Team 2 Arrives in Lesosibirsk -- Construction Continues

"Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired. They will walk and not become weary."-- Isaiah 40:31

Team 2 arrived in Lesosibirsk late Saturday afternoon (local time), exhausted from almost two days of travel and too many time zones to count, but with new strength from the Lord. God's work here in Russia is supported by many of Christ's faithful and their spirit if very uplifting.

After leaving the hotel in Chicago around 10 a.m. Thursday, Team 2 arrived in Krosnoyarsk around 8 a.m. Saturday (local time). There we were welcomed by several from the Russian Baptist Union for whom we are helping to build the church in Lesosibirsk.

The trip to Krosnoyarsk was not without incident. Jerod lost his airline tickets in Moscow and we purchased new ones to get him to Krosnoyarsk (Aeroflot did not replace his tickets -- yet). A bin with a nail gun and some other tools did not make it to Moscow. Chris also took ill before leaving New York, but was able to sleep it off before arrving in Moscow. Then before leaving Moscow, we had to sit in a hot plane on the tarmac for two hours before we took off.

The prayers of many are very evident. A pastor enroute from Bulgaria to Krasnoyarsk talked to Ed next to a bus at Moscow airport. As it turned out, Pastor Ivan told us he was "prompted by the spirit to talk to Ed." This was a true blessing as Pastor Evan helped our team and all our supplies from the International to the Domestic Terminal and safely on our plane to Krosnoyarsk. He was an angel sent by God.

In Krosnoyarsk we were loaded into vans for the trip to Lesosibirsk -- a carvan of four vehicles. Halfway there, Pastor Roma suprised us all by pulling into a small village. There we were greeted by five women at a home church. Pastor Jerry shared a few words (through an interpretor) in a small room in the house with benches for worship services. Then these women blessed our large group of more than 25, including translators and drivers, with a lunch of homemade breads, garden vegetables, soup and deserts. It was an awesome display of generosity. We have learned to say thank you in Russian -- spah-see-bah -- after being blessed by the care of so many.

We pressed on to Lesosibirsk, passing large fields of wheat by former collective farms and forests. We arrived mid-afternoon Saturday and went immediately to the church site. Praise God for there was much activity on the site. The giant foundation blocks are being laid and they are about halfway to completion. There is hope that they may complete it by the end of the week.

After visting the church site, team members were divided up among host families. We have experienced God's love and graciousness through these families who are housing us during our stay. As believers in Christ, we were welcomed here as family. We were reminded of Eph. 2:19 "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household.

Sunday morning our team joined Pastor Roma and his congregation for a church service at the community center. There were about 100 attending. It was wonderous to hear the hymns we sing in Maple Rapids, sung in Russian. We joined in singing the english words. At the service, Pastor Ivan, who we met at the Moscow airport, was the guest preacher. He preached on Romans 15:1 "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves." It was a new experience to hear a sermon in Russian in one ear and to hear it in english through a translator through the other ear. " We are strong when we are in Christ," Pastor Ivan said. " We must use the strength of our call to help the weak." He preached how Paul once used his strength to cause problems for Christians. "Paul became weak to be strong in Christ," he pointed out. "If we think the rich and powerful are our friends, maybe we need to change our friends. A friend is someone we give help to until the very end. We lead them to Christ, not to other gods.

After church, team members went back to their host homes to relax and try to recover from the jet lag. At 11:30 p.m. there is still some light in the sky and people are out until dark. The weather here has been warm -- almost hot. Lots of sun which has helped construction.

Today, Monday, Team 2 has been onsite working for the first time. Some are laying brick to patch holes in the foundation. Others are constructing trusses for the roof. (We have almost two built and 38 to go.) After a great lunch at a local cafe we are about to return to the work site.

I hope this post is readable as I have had to work with a computer with Russian words. It has been a challenge getting to a computer with the Internet, but we are now here. Thanks for all your prayers. They are very evident. Sorry that there are no new pictures yet to post to the photo site. We hope to get some there soon.