is it spring yet?

Dear Friends,

most Russians consider today (February 28) to be the last day of winter. Indeed, it has been warming up and today was close to the melting point. That's Tonya looking out through the ice sculpture.

We took a group of kids from the orphanage sledding today. It was more like sliding down the hill on plastic pads that you sit on. We had a great time with thrills, chills and spills.

There is a young lady who just turned 19. She graduated from an orphanage a little over a year ago, decided to go live in a village, and returned pregnant. A local church has been helping her with housing and such. We took her to the hospital in our Speed-The-Light van for her delivery, and a week later picked her and her newborn son up and took her to the church's children's shelter where she is staying. Her son caught a cold and needed to go back to the hospital. Please pray that he would recover his health, and for her to find hope and a direction for her future.

We have continued to take our driving lessons, and tomorrow Cecil will take his written test. If he succeeds at that, then the following day he can take his driving test. The questions on the written test are more like riddles than questions, please pray for him to be able to pass and to get his license. Hopefully Tonya will be ready a few weeks from now.

We were invited to speak to a group of veterans from the Afghanistan war (when the Soviet Union was in Afghanistan). They thought that we produced a newspaper for Afgan veterans. Actually it is produced by David Leatherberry, who works with AGWM and lives in Russia in the western side. Anyway, David sent us some materials and we were able to present them and talk about the newspapers to the veteran's group one week ago. Please pray that the seeds planted will bear fruit.

On the 7th of March Cecil will leave for Mongolia. He needs to get a new Russian visa, and he needs to leave Russia to do that. In Mongolia he will visit some old friends, but mostly make sure he gets his visa so that he can return to Russia. There has already been a hold-up in the processing of his visa invitation, so please pray that the invitation will be forthcoming and that all will go well on his trip.

We praise the Lord that Jason is back with us. He is doing well. We look forward to others joining our team some months from now.

Blessings,

Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera

Activities in the Russian Far East

Dear Friends,

In December and January we went to all the orphanages in Khabarovsk (and a few others) to show a Christmas movie and spread some good cheer with the folks there. The Lord really opened doors for us and we were able to share about the real gift of of Christmas. Here is a photo of one of the groups we were with, showing off some other gifts we gave them.

Here is a photo of Cecil helping to set up the sound and video equipment for the movie.
Those outreaches left us a little behind on our other activities (did you know that missionaries have lots of paperwork too?). But we've been plugging away on other things too. Both Cecil and Tonya have passed their written exams at the driving school, but still need to practice driving with an instructor some more before they can finish the school and be allowed to take the tests with the road police for their Russian driver's licenses. Since Cecil's been driving for the last 25 years (and is presently driving every day in Russia on his international license) the school instructors only insist he put in at least ten hours of practice in the training car with a teacher (Tonya has to do 20 hours). Although Russians drive on the same side of the road as Americans, the training cars are from Japan, so we're learning how to drive a car with steering wheel on the wrong side. Such skill might come in handy if we ever get jobs driving for the Postal Service in the States. We've learned that you never know how God can use the strangest things, but I'm really wondering about it this time.

Our supporters were exceptionally generous in December, and we were able to pass some of that along to the homeless shelter for the construction project. They've been digging a well by hand, two meters square and seven meters deep. We were able to purchase concrete rings which they are lining the hole with to keep the well from collapsing when the ground thaws in the spring. You can see some of those rings in the photo. That's Timothy in the ski mask talking about the project the Sergei, the director of the shelter. You can see a corner of the building the homeless are constructing for themselves left of Sergei.

In our last update we mentioned how we helped a mother who is staying at the homeless shelter get in contact with her son who is living in an orphanage where we minister. She has been allowed to visit her son in the orphanage. She asked permission to take her son to church on Sundays, but the orphanage director wants to see more stability in her life first (she's only been at the center three months, been living on the streets for several years, doesn't have a job, etc.). Please pray that this will not discourage her, but rather would encourage her to continue getting her life in order. Also pray that the time would soon come that she would be permitted to take her son to church with her.

Now, the big news about Cecil. He will be going to Mongolia in March to get a new Russian visa. It was either there or South Korea as the nearest places. Since he has friends in Mongolia from when he lived there (back before he was married), he decided to go see them again. His present visa expires on March 12th and he must leave before it expires. The only hitch we are experiencing about it right now is his invitation. To get a visa to Russia you must have an official invitation. It takes a month for the government office to process an invitation. As his last invitation was being processed it was rejected for a minor mistake, so the process had to be started over again. It was re-submitted on the 12th of February, and Cecil's tickets to Mongolia have him leaving on the 7th. If would be nice if he had the original with him when he left. Please pray the invitation gets processed early and he has it in hand before his departure.

Jason, who does campus outreach, will be leaving the States on the 15th and arriving in Khabarovsk on the 17th of February (one day for transit, one day crossing the international date line). Please pray all goes well for him.

We have some folks planning on joining our team here in Khabarovsk. Aaron & Beth Barnes and Gerald Haug plan to attend training in March in Springfield, Missouri, and come on to live in Russia as soon as they finish raising financial support. Please pray that they have a wonderful time in training, that Lord give them generous and faithful supporters, and that everything comes together for them. There is also a young lady looking come in August to stay as a student and do campus ministry. Please pray for her as she takes this bold step.

Although the temperature outside has stayed below freezing it's been a rather warm winter, both in our hearts and in the weather. Thankfully it is snowing today because we haven't had much snow this winter. Here is Vera playing on a block of ice in the park.

Something we feel the Lord has put on our hearts is to help build a Ministry Center here. A place that can house several different outreaches and ministries and help to coordinate among different churches. Next week we are hosting a meeting to initiate the formal planning for this project. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to know the direction God would have us to take with this.

Cecil has begun writing our next newsletter (snail mail). Please pray for him to be inspired, creative, and able to spell properly.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

In His Grip,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera