Details

The court hearing will be at 12:00 on Tuesday. Along with the big prayer requests (mercy, victory!), please be praying for the little things. This time we're going to take Asya with us. Please pray that she won't be a distraction or problem. Pray for Jaan and Raia to have a good time with Tanya.

No more charges

Please pray that no one would come to file charges against me while we sit here, waiting for our court date. (In case you don't read our family blog, our court date is December 25.)

Trip details

Please be praying for us as we get closer to making definite plans for our trip the States. Please pray especially that the Lord would provide a car for us to use there.

Going home

We need to vacate this apartment, so we'll be going home to Kovrov on Tuesday. Please pray for safe travel.

Also, pray for wisdom in what to do next. We feel like we're in a better legal position, now that we've tried to get exit visas and been denied. It doesn't seem like they would press charges against me for being in Russia, when I can't leave! But we'll see. If we need to, we can stay with friends.

Praise!

We are seeing that the Lord is providing. Special gifts for our upcoming trip are already coming in. Keeping praying!

The main prayer requests right now

First, please keep praying that we would be able to return to Russia after the court hearing that we're waiting for. The judge could decide to deport me, which would mean that I would not be allowed enter Russia for five years or more. Or the decision could be different, and we'd get exit visas to leave in around two weeks after that. Either way, we'll be leaving, for a short time (as we hope and pray), or. . . .

Also pray that God would provide the finances we need! To quote a prayer request from a Gospelink letter that came in recently: "We be in need of financial situation."

(And, no, we still don't have a court date.)

Something minor

We've had colds and such almost the whole time we've been here. It would be really nice to have our children be healthy and to feel well ourselves!

The latest

I'm sorry. I forgot that there are some who only read here, and not on our blog. Here's what I had written there:

Will titled one of his updates "Light at the end of the tunnel." We keep thinking we see that light, and it keeps staying just a little beyond our reach. On Sunday I thought that we had two big problems: the mysterious email from Kiev and the fact that I'm sitting here breaking the law of Russia with my expired visa. And I thought that we could make progress on both of those problems in the next few days. Well. . . .

Problem #1: The mysterious email is still just that. A mystery. Will called the consulate in Kiev on Monday. They don't know what's going on either. They said they got a letter telling them not to give Will a visa, but it was too late, so all they could think of was sending that email. They don't know why they got the letter. We were worried, because the email said to bring the visa back to be annulled. That could mean five years out of the country! When Will asked about that, the lady said, "Why? You didn't do anything wrong." All they could suggest was having the National Baptist Union (who invited Will) write a letter asking for explanation. The people in Kiev were very sympathetic and didn't give a deadline or really push for anything. It's almost like they feel like they sent the email, so they've done their duty.

Problem #2: We had gotten to the point where we had decided just to get exit visas and leave for the States until our work visas are ready in February. After sending Will around to all the different offices in Vladimir Migration, they decided that they can't gave us exit visas until my case goes through the regional court. The appeal has already been filed, so it has to go through. And of course, no one know when the court date will be.

So, now what? We're still confused and frustrated and scared. We'll wait until for our court date, and then after that, we'll go to the States until February, whether we're deported or given exit visas.

In our dream world, we'd plan our trip around the dates that are convenient for everyone, have a car (and a driver's license), spend time at Siloam Missionary Homes and/or D & D, enjoy visits with all our relatives and friends, and know that we could come home to Russia afterwards. In the real world? We don't even have money for one-way plane tickets!

Please keep praying for us. Pray that God would once again protect us from being deported, and would bless our plans and desires concerning time in the States. We love you all and really appreciate your love and concern for us. Thank you so much for praying!

Will's travels

He let me know that he made it to Ivanovo and stopped there for the night. Now he's on his way to Vladimir, to talk to the regional head of Migration. Please pray that man will be kind, merciful and able to help! Pray for Will as he goes before this influential and intimidating man!

On the road

Please pray for Will as he's on the road today. He had a successful morning in Moscow, getting our passports translated. Now he's on a bus to Ivanovo, hoping to get there before late night, and then maybe on to Vladimir or home. This is a yucky day to travel: wet roads, slushy snow everywhere.

Update

Here is what I posted on our blog:

Will has been home. He left on Friday to go back for the regional meeting that was on Saturday. Soon after he left, I got an email from the Russian Consulate in Kiev, telling Will to bring back his new visa to be annulled. What!?!?! (Please pray!) Also, at home Will found a letter in our mailbox, saying that Kovrov Migration Control is appealing the court decision that was in my favor. What!?!?! (Please pray!) That's the bad news. The good news is that the Baptist Union was approved to invite foreigners with no problem, and they took the initiative on their own to try inviting us on work visas, which is a new and really good option. It sounds like we'll have those in February. (Please pray!)

So, where are we now? In the land of confusion! Will came back from Kovrov/Vladimir last night around midnight. Tomorrow he is going to call Kiev and see if he can clear up anything there. He'll also leave early in the morning to get all of our passports translated and notarized in Moscow and hopefully out to Ivanovo to be turned in right away for those new visas. Then, he'll get ready to be in line early to talk to the regional head of Migration in Vladimir on Tuesday--the only day he receives people--in hope that he can help. (Please pray!)

Now I've told you all I know. Hopefully you're not as confused about it as we are! Just a warning in advance: our answer to all questions is going to be, "We don't know yet."

Thanks for praying

We're safely here. The trip went smoothly the whole way. It was definitely long, though. I don't know if we've ever had all three children sound asleep by 7:00! They're worn out, and so are we.

Long day ahead

We could use some extra travel prayers. Tomorrow morning at 5:00 we'll leave with our three little children and one big suitcase on a commuter train to Vladimir. There we'll take a regular train to Moscow, go across Moscow, and get on another commuter train going out the other side of the city. It's a long trip. . . .

God answers

Here's the story.

:-)

Tanya is coming to watch the children tomorrow morning, so that Will can go with me. Thank the Lord for that, and pray for them to do well with her. (Especially Asya! Pray that Asya won't have any sudden hunger pangs. )

Well. . .

I was going to say that all is quiet on the front here. Will and the Baptist Union lawyer turned in the papers on Tuesday to register them to invite me. There were a few more documents necessary, so Will is going to get them in Ivanovo tomorrow, and then turn them in as soon as possible in Vladimir. Pray for all of that to go quickly.

But. . . .
The local law enforcement officers came back again today to fill out charges against me. This is the second time since Will got back from Kiev. Now I'll be going in to talk to them on Friday morning at 10:00 and see what their boss has decided to do about me. (They know I have a nursing baby, so he's not going to take more than an hour.) Please pray for me! Up until now, Will has done all the talking. He's much better at explaining clearly than I am. Pray for mercy again, too.

PRAISE THE LORD!

Will is registered!

The drama continues

We've come up against another obstacle in getting Will registered. Please pray, especially today! Details will follow, when we understand what's going on ourselves.

Today and Tuesday

Well, one prayer answered: the unpleasant man wasn't even there today. Will spent the whole day running back and forth or just sitting and waiting, and he still isn't registered, though. So, keep praying. He's supposed to go back again on Wednesday.

Tomorrow he'll be leaving very early to get a place in line at the Vladimir Regional Migration Control. Hopefully he'll be able to get questions answered and start on invitations for the children and me.

Tomorrow

Will's going to try to register his new visa tomorrow. Please pray that they'll be willing to do that here. The local migration inspector that we've dealt with before was not very pleasant, so pray that he'll be nice. We're also praying that he'll register Will for at least six months; three months is more standard with a religious visa.

What's next?

For those of you who are already asking what's next: that's what we'd like to know! Just kidding. But the main prayer request right now is probably just for us to be able to keep track of all the details.

And there are some specific things to pray about:
1. Pray that Will would be able to register his new visa here in Kovrov on Monday.
2. Pray that we would figure out how to get an invitation for me. We're going to try to do that through the regional Baptist Union and Migration Service in Vladimir. We just found out today that the Baptist Union will have to register to invite foreigners. We tried to do that with a friend's business last year, and it was impossibly complicated. Will and the Union lawyer will probably be going to Vladimir on Tuesday to see what they can do.

Praise the Lord with us for Will's new visa and how smoothly his trip went!

Full of praise

Will's visa process is going very quickly and smoothly. And I was thrilled to find out that the consulate in Kiev doesn't require AIDS tests for small children. That was something I was really dreading. Thank you, Lord!

Thank you for praying!

The summary is that we're not being deported and things are looking up, but we still have a long road ahead of us. Please keep praying! If you want to read all the details, go here.
.

Good night!

Will's on his way home and should be here soon. I probably won't post another update until tomorrow, though. He'll have to explain everything to me, which could take a while, and we're both tired. I do know from his phone messages that we're not being deported. But that's all I know. Good night! Thank you so much for your prayers.

A little more

I think Will has already talked to someone in Vladimir by phone, because he said they sound sympathetic. He says that if the director there will have mercy, our case won't go to court, so PRAY FOR MERCY!

Small update

All I've heard so far is a quick message from Will, saying that he's going to Vladimir now to plead our case with the regional authorities.

Urgent prayer request

A man came tonight to deliver a paper calling Will into the office of the local Migration Service tomorrow at 11:00. Migration Service is who we have had problems with this year. We really don't know what this is about, except that he mentioned the documents that we turned in to get Asya's birth certificate. As Will said, "Don't panic, because we don't know what to panic about, and we don't want you getting ahead of us." :-) But please do PRAY!

Thank you, Lord!

We now have a birth certificate for Anastasiya Vilburnovna Khansaker! (That would be our Little Asya.) Thank you for all your prayers! It was much quicker and easier this time than last time.

We also have tickets to go to Moscow on Tuesday to apply for her passport at the embassy there. Please pray for us, as that's a pretty big trip to make with three little ones.

Still working on it

Well, today we learned that all the notaries in town close early on Fridays. Will's still going to try to go in tomorrow morning, since the nice lady offered to let him come in then, when they don't usually do birth certificates. Maybe she'll let him have the birth certificate, with a promise to bring in the last papers next week. Then we could start on Asya's passport.

Oh, the letter from Tanya was fine, and probably not even necessary. Thanks for praying about that!

Getting closer

Will did get to all the places he wanted to today. But. . . he still needs to do a little more. Tomorrow he'll have to get copies of the visa sections of our passports notarized (but not translated. At least, he can do that locally.) Then he can take that in on Friday, and hopefully we'll be done! Thank you for praying. Everyone has been very nice through all of this, and things went remarkably well today.

Pray for speed!

Will is trying to do everything faster than I said yesterday. He left for Vladimir at 5:00 this morning. He's trying to get there and back quickly, get a witness letter from our friend Tanya (pray that will be acceptable!), and then turn everything in for the birth certificate today.

Slow progress

After all day in Vladimir, Will has to go back again tomorrow. He got the translations done. They just need to be notarized now. Please for everything to go quickly, for safe travel, and for strength for me. I'm exhausted!

Nothing is ever simple

Laws have changed a little. Now we need a witness letter and notarized translations of our passports and marriage license to get a birth certificate. Will can go to Vladimir to get the translations tomorrow. Please pray that we'll figure out what to do about the witness letter. Hopefully we can get everything pulled together by next Tuesday, get the birth certificate then, and go to Moscow the next day to apply for Asya's passport. (She has to do that in person. )

Adjustments

Quite a few people have mentioned that they're praying for Jaan and Raia to adjust well to life with their new sister. So far they're doing great with that! We haven't had any problems at all. However, you can pray for them, as several times this week friends from church have taken them out to play, and Raia seems to be having a hard time with that. Even Jaan cried about it once. They're not used to being away from us, and the extra excitement is also a lot for them to deal with.

Later

Of course, the birth certificate place is closed on the fourth Thursday of every month. Friday and Saturday they only do weddings; Sunday and Monday they're closed. So, Will can probably go back on Tuesday.

Birth certificate

Will's going to apply for Asya's birth certificate today. We expect everything to go smoothly with that, but after the work it took to get one for Raia, we'd appreciate some extra prayer. Thanks!

Sweet baby girl!

I'm very happy to post the last of my series of pregnancy prayer requests. This one is a big praise. We have a sweet, new baby girl!

Gospelink update

The correspondence this quarter has gone much more smoothly than usual. Thank you for praying! We're have just two envelopes left to come in. You can keep praying for those, and for the big package that Will just sent off to the Gospelink office.

Visa answer

We just found out the answer on my visa invitation, and that answer is no. My application for a visa invitation through the Russian Baptist Union has been turned down again. Will is going to Moscow tomorrow to talk to the visa consultant we have worked with before and figure out what our other options are. Please don't ask what's next, because we don't know ourselves. Please do pray! The final outcome is still up to God. We'll let you know as soon as we find out more.

Preaching

Will is starting a series of messages on Galatians today. Please pray that he'll be able to say what needs to be said and say it clearly. This is a very needed topic in our church!

"Poor feet!"

My feet have really swollen up badly and they HURT. It's not heat, blood pressure or anything I can figure out in my diet. Please pray that the swelling would go down.

(I was trying to figure out what is causing this, and Will said, "Um, could it be that you're eight months pregnant?" Raia keeps looking at my feet, shaking her head, and saying, "Poor feet!"

Drippy noses, part 2

Thank you for praying! Everyone is pretty much back to normal. The drippy noses are feeling better.

Thank you, Lord!

I think it's now safe to say that God kept me safe from both the colds and the earlier stomach bug that ran through this house. Praise Him! Please keep praying for me in day to day dealing with not feeling too good, though. And pray for a healthy baby and good birth!

Drippy noses

The children have colds. Will is getting over his pretty well. Please pray that I won't get sick! I don't know that I could handle it right now. So far the Lord has protected me from this and the stomach bug that they had. Praise Him for that!

Another snag

We should have had a yes or no answer on my letter of invitation for a visa yesterday. Instead, the only news was that it's being held for investigation. Please PRAY. I know you all have been, but please intensify those prayers, if that's possible. Thank you so much! We know the Lord is in control, and we're trusting Him.

Gospelink mail

Please pray specifically for the mail to move quickly as we're waiting for papers and letters to come in for Gospelink, and as we send two pounds (!) of paperwork off to the US office.

Cool weather!

Hurrah! God proved that He is bigger than the weatherman! :-) After all the forecasts of heat until the end of September, we're enjoying wonderful, cool, fall-ish weather. It is really helping me to sleep better at night and feel better during the day.

Praise and prayer

Praise the Lord that our applications for visa invitations for the children and me are actually in the office where they need to be now. They might even be done much faster than usual! Pray that we'll get an answer soon, and that it will be a YES.

Please don't stop praying for me to be able to sleep at nights and to feel good during the days. This week has been better overall during the days (praise the Lord!), but nights are hard and maybe even getting worse. Time seems to be going so slowly for me.

Keep praying

There's nothing new to report on our document situation. Just keep praying.

Gospelink work continues, so please keep praying about that, too. You can read the last request I posted about Gospelink for details. There will be more meetings coming up soon. (The travel last week did go well. Praise the Lord for that.)

Pregnancy continues to go well overall, but it's hard day to day.

Health praise

No colds this time after Will's Moscow trip! Thank you, Lord!

Permission

The nursing home ministry is on hold, because they need official permission from higher up in Vladimir to be able to work there. Please pray that permission will be granted!

Visa invitation

We found out on Thursday that my application for a visa invitation couldn't be turned in without our marriage license. They've tried to turn it in several times now, and each time there's been something missing. Please pray that this would be the last thing, and that the application really would have gone in Friday! The woman at the Baptist Union was leaving on vacation then, but she was going to leave a note for someone else to handle it.

No germs, please!

Will's going to Moscow on Monday, and he almost always comes back from those trips with a cold. Please pray that he won't this time.

Gospelink

This is a Gospelink busy time. Here are several specific requests:
1. Will and many of the men will be traveling on Monday to meet up in and near Moscow. Pray for safety. (Pray for me at home with the children then. It's hard without Papa these days!)
2. Pray that all of the men would be responsible to bring their letters with them to the meetings and not complicate things for Will.
3. Pray that even without a convenient phone and internet connection we would be able to do all the necessary communicating in a timely fashion this quarter. (And that everyone else would cooperate in that, too!)

Pregnancy update

The weather has cooled off, I've slept well for a few nights, and I'm doing better. Still, that seems to be very precarious, so don't stop praying for me! Really, all is going well, but days on end of not feeling 100% do get tiring. (And it feels like we're headed for more heat now.)

Invitations

The visa invitation applications for the children and me still haven't even been turned in, because of various holdups and a vacation. Please pray that they will actually go in today!

Zzzzzzzz

Sorry to be stuck on this, but please keep praying for me to sleep. I am really having a hard time with this! When I do sleep, I feel pretty good the next day, but when I don't it is really hard to get moving and keep up. Pray for strength for Will, too. He takes care of everything when I don't feel good.

Praise

. . . for a great fellowship time with most of the church youth and young families this week. Please pray that we could get together more often. All summer we've had a hard time gathering more than just a few people.

New friends

There are two young ladies who have just started coming to church. Please pray that we'd be able to draw them into activities and church life and that they would keep coming. Diana has just come through a Christian rehab program and really needs to avoid her old friends here. Lyuba was a classmate of some of the other girls in our church.

Family ministry

Please pray that our church would be able to start a ministry that would help families, either a group for the husbands or the wives or both together. There's a great need for it and desire to start, but nothing has been organized yet.

Visas

Our applications for invitations for me and for the children were supposed to be turned in last week. However, we heard that they need more documents now. Will sent those off, but we haven't heard if they received them, or if the applications have actually gone in. Please pray that that has already happened, and that we would be able to get in touch with the people at the Baptist Union who take care of visas.

Also, please be praying for an answer soon! It should take a month, just to hear whether or not they're granting the invitations, then after that we'd still have to apply for visas and wait for them. We need to know what's going on before the baby is born.

Most of all, pray that we will get these invitations. There is more scrutiny than ever, and new regulations are coming into effect.

My health

I'm still doing okay, but I would really appreciate your prayers. If nothing else, I'm just uncomfortable! Beyond that, I'm still fighting with weakness at times and trouble sleeping at night. I did sleep wonderfully last night, so you can praise the Lord with me for that!

Bike expedition

Thank you for praying! All went well. It seemed like there were more police at the program than anyone else, but they need to hear the gospel, too. And because it was right in the center of town, there were plenty of people who stopped and listened some as they were walking by. Pray for seeds that were planted to grow and for the expedition as it continues on to other cities.

Visa invitation application

It should have been turned in again this week. Please pray that every will go quickly and smoothly, and that I'll be granted an invitation this time around! Pray that we'll be able to wait calmly and trust the Lord in this. It should be about a month before we know anything.

Gospelink

We just need extra prayer for keeping up with everything, even with limited communication abilities.

Returning

Please pray for Pavel and Tanya and family as they travel back. Pray that they'll be rested and ready to get back into life here.

Evangelism

There is a group of Christian young people riding around our region on their bicycles, doing presentations and sharing the Gospel in different cities. They'll be coming through here on Thursday. Please pray for them as they travel, for our church in preparing for this and hosting them, and for the actual presentation on the city's central square Thursday evening.

Blood sugar

I've been reading and trying to figure out what was making me so weak and shaky. My self-diagnosis is low blood sugar. So far, staying on a careful diet is helping. Please pray that it will continue to help, and that I'd be able to stick to it. Other than that, all is going well with this pregnancy. I continue to have some trouble sleeping, but often a good snack to get my blood sugar back up seems to be enough to get me to sleep. Praise the Lord for that!

Church meeting place and unity

Please continue to pray that our church would find a place where we can all meet together. Will is concerned about how we seem to be developing into a "morning church" and an "evening church," with different people coming to each group and different styles developing in each.

New ministry

There has been a small group from our church visiting the Home for the Elderly off and on for a while. Now they're going every Wednesday, showing Christian movies, and just spending time with the people there. It's not exactly what you would think of, if you're imagining an American nursing home. It's more like the Home for the Elderly/Drunk/Poor/Ex-cons/Etc. The people soak up any attention and really just need listening ears. Pray for Will and the others as they minister there!

Pavel and Tanya

Our pastor here and his family are in the middle of their month-long trip to visit their friends and relatives in Ukraine and southern Russia. Please pray for a safe and profitable trip for them.

Also, Pasha needs to decide if he's going to apply for Russian citizenship or renew his five-year "green card" here. There are some other document questions complicating that, too, so please pray for wisdom and for the document processes to go smoothly.

Sleep update

Thank you for praying. I continue to have good and bad nights, but it seems like the good are outnumbering the bad. Don't stop praying!

Waiting on the invitation

My application for an invitation didn't go in at the time we had thought it would, and now we're being advised to wait. We would really rather get this settled, but we're going to wait a little while, to give more time in between the refusal and another application. Please keep praying that when we do apply, I'll be granted an invitation!

Sleep

I've been enjoying several weeks of feeling great, but now that it's getting hot again, I'm struggling more. I've had a few sleepless nights, and I really don't do well with that. Please pray for me to sleep well every night!

Applying again

Apparently we were told wrong that I can't reapply for a visa invitation. The Baptist Union doesn't want our consultant to get involved or any appeals to be made, so we're just going to try applying again. Will went back to Moscow on Thursday to give them the right documents, and they'll probably be turned in today. Pray that this time I'll get an invitation! It should be about a month before we know anything.

"Friends" in high places

Please pray for the officials who are interested in us and what we are doing here. Pray that they would be able to understand what we do here and that God would calm their suspicions.

Weather

Maybe this is frivolous, but please pray for a cooler summer in central Russia this year. We've already had some very hot weather, and it was hard for me to put up with it. Now we're enjoying cooler days again. Pray that the weather will stay more like this.

Moved!

We're moved onto the first floor! Thank you for praying. Now please pray that we'd be able to sort through everything and get settled. For the first part of last week, Will moved things down very slowly and deliberately, finding places for them and putting them away as he went. Then we ran out of time, and our friends came to help. In one afternoon, everything that was left came down the stairs. Now it's just lying around in heaps, though. We're working on figuring out what's what and where to put it.

I really like the apartment, and I had forgetting how nice it is to live on the ground floor. Thank you, Lord!

General update

PTL! We have electricity at the dacha!

Also, we're moving to the first floor here in our building. That has taken priority over the dacha right now. Will has slowly been moving things yesterday and today. On Thursday we'll ask friends to come help with the big stuff.

Tomorrow Will needs to go to Moscow to pick up the letter about our visas and meet with someone about Gospelink business. Friday he has a meeting in Ivanovo, but he may end up staying here to finish moving instead. Please pray for travel safety.

On Sunday Ira, Yulia and Will invited the children from the Bible lessons to come to an end of the year party. We can't go to them, but they can come to us. Three girls showed up.

Please continue to pray for our landlord's family situation. Instead of moving in here with his daughter, he's found someone else to live here with her.

And please keep praying for me to get a new visa!

Did I forget anything?

Electricity soon

Please keep praying about our dacha. The electricity is turned on for the area, but ours doesn't work. It was just rewired, but now we have to wait for Dedushka Genna to have time to come back and see what's wrong. Please pray that he'll be able to do it soon. The heat here on the fifth floor is already getting to me, and I want to be out of here!

Sad orphanage news

Once again, Bible lessons have been closed down at the orphanage. Not even a last goodbye was allowed.

Some visa news

Yesterday Will had to be in Moscow, and while he was there, he found out that my visa invitation was officially refused. So, he picked up the refusal and his invitation and took them to our visa consultant. This consultant knows everything about visas (really!) and has lots of connections. Today he was able to find out why I was refused: my police record! Over a year ago, the police did visit us and start the process of fining us for living here without registering, but those fines and charges were supposed to have been canceled. Apparently, they were for Will, but not for me. However, since that was minor, and more than a year ago, it shouldn't be a reason to refuse an invitation.

Still, with an official refusal, I can't reapply. The next step is to get a leader in the Baptist Union to write a letter explaining the situation and asking for reconsideration. Then our consultant will take that and go higher up than the person who was responsible for the refusal.

Maybe that was too many details, but I know some of you like to know every bit. The main thing is to keep praying that somehow I can get an invitation for a new visa!

Babushki and electricity

Please continue to pray that the babushki at church would calm down about us moving to our dacha. This is really a big, scary thing for them!

We're still waiting on electricity there before we can move.

Computer

Please pray that the part for our laptop would come in soon. Will took the laptop in to be fixed in Moscow a month ago, and it would be really nice to have it back to use at the dacha. Mac and Russia don't mix very well, though, so it could still be a while.

Raia's cold

It's been very mild, but she's still drippy and fussy. Praise the Lord that the rest of us have stayed well, and pray for Raia to get over this as soon as possible.

Gospelink

Will's trip to Moscow went well. One of the men didn't make it, and we haven't heard why yet; pray that all is well with Andrei and family. Will's next trip should be May 23rd or so.

Moving day

. . . should be early next week. Tomorrow we plan to spend the day at our dacha, getting ready. Please pray for electricity. That's what we're waiting for. We'll need it for heating and cooking, and we'll wait to move until it's working.

Housing solution!

Our housing situation is solved, until the end of the summer. Praise the Lord! I'm so excited I can barely stand it! Come read about it.

Keep praying that we would be able to find something else for after the summer. Also, pray that our landlord would let us leave our belongings here in the apartment until then, or that we could find some other easy solution. And pray for us as we move!

Little visa update

Will talked to the lady at the Baptist Union. Apparently it could be up to a month before we hear anything definite about my invitation. Also, we were counting on being able to reapply if it is refused. That's not allowed. So, we would have to find a completely different route. (There are some options.) Just pray for a miracle, though!

Travels

Will's trip to Moscow for Gospelink is coming up tomorrow. Please pray for him, for the men who will be coming to meet with him, and for us at home.

Visa clarification

We still don't have any more news, and might not for a little while. I just wanted to be sure that you all understand that I do have a valid visa until November. I don't need to leave Russia any time soon! The invitation that is in limbo is for the new religious visa. If they actually do refuse, I have plenty of time to reapply. Pray that it would still be granted, though.

Gospelink

The 1st quarter money just came in. Will had a great opportunity to meet with most of the Vladimir-Ivanovo men at once, so he's in Ivanovo today, distributing support money and collecting papers. Please pray for his travels; he'll be going to meet with other men in the near future, too. Pray that we'd be able to get this quarter's work wrapped up faster than usual.

Health update

I'm finally done coughing! Thank you, Lord! I'm still having good and bad days with nausea, though. At least it's seeming to turn into real morning sickness now. I had thought the morning part of that was a myth! I feel better most afternoons and evenings now.

Raia's getting another cold today. Please pray that she'll feel better soon and that no one else will get sick.

Oh, no!

I don't know any details or how to explain this, so I'll just translate the email that we just received from the lady who does visas in the Baptist Union:
Dear Will,
An invitation was only granted for you, and, unfortunately, not for Phyllis. They told me that they would give me the official refusal papers in two weeks. They're still not saying anything or giving any papers yet. The question is being investigated by [the equivalent of CIA/FBI]. We will pray. I think that if they might refuse to give an invitation for Phyllis, then we don't need to get invitations for the children. Should we wait? Or turn in the children's applications? What do you say?

PRAY! PRAY! PRAY! Will thinks it sounds like some kind of mistake. He's in Ivanovo for the day, but he might try to start making phone calls from there.

The housing option I mentioned

Please pray for wisdom! I updated here.

Moving

Just to be very clear: we have to move out of this apartment by the end of the month, if not before.

Please pray, we are actually going to go look at a new housing option tomorrow afternoon. It sounds incredible. . . maybe too good to be true?

Thank you for praying

Sorry I didn't get back here earlier. Our landlord did find a place for his daughter that one night. She'll have to spend weekends with different people until the end of May. After that she won't be able to go back to the orphanage at all (hurrah!). She'll be living here with her father, and we should be somewhere else by then.

Please pray that Seryozha's mother would come off her drinking binge. Sometimes she'll stay sober for a month at a time, but then something sets her off, and things get very bad. Seryozha went to check last night, and I haven't heard yet what he found. (He's out with Will now.)

Big praise!

I'm not feeling nauseated today! It's been a while.

Apartment adventures

Keep praying that our landlord would find someone to keep his daughter tonight. The director of our building has said that she was willing to take her for a night, but she's not home right now. He has someone for tomorrow, but if he can't find the director (or someone else) for tonight, she'll have to come here. I'd really rather not send Seryozha away now, even just for one night. (Although, we can probably figure something out there, too. He's been with us, because he just got paid, and his mother wants his money for a drinking binge. It seems like if he left his money here, then he could sleep there. It just wouldn't be great. Yes, he has a mother, but there are reasons that he grew up in an orphanage. )

And. . . we'll probably be moving before too long. There's someone who had wanted to rent to us on the first floor here, in our same building, same entrance. We had decided against it, because the apartment is a little smaller, the windows only face the back, and it just didn't seem like much of an improvement. Honestly, please pray for me to adjust back to being excited about that apartment. It will be wonderful to be away from the stairs and the leaky roof and the fifth-floor heat! And our prayers have been for our landlord to work out his family problems; this will be a direct answer to those prayers.

No room at the inn

Our landlord just called to ask us to take his daughter in. He's had her in an orphanage and needs to find another place for her now. We already have a boy who graduated from "our" orphanage who spends nights here off and on. ("On" right now.) So, we don't have room for the landlord's daughter. Please pray that we can find a good place for her to stay and that he'll accept the fact that we can't take her. He's coming over tomorrow to try to convince us, I think. But, like Will said, "What can we do? Move Seryozha to the balcony?" There's just not enough room!

Still coughing

I'm still coughing from the colds we got at Easter. Please pray that I'll get over this soon, especially because when I start coughing, I throw up. Please pray that the coughing will go away and the nausea with it!

Kind of back to square one

We're going to need to get religious visas for our children, too. (Up until now we've just gotten them exit/entry short-term visas when we've left the country.) The problem is that we've already turned in our applications for invitations, and it looks like we can't just send theirs along behind ours. We probably have to wait until we get everything back for us, and then apply for them. Please pray for the process to be sped up or for a way to send in their papers alone.

One praise

The letter we needed came in.

Film

Our church is working with several other churches to show the Jesus film in a movie theater on Friday and Saturday. Please pray for all the people handing out invitations, putting up posters and making preparations now. Pray for people to come and to respond to the message.

Healthy!

Thank you, Lord, for quick viruses! Raia threw up one last time before bed last night, but she's been fine since then. We're slowly working on getting her rehydrated and back up to speed with eating. I had a very short bout of the same sickness, but nothing like her. Will and Jaan seem to be fine.

Raia's sick

Our poor baby has been throwing up all day. Please pray that she'll get to where she can keep water and food down as soon as possible. Pray that no one else will get sick!

The visa situation

We are going to apply for new religious visas. Will turned in almost everything to start getting our invitations, which is the first step. Hopefully the last piece will come in this weekend, so that those applications can go in early next week. The invitations should take about a month to be completed, then probably two more weeks before we have the finished visas. At that point we'll leave the country and come back on our new visas.

Please pray specifically
1. For the visas to be ready as soon as possible, with no holdups. And that they will be granted visas!
2. That the letter we need would get to Moscow this weekend.
3. That there won't be any trouble while we're still unregistered for another six weeks (or however long).
4. That this will actually solve the problem. If the trouble is that someone just wants us out of Kovrov, religious visas aren't going to solve anything, but we're praying that it's not that.
5. For the finances to cover this. Visas are already our biggest expense, and now we'll be paying for them twice in one year.

Update?

There's not really much more information to share. Will and Volodya did go and talk to the man in charge of Migration here. There's still no way that we can register our current visas and no way that they'll let us stay unregistered. We'll need to look into getting new visas.

We are encouraged that this is not specifically against us, as it had appeared at first.

For now we're going to leave the city for a few days, so I won't be updating. Please keep praying, though!

Tomorrow

One of the men from church will go with Will to talk to the head of Kovrov Migration Service. Please pray for Will and Volodya tomorrow morning. (For those of you in the US, that would be late, late tonight.)

More

Praise the Lord that we've been able to get in touch with the lawyer for the Bi-regional Church Union. We were having trouble getting through to him.

Please pray that we would find the right person to go with Will on Monday. We were hoping the lawyer could, but he thinks that's not a good idea. Pasha can't do it, because he's not Russian either and has recently been threatened with documents problems.

Visa problems

We had a visit from Migration Control today. We're stuck in a situation where we can't register our visas and must register our visas. Legally we have three days to figure something out or move to Moscow. (In Russia that isn't necessarily a literal three days and isn't necessarily set in stone. On the other hand, it could be.) Will will try to meet with the head of Migration Control in Kovrov on Monday to talk about it.

Technical note

If you're getting this by email, you might want to unsubscribe, and then come back and resubscribe. I've switched to a different service to send out the emails, and the new ones are in a much nicer format. To subscribe, just come to our prayer requests page and type your address in on the right-hand side. There's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of all the emails. If you need help, please email me (mayakovsky@willphyl.com).

Good and bad

We seem to have escaped from the cold germs. Thank you for praying! Raia's runny nose never got worse, and no one else got sick.

Now please pray for my back. I strained it yesterday. Already today it's somewhat better, so I think (and hope) I'll be fine very soon. Please pray for that! It's hard not to be able to pick Raia up.

Camp development

It seems like the main emphasis at the moment is to get everyone here that is involved all in agreement as to what needs doing, how, and in what order. Especially pray that they can work out who's in charge of further development of the camp.

No colds, please!

Please pray for us to be healthy! We just had such a bad bout of sickness recently, and now we're seeing drippy noses and early signs of colds.

Answered prayer

The trip went well. We're excited about the camp property! Thank you for praying. Thank you, Lord!

Trip to camp

In a few minutes Ivan is picking us up to go see the new camp property! Please pray for a good trip, good weather, and good children. (Jaan and Raia are usually pretty good, but calm and quiet in the car would be nice. It's 2-3 hours each way.)

Church

The General Political Council gave Pavel a much better reception. The most influential person there said that this is not a matter for public opinion, or ideology. They said it's just a technical and city planning question, so that's where Pavel will be going next.

Update and changes

With this new version of Blogger, I'm going to try a new way of posting prayer requests. Instead of going back and adding updates to old posts, each update will be a new post. However, I'll use the labels to connect them. If you want to see related posts, click on the label at the end of the one you're reading. You'll see how it works. . . .

Exciting camp news!

God has provided a camp property! Praise Him with us! I hardly know what specific prayer requests to give now, but we'll have more later.

Church

This week we'll start having two services every Sunday. Please pray that this would be a good solution to the crowding. It will be more work for the men who preach and lead, so please pray for them, too (mainly Pavel, Will, Sergei, and Volodya).

January 21
Tomorrow Pavel will be making a presentation to request that the city give land to the church to build on. Please pray that all goes well with that!

February 3
Pavel was able to share a little, but not much. He didn't get a yes or no answer, either. They want him to get the public opinion on building a church, which means publishing a newspaper article and seeing what kind of feedback comes in. Please pray for wisdom in deciding whether to go on with trying or to stop here.

Julie's coming!

Please pray for our friend Julie as she gets ready for her trip to visit us. She'll be here January 22-February 12. Pray especially for health and a wonderful time together.

I'm back!

I hadn't udpated here for a while. We've been busy! Now I've added to Seryozha, and Our roof, and hopefully I'll be updating again regularly.