Our neighbor

Please pray for our neighbor Natalya (the English teacher on the second floor, for those of you who know). She has had to take a year off from work to take care of her sick mother. I saw her a few days ago, and she said that her mother was dying. They had called the priest to do the last prayers with her. Please pray for Natalya and her whole family during this hard time.

November 17
I've seen Natalya a few times, but didn't get to talk to her until today. Her mother did die, and Natalya has had a hard time with that. (Of course!) She's doing a little better now, but her husband is in the hospital with heart trouble. Please keep praying.

Will's travels

As I said, Will is going to Karabanovo on Thursday. From there he'll go to Moscow on Friday to work on our documents, and from Moscow to Ivanovo for a seminar on Saturday. Please pray for Will as he travels and for us as we're home without him.

October 21
Everything is going well, but we're looking forward to having Will home tonight, and he's looking forward to being back with us.

Karabanovo

On Thursday many of the missionaries around here (including Will) will be going to Karabanovo for a work day. The church there was given a building, but it needs lots of renovation. For now the men are just going to get the roof into good enough shape to last through the winter. Please pray for safe travel for everyone and that they would be able to do all that needs to be done in one day.

October 18
Will is going to ride with Ivan. Ivan just called and said that he wants to leave tonight, instead of terribly early tomorrow morning. He also said that he sprained his ankle, so please be praying specifically for him ("One Foot") and Will ("One Hand") as they work tomorrow.

October 21
All went well. They worked really hard! Thank you for praying.

October 23
Will's going back on Wednesday to help finish up. The group of workers will be much smaller this time.

October 26
Yesterday was canceled. Will only found out once he had already arrived in Vladimir. He came home, and we were happy to have a free day with him, though. Please pray that they'll be able to finish this project up soon, though. . . maybe Saturday.

Will's finger

This morning when Will was getting our windows ready for the winter, he broke a piece of glass and cut his finger really badly. He'll be okay, but he needs to lead music tonight and tomorrow at the orphanage, and he probably won't be able to play his guitar.

October 21
It looks like it's starting to heal! Will still doesn't know when he'll be able to play guitar. The kids at the orphanage tried to convince him that he could just turn the guitar around and switch hands.

October 29
Thank you for your prayers! It's definitely healing. There's no infection, and Will can already play his guitar. . . gently.

Church meeting place

Our church has been meeting on the top floor of a shopping mall for over a year now. A new big store is opening there, and they want us to move. The director of the mall has been very nice and helpful in finding a new place and giving us time. He's offering to actually sell space in another building to the church.

Please pray for everything to work out, for Pavel to have wisdom in making decisions, and for the price to be affordable. (We should find out the price soon, and we expect it to be low, because the building is in terrible condition now.) Praise the Lord for such a friendly building director!

October 29
We have to be out by Tuesday, and there's still no progress on finding a new place. Please pray! The men are starting to pack and distribute things for storage. We'll probably be meeting in apartments for a little while.

November 4
There hasn't been any progress on a permanent solution, but Will (with Pavel and Jaan) has spent the whole week working on getting Olga Grigorevna's old apartment cleared out to meet there. It's way too small, and the neighbors might not be pleased, but that will work for right now.

November 17
The apartment is working, but please pray for something better!