Back in Russia

Dear Friends,

our adjustment back to Russia has gone well.  The most wonderful discovery for us is that the ministry team here doubled the Life Skills lessons to two classes a week (younger and older) while we were gone, so we now have more orphanage students then ever before. Once again God is in charge, and we're just trying to keep up.

Ministry at Hope Center continued without us as well; which involved multiple churches and other ministries.  The Fall session of the Bible School took place in October!  The walls even got painted while we were gone, and it wasn't even our idea.  This is a very nice change from when everyone was looking to us to make the decisions and get things done.

We've got snow on the ground, too.  Definitely going to be a white Thanksgiving this year.

Please pray, we're planning on hosting a Thanksgiving feast at the homeless shelter.  There are presently 130 people living there. This is another ministry that just keeps growing.  I preached there Wednesday evening, and we had a great time together.  I was encouraged to see the work they are doing.  Anyway, we'll need more help than ever before to prepare the meal.

And, talking about the Lord of the Harvest sending workers into the harvest field, we have a group of students from Southeastern University making plans to come to Khabarovsk this summer.  We're very excited about this, since not many people come all the way from the States to minister here.  Please pray as we make plans and they start raising funds and getting passports.

Winter has come to Khabarovsk.  Russians are some of the most experienced winter drivers in the world, but here is a video from our city that might make you wonder. http://globalnews.ca/news/961394/video-icy-roads-in-russia-cause-cars-to-slide-out-of-control/

Blessings From Russia,
Cecil, (Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Diana, too)

Arrived

Dear Friends,

on we have arrived back in Khabarovsk, Russia.  All went well on the flights, all our luggage arrived with us, and we feel pretty well (except for the jet-lag).  Thank you all for the prayer support.

During the landing the flight attendant made an announcement in Russian, saying, "Welcome to Khabarovsk, the weather is pleasant today with a temperature of minus 14 degrees Celsius.  We hope you have had a nice flight."

Welcome Home!  A bit of a weather change from the Carolinas.

We'll try to catch up on sleep, organize ourselves, and jump back into ministry here. We arrived on Tuesday, and yesterday (Thursday) we attended a Life Skills lesson our ministry team was leading.  They did a great job, it was so good to see how the ministry has continued without us. 

Russians are some of the most experienced winter drivers in the world, but here is a video from our city. http://globalnews.ca/news/961394/video-icy-roads-in-russia-cause-cars-to-slide-out-of-control/

Blessings From Russia,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Diana

Countdown to departure.

Dear Friends,

once again we are counting down to a departure to the Far Side of the Planet.  Good thing it's not for the far side of the moon.  We have tickets to fly to the Russian Far East on the 10th of November.  So right now we're packing and putting things away.  What doesn't go into our suitcases or our 5 by 10 foot storage unit will have to go to the thrift store.

Please pray for us to have peace as we try to finish off the check list of things to do.  And for us to not forget anything too important (let's see, where is my passport... ).

We are looking forward to jumping back into ministry and seeing friends.

Our latest newsletter.  It was written by the kids. They got put in the mail today.  I mean, the newsletters were mailed today.  I'll post it on our web site soon!

We will write again from the other side!

Blessings,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy, Vera and Diana