The
Slavic Gospel Association (SGA) has
been invited to assist in the Yaroslavl Bible Institute by Dr. Piotr
Konovalchik of the Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia
(UECB) and Pastor Dmitriy Levdanskiy of the Yaroslavl Good News
Baptist Church. SGA has in turn invited two North Canton, Ohio,
churches - The Chapel in North Canton and Faith Bible Church - to help
train pastors and church planters in the lands of Russia. We are in
Yaroslavl as invited guests of the UECB and the host church of Pastor
Levdanskiy.
Thursday,
March 21, 2002
We
got
out on time for the 9 hour Moscow flight via Cincinnati/New York.
The
red-eye
trip took us primarily over water, but there were nice views along the
way of both the aurora borealis and, later in the morning, of Norway and Finland.
-
Joe Fitler
Friday,
March 22, 2002
Arrived
in Moscow
about 11:00 am local time (3:00 am North Canton time). We were met and
taken across the
city to our hotel, the Izmailovo.
We then had an opportunity to travel with Andrew, our SGA-hired guide,
to travel the Metro subway
system to visit some open
air markets as well as Red Square's St.
Basil's Cathedral and one of the 19 gates of the massive Kremlin.
-
Joe Fitler
Saturday,
March 23, 2002
We
checked out of the hotel for our 1:30 pm train
departure to Yaroslavl. The 5 hour trip northeast took us through both
towns and rural areas.
We were met at the Yaroslavl train station by Alexander Karlov, youth pastor
of the Yaroslavl
church. After getting settled in the church apartment, I was
introduced by Pastor McCartney to some of the members of the youth ministries
group who were meeting in the church basement Saturday evening. I hope to get
photos of many of the church staff posted in the coming days, so please keep
watching this page.
-
Joe Fitler
Sunday,
March 24, 2002
Prior
to the Sunday morning service, breakfast
was served in the church basement. It was a selection of meat, cheese,
bread, hard boiled eggs, cookies and tea served by church members.
Following the worship
team's leading in song, visiting guests (Mike and I as well as two
gentlemen from Slavic Gospel Association in Australia) were invited to
share our testimonies with the congregation. Church missionaries from
Siberia also shared news of God's work in the church in that region.
It is impossible to describe in words the heart of worship that is
present in this church! After the 3 hour service, congregational
members prepared the noon
meal in the church basement.
-
Joe Fitler
Monday,
March 25, 2002
The
weather has been beautiful for the last couple of days - clear and
sunny with the temperature in the upper 30s during the day. Quite a
change from what we expected (and from what is usually the case,
evidently).
Today
was the first day of class, commencing at 10:00 am. For this 2 week
session, the 16
students from around the Yaroslavl/Kostroma region will be getting
an overview of the role of the local church, angelology, eschatology, and the
books of Daniel and Revelation. The was much discussion
among the class with Pastor
Mike on these issues through Genya,
our translator.
Later
in the evening, Pastor Mike and I and the gentlemen from SGA Australia
were invited to the home of Pastor
Dmitriy Levdanskiy and family. Dmitriy's wife Galina prepared a
wonderful dinner,
and we had a great evening visiting with them, especially with the
Levdanskiy's 3 children, Valentin, David and Alina.
-
Joe Fitler
Tuesday,
March 26, 2002
Weather
continues to hold with lots of sunshine and highs in the low 40s. Today's
class module centered on ecclesiology (ordinances of the church, names of
the church) and generated much lively discussion.
Following
class, we met with Jim Vogel and John Hamilton, two American missionaries
from Florida with the Christian Church who have been in Yaroslavl for
several years. They have served in missions in many places for many years
and had some fascinating insights into the Russian culture and its people.
With them we spent several hours with Sergei, one of our SBI students, and Alyona, a
language student from the Kostroma region, fellowshipping and drinking tea
in the church basement dining hall.
-
Joe Fitler
Wednesday,
March 27, 2002
Still
absolutely wonderful weather here. The locals are calling this the warmest
winter they have had in the last 50 years. It has been a pleasant surprise
for us considering Yaroslavl's high latitude. The students really take
advantage of the conditions during classroom
breaks.
This
morning, like all others, we started class with prayer and a song,
led by student Andrei. The study section of eschatology (end times) started
today and has proved to be somewhat of a challenge for us and Genya, our
translator, as there were some rather complex theological terms to convey. We
were able to clarify all of these terms and any questions that arose,
though.
During
part of the morning I was able to slip out of class for a bit to accompany
missionary Jim
Vogel on some errands around Yaroslavl and try to see things from a
local perspective. As is the custom with many citizens, we walked. We
stopped by Jim's flat, then a corner
store to pick up some items, and I snapped a few street
scenes along the way, including this
picture, which, according to Jim, could have gotten me into big trouble.
Evidently the gray building on the right is the Ministry of Interior
Affairs. This building houses, among other things, the regional office of
the FSB (formerly KGB). Oops.
Back
at the church, we took a class
photo after lunch. Though hard to see, the students are holding up a
"greeting card" that they drew on the classroom white board. The
still speak fondly of all the people from both The Chapel and Faith Bible
Church who have traveled to
Yaroslavl over the past year and are truly appreciative for everyone's
service.
-
Joe Fitler
Thursday,
March 28, 2002
We
awoke this morning to gray skies and lightly falling snyek (snow),
which made for slightly more traditional-looking Russian weather. The
eschatology module continued today with in-depth study of Daniel chapters
1-11. It is encouraging to see each day how quickly many of the men grasp
the deep theological import of many of the passages covered, all the more so
in the light of the language translation barrier. Genya is doing a great job
of ensuring that the words and concepts conveyed are being received.
I
was originally supposed to accompany missionary Jim Vogel and several of the
men in class to a traditional Russian pastime: a visit to the local banya,
or bath house. It is an extremely hot steam bath and
local gathering place that
also has a frozen pond out back. After a time in the steam, you are supposed
to run out ("au natural"), and jump into the pond through a hole in
the ice. No kidding.
Unfortunately
(or fortunately), Mike and I had a conflicting engagement. We were invited
to dinner at the home of student Andrei and his wife Julia. They are both
very gifted musically and serve on the worship team at the church. Mike,
Genya and I met Andrei's friend Ilya and piled into his car, a Lada 2107 (a very
durable Fiat-like Russian built mini), and sped
our way across downtown Yaroslavl with Ilya's favorite DC Talk tape
blasting merrily away. On the way we passed some very interesting buildings,
including some large Soviet-era industrial
complexes.
We
had a wonderful dinner at Andrei
and Julia's (at left in photo). Afterwards, Andrei and Ilya fired up the
keyboard and we
had a great time singing together, as well as Andrei and Julia singing
several of their favorite pieces. This included an original composition by
Andrei that accompanied the video presentation on the Yaroslavl church that
was brought back by Pastor Bennett and Dave Phelps last year. (Pastor
Mike got a few pieces in as well). Everyone also spent time sharing
stories and experiences; Andrei and Julia shared their family photo album
with us... it's really amazing that beyond the language and cultural
differences, how very similar is the path that we've all been down. Our
unity in Christ makes it immeasurably more so. That really came out clearly
tonight.
Since
it was a school night, we had to leave by about 8:30, but everyone
had a very memorable time.
-
Joe Fitler
Friday,
March 29, 2002
More
light snow this morning, hardly worth notice by Russian standards. But the
day promised to get much more interesting.
As
we ended Thursday somewhat ahead of the curriculum schedule, and since it
parallels portions of our study, we elected to watch the Russian language
version of the movie Left Behind. About halfway through the film,
however, we lost power in the building. This is not uncommon, so it was back
to the books for some advance introduction to Monday's start of the book of
Revelation.
It
was during this time that the Youth Pastor Sasha appeared at the classroom
door, motioning for Pastor Mike and I to come outside. We left the room to
find four members of the Yaroslavl militzia (militia/police) waiting,
wishing to see our passports and visas. We had heard that this sort of thing
had happened before, so at this point we were not greatly concerned. Then we
were told through Sasha that they wished to search our room. The looks on
various faces told us that this part wasn't something that normally
happened, so things got a bit uneasy at this point. Our regular translators
(Genya and Alyona) were not a part of the proceedings, so we could only
stand by as the dialogue grew quite "animated" between the
militia/police, Sasha and one of the men in our class, (himself a former militzia
member). Finally, after considerable scrutiny, things were evidently found to
be in order and the officers departed.
We
returned to the classroom intending to continue with Revelation when Sasha
entered the room and began speaking directly to the class. According to
Genya, Sasha was explaining to the class that the actions of the militzia
were likely tied to the church's involvement in coordinating the Jesus
Film Project, scheduled to be screened simultaneously in 10 different theaters
throughout Yaroslavl beginning April 7th. He stated that they suspect local
officials are decidedly nervous as to the impact this is going to have, and
are apparently scrutinizing involved churches quite heavily.
Sasha
then led the entire class in prayer for the success of the screenings in
spreading the message of Christ in Yaroslavl. Incidentally, it was during
the prayer that the electricity came back on, allowing us to finish the
movie.
Class
ended early as much help was needed assembling some of the many thousands of flyers
promoting the Jesus film. This task kept everyone quite
busy for the remainder of the day.
Friday
night is a busy night at the church. Not only is it rehearsal night for the
worship team, but numerous ministry meetings are going on, some involving
people who are in town for the weekend from outlying districts. The warmth and fellowship
continues to be nothing short of amazing. Slavu Bogu! (Praise God!)
-
Joe Fitler
Saturday,
March 30, 2002
Today
broke clear and sunny, but blustery and somewhat colder, only reaching about
30. As we had no real plans for the day, we lounged around the basement
cafeteria drinking tea and talking with our missionary friend Jim Vogel. We
then spent some time in the sanctuary listening to the worship team practice
(something we could easily do for hours). Afterwards, two members of the
worship team, sisters Tanya
and Natasha, offered to show us around Yaroslavl a bit. As they are both
university students majoring in languages (German and English), they were
eager for the translation practice. For a couple of (cold) hours we saw some
of the market
streets and scenery
of the central Yaroslavl area, as well as hitting the local McDonald's.
There was also the occasional sign here and there of the old Soviet
Union.
Shortly
after our return to the church, we were visited by Pastor Slava
Pleskach. Our original plan was to join Slava and his family for dinner at
his home following the Sunday night service. Slava however had a last-minute
change of plans requiring his having to travel Sunday night, so he invited
us and translator Svetlana to dinner this evening.
Slava
drove us to his
apartment in the Bragino district (very near Pastor Dmitriy's home), where
we were introduced to his mother, his wife
Maria, and his 3
children Tania, Julia and Elisha (shown with Slava's Chapel pictorial directory). We brought a number of gifts for the family, including (for
young Elisha) a gaspadeen
kartofyel galava("Mr. Potato Head"), which was a big hit.
We
had a wonderful dinner, followed by a time of prayer for many areas of the
local church. One of the prayer needs voiced by Slava was for the church in Bragino
district. This church is where he preaches and is housed in a movie
theater. The theater is still functional, but the management allows Slava's church to hold services on Sunday evenings. The prayer need is not
only for growth and community impact, but for the outreach of the Jesus film
project (this is one of the 10 cinemas in Yaroslavl to present the film
April 7-10), and for the future opportunity for the church to purchase the
theater. Slava very much covets all of our prayers in these
matters.
On
a related note, regarding the incident posted yesterday (Friday). We've had
much discussion with both the local nationals and some long-term Western
missionaries about the circumstances surrounding our experience. While the
visit itself was more or less routine, apparently the nature of the
questions were not. This is what caught the attention of our hosts. I want
to emphasize that at no time were we in danger of being "hauled
off". I do, however, want to implore you who are reading this to please
keep the Yaroslavl church (and the Russian people) on your prayer list.
Whether or not this incident and others shared with us signal further changes in
national religious freedom policies remains to be seen. This matter is also
on the prayer list of the local church, and they are grateful for our prayer
support.
Pastor
Slava put the whole matter into clear perspective, though: "God will
build His Church".
Blaga
Slovenia ("God bless you")
-
Joe Fitler
Sunday,
March 31, 2002
Another
beautiful morning. Incidentally, today is not Easter Sunday in Russia. That
does not occur until May 5. Today was, however, the first day of Daylight
Savings Time here, and a number of people were surprised to find themselves
an hour late (just like home!).
After
introduction by Pastor
Slava and worship time, the message was presented by Pastor
Mike. There were also several testimonials, a lengthy time of prayer,
and a meeting following the service to coordinate volunteers for
distributing the Jesus film project pamphlets throughout Yaroslavl. Pastor
Slava also shared that the number of theaters now carrying the film starting
April 7 stands at 20, and nearly 300,000 pamphlets are to be distributed to spread the
word for the event. Much prayer is needed for the planning involved to
handle the potentially huge response to the many showings of this presentation.
After
services Genya and our friend Ilya offered to take us back to Yaroslavl's
central district to play tourist. So, once again we piled into Ilya's trusty
Lada and sped
off. After passing the local monument to Lenin,
we had lunch at the Vstrecha("Meeting") restaurant, then continued into the central
district of Yaroslavl, with buildings and cathedrals, such as the Sretiniya
Church, dating back to 1650.
We
were not able to stay long as we had to be in the Bragino district for the
4:00 pm evening service at Pastor Slava's church in the Poveda
(Victory) movie theater. After dropping off Genya, Ilya had us to Bragino in
what surely was record time. There we again met with Svetlana, our translator for
the evening. Slava had to depart for Moscow shortly into the service, so,
after some great worship
time, the messages were given by Pastor
Mike and Pastor Vitaliy of one of the fellow evangelical churches in
Yaroslavl.
The relatively small but very faithful congregation of the Bragino church showed an exuberance in
worship that we have seen as very representative of Russian believers - yet
again a great blessing and encouragement that we feel extremely privileged to be a part of.
Following
the service, we were invited to dinner with translator Svetlana
at her home nearby. We had a very enjoyable dinner and visit with Svetia, her mother
Taisia, and cat Elizabeth before catching
a cab back to the church, pretty much exhausted from the day (Pastor Mike is
snoring away on the couch as I write this). Tomorrow is exam day for the
students, so it promises to be a busy one.
-
Joe Fitler
Monday,
April 1, 2002
We
were surprised to learn that April Fool's Day is observed in Russia. Though
no pranks have befallen us (yet), we had to make sure that the students
understood that today's planned exam was not a joke. In the class, a number
of men are offsetting their tuition costs by being available for work in the
church. Occasionally, some must leave for usually brief periods to perform
this work. This morning was such a morning, so we have postponed the test
until tomorrow (no one appeared upset by this development).
As
a typical seminary study of the book of Revelation can easily take over 4
months, to say 4 days coverage is a quick overview is a huge understatement.
Once again as evidenced by the discussion, we were encouraged by the quite
detailed familiarity of many in the class with much of the background of the
book. Much emphasis is being placed on identification of terms surrounding
both Revelation and Daniel (allegorical vs. historical vs. literal
interpretations, pre-millennial vs. amillennial vs. post-millennial
viewpoints, etc.). Our discussion frequently turns lively on these topics,
as some have differing viewpoints in this area. These terms and concepts
also are sometimes challenging for Genya to translate, but she has been
doing a wonderful job. It is being emphasized that the differing views of
eschatology are not divisive, as we all fully agree in the areas of the deity
of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, inspired scripture, etc. So, it
has to be occasionally re-emphasized that we cannot debate differing
eschatological viewpoints indefinitely, and the students need to study these
areas in more depth on their own. They were told of the wide variety of
theological texts (addressing both views) that are available, many of which
are in
Russian.
-
Joe Fitler
Tuesday,
April 2, 2002
Still
clear and sunny, but windy and much colder. Today is exam day for the
students on the material covered thus far. Genya
read each of the questions aloud, and overall the exam went smoothly.
Genya and Alyona then graded
the tests with Pastor Mike while everyone took an extended
break. Afterwards, we reviewed the test and answered questions. After
breaking for lunch,
we reviewed the outline
of Revelation (complete with Genya's Russian footnotes).
I
got another reprieve from banya today! We were invited to the home of
student Vitaliy and
his wife Nadia. Mike and I were joined by our translator Anastasia and
again driven by our speedy friend Ilya. We had a great dinner of Armenian dishes and had
a lot of fun being entertained by their 1-1/2 year old daughter Cindy.
Vitaliy and Nadia shared stories with us of their native Siberia, and we had
another very enjoyable
evening getting to know more of our Russian brothers and sisters.
-
Joe Fitler
Wednesday,
April 3, 2002
Daytime
temperatures are getting progressively colder; only getting into the 20s,
even though skies remain clear. This morning translator Genya was greeted
with a formal Dobra-ye utra, Tovarich Pyeryevotchitsa! ("Good
Morning, Comrade Interpreter!"), a bit of pre-perestroika humor
that always cracks her up.
The
class completed the review of the book of Revelation today and began
preparations for tomorrow's final exam. We also have plans to hold a bit of
a class party for the students immediately afterwards, as many are leaving
early for home Thursday (Friday is a holiday).
The
threat of banya (see 3/28) reared its head again today as Jim
Vogel notified me that they had an empty seat in friend Vlad's car for
tomorrow afternoon's visit following the final test. Doesn't sound like
there's much room for me to (gracefully) weasel out this time, but we'll
see.
Following
class today, Genya
and her friend Slava walked downtown with Alyona, Mike and I for a short
shopping trip. We again stopped at the Yaroslavl McDonald's,
this time only because we knew it would not be completely packed, as is the
case on weekends (on Saturday I counted 43 workers behind the counter).
It is very strange... change the spoken language and the Cyrillic lettering
on the signage and this could be any McDonald's in America. It is very
popular with the locals, not only for the food quality, but because they
know they can bring their families
here and feel comfortable, in a thoroughly non-smoking environment.
Evidently, the word "restaurant" in Russia is heavily associated
as much as a drinking and smoking establishment as it is a place to get
food.
As
eager as Mike and I are to get home, we know that Thursday is going to be
tough. Its hard to believe how close you can get to a group of people in
just two weeks. It's nearly impossible to put into words. The faces, the
worship, the hearts, the music. I know many, such as Dave Phelps, who have
come back from Yaroslavl with a particular Russian worship song that has an
extra special meaning for them. Myelosti Tvoye ("Your
Mercy") is such a song to me, and I'm certain will instantly bring me
back to Yaroslavl (with a big lump in my throat) whenever I hear it.
Before
I forget, I must thank Bryan Harris for all he has done to make these
updates possible. As updating the web page directly from Yaroslavl has not
been possible, I have been emailing updated copies of the page and the
accompanying photos to Bryan. This has proven to be quite an exercise given
the (now) 9 hour time difference, access to the office here, availability
and condition of
the phone system, file sizes, etc. Bryan has been indispensable in his faithfulness
in "sanity checking" everything and posting it to the site. Thank
you, Bryan!
-
Joe Fitler
Thursday,
April 4, 2002
This
is likely the final update for the trip.
8:00
am, clear and cold. I awoke this morning thinking about whether or not and
to what degree that I would experience culture shock when we return.
Many things we take for granted are quite different here. Much of the
infrastructure (roads, facilities, utilities, services,
etc.), though complete, is what I can only describe as "tired".
The spring thaw potholes are like nothing you've seen
before. Amenities in most
cases are austere by American standards. All of the homes
we visited (and those of the large majority of Russians) were apartments in
buildings that are part of large residential
blocks. Russians know what conditions are like elsewhere. They are
exposed to a huge amount of Western culture (music, movies and especially
television). We were asked by a number of people what kind of machina (car)
we owned, and eyebrows would always go up when our descriptions would
include more than one car.
All
of these observations, however, pale in comparison to the testimony of the
sincerity and faith of the Yaroslavl believers. The observable differences
that stand out to me as an American are well down on the priority list here, below that of
God, family, education. And their hospitality is tremendous.
The
final exam went well this morning. After the tests were graded, we presented
a small gift to the two top students in class (Alexei and Yvgeniy). Mike and
I were then each presented with a gift of a small bell (the "farewell
bell") from the class, a
traditional gift for teachers in Russia. Afterwards we went with Andrei, Alyona
and Genya to a local producti (food market) to pick up goodies
for our end of class party. The
temperature has dropped more during the day with snow coming in, so it was a
cold walk back
to the church. We combined the class party along with lunch,
and everyone got soft
drinks, cookies and cakes.
Then
the good-byes started. A number of students had trains to catch in order to
get home to their families for the long weekend. There were a number of very
Russian bear hugs from the men. Genya had to depart for home as well. We
made a brief trip out with
Alyona to a local kassa (bank cashier) to
change currency, but it was too cold and windy to do much else, so we are
back at the church.
We
have plans to have dinner at the home of student Yvgeniy tonight with a
number of other people. Then it is back here to the church to pack.
Pastor Slava is to take us to the station for the 7:00 am train to Moscow
tomorrow morning, then another overnight stay at the Izmailovo before flying
back to New York on Saturday afternoon.
Please
keep the Lord's work through the church in Yaroslavl in your prayers.
Boga
Kharashu ("God is Good")
-
Joe Fitler
UPDATE
- Sunday,
April 7, 2002
Needless
to say, the last couple of days have been hectic and we are exhausted... not
just physically but emotionally as well. Leaving Yaroslavl was certainly
harder than I ever anticipated. This made it difficult for me to provide any
additional updates at the time.
Backing
up a bit, Thursday night we had a great time at Yvgeniy's
apartment for dinner and fellowship
with Vlad, Ilya,
Alex and their families and translator Alyona.
Back
at the church there
was an all night prayer meeting going on Thursday night, going from
midnight to 6:00 am Friday morning. This was one last opportunity to sing,
worship and pray with many of the people we had grown so close to in the
last couple of weeks. Afterwards, an exhausted Slava
drove us to the Yaroslavl vokzal (train
station) for our 7:00 am departure for Moscow. It was a classic Russian
winter weather scene - cold,
gray and snowy. A fitting setting for our somber mood.
Five
hours later we were back in Moscow and to the hotel. The next morning it was
off to Sheremetyevo
airport and the ritual of clearing security, customs and passport control.
Finally, we boarded the plane for the 10 hour flight
back "across the pond". After 2 more connections we dragged
ourselves into the Akron Canton airport at about 11:00 pm Saturday night,
drained but glad to be home.
Here
are additional pictures taken during the trip...
