Growth

I'm really feeling the need for personal growth in the area of being
organized and disciplined. I think Will's at the same point, too.
Please pray for us as we work to "get things together."

Health

We've enjoyed really good health for a long time. Now we seem to be getting lots of little bugs. Please pray that we can be healthy again! This week everyone has mild colds. None of this is serious, but it is annoying.

November 26
Blah! The colds continue.

December 3
We're all well. Praise the Lord! Please ask Him to keep us healthy this winter.

December 10
Jaan's cold came back.

January 12
We seem to be doing better!

Robertson grandparents

Now my parents are planning a trip to visit us! Start praying now for their preparations, visas, and travel.

December 10
They'll be traveling Tuesday and Wednesday.

January 12
We did have a wonderful visit. Thanks for praying!

Rest

We had a fun and busy weekend. Now we're tired! Pray for us to be able to catch up on rest. We tried to go to bed early last night, but the little ones had other plans. Maybe tonight?

December 10
Yesterday we all slept in! That is such a rarity; I don't know if it's ever happened before. When Raia first woke up to eat, I prayed the whole time I was feeding her that she would go back to sleep. (She doesn't usually.) And she did!

Gospelink 3rd quarter

Will's already met with some of the men from out here. He's going to Moscow tomorrow to meet with everyone in that area. Please pray for safe trips for him and the others who will be coming in to the city. And then you can pray for us as we work on paperwork, translations, contacting people, and other details.

November 19
Meetings continue, letters are coming in.

December 10
I'm working on translations.

January 12
STILL working on those translations. I'd love to get to where we don't have quarters overlapping anymore, which means we really need to get moving.

January 23
Getting closer! Dean is leaving for Africa on Monday, so we have to finish up this week. The fourth quarter money hasn't come in yet, which means it looks like we'll meet my goal of no more overlapping quarters.

Gospelink 2nd quarter

I'm posting like this just to move the Gospelink requests up and divide this out a little.

Because of various situations here and in the Gospelink office, we're way behind. Please pray for us to get the 2nd quarter work finished.

November 19
We're making progress. . . .

November 26
Hurrah! I'm finished with my part! Now Will just has to do a few more little things, and we'll be done with the second quarter.

December 3
We're pretty much done. Please just pray for Dean's email to start working again, so that we can get everything to him.

December 10
Yeah! Dean got himself a temporary address. We'll have the second quarter finished up this week.

Sick Papa

Will's not even over his cold, and he was up in the night with the stomach stuff that's been going around.

October 30
Praise the Lord that Will got over his sickness pretty quickly!

Something new

I added a box over to the side here where you can enter your email address if you want to automatically get our prayer requests by email.

Sick Baba

Now Julie has a chest cold. I (Phyllis) am the last one left who's not either sick or recovering from being sick. Please pray for Julie and the rest of the sick ones. (And for me to stay well.)

October 26
Julie's down with the stomach bug now.

October 30
It took a little while, but Julie was well in time to travel home.

Sick boy

Jaan didn't seem to feel too well this morning, but we went to church anyway. He threw up all over while we were there.

October 30
That little bit of sickness at church was all that Jaan had.

Sick baby

Raia has a little bit of a cold. It's not bad at all, but she is coughing. It's just sad to see her sick.

October 30
She's still coughing some, and yesterday she seemed to have a touch of the stomach bug.

Wedding

Today Stepan from our church here and Lyuba from our old church in Moscow are getting married. Will and a group from here went to Moscow for the wedding. Please pray for Styopa and Lyuba as they start out their new life together. Also, pray for safe travel for the group, going there and coming back all in one day.

October 30
The wedding went well, and everyone made it safely there and back.

Grandparents!

Will's parents will be arriving here next Sunday! Please pray for them as they continue to get ready for their trip and then as they travel. They have their visas; praise the Lord for that!

Also, we plan on "using" them to get to know some of our unsaved friends better, so pray for that, too.

October 22
They're here, and we're having a wonderful time together. Poor Bernie is rather sick, though, so please pray for him to get better.

So far we've already had one very good visit with our neighbors, and we're looking forward to inviting more friends over to meet Bernie and Julie.

October 30
Bernie got over his sickness after a few days. We did enjoy more visits with other friends, because of our special guests. And overall we had a wonderful visit. Now Baba and "Danna" are safely home in Charlotte.

Youth club

At the end of this month, we'll be starting a youth club, with games, songs, English lessons from Will, and Bible study. Please pray for all of that to come together, for people to attend, and especially for Will as he prepares.

November 5
Not quite in time for the end of the month, but we're moving forward. This week Will got the invitations printed up. Tomorrow he and others will be handing them out. They hope to start next Saturday.

November 14
Will wrote an update about the club. Please keep praying for planning, preparation, and people to come.

November 19
I think the main prayer request now is for people to come!

December 3
I waited to update, so that I could tell you about the club. Will said that it went well. Misha came back. There were two new people. German and his family came again. Thank you, Lord!

Park outreach

Today, instead of Bible study, we'll be going out to the park to hand out New Testaments and talk to people. Please pray for us as we do that.

October 8
It went well! Thank you for praying. Many people were very interested and receptive.

Orphanage

Today we're going just to visit the children at the orphanage. That's allowed, even though we can't have Bible lessons there any more. Also, either today or some time later this week, Pavel will be talking to the director about letting the children come to Bible lessons at a different location. Please pray that she will agree to that!

September 29
HUGE PRAISE REPORT: We have official permission to work with the kids again, and not only that, but we can have the Bible lessons IN THEIR CLASSROOMS! That's going to be so much easier than having to take them somewhere else. God gave us more than we even asked for. Now you can pray as this gets started. I'm guessing that Ira will do the teaching and Will the music, but everything needs to be sorted out now.

October 8
It looks like lessons will be starting in about two weeks. There are still a lot of details to work out. Pray for Ira and Yulia, because most of the responsibility falls on them.

October 15
Tomorrow will be the first lesson with the children this year. They decided to go ahead and try it at the place where our church meets, as a kind of Sunday school for the children from the orphanage. Tomorrow Ira will be teaching by herself, and she's somewhat worried about it. The other girl who was supposed to help her has to work, and Will is going to be in Moscow.

October 22
The lesson went well. Yulia was able to help after all. Fifteen children came! They had coordinated it amongst themselves so that they all met and came together.

Deaf schools

This morning Will and Pavel went to the schools for deaf and hard of hearing children to hand out Bibles. I wish I could have gone, and I know certain people (Shae!) would love to be praying with me for those children. Some day I hope to see us or others from the church here having more contact with these schools.

Youth

Will is now officially the youth leader here. His main responsibility will be the Saturday night Bible studies. He says to pray that he'll actually do something in this new position and that he'll be an encouragement.

September 26
We're having a planning meeting for youth ministry here on Thursday.

October 1
The meeting went well, and you can look at the new prayer requests to see what we worked on.

November 5
Tonight Will is starting a new Bible study on the Christian life with the church youth.

November 14
Now that the club is on Saturday nights, we need to have a different night for a more serious Bible study. Please pray that we will be able to agree on a time, and that the church youth will come.

November 26
Last Sunday we were able to have everyone over for supper and Bible study. That worked well, so hopefully we'll be able to continue it.

Zhatva

This Sunday will be Zhatva, the harvest holiday. You can pray we'll have a good church service, enjoy the fellowship, and that there will be guests.

September 26
We had a wonderful Zhatva in our church last week. There were guests, and more than usual, people just came in from the shopping center where we meet. Also, yesterday we went to Vaizniki to celebrate Zhatva with them, which was wonderful, too.

Updated

I was going to delete this post, as I put up a new one, telling what I'm updating today, but I'll leave it because of Alissa's comment.

Sannikovo

Will and Ira went out to the village of Sannikovo yesterday, because one of the little girls called us to say that she and her mother are moving away, and she couldn't leave without saying goodbye. Will talked to the mother on the phone, and then they went and visited with her in her home. (The little girl was gone when they first got there, so they had to wait with just the mother.) This is a huge answer to prayer, because it is the first interaction with adults in the village! Unfortunately, she's moving away now.

Regular visits and lessons in Sannikovo will be starting up again in a few weeks.

September 15
Ira went out and did the first lesson of the year on Saturday. Will wasn't able to go with her then, but he will be from now on.

September 26
The regular lessons are going on every Saturday now, so please just pray for the children of Sannikovo whenever you think of them.

October 1
This weekend, instead of a Saturday lesson, we'll all be going out to Sannikovo tomorrow. We'll take part in a special tea for the elderly, and then we'll have time with the children after that.

October 8
The tea with the elderly residents of Sannikovo was somewhat sad, because they were more interested in the vodka that was available than in the songs and poems from our group. Still, it was good to be there, and we did have a wonderful time with the children afterwards.

(That's just a visual reminder to pray for the children.)


November 5
The kids didn't have a lesson today, because Ira missed the bus. Will got off again when he realized that she wasn't coming.

November 26
They're going to take a break with the lessons in Sannikovo. There are a few boys who are being so disruptive that the lessons can't go on. Pray that the director of the club will be willing to work with us and find a solution.

February 4
I forgot to mention that the last time Will was out in Sannikovo a woman came up to him with a question about the Bible. She had been reading and didn't know of anyone else to ask. Will was thrilled that someone (an adult!) in Sannikova is reading the Bible and that she would think of aproaching him.

Yulia

One of our friends from church has been away and not walking with the Lord. Yesterday she came to the Bible study. Please pray that she will come back into fellowship.

August 26
Yulia came with some others to visit us a few nights ago!

September 15
Praise the Lord that Yulia is officially back as a part of the church!

On the road again

The Korneichuks are traveling again, this time to visit Tanya's parents in southern Russia.

August 30
They got home early Saturday morning. Thank you for praying. Now they need prayer as they settle back in and get Alyona ready for school, which starts Thursday. Tanya was a little stressed, because she hasn't even had time to start on that.

Baptism

Tomorrow five people will be baptized and join the church here! Praise the Lord for that! Please pray for them, as they continue to grow in their faith. Also pray for good weather and a wonderful time of fellowship tomorrow.

August 21
It was a wonderful day! Thank you for your prayers. There are a few photos here.

Korneichuk's documents

Tanya asked us to pray, and I'll ask you to pray, too. Alyona is starting school this year. However, she needs to have one medical test from her physical done over again in order to have her medical card signed. It looks like she won't be able to start on the first day with everyone else, because of this. Please pray that the test could be done more quickly, or that they can find a doctor who would be willing to just sign the card, or that the Lord would solve this some other way. Thanks!

August 30
Praise! They were able to get the test done yesterday, and Alyona will be able to start school, even before they have the results back.

A plea for prayer from Will

Greetings from Russia,
the land of the frustrated and home of the bureaucrat!

Hmmm... that sounds a little put out, well, maybe we are, just a little. The Lord is working on our patience and flexibility, not to mention that He is keeping us in complete reliance upon Him!
It's a great experience to live as a foreigner. Makes you much more compassionate toward others in the same position, regardless of the country they happen to live in!

We still have not been able to register Raia's birth with the appropriate governmental office. There HAS been progress, praise God! We still need to 'fix' one document, and then we'll be able to register Raia here in Kovrov. However, that involves contacting a doctor in Moscow, meeting up with her, and going to a Notary with her.

We were waiting until we had a birth certificate and a passport for Raia to renew our own visas, since that usually involves leaving the country.
We were also waiting to register our own visas here as residents of Kovrov until we got our new visas (our old ones expire tomorrow). Our visa expert had told us that there wouldn't be any problems with us waiting like that, as long as we didn't try to leave the country... and as long as we could avoid the fines involved with not having one's documents in order!
Well, as one friend said, our 'time of Grace' ran out and we're under the Law again! That is to say we had an unexpected visit from a local police man, and were fined, warned to register as local residents asap, regardless of what state our visas were in. (The amount of the fine should be around $100, this time. A second offense is more.) However, to register as a resident, you of course have to have a current visa. Hmmm...

And so, we learn. The law is the law is the law, and that is right and good. Only at times, it seems that meeting the requirements of the law are almost impossible to meet... legally! Maybe it's the same in the States, but not to such a degree. The history of corruption here and lack of transparency in business and government affairs is going to take a loooong time to leave behind.

The bottom line of course, would be: PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR US!!!!

Specifically during the next month, and specifically that:

1-The Lord would give us both wisdom in making complicated choices.
2-I would be able to contact the doctor and meet with her tomorrow in Moscow.
3-We would then be able to register Raia's birth here in Kovrov.
4-I would be able to get our visa processing started tomorrow.
5-God would protect us from anyone in the Kovrov police dept. who would want to take advantage of the 'rich Americans.' (We are RIPE for the picking until we get new visas and registration as local residents.)

Thank you all, and I hope to have good results of God's provision to share before long, as a direct result of your prayers!

In the love of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Will =o)

August 13
Updates in the order that Will gave the prayer requests:
1-We have decided that we're just going to pay extra to have our visas processed right away, without us leaving the country.
2 and 3-He wasn't able to meet with any of the six doctors who we know approve of homebirths, so no progress on the birth certificate.
4-Will had no problems with getting the visa process started, so our visas should be ready in less than two weeks.
5-We found out that they have the right to check and fine us every three days until we register, but so far we have not had anything happen. The policeman who came to check us on Monday was quite nice, and said that he woldn't even turn the papers on us in until yesterday, so we are praising the Lord for that. Still, please keep praying.

August 21
So far, we have not had any more problems. We should have our new visas this week. Then we will need prayer as we try to register them here.

August 24
More frustration. Will went to register our visas this morning. According to the law, they have to be registered locally in three days. But, we can't register here! Please pray for us as we look for what to do now.

August 30
Will went to Moscow yesterday to work on registering our visas there. He had hoped to get it done quickly, and then come home the same day, but that didn't happen. He found out that he needed an address to register us, so he called one of the church leaders in Ivanovo for advice. Now he's in contact with the head of the Russian Baptist Union, who said he would find us a place to register in Moscow. PTL! Please just pray that Will can get everything worked out quickly in Moscow, so that he can take Dean around to visit the Gospelink missionaries (and come home to us! ).

September 1
Hurrah! Will came home last night. He was able to get everything worked out in Moscow, and we should be registered there in a little over a week. Today he'll go with our landlord to see what they can work out with the local police. Pray! Then he'll meet Dean and Co. in Vladimir and take them to Gus-Khrustanii for a few days.

September 3
They were able to meet with the police officer and make an agreement that we'll be left alone for a year, even though we can't get local registration. Praise the Lord for that! We might still have to pay the fine, but it might be less or possibly even canceled completely. It's such a relief to have this taken care of!

Gospelink

This is the end of a Gospelink quarter, so we're busy with getting sponsorship money out to the missionaries, translating their letters, and other details. On Wednesday Will will be going to Moscow to meet with the men in that region.

Also, Dean Kershner will be coming over soon on Gospelink business, so pray for his trip and preparations here and there for his visit.

August 13
Will had a good and safe trip to Moscow. Please continue to pray for Dean's trip and other details.

August 27
Dean's in Russia now. Will's busy with lots of details and phone calls.

September 15
The visits went very well. They were able to see almost all of the men who are sponsored by Gospelink and get some new applications. Keep praying for us as we work on translations.

November 5
Please just pray that we can get through the Gospelink work that we have. Right now we have work from two quarters overlapping.

November 8
I forgot to ask you to pray about this request, but now you can praise the Lord with us for the answer. The email at Gospelink's office in south Florida has been down since hurricane Wilma. It came back up yesterday, just in time. We were really needing to communicate! Please pray that it will keep working; it sounded like things were still a little shakey.

Visas

Another prayer request that I forgot to mention on Saturday is about our visas. Even if we get Raia's birth certificate tomorrow without any more problems, by the time we get her passport, our visas will have expired. Please pray that no one will check our visa during the overlap time between when they expire and when we can renew them. (But don't worry, moms, if they do check, we wouldn't be thrown in jail or anything. It would just be a fine.)

You can start praying now that the visa process will go smoothly, when we get around to that, too.

August 9 (and 13)
See Will's prayer update above for the latest.

August 21
We should be getting new visas next week. Then all we'll have to do is register them locally.

August 27
I frgot to say that the latest on our visas is in A plea for prayer from Will.

Korneichuks

Pavel, Tanya and the girls will be traveling back from the Ukraine
soon. Please pray for a safe trip.

August 6
They are safely home!

Health and strength

None of us really seem to be sick, but both little ones have slightly stuffy noses and I have an earache. Please pray that none of it gets worse and that the Lord would continue to protect our health as He has so far.

Also, we're TIRED. Raia's been fussy. We're very thankful for the two good nights of sleep that she gave us, but now we're back to a more normal baby schedule.

August 6
Thanks to your prayers and God's goodness, we didn't get sick! We're all doing much better, although we could still use a little more sleep.

Water

Since we moved here our hot water has been off and on (sometimes off for months at a time). Right now it's been off for a few months because of a leak, but there's hope of it being fixed soon! I'd like prayer for a permanent--or at least more permanent--fix this time.

Please pray for Will this weekend. Each apartment is responsible to dig 3 meters of the trench for the pipes. He was out late last night working on that, and he still has more to do. Praise the Lord for this opportunity for him to spend time with the neighbors! Pray for good conversations and for him to be able to balance his time between digging and increased church responsibilities.

You can pray for me to be patient with the water being off and on. Today it's completely off all day, and that gets challenging with baby messes and toddler activity.

July 30
There won’t be hot water as fast as I had thought, but they are making progress. The cold water was only off for a day, so praise the Lord for that. Will was able to prepare for the youth meeting and his sermon last week, in the midst of the busyness. We are getting to know our neighbors better; yesterday we all went out while Will worked, so I got to talk to some of the other mothers, too.

August 2
WE HAVE HOT WATER! I'm going to take a very nice, long bath tonight.

September 15
It's been off quite a bit lately, so, again, pray for me to be patient.

Jaan

Jaan is at a challenging and fun age. We need especial prayer for wisdom in raising him. Ask the Lord for Jaan to be a well-behaved little helper when we're out and about. (Jaan does much better at home than in public.)

July 30
Jaan's doing much better! Ifeel like we finally have the real Jaan back. (You can always pray for him, though.)

Raia's birth certificate

I'll start with asking you to pray for the ongoing saga of getting Raia a birth certificate. Right now we are waiting for two documents: the apostile from the State of Florida, so that we could try again in Moscow; and a new doctor's letters, so that we can attempt to get a birth certificate here. Please pray for both to come through the mail safely.

We're really hoping that we can work this out here in Kovrov!

July 24
For those who are following those documents in prayer every step of the way: what we need from the State of Florida is definitely being processed in Jacksonville now. The next step will be Tallahassee.

July 25
It’s already on its way to Tallahassee!

July 27
Praise the Lord! We got our doctor's letter today, so we will probably be going to try to get a Kovrov birth certificate tomorrow. Please pray about that, and ask everyone else to pray with you. Also, our Florida documents have made it to Tallahassee, so there's progress on that, in case we do end up having to go back to Moscow.

July 29 (morning)
Well, we did go, but the registration office was closed. We'll try again today, so please keep praying.

July 29 (later)
Today they're only doing weddings at the registration office. The next time we can try is Tuesday. Also, my parents have received the document that we would need, if we're going to get the birth certificate in Moscow. Now we'll just have to pray that it will get here safely, if we're going to need it.

August 2
They were very nice and helpful (an answer to prayer!), and all we need now is to have the doctor's letter notarized. We're getting closer!

August 3
We had thought that Will would have to get the letter notarized in Moscow, but now it looks like he can do it here. He's going to try today. If he gets it, then he'll go straight on to the registration office to try and get the birth certificate. Pray!

August 6
No, Will couldn't get the letter notarized. We've heard that another notary office is more accommodating, so we'll try that next. Ideally Will could go there Monday, get the birth certificate Tuesday, and take it with him to get the passport on Wednesday when he goes to Moscow. If that doesn't work, he can get the letter notarized in Moscow, but that would mean another Moscow trip later to turn the birth certificate in at the embassy.

August 9 (and 13)
See Will's prayer update above for the latest.

August 21
Please pray that Will will be able to get a notarized letter from a doctor when he goes to Moscow in the next few days.

August 24
Will was able to meet up with a doctor in Moscow. She was very nice and helpful, but apparently notaries can't do anything with documents like what we need. This is getting ridiculous! Please just keep praying that we'll find a way to get this birth certificate. (And before Raia's ready to go off to college! )

September 19
Will's working on it again. He spent a good part of today going to notaries. There's definitely nothing they can do. He finally found a friendly one, and she was able to give him advice, but nothing more. So, he's "putting a case file together" and going tomorrow to talk to the head of the registration office with all the documents we have, plus pictures of Raia right after her birth and any other proofs that he can think of. Please pray!

September 20
PRAISE THE LORD!!! WE FINALLY HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE!