"Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell them, they would be too many to declare" (Ps. 40:5).

Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord!

Truly, the Lord has been very, very good and has done many wonderfull things amidst of us in this last half a year. Let me share some of them so that you can rejoice with us and pray for us and with us.

Locally in Vyborg and neighbouring areas

Vyborg center "House of Hope" is now up and running, hosting permanently 12-13 people on the average! We are very thankfull to the Lord for such a quick development, with center now not only executing rehabilitation program, but also helping local Churches, participationg in missionary activities and training young leaders. Much of the effort in establishing this center has been undertaken by our Norwegian friends from Si-REISER and their director Jon Teigan personally.

Starting of a women center somewhere nearby is a definite need we have now. Out of all six centers we have in Leningrad region, only one has women department. In February 2008 we are expanding it with the help of University Presbyterian Church from Seattle, Washington. Nevertheless the need is even bigger, and we certainly need to start thinking about one more center right now.

Some kind of premises are needed in Vyborg that can be used:

• as a home for Second Baptist Church.
• as a temporary post-rehab settlement for brothers graduating from centers. For several months they can live together, work, adapt for life "in the world". At this current moment we have two brothers in Vyborg with such need and third one is returning at the end of February.
• as an office for social and missionary work.

Right now we hope to temporarily rent a two-three room flat for these purposes.

Church planting work is has also been started in two locations: Vyborg (Southern part of the city) and Voroshilovo village (near Svetogorsk). In both places there are stable groups with participants enthusiastic about bringing people to Christ and receiving them into fellowship.

Plans are that Second Baptist Church will be organized out of the first of them the end of this year. With several men returning these months from Rehab centers as new believers and some of their parents coming to Christ also our biggest prayer is for them to be established in faith, baptised and incorporated into the Body of Christ.

At least two more Rehab centers are needed in Leningrad region in addition to the existing six ones. These, as you can see by yellow house symbols on the map, have to be placed in the areas not yet covered with social ministry. Negotiations with mayor in Slantsy (one of these places) has begun several months ago, with no certain results yet.

Total number of centers in the North-West region has reached 12, and those of them outside of Leningrad area are mostly in their early stages of development and require constant help and attention. Here we have been blessed by Christian friends from Sweden and Finland who help us with food and clothes, delivering them to the centers. For the end of February we are planning a long-range trip with them to deliver help to remote centers. Our route would be Volhov - Tihvin - Ustuzhna (Vologda region) - Rybinsk (Jaroslavl region).

Four regions in the North-West are still without a single Rehabilitation center. Those regions that have centers normally need more than one or two they have now.

For the evaluation of the seriousness of drug abuse problem in Russia see Human Rights Watch report, which says in part: "Russian health policies are failing to adequately treat drug addiction, compounding the country's serious illicit drug use and drug dependence problem and further putting drug users at increased risk... Russia faces a serious illicit drug use and drug dependence problem. Several million people in Russia are believed to be drug users, and hundreds of thousands of them are dependent on drugs". Full article.

Prayer needs for the ministry

• Training of new leaders. This cannot be purchased at any price - and they are crucial for expanding the ministry. Please pray for the Bible school for leaders and their helpers that was started this year for this purpose. Pray for funding and that God would call many devoted young men and women to follow Him sacrificially, as He has shown us in Christ.
• Transportation. A constant challenge. Old worn-out cars, mostly made in Russia (where quality is not their best side). Please pray that the Lord provide. Another challenge is transportation expences. Four unreached regions in the North-West are the most remote. Something have to be done in order to start the work even there.
• Social-friendly Churches. We use this term (maybe not in the best appropriate way) to talk about congregation which would be able to lovingly and with care receive people converted to the Lord from unsocial past (drugs, criminal life, etc.) Many of our boys at centers have tasted so much these evils in their lives. Some have HIV or other chrinic seeknesses. When they return back "into the world" what they need most is a loving Church family. We pray for that and hope that some of the congregations with such a heart will be started through our social ministry.

Below is a link to a prayer letter, which you can print out and pray for various specific needs of our ministry. If this is what you can help us with - know, this is the most important help we get.

Prayer letter #2 (October 2007 - March 2008).

My family

The Lord has been very good to our family this year, as, by the way, He has been always. But we would like to thank Him this year once again for all he has done for us in many ways. For all His blessings. For many friends, through whom we have received lots of love, encouragement and help. Thank you, dear beloved friends!

Please continue to pray that we can move out from a shared flat we are occupying now to some better place. This is quite a burden, especially to my wife and children.

God bless you all and use in His work around the world.

Yours in Christ Jesus. Valera.

Some of the major events of this year you can find on our web site:

Baptism in Central Baptist Church in Saint-Petersburg on June 24, 2007. A blessed event (actually one of the many) when graduates from Rehab centers receive holy baptism among other new believers.

http://vyborgbaptist.tripod.com/id30.html

Builders from Norway help renovate «House of Hope» - a new Rehabilitation center near Vyborg. Full story - how it all started, what have been done:

http://vyborgbaptist.tripod.com/id41.html

An exploratory expedition to Pskov region, whish has a highest rate of male mortality caused by alcoholism in Russia. Plans are to start two Rehab centers there during the year 2008:

http://vyborgbaptist.tripod.com/id36.html

P.S.: It is such a blessing to be able to witness how good is our God to those who put their trust in Him. On this picture you see one of our families, where both parents are ex drug addicts. It has been taken about 3 months ago. If you would like to see how it was before in the life of Sveta (left), follow the link below.

http://vyborgbaptist.tripod.com/id21.html 

Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists of Russia
Rehabilitation Centers for drug and alcohol addicts
http://vyborgbaptist.tripod.com/ (English)
http://vyborgbaptist.googlepages.com/ (Russian)
http://www.narcostop.org/ (Russian)