Mission to
Magadan
Preaching the Gospel in Far East Russia
November 2009 Newsletter
Mission to Magadan Expands Pro-Life Work
In Magadan we have already two full time workers in our Pro life service. Two women have also joined our work in the outlying villages of Ola and Sokol. Ola and Sokol are two small towns about 45 kilometers from Magadan. Lena & Sasha visit doctors an
d nurses to explain our Caritas and Nativity Inn programs to help mothers and their children. They have been in contact with clubs and other organizations publicizing where woman in need can get help.
These faithful women felt the called to work in this ministry and we have been blessed by you and able to create a place for them to work. In Sokol, our apartment church has one room now given over to this work. We will store clothes and food products for infants in this office/workroom and Lena will keep regular office hours so women know when to come for help. In Ola, again thanks to your generosity, the Nativity Inn is the place to welcome and counsel women that need help - as well as a place for women who need temporary shelter. We have informational cards and brochures that explain our work, the names of the women who provide the help, and when and where to go for help.
Another dream is forming into reality! An anonymous donor will sponsor the first Pro-Life conference in Magadan. We want to hold this important event in Fall 2010, and speakers will provide information about alternatives to abortion, woman will discuss the pain of their abortions. We will invite youth to witness for our growing anti-abortion movement. We will hold workshops on healing and forgiveness. We hope to include other churches, and believe this could be a real turning point with our relationship with the city, government, and other groups who hesitate to work with a Catholic organization. I am begging for you prayers that this conference – please pray it will happen and touch the lives of many people. Here in Russia, it is so critical to speak out about the tragedy of abortion, and how to heal and help prevent it.
Father Michael Shields Prays in the Magadan "Desert"
On Mondays, Fr Mike prays in a small former geological hut. It has been turned into his hermitage called a poustia (desert) in Russian. He tries to go early in the morning and stays for twenty-four hours.
In this time he places the Blessed Sacrament on a small altar and has set times he kneels before the Lord and worships. The poustina is a place to repent, meet Jesus, meet your sinful self, open your heart to the Lord and simply give the Lord the time to speak. It is a time given over to Christ. In a sense there are no rules on how to spend time in poustina other than be open to the Holy Spirit, pray, and read the bible. The experience of poustina usually allows time to hear the Lord and receive a word to pass on to others.
The gift of poustina for Fr. Mike is to remind him that the Lord called him to pray here in Magadan. The Lord called him to be a prayer warrior fighting with the weapons of spiritual warfare: truth, scriptures, faith, righteousness, and hope. There have been times he received special words for people he then gives to them after the poustina. Without poustina Fr Mike says he dies spiritually. He is too weak to go a week without being silent before His Lord and with joy listening to the deep inner voice that calls him by name and some day will call him home.
The greatest gift of poustina is quiet time with Christ. In the winter when it is -30° and the wind is blowing, there can be such a deep silence inside. They say poustina has three walls and the fourth wall is open to the world. It is not a place to escape the world, but a place to be in the world - in obedience to Christ - through prayer and fasting.
A Change of Season
Work around the parish prepares people and ministry for the winter ahead.
Parishioners of the Church of the Nativity have been busy completing projects before the long Siberian winter sets in. Does the work around the Church of the Nativity of Jesus look different from the work around your parish?
The finishing touches on our building project was finished with the help of a visiting priest, Fr. Jan. Building materials are expensive and the block walls of the basement of the church and garage needed to be covered. God provided local gifts in the form of a few tons of stones from around Magadan.
Fr. Jan, above left, visited to help Fr. Mike around the parish. Fr. Jan serves in our neighboring parish in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatska. (They are only 600 miles away!) Fr. Jan was called to the priesthood after a career in professional basketball.
A group of parishioners work with the priests and sisters to dig our yearly supply of potatoes. The potatoes are used to feed the poor, mothers with newborn babies and for our parish lunches.
_____________________________________________
Thank you for your continuing prayer and support of the Mission to Magadan. Through your prayers and generosity, Fr. Mike and the people of the parish work with you to provide vital ministries to the people of Far East Russia.
