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.