Merry Christmas!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We are grateful for each of you! May the Lord bless you as you celebrate all He has blessed you with!

BLESSED ARE YOU, LORD GOD OF ISRAEL, OUR FATHER, FOREVER AND EVER. YOURS, O LORD, IS THE GREATNESS, THE POWER AND THE GLORY, THE VICTORY AND THE MAJESTY; FOR ALL THAT IS IN HEAVEN AND IN EARTH IS YOURS; YOURS IS THE KINGDOM, O LORD, AND YOU ARE EXALTED AS HEAD OVER ALL. BOTH RICHES AND HONOR COME FROM YOU, AND YOU REIGN OVER ALL. IN YOUR HAND IS POWER AND MIGHT; IN YOUR HAND IT IS TO MAKE GREAT AND TO GIVE STRENGTH TO ALL. NOW THEREFORE, OUR GOD, WE THANK YOU AND PRAISE YOUR GLORIOUS NAME. 1 CHRONICLES 29:10b-13

The Countdown...

Thanks for continuing in prayer for us. Our days are extremely busy! We are making the final move out of the apartment and into the dacha today, Saturday. We have changed our gathering with some of the students until Sunday afternoon. Thanks for praying for good weather and a special time of fellowship in the Lord.

Once we leave the apartment, we will be without internet until we reach the US with the exception of wifi at McDonald's! Praise the Lord for McDonald's!

We are scheduled to fly out Monday at noon. We are looking forward to catching up on some much needed sleep!

May the Lord bless each one of you. We are particularly grateful for your prayer coverage for our family and our travels over the next few days. God be with you 'til we meet again!

Time is Passing Quickly!

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers as we continue to relocate and prepare to leave for the US at the same time! Have you ever felt like you are on a merry-go-round? We are grateful for the 'merriment' the Lord blesses us with each day!
Things are going well and we continue to be amazed at God's faithfulness. There have been a few things at the dacha that need some attention but we praise the Lord for the owner's willingness and joyful willingness, at that, to take care of them. Today, he had two men helping him move a massive pile of metal rods from one location to another in the back yard. When we were leaving for the day, I went to go check the back gate and the Lord showed me a beautiful little plot of land where the rods were previously and the potential for a small garden next spring. Ooorah! We can grow our own potatoes, carrots, beets and cabbage for fresh borscht! OK, maybe I'm counting my veggies before they're even planted....however, we are so grateful!
We took 'little' Egor to the dacha last weekend and he loves it...the only thing he didn't like was the sound of the neighbor's dog barking! For those of you that remember the summer he got bit by a protective momma dog, the memory still lingers for him, too, causing a great desire for a good deal of distance between him and ANY dog! We reassured him the dog would not get through, over, or under the fence! We told him tonight that we will spend next Saturday night there and he is very happy! At the same time, he is very sad about us leaving. For him, it will mean going somewhere else for the next 11 weeks. There is a family in our church for whom we are grateful that has offered to host him on the weekends in our absence.
Please pray for us as we plan a get together with some of 'our' kids next Saturday night. It will be our first night in the dacha and two nights before we are scheduled to fly out, but we really want to have a cookout and camp fire with them before we leave. (The owner gave us permission!) Please pray we will unconditionally convey the love of the Lord to them and that HE will meet each one at their point of need through us.

PRAISE THE LORD~HOME SWEET HOME!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying over the past 6 months for us to find a place to live! The Lord has answered prayer and blessed us with a genuine Russian dacha (house) to live in. It is outside of Moscow and close to the ministry's office in Zelenograd. As the Lord would have it, we are about 10 minutes walking distance from one of the orphanages we visit!

The owners of the dacha are very nice and we are both happy about us being there. Lord willing, all will go as planned and we will sign the contract today and start moving some things. We need to find out what we need to do with communication though! There is no phone or dsl line for internet so we are searching for options. Please continue to pray for us as we move and prepare to depart for the US. We have 16 days to do both!

We are grateful for your faithful prayers and support! Grace and peace be multiplied to each one!

God is in Control!

~Praise the Lord that we can trust our future to Him~

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.
2. God will still answer prayers according to His perfect will.
3. The Holy Spirit will still move.
4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6. There will still be singing of praise to God.
7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8. There will still be room at the Cross.
9. Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.



ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL?!!

Special Prayer Request!

We spoke with John-David tonight for quite some time and he asked that we ask people to pray for him. He is relocating to the Indianapolis Training Center tomorrow, Monday, October 29th, and will be there for the next four weeks. He said, "I need prayer for direction from the Lord and to hear from Him concerning what the next step is". Please pray for this time of transition and adjustment. May the Lord's will be done in his life. May these times of uncertainty be as the refiner's fire.

"It doesn't matter, really, how great the pressure is," he used to say; "it only matters where the pressure lies. See that it never comes between you and the Lord - then, the greater the pressure, the more it presses you to His breast."
(Taylor, Dr. and Mrs. Howard. "Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret." China Inland Mission: Philadelphia. 1935. p107)

Thanks for praying!

Praise the Lord, we got our boxes moved and everything is together in one place! Traffic was great and we were able to get everything finished in about 4 hours, including travel time! We were blessed with two faithful friends who helped us get it done so quickly! We continue to look for an apartment/home and trust the Lord to provide a place in His perfect time. Please continue to pray for provision of a place and discernment to know where to search. Sometimes we feel like we are looking for a needle in a haystack!

Time to Move Again...

Lord willing, tomorrow morning we will be moving our boxes to the storage area where our furniture is. This will allow us to consolidate things and....further simplify our lives. Please pray for strength, safety, and wisdom to know what we really need to keep and what would benefit others more! Clear roads without traffic would be a big blessing, too, as the storage areas are about an hour from each other...without traffic!

AT LAST.....SEPTEMBER GREETINGS!

Technical Difficulties~

Patience is a virtue!  (I'm speaking to myself!)  Due to technical difficulties, i.e. not being able to figure things out...sigh...our September update will have to wait another day...

Coming Soon!

Our September update is almost ready!  Hold on, it won't be long before we post it!

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

We have just returned from the Embassy with all of our visas in hand, praise the Lord!  We have bought train tickets to return to Moscow tonight, arriving at 1130 tomorrow morning.  Thanks so much for praying and trusting the Lord to continue to work all things together for good!  We are so thankful that He has allowed us to return to Moscow to serve Him as He leads.

A Surprise Church Gathering!

Yesterday after the guys finished working on their paint project, we went on a home visit. Brother Petr picked us up to take us to his home in Vidnozhyeno. He was going to make two trips, however, it was determined that all 9 of us plus Petr could fit in his 4 door sedan!

On the way to Vidnozhyeno with Brother Petr

Are y'all okay back there?

A full car even after Tom and Will got out!

When we asked how many people would be at the house, he told us he didn't know, he hadn't been home yet.
When we arrived, Leanna, his wife took Sarah, Jaan, and Raia out to their garden to pick fresh watermelons and white melons. When I went out to see them, she then escorted us to heavily laden apple and apricot trees. What a beautiful sight! After gathering more than enough to take home with us, we were told to load up in the car again to head to the church!

House of Prayer

The Sisters

What started out to be a home visit, turned into an evening together at their village church where Tom was asked to share aided by Will's interpretation. When he finished sharing on the importance of the family and taking responsibility for discipleship within the family first, the pastor asked if anyone had questions or comments. After a few inquiries, one of the sisters had questions and wanted to know what to do about unsaved husbands. Praise the Lord, Tom was able to share with them 1Peter 3 and look at it from God's perspective. Tom had just shared this message with the church body Sunday in Will and Phyllis' church, so it was neat to see the Lord use His Word again to minister to the serious needs of His people. It is a common sight to see the churches both in Ukraine and Russia filled with mostly women with unsaved husbands. Tom shared with the body that all the answers to life's difficulties are answered in God's Word. Praise the Lord He has given us His Spirit to help us and entrusted us with His Word to lead us.The Brothers

Please pray especially for the salvation of the husbands of Valya and Natasha. Pray their husbands will see Jesus working in and through them and for the women to have meek and quiet spirits. (1Peter 3)Valya and Natasha

Visas

Please pray for our visa situation. We are trusting the Lord to have His perfect way as we prepare to return to Kiev. We will take the night train on Wednesday, arriving in Kiev early Thursday morning. We will return to the Russian Embassy at 2pm to pick up our new visas, Lord willing. If the three of us receive our visas, which is our hearts' desire, we will then catch the night train to Moscow, arriving Friday morning.

Times Together in Ukraine

Camp Memories from El'na

Sarah and Olga interpreted during camp
A group shot...
Sarah is one of these girls...which one is she??

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