Astrakhan's Mission Trip 2010

On the 6th March (Saturday), we were scheduled to embark for Astrakhan on a Mission trip. The local church here (Jesus Embassy, Volgograd) sent 2 teams for missions. One team to Astrakhan and the other to Akhtubinsks. Each team had 17 members. Astrakhan was a 6 hours journey from Volgograd by marshutka (a van). We left Volgograd at about 4pm after being led prayer by Bro. Akin.

We reached Astrakhan at about 11pm. As soon as we reached in Astrakhan, we were assembled at Astrakhan's local church. We were then allocated places to the local church member's house to spend the night. I stayed in a Russian house with 2 of my other friends Eccleston Kendrick (Clez) and Sarbdev Singh (Dev). We were glad because it was our first experience staying in a Russian house and to eat their food. After being served dinner, we ate and slept.
The next morning, we got up at about 6.45am. After the wonderful breakfast we had with our "foster family" in Astrakhan we left to church. As soon as we reached the church, we prepared ourselves for the church service, because the local church gave us the honor to lead the whole service from the worship to the sharing, praying, drama, offering, testimony and benediction. We felt so honored in the church. And I must confess that it was so amazing to praise and worship our Father in a new language. We all felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church.
After their normal worship service, they have a special service for the deaf and dumb. I personally have never seen such thing in my life before. It was so touching to see how these people worship our God without words but only with thier actions. Although they lack the gift of speech, they still retained a heart to search for God. They welcomed us to perform our drama to them too. I felt so grateful to God that I can speak and listen, and I do not want to waste it but to use it for God.
After the service, we went fora short tour to the Kremlin (a fortress) . Astrakhan is such a beautiful city with its Kremlin and many other wonderful buildings.
At about 5pm, we were scheduled to have a "Youth Meeting", locally in our church we say it was "MYF program". Due to that, we distributed pamphlets about this programs to the youths in Astrakhan. Therefore, we choose to invite the youth from 2 universities in Astrakhan, the Medical University and Polytechnic, for our program. With my very new and fragile knowledge of the Russian language, I went and spoke with the students there and invited them for our program. It was really interesting though.
We reached at 5pm in the church. The program began with praise and worship. After that was games. Clez and I were in charge of it. It was a new experience to conduct a game in the Russian language and interact with a new circle of people. We were asked to perform the drama again and after that ws the session for sharing of testimonies. After that, it was the sharing session b Ng Xun Jin, and the session was inspiring.
After everything, we were exhausted but extreemly satisfied. We left Astrakhan at about 11pm and reached Volgograd at about 7am.
Mission trips are truly amazing, great, wonderful....... and so on.It was basically a one day mission trip, but we did so many things. Here were those who attended the mission trip and some of the pictures we took there. We are so thankful to all those for have been praying for us. To all those who read's this article, we would really appreciate it if you would continue upholding us in prayer.
1. Akinola Akindamola Daniel (Akin-Leader)
2. Ng Xun Jin
3. Alpha
4. Nathaniel
5. Godwin
6. Sarbdev Singh (Dev)
7. Cheryl Chee
8. Annette Sharmila Nelson
9. Eccleston Kendrick (Clez)
10. Victoria Ivy
11. Rita Glatman
12. Dr. Asirifi Amoako Samuel (Dr. Sam)
13. Pan
14. Ker Jin Hoong
15. Viphavadi Boon
16. Katya
17. Jonah Seeni

PS. I have uploaded the video's of the Deaf and Dumb praise and worship and our drama in Facebook.Our "foster family"Me playing the bass for worshipOne side of the churchPraise and worshipOur team and the local church pastorThe dramaGroup photo with the deaf and dumb people...The deaf and dumb serviceThe youth meetingThe whole team in front of the Kremlin

Winter Conference 2010

There are so many wonderful things to tell about this conference, and I really do not know how and where to begin from.

For it had been since a long time my seniors had been encouraging me to come for the Winter Conference that would be held for the very first time in a very big scale as there will be 5 main universities in Russia will be participating. I also was so interested, but at the same time, if I
was to go for the conference, I would not be able to "enjoy" my 3 days semester break. But I decided to go too. My exam finished on the 4th February and I had to travel to Moscow on the 4th February itself. Immediately after my exam, we had to go to the railway station to catch our 20 hours train to Moscow. The conference begins on the 5th February and we had to travel for such a long time to get to Moscow.
We had a wonderful time in Moscow. There were many wonderful programs arranged for us and from wonderful speakers like

Pastor Kelvin Loo ( Church of City Harvest-CHC, KL),

Rev. Matts Ola (Word of Life, Moscow)

Dr. Shan Ong (Hillsongs, Australia)

Dalvinder Singh (Malaysian Fellowship)

We also had many wonderful performances by

Jaclyn Victor (Malaysian Idol)

City Harvest Band, KL

Free To Fall, Girl Band, KL

'Saved' Pop Dance Team

'Street Temple' Hip-Hop GroupThe theme for this conference was "CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME".
The 1st session was conducted by Pastor Kevin Loo. Pastor Kevin Loo imparted words of wisdom and encouragement with a powerful sermon noting how important change can be and that the word of God triggers change to empower us to not only become normal doctors but spiritual doctors that not only bring the medicine but also hope to the downcasted and the broken hearted. We as doctors merely provide the medicine but it is only God that provides the cure.

The second day of the Winter Conference 2010 was a long session that included the message that blew my mind by Rev. Matts Ola, a highly revered and respected pastor that commands a large following of Russian Christians in Moscow. His church popularly goes by the Russian name of Слова жизни (Slava Zhizny) which means Word of Life. His sermon on merciful really touched my heart. I really learn t a lot especially from this session.

There was also a talk conducted by Dr Shan Ong himself who is one of the top pediatricians specializing in child development in Sydney, Australia. He was there to talk about highly acquired medical skills and advice to us aspiring doctors. Last but not least, Dalvinder Singh who is the founding director of the Moscow Malaysian Fellowship and also in his final year also imparted much wisdom to us as he delivered tips on leadership skills and people management. Dalvinder also was part of a relieve team that was sent to Haiti. Looking at his vision to change our way of looking at things really was amazing.

The highlight of the event was Ms Jaclyn Victor herself. The first ever Malaysian Idol winner. Her voice is so wonderful. The last song she sang on Sunday was so superb.

Moreover, the all girl band "Free to Fall" was also there. Other groups were also present to showcase their talent and to entertain the night, "Street Temple" a hip hop dance group by a group of four Russians and "Saved" a pop dance team were there to wowed us with their impeccable dance choreography.

The last day of the conference took place at the Word of Life Church. Pastor Matts Ola led the final session. In total there were 5 sessions. Jaclyn Victor took the stage once more and delivered yet another trademark stunning performance. After the worship, song performance we had to leave the church because we had to catch our flight.

Although we were tired, but it was chance that I believe none of us want to miss. Im glad that I attended the conference because I learnt a lot of new things. The most wonderful thing was that each and every arrangement done was done by medical students who should be one of the most busiest students. I was truly amazed by the Malaysian Fellowship hospitality and professionalism of doing this. May God Bless You!

Volgograd Railway Station

Renaissance Hotel Entrance.

In the conference hall with the other delegates from Volgograd

Pastor. Kelvin Loo in action

Rev. Matts Ola preaching powerfully...

CHC Band and Jaclyn Victor for the finale

All my group members....