2005 Press Releases
U.S. Methodists from Arkansas, Virginia and Texas visited Consulate General in Yekaterinburg
November 1, 2005
A group of U.S. Methodists from Arkansas, Virginia and Texas visited our Consulate on October 24. They had lunch with Consul General John Stepanchuk and Consulate staff. The U.S. Methodists came to Yekaterinburg to take part in the dedication of a renovated building which will be used by Yekaterinburg’s United Methodist Church and will serve at the same time as a rehabilitation center for former convicts and their families. The building is located next to a penitentiary. “Return”, as the United Methodist Church is known in Yekaterinburg, has been actively engaged in social work in prisons since 1991 and has been a partner of the Arkansas United Methodist Church since 1995. More than 150 American Methodists have visited Yekaterinburg in the meantime, taking part both in religious services held by their sister church and in its social work. Between 2001 and 2005, congregations and parishioners of the Arkansas United Methodist Church collected over $25,000 for the new rehabilitation center in Yekaterinburg, and this fund-raising work is still going on.
Among the Consulate’s guests was 16-year old Yekaterina Lyzhina who had been adopted from a children’s shelter in Yekaterinburg by an Arkansas Methodist in 2000. It was a deeply moving experience for the entire group to visit Katya’ former shelter, our guests told us.
