Letter from Garth Moller in Russia
March 1, 2006
Dear Friends,
Greetings from St. Petersburg, Russia! It has been an eventful school year at the Kargel & Baedeker School. God has been good to us and has used many faithful people to see us through some challenging times of growth and expansion.
Since our last newsletter, we have moved our school into the new facility and completed the first (of three) necessary stages of renovation.
The Kargel & Baedeker School is a K-12 Christian school that offers a Russian language curriculum to children in St. Petersburg. We also offer a second-track curriculum, known as the International Christian School, which offers an English language program and primarily serves children of missionaries stationed in Russia by many different denominations and Christian organizations.
When we faced relocation from our old facility in 2004, the governor of St. Petersburg came to our assistance and found us an abandoned school building in an excellent area of the city. It requires much work, though.
Back row, left to right: Lyudmila, Garth, and Ksenia Moller. Front row: Zachary Moller.
The first phase of renovation included resurfacing walls and ceilings, re-wiring electrical outlets and lighting, replacing floors, refurbishing classrooms, securing the perimeter fence, repairing bathrooms, and installing a fire and safety alarm system. This work is finished. Much work was done by volunteer work teams over the summer. Our staff and many pupils labored on the building and grounds as well.
Several congregations in North America were instrumental in raising funds. Seven different short-term mission teams came to work. Among these teams were church groups, an InterVarsity team, and several families. It was a special summer for us, as the Lord answered our prayers and provided in many different and unexpected ways.
We were able to start the fall term on time and the Russian Ministry of Education granted us a five-year license to operate. That was a great blessing as it is the maximum period allowed before the license must be renewed.
Three challenges occupy our minds. (1) We want to continue to meet the needs of a hurting population of children, many of whom exist at the margins of society with very few safety nets, let alone opportunities, available to them. It continues to be our goal to minister to them, invest in them, and share the good news of Christ with them. (2) We need to finish paying for the first phase of renovation that allowed us to start school last Fall and to finish and pay for the second phase, which brings the school into conformity with all existing city codes. (3) We need to add more tuition-paying pupils to our student population and we need to find sponsors for those students with no means or parents to pay their tuition.
Our student population is from two very different economic groups. One group, which is small but growing, comes from a relatively prosperous (and relatively new) segment of Russian society. These children display a confidence in the material world we have not seen before. They seem to have little concept of a need for Christ. Our teaching staff (all Christians) knows that these children need Christ and represent a great ministry opportunity.
The second group of children comes from the poorer segment of Russian society. All of our students from Christian families are in this group. A number these children have no parents involved in their lives. From a young age many of these children have been told, through word and deed, that they are of little or no value. This could not be further from the truth, and it is our daily mission to show them otherwise and to attempt to show them Christ’s transformational love.
Please pray for these children and pray for the teachers and the staff who minister to them. We suspect that as long as we continue to take in these kinds of children (and we will as long as we are allowed to operate), we will struggle financially.
Prayer requests
- Pray for our children and their families. Pray that they would be open to Christ in their lives. Pray for their protection and healing.
- Pray for our teaching staff. Pray for their wisdom, faith, endurance, and health.
- Pray for our enrollment. We face a critical time beginning in March through the end of the school term when we will have a good opportunity to increase the student body (and, therefore, increase the number of students who can pay tuition).
- Pray for our scholarship assistance program, that God will bring forward individuals and organizations willing to sponsor the tuition of children without financial means.
- Pray for me, Lyuda, and our senior leadership at the school. We are facing new challenges: developing the future leadership of the school, improving organization of the school, and raising funds to cover the expenses of moving into the building and renovating it. Pray for our wisdom and obedience to God that we would be able to rise to these challenges.
- Pray for the future of the school. It is true that the very survival of the school is on the line, but pray with us for more than survival. Pray that this school’s ministry would thrive and that through it the glory of God would be seen in St. Petersburg.
Christ’s blessings to you,
Garth and Lyuda Moller
The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 188
