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.
