Sunday, June 28, 2009

We shared in Church today about the camps. This small Church collected more than R2000 rand for the camps! WOW Please pray for the camps!!!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Praise the Lord! We were getting ready to go when we got a call saying "come pick up your documents, NO FINE, NO PROBLEMS" GOD IS GOOD!!!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Train & Registration

The vastness of Russia.
It is about 8'000km from Russia's border with Poland to the Kuril Island in the East. The Federation covers 11 time zones.
If you were to flip the African continent on it's side it will fit snugly into Russia!
Even though there are only a couple of cellphone operators working this vast field you will inevitably end up paying for roaming if you were to use your Moscow SIM card in Abakan.
So, hence when traveling in Russia you end up building a collection of SIM cards. Which will be completely useless the next time you visit this amazingly massive country!
Our new numbers:
Albert  +7 903 917 2314
Natasha +7 903 917 2297
Yesterday morning at 4am (SA time) we got up and dragged ourselves to the church service. (Photo included.)
The church is small, but on fire! Had a lengthy chat with the pastor afterwards.
In this area where half of the church is running after idols and the other half after money, it is good to see a pastor that is standing up for the truth and that has a heart after the Lord!
Please pray for the Churches!!! Pray for purity and holiness. Pray for the Lord's Spirit to move in the Church!
We took the night train from Krasnoyarsk to Abakan (the big city near Natasha's parents' home).
In the section with us there was a lady who had just come from Krasnoyarsk where her nine year old son was lying in the hospital.
There is something wrong with his heart and they need to do an operation.
She does however not have the money to do the opp, so in the mean time he is just lying there under observation with the bill running up.
Looks like a very desperate catch 21 situation!!!
The whole time she travels to and fro visiting him. Also not cheap!!!
What was amazing is that just in the short time on the train she opened up and told us her life story. Normally this doesn't happen. We asked if we can pray for her.
To my surprise she said "yes".
Please pray that the Lord will heal Anton!
Her older son was also in an accident and had a massive wound on his head. Something went wrong with his eye. Not sure what the problem was... but please pray for Michael as well!
Yesterday I went to do my registration.
PROBLEM! There is something wrong with this now.
We went there today, and gave in the documents and were promptly told that we have to come tomorrow again. Then they will decide what to do with me.
They can fine me up to 2'000ruble!
Please pray that all will be right and that there will not be any problems tomorrow when we go.
Enough for now!
May the Lord bless you
Albert & Natasha in Russia

Please pray! There seems to be problem with my registration!!! Going in tomorrow to hear what they say.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Made it to Natasha's parents!!! This place is amazing... beautiful! Train trip was great. Prayed for lady - will blog later more about it.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Pleasantly surprised!!!

Aeroflot out did themselves!
We flew with a new Airbus and the staff was well trained and pleasant.
There was one hick up... but the problem was not on Aeroflot's side.
The bus taking us to the plane stopped at the plane, but didn't open the doors for about 10min.
With people getting very irritated standing in the bus waiting.
Eventually they opened the doors and let us in.
Later I asked the hostess what happened.
They had prepped the wrong plane for the flight. The documents wasn't in order.
Can you believe it... not just us meer mortals gets stopped for our documents.
Praise the Lord we didn't have to go back and wait while they change planes!!!
So, we had a great flight and are now at friend of Natasha's waiting for our train further.
Be Blessed!
Al

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Just a short note... The first couple of days in the country has been both great and very challenging!
It is great to be back in Russia and to see all the familiar places & faces, but the realisation of the poverty some of the people are living in and just the hopelessness some are walking around with is heart breaking!
We have a list of things to do while in Moscow that is as long as my arm... and with just two days left we have only reached as far as the hand.
Praise the Lord we got some cheap flights to Krasnoyarsk!!! This way we will be able to fly most of the way to Siberia and then travel just a bit further by train.
If it wasn't for that we would have had to spend three days on the train! Praise the LORD!!!
Please pray that we will be able to get to meet with everybody the Lord wants us to... and that we will not be distracted by all kinds of "dead ends".
Pray for our safety. We will fly with Aeroflot. Nice!
You can go and see some more photos at www.facebook.com/APote
Blessings!
Albert Pote
+7 916 879 0301
BB pin:25651104
albert@ngel.su
www.a.ngel.su

Thursday, June 04, 2009

News Letter Revived

Well, here we are, more than a year since my last news letter.
Boet was always hounding me to send out news and keep the people informed, but although I had lots of news and developments I didn't quite feel like it was Ministry in Russia news.
Now we, Natasha and I, are on our way back to Russia for three months.
After almost a year and a half in South Africa the Lord has opened the doors for us.
Again we will go to help Ernst out at the Summer Camps in Bolshoi Ozero in the Krsnoyarsk Region.
Ernst has been fighting some battles there and I think it will be good for us to go and lift up his arms a bit - encourage him and his wife.
We will also help and take part in the camps. Be it small group leaders, drivers, cooks or whatever, being with the children and showing them love through our daily lives is what is needed.
Ernst normally takes a bunch of children from the orphanages for the holidays and does various ten day programs with them. In previous years I've been we have seen up to 250 kids come and go in a season.
This year however the camps will look a bit different. We will take less children, but have longer more intense camps with them. Hopefully making a deeper impact on them.
The sad thing is just that there is such a great need, and nobody is stepping up to the plate to fulfil the need. Just in our region there is more than 600 orphans in the orphanages!

We will also take with some clothes and toys to the children in the orphanages.
We already have some people donating things. Many people in Moscow also committed to giving clothes and toys.
Another thing I'm hoping to do is build a couple of play grounds at the orphanages.
Just some basic stuff like swings and see-saws made of wood, painted nice bright colours.
If you see what the buildings look like you will understand why this is needed.

Prayer points:
• Praise the Lord for all the documents and the finances needed to get there!!! We got two big donations covering the flights and travelling in Russia. Thank you!
• Pray for good relationships and lots of chances to speak into the lives of the children.
• Pray for more people in Moscow to donate clothing and toys.
• Pray for finances to build at least three playgrounds.
• Please pray for the Lords protection as we are travelling.

Thank you
Be blessed
Albert & Natasha Pote
albert@ngel.su

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