Dear Friends,
one month from today we will leave Russia, go to a missions gathering in Turkey and straight from there return to the States. So the countdown has begun. So much to do, so little time.
We are trying to figure out how we should spell our daughter's name in English. It is spelled Диана in Russian, which is pronounced DEE-anna, which we have been spelling Deanna. But her Russian passport has it spelled Diana. Since all her documents in English will copy the spelling in her passport it seems we may have to go with the official spelling to keep things simple. Decisions, Decisions.
Yesterday we sent documents via courier to the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok. Today they will be submitted and tomorrow or Monday the Consulate officers will examine them and start the process of determining if they will issue Diana a visa to come to the States. Since she doesn't have U.S. citizenship yet she will need a visa. Please pray that Diana will be issued a two-year visa and all would go smoothly with this process.
May 9th is Victory Day, celebrating victory over the Nazis in WWII, and is one of the largest holidays in Russia. Since schools were closed, Cecil took the Royal Ranger outpost on an overnight campout. It was a small group, but they had a great time. Here they are getting ready to eat a lunch they cooked over the fire.
It was a nice place right next to the water (Amur River) and the mosquitoes weren't out yet. There is nothing quite like the initials of the Great Out Doors.
Since the weather is turning warm, we took the kids outside to do our orphanage ministry. We went to the local botanical garden and set up a treasure hunt. Here is a photo of Tonya doing a presentation about "guarding the heart" just before they started the treasure hunt.
Greg is a student in Bible College. He wanted to visit for a month and see what God is doing in Russia. When we met him in Khabarovsk we told him that if you want to see God at work you really must visit the homeless shelter. When he agreed to go we also told him to prepare a word to share with them. We were soon to discover what a good speaker he is. Tonya translated and Greg delivered a wonderful, encouraging message to the residents.
We are planning to have a graduation party on Tuesday for the orphans where we minister. It will also be a good way for us to say good-bye to them before we leave for a year of home service in the States. Please pray for them that when they leave the orphanage this summer that God would guard them and guide them.
Also, please pray for the father and two daughters that Tonya led to the Lord. They live in our apartment building so the girls come to visit us often, but there are many problems from the past they need to overcome. Salvation comes in a moment of surrender, but transformation of the mind (and life) is a process of surrender.
Cecil is developing a new web site about our ministry. It is still under construction, and he is open to suggestions. You can take a look at http://eshelman.info/
Medvedov is now the president of Russia and Putin has become the prime minister. We don't expect this to bring any major changes to Russia.
May the Lord bless you and Keep you.
In Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna (Diana?)
one month from today we will leave Russia, go to a missions gathering in Turkey and straight from there return to the States. So the countdown has begun. So much to do, so little time.
We are trying to figure out how we should spell our daughter's name in English. It is spelled Диана in Russian, which is pronounced DEE-anna, which we have been spelling Deanna. But her Russian passport has it spelled Diana. Since all her documents in English will copy the spelling in her passport it seems we may have to go with the official spelling to keep things simple. Decisions, Decisions.
Yesterday we sent documents via courier to the U.S. Consulate in Vladivostok. Today they will be submitted and tomorrow or Monday the Consulate officers will examine them and start the process of determining if they will issue Diana a visa to come to the States. Since she doesn't have U.S. citizenship yet she will need a visa. Please pray that Diana will be issued a two-year visa and all would go smoothly with this process.
May 9th is Victory Day, celebrating victory over the Nazis in WWII, and is one of the largest holidays in Russia. Since schools were closed, Cecil took the Royal Ranger outpost on an overnight campout. It was a small group, but they had a great time. Here they are getting ready to eat a lunch they cooked over the fire.
It was a nice place right next to the water (Amur River) and the mosquitoes weren't out yet. There is nothing quite like the initials of the Great Out Doors.
Since the weather is turning warm, we took the kids outside to do our orphanage ministry. We went to the local botanical garden and set up a treasure hunt. Here is a photo of Tonya doing a presentation about "guarding the heart" just before they started the treasure hunt.
Greg is a student in Bible College. He wanted to visit for a month and see what God is doing in Russia. When we met him in Khabarovsk we told him that if you want to see God at work you really must visit the homeless shelter. When he agreed to go we also told him to prepare a word to share with them. We were soon to discover what a good speaker he is. Tonya translated and Greg delivered a wonderful, encouraging message to the residents.
We are planning to have a graduation party on Tuesday for the orphans where we minister. It will also be a good way for us to say good-bye to them before we leave for a year of home service in the States. Please pray for them that when they leave the orphanage this summer that God would guard them and guide them.
Also, please pray for the father and two daughters that Tonya led to the Lord. They live in our apartment building so the girls come to visit us often, but there are many problems from the past they need to overcome. Salvation comes in a moment of surrender, but transformation of the mind (and life) is a process of surrender.
Cecil is developing a new web site about our ministry. It is still under construction, and he is open to suggestions. You can take a look at http://eshelman.info/
Medvedov is now the president of Russia and Putin has become the prime minister. We don't expect this to bring any major changes to Russia.
May the Lord bless you and Keep you.
In Him,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna (Diana?)
