Tim Smith and nephew Evan Earwicker travel to Kamchatka, Russia in April
Preevyet (hello)
Evan and I arrived safely Saturday, April 17 in the Russian airport near Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka Russia, and went immediately to a meeting in Yilesova where we both ministered and had a wonderful yet tired time (we were up 36 hours straight) Then we went to their citywide festival where I had the pleasure of playing Bach's Arioso on a borrowed cello. Evan was immersed in Russian culture and picked up words and names very fast.
April 18, Sunday morning he sang and I preached in PK the capital city and we got the whole place singing a new song for Kamchatka. Great time. We met in the afternoon with the worship team for a workshop on creativity and the Holy Spirit and then with the youth band for some improvisation and encouragement.
Monday April 19, started the classes on worship at the Bible College at the base about 30 minutes from PK. I taught three classes a day with the afternoons off and evenings packed. We had about 28 students in the class and I taught on the call of worship, the tabernacle of worship, the giants of worship, the spirit and truth of worship, leadership, and finally the song on Friday. They had a test to sing four lines of their own compostition in front of the class, derived from a summary of the teaching this week. They all sang and some songs were actually pretty incredible. One did a rap! Some wept as they sang for the first time publically. Some were so well composed that they could easily become a great congregational song there.
A wonderful group of students and very responsive. We had a wonderful time discovering Jesus in His word and in each other. Evan shared a few times and sang quite a bit for me and did great. In the evenings we worked with local teams on flowing in worship and presenting the gospel in every way.
Wednesday night we had a special treat, a private concert with a professional orchestra, the Kamchatka Chamber Orchestra, that tours Russia and Europe. The principal violist, Jana, is the worship pastor of the church in PK that we are visiting and she told them I was a cellist from the states and wanted to introduce us and maybe play some together (though we couldn’t find appropriate music so we just listened and chatted afterward) It was a wonderful time and apparently is a first to build a bridge of trust into the artist community with the church.
Jana's daughter, Nastia also plays flute in the orchestra. She is an incredible flautist and we hope to bring her to Aloha to do some recording with us in the fall.
Friday night, April 23 we flew to Anchorage and stayed with James and Jennifer Bowers, Maryl's brother and sister-in-law and their kids. That night we flew home. We had a great time.
Jesus is faithful and doing great things. 4 people got saved Sunday when I gave an altar call and one of them asked for deliverance from drugs and alcohol! Praise God! Thursday night in PK 50 or more people came forward for prayer for healing and deliverance.
The song is alive and well in Kamchatka!
Piano in Worship DVD/book
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