Steve and Christy Volstad

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

August 2011

Dear Friends & Family,

Summer has somehow flown by, and we find ourselves already 4 days into the kid’s new school year at Hinkson Christian Academy here in Moscow. Philip, who will turn 16 in a month, has just begun 11th grade. The countdown is on, as our oldest now only has two years left with us before graduating. William (13) is now in 8th grade, and Jessica (11) is in 6th. When we arrived in Russia 11 years ago, Philip was in Kindergarten, William was 2 and Jessica was a mere 5 months old. My, how time flies!

We trust that these months have gone well for you, and that you have found time this summer to be renewed and refreshed in the Lord.

Rainbow Camp, Ulyanovsk, Russia
The boys and Steve had a great opportunity to spend 4 days out in Ulyanovsk, Russia, about 500 miles east of Moscow, from July 8-12. They went out with 3 men from the Western PA District to help develop a partnership between AMCEC (one of the C&MA’s partner churches in Russia) and the WPA District. One aspect of this partnership is going to be the renovation of an old children’s Pioneer Camp, where communist ideology was taught to the campers during Soviet days. Now that AMCEC has purchased the camp, the true answer to all of life’s problems, Jesus, is being taught. Praise the Lord for this!

We look forward to the next group of pastors/leaders coming to Russian in November. The focus on that trip will be growing a vision to partner with our Central Asian (CA) ministry here in Moscow, as well as leadership training for AMCEC’s pastors.

Open Door
Open Door Church continues to do well. We thank the Lord that although we have new ministries that keep us from being very involved in the life of the church, that we are still able to invest in lives a little bit.
Please pray for Steve, as he will be preaching at Open Door next Sunday, August 28.

Women’s Ministries Trip
We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a team of Alliance Women from Crick’s home church, First Alliance in Erie, PA, in just 3 weeks. When the team of four ladies arrive, they will be joining us in several ministry opportunities here in Moscow. We will be putting on a clothing drive for CA’s where we expect to distribute clothing to up to 100 people, as well as serve them a light meal. The team will also be conducting some Women’s Leadership training for the Open Door church. This event will be a one-day workshop including helpful training sessions and a luncheon. The women will also be assisting Crick in a ministry through the Moscow Pregnancy Resource Center, preparing “starter baskets” for new and expecting moms. Do any of these ministries sound interesting to you? Maybe it’s time for you to consider participating in a short-term missions experience yourself! Or would you like to help these types of ministries continue by supporting us with a financial gift? Please make note of the information at the end of our prayer letter to see how that can be done. Thank you!

Please be in prayer for the Erie FAC AW Short-term Team coming next month and the various ministries they will be participating in with us. Please pray, too, for the people we will be ministering to during that time. Join us in praying for safe travels and good health for this team.

More Travels Coming Up
These next 2 months hold a lot of travels for Steve. We’d appreciate your prayers for him, and also for Crick and the kids while he’s gone. Here’s his schedule:
• Sep. 2-4 - St. Petersburg, Russia. He’ll be spending time with Donnie & Blythe Mason, who recently returned after a year in the States and have now begun ministering to CA’s in St. Pete. He will also be meeting with the CA leaders that the Masons are partnering with in 2 different church planting projects.
• Sep. 16-30 – PA. & N.J. The main purpose for this trip is to attend the WPA District Conference, Sep. 27-29, when the big “kick-off” to the partnership between the district and our region will be taking place. He will also be preaching in two key partner churches: First Alliance Church in Erie, PA, Sep. 18, and Living Faith Alliance Church in Vineland, NJ, Sep. 25.
• Oct. 3-12 – A few days after returning, Steve will travel with a team to the different cities in which the Alliance works in Russia, as well as to Kiev, Ukraine, to help in a Strategic Field Review. This is something each Alliance field goes through every 5 years as we literally evaluate ourselves as a field and as individual workers, to be sure that we’re headed in the direction that God wants us to be going. Please pray that the Lord will give us real wisdom on this trip, and that we as a field would deal well with the results of this review.
• Oct. 14-17 – England. Steve & Crick will be going to England for a weekend conference dealing with ministry to M’s.

How You Can Help Us Take These Trips
The two most costly trips on this list, to the U.S. and England, will need to be covered out of our Work Specials Fund. In all, they will probably cost about $3,000 total, including airfare, accommodations, food, registration for the conference, transportation in-country, etc. If you would like to help offset these costs, please do the following:

Write out a check to: The C&MA; in the memo line write: Volstad – Russia, Work Specials Fund. 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 the role you are playing in pushing back the darkness!

With love,
Steve, Christy, Philip, William, and Jessica
(Please Do Not Post This Letter To Any Other Website, Including Church Websites. Thank You)

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

No information provided at this time.

Russia

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