Bob and Lisa Merrill

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

October 15, 2008

It is hard to believe we have been back in Russia for 8 weeks. There are several critical issues facing our mission at this time. On top of that, the financial situation that has spread across America is just now hitting Russia. They say there is never a dull moment living in Russia.

My trip to Tyumen and Tobolsk was great. It is exciting to see new faces in the churches and to hear how the church is growing. The Tyumen church is going to start renting a meeting hall for Sunday services. They have been meeting in the pastor's apartment but with 30 people coming to the services it was getting pretty crowded. I went with Pastor Sasha and we found a good hall to rent for a great price ($400/mo) that can seat 50 people. They are really excited.

Oct 19th the Tobolsk Church will be celebrating their 17th year anniversary. Those of you that were able to hear Bob share during tour this past year heard the incredible story of Pastor Timofei and his family. The Tobolsk church continues to impact their city and region with the good news of Jesus Christ. One of the highlights of this special celebration will be the ordination of Pastor Sasha.

In the old city Tobolsk church (where we helped build the Social center) they have over 70 people coming to church on Sundays. And half of those are Tartars, Tajiks and Uzbeks. The Social center is full of activity and is ministering to a lot of people. We talked about starting a Saturday night service just for those from a Muslim background. That part of the city is run down and these people live in pretty bad conditions so it is exciting to see the church reaching out to them. They are already beginning to pray about building a bigger room for church services.

Then I was able to go to the Rehab center. They have started the roof and have it half way completed. They are waiting until we can buy more supplies to finish it. They have windows and outside doors so we are hoping to have it enclosed before winter sets in. They are planning to install the electrical and heating/plumbing system during the winter months. After the snow thaws a team from Woodinville Alliance will come next spring to hang the drywall. Then the Rehab center will be ready to begin ministry.

After my trip to Tyumen/Tobolsk I came home and participated in leadership meetings here in Moscow. We are having problems with visas for some of our team who live in Southern Russia. They were just told their visas will not be valid after the first of the year. Here in Moscow the situation seems more stable. Our family will be traveling to Madrid, Spain Oct 25th to receive new work visas. We have been told that we should not encounter any problems receiving these visas but the laws seem to change on a weekly basis so please continue to be in prayer for us.

After these meetings I boarded a train to Kiev, Ukraine. We are going to start a new church planting project there and I went to check out the city and find an apartment for our team that will be moving there. It was so interesting to see the difference between Russia and Ukraine since Ukraine is more open and western leaning. You could feel the difference just walking down the streets.

This week will be the first opportunity we have to meet with the local church pastor that we will be working with here in Moscow. Over 12 million people call Moscow home and yet it is one of the least reached cities for Christ in all of Europe. Pray for wisdom as we begin to develop this relationship. More on this church in our next update.

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Russia

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