It was two months ago today that we were on a plane and headed west to live in the Russian Far East. God has been so good to us and things are going well.
We've settled into our apartment rather well and have slowly been making friends in the area. There is a wonderful church we have gotten involved with, although we plan to visit many other churches in Khabarovsk. Tonya has been ministering in one of the orphanages once a week. Cecil is heavily involved with language study and his fluency has already improved noticeably. He spends five hours a day, five days a week in class. Vera loves her ballet lessons and Timothy enjoys learning to play chess.
Russia is bigger than the United States and each region has a different flavor of their culture. We have been surprised at the strong nationalism and quazi-communist mentality here in the Russian Far East. Cecil must be very careful about any ministry involvement since he is here on a student visa. Tonya and the kids have more freedom since they have Russian citizenship. Churches here have to be careful, especially in regards to foreign religious workers. We hope Cecil will eventually be able to receive a Russian "green card" (residence permit), which would give him the same freedoms as a Russian citizen. It is illegal in our region to distribute religious literature on the street, or to teach the Bible in schools and orphanages, so we must be cautious about how we present ourselves. Thankfully we have much more freedom than in China (our house is about 22 miles from China).
God has opened many so many doors for us already. We have sensed His guiding hand our entire time here. And there are so many obvious ministry needs. We pray that the Lord give us wisdom to know what to do and how to do it.
Tim had a birthday party (May 3) with a pirate theme.
As I look out my window I see it is snowing right now. The weather has been capricious but they tell us that spring is just around the corner. Three days ago the central heat was turned off and we haven't had any hot water since then, they say it should come back on tomorrow. Ahh, yes, we are in Russia.
Cecil has formed some friendships with the Korean and Chinese students at his University. Please pray for opportunities to witness to them about Christ.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Saturday, April 30, 2005
Eastertime?
Here in Russia Easter falls on May First this year since we follow the Orthodox Calendar for holidays. So have a great Easter.
We have mostly settled into our new home and we praise God for providing everything we need. Cecil is very busy with language study at the University and is in class almost five hours a day five days a week. Tonya has been active forming connections with people, and has begun ministering in an orphanage once a week. Vera has begun ballet classes twice a week and Timothy wants to take swim lessons this summer.
We finally got a newsletter together and mailed them out this week.
Monday is a holiday, so we are having Cecil's class over. They are from Korea and China. It will give them a break from the dormitory and hopefully open an opportunity to share Christ with them. Please pray for them to find Jesus.
There are many ministry opportunities here and lots of obvious needs to be met. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to hear from the Holy Spirit about how we should get involved and how to start. Soon we will need to find a garage so that we can get a car. In time we will need to get a place to base our operations out of. So many short range and long range plans. We just want God's plan.
We have mostly settled into our new home and we praise God for providing everything we need. Cecil is very busy with language study at the University and is in class almost five hours a day five days a week. Tonya has been active forming connections with people, and has begun ministering in an orphanage once a week. Vera has begun ballet classes twice a week and Timothy wants to take swim lessons this summer.
We finally got a newsletter together and mailed them out this week.
Monday is a holiday, so we are having Cecil's class over. They are from Korea and China. It will give them a break from the dormitory and hopefully open an opportunity to share Christ with them. Please pray for them to find Jesus.
There are many ministry opportunities here and lots of obvious needs to be met. Please pray for us to have wisdom and to hear from the Holy Spirit about how we should get involved and how to start. Soon we will need to find a garage so that we can get a car. In time we will need to get a place to base our operations out of. So many short range and long range plans. We just want God's plan.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
We Arrived
We arrived in Khabarovsk one week ago today. We know God helped us since all of our luggage arrived with us, and the border guards gave us no problems. A Russian pastor we had talked over the phone with met us at the airport with a car, a pick-up truck, and several strapping young men to carry our baggage. It was a bright sunny day at a balmy 35 degrees F.
The hotel where we stayed first was great, but God has continued to bless us. Today we moved into a furnished apartment we were able to rent. It is an answer to prayer: spacious, warm, at a reasonable cost, with a telephone, in the city center, and not too far from the University where Cecil studies Russian. It is amazing that we were able to locate a good apartment so quickly. Since today is Cecil's birthday, we were able to have some of our new friends over and eat a cake.
We have a telephone and Cecil got a mobile phone. And you can see we have internet access too. We don't have a mailing address yet, but we plan to get a post office box in the next couple of days.
Cecil has started Russian language classes at the University. Tim and Vera have already made some new friends. Tonya is delighted to be able to speak Russian to everyone and even go to church in her native language (it was a wonderful service Sunday morning).
Thank you for your prayers, we have received so many answered prayers already. Please continue to pray for our settling in, as we still need to set up a bank account, get some things for the apartment, learn the area, etc. May the Lord richly bless you.
Yours in Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera
The hotel where we stayed first was great, but God has continued to bless us. Today we moved into a furnished apartment we were able to rent. It is an answer to prayer: spacious, warm, at a reasonable cost, with a telephone, in the city center, and not too far from the University where Cecil studies Russian. It is amazing that we were able to locate a good apartment so quickly. Since today is Cecil's birthday, we were able to have some of our new friends over and eat a cake.
We have a telephone and Cecil got a mobile phone. And you can see we have internet access too. We don't have a mailing address yet, but we plan to get a post office box in the next couple of days.
Cecil has started Russian language classes at the University. Tim and Vera have already made some new friends. Tonya is delighted to be able to speak Russian to everyone and even go to church in her native language (it was a wonderful service Sunday morning).
Thank you for your prayers, we have received so many answered prayers already. Please continue to pray for our settling in, as we still need to set up a bank account, get some things for the apartment, learn the area, etc. May the Lord richly bless you.
Yours in Christ,
Cecil, Tonya, Timothy and Vera
Monday, March 14, 2005
About to Start the new Adventure
We are going to try and keep our latest news posted here. We will see how it goes.
We are about to take off to Russia. We should arrive on the 16th of March.
For more information please visit us at http://hqmail.agmd.org/~cecil.eshelman
Cecil
We are about to take off to Russia. We should arrive on the 16th of March.
For more information please visit us at http://hqmail.agmd.org/~cecil.eshelman
Cecil
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)