards. At the end everybody got presents.
We closed with prayer giving thanks to God for the wonderful time we had and asking Him to bless our way home. We were very happy to have two boys who had never gone to the church before. Their enjoyed our fellowship.
The fifth day:
We got up at 8 a.m. On that day we went to the village of Starye Dubrovy to show Jesus film. We worried about the reaction of the people, since for many of them those who were not Orthodox were a cult. Praise the Lord one woman from our church let us show the film in her house. Brothers put the invitation beforehand and we also invited people personally. Their response was quite different ę some people got angry and didnāt open their doors, others were thankful for the invitation. Some asked us a lot of questions about who we were and we were doing here. One man said that he was a representative of the local authority an asked us to show the documents. We explained that we didnāt have documents with us and he returned our invitation. What could we do? We didnāt give up and continued talking to people. We calmly and politely answered all the questions. After much walking and endless conversations we received the impression that no one would show up. When were talking with one old woman a representative of the local authority came to us. He looked angry. He asked us where we were going to show the film and then left. Coming to the house in which we had planned to show the film we saw him coming out. Our first thought was: äWe will not be allowed to show the filmä. We asked our guys what was the result of their conversation with him. They said that he also asked them about the documents since he was an authority. Then one of the brothers said that we were not against the authority. Jesus taught that we should submit to the authority. The most surprising thing was that the man even came to see the film. He also took the Christian literature we offered to people. We can say that the Lordās ways are not our ways. In spite of the storm before the film 13 people came anyway. We gave people New Testaments and other books. They were thankful to us. The Lord showed us many miracles during that time.
The fifth day:
The day promised to full of events. Brothers went to Gomel region to prepare the equipment for showing Jesus film and also give out the invitations. Sisters went to school in Luban to tell students about Easter. When we came to school we found out that the teacher who made arrangements with us was not there. We prayed and the Lord answered our prayer immediately. They let us enter the class and tell children about Easter during the break. We had little time. One of the girls shared the story of resurrection. We explained to children about who was Jesus and He did for people. We had time to learn a song and play. The bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom. We asked her for more time. She agreed. We continued to ask questions and gave small gifts to the children who gave us correct answers. After that the teacher asked us to follow her. We are surprise, what was wrong? She brought us to another group, which didnāt have a class at the moment. We could share the Easter story with other children. We gave presents both to students and teachers. By the way the teachers liked our programme and said that the doors of their school would always open to us.
Then we went to show Jesus film. Children from Sunday school helped us to give out invitations. They were working on it very hard. Not so many people came to the film, but most important thing was that on of the people who came repented and accepted the Lord in his heart. Praise the Lord for this.
Weekly ministry & Missionary projects:
