MISIS UBF Pioneering Mission Report, Moscow
“When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?’ ‘Yes, Lord,’ he said, ‘you know that I love you.’ Jesus said, ‘Feed my lambs’” (Jn 21:15).
The pioneering of the MISIS chapter started in October 2008 by M. Elijah K.’s and Andrew C.’s families, who were sent out from the Moscow chapter. MISIS stands for Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloy. But M. Elijah was suddenly called by God to heaven in January 2010 through leukemia. He finished his pilgrim life at the age of 47. His life can be summarized in one word from 2 Ti 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” M. Elijah bought the center building, laid the foundation for the pioneering ministry for one year, and then went to heaven. His homecoming ceremony taught us that we must be ready spiritually and live every day prepared to stand before the Lord.
In the middle of February 2010, my family joined the MISIS chapter to make a vessel of the Holy Spirit with the other co-workers. M. Andrew and I took turns delivering the Sunday worship service message. Even though it was difficult to prepare the message and be self-supporting, I received God’s grace through deep Bible study. We took John 21:15 as the key verse for our chapter and prayed for each missionary to have one Bible student. We have prayer meetings every Friday evening at 9:00 pm in the center and go out to meet students every Saturday afternoon. After that, we have Bible study and testimony sharing among missionaries. Usually, the women missionaries go out to invite students to Bible study while the men missionaries concentrate on preparing messages and on being self-supporting. On Sunday, we have a children’s worship service at 11 am and the adult’s service at 1:00 pm. Luke C., a second generation missionary, plays piano for the Sunday worship service, and the women missionaries prepare a delicious lunch for after the service.
We finished the Matthew’s gospel before the summer Bible conference, and after the conference, we studied Genesis 1-11. From August 27-29, we had our first summer Bible conference with the title, “God’s salvation,” at the center. Every co-worker participated in the conference by preparing more than one program. Five missionaries, 3 second gens, and 3 Bible students participated. Through this we learned independent faith. Sister Ira and Kristina faithfully study the Bible and attend the Sunday worship service. Brother Balera only attended the conference. Sister Ira is M. Josephina’s Bible student. She majored in oboe and is now studying economics and works at the same time. Sister Kristina is M. Anna’s sheep. They need much prayer to grow spiritually through faithful 1:1 Bible study. We pray for them to grow to be Jesus’ disciples and to be mothers of prayer and good shepherds of God’s flock in God’s time.
The MISIS center is located in the suburb of Moscow. We are building the center little by little. At present, we are using a space heater, but we are praying to install a permanent heating system. We are also praying for an asphalt pavement for the main street in this year.
During this past year, we made a vessel of the Holy Spirit with the other missionaries. Through Bible study and prayer meetings, we tried to get to know one another and co-work together. M. Anna took over M. Elijah’s travel agency business. She has been working hard to take care of her four children all by herself. Due to a lack of much business experience, she has had a hard time dealing with many customers. She went through several crises, but God helped her to solve all the problems. She needs our continuous prayer.
This year we pray that we may not get entangled by our jobs, children’s education, and other worldly affairs. We pray we may love God more and feed God’s flock. May God bless the MISIS chapter abundantly in this year. May God help us to have faith that challenges this year. Hallelujah Amen.
Prayer Topics:
1) Raise one ancestor of faith like Samuel
2) John’s gospel messages and our self-supporting ministry
3) Install permanent heating system
One Word: Do you love me? Feed my sheep!