We, along with James & Marie Lottering hosted a fabulous “Evening in a Russian home” on Thursday evening in the Covenant Centre.  We ate Russian food, played Russian gospel music, shared about the food and culture with some funny moments in a slide show, and we shared about our lives and ministry there.

James spoke about his 2 1/2 week mission trip to us in December – it was SO GOOD to hear a “visitor’s” views and perception of Russia and its precious people.  My heart swelled with emotion and longing, as I looked “from the outside” at the fabulous DVD of his ministry there.  To hear our friends and see the places where we work for the Lord on DVD was amazing.  So many asked us please to do such an evening again!  I can say with confidence that ALL enjoyed the evening.

Those of you who came and those who gave – THANK YOU – for sharing in our lives and ministry.  The donations we received at the dinner cover our South African mission trip so far from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town – and Cape Town to Johannesburg.  We’ll deal with the rest of the trip later.

We leave next Sunday morning the 14th March by bus to Cape Town in time for me to attend the Colour me Beautiful Course from Monday to Friday.  I only have half the amount needed to pay for the course, but they were happy to accept what I have so far with me paying the rest off as I am able – GOOD!

Early Saturday morning the 20th we fly to JHB to be on time for Geoffrey’s 3rd birthday party!  Happy Ouma and Oupa – this is the first time we are able to attend his birthday celebration.

Do keep us in prayer if you are able to – we are so excited about “the road ahead”.

Until we chat again,

Love,

Judy

It is Spring-time!! The temperatures have risen just above 0 degrees Centigrade and the snow has started to melt.

We had a wonderful time of ministering this last Sunday at Rasa church’s teenager service. We are in awe of what God is doing in the group.

Monday and Tuesday we attended a conference for church pastors just outside of Moscow. There we were also encouraged to see what God is doing in different churches in Russia.

Many pastors again expressed their huge need for someone to work amongst the young generation in their cities, but they have no one who can lead their youth ministries. The people are there, but they don’t know how to lead the ministries. A number of pastors desire to send people to the MOTIVI-TRI training, but they do not have the finances. YOU can impact churches and cities by supporting a student in prayer and financially. Please pray with us for this project and let us know if you want to support a student financially.

This coming Sunday I will preach in the city of Obninsk in the church where I preached the very first time when I came to Russia. I am very excited at the prospect of seeing those people again. Please pray also for Olesya who will translate for me.

God bless you and live the life of abundance!!

Corrie & Olesya Zaayman

John Tyrell, pastor of Hednesford AoG,  & Leigh Goodwin flew to Moscow on 16th October. The next day we went down to Tula by minibus. Tula is a city of about 500,000 approx 200 kms south of Moscow. Leigh’s contacts there are Gertjan & Judy Pelleboer, South Africans who Leigh taught at ASM. They are part of the church & support pastor Sasha (Alexander). The church share the building with another church for Sunday meetings so this limits their activities. We joined the church for a wonderful social event on the Saturday evening to celebrate pastor Sasha’s 40th birthday. John Tyrell ministered on the Sunday am & Leigh brought a prophetic word about the growth of the church. In the evening Leigh brought some teaching to a small leadership team. The pastor indicated that he would like further specific input into the church there that related to leadership development. We then travelled back on Monday am to Moscow to link in with Hugo Van Niekerk’s assistant pastor Olga Samarina. Olga talked us through the rest of the trip’s arrangements.

OMSK

On Tuesday am Leigh flew out to Omsk the main city in Western Siberia. Leigh linked in with pastor Yury Liberov at the Way of Light church in the city. Leigh stayed with the pastor’s family during his visit & it gave him a good cross-cultural experience.The main purpose was to minister at this church’s 10th anniversary celebration. The church has grown & is looking to establish a rehab centre out in Okunevo 250kms north of Omsk to reach a very rural area. Leigh was able to visit this village & pray with the Omsk leadership. Yury is supported by a young Christian businessman called Ivan Orekhov. Ivan is CEO of a developing Internet Support Services business, he also makes programmes for one of the Christian TV channels in Russia (since Leigh’s return to UK he was on the CNL TV Christian channel news regarding his involvement in the Omsk church’s 10th anniversary). Leigh identifies Ivan as a key person to stay in touch with to encourage that can influence the church there.

Leigh preached in the Way of Light church twice & also preached in a large church in the city called Harvest church. They had about 300 people in attendance on a midweek evening service. This church has an excellent leadership team with the senior pastor Sergey Gorbenko also functioning as the apostolic leader for the Pentecostal churches in the city. He is a dynamic young leader that is bringing the leaders & churches together in Omsk. Leigh was very encouraged by both this church & the leaders meeting that he attended at the Trinity church in Omsk. There was about 20 leaders came together from 12 Pentecostal churches with a good spiritual atmosphere & sense of unity among them. He met another young church leader from Omsk Calvary church at this meeting called Max Gorbunov who spoke good English. There is an open invitation back to the churches in Omsk & to partner with them. Although there are some good growing churches in Omsk they recognise that proportionately to the size of the city of 1M people they need to grow the churches even further. Omsk is a key city on the Irtysh river & also on the Trans-Siberian railway, to the north of Kazakhstan. It is about 3 hours on the plane from Moscow & 3 hour time difference. Although no-one queried Leigh’s visa to enter Omsk, it is still regarded as a closed city & people were surprised that he easily accessed it.

KHABAROVSK

He then returned to Moscow to fly the next day to Khabarovsk. Khabarovsk is a 9 hour flight from Moscow close to the NE Chinese border. It is the capital of the Far East of Russia & consequently it is also a strategic city to influence the Far East region. There is a 7 hour time difference between Moscow & Khabarovsk which does need to be factored in to travel planning. Leigh came back too exhausted & jet lagged. The suggestion for the future would be that Khabarovsk be a destination in itself & could be accessed from Korea, Japan or Beijing as there are flights in from those locations. Khabarovsk is further east than China, Korea, Taiwan and Phillipines.

Khabarovsk was different to other Russian cities Leigh had been to in that it was very clean comparatively and also had much stronger ties to an Asian ethnicity and identity than Europe. His time in Khabarovsk was very well organised by the JC church headed up by Yuri Ilchenko. The JC church is a dynamic fast growing missional church of over 500 people. It has a very professional & contemporary feel to it along the lines of a Russian Hillsong type of church. They are also strongly influenced by South Korea & the emphasis of prayer. This church is influencing the whole Far East region with regular conferences to seek a spiritual awakening & revival. These conferences pull in leaders from all over the region, including Koreans, & many different denominations. There is a strong sense of anticipation that this church is an Antioch church that is destined to impact this region.

Leigh preached 3 times in the church & 3 times in village churches. He spoke at a combined service between a Presbyterian & Pentecostal church in Khor village. Rev. Vlad Oktanko was of Nunnai ethnicity – the local indigenous people group. The Christian Renaissance Church in Khor was headed up by Pastor Alexandr Gorbachev. The small church in Vyazemskiy town was led by a lady pastor called Lyubov. These churches were very encouraged to have someone come from England to minister. JC church provided the driver & interpreter for this ministry to happen. It showed their heart to desire to bless the rural churches who they have a good relationship with. Pastor Yuri gave invitation for both Leigh & other UK leaders to go out there. Particularly there is an invitation to teach in their Bible Institute that offers modules towards a Bachelor’s degree offered by the training institute in Kiev. During his time in Khabarovsk he stayed with a young couple Victor & Oxana. Victor served him with excellence the whole time he was there as a chauffeur & guide.

ARMAVIR

John Tyrell went down to Armavir to work with Paula O’ Keefe at Living Waters centre. Armavir is a small city in Southern Russia close to the Black Sea & is part of the Caucasian region. John went down to Armavir on the train from Moscow, which is not to be advised again. It was a 30 hour trip & was fraught with lots of difficulties. It also drew the attention of the police to him as they immediately sought him out on the train to check his documentation. Consequently John arranged to fly back to Moscow at the end of the trip & it worked out as not much difference in the price. John was fully involved in the daily vision & ministry of the centre. He slept there in the centre & contributed financially to his stay. The centre has a 3 fold purpose – to meet the counselling needs of people traumatised by conflict in the region; to pray for the region & to train people to be missionaries in that region. There are opportunities from this ministry for John to return & also possibly go into Azerbaijan. John ministered effectively in local churches & saw a good response to his ministry. John is looking to partner his church with this ministry at Armavir in the future to take people out there as he sees the strategic value of this ministry for the Caucasus region.

Please pray for the loved ones and flock of these martyred Christians. Please pray also for millions of Christians that fear for their lives every day. Pray for Orissa state and for India.

“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (Joh 15:18,19)

Do you really think I love Jesus?

Do I love Jesus if I am still so much engaged in securing my own comfort and future – striving to fulfill my own desires while I walk amongst millions of dead people, destined for eternal destruction?

If I really love Jesus I would share His passion and we know to what heights His passion took Him – on top of the cross, on top of Golgotha where He gave up His everything so that others can be saved.

Do I have the same passion as Jesus?

This was the question I was confronted with over and over again when we visited Egypt and the cold parts of Russia recently.

Egypt is very much a Godless country. We were looking out for any sign of the impact the King of all kings and almighty Savior has on the world, but we couldn’t find any. We found a few Egyptians who said they are ‘Christians’. One was reading the Bible and I got very excited. “Oh, you know Jesus?”, I asked. Yes and He pointed me to a picture of a man painted on a little wooden block hanging on the wall. “Ok, but do you know Him personally and is He alive in your heart?”. “Yes, there He is” while he pointed to the paint on the wood. They got very excited when they shared the greatest news they received from Cairo: Mary, the mother of Jesus appeared in physical form and is living in Cairo now. Oh no! There is only one Way to the Father! There is only one person who paid for the sins of the world and can forgive them their sins! They wanted to hear nothing of this great news. They read the Bible, but they are so blinded by the deceiver.

Jesus still loves them so much that His passion for them will drive Him to the cross again.

Do I have the same passion as Jesus?

We visited the church in the town of Verkhnyaya Salda situated in the Ural Mountains. There are 250 people in the church and the town has a population of about 50 000. This is the only church in the whole town. They are surrounded by smaller towns and villages. In one town there is a group of 8 believers while there is no believer and no church in any of the other towns and villages. Thousands of people who do not even know about the passion and love He has for them.

Do I have the same passion as Jesus?

We were so encouraged and challenged at the same time by the church in Verkhnyaya Salda. It was not difficult to see where their vision and passion lie. Every Christian we met had this burning desire to see people saved in their own town as well as in the other towns around them. Their own lives and comfort are not important to them at all. They live to see God’s Kingdom established on the earth. It was a privilege to preach to them and encourage them from the Word of God to keep running with the Good News. But, I was very much challenged myself.

Do I really love Jesus?

We went further to visit the church in Izhevsk. Izhevsk is the capital city of the Udmurt Republic. The Udmurt people originally came from Europe, but they fled eastward because of persecution. They settled next to the Ural Mountains, but they still carry the same curse. They are still despised and rejected by society and group themselves in small communities where there is no work. They have no hope for the future and developed a culture where men and women alike are drinking from morning till evening.

Jesus loves them and has compassion for them.

Do I have the same passion as Jesus?

We were just as much encouraged by the church in Izhevsk. There are a lot of young people and they are on fire to preach the Gospel. It is their priority to go out to the unreached people groups and they reach out to them in very difficult circumstances. They do not go because they have the time, or money, or the cars, or the means to do this. Most often they go out by faith in spite of having to travel in difficult terrain to reach the lost who are casted out by society. I saw something of the passion of Jesus in those young Christians and I was greatly challenged.

Do I have the same passion as Jesus?

Jesus looked at the crowds and had compassion on them. The harvest is indeed plentiful and the workers are few. Pray with us that God can send out more workers into the harvest.

You and I need each other to fulfill what God has called us to do. God has called us to disciple leaders for the young generation and mobilize more young people to bring in the harvest.

In the next newsletter I will share more on how we are going about to do what God has called us to do.

Please take a look at our website: www.misrusyouth.com

Thank you for your faithful prayers, letters and financial support.

We love you,

Corrie and Olesya

Greetings from Singapore in Jesus’ wonderful name!

The Lord is blessing us – me and Mario Steyn from Lewende Woord – in this incredible city.

I have never seen a city like Singapore – it is a super city without comparison.  As many of you know, God has shown me that one of three church planting bases – the other being in Moscow and Mumbai – will be established in Singapore.  During my meeting with key leaders here, it has been confirmed that God has showed them that this city-state will become like Antioch (see Acts 13) to Asia.

We are making progress here much quicker than I could ever have hoped for.  Still, the most important purpose of this trip is to listen to the Father as He is revealing more about the future of this church planting base to us.

Thank you for praying with us!  We are all standing together to see the multitudes of the nations of Asia come into the Kingdom of God.

Once back in Moscow, I will write in more detail.

In Christ,
Hugo

Dear friends and co-labourers in the Kingdom,

By now many of you have heard about the incredible doors the Lord has opened to us in India.  More than 300 pastors in the province of Andhra Pradesh, East of Hyderabad, have decided to come under the cover of Kingdom Global.  This is the result of a series of events orchestrated by the Lord.  Kingdom Global India is about to be born!

In the natural this is incredible, as we haven’t yet set foot on Indian soil.  In the spiritual realm though, this makes perfect sense, as in the last years and especially since the beginning of 2009, the Lord has started to talk very clearly to me about India.  During prayer, He has also been revealing to me aspects about the coming ministry in the coming years and even decades in India.  SOME OF THE THINGS HE HAS SHOWN ME IN PRAYER IS EXACTLY WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, much faster than I could have anticipated.

I have come to realize a very important spiritual principle: there are some things that we will be standing in faith for before the Lord, that we will have to wait for for so much longer than what we have anticipated and then there will be other things that we have been praying about that will manifest quicker than we could ever have imagined.

The birth of Kingdom Global India is a spectacular example of this principle.

On the 16th of December, hundreds of Indian pastors are expected to come under the cover of Kingdom Global, confirming the apostolic mandate the Lord has given us for India.  Our dear brother and fellow-minister in the Lord – Mathys van der Vyver – will represent us all there as he will minister to those pastors, do village outreaches with them and personally confirm our long term commitment to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ in India.

In the remaining days between now and the 12th of December, when Mathys will depart for India, we need all hands on deck.  Now is the time for specific prayer, prophecy and proclamation.  Now is the time for giving finances to cover Mathys flight tickets, travel expenses and expenses for the pastors’ meeting.  We need to share the vision with people around and also challenge them to give and pray.

I call on churches and ministries to start praying about sending ministry teams to India.  Kingdom Global is about taking hands to expand the boundaries of the Kingdom through evangelism, establishing Christians through discipleship and training and finally to equip ministers for church planting and multiplication.

The Holy Spirit is also showing me that the church planting movement will spread out from the region where we start in the east, moving westwards across India, through Hyderabad until we eventually reach Mumbai where a major apostolic church will be planted.  By the time we reach Mumbai, there will already be thousands and even ten thousands of churches in the movement.

Amazing times of ministry, including mass evangelism crusades, villages outreaches and schools of ministries, are ahead of us, but let us focus right now on the next important step that we will need to take within the next few weeks:  our first visit to pastor Anand Chakravarthi, and the precious brothers in Christ who have already been ministering faithfully for many years in the harvest fields of India.

A time of Kairos is a time of action.  Friends, all hands on deck!

With love in Christ,
Hugo

Today, during our Sunday service in the Kingdom of Heaven Church in Moscow, I once again emphasized a few key pointers for the vision of our church:

1. The Key Scripture is Mat. 6:10 “Your Kingdom come.  Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
2. The Motto of our church is “Heaven in Every Home”
3. Our Church is going to become a One Million Member City Church.  An integral part of that vision is to plant a local church in each of Moscow’s 123 districts.  Even before the average size of each local church will be 10 000 members, the total amount of city church members will already be more than one million.
4. Consequently we have a vision for preparing ministers for all those churches on a constant basis.
5. We have a vision for nation-wide and global church planting.  As our light shines far into the nations, it will also shine brightly at home.
6. The vision will be fulfilled by abiding in Christ and learning how to get into and stay in the flow and anointing of the Holy Spirit.  We don’t believe that a high-powered, pressurized atmosphere will result in the abundant fruit we are looking for.  Rather, an atmosphere of faith, hope and love will produce fruit that will multiply and last for all eternity.  (See Jn. 15:16)
7. We believe that each member has his important and unique place in the family of God.  As we humbly and respectfully take hands with one another, always focusing on Christ alone, we will see the multitudes of Moscow and Russia come to God the Father to worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Wherever you are, if you want to become actively involved in this vision, whether it be by praying, giving or coming over, I would like to hear from you!

With love in Christ,
Hugo

A NEW BABY?

Well – sort of… Read on…

We are thrilled to announce that our website “NEW CREATION SPECTRUM” is on the horizon.  NewCreationSpectrum.co.za goes live on the 10th November 2009.  This wonderful idea came about as a result of so many people asking us questions like, “what do you do? what is your ministry?”

Every year that we have returned to Russia, God has added yet another sphere to our “spectrum” which makes it difficult to explain in one paragraph.  Now we can say, “You can look on our website to see what we do and if there is any way in which we may serve you in Jesus Name”.

And let the beauty and the delightfulness and favour of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands – yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it (Ps. 90:17).

DAVE GILBERT

We were guests for 3 months. Then became “Pelleboer Guest House!”

From mid-June for three months we lived with friends in Ukraine and Holland and then Dave Gilbert boarded with us for one month when we returned to Russia.  He no sooner had left us to return to South Africa when we welcomed fellow missionaries Anthony & Jeannette Marquez from America, and Leigh Goodwin & John Tyrell from England for the weekend.  We had a houseful and then after 4 months of living with people we were suddenly…

HOME ALONE?

Sasha asked me “so, what’s it like being on your own?”  I said “I don’t know yet hey – I’ll tell you after a week because at the moment we are missing everybody.”  Dave fitted in so well with us that it was as if he always lived with us and I so enjoyed serving all our guests.

Well, since they all left we’ve twice hosted Ukrainian pastors who come to Tula to do Bible School lessons here and it seems like we’re going to be “Hotel Pelleboer” until we return to South Africa in December when we will once again be the “guests” with no home of our own.

BUSY OCTOBER

My dream of training women in Russia to continue with the ministry of Inner & Outer Beauty finally realized when a dear Pastor & his wife from a town outside of Tula asked me if I would do seminars with 15 of their ladies who are so willing to be trained in this ministry.

I am so enjoying these ladies!  Every 1st & last Sunday afternoon I do seminars & training with them.  This requires a hang of a lot of work, but I’m passionate about imparting to others all that the Lord has given me over the years.

DRUG & ALCOHOL REHABILITATION CENTRE

“Why do you think we come here to this place every week?” is what I asked the folk there this morning.  I told them how if it wasn’t for Jesus that I would very likely have been addicted myself, & that because I am free I want them to be free.

I want to deposit the Word of God so deeply into them that the Bible would become their addiction.  Above all that, I preach the gospel to them that they may know the Author of the Bible personally – and the final reason, which they might not be able to understand, is that I really do love them.

AND ANOTHER RE-HAB

Besides us working together at the re-hab in Tula on Tuesdays, Gertjan has twice gone to help with physical work at a re-hab in Moscow.  Last Friday afternoon he went with our friend Victor to the Moscow re-hab and only returned home at 2 o’clock in the morning on Sunday.  They connected all the radiator pipes of the two storied house to this wood burner which heats up the water to heat up the house see.  Winter is upon us and the guys will not survive the cold without heating.

HELP IN TIME OF NEED

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).

Our dear Nina is not only a widow, but her only son died in a car crash a few months ago.  She is a precious lady and so faithful to the Lord.  Gertjan and the guys went to clear up the garden and put up a fence for her

OVERWHELMED WITH SUFFERING

Some years ago a wise, well experienced, fellow missionary to Russia told us “Russia has many needs and it is so easy to become so overwhelmed by trying to meet all the needs, that you can forget what you came here for – to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. We realize that “giving and good works” are very much part of preaching the gospel – but sometimes when you see your friends suffering and we can’t help – we feel overwhelmed.

Sveta’s eldest little boy, Daniel, is retarded and needs to go to a special school which costs an absolute fortune.   She was an orphan and all orphans receive a flat.  The bank now wants to take her flat from her to pay her husband’s enormous debt, which would put her and her three little ones out on the street.

Her husband has also just been in his “umpteenth” car crash and needs money to pay for those costs as well.

She may receive 3000 roubles a month from the state for her baby, but because they have not been able to pay the 9000 rouble municipal debt for the heating etc., they won’t register her baby and she can’t collect that money if the baby isn’t registered.

This is a very shortened version of just ONE suffering friend who cannot ever remember a day in all her life that was free of troubles.  Her inability to rise above her terrible circumstances reminds me of   Exodus 6:9 “So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.”

If you are able to help us to help her, please would you write on the bank deposit slip “for Sveta” – that she can at least pay her municipal debt, so that she can register her baby and receive a small income for food.  The full debt is about R3000 – but whatever you can give towards that will be tremendous – THANK YOU.

With much love and appreciation for each and every one of you for your “WITHNESS”.

Gertjan & Judy in Christ, in Russia

SOUTH AFRICAN CONTACTS: HEIN & JEANNETTE
4 John Ave, Charlo – 6070 Port Elizabeth
+27-072-510-7483 (cell), +27-041-368-1262 (h)
email: heinvanvledder@hotmail.com

PASTORS KALJU & DOROTHY PRIILAID
+27-082-653-7105 (cell), +27-041-368-5777 (h)

BANKING DETAILS: STANDARD BANK S.A.
G. Pelleboer savings acc.  083783741
Branch no. 051001; Swift add. SBZAZAJJ

Olesya is a qualified Speech Therapist!!

She finished the last presentation with excellent grades. She keeps testifying of God’s grace over nearly six years of study. Obviously she is very relieved that it is all over and now we are praying about the next steps to know where God wants to use her in future. We thank you all for your prayers, support and messages of encouragement.

Rugby players get saved!

JC van Rooyen is visiting us here in Moscow for only one day before he flies back to South Africa. Last night he did some coaching for a student rugby team. After the training session he shared the gospel, but they didn’t really receive what he was telling them. One guy had back problems and JC prayed for the guy. God healed the guy in front of everybody’s eyes. Then they believed and all 9 of the players received Jesus. We are praying now for God to make it possible for us to follow them up. Praise God!!

New site

Please visit our new ‘MISRUSYOUTH’ website at www.misrusyouth.com. It is new and we need to make a number of changes, but have a look so long.

God bless you.

Thank you for your love and support.

Corrie and Olesya