Christian Students' Conference in Samara.
(27/01/2003 - 31/01/2003)

We were very glad to have the opportunity to join the IFES conference in Samara that took place from 27 to 31 of January. Three representatives of our Jesus Embassy Group were sent there: Refanus, Albert and Joshua. They traveled by train for 18 hours to Samara and by electrical train for 2 hours to the Orlyonok campsite.

Here is what they shared with us on coming back to Volgograd: "On the way to the Orlyonok, the scenery was as beautiful as a painting. We were truly amazed by the magnificent creation of God.

The main focus of the conference “Stand up and Go” was evangelism. This is always a challenging task to all Christians. And most of the time we didn’t do it well. Here at this conference students were challenged and trained to do it better. The fatherly looking Dick Johns shared the book of Jonah. He jumped and preached so lively until everybody could feel how Jonah felt in the stomach of the big fish. It seemed like every one of us is in a way like Jonah. He gave realistic reminders and guidelines to live a life of a Christian. The energetic guy Jason Lane with his cool style communicated well with youngsters. He led the evangelism course covering the topic of why evangelism, how to do it better, understanding oneself more to work better as a team and some shorts trainings on sharing the gospel.

Besides that there were a few specialize courses: Alfa Course, Prayer and Blessing, Evangelizing in the Modern World, Christian Mind, Answering Tough Questions, Evangelistic Preaching and so on.

We had the opportunity to choose according to our own interest. Not forgetting to carry out the most important part of evangelism, we prayed for our friends and family members whom we are going to reach.

So many times, God’s words reveal our weakness, unsolved problems, hurts, and barriers that prevent us to share the Gospel and to be living testimonies for Him. As we pray and share, each of us found some answers to ours questions and problems, new visions, great joy and healings. It is great encouragement too when we come to meet the staffs of IFES and Christians who are willing to live their life serving the Lord.

During the free time, we had a good time playing in the snow. As foreigners who came from Malaysia and Namibia, this was an exiting experience. We hiked in the forest to find good spot to slide down with sleigh and sometimes even felled down in the deep snow and lied there not wanting to get up. We enjoyed the hospitality of Russians to have a cup of tea and a long chatting through the night. We loved the moments worshiping in the hall, in the train ride and even during tea talk in the room. There are so many unforgettable faces. We meet brothers and sisters from all parts of Russia. We shared testimonials and even had crying moments together while praying and sharing. God is so wonderful that he binds brothers and sisters together with His love. And through this binding we find comfort and support.

We really had a wonderful time and the end came too soon. It is sad to say goodbye but when come to think of we are going home with missions to get this written task done, we knew that this conference wouldn’t be complete without us stand up and walk out to the world."