Day 3 with Natalie

Welcome back to the 3rd and final day with Natalie, who serves as a Grace missionary in Samara, Russia with her husband and two boys. Today we will hear how we can specifically pray for them.

Please tell us how we can pray for:

MP: You and your family
Natalie: Pray for us as parents, that we would raise our two boys in the fear and admonition of the Lord and that we would be consistent in all areas. Pray for Jon and me as we struggle to learn the language. Pray that we would be disciplined in our studies and that we would have a great desire to communicate solely in the Russian language. Pray for Josiah who has significant speech delay. We are praising God for the advances he has made this past year but he has a long way to go.

MP: The ministry
Natalie: Pray for the Seminary students who will be graduating at the end of May. Many of them will return to the cities/regions where they came from and begin ministry, some will do church plants, and others are still praying about what the Lord will have in store for them. Please pray for the fall semester as we would like to accept a new class but recently there has been some opposition from different ends making it a bit difficult for some men to consider attending Seminary. Pray for strength and wisdom for Victor Ryaguzov, the rector of the Seminary and leader of this region’s Baptist Union, as he has been facing some strong opposition. Pray for him that the Lord would continue to strengthen his convictions and keep him steadfast.

MP: The country
Natalie: On May 7, 2008, Russia inaugurated a new president. Please pray for Dmitry Medvedev as he leads this nation. Please pray for current laws to change regarding our visas. On October of last year the laws changed regarding religious workers making it almost impossible for us to continue to return here on religious visas. We are currently looking into other options but this is something that will affect our whole team. It seems that this is a way for the government to control who can come here. In a way it roots out some false religions but it also hurts us considerably. As I said before this is a Godless nation and people here need the Lord desperately. Pray that the Lord would do a great work in this land before the doors close completely for us.

Thank you again Natalie for sharing with us! We have really enjoyed getting to know you and your family more. You can keep up with Natalie by visiting her blog!