Alan and Patricia Eggleton

About Us › Our Family › Locate a Worker

Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Dear Friends,

TO THINK ABOUT
I read this quote recently and it reminds me of why we write these letters to you every month or so. The founder of The Alliance wrote it about a hundred years ago and I hope it will encourage you.

"The most successful missionary operations of today are sustained wholly through faith in God and the power of prayer.
There is no field for faith so vast and so sublime as the mission field today,
and there is no limit to the possibilities which faith may claim.
Oh that some of us may rise to the magnitude of this great opportunity and become workers together with God for the greatest achievement
of all the Christian centuries."
—A. B. Simpson

THE YEAR IN REVIEW
As we look back on the year 2011, it's amazing to see the work that God has done in the midst of all the craziness. The year started with the opening of our Community Center. After years of thinking, dreaming, and planning, God allowed us to begin renting space for this purpose. We now have our own official place to provide English Cafe and courses, Zumba, and other ministries. Several churches and organizations have used the space for worship services, conferences, weekly meetings and the like. At the time of this writing, a coffee bar is being installed which will provide another avenue of ministry and potential.

Our team of Alliance workers has changed significantly too. Perry and Lynda served with us here in St. Pete since 2004. Their service in Russia came to an end this year as they returned to Canada, primarily for medical purposes. Donnie and Blythe Mason returned to our team this summer and are now focusing their energy on Central Asian ministry. Sarah Rowley was added to our Saint Pete team this summer. She is working in four areas: helping in the children's ministry at our local Alliance church, developing children's church material, helping us at the Community Center and serving in a local orphanage. And, as we start the new year, we have another family joining us. Please pray for Paul and Mary as they move to St. Pete and begin language study. We're looking forward to even more changes in the summer of 2012, but we'll talk about those later.

We continue to see good signs of life, growth and maturity at Great Commission Church. 10 people were baptized during this year, 5 of them came directly though our English ministries. A sixth person is ready to be baptized next year. If you would like to pray for these young believers by name, here they are: Dasha, Alex, Anna, Daniel, Tanya, Sasha, and Natali (all in their 20s). There are a number of young people that are eagerly seeking to grow as Christians, to learn and apply the Bible in their lives, to share their faith with others and to be active in ministry to others. Praise the Lord with us because this is the ultimate reason for our living and working here.

Our children are having another great year at the International Academy of St Petersburg. Not only do they continue to do well academically, but in all aspects of their lives (spiritually, emotionally, socially). We thank God for the joy of parenting and for the development of each of our children. They all enjoyed participating in the Christmas concert and did well. We celebrated Zach's 8th birthday in November and Amanda turned sweet 16 on the 16th of December. We had a surprise 16th birthday party for Manda and celebrated with smiley faces. The family “Sweet 16” necklace has been passed down to her :o)

WILLIE??
Our Laurenism for the month came when she was playing with Zach. She was about to restrain him with her arm, so she said, "Would you like me to put you into a Willie Nelson?"

LOOKING AHEAD
We will start the new year with a very fast-paced start. On Jan 5-7 we will have our Winter English Camp. We have a team of 6 coming from Pennsylvania to help us lead the camp. They'll be here for just over a week altogether. Please pray for the camp to go well and for the campers to not only learn English but to progress closer to an understanding of God and a relationship with Him. Please pray that 30 - 35 will be able to attend. (Right now there are under 20 registered, so this is a concern.) Two days after the short term team leaves, we will welcome Paul and Mary and their two young children, who have never lived in Russia before. So, there'll be a lot of work getting their lives set up and helping them adjust.

TRANSITION
Rachel is pursuing her dream of going into music and cannot believe how fast her senior is going. She has applied to three colleges. She has been really involved with the Russian youth band that she joined this year. We were all able to see her winter concert and Trish was also able to see her do her exam. This exam was recorded and will be put on our facebook pages soon. It was really nice to hear her teachers say how happy they are to have Rachel as a student :)

WEDDING BELLS
In December, thanks to Internet streaming, we were able to watch our nephew, Jonathan, marry the love of his life, Summer. It was so great to see the wedding.

SUPPORT
We've written many times about the Great Commission Fund (GCF), the primary financial vehicle for our support as C&MA international workers in Russia. We want to invite you to consider personally investing in our ministry by becoming an “Eggleton Support Partner”. Although the GCF is a general fund that is used to support missionaries worldwide, there is an option to give in our name, which directs the gift specifically toward our support, and we are able to track that amount of money. We would love to raise up enough supporters to free up GCF dollars for other missions needs around the world. If you are already giving to the GCF and would like to do so as an Eggleton Support Partner, simply specify your gift as “Eggleton Support.” If you do not normally give to the GCF, but would like to begin doing so on our behalf, please contact us by e-mail so we can speak with you personally about becoming a Partner. Look at the P.S. below for instructions for how to give.

May God bless you and your ministry as we enter into this new year. We pray for you for God's Kingdom to come and His will to be done in your life as it is in heaven. We are all serving together as our ministry here is just an extension of yours there. Thank you so much for reading about us and even more for PRAYING for us and supporting us here.

Representing you in Russia,

Alan and Trish Eggleton, Rachel, Amanda, Lauren and Zachary

General support for our ministry here can be given through your local Alliance church or sent to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, PO Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935. Just be sure to write in the memo line: "Eggleton support" if you want to personalize your donation. Other gifts can be specialized on the memo line as follows: "St. Petersburg Community Center," "Eggleton Work Specials," or "Eggleton Car Fund." You may also call toll free: (866) 443-8262 or click on the link (http://www.cmalliance.org/give/worker?name=Eggleton&country=Russia). Instructions for giving directly from a bank account or credit card can be found at http://www.cmalliance.org/give/direct.

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

PRAYER & PRAISE

Praise the Lord that Global Grounds has been registered. We still need a separate registration for the Community Center so please continue to pray for that.

Pray for the opening of hearts to the gospel and the wonderful message of eternal life.

You can always pray for our personal spiritual lives to deepen and for our obedience to the Lord to be heartfelt and more consistent.

And finally, please remember that giving to the Great Commission Fund is the way that we are supported to live and serve here.

Russia

Share