Ukraine
When I arrived in Odessa I was taken to an appalling tuberculosis hospital to minister to some young guys, Dennis, Vova and Sergei, from our Homeless Children's Center who had once lived in the drains under the city. They were very sick. Sergei gave his life to Jesus as we served them communion and prayed for them. However, Dennis died two weeks later. In heaven now, he has a perfect body and is breathing unpolluted air like never before.
I ministered in some needy churches around Odessa including the great little church recently planted by my Ukrainian manager Oleg. They are doing a valiant work in letting their lights shine for Jesus in a dark place. Many are coming to the Lord and staying in the church – where their needs are being met for clothing and food (physical and spiritual) and being equipped in evangelism.
I also checked on the needs of the orphanages that we support here before the snows start falling. I visited to an orphanage of mostly abandoned babies that needed pampers. It's been a long time since I bought pampers especially in their hundreds.
I had a delightful time teaching on evangelism in a Bible School near the Moldovan border, to 25 students from Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Alaska. These humble students just wanted to be equipped to win their nations for Jesus.
Sweden
I had a happy time with the Betel Fellowship in Vagnhärad, southern Sweden, at their Sunday morning service. Pastors Ake and Lise Wallman hosted me. Ake and I are on the board of the Baltic School of Ministry in Latvia that trains young people for ministry. In the afternoon we visited a man just diagnosed with a brain tumour who had been very resistant to the gospel and whose daughter has just had a miscarriage. As a result of their needs they were now so open to the gospel. We prayed for them and then led them into a relationship with Jesus. What a sweet time of fellowship we had with people in the fellowship.
Latvia
I was extremely busy in Latvia. For the first three days I enjoyed teaching at the Baltic School of Ministry and equipping the students in Power Evangelism using the gifts of the Holy Spirit. They soaked up the information, keen to put it into action.
A precious small Latvian Dzivibas Church asked me to minister at their mid-week service. Over the weekend it was a delight to share the Word of God over the air from the Riga radio station. On the Saturday morning it was precious to see so many people, living below the bread line, come to the Word of Truth Russian Church to collect their food parcels and warm clothing as well as attend Saturday church. Their response to God's word was marvellous.
In the afternoon I accompanied the youth team to minister to the precious children at the Spriditis Orphanage (the very first orphanage I began supporting 19 years ago). On Sunday morning it was a joy to preach at the Word of Truth Church and see many come to the Lord. On the Sunday night it was thrilling to challenge the young people at a very special youth rally.
That week was very exciting indeed. I enjoyed the challenge of conducting my outreach seminars to the Latvian military, navy, air force, the national guard and military police. I shared with them at their bases and the commando training camps in the forests. It was freezing cold but their attention to the gospel was tremendous. It was great to see young men and women opening their hearts to the Lord.
My final two days in Latvia ministering to the military were tremendous – conducting seminars "Winning over Stress – at Work and at Home" were a great success, especially to the older soldiers in the National Guard. They had done their tours of duty in places like Afghanistan, Kosovo and Iraq and were now guarding their country and the president. These aging men and women were deeply concerned about their future as they were growing older and the nation was struggling economically. Many came to the Lord during those seminars.
I visited a fascinating palatial old building in Liepaja that was once the Russian Czar's residence and reception house in Latvia. The commander of the National Guard took me to one of beach gun-fortresses on the Baltic Sea coast that was once one of the country's defences against the Soviet fleet. This country has an amazing history.
Israel
Upon arrival in Tel Aviv we were whisked to the hospital to pray for a Russian Jewish pastor in hospital with kidney failure. Jesus just shone out of this dear man even with all his great suffering.
On the first Sabbath here I had the joy of ministering to the Beit Immanuel Congregation in Tel Aviv. There was a wonderful spirit of worship in the meeting and a great hunger to receive the word of God. Their response was tremendous.
In between meetings I have been talking with pastors from other groups for future ministry here. Sasha Rodionov, my Latvian manager, is here with me translating into Russian for the huge number of Russian Jews that we share with. He is a very accomplished preacher in his own right and has been translating for me in Latvia for the last 18 years since he was 17.
One night we went to minister to a small Russian Jewish congregation in Sderot, adjacent the north end of the Gaza Strip. This place has been under rocket attack for so long that the city council has had bomb-proof rooms added to every flat in every apartment block in the city. The builders are either Chinese or Arab companies. Ironical! The Sderot community consists of mainly Russian Jews – a great harvest field indeed, as I told the Congregation when teaching them how to win their friends and colleagues to the Messiah
We had an incredible experience visiting Timna Park near Eilat. Apart from amazing ancient rock formations we visited their full scale version of the Jewish Tabernacle in the wilderness. What a moving experience – being inside this old time wonder. The sweet older lady, Kamit, who did the presentation for us spoke about the setting up of the Tabernacle from Exodus 26 and described the blood sacrifices for the sins of Israel. I sensed a beautiful anointing on her. Then she quoted the scripture from Hebrews "and without the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin". Her face lit up as she said that all of the blood sacrifices pointed to the perfect sacrifice of Yeshua and that people needed to receive and confess Him. What a blessing she was. She and her husband came to the evening meeting and said they were so encouraged.
We had a very sweet meeting that night in Eilat with two Russian Messianic congregations attending. I taught them on Evangelism using the gifts of the Holy Spirit which was very enthusiastically received. The prayer time afterwards was electric with God's presence.
After a busy day in Jerusalem it was a great joy to minister to the leaders of the Rishon Le Zion Messianic congregation on the coast south of Tel Aviv. These leaders consisted of men and women from Israel, Russia, Latvia, Korea and Poland – a very exciting mixture. I focused on the greatest common denominator – Jesus and His commission to reach the lost and disciple them in His work on earth. This was a precursor to the open meeting on Friday evening for the Rishon Le Zion congregation.