*  May 24-25---FLIGHT FROM CHICAGO TO ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA:  Arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia May 25th to stay for two days at Yura Mokhort's (my translator, travel companion, and partner in the ministry) apartment.  He immediately informed me that he received a call from the rabbi of our Messianic Jewish synagogue in Moscow, Russia that he wanted me to take an eight hour overnight train (12:00 midnight to 8:00 AM) to Moscow for their Shabbat service the next morning for the 13th Anniversary of the congregation's birth---I lived in Moscow for three years to plant and establish this congregation, Shomer Yisrael Synagogue.  Needless to say, out of sheer exhaustion from the trip and an 8 hour time zone difference, I was not about to add to that exhaustion---R&R and some catch-up on sleep was essential!  We, therefore postponed the event and made arrangements to celebrate the Anniversary at the end of my trip in the former Soviet Union.

I am on the Executive Board of the Messianic Jewish Bible Institutes (MJBI), and Yura Mokhort is the Director of the MJBI in St. Petersburg, Russia, and leader of the Messianic Jewish congregation that has been established in that city.

*  May 26- 31---GOD'S GRACE INTERNATIONAL CONGREGATIONAL LEADERS CONFERENCE in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia:  Yura Mokhort and I on May 26th took an 18 hour train ride from St. Petersburg, Russia to Nizhny Novgorod, Russia for me to conduct our God's Grace International (GGI) Congregational Leaders Conference.  Our congregation, Beth El of Nizhny Novgorod hosted the Leaders Conference.  Its leader, Evgeniy Blinov and his wife just gave birth to their seventh child. We have a number of secondary leaders, but have narrowed the conference attendees down to 12 main individuals.  Obviously, the number of attendees will have to increase over time as we plant new congregations.  The smaller number allows for intimate times of teaching, mentoring, goal setting, accountability, and individual counseling.  Much is accomplished here in developing a unified team and vision for expansion.

* June 1-2---KIEV, UKRAINE:  My need after the Congregational Leaders Conference was to travel by air to Tbilisi, Georgia (formerly part of the Old Soviet Union) to spend time with one of our main Congregational leaders due to his inability to travel to Russia for our Leaders Conference.  Since the break-up of the Soviet Union and Georgia's declaration of independence from Russia, war and political confrontation has resulted in Russia not allowing Georgians to acquire visas to enter Russia.  To travel by train from Russia to Georgia necessitates passing through Chechnya which is not allowed due to the present Chechnya-Russian war.  Therefore, the only way to get to Georgia from Russia is to fly there from another country.  Therefore, from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, we flew to Kiev, Ukraine, and then after a 1 1/2 day layover we flew to Tbilisi, Georgia.

*June 3-6---TBILISI, GEORGIA:  Our trip there was necessary as we spent one-on-one quality time with our leader Misha Turkia who feels isolated from our leadership team because he has not been allowed for almost two years to enter Russia.  He is a gifted Bible teacher and has made many inroads into the traditional Orthodox Jewish community where some have come to faith in Yeshua.  Our visit was timely and our input encouraging to him as we made plans together in how to reach out further into the Jewish community of that city. Obvious extreme poverty can be seen everywhere.  Professional people (doctors, university professors, etc) average only $50 a month salary---many must hold down 2-3 jobs.  The average monthly congregational tithes and offerings only amount to $40-$60 a month!  An increased humanitarian aid effort is high on our agenda to put in place.

Misha Turkia's congregation, B'nai Eliezar is named after a disciple of Yeshua named Eliezar.  In this former Republic of the Soviet Union, Judaism goes back 2,800 years.  The Jews of the ten Northern Tribes of Israel were exiled and resettled in Assyria during the Assyrian Captivity of 720 B.C.  Freedom to move about was later granted, and thus some 2000 years ago Eliezar, a Jew obedient to the commands of Scripture was able to make his Passover pilgrimage to the site of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.  This just happened to be at the time of Yeshua's three-year ministry on earth.  Eliezar was confronted face-to-face by Yeshua and became His disciple.  He returned to Georgia as the first Messianic Jew and in turn led many Jews to a personal faith in Yeshua.  The resultant Messianic presence has continued in Georgia throughout the ages to this present day.

*June 6---Kiev, Ukraine:  From Tbilisi, Georgia we flew back to Kiev, Ukraine bound for Moscow, Russia, the last leg of my ministry trip to our Messianic congregations.  Never a dull moment when in that part of the world!  In Tbilisi we contacted an individual to purchase train tickets from Kiev to Moscow knowing that if we waited until our arrival in Kiev tickets might not be available.  We were assured he had purchased them and upon arrival in Kiev we waited at the train station---but he never showed because he had overslept as we stood there watching the train pull away!  At the last minute airline tickets were purchased and we were off to Moscow, Russia.

*June 6-10---Moscow, Russia:  Arrived in Moscow extremely tired to find that our hotel reservation was not honored and that there were no available rooms there, or any other reasonably priced hotel where we tried to book a room.  With persistence, we finally were in a room at 2:00 AM in the morning!

Shomer Yisrael Synagogue of Moscow, Russia is the 'mother' congregation of all our congregations---it was the first and I am considered the founder that birthed it---the 'daddy!'  Therefore, the remaining time of my trip was loaded with numerous meetings, counseling times with individuals, planning sessions, speaking, etc. I have never seen or been involved with a congregation that goes on from early morning until late night.  We have a large basement office that has four meeting rooms, office, kitchen serving at least two meals a day, and bathrooms with showers.  There is always something going on in every room at the same time (Bible study, teaching, worship/music team practice, Messianic dance team practice, intercessory prayer, worship service for Holocaust survivors, counseling, etc.).  Unless I insist on getting to my hotel room to get some rest, they will keep me there until 10:30-11:00 PM at night!  They truly are living out community life!

My time there ended with a marvelous time of celebration of the congregations 13 Anniversary of its birth, May of 1994.