How do you handle failures? About a month ago I promised to share with you the story of Yulia Kachalova, Russian Olympian and former member of the Russian national crew team. She was part of the Athletes in Action conference where I was a keynote speaker this past May. During one of the sessions, she shared the stories of her various medals and what God taught her through those victories. But among these stories was also one about the medal that she did not win though it was within her grasp.
During one of the European championships, she did not get past the semi-final even though she was expected to get the bronze medal at the very least. Distraught about this failure she was wandering around the city when she was approached by an older man who asked her if she knew how to get to the zoo. Yulia herself was heading in that same direction, so she offered to show this gentleman the way.
The conversation was going rather slowly because Yulia’s level of English was not up to par and this man asked her if she spoke French. Yulia smiled and told him that her French was worse than her English. “Perhaps German?” – inquired her new acquittance. “No” – Yulia replied. Losing any hope for a meaningful conversation then gentleman took a stab in the dark asking: “You wouldn’t happen to speak Russian by any chance?” Yulia laughed and said that she has no problem whatsoever speaking Russian.
It turned out that this gentleman was Hungarian; he was a part of Hungarian crew delegation at the European championship. But 20 years prior to that he was a Russian teacher at a local school in his native Hungary. The conversation between Yulia and this gentleman quickly turned to the topic of the meaning of life and hope in the midst of defeat. Yulia seized this opportunity to share about Christ and how her relationship with him fills her life with meaning. As the two were parting the man said to Yulia, “Thank you so much for a great day and for showing me the meaning of life and hope that I did not think I would ever find. You know today was supposed to be the last day of my life.”
Out of all her medals, Yulia cherishes the one that never was. This story deeply touched me and I hope it encouraged you, too.
Yours in praying and hastening the day of revival in Moscow and Russia,
Constantin and Alexandra
P.S. The summer is almost over and in the next newsletter I will share briefly about what is in store for us in ministry this coming fall.
FIVE THINGS TO PRAY FOR:
- Please pray for new series of sermons that we have started last week. It is called "Stress Test" and is apologetic in nature. It is geared to strengthening fatih of believers and answering questions that sceptics ask. I will share more about it in the upcoming newsletter.
- Please do pray that the surgery that Elena went through would cure her issue with tear-ducts.
- Join me in praying for the follow up work for our amazing youth and kids camps this summer. These camps were a blast and became a highlight for the teenagers and kids who came to them. But what happens after the camp is almost as important as what happens during the camp. Please pray with me that we find creative and meaningful ways to follow up these kids and to bring them to the point where they make a decision to follow Christ personally. Our first post-camp meeting is scheduled for this coming Sunday.
- There are two major issues that our church needs to tackle in order to grow and develop: small groups and evangelism. Please pray that we would grow the number of our small groups and that we would become the church that is know for boldly and creatively sharing the Gospel.
- It is easy to forget about the war and it is very easy to get used to it. I'm so grateful to our team of volunteers that bring humanitarian aid almost to the front lines of this war on a bi-monthly basis. Their stories and pictures remind all of us of the reality of carnage that is still going on. Please continue to pray with us for peace between Russia and Ukraine.
GIVING THROUGH INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES OF EURASIA (ICC-E):
You can donate to the Lysakovs’ ministry via ICC-E by check or autopay from your bank (see address below), or with your credit card via the ICC-E web site http://icceurasia.com/
Website: http://icceurasia.com
Email: icc.eurasia@gmail.com:
Mailing Address:
ICC-Eurasia
P.O. Box 34035
Bethesda, MD 20827-0035
Phone +1 (301) 514-7433
GIVING THROUGH CRYPTO CURRENCY
It's a new age and a new dawn, so why not use this simple method if you are so inclined and you have etherium or bitcoin that you want to use to support our ministry. You can use our Metamask wallet that was set up for these purposes (0xE021dB34F65C0F5B1F0ccF4Def059233B67891DB)
