Grace Notes

A selection of photos from the Independence Day celebration at Grace have been posted here.

(fireworks courtesy of the Rochester Post-Bulletin)

Hello everyone,

I got the pictures that Matt posted. They were nice to see. I hope you got some pictures that my translator sent from her home computer.

Tonight I have Bible study to lead in Lagovik. There are really about 4 little villages or neighborhoods that Pastor Sobolev wants to start congregations in. This week I will be going to Suchanoy. I am not sure if I will get to e-mail you from there so if I do not get a chance until I get back that is why. I will try to e-mail on Friday and certainly on Saturday.

Sunday’s here are family days. I went to the circus with a family of the organist. It was really neat. it was mostly Chinese performers but there was a fire eater who also worked with crocodiles and whips. This one lady laid on her back and then would spin different objects with her feet. She even spun a table. I took some pictures but I don’t know how well they turned out. They look ok in my little screen on the camera.

there are some ladies from the church who now want to learn English. They want to be able to communicate with us when we come back. There is also now a race track just near where they live. I told them that NASCAR fans will be flocking to Krasnoyarsk so that is another reason to learn English.

The other day I was on a 12 mile hike. There is some really beautiful country here.

Anyway, I will write more at the end of the week.

It is really a good thing that I chose to send the family home because it would have been a difficult time for the people here to provide transportation for all of us. As it is we are sometimes 5 people in a Lada, which is already too small of a car for 4 people. Logistically it is difficult here. There is no vehicle like a minivan. And also since the work changed it would have been harder to function. God was in that decision too just as He has been in all of them.

See you later and certainly in about 10 days.

Pastor

Six new pictures were added to the gallery.

Hi everyone, I hope you had a great 4th. They do have the 4th of July here, but it is just not Independence Day. If there was not the 4th they would have only 30 days in July.

It rained hard yesterday. The streets were so flooded that a bus was underwater in one of the under passes. They really do not have a good sewer system here. There are some other things they cold improve as well, but I will explain more on that when I get back and you can see the pictures. Speaking of pictures, I am hoping that my translator can send some before Sunday services. She can put them on her computer and then send them. I can’t do this where I am.

Accessibility is not a real idea in Russia. All the curbs are at least 4 inches tall. Most are 8-12. There are not a lot of people who are disabled out and about. Since there is no accessibility, they stay home. Bus travel is not for the faint of heart either. The bus lurches here and there. If you are unsteady on your feet, you are thrown all over. The driver does not wait for the feeble to find a seat. He just goes–real fast between stops. The busses drive like everyone else. It is crazy. I don’t think that Brian Poole would be able to drive a bus here. He is too good of a driver and actually obeys the rules, They do not seem to have any rules here. More on that later, with some video.

Anyway, I’ll only be gone one more Sunday after this one. See you all soon.

In Christ,

Pastor

Good morning or evening everyone.

I hope all the plans for the 4th are in order. I know they are. I hope you have a lot of success this year. I was able to get to the computer today. I am able to navigate in town pretty well and do not have my interpreter with me this morning. I will be going to make some visits on members of the parish this afternoon to pray with them and take them communion.

There is a young man named Dema who has really changed since I have been here. I guess he was a problem child but went to the retreat last week and has started to think more about God. He was at all of the Bible studies I had and we played tennis together. He seems to really like “the American”. On Sunday he got up early and told his mother,” Lets go to church”. That has never happened before, I am told. So maybe something good will come out of just being here even though I don’t feel like I am doing what I thought I would do initially.

There is another young man named Cola or Colya. He was an orphan. His stepfather killed his mother and almost killed his little brother but he is in church every week. It is amazing what the Gospel can do with people. Both of these young men are thinking about working in the church now. We will see.

Anyway, I hope to get to a place where I can send pictures.

Have a great 4th and we will see you in a couple of weeks.

If you take pictures of the 4th celebration, you can send them to Pastor Andreev. I know that someone has his e-mail.

In Christ,

Pastor

Good morning to you.

Today is July 2 and I will be going to a village this evening called Logovik to do a Bible study with a group of people who are part of the Holy Trinity congregation here in Krasnoyarsk. They may start their own congregation in Logovik but right now most of them come to the services in town. Logovik is also where Pastor Sobolev wants to build the seminary. Land is cheaper in the villages than in the city. He also wants to buy a piece of land in town for the congregation to move into and build its own building. Right now they just rent a place. Next week I will be going to Souchanoy, another village near Krasnoyarsk. Here there is a congregation of people that wants to start a mission church. I guess Pastor Sobolev has only spent a few hours there each time he goes so I will be the first “resident” pastor they will have. There are many elderly so I will be taking communion to them and doing lots of praying with them. There may also be a baptism if I understood Pastor Sobolev correctly before he left me here.

The people are wonderful here, very similar to yourselves. This part of the world is very similar to Rochester. It is bigger though, 1 million people, but easy to get around when you know the bus routes to take.

One thing that has bothered me a bit since we came is that the projects we thought we were going to be involved in changed or did not develop into what we thought in the beginning. There are a lot of things to see but sight-seeing is not the purpose. There does seem a great desire to just have someone here to relate to the people and to try to win them by friendship.

So far there are several projects that could be very interesting. Before I leave here I will get as many details as possible and a time line if one is available. If not, the people can send me one online.

Speaking of online, this is a greater problem than at home. People have computers but not everyone has internet access. I am using access downtown at an internet cafe (which does not even serve coffee or tea). it takes an hour or so to get here on the bus and with walking since the bus I take from where I live does not stop directly in front of the place.

I know that you would like more updates and I would like to provide them, but for now I will send them as able. Also, since this is not the computer of a person that I trust I can’t send pictures. That takes up extra space and is difficult. I hope to send some by the end of the week however for church on Sunday.

There are only two Sundays yet until I will be home. I am looking forward to it as are you. This has been an eye-opening experience both good and not so.

More later,

In Christ,

Pastor Heidorn

Grace has selected Lifetouch Church Directories and Portraits to produce our next picture directory. The directory is provided to Grace at no cost and each family will receive an 8×10 portrait and a directory for participating.

Portrait sessions will be held at Grace on Wednesday July 24th and Thursday July 25th from 2:30 to 9:00 pm.

In your one hour session, you will be professionally photographed, given the chance to view and select the photo for the directory, and provided the opportunity to purchase additional portraits.

You may sign up in person before or after church services or electronically at Lifetouch online registration.

Contact the elders with questions or concerns.

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

Good Morning,

I am now as far away from Rochester as possible on this trip. Directly on the other side of the world, if you will. The time here is 13 hours different. I am writing at 3 PM and it is 2 AM where you are. Worship was very interesting today with Pastor Sobolev. Their service starts out with praise music. They have some of the same songs, just different words. They also have some very new songs with nice tunes. The service was very liturgical. The music was very modern–a nice combination. Because so much of the past was destroyed by the Soviets, the churches have keyboards instead organs. I guess if you can have only one instrument get one that can sound like everything. The service lasted two hours. Pastor Sobolev preached for about 45 minutes. For those who think I go too long…

Here are some pictures of the congregation. There is a lady in charge of hospitality who takes care of everything. I think that every Lutheran Church has hospitality as a prime Sunday activity — as it should be when God’s people get together.

Tomorrow we go to the family camp. I don’t know when I will have internet access again but probably by the end of the week. If I get access sooner I will send a report. I am keeping notes and will have a much bigger write-up when I get back for the presentation in September.

In Christ,

The travelling Heidorn’s

Hello everyone, We are in Kazan.
Kazan is a very Muslim city. It is not Muslim like Rochester with people from the Middle East. These are Tatar people. We Visited the main Mosque yesterday and got the “hard sell” by some seminary student. I think he thought he could get me to convert, but do not worry, I am still Lutheran and he is still frustrated. The congregation here is St. Andrew. It started through the work of Lutheran Hour and is a great success story. It did not have the property fight every other place seems to have had. They just bought a building, gutted it, fixed it up, and made all the furnishings themselves. I will send pictures when I can. The pastor and his wife are very hospitable and kind. We have a girl that helps with translation. I presented at their bible class which meets on Tuesday evenings. There was a lot of discussion as this is an ‘open’ bible class. That means that people from other denominations can come and visit. There was one Pentecostal guy who I needed to correct immediately and I was hoping the Holy Spirit would come upon me like at Pentecost and give me the ability to speak fluent Russian, because to correct the guy would haved taken an eternity with a translator. Anyway. It was a long day.

Today we will go to a beach that is in town. It is near the center of the city. Kazan celebrated being a city for 1000 years just a couple of years ago. It is very modern though and reminds me a bit of Rochester or Minneapolis. It is far more calm than Moscow but again, the lines on the road are only suggestions for the drivers, u-turns happen anywhere, and the speed limit is only as fast as you can go for the traffic around you.

There are two projects that I think Grace people could do next summer. I will explain those when I get home. I believe we can do much. So if you are thinking about coming next summer for a week to do some work there should be much to do. I have asked for at least 4 projects so we can pick the one that seems the best.

We have not yet been doing the things we thought we would be doing when we left but that is how it always is. Everything changes when reality shows up.

Thank you for your prayers. We think of you often and will write every time I can get computer access. It is not like at home. I always need at least one hour to get anything accomplished.

The support we have given has accomplished much. The support we may give in the future will accomplish even more. The people here understand stewardship well. Most members tithe and some give beyond that in offerings. I am very impressed with their generosity.

More next time.

In Christ,

The traveling Heidorn’s