we will start with a personal prayer request. Deanna's top front tooth was hit during a basketball game a while back. It has continued to be loose, so we took her to the dentist today. This dentist took an X-ray and told us it needed to be pulled. We plan to take Deanna to another dentist at a private clinic tomorrow and get a second opinion. We are praying that the tooth can be saved.
The start of this month the kids and Tonya were at a church camp on an Island in the Amur River (close to China). Tonya worked in the kitchen. Yum, yum.
They also when swimming and boating in the river.
I came to the camp the last evening by special invitation. They wanted me speak the final evening, and teach about baptism. Two of the adult workers had never been baptized, and were expressing an interest but the pastor was not able to attend the camp. So the pastor had me come and I preached from the book of Acts (when Paul and Silas were released from prison by an earthquake, and the jailor was baptized in the middle of the night. So at camp I spoke, three people wanted to be baptized. By the time we got to the river it was quite dark, so we had a night baptism. The photos are rather grainy, but here they are:
After camp we took a week of vacation by the Sea of Japan. We joined with a family who pastor a church in a village south of Khabarovsk. It was a good week of relaxation and family time. Somehow I ended up preaching at two churches that Sunday (friends of the pastor we were with).
We all got sunburn, but had a great time.
Well, were all back home now, and starting into the fall schedule. School starts September 1st. On Friday we'll host another birthday party for the orphanage.
Game nights and Movie nights at Hope Center have gone well through the summer. Please pray that word will get out and even more people would start to attend as we move into the fall.
We have at least two different young people who plan to work with us next year in the StudyRussianDoMissions program. Please pray that everything they need would be provided, and that the Lord would fully equip them for the work at hand. As always, we pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send workers into this harvest field.
One last photo. We were invited to come and speak at Open Heart Homeless Shelter this weekend. They are one of our favorite places to go. They've also been busy building a new shower house/laundry facility with some housing on the second floor. You can see in the background on the left a building we (and a team from Texas) helped them build several years ago ( http://eshelman.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html ). Things there just keep getting better. God is so good!
Remember when the coup happened in the Soviet Union, just before the Soviet Union fell apart? This is the 20th anniversary of that event.
Here is some information about the situation with Grace Church in Khabarovsk, the court case against them, and the ongoing problems they face with the authorities.
Cecil has been invited to speak at one of their congregations this coming Sunday.
May the Lord be with you!
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Deanna