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Nordic / Baltic / Eastern European Newsletter
March 18,
2011
Issue 20
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Greetings!
We
are all looking forward to springtime when the days
are longer and the temperature warmer. I am sure you
are, too. We think of you often, our friends and
readers in the northern latitudes.
Our
associate pastor Johnnie Lambert just spent a month
in Estonia and Latvia. He includes his report below
in this newsletter.
In
the Good News magazine that has been sent
to readers in our Russian speaking countries,
we included a supplement on the right. It includes a
number of articles about the the spring Holy Days
that the church observes. These are not traditional
days observed by most of the world, but those that
were ordained by God from the beginning and
practiced by the New Testament Christian Church.
Early Christians knew nothing of Easter and
Christmas observance. These were days added or, more
accurately, adopted from pagan religions in which
Christians lived. There pagan days supplanted the
days that God has ordained to be kept.
In a
month we will be observing the Passover that Christ
kept and one in which He instituted the symbols of
the bread and wine signifying His great
sacrifice that has brought redemption to mankind.
Taking the symbols of Christ's suffering and death
is done once a year. The Old Testament Passover
looked forward to Christ. Jesus Christ instituted
the New Testament symbols. We do not have eternal
life until we take the Passover which is observed by
those who are baptized and have received the Spirit
of God. We explain this in our booklet God's
Holy Day Plan, The Promise of Hope for All Mankind
that you can read and order online at http://www.ucg.org/booklets/HD/.
 We
are now busily preparing for our Fall Festivals,
that are also explained in detail in this free
booklet. We will be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles
in Estonia this fall. The dates are October 13
through 19th. We hope to have about 70 people in
attendance that will include instructional church
services, family time and recreation. We plan to
have people come from North America, Latvia, Sweden,
Estonia and hopefully from other countries. You can
read about plans for this coming fall on a special
Web location at
www.kubik.org/estonia. If you have wanted to
meet with and talk to a minister of the United
Church of God, you may want to consider visiting us
here this fall.
We
appreciate the increased contact we've had with a
number of your in the past few months. Johnnie
Lambert plans to visit people in Denmark, Sweden and
Finland when he comes again to this area in the
month of May.
May
God bless you at this time of year. Please don't
hesitate to contact me and Johnnie Lambert in the
United States or Paul Spenser in Sweden, if you have
any questions.
In Christ's service,
VictorKubik
Senior Pastor |
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Report from Tartu, Estonia by Johnnie Lambert
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March 6, 2011
I am preparing to leave Tartu after almost a month,
it seems that the weather is finally changing. This
has been the coldest winter in my memory here.
Nightly temperatures have been 10 below Fahrenheit
(minus 23 C) and daytime temperatures have also been
very cold.
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Gathering at the Schultz's home |
Along
with two Estonians, Imbi Kuusksalu and Andrus Rips,
I visited the Latvians in Smiltene yesterday, March
5. Outside there was
still a deep snow cover. But inside with the
Latvians, the friendship was very warm. We arrived
at the Schultz house early in the morning. After
living for years in an upstairs apartment at the
church building, Elita had prayed to God for a
house. Her promise to God was that if He would give
them such a house, they would use it to serve His
people. God did give them a beautiful house, and
every Sabbath there is a Sabbath Feast at the
Schultz house for the brethren in Smiltene. Worship
services were held from 10 AM until 12 noon. Then we
returned to the Schultz house for the customary
feast.
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At Church Services in Smiltene, Latvia |
As
many of you have seen, the Russian insert for the
Good News is in a new and much improved
format. I encountered that in several places on this
trip. Natasha, along with others at the home office,
has been responsible for this improvement. Toomas
Schvak is now the Chief Editor of the Estonian
TEA Encyclopaedia. While he continues to
maintain his high position with the European Union
Library Project, he still finds time to translate
Good News Articles into Estonian and to do some
editing of booklets for us. Imbi Kuusksalu has
translated three booklets into Estonian for
publication; "Is The Bible True?",
"Marriage and Family", and "Managing Your
Finances". We also have one new booklet in
Russian, "Why Does God Allow Suffering?"
After finishing "What Happens After Death?", Valdur
Vesingi is now translating "The Book of
Revelation Unveiled" into Estonian. The
Latvians should have their first booklet ready for
publication soon. Carolyn Barker and Judy Sieker
have a lot of publishing work to do.
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Snow piled up outside the Schultz's |
We have mailed out one thousand envelopes on this
trip. There are many people getting the Good News of
God's Coming Kingdom. But we are not receiving the
same number of new requests that we were receiving
for the last year. As spring approaches, please pray
that God will send us new people who desire to
understand His Truth.
Spring is a time of renewed growth. |
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Feast of Tabernacles on Saaremaa, Estonia October
12-20
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Plans are
underway for the Feast of Tabernacles in Estonia.
Estonia is nestled between Russia, the Baltic
Republics and Scandinavia. It is known as part of
the land of the Vikings. We plan to bring brethren
together from these areas along with transfers from
the United States and other places. The
Festival will be held on the beautiful, historic and
strategic island of Saaremaa, which controls one of
the sea gates to Russia.
We will
stay at the luxurious
Georg Ots Spa Hotel which overlooks the Baltic
Sea. Scandinavians love their spas, and this
location was very popular with Feastgoers in 2009
and 2010 Children and adults alike will love it
We
anticipate around 90 people attending. It is truly
an amazing thing to see how close such a small group
can become in one week. Previous attendees will
testify that Latvian children and young adults (of
whom there are many) are quite facile with English,
and they RELISH the opportunity to serve as
translators. The close relationship between Latvian
parents and children was very noticeable.
Americans who came here to this Feast with children,
went home with a closer relationship with their
children as a result of the Latvian example.|
READ MORE by going to special Website about this
year's Festival.
Please
come join us for a memorable and enjoyable Feast of
Tabernacles 2011!
Send us an email at estonia@kubik.org if
you would like more information and notifications
about the Festival in October. |
Virtual Christian Magazine
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Here are some timely articles that you may
benefit from. The Website for the Virtual
Christian Magazine is at
http://www.vcmagazine.org
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Contact Information
Victor Kubik
3707 Turfway Ct.
Indianapolis, IN 46228
phone: 001 317 216-0802
mobile/sms: 001 317 679-7676
562 Sing Sing Road
Horseheads, NY 14845
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