Masha's Story

When I met Masha a year and a half ago at her first Winter Bible Conference, she was quiet, shy, and not too sure of herself. She had become a believer earlier that year, and WBC was her first real contact with New Life.

We enjoyed getting to know each other, chatting over meals, and having fun together during some of the free time. When she came to the Interest Meeting for the summer project, I was a little surprised, but grateful to see her there. As a young believer I knew that Summer Project would be a challenging and transformational experience for her if she decided to come.

During the spring semester, one of my teammates took Masha through basic follow up, and I began meeting with her to help her prepare to raise her financial support for the summer project. This alone was a huge step of faith for Masha. She'd never trusted God for something that seemed so huge. But God provided above and beyond the need that Masha had. It was so encouraging to see Masha's faith in the Lord grow and increase before my very eyes.

Masha with some friends from her Church

As one of the staff serving on the summer project, I had the privilege of spending two weeks with Masha at the Black Sea. Because Masha is pretty shy, I had been praying that that would not deter her from jumping in fully to all that God had prepared for her on the project. I needn't have worried! Masha came to the Black Sea ready to experience all that God had for her, as well as ready to pour out into the lives of others. Though Masha had not done a lot of initiative evangelism before, she was excited, and full of faith as we ventured out together to talk with people on the beach and in the community about Christ's love and the eternal and abundant life that was available to them through a relationship with Him.

The other area that I really saw Masha blossom in is in her relationships with the other student believers on the project. It was such an encouragement to me to see her loving others, pouring truth and love into their lives through various conversations and through serving them. God was stretching her shyness as she walked in the Spirit, making service to Him more important than her fear of man. She reminded me so much of, well, ME. And I was reminded of all that God had to do in me and through me to bring me to the place that I am today, serving as campus staff in Moscow, Russia. What would God do in her and through her in the future because of these 3 weeks of pouring out, being poured into, and trusting God to be glorified through her service? I wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

Masha and the girls at the Black Sea Summer Project

Of course we are all people of faith that are in process of all that God is teaching us and transforming us into. The same is true of Masha. But this year in Moscow, as she has moved on from the "mountaintop" experience of the Black Sea Summer Project, she has moved forward to a steady walk of faith and trusting Him to do mighty things in the lives of students at her university, Moscow State Linguistics University. In the fall, Masha began to search for other believers at her university. Now, a small group of girls gather each week to pray for the students there.

Masha is thinking and praying through how to best reach out to her fellow students with the love of Christ and the message of the Gospel. I've seen God change her in such significant ways, from a girl who was just trying to figure out what it meant to be a Christian, to a young woman who deeply desires to see her friends, classmates, and family changed by Christ. She is active in sharing her faith on campus, active in community at her church, has shared the Gospel even with her parents, which is a frightening thing for anyone!

In April, she went on her first international mission trip to Austria, to help pour the love of Christ into the lives of refugees living in Austria. I praise God for how He is moving and working in Masha's life, and I can't wait to see what more He will do as she walks surrendered to Him!

Kim Buck

Moscow Focus

Pray for Us!

 We have some exciting things coming up and some big needs as well. Pray with us for God's will to be done.

Sunrise over the Moscow River on Easter Morning

The Visas
"The Future belongs to those who know how to wait" is an old Russian proverb. We've been waiting and it looks like we'll need to wait until the end of June to know more about the situation with our visas. Pray with us that the process would speed up and that we would indeed get the visas we need for the rest of this year and next!

The Men's Ministry
For the past month we did a series on Authentic Manhood. Both believers and non-believers showed up and we had a good time and great discussions. Thank God with us for the answer to prayer that men would get involved and pray with us that this momentum would not stop but that God would continue to raise up men to lead and that he would give us wisdom with how to do that.

The Summer Projects
This summer two Summer Projects will be held in Moscow. One for U.S. students who are coming for a month to share the Gospel and help encourage and build movements.

There will also be a Russian Student Summer Project in the city. It is called Shalom 2011 and is in reference to Jeremiah 29:7 where God tells the Israelites to seek the shalom of their city. It will go for two or three nights a week for four weeks and they will focus on loving the city and being a blessing to the city. Pray for us as we plan both projects.

Pray that God's will would be done and that he would give us creativity, wisdom and passion as we seek to bless the city he has sent us to. Pray that at least 10 students would sign up and be excited about the project and that lives would be changed as a result.

Thank you for your prayers! They sustain us, encourage us and keep us motivated. We could not do this without you!