the progress of the ministry center continues to take much of our time and energy. So many materials, so many interested people, so much accounting and red tape! Much of the work has been waiting until new windows could be installed. This week they are going in.
Walls have been started. We pray that there won't be any high winds and rain at the same time before the windows are finished.
Once the center is ready, several churches and ministries will be using the facilities. We personally have plans for some outreach projects here. One of them involves day activities for young people graduating from the orphanage system. Please pray for God to build up a team to minister to orphans and young people once the Ministry Center is opened.
We've been going to a nearby orphanage to do a birthday party once a month. Please pray that everything will go smoothly and it will have a lasting impact. The kids enjoyed looking over our Speed-The-Light van and getting their photos taken.
Here's one of our helpers (on the right) with a girl from the orphanage.
"Take my photo too."
We've also been showing Christian movies in our home every Saturday night for youth groups at attend. It's been a barrel of laughs as well as stimulating some meaningful thought. Last week we watched The Hiding Place about Corrie Ten Boom who lived through a concentration camp during WW II for hiding Jews in her home. Not sure what we'll watch tomorrow.
Tonya wants to mention that her Mother's Group is has grown, both in numbers and in depth of meaning. Now four mothers and eleven children are showing up for the meetings once a week. They've started calling each other for prayer and such. Please pray that these good things will continue.
"Following the controversy over the American woman who sent her adopted son back to Russia, the Washington Post ran a compelling op-ed on the plight of orphans in Russia. The author, chief of pediatric cardiology at the University of Massachusetts, Darshak Sanghavi, does an excellent job explaining why debates that focus narrowly on potential problems with international adoption miss an issue of far greater importance to most Russian orphans: the reality faced by children in Russian orphanages every day." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042302223.html
Very insightful article about the Russian economy can be found at:
I've been trying to put together a newsletter to mail out for several weeks now. So many distractions, interruptions, and other things to do. Please pray that I can get it put together, printed and mailed in short order.
God bless you.
Your Missionaries to Russia,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna
