Ilya's Letter

My Russian dad Ilya wrote a letter that's posted on the ECMS website (that's the Russian version of the C&MA), and he asked me to translate it into English.  Here is another perspective on the flood at our house.

 

Brothers and sisters, greetings from the Ivanyenko family!

We sincerely thank everyone for your prayers and support.  The family and I really felt God’s hands holding us up from the very beginning.

They finally restored our electricity and Internet and we can give you a bit of a report.

Thank the Lord that we don’t need any condolences here; all are alive and well, only our property suffered.  However, our neighbors suffered much more (three houses down from us a 23-year-old died, sadly).

To the many or you who called or sent us texts and the like – thank you so much. Even if we didn’t answer, it was nice to feel your care and concern.

In our church, almost no one’s house flooded, thank God. At our house, the stream our back yard flooded to 2.5 meters.  In 2002, when there was a cyclone in Novorossiysk, we weren’t affected at all!  That’s how it is with our God!

It was scary for Tanya and myself, Masha, and our guests when the water in our yard swelled to180cm within the space of an hour.  It’s in such circumstances, when everything seems to be at a loss, and the elderly neighbors on the right are knocking on the wall in the darkness while the neighbor on the left is stranded on the roof screaming “save me, call the emergency services, I’m being washed away”, that everything begins to rush.  We ran around, helping those we could help, and woke up the other neighbors so that they wouldn’t drown in their sleep (it’s impossible to write down everything that happened!) Then we suddenly came to our senses, stood together and prayed for all the people in distress and that God would give us wisdom.  God gave a special measure of courage to my girls (Tima is in the army right now and Kostik went to visit friends).  We called some brothers from the church and the quickly arrived.  At that time we had guests: Jane from Montana (from a C&MA church, she came to Mountain Springs to serve at camp and help at an English Club). It must be said that Jane is simply an extremist: thanks to her, we have photos of the start of our flood and some of the aftermath (which she was very active in helping us clean up).   Tanya and I thank God for her and her dedication, and think of her as a daughter, and we thank God for her.

That same evening, missionaries from Sevastopol who serve abroad arrived (I agreed to take them to visit three different churches).  Valera threw himself into helping, and we got the girls out of the house through the window.  By the way, I couldn’t understand why God willed for them to come at a time like this to talk about missions and look for partners in service while there was such a stir, but it really wasn’t up to them at all.  I thought, I’ve had a terrible flood, the house is dirty, it’s total chaos, and all the believers are busy praying and making shelters for the flood victims etc. 

But then God gave me a word and I understood.  When I had imagined missionaries, I thought about what I’d read from Matthew 24 and Daniel 11:32-33.  I saw that we finally really understand for ourselves where it’s written “¹⁷ A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack” (Matt. 24:17).  And from the word we see that against the background of political, economic, ecological and religious turmoil and the darkness surrounding a church active in ministry, that in spite of evil and all else international ministries will become stronger.

Daniel said, “People who worship God will be strong and act”.  The Lord has given me confidence to say that in the body of Christ, everyone has their own calling. Some serves the poor, some serve relatives and friends, some are called to serve within the church, and we praise God for it.  And even right now in this time of turmoil, God is calling some to serve those who are perishing in different countries.  He said (make no mistake) that there would always be miracles, even at a little church; unexpected donors will be found who will be partners of international missions. 

It was amazing that during this time, as the result of visiting those three small churches, they raised $3600.  They were keenly interested, and they took down the address and there has been a short-term mission. And this against the backdrop of devastation and our own pressing needs!  Hallelujah to our God! HERE’S MATTHEW 24:14 IN ACTION!  I THINK THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSON GOD TAUGHT ME THAT DAY! 

With regard to our property, in the house there was about 25-30cm of water, and in the kitchen about 80cm.   35 meters of fence on three sides were destroyed as if they had never been built.  Some of the furniture was damaged — couches etc. Tanya’s laptop, the refrigerator, the washing machine, appliances and my 2002 Nissan were under water (the Nissan was under right up to the antenna).  Happily, the refrigerator works, the appliances were successfully dried out, and the washing machine is still drying out.  We’ve decided to sell the Nissan because the electronic components can’t be repaired.  It was very good to see that from seven in the morning, while the neighbor was clutching his head, there were about 18 people working on our property until that same evening, and again the next day. I want to thank our pastor Dmitri Lyuba and his wife Natasha for organizing everything.  They cleared out about a ton of silt, lumber, roofing tiles, boards and the like.  They also helped both my neighbors, whose houses are lower than ours and who had worse flood damage.  It was really wonderful that it was help from the church, so that our neighbors now know more about who we are, and are thankful for it.

But the worst damage is in another town.  By some counts, already more than 3000 people died, and the smell on the streets is nauseating.  Many believers lost property.  Bishop Alexander Anatolevich Sakharov organized volunteer work from different churches.  Only the ECMS sent more than 100 people at one time.  Here is his email: a_saharov@inbox.ru.

Bishop Sakharov’s and the president of ECMS Kornev have a list of the believers who suffered losses.  Now we are planning on forming an ECMS church base called “Bell Toll”, in collaboration with the local government in the town, as a center for physical, material, and spiritual help that will being operations in about a year. I think the best thing for the “staff” to do now is to systematically serve the needy.  We’d be happy to welcome any help in that town, especially organized help.

I hardly feel comfortable showing my own photos of our damage against the backdrop of the grief in another town.  If you would like to cooperate with this committee or center, it would be wonderful. 

HOWEVER, DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, ALONG WITH THE EMERGENCY HELP PLEASE, DON’T FORGET ABOUT OUR BLESSED MISSION AND THE TRUTH WRITTEN IN MATTHEW 24:14, ESPECIALLY THOSE MINISTERY PROJECTS THAT YOU’RE ALREADY COMMITTED TO!

Thank you for your cooperation and may God bless you!

Tanya and Ilya Ivanyenko 

Ilya's a funny guy

 That's all for now guys!  It's a million degrees here with no means of escape, but thankfully a watermelon stand popped up overnight at the neighbors place, so I'm off to get a melon and stick it in the fridge for later.  

Пока ребята, Russian Jane