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
