Report from the Ukhta Church of Christ for December 2004

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the University Church of Christ!

I would like to express my deepest thankfulness to you for your continuous support. With much joy I will tell you about our congregation in Ukhta.

There were two baptisms in December:

1. Susanna Egorovna Alexandrova, 69 years old. She is a friend of three Christians (Valentina, Lidia, and Angelina). Marlon Rutherford baptized Angelina in November. This is one more proof of what I mentioned in my previous report that the Church of Christ in Ukhta is a great example to people and continues to grow through relatives and friends.


2. Irina Popovtseva, 28 years old. She is the sister of our church secretary, Anya. Irina grew up in the Ukhta Church of Christ. She moved to Syktyvkar one year ago. She was baptized in Syktyvkar.

The congregation completed much preparation for Christmas. (In Russia, Christmas is celebrated on January 7th). Children prepared along presentation consisting of three acts. Fifteen presents were collected for children from the Church and 25 presents were collected for children from the Shelter.

I have to say that being able to sustain this budget was not easy. Unfortunately, there are no people in the congregation who would be able to do this part of the work.

Purchasing the apartment lead to reducing all the other expenditures (the ones we were able to reduce).

With the rate of our intake, and taking into account the price increase for the apartments, it will take us several more years to be able to afford to buy a bigger apartment.

My youngest daughter, Tonya, is getting married on January 29, 2005. Right after the wedding I am going back to Ukhta. Please, pray for us.

With thankfulness and Christian love,
Vladimir