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.

Seryozha

Please be praying especially for Sergei in the next few days. He's "our" orphan who graduated a few years ago from the orphanage here. He's going to visit some relatives near Moscow to see in the New Year. We just said goodbye to him, and he promised he wouldn't drink; pray that he'll be able to stick to that and stay out of fights and other trouble! Pray for God to protect him and keep him strong.

January 12
He did make it back safely, but we don't know any more details than that. We've only had a quick phone call from him so far.

Our roof

It has started leaking again in a few places (not so many as before, though). Could you please pray for the leaks to stop? Will says to pray for really cold weather, but I'd rather just have a miraculous cure. :-)

January 12
The roof was better for a while, even with the warm, wet winter that we've had. Thank you, Lord! Now it's back to leaking again. There's a building meeting coming up on Sunday. Please pray that they'll decide to fix the roof.

This week

I updated Maksim (just added a photo), Visas, Gospelink, travel, etc, Raia's teeth, and Sunday school this week.

Visas, Gospelink, travel, etc

I hardly knew what to title this prayer request. I listed things, instead of just calling "The Mess." Our visas were way overdue, but we haven't had any problems, and we weren't in a hurry with them. Then, Will went to the bank on Monday to withdraw the Gospelink money, and they wouldn't let him without his passport. His passport is in Moscow, getting a new visa. He had already promised some of the Gospelink men their support. Now he has to wait until he has his passport, and he's going to have to make more trips to Moscow. We had hoped to only have two: one to pick up passports, do all the
registration work, and meet with the Gospelink men; another to go back for the registered passports. Instead, Will's going to have to go pick up his passport, come home and get money, then go back and distribute money and start registering, then go back a third time to get the registered passports. We hoping that they'll call today and say our visas are ready. Then Will would be able to make the first trip tomorrow.

Are you confused yet? Here are some concise prayer requests:
1. that our visas would be ready today (or soon!).
2. that Will would have good trips back and forth.
3. that the wait wouldn't cause any problems for the Gospelink missionaries.
4. that all would go smoothly in general.

Thanks for praying!

November 21
They have “almost promised” that our visas will be ready on Thursday, so Will bought train tickets to go to Moscow then. Friday is the bi-regional missionary meeting, so he needs to have the money by then. Pray that he’ll be able to get it Friday morning and then make it to Vladimir before the meeting is over.

November 27
Thank you for praying! Thursday and Friday went smoothly. Tomorrow Will is going to Moscow to meet with the men from that region and start registering our visas, so please keep praying.

Raia's teeth

Once again, Raia's teeth are giving us trouble. She usually such an easy baby, we hardly know what to do when she's fussy and sleeps badly! Right now she's working on all four first molars.

November 27
Believe it or not, she's still working on those teeth! She holds her cheeks and says "pain," just like I remember Jaan doing. Poor baby!

Maksim

As you know, our partners here had a little boy born to them in June. He was early and little, but he did well and caught up to average size very quickly. Now, for the past month he has been eating less and less. He's the same happy little boy as always; just not interested in food. He doesn't seem to be loosing weight, but he's not gaining, either. Tanya is "panicking" (her own words). Please pray that Maks will start eating more again and that Tanya will be able to be calm. They'll be going to see a doctor on Tuesday.

November 11
They decided not to go to the doctor. Maksim is starting to eat better again! More than that, Tanya is calm. What an answer to prayer!

November 26


Doesn't he look like he's ready to eat?

Please Pray Pertaining Phyllis

Please pray with us:
Phyllis experienced some strange, migraine type symptoms today, which is extremely unusual for her. Something similar happened 2-3 months ago, and while a one time strange episode is unsettling, a recurrence leads us to think we should see a doctor.

That itself is a separate challenge for us. We don't have a regular doctor, so more than likely we'll visit a clinic when I go into Moscow next week. We have asked for recommendations of clinics or doctors from friends who live in Moscow. Moscow (western style) clinics are quite expensive. We will pay all expenses out-of-pocket, and will be reimbursed later. We also will be paying for new visas at this time, our biggest expense of the year, and will have separate registration expenses as well.

Please pray for peace for Phyllis and I, for complete reliance on God's provision of a good doctor, and for His provision for our financial needs.

Thank you all for your prayers!

Will =o)

November 3
This is Phyllis writing now. I just wanted you to know that I have doctor appointments in Moscow on Tuesday.

November 17
Thank you for praying. You can read about my doctor's appointment, if you go to our blog or click here. I could definitely tell that people were praying for me! Also, I just want to be sure that you all know migraines are VERY rare for me. They are NOT something that I'm struggling with on a daily basis. Please praise the Lord for that.

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!

Sunday school

Yesterday was the second week of Sunday school. Both times four girls from the neighborhood and orphanage have come. They're really enjoying it. Please pray that they'll bring their friends.

One of the girls is Nastya. Yesterday Will found out that she's actually from Orphanage No. 1 (not the one where we have Bible lessons.) He noticed that she has a terrible case of lice. If we can catch her around here, while she's visiting her mother, we'll probably try to treat them. Pray that she'll come by and that we'll be able to reach out to her in that way.

And please be sure to pray for Ulyana and Nadya, who are leading the Sunday school ministry.

October 4
The Sunday school group is slowly growing. Nastya's head seems better.

October 29
This will be the last week of Sunday school until a new place to meet is found.

November 27
Actually, the girls parents are letting them come to the apartment, and Sunday school continues! PTL!

Orphanage

Bible lessons start up again tonight. They'll probably be on Monday and Tuesday evenings. (The schedule isn't set in stone yet.) We'll be working with at least one new 4th grade class this year, as well as children from last year.

October 11
The schedule is set now:
Monday evening - one 4th grade and one 7th grade class
Tuesday evening - different 7th and different 4th grade
Now we just need to figure out our family schedule of visiting. Will has to be there for every lesson. We tried to go to both lessons in one evening all together, and our children couldn't make it through. But if we only go for first lessons, it's not quite fair to the second classes. . . .

We're very sad that the 8th graders decided that they would rather have their nightly disco than a Bible lesson. These are the kids that we have worked with for the longest. (Some of them have been to camp: the red-haired Sasha, Nadya, Babushka Bonnie's little Olga and others.) Still, they are very eager to be with us: the boys constantly beg Will to play football and the girls hang all over Yulia, Ira and us. Please keep praying for this group!

October 21
Well, maybe it's not set yet. There is talk of combining the seventh grade classes and taking on a new younger group. Please pray for wisdom for Ira as she works out the changes and that none of the teachers will be offended if she can't work with their kids.

Gospelink

Please pray that Will would be able to finish up the work for this quarter as soon as possible. It seems like there are a lot of loose ends to tie up this time.

November 17
It's finally DONE. Praise the Lord! (But we're already in the midst of the next quarter's work.)

Kostya's visa

Kostya Petrash (the oldest son of Ivan, the camp director here) has a chance to visit an American family and study English. He's turning his visa application in now. Please pray that he'll get the visa!

September 11
Kostya's visa interview will be Tuesday, September 19.

September 20
They denied him a visa. Now pray for wisdom in what to do next.

October 6
He should be reapplying soon.

November 4
Kostya was denied a second time. He's not going to try again.

City Day

On September 2 the city of Kovrov will celebrate its birthday. Our church is going to take part in the festivities by setting up an informational exhibit, singing, and talking to people who are interested. Please pray for Will as he works on getting the exhibit made, for everyone else who is preparing, and for the people who we will be coming in contact with through this.

September 1
I forgot to say to pray specifically for good weather. We've been having rain, rain, and more rain. Pray that tomorrow will be clear!

September 18
I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get back here and update this. We had a wonderful City Day! The weather was beautiful, and people were very interested in talking. The exhibit turned out beautifully.

We're back online!

I know I haven't written for a long time. Now I should be able to update again.

Baby Vika's surgery

I haven't been updating here, but we have a chance to use the Beaird's computer, so here's one urgent prayer request:
Baby Vika will be having surgery on Monday.

September 4
As you probably saw on our blog, Vika made it through surgery. Please keep praying for her and her family.

No new news

While we're without our good computer, I won't be updating here. Please continue to pray for us and for our computer to be fixed. You can check our blog for updates and new prayer requests.

Computer

Our computer is completely dead. Praise the Lord that I've been able to get our old one up to where we can limp along. (I"m still not sure about email, but I should get that figured out before too long.) We're planning to send the computer to Dad and see if he can get the information off of it. Please pray very specifically for our photos! I can't stand the thought of losing them. Also, this is a really hard time to be without our address book and phone numbers.

September 5
We lost bunches of photos. But we have a brand new computer now! And I had backed up our address book; it's very nice to have that again.

Visa registration

Ivan (the camp director) just called to say that they're having some problems with the visas that he registered in Vladimir. So far, none of the Americans are in trouble, but the hotel where they registered is being investigated for not registering their visas correctly. Also, Ivan is worried that they'll be checking us (Will and me) out next, because they were interested in who registered Abby here. Please pray!

June 21
Anna said that they spent five hours at the passport office yesterday, and it doesn't sound like they made any progress. They were threatened with deportation, but she said, "we won't know about that until next week." They're hopeful, though, because one of the ladies was very nice to them. You can also be praying for the two Moldavian girls who are in the same situation with Anna and Abby.

June 25
No update, but I do have a correction. Abby's visa is fine. It's Anna, the other Americans, and the two Moldavians who are having trouble.

Anna

Anna (Will's sister who is helping in the Vladimir church camp right now) sent us a message saying that she has a sinus infection.

June 25
She's doing much better. Thank you for praying!

Busyness

Please pray for us as we head into the busy summer time! I posted an outline of our schedule here.

Dad

Please be praying for my father.

Camp!

Plans are in the works to have one of the day camps in Kovrov! Please pray for Will and Pavel as they work on details like where to have it and for Yulia and Ira as they prepare lessons.

Please continue to pray for the overall camp plans, too. Ivan is very busy. The Ukrainian helpers are coming soon, the local workers are getting ready, and the small American team will be traveling before too long.

June 12
Camps start today in Teikovo and Shuya. The traveling teams are getting ready to go. As Ivan said, the important part right now is getting the system running, so please pray for everything to go smoothly from the start.

Pray for Ivan as he's driving around and coordinating. He brought us home at 12:30 last night, and we were just the first stop on his route.

Also, please pray about the idea of having a camp here. Yulia and Ira would have been heading it up, but Yulia's time off from work just changed, so now plans are up in the air.

June 26
Will, Anna, and Abby are at a camp in Sudogda. There's a three-day session starting today, and then another one after that. Please pray for the weather! (They're camping in tents.)

There is also a camp this week in Karabanovo. I think Linda and Elizabeth are there?

Camp here has been canceled.

Our visas

Our visas don't expire until August, but we're already looking into options. Please pray that we'll find a way to get visas that we can register here.

September 18
Please keep praying about our visas. Our situation is just getting more and more complicated. It does look like there will be new, good laws coming into effect in January, so please pray about that!

Easter program

Tomorrow Will, Ira and Yulia are putting on the Easter program for the orphanage. Please pray that they'll remember their lines in the play that they're performing and that the children will understand.

May 4
Ack! I just found out that I'm going to have to take a minor part in the play tonight. We also seem to have a very minor stomach virus going around in our family. Please keep praying.

May 5
All went well, and our stomachs are calm today. Thank you for your prayers!

Visas

Please be praying for visas for Anna, Abby, Linda, Kelley, and anyone else who will be coming over this summer. They're already in process, and we need to pray that there won't be any hang-ups. You can pray for camp preparation in general, too.

May 6
Praise! Anna's invitation came through yesterday. That's one step. . . .

May 18
Abby has her final visa, and Linda got her invitation.

May 26
Linda's application came back in the mail, so she had to resend it. And Elizabeth just got started with applying!

June 12
Everyone is here, so obviously they got what they needed. Thank you for praying! Now you can pray that there won't be any visa checks, or if there are, that there won't any problems.

Gospelink 1st quarter

Now we're in the midst of the work for the quarter that just ended.
We've asked our neighbor (Natasha, Olga's daughter) to help us with
some of the translations, so please pray for her and the time that
we're getting to spend with her now.

June 21:

(That's the finished list!)

Raia's teeth

Raia is having a miserable time of teething. Please pray for these teeth to come through and stop bothering her! She's still sleeping at night, but it seems like she cries all day long.

Baby praise

Tanya had a private sonogram done, and they gave her some dire diagnosis. She was very worried, but didn't really want to tell her own doctor and go through the mess that would have caused. Tonight she was able to get in touch with Lyuba, the midwife in Moscow who delivered Jaan. Lyuba calmed all our fears and explained that there
was absolutely nothing to worry about or get the doctors here upset about. Praise the Lord!

Please keep praying for a healthy baby and for the doctors to leave poor Tanya alone.

Updates

Over the past week I added to Youth club this week, Our roof, Colds, New baby, and Ivan's visa.

Youth club this week

Will is trying something new this week and showing the Narnia movie. Pray that more people will come and that there will be good discussions.

April 10
No new people came. The regulars did enjoy the movie, though. Please keep praying for creative ideas and new people!

Bible lessons at the orphanage

. . . will be starting up again! Ira and Yulia will be teaching
Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Will is going to be helping with music and "crowd control."

(Our internet connection is down, so I don't know when this will go out, but the first lesson is tonight, April 3.)

Our roof

Last night we fell asleep to the sound of rain, which means Spring! It also means new wet spots on our walls and ceiling. I was beginning to think that God had "healed" our roof, because we had so few leaks over the winter. I guess not. Also, Will can shovel snow, but rain. . . .

Please pray that we wouldn't have too much hard rain, that the roof would drain, and that maybe our neighbors would agree to get it fixed.

April 10
Thank you for praying. We had some wonderful sunny days. Now we're back to rain and snow (which melts), though. Pray for our neighbors, because their leaks are much worse than ours right now. I noticed that there's a new greeting for the fifth-floor dwellers in this building: "Hi! How's your roof?"

September 4
Our roof is finally fixed! Praise the Lord! We're having constant rain, and no wet spots indoors.

Colds

Raia is fussy and has a drippy nose, and Will's not feeling great. I almost expected this after our busy weekend, but I was hoping it wouldn't happen. Please pray that they'll get well soon and that the rest of us will not get sick. (And pray for me. I don't have the patience for another round of runny noses!)

March 30
Now we're all sick.

April 8
Now we're almost well. Some of us are still coughing, and noses are a little runny, but that's it. Those were some super germs that got us!

Prayer for Pop

Will's grandfather has been in the hospital. I didn't have a chance to get this prayer request out earlier. Now Pop is home, but with the diagnosis of cancer. He needs to have surgery and doesn't want to. Please pray for him and everyone else who is involved.

March 13
From Will's mother:
"Pop is going to go to his regular heart doctor on Tues morning for a stress test to make sure he can undergo the surgery. Then, after that, if all is well, they will schedule it. Please keep praying. Thanks! In Him, Julie"

March 27
They put in a heart stint, and if all goes well, the next step is surgery.

April 14
I was wrong. The stint will be put in on Tuesday.

April 20
He went in to get the stint and didn't need it. Praise the Lord!

May 10
The surgery will be May 19.

May 31
Pop came through the surgery well and is being moved to another place for physical therapy.

June 21
Again, from Will's Mom:
"The latest on Pop is that they are stepping up the physical and occupational therapy. But, his 20 days of medicare covered therapy ends on Sat. He is no where near being able to do for himself. We have a 'care plan' mtg scheduled for next Tues, June 27th to see where to go from there. (My thought is to continue therapy as long as he continues to progress with an eye on getting him home, of course!) Mediccare and AARP will over days 21 - 100. Hopefully, he will be home long before the end of that! His doctor said three or four more weeks of rehab would not be unusual for someone his age. I think Grandma thought he was going to be back to his old self in a couple of weeks, so she has been somewhat discouraged. Keep them and the rest of us in your prayers. This may end up with 'in home' care needed from all of us!"

New baby

Ulyana (Mark's mother) is in the hospital, waiting to give birth to their second baby. They did let her free for the weekend, so she was able to see her family and sleep, but now she's back there. Pray for her to have a safe birth and healthy baby. . . and if you have any idea of what Russian maternity hospitals are like, pray for her sanity! Also, please pray for Mark and Pasha (Mark's Papa). Mark is having a very hard time with the changes and his mother's absence.

March 11
Praise the Lord! A big boy was born yesterday! He probably won't have a name until his father gets to see him in another week or two. That's about all I know for now.

March 19
Hurrah! They came home from the hospital yesterday. The baby still doesn't have a name. He has a few health problems, so please pray.

March 27
Actually, he doesn't have anything wrong with him! That was just something that the doctors made up to scare Ulyana. Pavel and Ulyana are still going to have another doctor come look at him, but they're sure that he's fine.

April 11
His name is David (Dah-veed). That's not a prayer request. Just an update.

Ivan's visa

A while ago Galilee Baptist Church in Minnesota invited Ivan Petrash (camp director and missionary) to visit them. His visa was denied that time. Now he's trying again. We just helped him get started on the process. Please pray that he'll be granted a visa this time!

March 4
Monday morning he'll be making the trip to Moscow to turn in his application.

March 14
Ivan's interview at the American embassy is March 22. Please pray that they'll decide to give him the visa and for him not to be too nervous.

March 22

They said yes! Ivan can pick his visa up in a few days. Praise the Lord!

April 10
Ivan's trip is coming up. He leaves on April 13.

April 30
And now his trip is almost over. It sounds like it's been wonderful. Please pray for a safe trip home.

May 2
Ivan just called to say that he's on his way home from Moscow to Viazniki. He had a good trip with no problems at all in connections, passport control, customs, etc. Praise the Lord! He says thanks again to everyone he visited, and he had a wonderful trip.

Visa trip

At the end of the month we need to leave the country and come back to renew our visa registration. We had found some really cheap tickets, but we didn't realize that we would have to pay for Jaan too, now that he's over two years old. So, now we're back to square one with the planning. Please pray that we can find an affordable place to go (probably on trains) and have a good trip.

February 14
I just wanted to add that this is turning into a frustrating and expensive process, so please pray for patience and provision! Will is headed to the train station now to find out where we can go and buy tickets. . . .

February 15
Ack! We had forgotten that Raia doesn't have a visa at all. (She was born here and has never left the country.) Please pray that we'll be able to get her one, and that it will make its way to us while we're in Riga. You can praise the Lord that we do have tickets to Riga and that plans are coming together for our trip.

February 17
Will called this morning to check on Raia's visa, and they told him that there were "some complications." Please pray, because we really need it done by tonight, so that a friend can pick it up before the weekend. Everything is closed tomorrow, and we had planned to leave on Sunday.

February 18
Praise the Lord! As I said, Raia's exit visa is ready. Now, please pray for our trip. You can pray specifically for:

the children. Raia hasn't travelled nearly as much as Jaan had at this age, and I worry about how she'll adapt.

that we won't have any trouble getting Raia's entry visa in Riga.

and just for a good trip overall!

We'll leave tomorrow morning at 5:00 and take two trains to get to Moscow. Then we'll leave from Moscow that night on an overnight train to Riga. . . two days in Riga, then back to Moscow. We'll probably by home by Saturday, but I don't know exactly, because Will has to register us in Moscow first. The children and I get to visit the Beairds while he does that!

March 3
Thank you so much for all your prayers! We had a wonderful trip.

Praises

It seems like I really focus on petitions here. I just wanted to add
several praises, too. Of course, I could go on and on, but I'll just
choose out two:
-We just celebrated five years of marriage!
-Since the Christmas busyness has passed, we have been healthy.
And if you want more, this whole page is really a testimony of God's
goodness. Just read down and see how He has answered our prayers.

"I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee
among the nations." Psa. 57:9

Gospelink 4th quarter

We're in the midst of finishing up the 4th quarter of 2005. Will traveled to Moscow to meet with some of the men there, letters are coming in, and there are more people to meet with. Please pray for strength, safe travel, and organizational skills.

March 3
Two big praises: Dean found someone to help with the translating! And we finally got in touch with a man we had "lost"! (He's newly sponsored, and we could not find him to tell him that money had come for him.) Please keep praying, as we have several new people this quarter, and the work continues.

March 29
Now we have two translation helpers! Please continue to pray as we wrap up this quarter and specifically for the one long distance connection that we're having to make through the mail.

April 29
The fourth quarter is finished! Thank you for your prayers. We are still waiting for that one mail connection, though, and the Jan-March work started this week, so you can keep praying.

May 29
We finally got the forms we were waiting for in the mail! Praise the Lord!