We made our first journey to Russia in July of 1998.  Our team spent time touring Russian Police facilities, watching God put together those divine appointments to share his love with the officers at each facility.  Rob DePartee as our Team Leader was interviewed by TV news teams three times.  These interviews were broadcast several times during our 8 day stay in Nizhniy Novgorod.  Each time Rob was interviewed, he was able to give a clear presentation of our purpose for the outreach and very eloquently presented the gospel message to the citizens watching news broadcast.  We were escorted around each day by a Cpt. in the local police force.  Ivan is his name.  Ivan began the week by sharing with us that he is an iron communist.  The day of our departure , after a week with 8 cops in love with Jesus, Ivan admitted that he could see that Jesus was real.  He also said he would read the bible before we returned to his city.

We had an awesome response to our street evangelism.  We went downtown each evening in our Class A uniforms.  The response was amazing as the Russian people saw these Officers in American uniforms strolling down main street.  Most of the people have never seen a real live American Deputy or Police Officer so it was a natural magnet.  Each time a crowd gathered around us, we were able to share the gospel and invite them to come to church at Calvary Chapel of Nizhniy Novgorod.  The brothers and sisters of this church were fantastic host for our team.  They sacrificed daily to make sure our team had the necessary tools to complete our day of ministry.

After returning home in July 1998, we remained in contact via E-mail, with the Pastor of the church.  In August the Russian economy collapsed causing a great deal of hardship to those blessed saints we had met in July.  It was brought to our attention that it was very difficult to find food on the shelves and income for the families was very hard to find.  Also an orphanage that was being ministered to by Calvary Chapel of Nizhniy Novgorod was really suffering.  An E-mail was sent out for a rescue mission.  Within a month period of time a team of 7 was formed to take several boxes of relief supplies into Nizhniy Novgorod for a short turn around trip in November 1998.  I was also able to secure a grant from the Mustard Seed Foundation for $5,000.00 to give to the local church to meet the needs of the church body as well as supply a great need for the orphanage.

We returned to Nizhniy on a Wednesday morning and were on the run ever since.  We spent both Wednesday and Thursday going into University classes talking with several students about life in America and of course turning the conversation to the gospel was fun. We were well received and hope to see many of the students in church this Sunday.

Friday was a great day and worth the entire trip.  We were ministering to the kids in the orphanage.  First it was a blessing just to see the smiles on their faces. We were able to bring in 7 very large boxes full of gifts, clothing and other toiletry supplies.  These kids were totally blessed to receive even the smallest of the gifts.  While we were at the orphanage, Danielle and Paul, the son of an Anaheim police officer, were able to do some puppet ministry with the kids.  They loved it.  There are about 150 kids in this orphanage with ages ranging from 5 to 17.  The best blessing came at the end of the outreach to this orphanage.  The director of the orphange was talking with Vlad, the assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel Nizhniy. She was telling him of her discouragement in the fact that her and her staff try to teach the kids morals and how to live a descent life. But, when they are not watching the kids they beat up on each other and have a destructive nature.  She made the comment that "no matter what they try to do they can't change their nature."  Vlad was then able to share the gospel with her and how the Lord can change that nature.  The bottom line is, she wants the local Calvary chapel to come in and work with the kids on weekly basis to teach them about this changing relationship they can have with the Lord. Not only the kids will hear it, but the staff of the orphanage will hear it as well.  This was worth the trip!

Saturday was great also. Rob Departee and Keith Crooks went on a tour with a guy we met at dinner on Thursday night.  It was great because two TV news crews came and interivewed them for the local news.  They were able to preach the gospel on TV again! PTL! All in all the day was pretty relaxing for the rest of us.  I shared at the Sunday morning service at Calvary Chapel Nizhniy;  I pray God will encourage these kids of his.  After church we met with Ivan (our police tour guide from our July trip).  We talked about our desire to come back again in July 1999.  He was please to hear we would be returning.  He has been promoted to a more influential position and said he would help us to organize our outreach.

We left Nizhniy Sunday night on the train for Moscow and then our long flight home.

We are looking forward to see what God has in store for us in Russia during 1999.  Please pray with us for the officers that were presented with the gospel message in 1998 as well as the officers that will hear this powerful message in 1999.

In HIS Service,

Gary Malkus
Reserve Deputy/Chaplain
San Bernardino Sheriff Dept.