Warm greetings from Russia. It's been a while since we've sent out our last update. We do apologize for this long break and hope to do better in the future. We are glad to know that many of you have been praying for us over the past months. Thank you very much for your support.

The summer is over and our teams both in St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk enter the 'normal' routine. Our team in Novosibirsk has been very busy with all sorts of summer activities such as kids and student camps, a kids club with 80 children attending and the preparation ie start of new ministries... Also in our St. Petersburg team things have not been quiet although there's been no summer outreach this year due to the G8 happening in the city. (Read under our team sections below.) .

Both our teams in St. Petersburg as well as in Novosibirsk have seen people coming and going. We are glad that Tanya who served on Logos II for nearly two years joined the St. Petersburg taking over the bookkeeping from Chris. Chris (UK) who has been in Russia since 1992 and his wife Olga (Russian) and their two children are preparing to leave Russia within the next month. We've also had Volodya (Russian) and Silke (German) re-joining the team in St. Petersburg. David (UK) also moved on and has left the team in Novosibirsk. We are excited to welcome four new people who are joining OM Russia this month: Sue (US), Monty (US), Esther (NL) and Eun Jin (RSK). Please pray for those who left/are leaving and those joining as they all go through big transition..

In September 2006, the first group of eight students began studying at the OM Discipleship Centre in Novosibirsk. This Centre is a joint venture between OM and the Union of Baptist Churches in Novosibirsk. Its aim is to disciple young people so that they are motivated and equipped to live godly and disciplined lives and so that they will play their part in the evangelisation of the world – whether that be in Novosibirsk, another place in Siberia or beyond. The eight students are made up of 5 young ladies and 3 young men, some from local churches, others from further afield. The course will last 6 months and is residential, full time and intensive. A good part of the student’s time will be spent learning in the classroom, where a particular emphasis is placed on how to better understand, interpret, apply and teach the Bible. Plenty of time is also set aside in the timetable for quiet times, prayer and fasting days and worship. Each student has regular one-on-one tutorials in which they can discuss their spiritual growth. There is a large practical component to the course. Each week the students will be involved in some practical ministry in a local church, whether it be evangelism amongst students, leading Sunday school, preaching or meeting some other need in the church. Each month the students go off in teams to surrounding towns and villages in the Novosibirsk area to help out these ‘mission churches’.

Praise God for a good start of the first course, the details coming all together and the finance that came in to fund this project. Please pray the students to really enjoy this time of learning and stretching experience in their lives as well as for our OM staff (see photo) and those teaching.

Two members of OM’s Novosibirsk team, Sarah and Hyun Mi, recently moved from the city to the nearby town of Akademgorodok. Built in the 1950’s as a centre of Soviet learning, this town has a number of universities and research institutes. It is teeming with students and therefore a strategic place to do student work. June 16th saw the opening of the Student Christian Centre in Akademgorodok (this doubles up as Hyun Mi and Sarah’s flat!). We have started a weekly discussion group where students can discuss themes relevant to their lives and hear a Christian point of view on these topics. We have been very encouraged that each week a number of students, including non-Christians, have been attending. We pray that this will be a place where students will come to faith in Jesus and that through it we will see people added to the local church. The centre also runs activities such as an English club to serve the student community and to help build friendships. We hope that it provides a relaxed environment where people’s misconceptions about Christians and Christianity can be dispelled. At the end of August we joined other Christian students from Novosibirsk for a three-day conference to encourage and train people to share their faith. Pray for a good start of the academic year with a fresh sense of expectancy to see God at work in the university scene. Pray for the leadership team to develop and for more Russian students to become involved in this ministry.

It was funny when we read the names of those applied to attend Teen Street in the Czech Republic this year, as it was quite impossible to distinguish them by name. Out of thirteen applicants, 7 were called Masha, Anya or Misha. Quite unusual for such a small group of preople. J The rest of those who went were Viktor, Denis, Kirill, Lena, Daniel and their leader Natasha (a full time OMer). For us as the OM team in Russia, it’s a great joy to see Russians participating in Teen Street. This year we sent 13 young people, together with Natasha Markova, a Russian OMer from our St. Petersburg office, who organized this trip. After the group came back from Teen Street, they gathered again in the OM office for a debrief and to share their stories. In a lively fashion, with glowing faces and interrupting one another lots, they talked about their different adventures. To the question about what they found so special about Teen Street, they said it was impossible to say; all description would only be a poor reflection of what really happened. One of the Masha’s J put it this way: “It’s just impossible to describe what it was like.” We could see that something in the hearts of these teenagers had changed: their eyes and faces shone with joy. They were still absorbed by what had happened. Anya said, “Even now, when I look at my watch, I’m trying to remember what happened at this time of the day at Teen Street.” Another Anya added: “I’m still singing the songs we sang at Teen Street and the disc is constantly playing. Even now, when I enter a shop or caf?, it seems that the radio there is playing ‘our music’ too …” It seems obvious that Teen Street is a great investment in the lives of these young people. We can see that this conference will encourage and inspire our teens for a whole year. Kirill said: “The feelings after Teen Street will stay with us for the whole year.” And Anya, remembering the day of prayer with great emotion, added, “After the prayer day, for the first time ever, I felt so good inside… I just wanted to spend even more time in prayer.”

When we asked the question: “What did the conference to you personally?”, one of the Masha’s responded: “I decided to follow God!” Another Masha added: “My world has turned upside down! I’m new! I don’t know how to explain it…! There are so many emotions!” Misha said, “God answered all of my prayers!” And yet another Misha, touched by his memories of Teen Street, said, “It was so cool to live among real Christians for an entire week!” This of course only reflects a small part of all that has happened during this time at Teen Street. Thank you very much that you helped make it possible for our Russian Teenagers to travel to the Czech republic and be part of Teen Street 2006. We believe that this has made a huge impact - not only in the lives of these young people - but also in the future of Christianity in Russia.