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.