The name Victor Saltykov is familiar to us at Salvation Church. Today we present his newsletter, addressed to those who pray for and support his ministry in the Kursk region of Russia:

 

Greetings, dear friends!

To start with, as always, I am very grateful to you for your prayerful support. More and more I realize that prayer is the basis of successful ministry, and of Christian life in general. Satan is up in arms and doing everything he can to stop missionaries, and I'm sure that with more prayers comes more power.

Here is a little update about what happened during the months of September, October and November:

Family News.
- This year, my younger son started first grade and the older started fifth grade. Thanks to God, He saw to it that the school had everything it needed.
- Health. I am grateful to everyone who is praying for my wife Irina. She has health problems, and God is making the tests possible. This is not a quick process. We have to go to the regional capitol ( Kursk), we are grateful to God that through you He is sending the funds for travel, medication and treatment.

Please, if possible, also to pray for the health of my older son, he is 11 years old. He often has stomach pain and headaches, and his blood pressure is high.
- In October, my mother became very ill. She lives in the village. Now she can not live on her own any more and will have to live with me. We had to spend a lot of time on medical tests for her. Throughout October we were taking her to the hospital, and doctors still have not found the cause, but she has started to feel better. God also did wonders in helping us with my mother. My mother's pension is very small and doesn't really provide for anything, but God through your prayers and support has helped throughout. Glory be to Him!
- Home repair and expansion. As you know, in the summer God provided the means to strengthen the foundation around the perimeter of the house. Circumstances forced us to pour the foundation for two additions on different sides of the house. Along one side of the house we could not dig at the foundation because of the wall could collapse, and we had to move out to 2 meters away from the old wall to lay out a new wall and then disassemble the old one. The second addition is the room for my mother. Before she had to be in a room that also served as a hallway, where family members and guests were always passing through. It is very hard for her and for all of us, so I took a step of faith and started an addition for a bedroom. Throughout, I saw that God had approved all of this construction work, as He provided finances and physical labor through many of you. As a result, in the course of these three months walls have appeared on the foundations and a new roof covers the entire house. At the moment there is no permanent weather-resistant covering, just a tarp. Please continue to pray for the basic construction needs: roofing, heating, windows, doors, and other finishing needs.

 

 

Ministry
I'll try to tell briefly about the most important ministry events.
September 6. As part of the Kursk regional missionary preparation work we conducted the regional youth missionary conference. The keynote speaker was Yuri Kirillovich Sipko. It was very blessed and inspiring event.

September 7 - 8. Our church received visitors from Zenkov, Ukraine. A group of men, led by their pastor, came to get familiar with the ministry of our church. They plan to come and help wherever they will be most useful in 2015.

September 21 - 24. God provided to use me in different areas of central Russia.
• September 21 in Yaroslavlya, at the regional missionary conference.
• September 22 in the central church in Tula.
• September 23-24 in two churches in the Oryol region.

October 13. We had the harvest celebration, and there were non-believers there. Glory to God!

October 19-20. As part of our ministry in the Kursk region we had help from some men and women from a Church in Kiev (on Pukhov street number 4). We held a one-day training session for youth on the theme of personal evangelism, including practice at street evangelism in the city.

October 20. A team of guest missionaries visited two churches in our area with a ministry of encouragement. The churches have potential and need motivation and revitalization. As a result of these meetings, one of the churches formed a group of evangelists who began to meet regularly to study the Emmaus course.

October 21 - 27. My friends, Frank and Andrew came for a week and helped with everything I was working on, performing heavy construction work and, where possible, helping with the Roma ministry. They brought a hearing aid for an eighteen year old Roma girl. She has not been able to hear since the age of 4 and has never been to the doctor. Now her younger sister is helping her to distinguish sounds. They also helped her fill out the paperwork for a government id and now she has the opportunity to draw financial support for her disability from the state.

November 2. God provided the opportunity to participate in a regional youth conference in Belgorod.

November 18-22. One of the churches in our area hosted the next missionary training session in the series taught by the MTC (Missionary Training Center).

November 23. We conducted the second regional missionary conference with the participation of the teachers and members of the MTC Missionary Committee of the Poltava region.

November 24. Members of the MTC and Missionary Committee were divided into 4 groups for missionary service in the key churches in our area.

 

"Bethany"
"Bethany" - this is our new ministry, which was started in May of this year. We are providing a residence for men who have been through alcohol and drug rehabilitation and want to live near the church, so as to be constantly in communion with believers and be strengthened by God. At this point we already have two graduates who have passed through the "Bethany" program and have found their place in society and the church, praise God! Now there are five men living in "Bethany" house. Three of them are preparing to be baptized. We are still trying to finish the house in which they live. Initially it was quite unfit for occupancy, but we have made a lot of progress. We added temporary running water, fixed the stove, laid a floor in the bedroom, plastered around a window and door, replaced two old windows with vinyl ones and added an indoor lavatory. Now we need to add sewer and water pipes, then add interior walls and doors and much more - all this requires a lot of money. Please remember this in your prayers.

In addition to the opportunities I had to teach others in these recent months, I myself learned an important lesson. Because of many family difficulties, constant trips to the hospital with my wife and mother at all possible times of the day, and working on the house at night, in the rain and snow fixing various problems, it was very tempting to cancel all planned activities and to limit church services to the minimum for "family reasons." I don't thing that anyone would think badly of me, but as I prayed about it, I clearly realized that this is another test of my maturity in devotion to God.

I clearly remembered that I vowed to serve him in spite of three possible obstacles: 1) Financial considerations 2) Circumstances 3) Opinions of other people. And at that moment I realized that this was test of my ability to serve when circumstances were hindering me in every way. Realizing this, I felt peace in my heart and quietly did everything that God expected of me. At the same time God miraculously took care of my needs, sending the means and physical assistance at the right time. For example, some men came came from the church in Kursk and put the roof on in two days. They themselves were surprised at this since they had expected that the work would take two weeks. There were a lot of miracles like this. Thanks to God for everything!
To everyone who loves me, who is praying and supporting me, many thanks, God bless you! I also pray for all of you, and often by name.

 

Sincerely,
Victor Saltykov