(Scroll down to day 2 and read upwards if you want to follow the trip chronologically)
Day 12- Glad to be home but will miss Russia. We had fond memories of the trip. It was especially wonderful to have Grace with me on this trip.
Day 10 (Tues)- We left Volgograd and arrived in Moscow. Since we have about 8 hrs before our flight to Hong Kong, Ps Thomas suggested we visit Islamvogo where there was a large flea market. Every tourist to Moscow will have to put up with its atrocious traffic jam. It was definitely worst than KL's
Grace wrote this email to Sarah and Nicholas just before we head towards the Volgograd airport:
It is 5.20am and we are waiting for our transport to the Volgograd airport which will be a 2 hour journey to airport. We bought some souvenir mugs, salami, Mayonaise, condensed milk that is quite unique to Russia.
Russia is very interesting land of diverse peoples and opportunities. Its like a western developing country.
We have to wait in Moscow for about 8 hours so will get chance to do a bit more of sight seeing and also shopping if any. I don't plan to buy anything much.
Boy, you are fetching us right? See you in about 30 hours time.
Mum
In the evening, we met with the medical students, many of whom are Malaysians. Hana did a very good and encouraging icebreaker with them. For some reasons, I was very touched as we worshipped together- I wanted them to know that God our Father is with them even as they were so far away from home. We encouraged them to have a vision for our nation and to use medicine as their calling from the Lord. Grace and I prayed for everyone of them It was unfortunate that we could not have a meal together with them. I wanted to buy pizza for them all.
Ps Simone got me to share what we do in New Life with his staff. I shared our 3 Bs and our 3 Fs with them.
Russian Borsch.
This a dish of pork fat. Eaten with mustard, it tasted exactly like sashimi. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
One of the church members took us for a special Russian lunch at a restaurant.
This monument was to commemorate the founders of Volgograd.
Day 9(Mon)- Back in Volgagrad. Ps Thomas rejoined the team and Ps Simone took us for a visit to the city centre. We were hoping to catch a cruise to sail down the Volga river but unfortunately the cruise was not in operation during this low period.
Our journey back to Volgograd
Akhtubinsk sign in Russian. A red line is drawn across the name to indicate that it is the end of the city limits.
Final pic with Ps Arthur before we leave Akhtubinsk. Our host Valya did not want to let us go. They are so keen to pay a visit to Malaysia and saving up for it.
Sunday morning church service- 3 hours long. They also celebrate birthdays etc.
I ministered to the adults. This picture was a session that I took with the leaders after the main church service.
Hana and Grace ministered to the Children.
Day 8 (Sunday)- We were outside the apartment without our interpreter so we had to resort to the Russian-English dictionary to communicate.
Altar call after Grace ministered the word.
Saturday night service. This picture was taken outside Ps Arthur church.
We had a bit of a scare after taking this shot of Hana. If you look at the top of this picture, we caught the speedboat coming towards our direction. We thought it was the military and our suspicions were heightened when it stopped in the middle of the river just next to us. Hana and I did not wait to find out if we were right as we scurried away quickly. Akhtubinsk has some military towns and some of them are still closed to visitors.
Day 7 (Sat)- Ps Thomas told us to make sure that we try 'Rak' so we conveyed this to Ps Arthur who went 'Rakking' and came up with a whole pot of it. We discovered it was 'crawfish' of which we had tasted in New Orleans. We went for a picnic and had a real feast of the crawfish next to the Aktuba river. It tasted like steamed lobster or prawns but getting the little bit of flesh from its body (the majority of its weight is on its head which is discarded) takes a bit of work. It was fun eating crawfish outdoors in the cold.
Had dinner back at the apartment after the meeting. By now we have developed a good friendship bond and we were comfortable enough with one another that Valya, her daughter and her grandson Nikita sang as a beautiful song in Russian. The fellowship was sweet. Since it was late, we reluctantly broke up this wonderful time of fellowship to retire for the nigh.
Friday night- we had a service at Ps Arthur's church. I preached on sonship. I ended by praying for Ps Arthur and his leaders. Apparently, this was the message that the Lord has been speaking to them about.
We then went to buy some flowers to place on Ps Viktor's grave. Every other grave had a Russian Orthodox cross which is slightly different to that of a normal '+'. It has two different length horizontal bars instead of one and a skewed bar where the ankle of the Lord was supposed to be (you might be able to see one of them on the above picture- on the extreme right side). A Russian Orthodox official wanted to remove Ps Viktor's cross because it is different (and they consider protestant churches cultist) but the Lord's grace prevailed.
We then visited a nearby river. It was so quite and peaceful.
In the afternoon, Ps Arthur took us to see a house which he desires to purchase for a drug rehabilitation centre. This house has a big piece of land and will cost USD7000.
We passed by a one lane wet market and bought lots of fruits which were cheap.
Day 6- We got our host to take us to have a look at their local products in the supermarket.
We were going to leave after ministry but the hostess was so sad and insistent that we decided to stay and eat. Everywhere we go, we can't leave without partaking of their food.
We then laid hands and prayed for everyone.
After lunch we headed towards the border (to Kazakstan)town of Baskunchak where Ps Arthur pastored before he went to take over the church at Akhtubinsk after his father's passing. We gathered in this living room which was so hot despite being freezing outside. The hostess has an amazing story of God's deliverance for her daughter who was mentally deranged and violent and had to be locked up for 15 years. It was such an amazing testimony. The now mentally sound daughter is in the room. I ministered the word of God and shared about the plan and power of God for our lives.
With Ps Arthur, his wife Luda, his mother Natasha and his maternal grandmother. They fed us so much. Today's lunch included roast chicken which i enjoyed thoroughly.
Visitors to Russia will notice that there are many monuments and memorials everywhere. Here in this small town is a memorial to those fought with the airforce. We stumble upon this memorial during our morning walk and decided to take a picture with the automatic feature. This structure is a combination of the wing of an aeroplane and that of a bird.
Day 5- Grace and I went for a walk in the morning while waiting for Ps Arthur to fetch us for lunch at his mother's house. It was cold but we enjoyed it.
This shot was taken from our room of a neighbouring block of flats similar to the one we are staying in. What surprised me was the high tech security door at the ground floor.
Praying for them after the meal.
With the couple, Dennis and Svetna, a covert from Islam who told us an incredible story of her conversion. She certainly has God's destiny in her life and she will be a tremendous soul winner. I bet we have not heard the last of her yet.This is what Grace wrote from her Blackberry to Sarah and Nicholas regarding this couple:
Hi girl and boy....Yesterday the highlight(besides the long journey to Aktubinsk) was meeting upwith this couple who is starting a new church in a new rural area. This arealooks poor and reminds me of Port Klang when I was a young girl. Old woodenhouse, fire wood, well, broken machinery etc. All the windows on homes are well outlind with green or blue paint. Think its a cultural thing. This couple (photo attached) is the story I wanted to tell cos it is worthy ofa Hollywood show. I may not have time to write all the fine details buthopefully enough to give you the Wow expression at least when I heard it. Theyjust got married last month and bought this derelict place because it was whatthey could afford to start their lives together, have a family and start achurch in the home. The space is there but sure needs a lot of work and funds tospruce it up. The man's story is short- an ex drug addict whom God delivered. Very humbleyoung man with a heart for God. The wife is the focus - an ex-Muslim from Kazathstan. She told a miraculous story of her conversion. Youngest daughter of 12, she was spoiled andrebellious. At 20, she was knocked down by a car and given up for dead. Hermother refused to give up hope despite her major injuries which doctors saideven if she recovered, she will be brain dead and a vegetable. After 15 days,she awoke and told of how when she was in coma, God showed her all her sins from7 years old to 20 - even what she considered small sins. She was deeply shaken because Muslims are taught children are not responsible for their sins until 13 when circumcision happens. Because she kept telling her family and relatives onwhat happened to her at coma, people thought she was cuckoo and was going to puther in an asylum. Fearing that, she pestered her parents to send her to college for studies. They didn't think she would make it and her relatives kept jeering at how stupid and crazy she had become after the accident. She persisted because her experience was real and wanted to set out on a journey to understand what it meant. She graduated and decided to leave town and came to Aktubinsk where she worked for a food store. At the store was a Christian who witnessed to anyone she can get to hear. She avoided her after being warned that this lady preaches a cultreligion. Nevertheless, one day she went ahead to have lunch with her altho shewas determined not to listen. Just wanted a lunch partner only. Days passed and one day, her purse with all the important documents got stolen.She was so distressed and cried relating the loss to the Christian lunch partner. Her friend said, you list out all the documents that you lost on a piece of paper. I will get the church to pray for you. Lo and behold, prayer answered a few weeks later and she received a letter toget them from a certain place. The Christian friend told her since the Lord has answered the prayer, she needed to go to church to thank God and the people! Out of obligation, she went. At church, she was translated back to her coma experience like a theater. Where she was, was dark, and where the pulpit was, was bright light. She kneeled andcried throughout the service and was saved. She understood her sins needed forgiveness from Jesus. Being of Muslim background, she was initially very fearful of her 9 big drunken brothers who threatened to kill her. Nevertheless, the Lord gave her boldnessa nd she rebuked the brothers of their irresponsibilities in the family etc. The brothers noted her positive change from a brat to a caring person and theybacked off. Her life had been transformed. Part 2 later will be story of how she met her husband. My fingers painful already with this BB. Anyway, show must have series to be box office status.HeheLove you. Write us daily so we know your happenings also. Ps. Boy, have you responded to PYIC?
Love, mum and dad in Russia
Pastor Arthur took us to Znamensk to meet a couple who will be starting a church there. The couple just bought a rather dilapidated house with no electricity and no running water. Here we are outside the house trying the well water. Picture show Ps Arthur clowning around and saying "The well water is poisonous" as he clutched his throat.
At Akhtubinsk with Pastor Arthur and our hostess, Valya. This is an email we wrote to Sarah and Nicholas-
Dear Sarah and Nicholas,
Our hostess, Valia overwhelms us with her hospitality.She makes us eat all the time. What a contrast with the stories we heard aboutneeding to give money to our hosts in advance so that they could buy food . We are staying in a typical Russian apartment. The block of apartments look very dilapidated and inhabitable but inside is very cosy albeit compact.It's true what people say about the home being where love is and there wasmuch love, laughter and Christian fellowship in this apartment. Last night she said aloud that she wished the days are longer so that we could have longertimes of fellowship. This is even more remarkable if you knew she was analcoholic before who consumed liters of vodka every day. It got so bad that shehad to seek the help of doctors who could not help her. It destroyed her marriage and ate up all her money. Her drunkeness got so bad that when she gotto know Ps Arthur (the pastor we are visiting), she begged him to help her. PsArthur prayed for her and she testified that her desire for alcohol vanished in an instant and she had not had any more desire since then. She is now a church leader and her business in selling women's clothing is being blessed by the lord. Grace and I are so blessed by her generosity. Yesterday she took us to the market and bought so much stuff because every enquiry from us was an indicationof our desire and she really wanted to make sure that we got every desire of ourhearts. Our stay with her will be one of our fond memories of Russia. SpaseebaYesu (thank you Jesus)
Together with our translator, Dennis, the three of us (excluding Pastor Thomas, who remained behind to teach at the Bible school) then headed towards a small rural town named Akhtubinsk. One glaring feature about the landscape during the journey is its flatness. Not a hill in side. The journey took about 2 hours.
Pastor Simone is Ps Alexy's right hand man. We chatted and shared pastoring ideas over the breakfast table.
Day 4- After breakfast, Hana and Grace went outside with our host to visit her garden. They took many pictures of the colourful flowers and plants which are too many to post.
In the evening, I ministered at one of their outreach churches. Pastor Tatiana has such a heart of a mother for her flock which filled her living room. I shared on 'Keys to the Kingdom'. Many came forth for healing. I was moved by their needs. Many were divorced and struggled with alcoholism. Three (above) accepted the Lord as their Saviour.
Dennis got Grace and I to pose in such a way that it seems like we were holding the torch- which burns day and night in memory of those who sacrificed their lives in defending their motherland. We were fortunate to see the changing of guards which was quite a show of excellence in precision and discipline. The weather was perfect. Beautiful blue skies, cool breeze- Thank you Lord.
They scheduled me to teach a session of their Bible school but Pastor Thomas got too passionate and took up my session so we went to 'Mama Hill', a famous Volgograd landmark- a must see for all visitors. The statue is apparently taller than the statue of liberty and can be seen from a long distance away. It is a symbol of the motherland calling all Russians to defend the country against the invasion by Germany. It was a great victory for Russia and halted Germany advancement.
Day 3- They did not plan any ministry in the morning so one of their staff took us to visit their war museum. It was a visit that helped us to understand the history of the city. Did you know that V was previously Stalingrad? I was impressed by Valera's (second from right) knowledge of the historical events.
The flight to Volgograd took about 2 and a half hours. It was already dark when we landed and w were met at the airport by our translator Dennis (who visited Malaysia last year) and a couple of the Malaysian medical students. We stayed at Ps Alexy (the senior pastor of the mother church) and Galina's house. That Galina on the left with her son, Alex who knocked on our door and said 'Go, eat.' At least he knows more English than I know Russian.
Tried their reputed underground transport.
Posing in front of the Russian Duma.
We have 8 hrs before the internal flight to Volgograd so we visited the famous Red Square and the St Basilica Cathedral. It was cold (10C) but we enjoyed the walkabout. Paid 100 roubles each to see the inside of the Cathedral. Full of icons. Pastor Thomas is a veteran missionary to Russia so he doubled as our guide. BTW, he is our church's Christina's father.
Day 2- Finally arrived in Moscow after 18 hrs. 4 hrs to HK on Cathay Pacific- another 4 hrs transit in HK- 10 hrs to Moscow on Aeroflot. It was a tiring journey especially since I could not sleep a wink. No entertainment on board Aeroflot. They used to clap when the Aeroflot lands successfully but this round, only a few did. Hope they keep the tradition. Kinda unusual but cute. 
