Krasnoyarsk Update
Hello everyone,
I just got back from a retreat with the members of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. This is the congregation that Pastor Sobolev is the pastor of. We spent a week in the woods at a place like Camp Omega but with none of the facilities. We did bible study every day twice. We are trying to help them understand the basics of the faith and help them understand the idea of family that we take for granted. There are a lot of orphans and broken families here. Some of that was due to the Lenin and Stalin years where people were just separated and sometimes killed. That happened to a man by the name of Slava. His parents were killed by Stalin. There are some very sad stories here but the Gospel has made all the difference in their lives. Pastor Sobolev left to go to Latvia to bring his mother-in-law back to Krasnoyarsk to live with the family. I am sort of the vacancy pastor for him while he is gone. Just as you are surviving and growing in my absence while someone else takes care of you for now, it is my turn to do the same for another congregation. In the church, we are all together no matter where we are.
I am in an internet cafe right now so I cannot download pictures. I hope to be able to do that in the near future. I will also be working this week in the village where they want to build the seminary for the new Lutheran Church body and then the following week we will be in a small town that will be a mission congregation. You are making things happen around the world with your prayers and support. The people here are very grateful.
More later,
Pastor Heidorn