On the night of the 2nd of November 16 members of JE began their journey by train to Astrakhan. For the past few days leading up to the trip we have been meeting up to pray for God's protection, favour, and providence . True to His word, God answered our prayers. We were able to buy the train tickets through some of the students did not have their passport with them. It was a miracle how we were able to board the train without any problems, considering the fact that we had no "spravka” with us (permission to travel).
Upon arrival, we were greeted by Natasha and Dennis,( our host from the church in Astrakhan). We gathered to pray and worship before setting out to the streets to distribute the astrakhan edition of Wassup! At first it looked as thought it would rain as the weather report forecasted, as we began to pray it only drizzle slightly and the sun came up in the afternoon. The people we met on the streets were friendly on the whole and some even struck up conversations. They were curious to know what a bunch of foreign students were doing on the streets distributing newsletters. We walked for more than 2 hours and made our way to the Kremlin. After distributing the newsletter, we visited the international students from the medical and technical universities in their hostels. There we made friends with students from India, Africa, Vietnam and Egypt, among them were Farai, Kemke, Noah and Muhammad. We invited them to the concert the following day.
In the evening, we gathered with JE astrakhan members for a time of fellowship, praise and sharing. The meeting began with a game which broke the ice and got the people warmed up. Next was praise and worship led by Kelvin and the AO1 band. Xun Jin shared a message of how only God can heal and restore the hurts and losses in our lives. The meeting ended in a joyous mood, with everyone mixing and talking with each other.
On the following day, we joined our host church for Sunday morning service. “Impressions of God” drama team from Jesus embassy performed a drama entitled “everything”, portraying the desperate and unfathomable love of Christ which He promises to all, freely, if only we would accept Him into our lives. This was followed by sharing on giving by our leader, Dennis. The pastor preached an eye-opening truth based on the book of Job: It is we who make openings in the "hedge of protection" that God places around us when we disobey him by sinning.
The student concert kicked off with a time of praise and worship led by the Russian youth from Astrakhan. This was followed by a dance from the Spirit of David team. Kelvin shared about the story of Bartimaeus from Mark10:46, that if you seek God and are desperate for him despite what people say, you will see miracles and blessings in your life. The meeting ended with a time of refreshments and fellowship. It was a sad time bidding goodbye to our friends as we left for the train station. Indeed it is amazing how God can use a group of international students in a foreign land. Truly we can never thank God enough for the blessings and the coolness of being his children and serving him. We truly believe and pray that God will raise up a generation of students in Astrakhan who will be passionate for Christ and for the salvation of their friends.
By: Johanan Lawrence.