Congratulatory speech of Bishop Kenzhebek Botobayev of The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kyrgyzstan, February 9, 2020:
“Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! I am thankful to God for giving me an opportunity to visit you in the Church of Christ. Thank you very much for inviting me. I am very happy to be attending this celebration today, the ordination of Ivan Laptev into the office of bishop. I am thankful to Arri Matveyevich whom I first met three years ago. I know the Lord has done many things through Bishop Kugappi in this Church. I’d like to wish you a long life, good health, wellbeing in your family, and enjoyable rest! Also, I would like to congratulate Ivan Sergeyevich and wish that the Lord would richly bless you with His Holy Spirit in this office and use you to bear plentiful fruit in saving other people. God’s blessings to you in this ministry!”
Congratulatory speech of Rev. Aleksandr Burtsev, leader of Lutheran congregations in Kazakhstan, February 9, 2020:
“Dear Arri Matveyevich, Ivan Sergeyevich, I bring greetings from the churches in Kazakhstan with cordial thanks and wishes of God’s blessing. The Bible says, ‘You shall honor old men.’ (cf. Lev. 19:32) We would like to say thank you very much to Arri Matveyevich for his service, for his ever so friendly attitude, open heart, and give him a humble gift. We’d like to invite Ivan Sergeyevich, we need to make sure he becomes a real aqsaqal, so that he may be a people person in Central Asia.”
Photo credits: Kristiina Paananen