Dear friends of the Prison Ministry,
I want to share some good news about out prison ministry. Last winter my wife Valentina quit her job as an office cleaner and is now working full time with me. In addition, my 21 year old son Georgy also works with us. A Christian friend gave us a used van which we have been able to repair with the money you donated to us last year. The van allows us to earn money and also is very useful in our ministry work.
My wife Valentina and my 21 year old son Georgy are working with me in the prison ministry
God has now opened the door to another penitentiary for our work. It is 70 km (about 45 miles) from our little town of Knjazhevo, near St. Petersburg. We had our first visit this month at the prison, and they have 520 prisoners in total, with 120 of them being women.
I got to know the prison administration. They are very thankful to our work and very interested that we'll do spiritual ministry among their prisoners. This lockup has not been visited for years by any missionary group.
I've been shown the cells and the rooms where we could have classes and meetings. The rooms are in a good shape and very suitable for our use. I am also negotiating with some Christian musicians to do Evangelistic concerts over there. I also have an agreement with 5 people, who would like to help us in this ministry.
God has now opened the door to another penitentiary for our work
At the beginning of this month I took part in Evangelism campaign, which we did in Tikhvin region of the Leningrad area - it is about 200 km from St. Petersburg. We visited and gathered together many people, shared the Gospel with them, and gave small Easter gifts. Many people confessed Jesus Christ as their Savior during our visit. Here is a photo taken of the group.
At the beginning of this month I took part in Evangelism campaign
Now let me tell you about the halfway house. The ground in Russia is no longer frozen and is drying out, so we are ready to start laying the foundation for our new dormitory, which will house up to 20 ex-prisoners. As you know this has been our greatest prayer since we began this ministry.
We have the advice of professional builders who tell us that for such a dormitory we need a very strong foundation. Our soil conditions are not so good so we need to invest much more than I thought in this "foundation project". It will cost around $5500 to complete. The foundation and roof will be the most costly work because we cannot do it all ourselves.
Thanks to your generosity during our visits last year, we have about enough to lay the foundation and to move forward with this work. We prayerfully ask that you consider helping us once again so that we can complete the dormitory over the next 2 summers. In total, we will need about $50,000 to complete the work. This will include the roof, the new gas line for heating, and the remaining materials to build the structure. You may remember that a local Russian man generously gave us the cement blocks to build the dormitory during last year.
Blessings and peace to you all in the name or our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Igor Krutogolov
