right now I'm on a jet flying over the Ukraine from Moscow, Russia, to Chisinau, Moldova. This is my second trip to Moldova, but this time I am travelling with my family.
I arrived back in Khabarovsk on January 7th in time for Christmas (in Russia Christmas is January 7th!). It was a wonderful reunion, and I brought presents from my trip to Moldova. We also opened some gifts that had been mailed to us.
Our hope was that my resident permit would be approved by this time, but it was not. Since visas to Russia (other than student visas and work visas) require you to be out of the country for 90 out of every 180 days, I've needed to leave Russia again. Once I receive my resident permit, that will no longer be a problem.
The annual training for the AGWM Russia team will be held in Egypt this year, February 28 to March 7th. So we've decided to stay in Moldova and go straight to the training before we go back to Khabarovsk. This will be more cost effective. We'll be involved in ministry in Moldova mostly in the same way I was doing ministry my previous trip, by preaching and doing a bit of handy-man help around the Home of Hope. Russian is commonly spoken in Moldova, and we're ready to help out however we can.
During the last few days I was able to work out some of the last details in the purchase of the property for the Far East Ministry Center. The legal details have been rather complicated, making sure everything is done right by both Russian and American law, and learning the Russian side of the law has been an education to me.
God has really amazed me with how sovereign his guidance is even when I have felt clueless and ignorant. We scoured real estate listings and looked at over thirty properties, but the one we settled on we found through a "chance" encounter with a pastor who has just "heard" about a property that was going to be listed. I have no control over the visa situation, but the Lord is able to use it. When I purchased tickets for my first trip to Moldova, I had a long lay-over scheduled in Moscow. Just before the trip I discovered that some legal documents would need to be taken care of in Moscow, and so during the lay-over I was able to take care of those. Actually, it took longer than expected and I would have missed my flight but the departure was delayed, and so I was O.K. Then after returning to Khabarovsk I found out that I needed to have the local church union make an official vote on the matter (since it is being put in their name). Their official business meeting just happened to be scheduled during my short stay in Khabarovsk, but I didn't know that when I arranged my schedule. The Lord really is Lord, even of all our human doings. Proverbs 3:5-6 is so true.
A few days ago we sent the kids - Tim, Vera and Deanna - to go buy themselves a treat at the store. The weather was kinda cool, about minus 10 degrees F, but not unusual for January in Khabarovsk. They ate their treat as they walked back from the store, so we asked them what they had gotten. When they replied that it was ice cream, I asked why they didn't wait until they were home to eat it. "Well," said Tim, "we were afraid it would melt." Tonya and I laughed so hard it hurt. It was a good break from the tension of packing.
We also took a family day and had a picnic and went skating and cross country skiing with some friends at an outdoor rink. And yes, Tim is taller than his mother (he's not standing on anything).
Yum, yum. There's nothing like a winter Russian bar-bee-que.
Another thing we did while I was home was print our latest newsletter. A friend is to drop in the mail for us, so if you get our snail mail newsletters, you should get yours soon. I've posted a copy of it in pdf format.
The girls want me to share this picture that Deanna took of Vera and one of their Christmas gifts: a guinea pig. They named him Teddy.
Today is January 16th. I don't have any internet connection right now, and I'm not sure exactly when I'll get one. I'll post this entry as soon as I'm able.
Peace to All of You,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna
