Steve and Christy Volstad

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

May 2010

Dear Friends & Family,

Once again, we have let many months slip by without sending out an update. That’s easy to do while on Home Assignment, but we’ll make sure not to continue this trend once we return to Russia. Speaking of returning to Russia…

Our new assignment - We are anticipating returning to our adopted home city of Moscow in the third week of July. But although we’ll be back in Moscow, we’ve been given a new ministry assignment for this next term.

One bit of big news in The Alliance is the start of an entirely new region of ministry: Central Asia. Because of its geographical and cultural ties with this area of the world, Russia will be a part of that region. It's interesting to note that there are millions of immigrants from these countries living and working all around us in the big cities of Russia. In Moscow alone, the estimate is 3 million!

Over the last year, the Russia field has developed a vision to reach some of these peoples. It's a brand new ministry for the field, and it requires research into the best ways to reach out, finding the resources that are available, and the potential for connections with other such ministries in the country as well as with other fields within the region. Over the coming year, our field plans to begin outreach and church planting works in two of our cities, with possibly more to come. Our Field Leadership Team has asked us to be the lead couple in getting this going.

In many ways, it feels overwhelming to consider the needs of millions of Central Asian peoples who have never heard the Gospel, who are now within our reach. The potential scope of the ministry is huge. We need wisdom from the Lord to know how to get started.

In addition, for our first six months after returning, Crick will be working in our field office filling in for our Field Administrator who will be in the States.

Please pray for wisdom for us, and for the Lord to be preparing His harvest field.

Jessica’s 10! It’s hard to believe that our little girl, only 5 months old when we first went to Russia, is now 10 and finishing up 4th grade. We were able to celebrate her birthday with her “adopted” church, Scio Community Church in Ann Arbor, MI and then later here at home in PA with friends and family. We love her, and are so thankful for the great love that she has for Jesus.

Tour is almost over! We’re so thankful for all the opportunities we’ve had to speak in churches, camps, schools, and other groups over this year of furlough. Thanks to those of you who have hosted us during these many speaking engagements. It’s been a joy and privilege for us to see so many of you face-to-face during the time that we’ve been home. We wish that time would have allowed us to travel around and see all of you! Our hope was to be able to thank you in person for all you’ve done for us over this past decade of ministry in Russia and to share with you personally about all that God has done as a result of your prayers and giving. What an honor to share the stories of lives changed by God because of your partnership with us in Russia.

How you can help us prepare for our return - As we’ve shared with you in earlier prayer letters, returning to the mission field is a whole lot more than just packing up our belongings stateside. There is a lot that we need to do in order to get settled once we’re in Moscow, and we need your help and generosity in being able to do this.

• Outfit Fund – Our Outfit Fund provides us with money for clothing, furniture, appliances and other household needs. Since we sold, gave away or threw away several of our older things before leaving Russia last year, we will need to replace those. We will need between $2-3,000 to be able to replace those items, plus for buying clothing for our family (especially for our growing children) for this next 3-year term.
• Vehicle Fund – Since we sold our last car before returning for Home Assignment, we would like to buy another one in our first month or so after returning to Moscow. We still need to raise about $8,000 to have enough to buy a car.
• Work Specials Fund – This is our ministry budget, which allows us to do many things that we might not have personal funds for. Here’s how we’ve used Work Specials money in the past: helping someone in financial need, helping to fund leadership weekends, buying ministry resources, attending ministry conferences and paying for part or all of the cost for our Russian colleagues to attend, paying for food for meals and snacks during the Alpha Course and Scrapbooking and leaders meetings at the Open Door Church, etc. These are just a few of the ways that we’ve been able to use these monies for ministry, thanks to your great generosity over these years.

If you feel the Lord leading you to help us with any of these funds, here’s what you should do. Write out a check to: The C&MA; in the memo line write: Steve Volstad, Russia – then write which fund that you want to give to. If you attend an Alliance Church you can place this check in the weekly offering. If you don’t, please mail the check to: The C&MA, P.O. Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO. 80935-3500.

Thank you for praying for our family and our ministries and for your continued support of the Great Commission Fund of the Christian & Missionary Alliance! It is through your generous giving that our family and 800 other Alliance international workers are able to live and minister in the countries to which God has called us.

With love ,
Steve, Christy, Philip, William, and Jessica Volstad

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

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Russia

Approved Specials

If you wish to contribute to one of our specials (vehicle funds, building projects, etc.) you may select it from the Approved Specials List.

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