right now we are in the city of Novokuznetsk. It is Tonya's home city, and the place where we were married. We've been here almost two weeks now. Officially we are on vacation, but after arriving we received several ministry invitations. Cecil has preached six times and we've done a presentation at an orphanage. We tried to take photos of ourselves ministering, but the camera stopped working.
But God has blessed our "working vacation." We were able to take the train to Novosibirsk and visit with the Matthes family. They are good friends of ours and also work with AGWM. We went to the zoo together. Here is a photo of our kids.
They shipped a container of personal goods to themselves (furniture and such). After more than ten months it has finally arrived. Now they are processing the documents to get it released by the custom's department. Please pray that everything would go smoothly and they would get their stuff without any further hassles.
One of Tonya's cousins got married while we were here and we were able to visit the wedding. We skipped the after wedding activities since there is generally heavy drinking following a wedding. Many wedding parties in Russia end in fistfights. The bride's father (Tonya's uncle by marriage) has never had someone in his family die a natural death, all his relative's deaths have been alcohol related. However the wedding ceremony was quite nice. Tonya's grandfather came, wearing the medals he earned during World War II.
Before leaving for vacation we were hard at work doing summer-type repair and renovations. Summer is short in Russia, so there is no time to waste. Here is a photo of Cecil, Tim and Vera painting the metal frame around our garage door.
The vision the Lord has given us for work among the orphans as they graduate from the orphanages has become more and more clear, however, the situation is more complicated than we originally expected when coming to Khabarovsk. There is a law forbidding Bible instruction in orphanages, however, each orphanage director interprets it differently. Thus, each orphanage requires a separate approach. We need to develop relationships with orphanage personnel over time, so that they come to trust us. We write this simply to let you know how much we appreciate your support and to ask for prayer as we shift from “settling in” to reaching out, from preparing for ministry into ministering. We are so much in need of God’s wisdom and guidance at this time. May the Peace of the Lord be with you.
Because of Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy & Vera
