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
