Gogi

In the churches here in Russia, we have very few men attend. Many of the wives and daughters are faithful in coming, but many of the men will not have anything to do with the church. One of the ways I can find time to minister to these men is when we work together to fix a broken down car. I've always had a knack for being able to fix engines, and I find my skills have come in handy here. One of the men I've been really reaching out to is "Gogi" (pronounced "Go-gee"), short for Igor Bazhenov. Gogi is the brother-in-law to our former Pastor Vova, who now lives in Canada. Gogi came to the Lord a few years ago, and since there were few other men in the church, Gogi was thrust into a leadership position in the church as a baby Christian.

Soon, Gogi found himself in the midst of conflict with some of the ladies in the church, and left the church out of hurt a few months back. For those of you who have kept up with my email updates, you know about Gogi!

Gogi loves the Lord and wants to serve Him, but he's been having a hard time putting his faults in perspective (as most of us do) and refuses refuses to recognize certain blind spots and can’t yet forgive those who offended him. Gogi and I spent a lot of time together the other day working on the transmission of this minibus. After we finished, we ended up discussing the problems he had with the church. (We had a long talk before, but it didn’t go very far). This time I felt he really understood where I was coming from and may be on the brink of a heart change!

Please continue to pray that the Lord will speak to Gogi, soften his heart, and bring him back to the church!