Well, for those of you in the West, your holidays are over. However, where we live, the holidays will continue until after January 7, which is officially Orthodox Christmas. St. Petersburg seems to be a ghost town, with fewer people driving around the city than we have ever seen. It's wonderful!!
On New Years eve, we called up Y & M, one of the couples from our International church, at about 11:15 pm, just to see if they wanted to head down to the center of the city for the fireworks and excitement. They did, so we went and picked them up, and arrived at Palace Square (just outside the Hermitage Museum) in time to see and hear President Putin's remarks on the big screens. Afterwards, there were fireworks being set off all around, champagne and wine corks popping, etc. We strolled over one of the bridges, watching the view over the river, with many thousands of other people. Families, singles, couples, it seemed like everyone was outside. We ended up at a restaurant, where Y & M told of how God had placed a call on their lives to be Missionaries. Prov 3:9 says "Honor the Lord with your wealth..." This couple wants to do that by studying to become excellent in the talents which God has gifted them, and then to use those talents to help equip others to minister. How cool is that? God is directing their steps, and we have got to be an encouragement to them along the way, by being a part of the ICA ministry team. We are glad to still be here, ministering, and looking forward to being part of the rotating ministry team here in the days to come.
Next posting we will tell you about another part of our ministry, as we rotate out of Russia for 90 days out of every 180, due to Visa law changes.
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