On October 28, 2023, eight ELCIR members took a mission & diaconal trip to Kachanovo, Pskov Oblast. The team included Rev. Aleksandr Kudryavtsev, ELCIR property manager, and Tuyana Yantsanova, head of ELCIR diaconal ministry. The pastor celebrated a worship service at the chapel in the Lutheran cemetery. The team visited Natalia Gorskaya, village activist and director of Aist (“The Stork”) Nonprofit Organization, and brought clothing and food aid to low-income volunteers and large families involved in the improvement of the village.Local residents hope that one day the old historical Lutheran church building in the village gets an owner, doesn’t turn to ruin, has God’s Word proclaimed in it and serves again as a Lutheran worship place. As the village has been depopulating from year to year, a revived Lutheran church might be a reason for someone to move to live in Kachanovo.
