BACK TO SMOLENSK VIA ARMENIA - SEPTEMBER 10-20, 2002

Novikoff and Spencer arrive in Moscow but at midnight, a flight on Aeroflot takes them on to Yerevan, Armenia where they are met by Pastor Ashot Martirosyan and Anna Nerkararyan and they proceed at 4:00 am to the conference center located near the town of Sevan, about one hour north of Yerevan.

Joined by the Reverend Dr. Jim Klubnik and his wife Peggy, (Jim is John's cousin who teaches at Christian institutions in Moscow and Kiev) this team will be the main speakers at the family conference that Anna Nerkararyan will direct.

The theme of the conference is "Come To My House" with emphasis on healthy family living. Jim and Peggy will address the couples regarding the place of Christian values in marriage, Eileen Spencer will address the issues of child abuse, and John Novikoff will speak on the issues of alcohol and drug abuse that is identified in a problem family. He also encourages churches to begin self-help groups to help addicted members who need help.

The conference, which was held for three days, was well received by Christian couples and by non-believing individuals (41 non-believers attending). While the conference meals were excellent, there were still some other things to be desired as far as lodging went. Hot water for showering was never turned on until 9:00 PM and only for one hour.

When the conference was over, it was celebrated with a sumptuous banquet and then the music was turned on for their native dance. Of course, we all participated in this fun, no-bodily contact dance.

Closing out the conference, the team took a trip to nearby Lake Sevan and visited the old Apostolic Church that is still active.

Returning to Yerevan, Jim and Peggy Klubnik departed for Moscow early Sunday morning. Later that morning, John, Galina, Eileen, and Anna visited Pastor Ashot's Pentecostal Church. John gave the sermon that morning. Some couples who participated in the family conference gave their testimony about what it meant to them.

The last few days in Armenia are well remembered as we visited the city of Varnadts, where there was a killer earthquake about 12 years ago that killed 27000 people. Much to our surprise, there has not been any rebuilding and there is a large settlement of people still living in rail cars that were intended to be temporary housing.

RETURN TO SMOLENSK

Leaving Yerevan on an Aeroflot Airbus 310, (excellent service) we arrived back in Moscow early that morning and stayed at Galina's apartment until that evening. At 11:00 PM, we were on a train headed to the city of Smolensk where we arrived the next morning and were met by Pastor Pavel Makerenko, our primary contact in that area. From there, we journeyed to his home to have breakfast and get tidied up to go on to two orphanages and to visit two of Pavel's mission churches which he pastors.

I did not mention that young Aloysha Fedichkin also came along with us from Moscow. Aloysha was the one teen that was so moved by his experience at the Shatalovo orphanage that he returned to his church in Moscow, organized another team of teens and returned to the orphanage with clothing and toys for the kids. On this trip, he brought out another two trunks of clothing which we helped him to distribute that evening at a kids camp (Thank God he brought those clothes because the night had turned cold, there was not heat in the building, and no hot water).

It was our plan to visit an orphanage for the visually impaired children so that we could make plans for next year's VBS with them. But as it turned out, for whatever reason we were discouraged from doing so.

Our next visit was to an orphanage at a village called Borshoka. Here we found a very cooperative orphanage director, Nicolai, who showed us through. This building was in better shape than what we experienced in Shatalovo and the morale of the staff as well as the residents seemed very high. Pastor Pavel, a craftsman himself has also provided labor and material for this orphanage.

We journeyed on to one of the churches nearby that Pavel pastors in the small villages. All of his churches start as a house church and as membership grows, modifications and construction will take place around the original building. From what we saw, it was apparent that there was much to be done. In one of the villages, an old lady has to live in the church while it is being worked on due to young hoodlums who are vandalizing the building by throwing rocks and hurtling abuses at the building. Obviously, there is some opposition to the Protestant church in some villages.

We went back to the Shatalovo orphanage and we were very happy to see what our gift of $5000 for the shower room area has done. Wow! It was beautiful! And on top of that, there were many other modifications to the children's toilets, to the lavatories, and to all of the rooms. Once again, Pavel has done a great job with his skills as he re-tiled the entire gym-size shower room.

Unfortunately, we could not see all of the children that we had worked with in the VBS because the re-construction in the dormitory required those children be transferred to the Children's camp in Smolensk, which we visited that evening. That is where we went to help Aloysha Fedichkin distribute clothes that he brought.

And like I mentioned in the above paragraphs, the evening was getting very cold and the children where in surroundings that were not intended for residence in the fall. But fortunately, the kids were being returned in a day or two to the orphanage.  We returned to Pavel's residence in Smolensk where we spent the night. Early in the morning, Eileen Spencer and I took the train back to Moscow. Aloysha stayed behind for another few days, as he had to implement a program he was working on.

Arriving rested in Moscow, Galina met Eileen and me and that evening, we met with Mrs. Natalia Naritovna who heads up an orphanage program nearby Moscow.

CONCLUSION

At this point in time, I need to announce that in 2003, there will be two VBS programs in Russia. One will be directed by Kathy Ames of Richmond, VA who will take a team of teachers, helpers, and journeyman for the purpose of both VBS and repair and construction at one of Pavel's churches that is located at the village of Stotelisch. That date is set for late June and early July.

Another VBS will be at the Shatalovo or in Smolensk (children's camp) and the dates for that event are set for July 8-22. Eileen Spencer of Savannah will direct it. Entry into Russia will be through St. Petersburg where the team will spend several days to get relief from jet lag and also to tour the city. Then they will go on to Smolensk. The cost of the trip is estimated to be slightly under $2000.

Interested? Call me, John Novikoff at 912-927-3744 or call Eileen Spencer at 912-356-5520.

NOTE: Another Family Conference is scheduled for September 18-20, 2003 in Armenia.

The Shower before and after.
Natasha leads youth in a song
	Russian teens lead singing during VBS daily assembly
Skit time for the Kids.
	Vickie, Kathy, Rachel and Lea join in the fun.  Kathy from Richmond VA.  The others are from Savannah Ga.