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
