- from Alexander Gokhveis, Russia
Greetings! Praise be to our Lord for His grace and mercy! Truly God's ways are inscrutable, as they contribute to His glory and work for our good! As soon as the quarantine was put into effect and the colonies were closed for visiting, prisoners started calling us! Thank God, during the first two months of quarantine, we were able to establish a mentoring ministry using video calls and telephone calls. Besides that, brothers and sisters started gathering on their own for Bible study and prayer. All these endeavors made us rejoice and assured of the presence of God and His blessing upon our ministry.

Fellowships have been taking place in 12 prisons with a total of about 100 people attending fellowship gatherings. Also, with the express permission of the political commissars, we were allowed to set up new independent Bible study groups in 2 more colonies! All this is by the grace of God! Now every colony has a Bible study group, which means that the Lord will continue His work of saving the lost! Glory be to Him!

We have been receiving every kind of assistance from the facilities’ administrations, which was also very encouraging for us, as the years we invested in building relationships have not been in vain. By God’s grace, with the permission of the administrators we were able to pass out hundreds of brochures and other forms of Christian literature. The Lord has been amazingly blessing us, as we distribute Christian literature in the colonies! In addition to having our literature in placed in the libraries of each colony, we got special permission from the administration for believing convicts to set up portable displays of Christian books and brochures. They have been set up in various public places, e.g. in the canteens, in the education centres, in sick wards, and directly in the units. The Christian books are available to anyone who wants to get acquainted with the Christian faith.

Up until recently, the literature stands didn’t generate much interest, for some reason, and we didn’t have to restock them for ages. But the quarantine has changed the situation incredibly! The Lord must have planned it all so wonderfully, because for the entire period of quarantine, all the general libraries were closed and the prisoners literally emptied the shelves of Christian literature! So this month, in addition to our regular deliveries to more than 30 colonies, we’ve had to ship an extra six 20kg parcels, just with books, to meet the needs of those who are interested in reading! We have been able to send Christian literature into high-security penitentiary facilities as well - those institutions with strict conditions of serving sentences and that keep convicts in their cells for solitary confinement.

Our prayer is for the Lord to sprout the seeds we have sown, in all the different ways He provided! We also pray for you, our co-workers in the prison ministry, and for the large family of God participating with us in the ministry!