The PIR Journey

Paul's Experience of Siberia 2011 - Part 2 (Shopping & Western Christmas)

2012-02-02T14:16:00.001+02:00

(Llyuda ensuring each gift had a ribbon)

The rest of the first week is a bit of a blur. We sat up late that night with all the lists,and tried to put together a shopping list of toys according to the childrenthat were listed. We were planning to goshopping the next day but we were still waiting for final lists from some ofthe homes and I have learnt that things take longer than you expect them totake in Siberia. So we cancelled theshopping trip for the Wednesday and we instead used the day to explore the citya bit more. Temperatures had warmed upto a balmy -7C and we could enjoy walking around the city. We also needed the time to negotiate gooddiscounts with the different toy stores in the city, so far from being a restday, the Wednesday turned out to be a run around the city from store to store,speaking to the managers, who would have to phone the owners, who would haggleand eventually agree to a discount of some proportion.

On the Thursday wehad all the lists of children from the children’s homes. We’d had the time to put all their details oncomputer and to list the present they had asked for and we could proceed tostart the shopping process. We arrangeda big mini-bus from the director of the Homes and went shopping at the big mallon the far side of the city – Jam Mall.

(pic: Paul car shopping)

The final list included presents for over 300 children in 8homes and involved buying 42 Radio Controlled Cars, 16 MP3 Players (or more, Iforget), over 50 dolls of various sizes, 8 table hockey games, 8 table soccergames and another 8 table basketball games…amongst other things. The most exotic requests were for aradio-controlled helicopter and a guitar.

A couple of kids wanted mobile phones but we were told bythe directors of the homes that they would not be allowed to keep them so westeered away from buying cellular stuff. It reminded me of the first year where a number of young kids wantedbicycles, but the director of the home, wise to the schemes of children, toldus that we would not be allowed to give the children bicycles as the childrenwould use it to ride back to their old houses or to run away.

(Pic: Paul and the till slip from the big shop)

Six and a half shopping trolleys and a whole lot of funlater, we had bought around 256 toys out of the three hundred+ that weneeded. I think if I ever was to begiven the chance to be the real Santa, then I would love it. You get to choose all the great stuff youwanted as a kid, all over again. Thestore gave us three assistants to help find and choose all we needed, so it wasa bit like being a customer in a boutique clothing store…. Ÿes, that one… no,not those five… yes, those 10 will do nicely… perhaps a different colour inthat… etc.

Our timing was perfect too as we managed to pay for it all,load the minibus full of toys and get it offloaded at the church just as it gotdark. We spent Friday and Saturdaybuying the rest of the presents, children’s cosmetics, other cosmetics for theolder teens, a guitar and MP3 players.

(pic: Paul, driver and Sergei)

On Saturday 24^th December, we headed to thechurch to prepare for the next day’s planned Wrapping Fest. We labelled all the presents, sorted them outinto homes, worked out what we had extra and labelled those and then had tea…Tea at the church has become one of my favourite things… it is just soperfect. In South Africa I never havetea, perhaps because its too hot for it, but I never take the time to put outsome sweet things, boil the kettle and simply sit and chat with friends for anhour or so. But in Siberia it is a partof the process of living. Every time wewent to the church, even in the early morning when we were off to the homesquite early, we seem to have made time for tea… relaxing, peace-filledtea. It was so good.

Tea was followed by rehearsals for the Christmas Service andrehearsals were followed by Christmas Eve Dinner as a church. The whole church arrived with plates ofsnacks and we just stood around the kitchen and had a blessed Christmas Evefeast as we celebrated the birth of Christ together.

(pic: Roberta, Paul and 1 other)

The most amazing thing happened during the day too… a wonderful friend of mine arrived and helped sort out the presents. She really is a wonderful friend and was one of the first people thathelped me when I first started with the parties, spending many hours travelling around the city with me as we wentfrom store to store trying to find things back in 2008 when I could not speak aword of the language, but she has resisted Christianity quite openly for allthis while. She comes from a spiritualbackground that is fraught with weird beliefs and a family who in the past wereactively involved in shamanism, so our walk together has been very differentand sometimes quite scary… but God has a plan for her life and I know that, soshe has been faithful in helping with the children’s homes and we have managedto become close friends over the years. The first few times we met on this trip, she was particularly sullenand at some stages she would sit in steely silence while the rest of the companyaround her seemed to frustrate her. Thisafternoon of present sorting was no different. She arrived and immediately, although we roped her in to help, seemed toscowl with contempt at some of the people that were with us when they spoke…not horribly, just in a way which made you feel that she was beingcritical. But I ignored it and justcarried on, and once we had finished sorting the presents, everyone wentthrough to the kitchen, but she stayed behind and sat waiting for us to callher. About 10 minutes later I walkedinto the room and she had taken one of the Christian books off the shelf andwas deeply engrossed in reading it. Now,to you and me this might not be a big thing, but for HER, I understand, thisis a huge thing. She has always resistedChristianity and to see her sitting there calmly reading the book was a greatbreakthrough. Later that evening sheSMSed me and said, “Paul, I don’t know why, but whenever I am with you, it islike everything is at peace. In allother parts of my life I feel like I need to be critical… perhaps I need tospend more time with you guys.” I praise Godthat she can sense God in us, even when we are not talking about Him, andthat His peace comes through.

(pic: Julia, Masha and Roberta)

Sunday was Christmas day, and a very different Christmas Dayit was as, in Russia, Christmas is only on the 7^th January, and the25^th of December is a normal working day, or in this case, a normalSunday. I had been asked to preach atthe church on this day and it was such a privilege, but the Evangelical Churchin Irkutsk celebrates both Christmases – Western Christmas on the 25^thDecember and Orthodox Christmas on the 7^th January – holding aconcert on both days and inviting friends and acquaintances to join theservice. This service was so special,with almost everyone in the church involved in some way. We South African’s donned our “wise menoutfits and sang a Christmas carol for everyone after which I preached withMasha translating for me. At the end ofthe sermon we all exchanged small gifts and just as we were about to break fortea, Sergei’s eldest son, Sasha, who had been doing his national service for ayear in the Army in Moscow burst into the room unexpectedly (arriving back homeearly after completing his service) with flowers for his Babushka (grandmother)and his mother. He had not been home atall for the 12 months, and had been staying in a large barracks which housed1500 people, so had had very little privacy at all, and was missed deeply byhis family, and for that matter the church. His arrival was the best gift that the church could have wished for thisChristmas day (short of Jesus return…) and we were all deeply touched by thegratitude shown and the emotional reconciliation of this wonderful family.

We had hardly managed to recover from this emotionalinterlude than people started to arrive to help wrap gifts for thechildren. This has been one of the greatways in which non-Christian people have been able to interact with people fromthe church. Each year as we wrappresents we invite people to come to the church to help wrap, and so manypeople do come and help. People reallywant to be a part of the children’s ministry and through this wrapping dayopportunity many of them who would never consider walking into a ProtestantChurch (or for that matter, even an Orthodox one) get the chance to see thatChristians are normal people and many of them have started to feel comfortablewith the people from the church and been able to even ask some of the big questionsgiving opportunity for people to witness. This year a big breakthrough was that the “other church” which meets onSunday afternoons in our church building, came and joined us in wrapping thepresents (they are a very conservative group who simply use the hall, theleaders of our church have asked them if they would like to combine with us,but they are scared that they will lose their identity totally in our largercongregation, so they simply rent the hall from the church for a single serviceeach Sunday). This Christmas they putaside theological differences and came and wrapped with us.

(pic: Sergei, Mark and myself)

The church got stuck in with the wrapping as we had morepresents than we had ever had to wrap. In just over 2½ hours, the church managed to wrap over 300 presents. It was amazing, as just as we reached the 200present mark, you could feel how tired people were getting, and I wondered ifwe would finish in time for the other church to hold their service. I prayed in my heart that somehow we wouldfinish, and suddenly there was this surge of speed wrapping, and the last 100presents were wrapped in record time. Ready for the parties the next week.

The South African team decided that as we had not had thetime to prepare a Christmas dinner we would head to Papa John’s Pizza near ourhome, with some special friends and enjoy a couple of hours of pizza heaven(their pizzas really are exceptional – with great fresh ingredients). This was the first Christmas I have ever celebratedwith Pizza, but it was not a bad way to celebrate.

The 26^th December we slept a little late and thenheaded across town to the church to check and pack everything for the firstchildren’s parties. There are always alot of small things that need to be done before we can actually run a party,from checking that every present for every child is there, to checking that allthe things like projectors, computers, cables, instruments, transport, bags forthe presents, boxes for the food packets/goodie bags are all ready, not tomention that we needed to sort out “reserve presents” to make sure that if anynumber of children suddenly appeared in any of the homes, we would havesomething to give them, and they would not be forgotten or left“presentless.” We had a whole bag of“boys” and another whole bag of “girls” reserve presents, just in case, and weneeded to pull from them at almost every home.

(pic: the wrapping team)

Mark's Experience of Siberia 2011

2012-01-30T23:46:00.000+02:00

Mark Sklar-Chik was one of the South Africans who joined me on the trip and outreach to Irkutsk, Siberia. God had a plan for him, and the plan just happened to take him to Siberia, and Mark was open and listening... all the way. This is a short account of Mark's experiences in Siberia.

I presume the best place to start is at the beginning withthe details of what transpired.

God certainly had it planned that I would go to Siberia. Heprovided all of the funds, through anonymous donors and through extra unexpectedbursary money from Eskom. And Paul took care of all the administrative thingsnecessary to be in Russia and Siberia.

The main purpose of the trip to Siberia was to minister tochildren in the many children’s homes in and around Irkutsk. What I hadn’tanticipated was how rich the experience would prove to be not only with thetime spent with the children but the entire trip.

The first week was spent acquiring wish lists for eachindividual child at the respective homes through visits to the homes andthrough assistance from SergeiAleev. Once these lists had been finalised (although movement of kids intoand out of the homes is constant), it was time to buy the gifts. This entailedvisiting various toy and other (electronic and general) stores to check whatdeals were available and then doing the big purchases. Kid’s ages ranged fromsmall babies to teenagers indicating the assortment of gifts. A large van wasprovided by the director of the homes on the day of purchasing the gifts. Aftergetting our hands on the last few missing presents (cosmetic sets, MP3 players,fruit and sweets as extra goodies for each child) the gifts were taken to thechurch. Next, the gifts were separated into the various children’s homes.

On Christmas day (25^th of December) the churchassembled, after a wonderful service celebrating Western Christmas, to wraproughly 300 gifts. Each gift was wrapped, labelled and separated into thespecific homes (8 in total).

The first week was hectic at times, travelling all over the cityand doing much work to prepare for the children’s parties.

8 homes in 6 days was the schedule for the second week. TheSouth African team was joined by Sergey and Sasha from the Irkutsk church andother people many of whom being friends of Paul. Two Americans joined the teamfor the last few homes.

The parties turned out to be fun and lively, with thechildren and the team really getting involved through singing, performing puppetshows and traditional poetry and some other traditional Russian Christmas activities.Sergei spoke to the audience at the parties, linking Christmas to Christ’sbirth and in Russian conveying a Christian flavoured message of Christmas.

Within the city, the parties were over before there was timeto spend with the kids. On the edges of Lake Baikal, the last two homes were inthe towns of Baikalsk. At the Baikalsk home, the team was privileged to playand spend time with the children before the party. This opportunity was great inallowing the team to get to know the kids and give more than just material presentsto them through spending time with them.

The last week was for resting, sight-seeing and one home wasre-visited. At this home, an afternoon was spent interacting with the kids,which was a special memory as the children so desired being hugged and held.The deep needs apparent from a lack of family and love were blatant andfrightening. Each and every single child deserves abundantly more love and a properfamily.

The final weekend was spent in Moscow, a fast-paced, largeand beautiful city with a plethora of attractions and activities taking place. Ofmuch interest was the Kremlin and Red Square.

What was learned from this time in Russia? I feel as if theexperiences I’ve had cannot be described or captured in their richness usingjust words. However, I’ll make an attempt and provide some thoughts and briefhighlights.

Having a mission requiring different tasks, allowed us thechance to travel and see a large portion of the city and some smaller villagesoutside Irkutsk (Baikalsk, Slujanka, Urik and Kitsigirovka) to complete thesetasks.

Being immersed in a land of non-english speaking people throwsone in the deep end. Thankfully, Paul knows a lot of Russian and people wereextremely patient. In living in Siberia, one is afforded a small glimpse intoSiberian life from transport (trains, taxis, buses), to shopping and food, tocommunicating using a different language, to clothing for different (very cold-30 degree) weather and more. The experience joined these activities which wetake for granted at home to form a unique learning experience which hadsomething new in store almost hourly.

Doing the gospel has never appeared to me to be easy, butplaying with and loving kids for the short period of time was tremendous and althoughdemanding was special and simple yet very deep.

Much time was spent praying for various people and differentneeds, and this was special in seeing God move and answer prayers.

My perspective before the trip was challenged dramatically,feel like it was smashed to bits, in more ways than I could have anticipated. Especially,my view on Russia as a slow, cold and communist country was shattered to bereplaced by a growing place with much to offer in the form of people, placesand a rich history and culture. However, especially evident in children’s homeswas the deep need present in Russia, many orphans coming from broken families andmarriages, and a large inequality between the rich (Moscow) and poor.

A definite highlight was the relationships formed with thepeople in and around Irkutsk and Moscow, some inside and some outside thechurch. Of which I hope to maintain a large part of them.

It was refreshing to see God working in what previously was aforeign land to me. In viewing God at work in people’s lives, my view of theworld grew immensely. Since God is Lord over this earth, my perspective of Himwas enlarged and changed and my faith was strengthened.

I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to visit this nownot so new place called Russia and thankful that God made them and loves thepeople there deeply. Also, God provided so many experiences in which beauty wasrevealed along with more of himself. The biggest gift was meeting peopleconnected and committed to Jesus and those who are still on the journey towardsChrist and being part of people’s lives for a short time.

I feel the imprint of these experiences will be etched on mysoul for a very long time. And I’m certain the impact of the trip has meantgoing forward with a changed, and one hopes, improved mindset.

Yours in Christ,

Mark

Paul's Experience of Siberia 2011 - Part 1

2012-01-29T19:55:00.000+02:00

I have written this blog a hundred times in my head and yethere I am again, trying to find the best point to start the story. Back in South Africa and slowly emergingthrough the reverse culture shock and jet lag back to the normality of my life,it was perhaps God’s plan that I rest, reflect and take time to understand whatHe really has done this time before I put pen to paper. Every day of the last three weeks was amiracle and every day has its amazing highlights and even its amazing lowlightstoo so I could write a book on the journey, but am trying to resist the urge todo so this time :-)

Taking a team to Russia has been a different experience forme, and I see God’s wisdom in it, as both Mark and Roberta brought verydifferent gifts to this ministry. Markhad a calm peace which belied his youth, which just cut through everything anddefused even the most stressful moments. Roberta’s heart for Christ and softness towards people shone through andmade up for my task-oriented focus.

We arrived in Siberia early on Saturday morning and walkedout into the brisk -30C air of Irkutsk from the plane. I remember hearing the coughs from behind meas Mark and Roberta breathed their first frozen breath, with their big eyespeeping through woollen scarves and beanies screaming “What have you brought meinto?” For those of you who have never experienced such temperatures, at -30Cthe cold literally cuts through all your clothes. The only “fabric” that seems to keep it outis fur. Mark and Roberta were right in feelingout of their depth at that moment, as I was feeling the same, but I hadexperienced it before. But we were allwondering how we would be able to withstand this type of cold for threeweeks. God had mercy and after two daysthe temperatures headed upwards to a more reasonable and liveable -10C andstuck around -15C for the rest of our journey. In fact I think it was God who designed the temperatures of ourtrip. Had we simply arrived in -15C wewould have complained about the cold endlessly, but having experienced -30C wewere comfortable and grateful for -15C temperatures.

We had a group of friends around on the first night we werein the city and it was a wonderful time of reconnecting. For me, it has become a time where we realisehow even though we live at opposite ends of the world and come from cultureswhich many would see as extreme opposites, we have hardly moved apart and howblessed we are to have each other in each other’s lives.

Monday brought our first meetings, and after registering withthe travel authorities and arranging SIMcards we headed off to the office ofthe Head Director of Children’s Homes in Irkutsk, situated in one of the outersuburbs of the city. We caught the busout to “Second Irkutsk” and walked the rest of the way in -15Ctemperatures. It was refreshing J. As Murphy’s Law would have it, the DIrectorhad actually been in meetings in an office around the corner from our apartmentand we could have simply walked 2 minutes across the square to see her, but wewaited at her offices way out in the suburbs and chatted with her assistant,managing to get all the information we needed of the children in the children’shomes. The numbers of children in thehomes had increased tremendously over the last year. There was not a home without at least a 50%increase in their numbers.

The Financial Crisis had hit Irkutsk hard it seemed and theproblems were as bad as ever. However wewere encouraged by the directors who indicated that the number of new programsthat the government was implementing to work with families and help people withfamily problems was increasing. Howeverthe effects of broken families were so clearly evident on the children. The directors pointed out that they hadbecomes so used to the problems of children from alcoholic homes that theycould effectively reform their lives into functional “normal” routines within aperiod of three months, however they did point out that the damage done usuallytakes a lifetime to truly heal.

More problematic to the homes were children fromdrug-dependant parents. Many of thechildren themselves were addicted from birth and most when arriving at thehomes, were extremely aggressive, not at all socialised and extremely difficultto work with. Many showed signs of emotionlessexistence (I don’t know how to say it… they acted as if they did not care atall about anyone). We saw it in onechild of 5 years at the Nekrasova home. She looked as cute as all the other children, but she never smiled, andthere was a deadness behind her eyes. She did not look at you and she showed no emotion, not even joy… justanger. At first I was shocked at thisbehaviour, but then I realised that she was one of the children that they hadbeen referring to. The deep and painfultruth is that the effects of drugs on the children of addicts is extreme.

We also learnt that we need to be careful in our dealingswith the homes as they now know that we come to help them each year and that weare generous, and there are those within the system who would see us as anopportunity to exploit. One new home hadobviously phoned around to see what we had given other homes last year, andsent us a list asking for Skis and Ice-skates for all their children… a cost ofapproximately R1500-R2000 per child. Thehome was situated near the main ski resort in the Irkutsk region so we wouldhave love to give these 50 children the chance to take advantage of thesefacilities, but it was way beyond our resources at this time. We also started to get calls from other largehomes and “Internats” in and around the city, asking for help. Three of these internats each had over 400children who had been given up by their parents as they could not afford tokeep them. In an internat the childrenlive, go to school and do all extramural activities in the same home. Some of the internats also double up as youthcorrectional institutes. We, however,had to be really discerning, and astute, and had to say no to these largeinstitutions this time. It breaks myheart not to be able to say yes to everyone, but I have to remember that Godhas tasked us to touch the hearts of children in children’s homes with His lovein a special and amazing way and if we try to do too much we will land upspreading our resources too thin and our intervention in their lives will stopbeing special. God is the one who looksafter each and every child, we are to simply do our bit and leave the rest upto Him (without this being an excuse to do nothing, of course)

We managed to get lists of children in 8 homes – includingthe 5 we went to last year and three new ones – and we set about arranging toprovide for Christmas celebrations for them.

One of the 8 homes we went to was in the city of Angarsk. It had been on my heart for the last two yearssince I went to Angarsk and visited the church there, but as it is in adifferent city 50 kilometres from Irkutsk we never quite got to it. But Anne, daughter of an American couple inthe city, who had worked with the children at the Nekrasova Street Home acouple of years back, had asked me to particularly seek out a girl calledKristina. If you have been following thePIR Children’s Feasts for a couple of years you will remember her as the childwho had cancer and for whom we bought a new wig. (If you remember she had been too shy to askfor the wig as she had been given an ill-fitting and scratchy wig from thehospital to hide the fact that she was losing her hair from the chemo-therapy,and the team gave her a “girls’ day out” culminating in her buying a wig whichfitted and made her look wonderful).

Days after that party two years ago, she had been moved outof the Nekrasova Street home, and into a children’s home in Angarsk, supposedlybecause there were better cancer care facilities in Angarsk. Anne had managed to go visit her once at thehome in Angarsk, but Anne was now in the USA and we had no idea of how to findher. Eventually we managed to find achildren’s home on “Dubbel-GIS” an online mapping program for Russian cities,and I called a friend, Nika, in Angarsk to ask if she knew where the homewas. After giving her the address shemanaged to track it down and told us that the directors were very open to theidea of us helping them over Christmas. We were unsure as to whether we could afford to commit to buyingpresents as we did not know how many children were in the home, so we had totread lightly. But Tuesday came and wedid all the admin we needed in the morning, fetched our documents from thetravel agents and got connected to cellphones and internet, and I just felt inmy heart it was time to see if we could find Kristina. So we arranged on short notice to meet withNika, and headed to Angarsk. The bus journeythere was a full hour and, as it was around 14h00, we were surrounded by schoolchildren who all wanted to practice their English with us and for us to writemessages in their exercise books in English. We got off and Nika took us by (another) bus to the other side of thecity and then led us on foot through a large area of wooden houses,single-story dachas. We must havewalked about 10 minutes into the suburb and everything looked a bit flat andindistinctive when suddenly we turned the corner to find a huge three storybuilding in the midst of all these small wooden houses. This was Angarsk Internat Number 3. After a short meeting with the director ofthe home, I simply felt God leading us to commit to give presents to thesechildren too, and so we offered to buy presents for their 70 children inaddition to the homes we were already going to. The director sat there stunned and simply asked: “Please tell me why?Why you have chosen us? We do notunderstand why you have come to us… there are lots of other homes in Irkutskand around the area, but you have come to us…” This gave us a clear opportunity to tell her that we were from theEvangelical Church and that we believed that God wanted to bless the childrenin this home, and we were also able to express how we had been prompted to lookfor Kristina and had heard that she was with them in that home. The director immediately said: “ yes,Kristina is here, and she is well, no more cancer, and her hair has grown back,we can take you to meet her.”

They proceeded to show us around all three stories of theInternat and we saw classrooms, a huge hall, dormitories, but Nika, who waswith us all this time, pointed out… not one toy was to be seen or found in theInternat. Can you believe that – 70children and not one toy? It shockedus. We met Kristina and her eyes went asbig as saucers when she saw us. Shecould not believe that we had come to look for her… especially for her. From that moment onwards, when we visited thehome, she just hung around us, preferring to be with us than with her friendseven.

We left the home, went to Angarsk’s famous bakery outletcalled “Chocolate Paradise” and headed home on the bus, feeling that we hadeventually achieved something by finding this home and seeing Kristina again.

Christmas Outreach 2011 - a Series of Blogs

2012-01-29T00:34:00.000+02:00

It has taken some time to reach a stage where the blog postsof 2011’s Christmas Outreach to the children of Siberia are at a stage wherethey can be posted. I apologise for thedelay, but I hope you understand my humanness in working through what we hadexperienced to try and provide real insights and a full picture of ourexperiences for you to share with us.

We are so privileged to have been the one’s to travel toRussia and be vessels for God to impart His plans and blessings. We are the one’s who have been blessed. But we recognise how much bigger thisendeavour has become than just our personal travels and actions.

Tonight I watched a French film called La Concert. It is at the same time a deep meaningfuldrama of pain experienced under Communist rule in the USSR and a comedyparodying the Russian character. In thefinal scene a Russian orchestra which has not played together for 30 years,stutters through the first few bars of a beautiful piece by Tchaikovsky and theaudience cringes with them as they realise that they are not quite up to thetask… in fact the orchestra are frauds and people who should not be on thestage, parading as one of the leading orchestras of the world. And then the French violin soloist playingwith them plays her first notes, notes so beautiful that everyone in theconcert hall stops and re-takes their last breath. The beauty of the sound and the realisationof what true beauty is, inspires all who hear those few bars of music, itinspires each musician to strive for greater heights, it inspires the audienceto greater emotion and it inspires even the viewer of the DVD to desire suchbeauty in their lives.

It is a scene that brings me to tears each time I see it,and I have ventured only three times to watch this beautiful film. It reminds me of the beauty of life, if wewill allow ourselves to be touched by it.

A good friend of mine often says, “If I could create onething of such beauty in my life I would die a happy man.” And after watching this film again tonight Irealise that it is not so much “creating” such beauty as agreeing to thebeauty that is around us, created by God. The word “Amen” means just that – that we agree with the prayer that hasjust been said. We may not agreelogically or even theologically, but we agree with the person praying’sexpression of truth. And the agreementwe share makes that prayer a beautiful thing.

When we love someone, we agree with God that that person isbeautiful and valuable in His and our eyes. We put that person first despite all their faults and failings. We love them even if we do not share the sameviewpoint on every issue. We choose toagree, and out of that agreement, we see that person as God intended for themto be seen, with unjudgmental eyes and with agreement of heart, and in thatmoment they are indeed… beautiful.

It is the same with this ministry to Russia. Each year, I and a few others stumble on aplane, or into a car and we bumble across the world to a small village and to achildren’s home in the middle of Siberia. We realise that we should not be there, we have little if anything togive. We realise that we are frauds,sinful beings, coming to bring Christmas cheer when our own lives are brokenand in need of redemption. And yet weagree to be there. Hundreds of peoplearound us agree with us, and that’s part of the reason why we go. Some people give money, others pray, stillothers wrap presents, and even more simply encourage us from afar. But we all agree… we all agree that God wouldwant a child, a homeless child, stuck in an institution, to know how loved andspecial they are, in the eyes of God and in our own eyes. We agree with God that these children arebeautiful and we agree that they need to know His love.

And so we go, and we bumble onto the “stage” in front ofthese children, and we pray that a miracle will happen, and each year ithappens. Each year, our money, our prayers, our hopes and wishes, our humbleChristmas songs, our mediocre musical talents and our few words about Christ…all of those things we present humbly on the stage before these children, andsomething beautiful happens. God stepsin, and He smooths the way, and opens the hearts and He moves by His Spirit…and we see the smile of a child…

The beautiful smile of a child…

And we, seeing this beautiful smile, and realising the joythat this child is experiencing, we step up to the plate with more of ourhumble offerings, praises to the God we serve, and we are inspired to givemore, and give from deeper within, and to give with more of our hearts. And we are inspired by God to give ofourselves to see the beauty of a child’s smile, to see the warmth of hope in theeyes of one who has lost hope, to see the freedom of children who know thatthey are beloved… all because a group of people from across the world agreedthat the beauty of a child’s smile was something worth agreeing about.

The pictures of the Children’s Parties in Siberia run intothe thousands. The stories of how Godtouched us and each of the children can keep us busy for most of the day, yetall I pray that you will see as you go through the slideshows and blogs of ourexperience with us, is the beauty that was created in the hearts of all whowere present at these Children’s Parties this Christmas, simply by a group ofpeople from different parts of the world agreeing to collaborate with theirsmall and less than perfect gifts and talents, and seeing God create somethingbeautiful out of their agreement.

May you be touched and inspired to continue to give ofyourself, even your imperfect gifts – sing with your broken voice, paint withyour shaky hands, give of your meagre possessions, and see God turn even thesmallest and worst of our gifts into things of beauty and worship.

(over the next 3 weeks all the pictures, blogs and slideshows from this year's outreach will be posted here on blogspot, as well as on slideshare and facebook. Come back regularly as we share in God's faithfulness (and remember to LIKE us on www.facebook.com/piroutreach)

Lenin's Wise Words

2012-01-18T00:32:00.002+02:00

Lenin says:
"Patience Comrades... Patience, for Tavarish Paul will post a blog very soon about the whole Russia and Siberia Trip... I promise"

December 21 - Shopping Day 1

2011-12-22T18:07:00.000+02:00

Dear Diary... today we went to the shop and bought some Christmas presents... most uneventful... :-) just 42 remote controlled cars, 33 large dolls, 5 push cars, 10 large cars, 10 large soft toys, 22 Jewelry Sets, 11 bead sets, and a couple of other things ... about 256 presents in total so far... and tomorrow we still have to find 22 MP3 players... I love this job :-) Santa, I'll take over if you ever get tired...

2011-12-21T19:11:00.003+02:00

Hello All
Its 2am in the morning and I finally get to write a short post on the blog for this year. It has been a bit of a whirlwind tour :-) Arrive, meet everyone again, go find the children's homes, meet with the directors and pray, pray, pray... that God makes a way for us to provide for each of the children.
Since we have arrived we have been inundated with additional requests for help, and have had to be quite strict on who and how we can help... so, the list as it stands today (subject to final changes):
Monday 26th December 11am Bezbokova Street Home (26 Children)
Monday 26th December 4pm Leningradskaya Home (28 Children)
Tuesday 27th December 11am TBC Nekrasova Street Home (44 Children)
Wednesday 28th December All Day Urik Village Home (26 Children)
Wednesday 28th December All Day Kitsirovka Vil ilage Home (34 Children)
Thursday 29th December 3pm Angarsk City Home (71 children)
W/C 2 January TBC - Sludyanka Village Home (21 Children)
W/C 2 January TBC - Baikalsk Village Home (40 Children)

Thus our total plan for 2011 is 8 homes and 290 children... Lord help us!!! And I pray you will keep us in your prayers too...

OUR MAIN PLANNING EVENT is the WRAPPING EVENT, to be held at the church on THIS SUNDAY, Western Christmas Day, 25th December after the Service. The Service will begin at 11am and the wrapping should begin around 13h00 at the very latest. Join us and bring your friends so we can wrap all these presents and make them look special for these special children.

The address where we will be wrapping is 109 Декабрьстих Событий in the basement between the 2nd and 3rd Stairwell/Podyest... but please just call me when you arrive nearby and i will collect you and lead you to the church. My telephone number is now 83526164452.... look forward to seeing you all, and watching how God works with us all.

Bless you
Paul

LEGO Charity Packs generously given for SA Children's Homes

2011-12-03T17:44:00.001+02:00

We were generously donated over R200 000 of LEGO Charity Packs by LEGO for children's homes in South Africa. How blessed are we?!?! This morning we managed to distribute the first half of them to three organisations, and the rest will be delivered tomorrow and Monday. See more pictures on our facebook page at http://alturl.com/ku6su

Mid-stream Update - 32 Days to go!!!

2011-11-13T23:03:00.001+02:00

(a wintry street in Irkutsk 2010)

Its been four weeks of end-of-year silly season and I personally can’t wait to escapethe heat of Johannesburg and get into the cold of Siberia… I was never builtfor +30C weather. It drains my energyand imagination, yet God has been good (as always! Did we ever doubt that He would?Why?)

PIR Christmas Tree Project

To make PIR a little more visual for the people in mychurch, we have been running a Christmas Tree Project, telling people thememorable stories of how God has stepped into the lives of the children we havebeen blessed to be able to minister to, encouraging the congregation to prayfor the children, to donate and take just ONE child into their hearts forChristmas, and to decorate the Christmas tree at the door of the church withone decoration for each donation received. It has been amazing as people have responded to the stories of thechildren. I will post them on facebooktoo over the next few weeks so you can all share in them, so please visit www.facebook.com/PIRoutreach asoften as you can and read them as I post them (PS don’t forget to like our page).

I’ll post pictures of the tree as we get closer to Christmastoo.

(lunch-time at the Nekrasova Street Children's Home)

LEGO

It seems that I am being led to be more involved in children’shomes here in South Africa too. My heartis in Russia, but my geographical location makes me unable to ignore the plightof the children’s homes here too. Godhas put us in touch with people from the LEGO Foundation and theirrepresentatives in South Africa. We are looking for ways to get Charity Packsof LEGO to the Siberian Children’s Homes but as yet are struggling. Please pray for this … it will make a hugedifference to the children and to the “hope”we can give them.

In the meanwhile though, LEGO in South Africa have allocatedus 44 huge packs of LEGO for six Children’s Home organisations working in SouthAfrica. How blessed we are. We just need to pick it up this week andarrange to distribute it to the homes over the next few weeks. Anyone willing to help do this? It is always such a privilege to be able togive to the homes and the children, even when the gifts come from others… thegratitude, the joy on their faces and the knowledge that this is all of God, issuch a privilege.

Non Profit Organisation Status

After a couple of weeks of work pressure, I finally managedto get all the documents together for the registration of “The PIR Children’sFeast” as a Section 21 Not-for-Profit organisation. So the forms will be sentoff this week and we will then face the next steps. Please keep this in prayer. We really want this organisation to become asustainable charity which supports Children in children’s homes, giving themhope and skills to enable them to become effective and successful adults andturning around the trends we see amongst children leaving children’shomes.

And we are already being introduced to so many differentpeople who have this at heart. UBS inSwitzerland are currently requesting innovative proposals for programs whichuse education to better child health, and offering grants to successfulapplicants. We hope to be able to submita proposalin this regard and perhaps follow up some other grant leads too.

Lorraine van Schalkwyk, a good friend and CommunicationsSpecialist met with me again this last weekend and has given me a TON of newleads to follow up on and new ideas to work on. It is almost as if there are too many ideas and we need to focus ourefforts in one or two areas at first, but I am always so grateful for newopportunities and new introductions. Praise God for this friendship and the creativity that it is adding tothe future of PIR.

(last year's church Christmas Service in Irkutsk)

Fund-raising

Over the last month, I have written letters to most of thepeople on my e-mail list, and I pray you will consider giving to PIR thisyear. We are hoping to bless 7 children’shomes in and around Irkutsk this year, and to meet each child’s need tounderstand their worth in God’s eyes. Weunderstand that this is no small task, that’s why prayer is so important. We cannot do it, only God can. But perhaps you can play a small part inmaking a big difference to one of these children. If each of us takes one child into our heartsand includes them in our preparation for Christmas – putting aside money fortheir present, praying for them and remembering them as part of our family forChristmas – then the task can become so manageable. Please pray about this.

This is already happening at my church with the ChristmasTree Project, and I pray it will continue to happen in your heart as you joinus to care fore each of these wonderful children.

Visas

Tomorrow we submit all the paperwork for our visas here inSouth Africa. It’s a big day as it’staken a bit of time to get to this stage. Please pray for the smooth processing of our visas for the team.

(The children and staff of the home put on a spektakl for us...)

Training

Next Saturday, 19^th November, the South Africanteam will meet to undergo some basic cross cultural training. We’ll pray, get an intro to Russia, learnsome language, get some tips on withstanding culture-shock, refresh ourtestimonies and prepare something for the children in this time. Please keep the team in prayer for thisevent.

People News

Lesley - It is with deep sadness that I pass on the news of Lesley’sfather’s passing. Lesley is planning tojoin us in Siberia in December and is travelling from the USA. She has been faced with his declining healthfor a while and yet has been blessed enough to have her father’s blessing onher proposed travels to Russia with us. We pray Lesley and her family will know the Lord’s comfort over thistime and I ask you all to keep her in your prayers.

Roberta - Roberta has been to Russia previously with OM and spent timewith them in their Novosibirsk base. Shewill be joining us in Irkutsk this year and is one of the people I know with areal heart-felt love for Russia and its people. I ask you to keep her in your prayers as we prepare to go to Siberia.

Mark - Mark is the son of my pastor and expressed his desire to goto Russia almost a year ago. Financialcircumstances changed over the year and it seemed impossible for Mark to joinus, yet God has been faithful and miraculously provided a sponsor for Mark’stravel costs. I have a sense that Godwill use Mark greatly amongst the people of Russia, and I ask you to pray forhim as God leads us to go to Russia.

(wrapping day at the church 2010)

Thank you once again for your encouragement andparticipation in this, God’s mission. May you know the peace of the Lord in the weeks ahead.

Blessings

Paul

Cell +2772 385 5290
paulinrussia@gmail.com

The PIR Children's Feasts

facebook page: www.facebook.com/PIRoutreach

Bureaucracy and Miracles with just 50 Days to go

2011-10-24T22:49:00.000+02:00

50 Days to Siberia

I now realise why I have not posted a blog post for a whole two weeks.

Writing a blog about charity and for a cause makes you want to only write about the positive effect the charity is having, and all the miracles that are taking place around you as you step out in faith. As Adrian Plass wrote as his first diary entry in his book “Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass aged 37¾ ” (fantastically funny book by the way) –

“Feel led to keep a diary. A sort of spiritual log for the benefit of others in the future. Each new divine insight and experience will shine like a beacon in the darkness!

Can’t think of anything to put in today.

Still, tomorrow’s Sunday. Must be something on a Sunday surely?”

(Plass, 1987)

But I feel the same way some times… some days, some seasons are not all miracles, nor are they all positive. Some aspects of following this path, of seeking solutions for these children are quite ordinary and others are darn difficult and extremely challenging.

I’m at that stage along the path of developing this year’s outreach. The “darn difficult stage.” And I almost want to protect you readers of the blog from it. But it’s not fair, nor is it right, to do so. Challenge and difficulty are parts of the process of putting this together each year. I’ve learnt not to stress out in the midst of the struggles though. I know it always works out, and I understand Whose outreach this is. God is the one in control and He is the provider of all our needs.

But just as the Israelites had to fight for their promised land, so we have to fight for the dreams God has put on our hearts. Right now I find myself in the midst of bureaucratic red tape, travel arrangements, loose ends and logistical challenges. None of them major, but all of them leaving me a little unsettled.

And thus I am unable to write stories of ongoing amazing grace and endless joy-filled miracles on this blog right now(well, not totally… read on).

We’re in the administrative stage. Russians love administration and paperwork and I… well, let’s just say that I like it rather a lot less than Russians do… I tend to like to keep administration to a minimum.

And with a team of three people heading out to Siberia this year from South Africa its three times the administration I did last year… but I am not complaining… rather I am realising that I am going to need to get more and more into this administration thing if we are to make this outreach and ministry into a formal charity which makes a difference in this world and which remains sustainable in the future.

Before we even get to the children there’s administration on:

Government Invitations to Russia
Visas and travel documents
Flights and connections
Accommodation booking
Travel insurance
Money Transfer paperwork to Russia to pay for this all
Courier forms to get documents back and forth between Irkutsk and here

Then for the team there’s

Luggage lists
Itineraries
Training session forms
Budgets
Reminder lists
Prayer calendars

Then there’s Administration to assist in fund-raising and enabling people to help and get involved:

Leaflets
Donation envelopes
Church notices
Posters
Blogs
E-mails
Facebook updates (is a facebook update to be regarded as administration?)

Then there’s paperwork to register The PIR Children’s Feast as a Section 21 Company. I am actually not going to go into this as I am only about 30% of the way through the process.

And we have yet to get to the administration involved with actually blessing the children.

Whew!!! I’ll feel like a qualified admin clerk by the end of all this :-)

Yet I can thank God for the smoothness with which He is arranging the steps I need to take. The steps we all need to take.

Some short notes of progress though:

The Team

Currently we have 6 people travelling to Russia for this year’s Children’s Feast – 3 from South Africa and 3 from the USA.

We are at the stage of finalising the team for Siberia this year. We need to finalise this early as we still need to go through the invitation processes to Russia and get original documents shipped across the world to us in time to go through visa processes here. Thus here’s a last chance for anyone wanting to join us (??)– let me know in the next week (by 31 October).

Documentation

· The USA contingent are still making arrangements, but two of them are buying their tickets this week, and will be in Siberia on the week of the Christmas parties. This is particularly miraculous as one has had some tough personal situations to deal with and yet has received blessings from her support to travel to Siberia in December… God is indeed amazing.

The travel tickets for the three South Africans going to Russia this year are all bought and confirmed.

Sergei from the Irkutsk Church has submitted applications to the local government in Irkutsk for formal invitations for the three South Africans to Irkutsk this year. We wait for their response which we should hear this week.

Accommodation

Accommodation is still up in the air due to red tape and bureaucracy though it looks more and more like we will need to book the accommodation through the same tourist agency that I did last year. They have homestays in Irkutsk so we can book an apartment where we can stay close to the centre of the city. They can also book accommodation in Moscow and issue tourist invitations so it will be expedient to use them as a one stop shop for all our in-Russia travel needs.

The Irkutsk Church

I recently received a newsletter from Sergei (and was also able to discuss things with Masha via Skype). Things with the Irkutsk church are going well though they have had a particularly tough time over this last period.

At the end of September they held church elections for the Brother’s Council and other leadership positions. It was a testing time for the church as many of the members of the church are not able to stand for leadership positions due to their heavy workload. (Many have more than 1 job in order to support their families and their time is thus severely constrained). But again… God provided after they had exhausted all the options they could think of. A couple who had previously been with the church, but moved away for business purposes, returned to Irkutsk and their involvement has made up the gap in the leadership.

The church has also had a celebration with Luda getting engaged to Pavel, and a sad moment as Roma and Lena moving to Ulan Ude due to the health of their young child – Nikita.

Some of the evangelical churches in Irkutsk have recently undertaken a big drive to bring the message of Christ to the people of Siberia. It is a bold step as such action in the past has led to major persecution and resistance from the Orthodox Church and the State. Please keep them in prayer as they proclaim the message.

Brackendowns Baptist Church

My church in Johannesburg has adopted the PIR Children’s Outreach as one of their primary Christmas outreaches this year. So we are holding a Christmas Tree Outreach over the next month and a half as we head towards the 15^th December. That means that we’ve put up a Christmas Tree in the foyer of our church and asked people to pray about donating to make these children’s Christmas really special. For each donation we receive, we’ll place a decoration on the tree. Thus the tree becomes a symbol of our prayers and generous hearts for these children.

The Children’s Homes

We’re hoping to reach 7 children’s homes this year and the bigger team we will have in Irkutsk will help. The two additional homes being considered are the children’s home in Angarsk and the children’s home for disabled children in Novo Lenina on the edges of the city. We are waiting for details of the needs of these homes.

In addition, we’ve asked the team to visit the Regional Director of the Children’s Homes and to ask for agreement on the details of how and when we are planning to hold the parties. We are hoping to get name lists of the children in the same meeting, though, experience has shown that the name lists change dramatically within a month, so we will probably be best getting names towards the end of November. Look out for this though as it will give you an indication of the children and their desired presents.

The Miracle

Well, I didn’t say that all the arrangements and admin had stopped God from working, did I? He’s definitely been working and it shows. At the beginning of this year’s preparation, Mark Sklar-Chik, son of my pastor, indicated that he might be keen to come to Siberia with me this year. He had recently received a grant of some form for his studies and was confident that He had provision for the trip. He came to the meetings and found out all about the ministry and started praying. But through the year, things change, and soon Mark found himself without the funds he thought he had for the trip. He was unsure what to do. He did not want to go into debt for this trip and became concerned that He would not be able to come with us to Russia. Yet both of his fellow-travellers (Roberta and myself) felt in our hearts that He would be joining us.

I don’t know how these things work… all I know is that I received a call last week and an anonymous donor paid for Mark’s tickets to Russia and to Irkutsk. Just like that. And as quickly as that. It is way beyond my financial planning skills to know how and who and when these things happen, but they do. God knows who He wants to send to Siberia and who will bless the people there and who will be blessed by the people there, and He has done it. Praise God. Mark is joining us on our travels to Russia.

Prayer

Your ongoing prayer is so needed and so appreciated. Everything that happens, happens because God lets it happen. His will and His purposes are key, and we pray that He will guide us into His will and plans for these children, this December, in Siberia.

Please keep praying for:

The Children – their welfare, their future, their families, their homes.
The Irkutsk Church – their leaders, the congregation, their outreaches and discipleship
The Travellers – please pray for God to smooth the paths of each person He has led to come on this mission trip, pray that He prepares our hearts, that He works through us and that He helps us to be the blessing He desires us to be.
The Parties – the provision to make these parties memorable for these children. Pray for provision for all the presents, food, wrapping paper and other needs we might have, in planning and running these parties, pray also for the entertainment and message we have for these children.
The Supporters – please pray for those that give, those that pray, those that hope, those that care… that God will bless them and touch their hearts with the plight of these children.

Thank You

Photo Greetings for the Children

Please don’t forget to send in your photos of your Christmas wishes for these children. It’s easy. Invite some friends around, celebrate an early Christmas with them (or just celebrate the fact that you were able to get together J) and take a photo of yourselves while holding up one of the Russian Christmas greetings I sent last time (also attached to this e-mail). Finally, upload it to our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/piroutreach ). It’s that simple, and we’ll download all the pictures to share with the children in the homes and show them the people from around the world who think and truly believe that they, these wonderful children, are special and precious.

With just on 50 days to go, I pray that you will be encouraged and blessed that Jesus came to earth as a gift given for you, and that you would once again realise that we are entering the season where we can hope anew as we understand how valued each person, each child, each one of us, is to our Father, God.

Be blessed

Paul Williams

PIR Children's Feasts

Remember to LIKE us on facebook @ www.facebook.com/piroutreach

God steps in again - a Reassuring Word

2011-10-11T23:27:00.000+02:00

If you are looking for details on the PIR outreach for 2011 and how you can get involved, scroll down or click here http://alturl.com/zrtoz

If you are interested in our prayer calendar, please e-mail me on paulinrussia@gmail.com and I'll send it to you immediately.

This blog entry is a bit of a personal interlude, not the usual update on the Russian Children... but it does show how God comes through for us even when we struggle to believe He will ...

I found myself at home at midnight voicing my frustrations to God. You know how it goes…it starts out in quiet prayer, trying to be “spiritual,” praising God and expressing holy thoughts, and then degrades into a cry of yabba yabba yabba didn’t want this yabba yabba yabba where’s mine yabba yabba yabba I don’t see You in this yabba yabba yabba… to cut a long story short the jist of it is this – poor me, God where are you, change it please.

I walked into church on Sunday still struggling to put these misplaced yabberings into their rightful places on the ash-heap of yesterday, and two things (or should I say two people) were sent to put me in my place. Two points were made by God in the service, and I must add, not so subtly.

The first was in the form of the person of Brenda who had lost her husband this last week to cancer. She sat directly in front of me, and after the week she has had, she could have been angry, frustrated at God and even disillusioned about Christianity. She, at that time in her life, had reason to be struggling with the meaning of life, but she was not, she was joy-filled and worshipful of a God who had given her 40 years with a man she loved. He had been taken from her prematurely and she was missing him deeply, and I am sure she will shed many tears for Him, but she realised that God was in control and that God remained faithful and good to her. I went white as I realised how little I had to complain about.

It made me realise my selfish anguish of the night before – my prayers focused on what I should own, should be or should have been awarded in my life, and focused on my loss, not on what God has graciously given me. It was a reminder to live a life of gratitude. Every moment… Because if we understand God, truly understand Him, then we will know that God uses everything, that’s EVERYTHING, both good and bad, for His glory and our good… because God remains faithful.

But that was not the end of it. A second lady walked forward to share a verse and a testimony of what God was doing in her life. As I sat in this shocked state, still white with the realisation of my lack of gratitude brought on by Brenda’s worship in the face of death. The lady reached the lectern and opened her Bible. She turned her head and said: “I don’t usually do things like this, but… Paul… I believe this word is for you and your Russian outreach to the children of Irkutsk.”

I can hardly remember the verses she quoted, but the message was clear. God knew I was in crisis mode, and He had a message of reassurance for me. He has gone ahead of me into Siberia, prepared the way, flattened the mountains, straightened the roads, made a path where there should be no path. I did not need to worry about anything.

I was totally broken by this word. I sat there wondering about this amazing God who can meet us in our need, can gently put us back on a path of faith, can hear our complaints and still manage to love us unconditionally.

Gavin, my pastor, gave me a book at the end of the service. Written by Henry Nouwen and called “Life of the Beloved” it reminds us that, in a world that asks that we earn our keep, working for wealth, earning respect and striving for approval, God loved us before we could do anything to earn His love, and that no amount of striving, work, activity, ambition, riches or anything else, can change His love for us. We are His beloved, and we need to simply trust Him and accept our belovedness, not try to earn it. For if the ultimate unchanging love is ours as a gift from before we were born, there is nothing more we can earn. He gives us the ultimate gift before we can strive for anything, our strivings thus become meaningless as there is nothing more to earn. We are God’s beloved, and nothing we do can change that.

Our actions can only be a response to that, a desire to express our belovedness, a desire to love God back. We strive, not to win God’s favour, but to express His love which we have received.

Once again I am left changed, silent and without response to God. I feel like Job at the end of the book of the same name, where he says: “Surely I did not know what I spoke of.” Surely I did not realise who I was speaking to, surely I did not understand what I was complaining about, surely I did not understand that God is indeed the faithful and always loving person that He says He is. I was not there when He formed the earth. I was not there when He tamed the huge animals of the earth. I do not understand the huge difference in understanding there is between God’s wisdom and the thoughts of man. If I did, I would have no reason to ever complain, for He knows the plans He has for us. Plans to prosper us and not to harm us. If we would just stop resting on our own understanding and instead choose to trust Him. If we would just stop looking at our circumstances and rather choose to look to Him. If we would stop comparing our lives to those of other people around us, and rather realise that God has a unique path for each of us, and often that path is so different to the pattern of this world that it seems disastrous, but it is not… it is simply God working His wise and unique will in our lives.

The short of it – I was challenged to stop complaining. He knows what He is doing! Rather spend that time thanking Him for all the blessings we have and listen for His still, small, wise voice. Amen.

Just 70 Days to go... Will you change the life of a child?

2011-10-06T17:10:00.000+02:00

Just

70 Days

Left for you to bless 7 Siberian Children’s Homes!!!

It’s October and we have just 70 days to go before the team leaves for Siberia to bless the children of the Siberian Children’s Homes, and it’s time to ask you if you will help us to make this Christmas a success for the PIR Children’s Feast outreach.

I write this blog entry to ask you personally if you will consider donating just a small amount, any amount you feel led to give, to make Christmas special and bless a child in a children’s home in Irkutsk, Russia.

These children have no-one to give them the basics we take so for granted, and chances are than most of them will remain in an orphanage for most of their childhoods. We have the chance to make a difference, and giving them a moment of joy at Christmas, a moment they will remember for most of their lives as the moment where God, through you and me, stepped into their lives. Please ponder, consider, pray about it, and let me know by e-mail to paulinrussia@gmail.com if you will be able to give a donation to this worthy cause (details of how to give are easy and listed below).

For the 4^th year, the PIR Christmas Feasts will be blessing children in the Children’s Homes of Siberia. This year, for the first time, this is an official ministry of the Evangelical Church in Irkutsk and we’ll be taking a team of people to encourage them and help. We aim to provide a warm and joyous Christmas for the children of the Children’s Homes in the region. This includes a present of their own choosing, a small and healthy food parcel and a day of joy.

There are a number of ways you can help make a difference this year:

Ways you can Help

Way #1 - Send a Photo Greeting

Firstly, you can SEND A PHOTO GREETING to the children in the children’s homes (and have some fun with friends while doing so)

I attach a number of Christmas Greetings and prayers written in Russian. I invite you to send the children of the Children’s Homes a Photo Christmas Greeting. It’s easy.

Step 1 - PRINT out the greetings

They’re on powerpoint slides so anybody should be able to print them. You can print the one you like, or all of them, you can add your own decorations and drawings to them or use the backgrounds I have given them… be creative and make your greeting one which touches the hearts of the children.

Step 2 - CHOOSE a greeting

Choose one which expresses your wish for the children in the children’s homes the best

Step 3 – Invite Friends Around

Invite some good friends around for a Christmas meal, snack or drink, (you could skip this step, but it will make it more fun to include it

Step 4 - CELEBRATE Christmas

Have a great time filled with joy with your close friends, celebrating the birth of Christ and while you’re at it…

Step 5 - TAKE A PHOTO

That’s right, while you’re enjoying your meal take a photo of you and your friends and hold up the Russian Christmas greeting so it is clearly visible on the photo

Step 6 - UPLOAD the photo

Its really easy to upload the photo to our facebook page. Just go to our facebook page facebook.com/PIRoutreach and once you have LIKED the page, you can click on UPLOAD PHOTO – easy as that. Or if you’re still confused, send it to me at paulinrussia@gmail.com, and I’ll upload it for you :-).

BUT you MUST do this before the 15^th December or we’ll struggle to include it in our presentation to the Children :-).

Step 7 – READ TOGETHER

We hope you’ll take the time together to read the rest of the letter while you enjoy a Christmas Feast yourselves

Between mouthfuls of scrumptious Christmas food, take some time and read the second and third way you can make a difference (below) and consider praying together or giving together to this cause. You really have the power to change the life of a child right across the world… you really do!

Way #2 – Give a Donation

Secondly you can GIVE…

We have some big goals we are trusting God for this year, but that’s not why we are asking you to give. We are asking you to give, because Christmas is the time when God gave us His Son, so that we can have fullness of life, abundant life, eternal life. We are, no matter what our circumstance, ALL blessed because God gave so generously.

We ask you to give because there are children in children’s homes in Siberia who know only heartbreak, broken families and struggle, and we want them to know that there is hope. We want them to know true joy. We want them to know they are loved. Will you help us?

This year we want to help 7 homes in and around Irkutsk, that’s approximately 350 children. We want to provide each child with

· A QUALITY present of their own choosing (we insist on giving only what we would be comfortable giving our own children, as these children have grown up being told that they are second-class children, but really they are no less special than your and my own children)

· A healthy and nutritious FOOD parcel

· And of course, a day of JOY

Will you give? (Please consider it prayerfully.)

How to Give:

It’s really easy to give:

In South Africa

Please deposit gifts for the children into Paul’s bank account (our Section 21 Not-for-profit Company will be up soon) Banking details are as follows (please use the reference "PIR"):

PW Williams, Standard Bank, Sandton City Branch, Current Account Number: 220377979

(Please send me an e-mail to paulinrussia@gmail.com when you have given, so I can ensure we thank you for your generosity.)

Internationally

For international deposits you’ll need the following info too: Physical Address - 9th Floor, Standard Bank Centre, 5 Simmonds Street, Johannesburg 2001 Postal Address - P O Box 7725, Johannesburg 2000 and SWIFT code – SBZAZAJJ

Other Options

There are so many ways to transfer money internationally these days but the charges are truly astronomical. The most cost effective means really is a direct deposit into my account. If you are in any way uncomfortable in doing that, or have a different preference, you are welcome to contact me personally on paulinrussia@gmail.com and we can discuss alternatives. I have a Paypal Account, can receive donations by Western Union Money Transfer, and even have friends in the USA who are joining us in Siberia who can bring money across for you… so please don’t let logistics get in the way of your blessing. We will find a way to help you give.

PLEASE NOTE: ALL DONATIONS (unless otherwise specified by yourself) go to the children, and providing a wonderful Christmas for them. The Team and I pay our own way in getting to and from Siberia*, and pay for ALL our own expenses (by God’s grace). You are welcome, as a donor, to ask to see our balance sheet and expense report at any time and I will share it with you without hesitation.

*Should you feel led to support the team or one of the team members in their trip expenses, you are welcome to donate to their need, but this donation will be kept entirely separate from the children’s fund, should use the reference “TEAM” on your bank transfer and MUST be followed up with an e-mail to clarify who you wish your donation to go to.

Way #3 – Pray for these children

Finally, and most importantly, you can PRAY

It amazes me how much we underestimate the power of prayer. We believe in a God who is ALL POWERFUL yet we, many times, pray without a clear conviction that He hears us, knows our need and will answer our prayers.

Yet He says in His word “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”(Jer 29:13) and “… if my people, who are known by my Name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and heal their land” (2 Chron 7:14)

I pray that you will trust God in this. He hears your prayers and answers them all… Please pray for these children, pray for the ongoing success of this PIR Siberian Children’s Feasts Initiative, pray for the true meaning of Christmas to be made real both in our minds and in the wider world, and pray that God would heal the land of these children and their families.

These children need your prayers. The statistics show that most will be in Children’s Homes for the rest of their childhood, and that almost 90% of them will struggle massively to establish themselves in adulthood (read the real situation and statistics on Russian orphans here http://alturl.com/vhsgv if you have not already). But God knows each of these children by name, He planned every day of their lives and He longs for them to become the mature and successful, God-loving people He intended for them to be. They need to be held up in prayer that God would intervene in their lives in a powerful way and give them hope and a future, as He promises.

I ask you to consider faithfully this call for you to participate in changing the world by contributing to the joy of one child… that’s all it takes.

Bless you as you do this, and a Merry Christmas to all.

Yours in His Name

Paul Williams

Co-ordinator: PIR Children’s Feasts

When to give and when not to give...

2011-09-22T17:35:00.000+02:00

(Pictured: Little Masha who stole my heart in Irkutsk)

Every day as I drive my beautiful new car down the road, I am faced with people asking me to give them something, anything, small change, at each intersection. Some have big signs made out of cardboard pointing out how many mouths they have to feed, others have tired attempts at wit written out declaring how their cat was arrested or something like that. Some sit on the sidewalk with children playing in the dust, others walk briskly between the cars, some sell newspapers that I have no need for, others try and hawk anything they can find to sell me – socks, car licence stickers, South African flags, wire ornaments.

But no matter where I go in South Africa, I am sure to be faced with one or two of these sad-faced people at almost every intersection. They request, no, most these days demand that I look at them, that I get out of my little world and that I choose whether to give to them or not. I either need to shoo them away from my window, or I need to open up my window a small crack and give them a few rand.

These people force me to face an ethical issue at every intersection. I need to decide whether I give or not… at every intersection. And I face the same soul-searching every time. Should I give something to you? Can I trust you? Do you deserve some of my “hard-earned” cash?

(Pictured: a view down the tracks in Moscow)

Now this is an intensely personal question as we all justify our choices with reasons which we hold on to quite passionately. Some give to people who are “trying” to help themselves by being a bit entrepreneurial, others give to people who look desperate, others give because they feel it put on their heart, still others give only to certain people who they have “adopted,” and others have even given up on ever giving again.

But the issue is larger than just an issue of the people on the corner, it asks of us a bigger ethical question: What are the reasons we give? When does it make sense to give and when not? Why give? It relates to how we spend our time, how we give of our hearts and how we are prepared to step out of our closed world and reach out to others.

I have struggled with these questions, both at the street corners and in other situations, and it is still not resolved in my heart. Part of me is pained at being taken advantage of, of giving and seeing my generosity taken advantage of, yet another part realises that everything I am and have is a gift from God, so who am I to refuse it as a gift to someone else. I find myself vacillating between giving to everyone I meet who asks anything of me, and not giving at all.

I remember asking Trevor Hudson, Christian contemplative and author of many deep volumes: “When does one stop giving? Surely we are not expected to be doormats? Surely we are not expected to give without limits and without using the brain we were given to discern when we are being taken advantage of?” His reply was simple and to the point: “Jesus went to the Cross – He gave even though it cost Him His life.” It was an answer that stopped me in my tracks as I have never been asked to give my life, and I am not sure if I have the courage to do so, should it be asked of me.

Recently I was challenged by a statement made in one of those reality TV programs where a rich businessman is sent into the world of volunteers and asked to find worthy causes to give his riches to. His astute realisation was that “I judge people to decide whether they are worthy of my help, but these people, they amaze me, they help people without judging.”

It shocked me how my selfish, capitalist, privileged self set up parameters of who was worthy of “my” few rand and who was not. And how harsh my rules were for them to measure up to. I would not give to people who subject children to the rigours of life standing at the traffic lights, or I expect people to show the right amount of humility when asking for money, or when they are really humble I expect them to have more self confidence, and find myself angry at their apparent weakness. They really could not win, no matter what I do. And I pride myself on being a man who is consciously trying to be generous…

(PIctured: Some of the many children of the children's homes in Irkutsk)

I think of the children of the Irkutsk children’s homes, and the people of Russia and the boundaries I put in place for giving to them, and I am again shocked, but this time not at how harsh I am but rather at how few boundaries I have in comparison to the people on the street corners. I give, open-heartedly and generously to the children perhaps considering them to be innocent, victims of their circumstances, while people begging on the corner are less victims in my mind and simply not trying hard enough. They should know better.

The truth is, I have no way of discerning whether the person on the street corner is any less a victim of circumstance. I have no way of judging whether they deserve my two rand coin more than the next person. I don’t know their life story, their heart, their motive. The same with the people of Russia. I have no way of determining whether they are worthy of all this energy and involvement. I suppose it’s the same with everything we do. We have no way of determining whether a job we hold is worthy of all our long hours and intense stress. We have no way of determining whether our child will be worth all the sleepless nights and years of toil. We have no idea whether a friendship will be worth our energy, tears and investment.

The only parameter which makes sense to me now is one of love. I invest in my child because I love them. I invest in friendships because I love the people I call my friends. I personally invest energy and time into the children’s homes and Russia because God has placed a love for these people on my heart. There is no other way to explain it.

The question we ask ourselves when we are faced with an opportunity to give thus has to change. Its not about worth, or attitude, or circumstance or even giving or not. The question we need to ask is “Is it most loving for me to give or not?” It is a deep question and one worthy of asking as it is not always loving to give. Giving when we do so for selfish reasons, to make ourselves feel better and to allay our own guilt at not doing anything meaningful to heal a situation, is unloving giving.

But it’s no longer about whether I feel the person is worthy of my gift. It’s no longer about prioritising people in my neighbourhood who need help versus people across the world who need my gift. It’s not about entrepreneurship, humility, neediness or any other factor – it’s only about love. Let me repeat that. It’s only about love.

I have been given a gift. Each of us have been given gifts. Everything we are and have is a gift from God. We have been given everything, and more, we have been given life, abundant eternal life at a huge price, by the death of Jesus on a Cross. And we have the choice to love or not. Every time I get to a corner, every time I am asked, and every opportunity I have to give, I need simply to ask “Is it most loving for me to give or not?” and if it is, then I get the opportunity to choose to love… at any cost.

Over 700 000 Orphans and just Three Big Ideas… a prioritisation of goals for the Siberian Children’s Outreach

2011-09-13T23:26:00.000+02:00

This blog puts forward some of the thoughts, goals and dreams that I have not really communicated previously, for the PIR Children’s Outreach. I think many people just see this outreach as a Christmas Present outreach, but if it is to be of long-lasting value and bring about real change we need to think a bit broader, I believe. We need to patiently understand the people, the culture and the challenges facing children and their families if we are to impact their lives, and if we want to leave a lasting legacy.

I have 700 000 goals at the moment. They relate to the 700 000 children stuck in Russian children’s homes. My goal is to see them all living lives filled with hope and healing, lives of abundance and fullness, lives of joy and maturity, live of salvation and victory. Only God can achieve these goals, but I hold them in my heart each day, praying, waiting, walking in faith, knowing it is His goal too.

I have a more immediate goal of seeing as many children as possible blessed this Christmas, as we travel to Irkutsk and work together with the church there to ensure theirs is not a lonely, hopeless, painful Christmas, but one of joy, hope and the knowledge that they are deeply cared for and loved. You’ll no doubt read more of this as we proceed along this path over the next few months.

But in addition to these long-term and immediate goals, I have THREE next step goals which I am praying for fulfilment. Indulge me as I share these with you, please:

GOAL 1: To establish a Christ-centred Summer Camp especially for orphans, and for families in need of healing, on Lake Baikal, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia

This is the one goal medium-sized I have confirmation on from God. Sergei Aleev, one of the leaders at the church in Irkutsk has had this dream for the last 3 years. I did not know he had this dream, but I realised, last time I was in Russia, that the homes struggle with the children over the long summer school holidays. Russia has school holidays from the end of May until the beginning of September – 3 long months. Which is great if you are a child with a family and a home, but if you’re stuck in a children’s home, with little entertainment, and not allowed to wander out of the walls of the home, summer can be long, difficult and intensely boring.

Sometimes people sponsor a few children to go on a summer camp at a “tour base” on or near Lake Baikal. But they are the few lucky ones, who get to go out into nature for a week or two. The directors of the homes have indicated that they love it when they can send children on summer camps and they would love it if we would find a way to be able to send children on camp in summer.

I did some investigation, and land on Lake Baikal is not too expensive. A couple of hundred thousand rand can buy you a fair sized piece of land in a forest village not too far from the lakeside. And if we found ways to put money aside each year for this we could have a fully fledged summer camp facility within 5 to 10 years.

And here’s the wonderful thing – instead of having just 2 or 3 hours with the children at Christmas time, we can spend 2 or 3 weeks feeding into their lives, showing them Christian life in action, instilling values and healing broken backgrounds. And we can use the campsite for other valuable ministries too. The directors of the homes always say: “We don’t have problem children, we have problem parents” Imagine if we could invite the broken parents, the one’s whose lives have been shattered by drugs, alcohol and poverty and imagine we could minister to them and help them to have hope again, and become better parents. Imagine if we could invite the Directors and staff of the children’s homes to spend time out at the campsite and we could feed into their lives, and bless them for the work they are doing. Thus God put this dream on my heart and it is one I believe He will make happen… if we’ll just trust Him.

GOAL 2: To establish a product line which tells the story of Christmas to Russians, and which brings in revenues for the PIR Children’s Christmas Feast Fund

All of the things I long to do for the children and people of Siberia require money. Now I am not worried about money as long time ago God promised me that He would provide me with an allowance from the King’s table, and for all my life He has. When I was unemployed for 19 months, when I was retrenched, when I went to Bible College, when life was tough, God provided exactly what I needed every day.

For each of the children’s parties we have held God has blessed us with just enough to do exactly what the ministry is all about – to bless the orphans of Irkutsk so that they might know that God loves them. And each year he surprises us by providing more and more so we can bless more children. Fantastic God!

A friend of mine suggested that we develop some marketable products which we can market and a percentage of the profits made in selling those products could become a sustainable income for the ministry (it seems timely that God has put this on our hearts in the midst of us considering how to buy land on Lake Baikal for a children’s camp.

I was thinking – Biscuits! Well, we were both thinking biscuits… the starting thought was like “Boy Scout Cookies in the USA”i.e. What if we develop a biscuit, package it and market it, and on the packaging we somehow tell the story of Christmas – the real Christmas Story, and publicise the orphan outreach, and what if, a portion of the profits of each pack of biscuits sold goes to orphan outreaches in the country that the biscuit is sold. And what if we give some of them to children to give to others less fortunate than themselves in the community – and thus teach children the importance of giving to others.

You get the idea… I might be asking you all to part with your best, tastiest and most enthralling biscuit recipe soon. Watch this space…

GOAL 3: To establish a translation service to see more Christian media translated into Russian

We are so blessed. I can walk into almost any book store in South Africa, and find a whole shelf of books dedicated to living the Christian life better. I can even walk into a couple of exclusively Christian book store chains, that’s whole stores dedicated to Christian reading material and media, and find shelves of books expounding Christian views on any topic under the sun. I never have to struggle and search for this Godly wisdom. It is freely available. And I realise how blessed I am to speak English as a Christian – we have so many resources for our faith, and we are so blessed.

In comparison, in Irkutsk, I found one Christian bookshop, hidden at the back of a building, and about the size of my bathroom here in South Africa (approx. 9m2). It had a surprising variety of books for its limited space, but the variety was primarily made up of commercially successful books that were not always the most theologically sound titles and there was a distinct lack in availability of so many books of Christian wisdom that we take so for granted. Across the city, there were hundreds of “non-Christian” bookshops, containing books and works on every topic imaginable, but in these hundreds of shops, I could find not one book of modern Christian content, other than the Bible, and even that was available primarily in Orthodox Church Slavonic, a language that very few in Russia understand, and which means the book is bought more for tradition than actual reading content.

Yet in the same city is a growing evangelical Russian church, a factor replicated across the country(Statistics show that the evangelical church is growing by around 3% per annum). Evangelical Churches are growing as people encounter and have real relationships with God. But as Christians looking for Spiritual food, looking to grow, there is little reading matter available.

Irkutsk has a huge Linguistic University which I was fortunate enough to attend for a year and a half so as to learn Russian, but they train thousands of qualified translators each year, and in fact, many of my friends in the church in Irkutsk hold translation qualifications from Irkutsk State Linguistic University. And most of them are unemployed (there are only a few translator positions available in Irkutsk – international companies hire some, tourism accounts for a few more and technical and academic translation accounts for the rest).

So lets summarise:

In the West we have a huge amount of fantastic Christian media – books, articles, films, resources etc.
In Russia we have a growing Evangelical Church hungry for Christian media, wisdom and knowledge.
In Irkutsk we have a ton of unemployed qualified translators looking for work, many of them Christian.

See the opportunity? If we can get the rights to translate Christian books for publishing in Russian, we can provide a source of income to these qualified Christian translators, spread the Word and give Spiritual food to the hungry, all while establishing a much needed service to the Book Publishers.

The PIR Siberian Christmas Feasts are just the start. If we are to have a lasting effect on the lives of these children, their families, the people of Irkutsk and Russians in general, then we need to dream with God, and develop projects that have lasting effects of lasting significance. Now that you know some of the longer-term projects and ideas that I pray God will bring into reality, I ask you to

a. Bring these ideas to God in prayer

b. Pray for God to show you how you can be of assistance in making these dreams a reality. It takes just a small start and a bit of faith for the dream to become reality.

c. Spread the word of these ideas and let me know of other ideas God may be putting on your heart.

d. Make a commitment to take action. If God has put any of these ideas on your heart, don’t let the opportunity slip away. God put it on your heart for a reason. He wants to use you to grow the vision into reality. Trust Him to do so.

Bless you as you pray with us this week for God to do great things through us, that He might bless us and that we might be a blessing to others for Him.

Paul

Reminder - Team Meeting

2011-09-09T09:15:00.000+02:00

Don't forget! If you're keen to know more about the trip to Siberia this December, then meet with me at Mugg n Bean CRESTA at 10am tomorrow (Saturday, 10 September) for a cup of coffee and all the details. (Pray about it, it really will be a meaningful way to spend Christmas)
Blessings
Paul

Why the Russian orphan problem is so tragic.

2011-08-28T23:43:00.002+02:00

(a picture of Russian mother's out with their children on the river banks of the Angara River,2004)

The Russian Orphan Problem – Some Facts

So this is a summary of the orphan situation in Russia, and some reasons why it is so tragic…

(All the stats mentioned are from a post on SRAS facebook feed, which includes the sources of their information as included at the bottom of my blog post)

The total number of orphans in Russia: 697,000 (as of 2010, Interfax) other figures quoted include 742,000 (as of 2007, Ministry of Education) 680,000 (after WWII, BBC). So while the population declines, the numbers of orphans have been relatively stable for almost a century (how is it possible that today, when there are no major wars there are as many orphans as after the last World War when millions of Russians were killed?).

The number of orphans in the US is only 114,000 (as of 2008, businessweek), that’s 16% of the number of Russian orphans and that in a country with a population over double the size of Russia’s (US Population 308.8 million (2008) and Russia Population 141.8 million (2008)).

(Our own South African situation is even more shocking – over 3,000,000 orphans in a population of just 48,800,000 (2008) – or 6% of our population)

The percentage of orphans in Russia with at least one living parent: 80% (2008, BBC). In South Africa approx. 86% have one living parent.

But here’s the CRUX

The number of orphans adopted in Russia by Russians: 9048 (in 2010, Russian Ministry of Education)… that’s just 1.3% of orphans adopted last year (so if no new orphans were to enter the system, it would take around 77 years for all the orphans of Russia to be adopted by Russians, or if we are to be choosy about adoptions, 10 years for all those with no living parents to be adopted...but read on.

If we look at the number of orphans adopted from Russia by foreigners: 4125 (in 2010, Russian Ministry of Education)… that’s 0.59% of the total amount of orphans… thus if we add the two figures together, just under 2% of orphans were adopted last year, leaving 98% of orphans still in institutions.

And the reality factor

The number of rejected adoption applications in Russia: ~5000 (in 2008, Russian Ministry of Education)… that’s another 5000 people who wanted to adopt a child who were deemed unfit to do so, for various reasons. I can understand the need to be careful about the homes you let these children go to, but 27% of all applications rejected?!?

And here’s the real tragedy

The number of adopted children returned to orphanages by Russian adoptive parents: ~30,000. (for both 2008, 2009. Duma Committee on Family Questions; this was referred to as a "boom" in the phenomenon, past figures show just ~2500 (2006, BBC) ~3000 (2007 BBC). Seems that the financial crisis hit Russian’s really hard, and suddenly families who had adopted children could no longer afford them. Thus in 2010 (if it followed the trend of 2008 and 2009) there were 13173 adoptions and 30000 orphans returned to the children’s homes in Russia.

So, the short of it is… if you’re an orphan in Russia, chances are you will spend your childhood in an institution, with little chance of experiencing a normal family life again.

And even though you’re in a “home” of sorts, it seems that the lack of a proper family home has a devastating effect on the lives of the orphans of Russia. Orphan Cry, one organisation working in Russia state that over 30% turn to crime - Prostitution for girls; organized crime for boys, 60% end up jobless and homeless, over 50% spend time in prison, 10% take their own lives.

Another organisation called YEARN, also working with Russian orphans states it similarly: Forty per cent of orphan graduates turn to crime, 40% become drug addicts and 10% commit suicide or simply “disappear” within the first year of independence, according to the Russian NGO, Big Changes. Only 2% enter university, compared with 45% of children raised in families.

If you have the stomach for more of this reality, iorphan has a comprehensive fact sheet on Russian orphans at http://www.iorphan.org/russian_orphans/index.asp

Some of the stories gleaned from the Homes themselves

All this info is corroborated by my experience in Russia, and discussions with the directors of the Children’s Homes. They stated clearly, that since the beginning of the financial crisis, the numbers of children being dropped off at the homes more than doubled. Many parents simply brought their children to the homes and stated clearly that they no longer wanted them…

And once in the homes, the homes are supported by the government according to the numbers of children they house, so there is little incentive for the homes to place orphans with families or adoptive families. If they do, then they get less monetary support.

And the incentives that they do get, are of they can “rehabilitate a family.” They get an incentive for each family unit rehabilitated to such an extent that the child can be returned to the family. But some of the homes abuse this incentive, by faking the rehabilitation of the parents, most of whom are drug addicts and alcoholics. They go the the homes of the parents of orphans, clean their homes, sober them up and dress them well, and then send the inspectors to go and see the “rehabilitated home.” The inspector is so impressed to see the clean home and sober parents that they allow the child to leave the children’s home and go back to live with his or her parents again, and the children’s home is paid a nice bonus. But of course, nothing has changed, within a few weeks the parents are drunk again, and the children neglected, and usually within 6 months the child is back in the children’s home.

(this dejected babushka (grandmother) came and sat forlornly on the shore of Lake Baikal while I was out photographing on morning in 2004)

So, what are the solutions?

I did not write this piece simply to make us all feel depressed. I wrote it to hopefully give a realistic picture of the complexity of the problem. And believe me, I know we have hardly even scratched the surface of this problem. Bureaucracy, corruption, pilfering staff in some homes, official denial of the problem, parents who have children just to get cash payouts from the state… these and many other aspects make this problem one which is not going to go away anytime soon.

Solutions? From the State? I see some dedicated individuals looking for scientifically proven ways of stopping the pattern of families neglecting children, but in fact, the problem is not an orphan or neglected child problem – it is a PARENT or SOCIETAL problem. The children are not the problem. The parents are! And the society in which the parents live, is also the problem!

Both alcoholism and drug abuse are societal problems usually of a multi-faceted nature, including a spiritual aspect. Most alcoholics and drug addicts have lost hope. They no longer want to feel, because feeling the feelings is too painful, so they numb out their emotions and spirit with drugs and alcohol. They need hope again. They need someone to wipe the slate clean and give them a second chance at life. They need someone to forgive all their bad past decisions and let them start afresh. They need to be freed from this desire to die, and to be given true life. They need a Saviour.

The only solution I know to a society which has lost hope, I mean the only true solution which has lasting consequences, is the salvation offered by Jesus Christ on the cross. His sacrifice means that if we can just find it within us to believe in Him (and even this He gives us as a gift through the Holy Spirit), that He will hope again. If we can just, recognise Him as our God, He can give us redemption from the death which our sins had brought upon us, and he can give us redemption to eternal and abundant life. He can forgive ANY sin we confess to Him, and He can give real hope and abundant new life to even the worst of sinners – and these broken parents of Russia are no exception.

You may take offence at me saying something like this – simplifying the solution down to a spiritual choice of faith in Jesus Christ. I want to ask why you take offence? How does one restore hope? The usual solutions offered by this world are without substance. Positive thinking, distractions like sport and business, teeth-gritting discipline and even financial wealth are no solutions for the loss of hope (I remember a cynical line from a movie I watched as a teenager where the main character points out, quite straight faced, that she only needs enough money to “keep body and soul apart” – we too only need these things to keep us from facing the state of our souls - but real hope demands that we look, understand our true situations and yet find somthing to tell us that our lives NOW and future are worth living). They can delude us into believing there is hope, or distract us from our hopelessness, or even keep us from facing our hopelessness, but only God can give hope… and His sure hope is only available through Jesus Christ.

How am I so sure of this? Because I have experienced it. I have been in situations (notice, more than one time in my life) where I lost hope, or where I saw no way out of my predicament, and lost all hope, all hope – except that available through God. For when I accepted that He was real and that the hope that He offers is not some future possibility, but a present concrete reality – SURE HOPE, then my life changed from one of despair to one of … well… hope.

This passion for Russia, for its orphans and people, and this vision of seeing Russian people in intimate relationship with God, is evidence of the restored hope I found in Jesus. People without hope have no vision, no plans for the future… they just survive and numb out the pain. And that’s what I see with these Russian parents… they have no vision or plans, rather they just want to numb out their lives.

So the solution? I believe the solution to the orphan problem in Russia is to touch the hearts of the parents, families and (yes) also the hearts of the children, with the saving power of Jesus. God promises to turn the hearts of the fathers towards their children and the hearts of the children towards their their fathers, if we would simply humble ourselves and pray for Him to do so. Will you help me to pray for them?

Sources - the first, by the way, has alot of stats from Ministry of Education dating from 2007 or 2008:

http://www.deti.rian.ru/krplanom/200...200012151.html

http://echo.msk.ru/news/674155-echo.html

http://www.businessweek.com/debatero...as_babies.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/rus...00/7421529.stml

A Serious Challenge & A Moment of Joy

2011-08-21T13:29:00.001+02:00

Serious Inspiration

Inspired… that’s what I am! Inspired! And why? Because I travelled to Pretoria to church today, to hear Hugo , South African missionary who recently moved from Moscow to Singapore. He preached on Hebrews 12… running the race with perseverance, but I must say, He could have preached on anything, for what I heard was not words out of Hugo’s mouth, but the Spirit of God touching my heart with the desire to once again be serious about proclaiming His Kingdom and bearing fruit both here and to the nations. I was challenged, to respond to God’s love for me. I was challenged to take holiness seriously. I was challenged to remember once again what God had called me to do. I was challenged to make God the King of my life again. I was challenged to let His Spirit bear fruit through my life.

I was challenged to get serious with God.

I look back on this path that God has led me on, and I see such faithfulness by God, carrying me through tough times, giving me abundance in good times, blessing me in all times… and then I realise that, even though I am quite an intense person, I still have not really taken God seriously at His Word.

He saved me, He paid my price, He redeemed my life, He made me His own, He gave me Himself, He died for me, He overcame death and He has done everything in my life since… and done so so very gently… and yet I still struggle to even spend 20 minutes with Him a day. Now I promised myself that this blog entry would not be a guilt trip, so I will not harp on all my failings before God. I don’t think He wants that for us anyway, but I must just drive home the point – After all God has done for me, AM I SERIOUS ABOUT GOD? Or is He just something that must fit into my life the way I want it to be. Who is God here? Me or Him?

The next two weeks promises to give me ample opportunity to examine my heart before God and decide what He wants me to do with this life – these few short years He has granted me on this earth. It seems so many years have been wasted already, but I know nothing is wasted in God’s economy. He will restore the years that the locusts have eaten. He will use all things for His glory. He will use all circumstances for the good of those who love and follow Him.

Monday sees a wonderful opportunity to spend social time with Hugo, his family and other Christians involved in Mission Russia and Kingdom Global, mission organisations to the nations. The evenings of next week and the whole of Saturday also offer the prospect of meeting with God as I attend sessions at the Apostolic Prophetic Conference at Lewende Woord Church in Pretoria. And the week thereafter offers the chance to meet with a blessed group of South Africans at pEtra Ministries in Strydom Park as they seek God’s face and focus on missions, at their missions conference.

I pray that you will pray with me, and ask God how you too can get SERIOUS with Him over this time. Ask Him:

· What is His heart for the world? And what does He want your heart to be, for this world? (John 3:16)
· Where does He want you to express this heart He has given you? Where does He placed His passion for this world on your heart? (it could be serving people in your church or helping orphans right across the world?

And thirdly,

· How does He want you to express your heart? How does He want to change the world through you? (Galations 5:22)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7)

A short note of joy from the children in a Children’s Home in Irkutsk.

I was so blessed this last week to hear from one of my wonderful friends in Irkutsk who went to visit the children of one of the Children’s Homes. She has been so faithful, especially while I could not be there to visit the Children’s Homes, and has taken it upon herself to visit the children and add a day of joy to their lives. What follows is a short extract from her letter to me describing the experience.

LAST week at the Children’s Home was SOMETHING!!

I had decided to do temporary tattoos on the kids (I checked with the vice-director beforehand to make sure they wouldn't object, and she said it was a great idea, that the kids would love it!). I was ready two weeks before, having tried out one tattoo on my own arm to make sure I knew how to do it, and to show the kids that it wouldn't hurt, etc. Well, then I had no one to go with me for two weeks, but the temp tattoo held in there really well for all that time :-) Finally, last Tuesday, a friend could go with me, and we went!! What mayhem!!

The plan was to have the kids get the tattoo from me, have my friend "install" it, and so on. Well, the kids don't know how to form a line, how to wait their turn, how to have patience, etc. (You know how it is!) So, soon, it degenerated and my friend was installing tattoos as fast as she could, and I was installing tattoos as fast as I could, which was difficult, because I'd have the one kid's arm there to do the tattoo, and about a dozen other arms thrust in my face between me and the arm I was working on! And a dozen or more voices calling out that they were next and they wanted a flower just like that one, etc., etc. Noisy!! Confused!! One of the workers got a damp paper towel and grabbed one of the envelopes of tattoos (fortunately, I had had the foresight to cut the tattoos off the sheets into individual tattoos, so there was the simple matter of selecting one little tattoo and installing it - no cutting needed of the tattoos at that point), and started installing them, too. So we had 3 of us tattooing as fast as we could. At first it was on arms, and then someone got the idea to do one their cheek, and then someone wanted one on their back, and then EVERYONE wanted them on their cheeks and backs, of course!

I had over 100 tattoos in all, including the small ones that kids put on their cheeks, and they were ALL used up, of course, with kids still clamoring for more! I wish I could have videoed it all!! One little boy stood in front of me and CRIED, "I want a car, I want a car!!" No matter that I repeatedly explained that we didn't have any car tattoos (believe me, I TRIED to find them, but couldn't!). He finally had to settle for bear claw prints, and quit crying until he realized someone had a tattoo on their back, and he didn't have that, and then the crying started again. Once we almost had a fist fight break out over who was next, but managed to avert that. In the end, the kids were all reasonably happy with their tattoos, most having them on both arms and their face and back, too, and a couple of workers even got a tattoo on their arm, too. I guess it was a success, but I won't be choosing that activity again very soon - too intense!!

So I'll see next week how many tattoos remain on the kids, I guess. And I'll have to deal with their disappointment with whatever activity I have for them, since it won't be near as exciting, I'm sure, to them as tattoos!! I have several good ideas for future activities, but I can't find the materials here. I need craft sticks (like popsicle sticks, but unused as popsicle sticks, of course! I suppose I could go on an ice-cream-eating binge and save all the sticks, but that seems rather expensive, not to mention not really good for my weight-loss plan) for one photo frame project I want to do with them. I have another doll-building project that I could use a supply of pipe cleaners for (I've finally found some of them here, in tobacconists shops, but they're EXPENSIVE there, and I'm hoping to find some yet in some craft supply place that are cheaper); and then I'd like to make paper bag puppets with them sometime, but there's the absence of paper bags here (what DO they take their lunch to school in?!?!). So I keep having to come up with other ideas. These kids are HARD on crayons, too!! Last time we did a coloring project, one boy was breaking the brand new crayons I brought that week ON PURPOSE!! The crayons I bought now are thicker - maybe they'll last longer.

You can see how a relatively simple (hmmm... perhaps its not that simple :-)) activity can make a big difference to these children. You can also see, I am sure, how much of a struggle it can be, dealing with the social problems that affect these children, and dealing with the lack of availability of items in the city. Please pray for this wonderful ministry to these children, that God would touch their hearts and provide all they need to become His disciples, in His time. Please also pray and ask God how you can get involved.

Have a joy-filled week as you get SERIOUS with God.

Why do I doubt God?

2011-08-14T22:06:00.000+02:00

Why do I doubt Him? I have a confession to make. I struggle to trust God. After 19 years of being a Christian I no longer can say that I feel the anxiety that used to control my life as a non-Christian, but I still struggle to trust Him. It manifests in weird and unusual ways. I will feel absolute confidence that He is going to come through for me, but then as time gets short and I start to feel that perhaps He’s not going to come through for me, I grit my teeth and try and force my will onto a situation. I’ll make a purchase of a big ticket item even if I don’t feel His peace about it, simply because I want it, and I am scared He might not want it for me… crazy stuff.

It’s crazy because I know that God wants the best for me. It’s crazy because I understand that He is faithful in all circumstances. It’s crazy because in most cases that I do this, He makes me realise how much better His way would have been, yet He is so gentle with me, as if He truly understands my anxiety, and it shames me to face Him when I understand how gentle He is being, in the face of my anxious rebellion.

This I know: We serve a mighty and trustworthy God who is gentle and understanding beyond our abilities to comprehend.

This week again God has been good to me.

I received the printed versions of the PIR Journey Summary Postcards (a hand-out item I developed with friends to let people understand all they need to know about the planned trip to Siberia for December this year) and so started sending out notes to friends asking for opportunities to present this ministry to their churches and congregations. Within the first few days God has been so good, and has opened up an opportunity to speak at my Old Theological college, in front of 80 or so Theological students, many from different churches around Gauteng, as well as opening up an opportunity with two churches… and this is week 1 of a 4 month run-up to the trip.

I literally had 10 minutes to present the ministry opportunity to the college, but was so grategul to find that I was presenting this in a service led by my old pastor and friend, Tony Christian, who now heads up the Baptist Youth of South Africa. His sermon was all about missions and the idea of a missional God – a God who reaches out to us throughout History. I could not have asked for a better, more thought provoking introduction to my 10 minute presentation. The student body were so open to the Siberian ministry and I received so many questions at the end of the session.

This morning I went to church, feeling less than spiritual after a week of late nights and not enough sleep. But arriving at church I felt God prompt me to do a similar announcement about the Siberian Mission. I had cleared it with the leadership during the week, but had been in two minds as to whether I should make the announcement now. Was this the best timing? Should I wait until later?

God said “Now” so I stood up and made the announcement, played the video and sat down a little confused as to whether it had been a good decision. People seemed less than interested. And then Bruce Bennett stood up to preach. Bruce is the head of OMS (a missions organisation into Africa and the Middle East) and had just returned from a missions trip to Tunis and is leaving this evening to visit a number of countries across the Middle East and help the churches across the area.

He spoke on the commission of Jesus asking us to “come to Him, to Follow Him and to go out to the nations” Again, God had prepared the ground, and I sat in awe that God could create such fantastic fertile grounds for the message of the PIR Children’s Feasts. When I handed out the postcard brochures to each member of the congregation as they left, it was as if God had zipped open the hearts of the people to let them seriously consider our involvement in this ministry.

After church I climbed in my car and set off home, content to go home and enjoy my Sunday, yet God laid it on my heart to take a drive and, even though the service would probably be over, to pop in at the buildings of Petra Ministries. I had preached there almost a year ago and had noted on their website that they were progressing wonderfully on their desire to make their church a serious missional church.

I hesitated a number of times along the way as I made my way around the city on the major highways. Perhaps I should just go home and give the church a call in the week by telephone. But I felt God prompting me to go there now. I arrived as everyone was packing up the church equipment and making ready to leave. The pastor was just packing his materials from the pulpit when I walked in. It is so amazing to me, how friendly people are when we share the same goal and same God. He and a number of people in the church immediately recognised me and we chatted openly. I managed to discuss the possibility of talking about the December Trip to Siberia with His congregation and he was more than enthusiastic, but mentioned that my timing had been perfect, as he was leaving that evening for a missions trip to Kenya and that I would not have been able to reach him for over two weeks if I had not come through at that time (God is so good!)

We made arrangements to create a speaking opportunity in two weeks time or so.

Again I am reminded that this is GOD’s mission, and its all about HIS heart for the people of Siberia and the children of the Siberian Children’s Homes. Praise Him and do not doubt Him at all. I am encouraged to trust Him more, in the ways I have struggled with for so long.

A Meaningful Christmas 2011

2011-08-12T00:22:00.000+02:00

Here's a short video presentation of the mission of PIR Siberian Children's Feasts 2011... I hope you'll be blessed and truly consider joining us out in Siberia in December.

An Inspired Week

2011-08-08T00:11:00.000+02:00

Its easy to get into the mindset where you expect nothing from God... where your dreams and ideas are simply happy with the idea of expecting nothing more than you have right now. And then a week comes along like this past week and challenges it all.

This last week started with me working out what I thought God would want from the trip to Russia in December - my thoughts can be summarised as follows: A few (two or three) people go to Siberia, and, without causing any ripples, wrap a couple of presents and help the church in Siberia to minister to the Children's Homes. It would be a simple trip with no need to stretch myself and no need to trust God for anything... really!

But then God stepped in... and it all changed... it started with a meeting with my good friend, Lorraine, and as she put forward her PR ideas for the trip, she pushed my vision for the trip further... and further ... and further!!

Soon we were talking World Records and media attention and record donations and ... and ... large numbers of people going to Russia. And even as we chatted, I was scared... the possibility that God had a bigger plan for this trip... the possibility that God wanted us to stretch our vision scared me!

But scared or not, I found myself wanting what Lorraine was putting forward. I could imagine it. I could see it... I still can.

I can see a team of 30 people going to Russia, ministering to the people of Siberia, restoring the beautiful Christmas traditions so precious to Russian people in past years, making a real impact on the society with simple love and practical care, and reaching more Children's Homes with the real message of Christmas, giving presents and joy to as many children as possible... and breaking a couple of records along the way.

And God provided a glimpse of this for me this week...

Firstly before I could even start "marketing" the trip to friends, I received a message from a wonderful friend in America... it went something like this: "Paul, can we join you on your trip to Russia... we simply want to serve." Out of the blue, 2 people from America were interested in joining the PIR Siberian Children's Feast trip to Siberia... How does one respond to a message like that!!! Of course I responded positively...

Then I had planned a meeting with two people who had been indicating their availability to travel to Russia for a while... but I was to be surprised again. When I arrived at the meeting venue I was faced with not just two people, but FIVE people who wanted to know more about the trip to Russia. We had a wonderful session and it was a special time of sharing with people who have a real heart for God and who want to make a real difference...

Who would have thought at the beginning of the week that I'd be faced with 7 souls listening for God's voice and interested in missions, and particularly interested in ministering in Russia. It made me realise all over again that this is GOD's ministry, and that He has a much bigger plan, and a much bigger HEART of love for the people of Siberia (and for that matter, for ALL OF US) than we can even imagine. All we need to do, is to make ourselves available, trust Him and let Him guide the steps along the way.

I pray you will realise God's massive vision for YOUR life, and that you will make yourself available to whatever He places in front of you... trust Him.

Watch out for PIR 2011

2011-08-02T11:10:00.001+02:00

That's right... the plan is in the system, the tickets are being selected, and the Children's Homes are all being contacted... watch out for details here on my blog or on facebook (simply request to join the following group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/198148776908095/?ap=1 )

And if you have a church around the world and want to find out more about this mission and initiative... please feel free to contact me on paulinrussia@gmail.com.

Yours, in His Name

Paul

The PIR Siberian Children's Feasts 2011

2011-07-31T19:24:00.000+02:00

Join our new group on facebook for the trip to Siberia for 2011. Just click here and click join!!!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/198148776908095/

This week's Sermon - A Generous God

2011-07-31T14:16:00.000+02:00

A good while back, I was married and we were getting ready to celebrate our anniversary with a trip to Knysna. The trip would mean that we needed to leave Johannesburg on our anniversary day and travel the whole day from here to the beautiful paradise of Knysna, and we would probably arrive tired, and in no mood to celebrate with our usual romantic dinner. So we decided to celebrate it with a romantic breakfast before we left town.

I booked a table at the Sandton Towers atrium restaurant which had a wonderful breakfast buffet at the time and when making the reservation, I mentioned that it was our wedding anniversary and requested that the chef arrange something special for the table. I was fully prepared to pay for a bit of a surprise.

On the day we packed the car and headed to the restaurant around 7.30am. At the restaurant we were greeted by the waiter and shown to a table where next to our table was a stand with a bottle of champagne. We were toasted by the staff and we had a wonderful breakfast celebration. It was intimate and romantic and we shared a good start to our vacation.

As we ended our breakfast and ordered a final cup of tea, the chef of the restaurant appeared from the kitchen carrying what must have been the biggest cake I have ever seen. It was the better part of 2 feet square, white and had the words Happy Anniversary and our names. We were suitably surprised and after cutting the cake and sharing some with the staff I sat down and enjoyed my tea thinking “What had I done!!!” This was an expensive restaurant, and we were a young, still newlywed couple trying to come out on limited incomes, and here I had no doubt spent a good part of our holiday spending money on a surprise which I had forgotten to cost out before we got there. I saw dollar signs flickering and broke out into a light sweat when the bill arrived.

I opened it fearfully and listed on the bill were the items 2 x buffet breakfasts at the standard breakfast rate – that’s all… nothing else. Thinking the manager had forgotten to add the special request items to the bill, I quietly went across to the manager and nudged him asking “I think you might have forgotten some things off the bill”… and he turned to me and said… “Mr Williams, here’s my card. If you ever need anything, anything at all, please do not hesitate to call me.”

It is a story I have repeated over the years at least 100 times, and it elicits the same amazed response from each person I tell it to. We are amazed that in a world of selfishness and grabbing what we can get, someone chooses to be generous. Someone chooses to change the game and give far and beyond what is expected of them.

What makes this story even more surprising to us is that it is a luxurious, rich, capitalist business which is choosing to be generous… we don’t expect overpriced hotel chains to be generous… we expect them to cost money… not give it away…

Well today I want to discuss the topic of generosity. You see I have a goal… it’s a goal that has been put on my heart… and I am sure its shared with all of you – I want to be a generous man. Actually, that’s not right… I want God’s generosity to shine through me, so that God can be known as a generous God.

In Russia I have seen God’s generosity. Every time I go there. Every time he puts those children on my heart, I ask: “but Lord, where will we get the money? How will we be able to help them? And I frantically panic until He reminds me that he is a generous God… and then I sit back and wait. I do all I can do, and then I sit back and let God show his character… and each year He provides exactly the amount we need to provide a generous and amazing Christmas for the children of the Russian orphanages in and around Irkutsk. Our goal is that they will be blessed abundantly, and see God in the generous act of providing them a memorable Christmas.

So I started asking questions about what it means to be generous… and I came across the passage in 2 Corinthians 9 – verses 1-15

Now a little about this passage. Paul is writing from Macedonia, probably Philippi, which is in Greece, but high up on the coast in the north. He was writing to the people of Corinth, a big and prosperous city situated near the Isthmus which is like a saddle of land between the north of Greece and the south of Greece. This position made it a key trading city as ships could cut out a long trip around southern Greece by stopping there and having their goods transported across land from one side of the saddle of land to the other. It attracted a lot of traders and was known as a city of wealth, luxury and immorality. Paul had arrived there around 51 AD for the first time and had not wanted to go there but God prompted him with a vision and an encouragement to share the gospel there. He first tried to share in the Synagogue there and had some success in that 2 of the leaders of the synagogue believed. But soon the Jews rebelled at his teaching and he found that his greatest successes were not really amongst the rich, but amongst the slaves and the poor of the city – those without influence and money.

It seems that the rich of the city rejected his call because, as one commentator puts it, they would not risk all because of their prosperity… they had too much to lose to jeopardise their material assets for principle.

As I read that - they had too much to lose to jeopardise their material assets for principle – I wondered if I am like them… scared to give it all away, scared to risk it all, for Christ, because I fear that I will be left with nothing and without influence…

Anyway, after a year and a half, Paul had developed a large church in Corinth and received word that the church in Jerusalem needed him and on travelling there, about an 8 day journey by boat, he discovered that the people of the church in Jerusalem were suffering from poverty and famine. And thus he wrote letters asking churches of other areas to prepare a gift for the Jerusalem church.

He wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus in Turkey and refers to this collection in that letter, and then he wrote a second letter which has been lost in antiquity, but he refers to it in this book and now he writes to the church in Corinth a third time, and in the midst of everything else he refers to the need to complete the work of collecting this gift…

Let’s read shall we

(Read passage in your Bible)

...and this passage is written approximately a year and a half after Paul has left them … so let me get his straight…

a church in a greedy, avaricious city

made up primarily of the poor and slaves

have been collecting money for a year and a half

to be able to give a gift

to the “Mother church” in Jerusalem

I don’t know about you but this seems quite unreal. When last did you get together with some friends and decide to save money for a year and a half, to give to people you did not even know, on the other side of the earth… even when you yourself were poor and struggling and it meant that you would struggle more than you already are?

My guess is that not many of us have done that….

But here Paul is sending people to the church to encourage and motivate people to give and to plan to be generous.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think he is talking of a Tithe here. Tithing goes without saying… The Bible speaks strongly of it and the need to tithe. God says “You do not have because you rob me of my firstfruits. Back in the early days of Judaism God asks the Jews to celebrate the harvest and give the first fruits of their harvest to Him as acknowledgement that all that they have comes from Him, and that later becomes the idea of tithing where we are asked to give the first 10^th of our income BACK to God as recognition that He is the one who provides all that we have – not your boss or the company – God provides. And he asks us to test Him in this, and tithe, that is give a tenth of your income and see if God does not bless you with a full measure, pressed down and yet overflowing – more than you have asked for.

But again I am not just talking of tithing here… indeed I think tithing should be a basic starting point and if you are not tithing I encourage you to… because by doing so, you not only support the church so it can function properly, but you acknowledge God as the provider of all that you have…

I can tell you stories of How God blesses the tithe… but that’s another sermon…

Generosity. Indeed generosity is central to every story in this book.

From creation where God creates not just what we need, but everything in abundance. Look at the richness of creation…
To God’s covenant or promise to Abraham – in Genesis 12 where He says to Abram:

Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

God does not require anything from Abram but that he follow Him, yet God promises to give generously to Abraham and to bless all nations through him… is that not generousity?

To the manna in the desert – a rebellious people, yet God gives them manna every day, enough for each day, and water from the rock… a generous God
To giving the nation a land of their own – the promised land… and helping them win it… they actually don’t win it, it is won with God’s power
To the generous God who forgives a repentant David after he sins.
To generously providing for his people throughout the generations til the time of the messiah
To Jesus, whom God gives as a gift to an undeserving world, to people who are sinful and who have broken their part of the promise of the covenant. To people who owe God their lives as a consequence of their sin, yet, as it says in John 3:16 that “God so loved the world, that He gave… He gave… He gave His only begotten Son that all who believe in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him. And He gives His Son sacrificially on the cross to pay the price for OUR sin, thus overcoming for us the consequences of our sin – overcoming sin’s hold on us and overcoming death… the price for our sin.

God gave generously in giving us His Son, Jesus… I wonder if we realise it:

Those of you who have been Christians for a long time, do you remember what life was like without God? Without Jesus? Without Salvation?

We were condemned, and whether we knew it or not, we were dead in our transgressions. We lived in our sin, without hope that we could overcome them or their consequences… we were slaves…

Yet, God gave… generously… He gave with overflowing grace, out of a generous heart. He gave to us with undeserved favour and mercy. As one writer puts it, what God did is like the Judge in a case finding the criminal guilty – finding you and me guilty – and we are guilty, but then he takes off his judges robe and comes around and takes our place in the dock, saying, “You are free to go… I will pay the price”and He dies on the gallows for our crime.

God is overly generous in everything He does and gives.

I have shared my testimony before but shortly

I was living a crazy life, self-involved, indulgent, seeking pleasure for myself, for years

Someone was praying for me and prayed for 4 things

· That I become a Christian

· For my work situation

· For my home situation

· For my car situation

I was brought to my rock bottom and became a Christian… and it was like everything changed. I was so broken I could not make any decisions in those first months, but God slowly healed me, and within a month… I had

· Been hired for the wrong job in advertising, and then being offered the RIGHT job miraculously

· Been given a beautiful home which I had not even seen

· Been given a new car, when I had been struggling for months with a car that broke down every day

God is so generous…

But He asks us to be like Him and to be generous too.

Jesus points out that the widow who gives all she has to live on, just two cents, gives more than the rich men giving thousands of their riches in the temple… she is generous, relying on God to provide for her and giving away without fear – rather with faith that God will give her her next meal.

He also says don’t just give to those who can give back. Some of us are generous within our families or amongst our friends, because we know that when we give, we get back, somewhere around the corner, they will give back to us, but rather Jesus says give to those who cannot give back – that is true giving. He says to give to the poor and the widow and the people on the edges of society who cannot give back… because that is generosity – and we are then relying on God as our provider, not our family and friends….

He also says to give to our enemies… whew! This is a tough one… give to your enemies… so that by blessing them, they will be convicted… your gifts will be like burning coals on their heads and they will not understand what you are doing, but you will transform their lives… give to your enemies.

But I am sure some of you are saying

But when do I stop giving? I mean, I know we are to give, but there’s a fine line between giving and being abused. What about that guy on the corner that never goes away. Do I give to him… What if he’s just abusing my generosity? What if I have given before and someone just squandered my hard-earned cash? When is enough enough… How far does generosity go?

I asked this question of Trevor Hudson once and he was so patient with me. I said, I want to give, but eventually I feel like I’m just being abused…

… and his only reply to me was this “Jesus continued to give, even when it cost Him his life… He went to the cross”

Paul’s request in this book is a little less demanding. He says to the Corinthians “I ask you to give, not so that you will suffer while others – those you are giving to – prosper, but that there will be equality among the brothers.

But there is no doubt that both Jesus and Paul ask us to give sacrificially…

You might be saying:

But I don’t have…

The people of the Corinthian Church also did not have… but they gave…

God does not say “Tithe when you have spare”… He asks that we give our firstfruits regardless of how small our income is and regardless of what our financial situation – He says “test me in this and see if I do not bless you”

Others of you are still asking

“Why? Why should I? In this world it’s everyone for themselves…

Well Paul answers this wonderfully a few chapters earlier, and I ask that you turn with me to 2 Cor 5:14

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone and the new has come. All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors as though God was making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf. Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God

Be generous because (2 Cor 5)

· God sent his Son to die that we would no longer live for ourselves

· God gave us all this

· God, by reconciling us to Himself, gave us a ministry of reconciliation – bringing others to reconciliation with god and with each other… generosity is a reconciling act

· God’s generosity leads to us becoming the righteousness of God

You will note that up until now I have focused on money, but is money the only way to be generous?

Of course not… as we end off I want to challenge you with some of the ways you can be generous… some involve your money, because that is really how God teaches us to be generous I believe, but other s show us how we can be generous in Spirit:

The first 2 ways that we can be generous whether we like it or not are these – get married and have children.

You may think I am joking, but the act of marriage is a generous act. In it you are promising to put the life of another person before your own, in sickness and health, good times and bad… it is a deeply generous act, and if you are married, you have RECEIVED a generous gift in your partner’s commitment to YOU

Having children is also a generous act as when you are a parent, the emphasis in life changes. Its no longer about you… its about your child… you will sacrificially give so that your child may have a better life than you… but remember the day you first picked up your child in your arms… for those with teenagers this might be a looooong time ago, but remember that feeling? You knew then that you were not the one being generous – God was – in providing you with the gift of this child… you were blessed by a generous God/ Your generosity to that child is all a response to god’s generosity

The third way we can be generous is to seek love and not just knowledge – Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:1 “Knowledge puffs up but love builds up” Many of us set our goal on knowing lots and being able to give an opinion on every topic… but as important as knowledge is, we ignore any search for real love. We search out knowledge, but ignore love… Yet loving, true loving – putting the other person’s spiritual growth before our own, putting others first, is generous, whereas knowing everything is often selfish… so learn how to love others…spend time practicing love for others… make yourself, your heart available.

Then do not think too highly of yourself – if truth be told, everything you have is from God. You did not create it, God did. You might have worked hard, but it is the Lord your God who gives you the strength to work… All that we have and are is from God – therefore Paul was prepared to give it all up to follow Christ… and he was prepared to be a fool for Christ – better a fool saved by God than one who thinks highly about himself and yet misses his opportunity for salvation.

Die to yourself – this world is temporary. Whatever you spend you might have for a while, whatever you keep you will leave behind, but whatever you give away… that lasts with you for eternity. So die to yourself. How much does any one person need anyway… how many houses and cars and possessions do we need… can you drive more than one car at a time? Do you need a bigger home? Do you need that next possession, when there are others who by your generosity can learn of God and find salvation and eternal life? Die to yourself and put others who need Christ first

God has given you gifts and talents– not just material gifts but Spiritual gifts. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are? Do you know how to use them? Paul says these gifts are for the edification of the body, the church, to build up others, but how can you generously build up others when you do not even know what your gifts are, and if you do know, do you exercise them – are you a teacher? Do you prophesy? Are you a healer? Evangelist? Helper? Server? Prayer? GIVER?

Then exercise your gifts generously… for God has given these gifts to you that others may be blessed and built up.

Finally – one of the key ways to be generous is to be holy – God says “Be Holy, as I am Holy” Holiness means being set aside for God’s purposes. But more than that it means being free from the things that bind us to this world, and free to the things of God. Be freed from the things that bind you to this world… if it binds you to this world – give it away! If there is something in your life that keeps you from deeper devotion to God, then give it up… be careful not to bind those you give it to, but give it up. Live a simple life – God asks us to, Jesus lived one, The Israelites were reminded at Passover to be ready to go, when He called. And if we are bonded to this world, we cannot jst go when God calls. The diciples asked Jesus to let them go and bury their parents before they followed him, and his reply was “Let the dead bury their dead.” He was not being unreasonable, but he was pointing out that their devotion to their parents was keeping them from following God. He was saying “don’t be so devoted to this world that you ignore the call of the Spirit. Some examples: I can’t go on mission, I have to pay the bills. I can’t spend time on ministry, I need to work. I can’t find time to spend with God, I am too busy.

Be holy – set time, energy, money and resources aside - set your life aside for God… be generous with your time, with your emotions, with your story, with your honesty, with your joy, with your heart… as far as it depends on you, be generous, as a response to God’s generosity in your life…

Let’s pray.

The PIR Siberian Children's Feasts 2010 - pics and report back

2011-07-31T13:55:00.000+02:00

Hi All

If you're looking for the reports from last year's (2010) Children's Parties in Irkutsk Siberia, they are available at the following link (it's my profile on slideshare... http://www.slideshare.net/paulinrussia/). There are four presentations there showing the parties from last year and testifying to God's goodness in supplying all we needed to really bless these children.

Be blessed

Paul

PIR Siberian Children's Parties 2010

2010-11-07T21:06:00.001+02:00

7 November 2010

Dear Fellow Traveller

Children’s Feast 2010 - Irkutsk

It’s almost the middle of November already and I have been in South Africa for almost a year… can you believe that!!!???

But soon, on the 15^th December to be exact, I will climb on a plane and head off to Irkutsk, Siberia again, to go and fulfil a promise I made to the children of the orphanages there.

The promise I made was that “God has not forgotten them, and never will.”

So I will return to them on the celebration of Christ’s birth to organise and ensure that each of the children of the Children’s Homes enjoys a blessed and wonderful Christmas.

“For I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you” (John 14:18)

The goal this year, as with the last two years, is give each child a special day of joy, one where they understand that they are special and valued by God, and to ensure that they get a gift of their own choosing, a pack of party food and a day of fun.

Most of all I pray that they will understand their value in the eyes of their Father in heaven.

I do not know if you can imagine what life is like in an orphanage, but for many of these children, the orphanage is the only home they have known and possibly the only home they ever will know. Many of them come from homes broken by the effects of poverty, heroin, alcohol, crime and hopelessness, and many have never known a faithful, loving, generous, merciful Father, for that matter, many of them do not know what a loving, warm home is.

You might be saying, but at least they have a home, even if it is an institution, and I agree with you, they are blessed to have a roof over their heads and food and schooling and clothing, provided by the state… but I have a couple of questions for you then:

Do food, clothing, schooling and a roof make a home?
Would you be happy to have your own child live in such a home?

My answer to both those questions is no!

I would want the best for my child, and that means a loving, safe, joy-filled home where my children can be enveloped in the love of parents and siblings and practically shown how to live a Godly life and a Christ-centred family life.

Unless these children are shown this kind of life, and actually experience this kind of family life, they will (Lord have mercy) continue in the patterns of their parents, hoping to heal the home that they came from but usually making the same mistakes their parents did.

One has to be reminded of the point, the objective, here again

The goal is to show these children mercy, hope and love, in other words, to show them Christ, that is to introduce them to the real Christ – Jesus, and to have Him heal their lives and free them from the past effects of their families and to have Him give them the Hope and life that His Word promises each of us.

The only way I know how to do this, is to care deeply for each of these children. And I ask that if you are touched by them in some small way that you would listen to the Spirit and reach out to them with the love placed on your heart for them, and join God in this simple opportunity as He blesses them.

James says that true religion is this “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” He says this because true worship is giving when we have no hope of receiving anything in return for our giving – it’s selfless giving that God loves. And that’s what I pray we would be able to do here… to give to these children selflessly, that they and those around them might experience God.

I ask that you will consider joining me in this venture prayerfully. I NEVER want anyone to feel coerced or manipulated into giving, but if God touches your heart with some form of care or love for these children, then I pray that you will find a way to help and get involved. Here are some of the immediate needs

Prayer

I always feel that this point has become cliché in Christian appeals, so I don’t want to list it here like others would. I believe in the power of prayer, and the power of the God we pray to. I invite you to spend time with the Father, praying and listening, and as He puts this outreach on your heart, I pray that you will agree with Him as He expresses His will for the Children’s Homes, the Christmas Parties and especially for each of the children. I pray that He will show you what His perfect will is…

b.Financial Involvement

God knows the way He wishes to bless these kids. All I ask is that you be obedient and open to His Spirit’s voice and give as He guides you to give.

I personally give you my guarantee of integrity on this issue. As per last year, every cent/ruble/bit of money received will go to providing for the needs of these children and towards making this Christmas and New Year Celebration a success for them

There are a few ways which you are able to donate to this cause. Most of them are through informal ways as this is an informal initiative and not a charity organisation (if you need details, contact me)

It really is easy.

If you live in South Africa

From past experience, the easiest way to get money to Russia is to place it in my South African current account and use the reference “Children of Hope” or just “Hope”. Please send me an e-mail detailing your donation and the date it was deposited so I can balance the books too.

My Bank Details are:

(I have removed this from the newsletter online. Please contact me by e-mail on paulinrussia@gmail.com if you would like the banking details in order to make a donation)

For international deposits you’ll need the following info too:

Physical Address - 9th Floor, Standard Bank Centre, 5 Simmonds Street, Johannesburg 2001

Postal Address - P O Box 7725, Johannesburg 2000

and

SWIFT code - SBZAZAJJ

If you live elsewhere in the world

Please contact me if you want to give from another country. I am in South Africa and there are hundreds of ways to transfer money to me, the trick is to do so without incurring unnecessary costs. You could just deposit into my bank account above using the SIWFT Code if you want, but I have done some investigation and everything from Western Union to PayPal is possible. But simply write to me and we can discuss the best way which will be hassle-free for you and ensure that the donation goes to the children (and not to the bank charges)

If you live in Russia, especially Irkutsk

Please write to me and let me know that you want to give towards the parties this year. Of course you are welcome to transfer money to me here in South Africa, but probably even better would be that you wait until I arrive and arrange to give it to me directly (that way there are no bank charges at all)

Alternatively, I could use your help to buy certain items in advance of my arrival. If you don’t mind doing some shopping, I would love your help in getting some of the items we will need and bringing it to the first get-together we have when I arrive (details to follow)

Prayer Postcards

Last year’s prayer postcards were so well received by the homes and by the children and I know that each child feels special when they receive a letter or postcard addressed to them personally. I believe it’s worth repeating this initiative, and so I ask you to go out and buy some beautiful postcards, take a seat somewhere quietly and write a special wish or prayer for one or even a couple of these children. I have asked for lists from the homes, lists of the children, their ages and their Christmas wish or present. As soon as I have this I will forward it all on to you. In the meanwhile, though, there is no reason why you can’t start to plan and pray for all the children, and write down those prayers

Send your postcard to my wonderful friend Masha in Irkutsk at

664080

Россия

город Иркутск

микрорайон Топкинский

дом 4

квартира 24

Мария Кузнецова

664080

Russian Federation

Irkutsk

Topkinski

House 4

Flat 24

Maria Kuznetsova

The options for postcards are numerous. But I would ask that you please choose postcards which depict either

· The country you are from

· A picture of you

· A depiction of your prayer or wish for them

Oh, and send your postcard NOW… IMMEDIATELY… do not wait to send it later. Postage takes time and we really want the postcards to arrive in time for the Children’s Party.

I suggest that postcards be sent before 15 November at the VERY latest.

d. Come to Siberia

One final way I invite you to take part in this outreach and have a great adventure while you are doing so, is to consider joining me and travelling to Siberia. I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but really, God will touch your heart with these people and especially with the needs of these children. Be open and let God touch your heart… and if He says GO, I pray that you will contact me ASAP so we can discuss the costs and the arrangements.

Again, please contact me by e-mail and I will gladly discuss any questions you have.

A Word to the Siberians out there

If you are in Siberia already, you can get involved in so many ways. I do not know where to start…

You can help me organise

There are so many things I need, and because I am in Africa right now, I need people to organise these things for me in the meanwhile.

· Translators – to help translate the postcards being sent to the children

· Storage – I need a place (a secure big room) to store the children’s presents once they have been bought and are being wrapped

· Wrapping – I need people to wrap presents once we have bought them

· Decorating – I need people to help decorate the Children’s Homes and to buy decorations for them

· Shopping – I need people who can help me shop when I arrive.

· Transport - I need a car to get to shops in far off areas of Irkutsk

And so much more… If you are in Irkutsk and you have an idea of how you would like to help, please write to me and let me know of your idea… I will do everything to help you to find a way to make your idea a reality.

At the end of the day if we can change the life of one of these children, showing them how special they are and how much they are loved, then we will have achieved more than we can imagine. Jesus said that such as you have done for one of these little ones so you do unto me. When we serve the orphan and the widow, the helpless ones who have nothing to give in return, we serve Jesus.

Please take the time to stop for a moment and consider what God would have you do for these children, and please open your heart and life to what He would have you do.

Thank you

Paul Williams

PIR

paulinrussia@gmail.com

+27723855290

A final note of financial records: Please understand that ALL funds donated go to the children, or to meeting the needs of the homes they are in. I pay my own way to Siberia and have been blessed with provision for all my travel needs. If you or anyone wishes to see the financial records of donations and expenditure, you are welcome to ask me for them, and examine them.

For those of you who have been giving regularly through the year, I have been collecting all your donations and put them in an interest-bearing account so we have a starting point for this year’s party. Thank you so for your faithfulness in providing and in giving. You know who you are and I pray God blesses you for being such a blessing.

The FINAL PIR Newsletter for 2009

2010-01-18T17:28:00.000+02:00

(sunrise at Irkutsk Airport)

Hello Everyone

Here’s a final short update to clarify what I am doing this year, and why I am back in Africa, Also to cover the detail of the last week in Russia and what has happened since.

The Final Weekend in Russia 2009

16 months of living in Irkutsk, Russia as a student culminated in a final weekend of frenzied and blessed activity: 2 children’s parties, a final opportunity to preach at the local church, a Christmas celebration with the American group in Irkutsk and an overwhelmingly emotional farewell party. To say that God blessed my final days in Irkutsk would be to understate greatly God’s activity on my behalf.

The children’s parties were blessed beyond my wildest expectations, with such amazing testimonies of children, helpers and others who came to watch, being touched deeply by God’s grace and generosity. If you have not received my 3 photo-newsletters of the Children’s Feasts 2009, and would like to receive them, please e-mail me and I will gladly send them to you.

(some of the volunteers from the Irkutsk Children’s Feast)

My final sermon, though prepared between all the rest of the activity, was a demonstration of the Spirit’s power to work through and despite us (or more correctly... despite ME). I am constantly amazed by God’s ability to take rather basic words from our mouths and use them, through His Spirit, to transform people. I am more convinced that all that we can leave behind as “missionaries” or people wanting to see people in closer relationship with God, is God’s Spirit, nothing else. Yes of course we can help people in other cultures with finances, material goods, education and so much else, but the real work of God is given through the Holy Spirit, and that is the sole most important thing which we can “give” or facilitate within a community. My final sermon was all about the fact that Jesus ascended to heaven and left us so that the Holy Spirit could come and so that everyone throughout the ages could experience Jesus – God in them, through the Holy Spirit. At the end we were able to pray together and people in the church asked God to work through them by his Holy Spirit in new and life-changing ways that their community and this world could be changed by God.

(My Beloved Church Congregation)

I rushed from church to the other side of the dam to be picked up by some American friends on the way to a “western Christmas celebration. It was a moment of quiet and peace in the midst of a hectic last few days. The relief and tiredness after the build up to the two children’s parties and a late night preparing for preaching was like a wave rolling over me, as we sang Christmas carols and ate a light Christmas dinner. It was wonderful just to spend time with these “lifers” who had dedicated themselves to love the people of Irkutsk with their whole lives. I realised that while these months in Irkutsk might be simply a chapter in my Russian adventure, Irkutsk is the whole life-work of these wonderful people, and I am humbled.

(Some of the close friends at my farewell)

Stewart dropped me off at the Obshezhitie at 6pm, and Olga and I cooked a quick potato bake and some sweet and sour chicken wings and legs as a last meal for all my hostel friends and international students. I had sent out an SMS to student friends and church friends to join me for my farewell, and expected 15-20 people for the evening, so I catered accordingly. At 8pm everything was ready and the room we had used to store the children’s presents was transformed into a large dining-room with table and candles and music. But I was in for a huge surprise. By 8.30 pm over 40 people crammed into the room, and I was still being called to collect more friends from the guards room downstairs. The church group all arrived, the international students gathered around and friends from so many parts of my life in Irkutsk came around for a final chance to “connect,” reminisce and say “I see you” Each moment of the farewell dinner was like a microcosm of the last 16 months. Though it was almost impossible to give each relationship, each friendship, the time and attention it deserved, there were many deep moments and a realisation of just how much God has achieved in our hearts and community in the short time of 16 months. And to be honest, the depth of connection I feel to these people scared me immensely at the beginning of the evening. It is always scary to realise that there has been real love shared, real connection made possible across cultures, language barriers and even across worldviews. But as I realised the joy and deep care I shared with each person in the room, I realised that there was nothing to be afraid of, and that I could simply relax and be with each of them. I am changed because of their love and openness to include me, an African man, into their Siberian world. I feel privileged to have known and grown close to even one of these amazing people, however feel unworthy of having met so many wonderful people and shared so many amazing experiences with them. It was a deeply overwhelming evening.

At 11pm the guards chased the last of the guests out of the hostel and I started packing to go to South Africa... everything had been reduced to a bed full of boxes. And then I was given a last gift by Becca. Seeing the still chaotic state of my room and realising the deep tiredness I was feeling, she walked into my room, and went through each item with me, packing my bag like a professional, and creating piles of goods to be given to the homeless, and a group of three parcels for Sasha to keep for me til I return (because I will return...)

Dima accompanied me to the airport at 06.30 the next morning and by 07.30 I was through security and sitting waiting for my plane to take off for Moscow. No matter what we had done the previous night, there was no way I would carry on less than 35kg of luggage (excluding hand baggage) onto the plane, so I was ready for huge extra charges on my luggage at the airport. My previous experiences had led me to realise that Russian airports can be unyielding when it comes to rules and regulations, especially extra baggage charges. To my surprise in Irkutsk the check-in assistant turned to me and said “I’m only gonna charge you for 5kg of extra baggage, okay?” Needless to say I agreed wholeheartedly. When I checked in onto Emirates in Moscow, I had an even bigger surprise. I walked up to the check-in and without hesitation announced that I had extra baggage and that they should just let me know what the procedure was to pay for it. After a short pause, the check-in assistant looked at me and asked:”Are you travelling alone, Mr Williams?” to which I replied “Yes” and he replied: ”Today’s your lucky day. I’m upgrading you to business class for the first leg of your journey, and your extra luggage is covered by the business class allowances. Have a good flight” Needless to say I was deeply grateful, and totally out of my depth in Business Class after travelling on the much humbler Russian S7 airlines to Moscow. When they placed the Business Class dinner starter in front of me on the plane, together with silver cutlery and beautiful crockery, I was (almost) unable to touch it for the first 10 minutes as I was in awe of the beauty of the presentation of the meal. I simply sat there, admiring the meal and resting back in this amazing luxury, the likes of which I had not been able to consider in Siberia for the last while, and thanked God for this wonderful end to my journey in Russia, this time...

(Business Class... sigh...)

Reasons for returning to SA

For those of you that skimmed through my newsletters and did not pick up the reasons why I am back in SA, I am here for a couple of reasons:

• Visa requirements -I have been in Russia on a Student Visa, which is great as it allows you to stay in Russia for a full year without renewal, but not so great when it comes to earning a living. On a student visa I may not earn an income or be employed. I believe that if I am to become a part of this society, I need to find a way for a work visa to be issued.

• Financial Need - I have realised that I cannot reasonably survive without some form of income or support in Russia. I have been in Russia for 16 months, on a student visa, using my own savings, a limited base of financial support from friends and family and some income gained from teaching English in Irkutsk. I have drawn the support out to last a full 16 months when at first I truly only thought I had the income to live for 11 months. However living like this takes a lot of energy. It means that I need to use my energy to earn an income in my spare hours rather than spending energy on ministering. I taught 7 English classes a week in addition to studying Russian 5 mornings a week and still just made enough to make ends meet. However I believe God wants more for me, and for this ministry.

I am thus back in South Africa to solve these issues. How?

A week before I left Irkutsk, I was running around town getting things ready for the children’s parties and purchasing presents all over town and I asked God what I should do about the next step: “What will I do after these children’s parties?” and His clear and distinct reply was simply to do “that which He had given me to do right now... in other words, focus on the children’s parties, and God will take care of the next step. The next day I got an e-mail from a company in St Petersburg looking for a branding and marketing professional to help them create an international brand for their company, a mobile services company with offices in St Petersburg and... Johannesburg.

The fit between my skills and their requirements seems to be particularly good, and a position like this will offer me a working visa in Russia and opportunity to live in Russia without restrictions.

I have thus had 2 interviews and submitted a proposal to them about this position and am awaiting a reply from them on whether they wish to employ me. I ask for your prayers in this regard.

(The University at night)

Should that position not come off, I will be in SA for six months as there is little point in returning to studies in the middle of this semester. I would rather return to Irkutsk after 6 months and begin a new year of studies fresh and with (hopefully) revitalised spirit, mind and finances. I will use the 6 months in SA to raise support, present my next plans and the Children’s Centre to interested parties here and prepare for my return again.

This will not provide a working visa for me, but will offer a more secure financial situation if I return to Irkutsk. My English colleges in Irkutsk have already invited me back to teach when I return, so I will be able to supplement my income then with further English classes.

(the long awaited ice slide in Square Kirova)

I know God has a plan for me and Russia. He will reveal it in the next weeks, and I know that I have made a commitment to help the children in Irkutsk, and that commitment cannot be reneged on. So I will return to Russia, one way or the other.

But While in SA...

God is already showing me what He has brought me back to SA for, in the meanwhile. I need to learn so much about missions, children’s organisations and planning to make a difference in Russia, that I will be using the time to investigate and research all these subjects. And God is already faithful in this cause, as today I was at a meeting with a BIG Christian Organisation who are busy in Africa and who have almost 30 years of experience in working with Children and Evangelism across Africa. And I was there as part of my consulting work quite unexpectedly.

So please pray for God’s will and pathway in taking me back to Russia. And please ask Him to teach me the things I need to learn and ask Him to lead me to the people I need to met, before I return.

My Current Situation

I have been in SA for 3 weeks now, the first two on holiday in some of the most beautiful spots in the country with my good friend, Jacques, while visiting family. I was so tired and my health was so struggling when I first arrived, that I immediately got ill for most of the first week as well as needing to sleep almost all day for the first week. It has been a time of deep rest and this week, for the first time I feel slightly human again.

In addition I am overwhelmed by the difference in culture here. Yes, I am still South African but South Africa is no longer normal for me. Living in luxury like we do (YES we do... even the most basic South African home I have stayed in is truly luxurious compared to Siberia) does not come easily to me any more (though I am prepared to give it a good try... ) and South Africans, as warm and loving as they can be, are, to me, seemingly less “normal” than I remember... I mean that I have changed and my perception of normality has changed quite radically. I remember my first week in Irkutsk, and the sheer horror of the prospect of staying in a place, which at that stage seemed alien, dirty, hostile and absolutely abnormal... and how it was unthinkable to me that i could survive more than a couple of weeks there and even less, that it could become normal to me. And now it is normal and my former life seems totally alien to me... i realise now what they mean when they talk of reverse culture shock.

But it is starting to become normal here too. I have started work with Deon and MGM (my old ad agency) on a part-time basis while I am here and will be helping them with the move of their company to a new building they have just bought as well as with training and some strategy work that they require urgently. I have also moved back into my old flat in Greenside as it suddenly became available unexpectedly.

So... I am back in my old city, driving my old car, working at my old company and living in my old flat... it is a bit like déjà vu and quite funny really. It’s like I never left.

South Africa is hot, rainy and overgrown with green vegetation as all the city councils seem to have done no trimming and cutting of roadside plants since before Christmas. I am starting to see friends and family one by one, and will try to see as many people as possible while I am here. Please be patient with me if you are one of my beloved SA friends, there are a lot of people to spend time with and I really want to spend quality time with each of you.

Again, thank you for your support, and keep an eye out for the next steps in the PIR journey. If you would like me to come present this journey to your groups, friends or churches, please feel free to contact me and I will gladly make time to come visit and show you the project first-hand. Please continue to keep the children in your prayers and let me know if you are interested in getting involved in the project in 2010, I would love your input and help in any way you may deem possible.

Love to you all. May God richly bless your 2010 and may you see His blessing in this world as you follow Him.

In Him

Paul

PIR

+27 72 385 5290

paulinrussia@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/paulinrussia

2010-01-18T17:01:00.000+02:00

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters

I know that a simple letter will never suffice to tell you how much your support and generosity have meant to me and to these children in Irkutsk. The parties will start to happen this week, and I want you to know that without your generous giving, your care and effort, and your wonderful joy, they would never have happened... YOUR LOVE and EFFORTS have made a big difference in the lives of over 130 children on the other side of the world from you.

Your enthusiasm, love and all your hard work are very much appreciated and I want to thank you personally. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Already the way in which we have been able to help these children is immense:

• We have bought them medicine when they ran out of medicine for colds last month

• We have repaired their main fridge/freezer in the home, so that their food can be kept fresh

• We have bought cleaning fluids (as the Children’s Home had run out of budget) to help the staff keep the home clean for the children, and thus reduce the effects of germs on these children this winter.

Your donations have bought over 200 gifts for the children of the homes including

• 20 Barbie Dolls

• 13 Baby Born Dolls

• 12 Sets of Childs Cosmetics

• 12 Ranetki (its a Russian girl band) Shirts and hats

• 13 Big trucks with cars

• 20 Remote control cars

• 8 sets of cosmetics for the older girls

• 5 skateboards

• 2 Ninja Turtles

• a guitar

• a child's watch

• a child’s fashion bag

• a Polly Pocket Doll

• 5 soccer balls

• 2 sets of darts

• 1 set of rollerblades

• 1 wig (for a girl who has cancer, who lives at the home and who has lost all her hair due to the treatment she has to have...)

... and so much more... the list is three pages long.

Not only have we bought presents, but we have bought Christmas decorations for three homes, wrapping paper and ribbons, scissors, tape and bags to transport the presents and even 200 balloons.

In addition, we've made up food parcels for each child including:

• 2 mandarin oranges

• 1 apple

• an assortment of sweets

• some biscuits

...all packed in a beautiful Christmas bag

Your cards have also been used wisely (I believe) We have translated EVERY ONE of them... and we are doing three things with them:

*Firstly we have made up 3 sets of two framed pictures of cards with translations which can hang in each home to remind them of this Christmas and the people who love them from across the world.

*Secondly we have taken the one's addressed to specific children and stuck them on coloured paper, decorated the paper and added the child's name and a Russian translation, and are laminating these so that EACH CHILD gets a laminated card with wishes from people around the world. And because it’s laminated these cards should last for a LOOOONG time.

*Thirdly, we are currently making a BIG board of all the cards which could not fit on the frames... with their translations, so that ALL the children can see the messages from all over the world... I want to put it in their play room together with a BIG map of the world, so they can see where the cards all come from.

These cards all mean so much to us, and I am sure they will be absolutely loved by the children.

Other friends are rehearsing a Christmas Fairytale for the children, another (who was a regular visitor at the home when she was studying here) is sending a video of her home city in America to wish them Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Our church band will play 5 songs for the children, and other friends are bringing BIG cakes for everyone. We even have been given the use of 4 BIG 4x4 cars to transport all the presents from the student hostel to the Children's Home this week. We are more than blessed!!!

And there are so many other ways in which people have helped us... too many to mention here. Just know that YOUR help is so appreciated and is an integral part of making these parties a success and blessing these children.

Your PRAYERS have and still are important to us and to these children. I do not know the trauma that they have gone through. I do not know the effects that the events of their lives will have on them in the future. But I do know this. God knows each one of these children personally, and He did not forget them this year. He provided them with a safe place to stay, a warm bed, food every day and friends from all over the world who cared enough to give them presents, a party, food parcels, warm wishes and a great amount of love. God provided these children with everything they need to know that they are loved, through YOU. Please keep praying for the parties, and for the children. Pray that the parties will be wonderful and joy-filled, and memorable. And pray that the children will be impacted by this outpouring of joy and love, and that they might know (experientially) that they are loved by God and us all.

Please thank EVERYONE who has given to this project so generously, and may I wish YOU a blessed and joyous Christmas. May God's Peace reign in your heart as you realise what has been given to YOU freely from his grace this Christmas in the birth of His Son Jesus Christ.

P.S. the pictures attached are of some of the people here who have also been helping... and ALL the presents we have been able to buy and wrap so far. If you are looking for more pictures, you can look at the following Picture Albums on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=141705&id=669330945

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/album.php?aid=141703&id=669330945

Be blessed

Paul Williams

PIR

Cell +79041531934

SA Cell +2772 385 5290(SMS only)

paulinrussia@gmail.com

Skype: paulinrussia