Cold Days, Warm Hearts

Dear Friends,

Tim is learning how to take pictures. Here's one he took of Dad.

On Saturday we moved into our new apartment. It is spacious and warm. Tonya has been working hard to get it fixed up the way she wants it. We envision doing a lot of ministry out of our home. Hopefully we won't have to move again for a long, long time (other than when on furlough in the States).

On Wednesday we will head to the States. We'll leave in the afternoon, change planes in South Korea, change again in Chicago and arrive in Pittsburg in the evening the same day (strange thing that international date line). We'll spend Christmas with Cecil's brother and then go on to the World Missions Summit. Please pray that thousands of the students attending the summit will hear from God about their place in missions and in the Kingdom of God.

Cecil finished his finals today. He's enjoyed the challenge of studying with smart University students who are about half his age. His grades are good, but most importantly he is speaking Russian much better than before. He has high hopes for what he will learn next semester. His plan is to study for one more semester (until May) and then devote full time into the work here.

One of Khabarovsk's winter specialties is ice carving. They take big frozen chunks of ice, set them up and carve them in parks and other public areas. Right now most are still in the starting stages.

I took these pictures at noontime. The sun doesn't get very high in the sky this time of year.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product.

They didn't take the ice from the Amur River this year because of the toxic chemicals spilled in the river in China. You would be amazed at all the rumors and information and misinformation that is spreading even faster than the pollution. However, the official word is that the main slick is passing through the Jewish Autonomous Republic right now and will reach us in a few more days. It seems we keep hearing that the poisons will reach us in "a few days." I guess they are flowing down the ice-covered river slower than expected. We had been told that our new apartment is in a part of the city that gets its water from a well, but we've found that too was not correct (we are just next to that part of the city). But we had stored up large quantities of water, so we've been using that for washing and such. But it looks like we'll be out of town when the worst part of the toxic spill arrives.

Tonya formed a friendship with a lady and has been meaning to invite her to church since this lady was interested in spiritual things. With all the activity going on with the apartment purchase, moving in, preparing for a trip to the states, etc., Tonya didn't get around to inviting her. But on Saturday the lady called us and asked if she could come to church with us. Sunday she came and after the sermon she decided to make a commitment to follow Christ. God is so good.

We thank you for your prayers, because of them there is fruit.

Blessings to you all,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Water of Life

Dear Friends,

On Saturday afternoon we went to an interdenominational prayer meeting being led by pastors of various churches. This is a fairly new thing here in Khabarovsk. The Spirit was very present and the two hours felt like a few minutes. One elderly pastor was to lead the prayers for healing of the land. He read from the Bible where God uses Moses at Meribah to heal the waters and make them drinkable. Then he knelt and as he began to pray I felt a brokenness in my spirit as I have not felt in a long time. Many of those present began to cry. Sometimes it takes the consequences of sin to cause us to see our need for God. If so, perhaps the Lord can use this poisoned slick of water that is approaching the city to awaken some people to their need for him.

The water in the city is still on. Every day the governmental leaders were making television announcements that the water was still safe, until two days ago. There have been no announcements in the last two days, which many people here interpret that as meaning the water is no longer safe but they don't want to turn it off. Harbin was without water for five days, but the toxic spill has spread out and may take much longer to pass us. Perhaps the authorities fear that turning off the water would cause a greater sanitation problem (toilets don't flush, etc.) We never did drink the water here, but now we have stopped taking baths and stopped washing our clothes.

Good news: we have finalized the purchase of an apartment. We are fixing it up and hope to move into it in mid December. Some more good news: the water in that part of the city comes from a well and will not be effected by the chemical spill. The apartment is spacious, warm and in a nice location. It has made us a bit busy as we are now trying to fix it up, get moved in, still do some ministry and have Cecil prepare for finals before we head to the States on December 21 to attend the World Missions Summit.

Thank you so much for your prayers for wisdom and guidance. This is the first time we purchased property in Russia, but all went well.

Two weeks ago Cecil and the kids went to see the Amur river. Here is Tim standing on the bank and throwing chunks of ice trying to find the thin spots. He wanted to play at the river before you weren't allowed to touch the water.

On Friday last week we want with a fellow named Dmitriy to visit a children's home for babies whose mothers are in prison. Dmitriy leads the prison ministry in this area. He will very familiar with the prison system since he was a resident of it for over twenty years. Now that he follows Jesus he is no longer the same man, but he goes back to visit the same prisons. His work has won official recognition from the regional government. More important than human recognition is God's blessings, and God has been using Dmitriy to bless many others. As the Apostle Paul says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

At the children's home we delivered some children's clothing. The director here became a believer not long ago. Dmitriy had been witnessing to her for three years before she decided to follow Christ. She showed us the facilities and let us meet the children. Their mothers are allowed to see them for one hour a day. There is a child by the name of Camellia that we prayed for especially. She is kept separate from the other children since her mother has AIDS and they are not sure if she has it too.
We know that God has a plan for Camellia's life. She has a hope and a future.

Thank you again so much for your prayers.

God Bless You,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Thanksgiving & water news

Dear Friends,

if you translate "Thanksgiving Day" into Russian it comes across as "Day of Gratitude." We had a bunch of folks over for Thanksgiving, but only one is an American. We had Russians, a Ukrainian and a British lady. It was fun reading the Thanksgiving story to them all, only the American had heard it before.

While some of us were busy in the kitchen, Timothy talked our American guest into a game of chess.


And after the turkey was (mostly) eaten we set aside the potatoes, bread, corn, salads, stuffing, etc., because it was time for the pies (and tea, and fruit, and brownies). Ahhh yes, Thanksgiving.

On this day of gratitude, our family was filled with thanksgiving for all the many things God has done for us.

The big news in Khabarovsk right now is the toxic chemical spill that occurred in China. The Russian authorities got wind of it when Harbin, a major Chinese city upstream from us, turned off their water supply, and there were reports of lots of dead fish in the river. Finally the Chinese authorities admitted there was a problem and advised the Russian government what chemicals were involved. The contamination slick is expected to reach Khabarovsk this weekend. This is a problem since Khabarovsk's water supply comes from the Amur river. When it reaches us the city water supply will be turned off until the water is safe again, which may be for more than a week. So we've been stockpiling water.

Unlike the fish, we should be fine, just an inconvenience.

The procedure of buying an apartment is coming along. Please pray as documents for the purchase of the apartment continue to process. If all goes well we should be able to take possession at the end of next week.

Blessings,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

not a smoke ring

Dear Friends,

Wow, the day after I sent out our last email update it started to rain. It rained all afternoon and evening and the rain turned to snow. It snowed all the next day. There is no more smoke and the fires are out. God has blessed us and answered your prayers. It sure is nice to breathe fresh air again. And now there is a layer of snow on the ground, just like they normally have this time of year here.

Liza is a sixteen year old girl that attends the church where we go. She lives with her mother who has been a believer for about eleven years, but Liza does not know her father. Last summer she came on the same church camp we took our kids on. Tonya talked with her about sexual purity and how we plan to give Vera a ring when she becomes a teenager as a symbol of keeping herself pure until she is married. Liza thought that was a wonderful thing and said when she gets married she wants her husband to do the same thing if she ever has a daughter. Last month she babysat for us on our anniversary, and spent the night at our place afterward. She accidentally left a ring of hers at our place, so we secretly took it to a jewelers and purchased another ring of the same size, and then returned her ring to her. Last week we took her and her mother out to a restaurant, told her how proud we are of her, and asked if she would like to make a chastity covenant with God and us. She did, so we presented her with the ring. The next day her mother called to say that Liza was so excited she could barely go to sleep that night. Liza had told her mother, "Mom, no man has ever talked to me like I was his daughter before." We know there are many more young people like Liza, and we hope to show some of the Heavenly Father's love to as many as we can.

On Friday we made a payment of earnest money on the purchase of an apartment. Please continue to pray that all the documents will process properly and quickly and that we will be able to finish the deal by December. Also please continue to pray for our flight arrangements for the World Missions Summit over New Years.

Today the kids helped to clean the church bus, so as a reward we went out for pizza.
Yes, Russia is a civilized country indeed.

Blessings,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera

New Transportation

Dear Friends,

Depending on wind direction, heavy clouds of smoke have been blanketing either Khabarovsk or other towns in the region. Strong winds, little precipitation and unusually warm weather have been fueling forest fires in the area. Usually by now there is snow covering the ground, but the high today is almost 60 degrees F (quickly melting off the frost from last night). Here is a photo I took from our balcony:

No that's not fog, it's smoke. Shortly after I took this picture the wind shifted and the sun came out. We are in no danger from the fire itself, and this condition hasn't affected our work here, but it does remind us that the weather in Russia is no more predictable than in the States.

We now have all the paperwork on the Hyundai Starex all taken care of. A great big thanks goes to Speed the Light and all the folks who support them. They are the ones who have provided this vehicle for the ministry here.

Along with introducing the vehicle we want to introduce Sergei, a resident of Khabarovsk. Sergei has joined the team as our part-time driver. Of course he does a lot more than just drive us around, and jumps into whatever ministry we may be doing. Here he is getting behind the wheel.

We've mailed out our October newsletters, and if you are on our mailing list you should have recently gotten one (please let us know if you didn't). We also have posted a digital copy of it on our web site at http://hqmail.agmd.org/~tonya.eshelman/NL%202005%20Oct/NL2005Oct.html

We do have two prayer requests. First, we will be purchasing an apartment to live in and will start processing documents on Monday. Please pray that everything proceeds smoothly and there are no unexpected problems.

Secondly, we will be going to the States in mid December since we are involved with the World Missions Summit. This is a great opportunity for us to interact with many students and share about missions and the call of God. So far everything has come together except for the purchase of our return tickets. It seems all the flights into Khabarovsk during mid-January are full. We've been wait-listed for several weeks now. Please pray that the World Missions Summit powerfully impacts the lives of many young people and that we are able to buy tickets back to Khabarovsk.

May the Lord richly bless you.

For Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Joining the team

Dear Friends,

 

before we even came to Khabarovsk we had hoped to build a ministry team.  We are excited to announce the first new member of the team is planning to come from America in January to spend almost a year with us.  His name is Jason Bicket and I've asked him to write a letter introducing himself.  Here is his hello to you all:

 

Greetings and salutations from the windy city, my name is Jason Bicket. 

 

I am a 2001 graduate from the University of Illinois with a degree in International Relations emphasizing Russian Politics.  Since graduation I have helped the college pastor at Calvary Church of Naperville, Illinois start the college ministry, and have seen God move greatly there not only with the numbers attending, but also in spiritual depth.  Also, for the last three and a half years I have been working as a website maintainer at the magazine corporation Christianity Today International.  Now, I am looking forward to joining Cecil in serving God in Russia.

 

Other than that, I love playing and watching sports especially soccer, which I hope to use to find common ground with the guys in Russia.  Speaking of which, please pray for favor with all of those I have a chance to minister to.  Also pray that I will be able to communicate God’s message clearly despite the language barriers.  Along those lines please pray that the Russian lessons I will be taking go well.  More urgently, please pray that I will remain at peace as God works out providing the necessary funds for the trip.  Lastly please pray that preparations for the trip and all the little details come together.  Thank you in advance for your support. I covet your prayers greatly, and God bless you all as you journey with Jesus Christ down the road of life.

 

In Christ,

Jason Bicket

 

As you can imagine, we are very excited about this development.  I've asked Jason to undertake the daunting task of bringing a gospel witness to one of the major Universities in Khabarovsk.  He won't be just sticking his toe in the water, he will be living in a student dormitory among a population that is less than 5% believers (indeed, many of them have never heard a clear explanation of who Jesus is).  On top of that, he will be taking language lessons as a university student.  Please take his prayer requests seriously.  He has raised much of his financial support, but needs a little more to put him over the top.  If you feel led to give any financial assistance to Jason it would speed him on his way.

 

The latest piece of news from the Eshelman household is that we have purchased a mini-van.  It is a Hyundai Starex, eight seater, 4 wheel drive.  I'll send pictures soon (yes, I know I promised to send pictures of Vera's kindergarten and I haven't done that yet, but I will soon).  The process of purchasing a vehicle in Russia is not as simple as in the States, so we appreciate all your prayers that saw us through. 

 

Being as we plan to live here for many years, we feel it best to purchase a place to live rather than keep renting.  We've been approved to purchase a home and have been looking at buying an apartment (kind of like you would buy a condo in America, only different).  To make a long story short, we will soon be entering into some serious negotiations.  This will be the most money we have ever spend on any one thing in our lives.  Please pray for wisdom and guidance in this endeavor.

 

We've been putting a lot of stamps on envelopes lately as we mail out our latest newsletter.  Our mailing list is 365 long and we had to put five stamps on each envelope.  It was a dangerous time to visit the Eshelman home; visitors found themselves sitting at a table licking stamps if they stayed too long.  We'll try to get a digital version posted on our web site soon.

 

May the Lord bless and keep you all.

 

Because of Him,

Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera

conference and answered prayer

Dear Friends,

thank you so much for your prayers. God has answered all our prayer requests from our last email update. The Supreme Court in Moscow dismissed the lower court rulings and Tonya's home church is able to keep their building. The new Christian kindergarten is continuing to go smoothly. Timothy and Vera have adjusted to Russian speaking school without problems. And the pastors/leaders conference went well.

Despite an unexpected but necessary last minute change to a different retreat center, hassles lining up transportation and uncertainly about whether our keynote speaker would be unable to attend, everything suddenly fell in place. In fact, the pastors/leaders conference exceeded our expectations. The retreat center we found (or should I say God provided for us?) is nestled in a beautiful spot south of Khabarovsk where we could view the mountains which radiated a golden glow from the birch trees in their autumn glory. The weather was wonderful, the fellowship was fantastic, the speakers were splendid, and the food was acceptable. The conference was attended by 55 Russians (19 couples, 1 single lady, and 16 men who came without wives). These workers rarely get a chance to see each other as they labor in various locations across the Russian Far East. Our keynote speaker was Doug Johnson, who serves with AGWM in Moscow. Also speaking was Karla Isom, who ministers with AGWM in Irkutsk. And above all the Spirit of the Lord was present. The folks who attended expressed thanks for your prayers and support.

Tonya and I personally want to thank the churches and individuals who contribute to our ministry here. The financial support we have received has been so generous that we did not need to spend any time raising additional funds to make this conference possible. The conference was paid for by extra funds received in our account. It is a blessing that even before we knew what the need would be, you had provided the resources to do it. You are indeed full partners in this ministry, and every success we experience belongs to you as well. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Here is a photo of Tonya translating for Doug as he speaks about Daniel being a role model for leadership.

And here they are having a little late-night fellowship with cake & tea.

On Friday afternoon of the conference, Tonya hosted a "tea time" with the ladies. They decided to form prayer partners by drawing verses (like drawing straws), and Tonya got a new prayer partner from a small town. Her name is Nastia. Tonya told her we are buying a vehicle and would like to visit her sometime. Nastia responded by saying there weren't any roads to her town. Tonya said no problem, we are going to get a four wheel drive. Nastia then clarified that there are absolutely no roads to her town, you can only get there by train or helicopter. So .... maybe we'll take the train there to visit sometime.

Tonya's home church is doing well and they asked us to thank you for your prayers during the trial.

Cecil is busy at his Russian language lessons with three 90 minute lessons per day, five days a week. He REALLY wants to learn this language. Here is a photo of the front of his University with a bus from route # 23 (the route he takes to his lessons) at the bus stop.

Please continue to pray for Cecil's language acquisition, the children's schooling and friendships, and Tonya's orphanage ministry. Cecil is trying to write another snail mail newsletter, so pray for his creativity. And please pray for the lost here to discover the joy of knowing Jesus. Since our last e-newsletter we have had the pleasure of leading two more to the Lord.

My the Lord bless you in all your ways.

Yours In Christ Jesus,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Harvest Time

Dear Friends,

It is harvest time in Russia now. People are bringing in the crops from their gardens. Tim & Vera understand how important it is to be involved in the harvest.

But the biggest activity for us right now is the start of school. Timothy started classes at a Russian elementary school on the 1st of September. Vera started kindergarten on Friday and Cecil's first class for the fall is today. This photo is of Tim lined up with part of his class on the first day of classes. Timothy's favorite activity at school is making new friends. He has a great teacher that we really like.

A lot of hard work went into preparing the new kindergarten: painting, fixing windows, cleaning, getting supplies, organizing people, etc. Tonya was heavily involved assisting the director. We are so glad it is now open and Vera is able to attend. Tonya is glad to be finished with most of her assignments and be free of those responsibilities as operation moves into a more normal mode, where she isn't in charge of anything. Thank you so much for your prayers for this. We will send photos sometime.

We have been invited to The World Missions Summit in Louisville, Kentucky, during December 30-January 2. There will be about 4,000 college students attending. We will be speaking with them about missions, the call of God, how they can be involved, and answering any questions they may have about the life of a missionary. You can find more information at http://www.theworldmissionssummit.ag.org if you are interested. Maybe we will see you there. We also plan to piggyback a Christmas visit with Cecil's family during this trip.

Please continue to pray for the pastor's conference we will be hosting the end of September. It has a been years since the last time there has been a conference or retreat for these men and women who labor in the Russian Far East. Please pray that our organizational skills would be sharp so that everything will be prepared, that all the pastors will be able to attend, and that this would be a time of great refreshing and encouragement to those who come.

We also have a special and pressing prayer request. Tonya's home church in Novokuznetsk has been the subject of repeated lawsuits attempting to take their building from them. They purchased this building in 1998 in an open auction. The latest lawsuit introduced forged documents showing that someone else owned the building before that. Although the regional government has started an investigation into who created these forged documents, the lawsuit was decided against them in court and ownership of the building given to the mafia-connected people who brought the lawsuit. (You can see why the court system in Russia is not looked upon by Russians as a place to find justice.) The suit has been appealed to the High Arbitration Court (like our Supreme court) in Moscow. The hearing is for the 13th of September. Would you please take some time today to ask the Lord in bring justice to this situation?

And a piece of good news. We have been approved for a loan to purchase a residence. This is great news for us since owning property would give Tonya some legal rights in the city which would help Cecil with his visa situation. Not to mention that it would save us (and our supporters) money in the long run. We are starting to look at some homes, but we are not in a rush.

Thank you again for planting in the ministry here with your prayers, finances, letters and all kinds of support. We know that you can only expect a harvest if you've done a lot of planting.

Talking about harvest time in Russia. You never know what flower you might find in a field.

Or what might come out during sunset.


May the Lord bless you and keep you.

In Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Back from Novokuznetsk

Dear Friends,

we've had a wonderful time taking vacation in Tonya's home town of Novokuznetsk (in central Siberia). Now we are back home in Khabarovsk getting ready for the fall activities.

While riding a city bus in Novokuznetsk Tonya recognized one of her high school teachers and said hello. She was in one of his last classes just before he retired and now he is 90 years old. When Tonya said she was married he asked her if her husband treats her well. When she assured him all was well he replied that if the family is stable that is the most important thing. He said even though everything else may change, if the family is O.K. then you can survive everything else. Later as we talked about it we thought he was certainly able to speak with experience. After all, when he was born he was a subject of the Czar and has seen every change since then including the entire 72 years of communist rule.

Our vacation turned out to be rather a working vacation as we received some speaking invitations and home ministry invitations (including evangelism and even some pastoral counseling). It was a joy to be doing ministry in Novokuznetsk once again. We also enjoyed spending time with Tonya's family and friends that we haven't seen in a long time.

Two churches in Novokuznetsk have partnered together and started a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center three years ago. It is called "Spring of Life" and is based on the Teen Challenge model. Last year a nearby town approached them with an offer. There was a retreat center owned by a coal company that was not being maintained. The coal company had stopped paying the staff and all the buildings were in disrepair. The offer was to lease the retreat facilities (very large with dormitories, cafeteria, movie theater, offices, its own coal-fired heating system, etc.) long term and free of charge to Spring of Life if they would fix it up and pay the back salaries to the employees. So Spring of Life accepted this offer and relocated to these facilities and the residents are now learning how to fix up and renovate buildings as part of their training. There are presently about 70 residents living there as they recover from their addictions. They invited Cecil to speak at their morning chapel about faithfulness, so he did a drama presentation based on Hosea.

Alcohol abuse has always been a problem in Russia, but it seems to continue to get worse. Drinking in public is so common people have begun to think of it as normal. Tonya's dad is a manager in a company that makes ice cream. He took the family on a tour of the factory. After the tour we sat around a meeting table and were served some wonderful ice cream. The chief engineer came in, poured some large glasses of wine and offered them to all the adults. When I declined to have any he said, "this is grape juice, only 10% alcohol." Thankfully he was polite and didn't insist we drink [which reminds me of a story from the trans-Siberian railway*, see below]. It just seems that something is odd to be served wine when you take your kids to an ice cream factory.

I was able to meet with Alex, who translated for me eleven years ago on my first trip to Siberia. After helping me lead hundreds of kids to the Lord while we were telling Bible stories in some Pioneer Camps, he decided he needed the Lord too. We haven't been able to stay in touch much since then, so it was great to meet with his family at the new local pizza place (yes, they have pizza in Siberia now). His wife is a doctor and works at the AIDs center for Novokuznetsk. The AIDs epidemic started in Novokuznetsk in 2003 and now there are about 3,000 cases (in a city of 600,000 people, about the same size as Khabarovsk). The scary thing is that this includes only the known cases, the actual number of infected people is many times higher. I read elsewhere that AIDs is spreading in Russia faster than any other country and that 95% of the people who have the disease don't know it. We feel God is not putting this on our hearts just to horrify us; please pray for us to know how to minister knowledge to the youth here so that they can take steps to avoid this problem (and the wages of sin).

Tonya's home church in Novokuznetsk has continued to grow even though they have endured repeated attempts to confiscate their building. They have been in over 15 court battles regarding the property, and all of them were in their favor until the last one, which has actually been appealed to the Supreme Court in Russia. The last case against them was based on counterfeited documents showing that someone else owned the building. Even though the regional government is investigating to find who created those false documents, the court case was decided against them based upon those documents. The Supreme Court hearing is scheduled in mid-September, your prayers for this would be appreciated.

Some of you may have seen in the news that a mini-submarine became entangled in a secret coastal defense antenna off the Russian coast. The Russian newspapers ran some rather critical articles. Here is a quote from one article you might find interesting:

News that the mini-submarine was in danger broke only half a day after the accident occurred, while the wife of the vessel's captain heard later while watching local television, the government-owned Rossyskaya Gazeta newspaper said. Only after two days did a navy psychologist go to her home. Then "he calmed her with these words," Gazeta reported: "This is Russia - pray!"

We do thank you for your prayers. In our last email news we asked for prayer for the new kindergarten. Some neighbors were opposing it and one had even lodged a formal complaint. The owner of the apartment the kindergarten is renting went to talk with them about the problem. We are not sure what he said, but all complaints and opposition suddenly and completely stopped. Your prayers are indeed effective.

Here are a couple of photos from our vacation. We took the kids to the old fortress that is now a museum. It was built on a hill above Novokuznetsk, when it was not yet a city.




We also spent a lot of time at Tonya's folk's dacha. A dacha is a place in the country where you go and work in the garden all summer so you have food for the winter. The kids loved climbing trees there.




Timothy started school the first of September and Cecil will start classes around the 5th. Vera will attend the kindergarten as soon as it is able to open (hopefully everything will be ready in about two weeks, lots of preparation to do).

From Russia with Love,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera


* P.S. A true tale from the Trans-Siberian. Shortly after we were married in Novokuznetsk in '96 we took the Trans-Siberian from there to Moscow (three days on the train). Our train car had tiny rooms with bunks for four people per room. Our first two roommates were some fine military men, and we enjoyed their company for a day. It wasn't until we met their aide who came to meet them that we discovered they were Generals. The next stop two military men joined us and immediately let us know that they were very important men. One told Tonya, "your husband can tell our rank from our uniforms." So I took a guess, "colonels?" I was right. Before they sat down they took out their vodka. They had an extra glass and insisted I drink with them. Don't mistake this for social drinking, they wanted me to get drunk with them. They didn't hear me when I said I don't drink and poured me a glass of red vodka. For several hours they were drinking and continued to insist I drink too. They would put the glass in my hand. They tried to encourage me and said, "you must drink for your new wife." They tried to threaten me, "we could say one word and you won't be able to leave the country!" They tried to impress me, "I am in charge of the Mars project and he is the chief engineer." I was interested in the Mars project and asked about it. They explained that was why they were on the train right then, to go and explain to their superiors why it had crashed on take-off. I figured getting drunk on vodka was an interesting way to prepare for their board of inquiry. Tonya just thought they were bragging and flat didn't believe them. But they weren't to be distracted from putting that glass of vodka in my hand again. By this time we were going through the Ural mountains and entered a tunnel. The train's lights were off and it was totally dark, blacker than pitch. On the little table in our room was a bottle of cheap Polish soda I had purchased earlier while the train was stopped at a station. It tasted so awful noone drank it and the only reason I hadn't thrown it out was that I didn't want to leave my wife alone with these two important men. In the dark I suddenly realized the nasty Polish soda on the table was the same color as the vodka in the cup in my hand. As I poured my cup's contents into Tonya's coffee mug she whispered, "what are you doing?" Without answering I filled my glass with Polish soda just in time to emerge from the tunnel and the cover of darkness. I then told my companions, "I have decided to drink this cup with you, but only this one." They were so delighted (or drunk) that they never noticed that in the dark I had filled it to a different level then they had. So they poured themselves another round and I drank my one cup of red drink with them. My new drinking partners got off the train half a day before we came to Moscow. When a friend met us as we got off the train the first thing he said was, "Did you hear about the Mars project? It crashed!"

Between Camping and Vacation

Dear Friends,

On Sunday we got back from helping to feed mosquitoes during the island campout. Cecil found the five days to be a great challenge to his Russian language skills, actually frustrating sometimes. But at the same time it provided an unlimited amount of practice. It was also neat being able to look up the river and see China.
Mostly we assisted with supervising the youngest group of boys. So we went on hikes, played games, led devotions, went swimming, did crafts, ate camp food, told bed-time stories and made friends. Our goals were to draw each of the boys closer to God, and to wear them out before they wore us out. We were successful in the first goal, but the second was more like a tie.

It really was a great time in the Lord at camp. Here are a few photos:


Some of the kids during free time. (Vera and Timothy on left)


Our group during craft time in the big tent.

Here is the boat we used to get to the island. It took a lot of trips to get everyone across.
Those mountains in the background are on the Russian side of the mainland. I mentioned I'd love to go camping there sometime, and was told they don't allow that right now because a tiger has moved into that area (but we were safe on the island).

The kids asking questions after a Bible lesson. (Tonya on left)


The group out for a hike.


Cecil tried to carry his own weight during the campout.

We're looking forward to going again next year. Cecil expects his Russian skills to be better by then.

We are preparing to host a pastor's conference at the end of September. It has been several years since the pastors in this area have been able to get together, but we have laid plans for them have a retreat at a local resort (well, rustic Russian style resort) for a couple of days. We've lined up our main speaker, but some details are still being worked out. Please pray for these preparations and for the pastors of this area, many of whom get little fellowship or support and yet continue to labor for the kingdom.

The Christian Kindergarten we've been helping to start has run into some opposition from neighbors. They are afraid the children will be too loud. We're not sure why this is a problem since the children will only be there during the day, but they have lodged complains and it hasn't even opened yet. Please pray that the neighbors will have a change of heart and the opposition will fade away.

Timothy has been forming some good friendships here, but he still misses his best friends from America. Every night when he says his bedtime prayers he prays, "please bless A.J., John-Mark and Peter." Last month he began to include his new Russian friends. Please pray that he continues to build good relationships here, and for him to feel like he fits in here.

We will be going on vacation tomorrow. We'll be visiting Tonya's family. We haven't seen most of them for several years now. This will also be a good break before school starts for Cecil and the kids this fall.

We so appreciate your prayers and your support. If there is anything we can do for you, let us know. God bless you and keep you.

Because of Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Kindergarten, Camp & an Island

Dear Friends,

we've just finished mailing out our latest newsletter. It's been posted on our web site. If you have any problems seeing it, let me know and I'll email you the pdf version. Actually the pdf version looks much better, but it also is a much larger file. So let me know if you would like it in pdf. But about the web site posting, the link is: http://hqmail.agmd.org/~tonya.eshelman/NL%202005%20July/newsletter%202005%20July.html

We've enjoyed hearing stories from so many of you all about how your daughters (and in one case grandson) have cut their hair in the past. I laughed and laughed and felt much better about what Vera did to her hair. One person who saw a picture of her wrote me and said: Vera's hair looks cut(e).

This last week we've helped a local church with starting a Christian Kindergarten. As far as we know it is the first one in the city. We assisted with cleaning out and remodeling a four room apartment and preparing it for the children. Tonya painted the ceiling in one room and came home covered with pink spots. It is a small start, but they hope to open the 1st of August, and already the sign-up list for children is full. We have our own Vera signed up to attend while Tim is in school.

Cecil has been asked to preach in a local church tomorrow while the pastor is away (Sunday 11:00 a.m. for us is Saturday 8:00 p.m. for you on the east coast). Tonya will translate. Please pray that the Lord uses us to speak to the people.

On Tuesday we will being going camping on an island in the river between Russia and China. There will be lots of boys and girls coming to play, swim, sing, make friends and learn about Jesus for five days. We will be assisting with the youngest group of boys, which will be Tim's age (talk about energy). Please pray that 1) we wear them out before they wear us out and 2) they all have life-changing encounters with the living God. Cecil has already spent one day on the island helping to set up the camp (without a translator, great practice for his Russian).

Our children have been doing well forming friendships. One thing that amazes us is the high percentage of children without fathers. Of the friends they have gotten to know in our yard and invited to our home, only one lives with their father. At least two of the kids are being raised by their grandmothers. And we live in the "good" part of town. We recently heard that there were more divorces than marriages in Khabarovsk last year (putting the divorce rate at about 110%). Coming to Russia we hoped to be involved with ministry to orphans. It turns out that any youth ministry here will be ministering to the fatherless.

Vanya is a teenager who lives in an orphanage in Khabarovsk. He often visits our home. One day he decided to bake a kind of cake called "anthill" for us. Here he is in our kitchen putting on the final touches.

Our church is adding new Sunday School classrooms, Timothy decided to lend a helping hand mixing the concrete.

Also, we recently checked out the local botanical garden.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

In His Service,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Reflections from Our Thailand Trip

We've been back from the Eurasia conference for two weeks now. Thailand is certainly very different than Russia. It was interesting to watch the way our kids responded to the culture of Thailand. Vera enjoyed the way Thai people put their palms together when they said thank you. She was a real hit when she would put her palms together and say thank you in the Thai language. Of course her blond hair made her stand out there. She was fascinated by the handicrafts and artwork there, specially the woodcarvers. And Tim? Well, Tim liked the elephants.

Tonya and I will never forget the response Tim and Vera had to the idol worship there. The prevalent religion of Thailand is common Buddhism which involves the worship of Buddha and Buddha idols. Our first day in Thailand we had some free time to go on a tour of Bangkok. The guide took us to a couple of temples. The kids were amazed people worshipped statues and started saying things like, "idols can't help you," and, "you should only worship the true God." Tonya and I tried to help them express this truth in ways that were a little more sensitive, but the strength of their reaction was surprising. We feel that the true God has a calling on the lives of our children.

Since we have returned to Russia Timothy has continued to be concerned about the people there that didn't know who the real god is. He even asked us if he could become a missionary to Thailand some day.

In the last two weeks Cecil has been busy trying to catch up on paperwork and get out our latest newsletter. Authoring an interesting, informative and balanced letter can be a creative challenge. And now that our mailing list is over 350 addresses it takes a while to print them. We will email you a copy soon.

The weather here in Khabarovsk has become quite warm. Today it was about 95 degrees with no clouds in the sky. That doesn't sound too hot to the folks in the Carolinas, but here it doesn't cool down until after sunset, which is about 10:30 these days.

One big problem facing churches here is difficulty with buildings. Many churches do not have buildings and must meet in rented facilities, where there is the ongoing threat of being forced to find a new meeting location with little warning. Those that manage to purchase a building usually need to expand their facilities almost constantly (most church congregations here are growing). Sunday afternoon and evening Cecil joined some of the men at a church and put some sweat into the new nursery and Sunday School rooms they are adding on the end of their building.

While he did that Tonya was inside with some ladies helping them make plans for starting a Christ centered kindergarten. They have been praying about this for a long time but it looks like they will be able to start soon. They have just rented a place in a good location and this evening Tonya will join them again as they start remodeling the place.

We want to thank you for your prayers. God has been blessing us and we are thankful for it. Our prayer for ourselves is to show true love to the people here so that they can come to know Jesus for themselves. If you would like us to pray for you, just send us an email.

In His Love,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Summer break begins

Dear Friends,

We are back from an important conference in Thailand and Cecil is ready to begin his summer break.

The tri-annual Eurasia meeting for AGWM was held in Thailand during the end of June. Hundreds of missionaries from Eurasia gathered to discuss a variety of issues. Some of the topics were practical, some sessions were encouraging, some meetings were strategic, some was worshipful, some was ministry to the missionaries, all of it was for building the Kingdom of God. And, of course, some of us went out to see the elephants.

Summer break has begun at the University where Cecil is studying Russian. He plans to continue independent work on the language until classes begin this fall. This should not be difficult since every trip to the store is a language practice exercise. But he will continue to hit the books too.

Tonya has gotten involved with team building for orphanage outreach. She has been partnering with a Ukrainian lady with a different organization to help orphans. They have formed a leadership team of older orphans to assist the younger ones. This has already begun to bear fruit.

Cecil continues to work on our web site, and bit by bit it keeps getting more and more interesting. If you haven't seen it, please take a look. The address is http://hqmail.agmd.org/~cecil.eshelman

Cecil is planning to host a pastor's conference for church leaders in the Russian Far East. They haven't had one for several years and many of the pastors are in great need of refreshment and encouragement. It looks like it will be the last week of September. Please pray for all the arrangements to come together, for the speaker to be inspired, and for these precious workers to be able to attend.

We have begun the process of purchasing a vehicle. It has been a bit more complicated than buying a car in the states. Please pray that the entire process continues without a hitch.

Do please pray that the Lord guide the use of our time this summer as our schedule will be quite different than during the school year.

Overall things continue to go well for us. Thank you so much for the encouraging letters and emails you all have sent. If there is anything we can pray for on your behalf, please let us know.
Because of Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera

Gains and Losses

Dear Friends,

a few weeks ago in my Russian language lessons at the University the textbook used the words "eternal book" in one of the texts. The professor explained that in Russian literature this refers to the Bible. The two Chinese students still looked confused so we explained in Russian what the Bible is. They still looked confused and since they speak some English I tried to explain in English what the Bible is (Christian book, etc.). Eventually I just told them maybe I could buy them one. After a lot of looking Tonya finally found where to get some Chinese Bibles here (from the Bible League). On Thursday I gave each of them a Chinese Bible. They had never seen a Bible before. After leafing through his new book one of them suddenly had a look of recognition and in Russian said, "in America this is a famous and important book!" I assured him it is. He had only heard about it before. The other student still wasn't sure I meant the books as gifts and asked if he could take his to China. I assured him that that he could keep the book.

We have found a "home church" here where we really do feel at home and we have been attending regularly. We have also been attending other services to get to meet people and make connections. Sunday a week ago we went to a new church (about 80 or 90 people that morning). It was started by a hairdresser, the wife of an army general. She was witnessing to her clients and some got saved, so she started a home group. Her daughter in college lead some students to the Lord and they joined the group. Soon it was too big to meet in a house so they started renting a classroom. I watched three people come forward to pray for salvation after she preached. You never know when God may put a call on your life.

The churches here are growing, but there is so much still to do. When I ask pastors what percentage of the population in this area are saved they give me estimates from 1% to 3%. I think that is about the same as India. Praise that Lord that many are gaining eternal life through Jesus Christ. Please continue to pray for the Russian Far East.

Talk about gains and losses. Timothy lost his two top front teeth last week, but he is gaining two new adult teeth already. The tooth fairy here pays in rubles. On Saturday Vera was having so much fun cutting paper in her room that she decided to give herself a hair cut (has anyone else's daughter ever done that?). After taking her to the hairdressers for damage control, it doesn't look too bad (just a whole new style). Ahhh, life is filled with adventure.

Tonya has been ministering at an orphanage once a week. She has joined forces with a single lady missionary from the Ukraine who has been doing orphanage outreach here for a long time. They have formed a team from the older saved orphan students who help them minister to the younger ones. This team has done very well and on Saturday afternoon we treated the team to a sightseeing ride on a boat on the Amur river. A guitarist from the Baptist church joined us and we sang some songs, fellowshipped and had a good time. Afterward they watched a Christian movie together.

This coming Saturday we will be going to Thailand for a conference with our organization. We'll be gone for over a week and I don't know what kind of internet connection we will have there, so if you email me during that time it might seem like I'm ignoring you.

We sincerely thank you all for your prayers and your support. May the Lord truly bless you and enrich your lives.

In His Wonderful Name,
Cecil

Warm weather and Russian words

Things continue to go well for us here in the Russian Far East. Cecil's Russian classes continue and he often has new Russian words floating around in his head that he doesn't know how to use yet. Sometimes he can actually create a Russian sentence with three nouns in it, but there is so much more to learn. Tonya continues to be a great housewife and mother, and is using her gift of friendship evangelism. Vera and Timothy are making more friends. Tim is taking some Russian lessons of his own to prepare for school this fall.

The weather has gone through a major change. Two weeks ago we were using our heavy coats and now we are going outside in tee shirts. We are still getting used to the long sunlight hours of the summer, which continue to get longer. Right now the sun sets about 10:00 pm and it is bright enough to wake me up by 6:00 in the morning.

Please pray for our health as we seem to keep getting colds. Also pray for he kid's sleep schedule, it is hard for them to go to sleep with the sun shining bright. Summer break is coming at Cecil's University, and we will be doing some traveling. There are some interesting opportunities opening up during this time, and we are seeking the Lord's guidance and direction.

Praise the Lord all our needs are being met. Our post office box is doing great and we've been getting mail from both within Russia and overseas.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.

Two Months

It was two months ago today that we were on a plane and headed west to live in the Russian Far East. God has been so good to us and things are going well.

We've settled into our apartment rather well and have slowly been making friends in the area. There is a wonderful church we have gotten involved with, although we plan to visit many other churches in Khabarovsk. Tonya has been ministering in one of the orphanages once a week. Cecil is heavily involved with language study and his fluency has already improved noticeably. He spends five hours a day, five days a week in class. Vera loves her ballet lessons and Timothy enjoys learning to play chess.

Russia is bigger than the United States and each region has a different flavor of their culture. We have been surprised at the strong nationalism and quazi-communist mentality here in the Russian Far East. Cecil must be very careful about any ministry involvement since he is here on a student visa. Tonya and the kids have more freedom since they have Russian citizenship. Churches here have to be careful, especially in regards to foreign religious workers. We hope Cecil will eventually be able to receive a Russian "green card" (residence permit), which would give him the same freedoms as a Russian citizen. It is illegal in our region to distribute religious literature on the street, or to teach the Bible in schools and orphanages, so we must be cautious about how we present ourselves. Thankfully we have much more freedom than in China (our house is about 22 miles from China).

God has opened many so many doors for us already. We have sensed His guiding hand our entire time here. And there are so many obvious ministry needs. We pray that the Lord give us wisdom to know what to do and how to do it.

Tim had a birthday party (May 3) with a pirate theme.

As I look out my window I see it is snowing right now. The weather has been capricious but they tell us that spring is just around the corner. Three days ago the central heat was turned off and we haven't had any hot water since then, they say it should come back on tomorrow. Ahh, yes, we are in Russia.

Cecil has formed some friendships with the Korean and Chinese students at his University. Please pray for opportunities to witness to them about Christ.

Eastertime?

Here in Russia Easter falls on May First this year since we follow the Orthodox Calendar for holidays. So have a great Easter.

We have mostly settled into our new home and we praise God for providing everything we need. Cecil is very busy with language study at the University and is in class almost five hours a day five days a week. Tonya has been active forming connections with people, and has begun ministering in an orphanage once a week. Vera has begun ballet classes twice a week and Timothy wants to take swim lessons this summer.

We finally got a newsletter together and mailed them out this week.

Monday is a holiday, so we are having Cecil's class over. They are from Korea and China. It will give them a break from the dormitory and hopefully open an opportunity to share Christ with them. Please pray for them to find Jesus.

There are many ministry opportunities here and lots of obvious needs to be met. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to hear from the Holy Spirit about how we should get involved and how to start. Soon we will need to find a garage so that we can get a car. In time we will need to get a place to base our operations out of. So many short range and long range plans. We just want God's plan.

We Arrived

We arrived in Khabarovsk one week ago today. We know God helped us since all of our luggage arrived with us, and the border guards gave us no problems. A Russian pastor we had talked over the phone with met us at the airport with a car, a pick-up truck, and several strapping young men to carry our baggage. It was a bright sunny day at a balmy 35 degrees F.

The hotel where we stayed first was great, but God has continued to bless us. Today we moved into a furnished apartment we were able to rent. It is an answer to prayer: spacious, warm, at a reasonable cost, with a telephone, in the city center, and not too far from the University where Cecil studies Russian. It is amazing that we were able to locate a good apartment so quickly. Since today is Cecil's birthday, we were able to have some of our new friends over and eat a cake.

We have a telephone and Cecil got a mobile phone. And you can see we have internet access too. We don't have a mailing address yet, but we plan to get a post office box in the next couple of days.

Cecil has started Russian language classes at the University. Tim and Vera have already made some new friends. Tonya is delighted to be able to speak Russian to everyone and even go to church in her native language (it was a wonderful service Sunday morning).

Thank you for your prayers, we have received so many answered prayers already. Please continue to pray for our settling in, as we still need to set up a bank account, get some things for the apartment, learn the area, etc. May the Lord richly bless you.

Yours in Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera

About to Start the new Adventure

We are going to try and keep our latest news posted here. We will see how it goes.

We are about to take off to Russia. We should arrive on the 16th of March.

For more information please visit us at http://hqmail.agmd.org/~cecil.eshelman

Cecil