This is Holy Week in Russia, since Orthodox Easter falls on April 27 this year.
We want to share with you some wonderful things that have been happening, a story from Cecil's trip to Mongolia, and then a situation of uncertainty where we need prayer.
In our previous email update we mentioned a family that lives in our apartment building. While the mother is still gone, the father and two girls have continued to attend church (the father goes with Cecil to the men's meeting). The father has continued to not drink or smoke. It is neat to watch as the whole atmosphere in the home changes. The older girl was telling us about waking up in the morning hearing her younger sister explaining to her father what Easter is about since had to work on Palm Sunday and the girls had attended with us and heard the story at church. In the past she usually was awoken by sounds of scolding and cursing when her dad would return from the night shift. They are coming from a situation of absolutely no spiritual knowledge and God is now laying a totally new foundation. They had never heard such common stories as the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, what happened on Palm Sunday or even what happened on Easter. They still have a long way to go, so please pray for them, especially for them to get firmly connected with a church so they continue after we leave this summer.
We want to thank the Lord for how he is in control of our orphanage ministry. We've had people from three different churches join with us. It looks like they will be able to continue the weekly lessons while we are gone. Tonya feels we have planted a lot of seed, but we haven't seen much fruit in the children yet. However, we've been talking with the teachers there about spiritual subjects for a long time. A month ago two teachers gave their hearts to the Lord, and on a day we weren't even there. We feel much more peace knowing that we aren't needed to keep the ministry going. Hey, it's not about us.
Here is one of the orphanage ministry guys witnessing to a teacher last December.
Cecil thought of another story he wanted to share from his trip to Mongolia. He arrived by train to Ulan Bataar on a Sunday morning and was able to get to a Church service. He attended Hope Church, which he worked with 12 years ago when he was teaching at the Bible School. One of his former students is now the pastor. The next Sunday Cecil had already turned in his paperwork with the Russian Consulate, and having two weeks to wait, went to the countryside to help his old buddy, Chris. Chris has a ministry to the nomads and is in the process of moving his family from Moron (a town in Western Mongolia) to Tetsentsingl (a small village way out there). So he attended church in Tetsentsingl. It was the first time there had ever been a church service in that village. You could call it a house church, except that it met in a ger (round white tent) where a family of believers live. Including Cecil there were seven adults. Chris says they have nine adults attending now. The next Sunday Cecil attended a church in Moron since he needed to catch a plane back to Ulan Bataar that afternoon. It is a young church, but they have already built their own building and it is pastured by a Mongol. What a special experience to get to worship in three healthy, but very different, churches all in one short trip.
As an update on our Khabarovsk mission team. Aaron and Beth are in the Republic of Georgia, staying busy and doing well. Due to the Russian visa situation they do not plan to return to Russia, but will finish their term in Georgia and go straight back to the States. Jason is in the States and has raised the funds he needs to return to Khabarovsk as a Missionary Associate, but is waiting on his visa. Please pray that Jason's visa will be issued soon. He is eager to return. Elf continues to learn Russian and is active in ministering to the students in her dormitory. She plans to return to the States after her semester is over, but is still seeking the Lord as to what her next step should be.
We are facing a situation of uncertainly created by a clash of documents. Cecil's visa will expire on June 20th and he must be out of the country when that happens. Deanna's documents have been very slow in processing. We still have one more document to receive before we can apply for her to get a passport. That document should be ready tomorrow morning. If it is, then we should be able to start the application process for getting her passport tomorrow afternoon. That process takes about a month. After that we will need to apply for Deanna to receive a visa to the United States, which takes a week or two (assuming there are no problems with the U.S. Consulate). Then we need to buy tickets for Deanna. But Cecil needs to buy tickets soon to insure their availability. It is possible we may need to split the family up, but we'd rather not. We will continue to have a lot of documents to deal with until we are able to get Deanna U.S. citizenship. Please pray for the Lord to work out all the details.
A little political news from Russia:
Russia is soon to change presidents. Mr. Putin leaves office May 7, when he will be succeeded by his protégé, Dmitry Medvedev. Mr. Putin will stay on as prime minister, putting him in a position to influence future policy.
We thank you all for your faithful support, prayers and love.
Blessings,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna
