Despite freezing temperatures, hearts are warmed in a Siberian village

After studying at the OM Russia Discipleship Centre last year, Pasha married Natasha and together they moved to the village of Cheremnoe in order to start a new church. They are now living in the small church building, although at the moment there are no church members.

When they moved there in the autumn, they thought of ways to reach the children in the village, and decided to organise a Christmas festival.  At that time they didn’t know how to find a team of people to help them, nor where the finances would come from, nor even where in town they could hold this Christmas festival. They started praying about their idea, and invited other churches in the area to pray too.  

OM Russia agreed to help sponsor the Christmas festival, and in faith, Pasha and Natasha went ahead with the organisation of the event planned for 7th January, which is Orthodox Christmas and a public holiday in Russia. But, right until the very last minute, it seemed that the festival might not actually take place.

At first, the mayor refused to let them use the town hall, but then the Director of the school agreed to let them use the school on the condition that they wouldn’t invite the children to join their ‘sect’. They had also invited a team of helpers to come from the city of Novosibirsk (5 hours drive away) but it remained unclear until the very last day who exactly would come, and whether anyone would come at all.

The day before the festival the temperature dropped to - 44 degrees Celsius, and the driver refused to drive the team of helpers from Novosibirsk unless the temperature rose above -30 degrees.

The day before the festival, the temperature dropped to - 44 degrees Celsius, and the driver refused to drive the team of helpers from Novosibirsk unless the temperature rose above -30 degrees. They prayed for warmer weather, but God didn’t answer that prayer, at least not in the way they had expected.  Despite the freezing temperatures, and many people advising them not to risk going, nine helpers from different churches in Novosibirsk set off for Cheremnoe.  As was expected, the car broke down on the way, and team members became very cold as the driver tried to fix the car. Pasha and Natasha started to wonder if the team should go any further – wouldn’t it be better to return home?

After many stops and starts, eventually the car and the team arrived at a nearby town, where the team left their car in a local garage. Pasha then organised a taxi to take them on to Cheremnoe.

But, the team thought, would the children come out in such cold weather? Would their parents let them attend the function? And, having spent precious resources getting the team to Cheremnoe, how disappointing would it be for them if no children turned up? Had they invested so much effort for nothing?

Half an hour before the programme was due to start, children and their parents miraculously started to turn up.

Half an hour before the programme was due to start,  children and their parents miraculously started to turn up. They arrived from both far and near, and in the end, 31 children and a selection of parents, grandparents and teachers were present too. The programme went well, and Biblical truths were presented by the team dressed up as characters from a well-known Russian TV show. For three hours, the children sang, played games and did crafts, and of course in the end they were very excited to receive Christmas presents.

This was the first time such an event had been held in this village, and it will definitely not be the last one. Despite freezing temperatures, hearts were warmed by the Christmas story among the children and adults in the small Siberian village of Cheremnoe.