Please continue to pray that Will can get in touch with the head of the ministry we would like for him to visit. Will caught him briefly between two international trips, but obviously this man is very busy and they have not been able to set anything up yet.

We did have a wonderful visit with Anna! It was just too short. Like I said before, you can continue to pray for her travels.

Please pray that we'll be able to get in touch with people about visiting their ministry soon. We finally found out that the one man Will had been writing to was out of the country, so that's why we weren't getting answers. He's back now....

Honestly, I don't know what to ask you to pray for specifically. It's been a quiet week here. (So nice!)

Will's sister will be here next weekend. You can pray for her ongoing travels and for us to have a wonderful time with her.

Bogdan has made it through the past four nights without crying or nursing! But he's still getting up way too early for the way our family works.

We're an inch away from being done with our reregistration! Thank you for all your prayers. The only last step is that we're waiting for the head of regional immigration to come back from Kiev, to add his signature. As a special bonus, Will and I got to go to Zaporozhya by ourselves last week to sign papers.

Bogdan is still off and on with sleep. It's really weird. But he's a big two-year-old now! We're so thankful for him.

I got a break from the emotional situation I was in, because the person involved went away for a week. She's back now, so please keep praying.

We are starting our family preparations for Easter. Please pray that our hearts and minds would be especially turned towards Jesus in this time.

We are still waiting to hear anything about our documents.

The family that was adopting made it home with their new son! Please keep praying for all of them as they settle in and start their new life together. There are several more adoptions in progress that we're especially excited about now, too: cases where we've met the children or where they're in our region now.

Bogdan is back on his crazy insomnia streak. Please pray for sleep! He's keeping all of us up most nights.

I (Phyllis) have been putting a lot of time and emotional energy into counseling and supporting someone through some very heavy issues. Please pray for wisdom and strength for me.

Be praying that Will will be able to make a trip to visit Agape ministries, an organization that we are interested in possibly working with.

Will got everything turned in for our reregistration (as far was we know). Thank you for all your prayers. Now we just have to wait a little. It would be nice if they don't need anything more from us to process it.

The adoption adventures that I have been asking prayer for are continuing, so please pray for wisdom for all involved.

I'm starting to feel more rested, even if I may be the only one feeling that way so far. Bogdan was having trouble sleeping, but that seems to be passing. Hurrah!

Jaan is really doing well at music school these days, and that is such an answer to prayer. He has loved the piano part since he started there, but the rest has been a real struggle. I am just so excited to see him enjoying it all now.

Will picked up his new passport yesterday and made some progress on reregistration. That will be his focus in the upcoming week.

We had a lovely time meeting part of the family that I mentioned before when I asked for prayer for their adoption. Please keep praying; they're in the home stretch.

We've had some fussy, sickish days and long nights lately. It's nothing serious or really out of the ordinary, but please pray for rest and health in our family.

Please keep praying for the church here!

The biggest practical thing that we need prayer for right now is our documents, although everything does seem to be going fine there. When Will went to Vasilevka (what I called the "county" level) they told him that he needed a new passport, so he rushed off to Kiev and applied right away. Now we're waiting for that to come in, before we can do anything more. Pray that it will come quickly. It was very nice to find out that the lady in charge in Vasilevka seems to be nice and professional, like the one in Zaporozhya; praise God for that!

Also, please pray for peace and unity in the church here. Even though we are pulling back in our involvement, we still love the people here very much. The church is really going through a hard time now and needs lots of prayer.

Will just got back from the summit. He had a good and safe trip. Thank you for praying! You can add prayers that we'll all be able to rest up now (it was a full trip for him and some tiring nights for me here) and have opportunities to talk through anything from his time there.

I think the adoption in progress that I mentioned last week is going well. Please keep praying for them.

Coming up: Will needs to work on our reregistration now, in the week ahead.

This is insignificant, but could you please pray for me to find time to work on a few projects myself?

Document update: registration is transferring from Zaporozhya (which is like the state capitol) to Vasilevka (which is kind of the county seat?). Please pray that Will will be able to figure where and how to register us there. The lady at the "state" level is such an easy-to-work-with professional that it's going to be hard to say goodbye to her!

We're having trouble with our landlords. Or, actually they're having big trouble. This apartment is owned by a divorced couple. Please pray that they can figure things out between themselves.

Will is leaving for Kiev on Tuesday to attend the summit I had mentioned before. Please cover his travels and time there with lots of prayer. Pray that he'll make good connections with people and get insight into where we should be headed. Of course, you can pray for us at home without him, too.

Also, there's an American family adopting in our region right now. I can't give details, because their story isn't ours to tell, of course, but they're very heavy on our hearts and minds right now. Please lift them up with us.

(I think I fixed the return email address for this blog. If you're getting this by email, you should be able to reply now.)

I spoke too soon last week when I said that we were well. We've had another week of sickness; even our poor cat had a trip to the vet. But now we really are back to normal and very, very thankful for the great health that we're usually blessed with!

Will's going to Zaporozhya on Tuesday to see about reregistration.

We've decided that he'll go to the summit I mentioned before by himself, instead of our whole family trying to attend. Please pray that it will be a really good time of connecting with other people and learning.

Health is getting better around here. Thank you for praying! We're still not quite back up to 100%, though, so you can keep praying.

I can't think of anything else that's new.

How can we pray for YOU?

Updating again

Once again, I ask: is anyone still reading here? I'd like to start updating once a week again, instead of only mixing prayer requests in with my general updates elsewhere. I'm going to try for every Saturday here.

So, first, some longer-term prayer requests:

• residency renewal in March (shouldn't be any problems or fuss or travel involved, but we should still pray)
• decision making: just that we would be able to think about where to move to! and that we would be wise

I probably won't update those any time soon.

And then right now:

• praise for a wonderful Christmas season
• everyone (except me) has colds right now
• maybe going to this summit next month?

Visas

The visa laws have been changing here. Will is going to Zaporozhya on Tuesday to see what he can find out about how the changes will affect us and what we'll need to do to renew. Please be praying for us in this!

Traveling soon

I need to do better with updating here! Is anyone still reading?

Here's an email that Will sent out to both our home churches:

We wanted to ask you all to be praying with us over the next couple of weeks. We need to make a trip to Kiev that we've put off for a while now.

Bogdan still isn't American, and Raia currently isn't either! We need to get a new Passport for Raia and a first-time Passport for Bogdan. The process shouldn't be too difficult, but it isn't cheap, either.

We've been wanting to make this into a little more than a 3-day, there and back again trip, w/two days on trains. We want to have time to do funs stuff with the kids and spend a week or so there. (We haven't done anything like this in almost two years.)

Right now we're looking into housing, which is a bit pricier than we were thinking, but we're trying to look into as many options as possible.

Please be praying with us, as this trip is shaping up to be more of a challenge than we'd thought it would be.

Pray for God's provision:

-as we take our 2nd train trip with Bogdan (4 kiddos now, fun on a 12-hr train trip!)
-in finding affordable housing.
-in quick and problem-free processing of Bogdan and Raia's passports.
-that this could be a 'mini-vacation' for all of us.

Thank you so much for your prayers!

We're leaving on Friday. I think we have a place to stay, but I'm not quite sure about that yet. Please also be praying that we will be healthy before we go and not get sick again while traveling. We all have the tail ends of a cold hanging on.

Going to camp!

Next week Will and Jaan and (hopefully) one other little boy are going away to camp. This friend of Jaan's doesn't have a father; his aunt and grandmother are raising him. He really wants male input, so we're hoping it will work out for him to go. Please pray for those who are going to camp and for me staying home with the younger three of our children.

(By the way, we finally got Bogdan's birth certificate. Praise God with us for that!)

Updates

We seem to be making progress on the birth certificate. Please keep praying.

And I forgot to post here when I got my registration. Thank you for praying!

Registration and birth certificate

Please keep praying. We're still waiting... waiting for court dates for both my registration and Bogdan's birth certificate.

Baby!

PRAISE THE LORD FOR OUR SWEET BOGDAN!

Please be praying that we'll be able to get a birth certificate for him as quickly and easily as possible. There are more details here.

Youth conference

Will just left for a youth conference in Kiev. He's taking a pretty big group with him: 12 people, I think. This could be a little interesting, because most of them are the ones who show up once a year or so, not the regular church crowd. Also, pray for us while we're home without Papa. He'll be back on Tuesday (after staying an extra day to renew my passport).

Answers

We found out that Will can renew my passport for me, so I don't have to go to Kiev. Hurrah! This week is just a whirl of him traveling around working on documents and plans, though, so please keep praying for us.

Documents

Our visa registration will run out right about the time our baby is due. Also, my passport will expire soon after that. The woman in charge of visa stuff for this region seems inclined to figure out an easy solution for us, but it wouldn't hurt to have you all praying. Will is going to meet with her sometime this week to explain everything and get a decision. Please pray that we'll be able to renew my registration, even with a soon-to-expire passort! (Then I'd renew my passport when we get the baby's and transfer my registration or something. The worst case is that I'd have to go to Kiev to renew my passport now; not horrible, but inconvenient.)

K.

We went to visit our homeless friend yesterday, but he had just been taken to a tuberculosis hospital, so we couldn't see him. We thought maybe just Will could visit him, but even that wasn't possible. The general city TB hospital wouldn't take K., so he's out in some small town. Please pray for him! He's been in a Christian shelter all this time, but now he's back with all his old prison buddies.

School!

Today we started school at home! Please pray for that to continue to be as much of a joy as it has been for us already.

Also, on Wednesday we'll be going to the first day of music school, to enroll Jaan in piano and other music courses. Please pray that we'll be able to get good teachers and a good schedule for him. We already know that they would want him there 4 days a week, and that's a little too much for us. Pray that we'll be able to work out a compromise and that this whole adventure will be a great experience for Jaan.

Various updates

Camp went wonderfully. Thank you so much for praying! So far, I've posted a few photos and a little recap, if you're interested. Please also pray for our family (and everyone else) as we settle back into normal life; it's almost hard to believe how tired we are and how fussy our children can be.

Our computer is working more reliably the past few days, and I've also heard rumors that a new one is on its way to us. Thank you so much to anyone who has contributed to that! I really don't know how much longer this one would have kept limping along. (Please keep praying for it to last until its replacement comes.)

Will went to visit K. yesterday. He's doing okay, but please keep praying for him. He's had some problems lately.

And then the next big event: on Monday Will is leaving for a quick trip to Charlotte for his sister's wedding! Please pray for everything connected to that trip.


As always, thank you so much for supporting us in prayer! Please let us know how we can pray for you, too. Leave a comment here, or write to us at mayakovsky@willphyl.com.

Don't forget

...that camp starts tomorrow!

Little things

Please pray for the weather to cool off before camp, at least a little. It's been over 100 (F, of course!) a whole lot lately, and that's just miserable in a country that doesn't believe in air conditioning!

Oh, and this one isn't so little: please pray for our computer. More and more often it's not wanting to start up, and that's just scary. We rely on it for too much!

Thank you for praying.

2 things

Camp! A team is coming to help with a day camp here, August 9-13. Plans and preparations are already in full gear. Please pray for the planning process, for unity among the youth here and when we blend with the other team, and--of course!--for the children.

I completely skipped an update on K.. I should have told you that after his second court date, he ended up back in jail for two months. That has already past, and Will has gotten him settled back into the shelter. Please keep praying.

Updates

Please keep praying for all the requests I asked for K. before. His court date didn't go very well before. He tends to get confused, and that's what happened when he was in front of the judge. Now he has to go back again tomorrow.

We found a wonderful apartment! Our landlady and her son went back and forth, with her telling us that it wasn't urgent, and him pushing us to move. So, we're very happy to have found something! It's big and empty, which is exactly what I've always wanted. Please pray for us as we work on getting it into better condition and then move in. That should all be in the next week or two.

Also, this is something I hadn't mentioned before: the church here has had an ongoing discipline situation with a man and his wife, who are separated. The church leadership is asking everyone to fast and pray tomorrow for resolution of that. Please pray with us!

K.

A little over a month ago a very sick homeless man came to church, asking for help. Will got to help him and take care of him for a few days, before finding a shelter in Zaporozhya that would take him. That's been very good for him! An old friend of his is in charge there now, and they're happy to be back together.

Please pray:

• for Will and K. on April 14. It's complicated, but K. has to appear in court, and Will is going to help him.
• for K. to be able to get his documents. If he had papers, a government program could pay for him to live at this shelter. For now, we're paying.
• for K.'s salvation and physical health.

Hello again!

These are the prayer requests that I gave in our recent update:

1. For Will as he leads the church youth, and for everyone in that group. Pray that they would really show God’s love to each other and to new people.
2. For my (Phyllis’) new little Sunday school class.
3. For our trip to Poland to renew visas. We’re leaving March 22.
4. For us to find another apartment to rent. We have to be out of this one by May.
5. And praise God with us for His goodness in everything!

#3 is already answered. Praise God for a good trip!

#4 isn't quite so urgent; our landlady said to take our time, but we still need to find something. There's really not much available for rent, so please do pray!

After-holiday update

Once again, I'm sorry that I haven't updated! We recently finished the busiest holiday season we've ever had. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us, even while I was silent here.

Updates on older prayer requests:

• I had asked for prayer for electricity at church. They got it turned on! It was a huge project, but God gave strength and success.
• We had a wonderful Thanksgiving trip. Our children slept on the train!
  
• We haven't seen Anatolii.
• Lena's mother is doing somewhat better, but still needs prayer.
• Vova left the rehab center, but he hasn't come back here. (That's good.) He's in Kiev and seems to be doing well. He calls us often, and is very lonely, but he's working and says that he's not drinking. Keep praying for him!
  

And new requests:

• I am going to be teaching a preschool Sunday school class! I haven't agreed to do anything like this before, because Asya takes so much of my time and attention, and I'm still a little apprehensive about how I'll keep up with her and teach. We're going to give it a try, though. Please pray for me, for my wonderful helper Alina, and for the little ones.
• Health and rest: actually, we're doing pretty well in that area, but please do pray. We were absolutely exhausted after the holiday season. We've mostly been able to catch up on now. Will and I still have colds dragging on, so please pray that we'll be all the way healthy and rested soon.
  

Thanksgiving trip

Tomorrow we're leaving for Odessa!  We'll be away for almost a week, visiting Will's sister and celebrating Thanksgiving with her.  Please pray for safe travels and a good visit.  Please pray especially that our children will sleep on the train (16-17 hours each way!).  We'll be back on Tuesday.

Anatolii

Please pray for Anatolii, a homeless man who lived around our building.  We used to feed him often and talk to him almost every day.  Then, a while back (last time I wrote), he told Will that he wanted to go to a rehab center.  He said that he would go the next day to get the papers he needed from the police. . . and then we never saw him again.  Please pray for him.  We have no idea where he is, but we're thinking that the police sent him off somewhere else.

Lena's mother

My friend Lena's mother just called me and asked me to pray, because she's really struggling with depression.  (I don't mean that Lena's depressed; her mother is.)  Lena is out of town for several weeks, and that's especially hard for her mother.  Their home life is pretty bleak, so Mama really relies on Lena.  She also asked me to have our churches pray.  Please do!

Rehab

Please continue to pray for Volodya.  He is still at the center.  They say that he's had some second thoughts, but seems to have decided to stay.  He said that he can feel the prayer support and is thankful for it.  Keep it up!

Also, the homeless man who lives in our area wants to go to the rehab center.  Please pray that it would work out, if that would be a good thing.  It's a little more complicated for him, because he doesn't have any documents at all.  He's officially listed as homeless here, though, and he has to report to the police periodically.  So, he'd have to get permission to travel and. . . well, it's just complicated.  Also, we don't know how motivated he really is.  Please pray for wisdom for us and for God's will to be done.

Updates

Sorry that I forgot to say that the electricity at church is back on.  It came back just before our guests (Will's parents) arrived.  However, it's just a temporary fix.  Sometime in the near future it will go off again, and there's going to have to be whole lot of digging done to fix it permanently.  So, you can keep praying.

Will's parents have come and gone, and they stayed healthy the whole time they were here!  We just a wonderful visit with them.  Praise God that they were able to come!

Weddings: I had mentioned two weddings.  Both are behind us now, and they went well.  Please continue to pray for the new couples as they start out their lives together.

Volodya is going!

Our friend decided that he wants to go to a rehab center now.  Will's taking him tomorrow; he actually had to talk Volodya out of leaving today.  Please pray for them as they travel, that Volodya will actually stay there (he's a little nervous), and that it will be a good thing for him.

Electricity at church

Almost a week ago, the electricity at church was cut off because of nearby construction.  The church leaders have been digging and trying to figure out a solution.  Please pray that they would be able to finish the trench they need and decide how to fix the problem!

Volodya again

Our friend Volodya keeps saying that he does want to go to the Christian rehab center that we had suggested.  Please pray that he really would agree to do it, though.  He's supposed to come over tonight to discuss the details with Will. . . .

Jaan's tongue

Thank you for all your prayers for Jaan!  His tongue seems to be healing beautifully.

Volodya

I was so encouraged to see how God answered prayers for Volodya last time I asked. He urgently needs prayer again tonight, though. Please pray for his physical safety especially, but also for everything else.

Update

• I don't want to give details, but Volodya needs prayer now more than ever.
• BIG EXCITING NEWS: Will's parents are coming to visit at the end of the month.  Please pray for their travels and a good visit.  Please pray especially that they would be able to stay healthy!  So far, they have gotten sick every time they have visited us, and we would really like to avoid that this time.
• Youth: This month Will is taking a break from the regular Wednesday night Bible study with the youth.  They're still getting together on those nights to plan for the upcoming weddings, though.  Yes, we have two weddings coming up soon!  And Will is still leading the regular Saturday night youth fellowship times.
• Thank you for praying for the camping trip.  Not many of the younger kids came, because of cooler weather, but the church youth, our guests, and the few kids had a great time.
• We had a great visit with Julie and Co., and they were able to get their visas renewed without any problems.
• We've enjoyed two great Zhatva celebrations so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if there are more  coming.
• School: I've started officially homeschooling Jaan.  We're having a great time with that so far!  Please pray for strength and energy and good attitudes for this new part of life.

Thank you so much for all your prayers!

Upcoming events

Please keep these in your prayers:

• Camping trip with oldest group from camp, August 21-23
  
• Julie's visit, probably arriving August 20 (Julie and two of her coworkers are coming to renew their visas.)
  
• Zhatva, August 30 (That's at our church. We'll probably visit other churches for this over the month of September, too.)
  

Volodya

We have a friend who recently got out of jail, and because of that, can't find work. This week Will hired him to do some work around our dacha, so we've been spending a lot of time with him. Please pray for Volodya as he seeks God and tries to live an honest life. We don't know exactly where he is spiritually, but he's pretty frustrated overall, and feels like God is letting him down, too. Please pray that he would be able to find permanent work, but even more importantly that he would find salvation and peace.

Vasya is home

He seems to be doing well, as he continues to recover at home.

Update on Vasya

I'm sorry I haven't had time to update those of you who are praying for Vasya.  More than a week ago he went into the hospital and had surgery to remove a tumor from his liver.  Please pray for him as he recovers.  He's still in the hospital.  Also, keep praying for his family!

Praise for camp

Thank you so much for praying for camp!  Every day there were 50-60 kids, as many as we could possible handle.  The staff worked together really well, and we just had a wonderful week.  We could see God's hand in so many ways.

Now please pray for follow-up.  There were 30 children in Sunday school this morning!  If that keeps up (which would be wonderful), they'll need more Sunday school teachers and classes.  Will also started a group after Sunday school for those who want to learn to play guitar.  There were 6 or 7 children who came for that.  And they're planning a camping trip for the very oldest group from camp; that will be August 21-23.

1st day of camp. . .

was great!

Anna's visa. . .

arrived!!!

Camp prep

Please keep praying! It's pretty busy around here. Camp starts Monday morning!

Anna

Please be praying for Will's sister, Anna. For those of you who don't know, she's headed to Odessa.  This is from the most recent email that she sent out:

The invitation for the visa arrived today and I overnighted it, along with my passport and paperwork, to the Ukrainian Embassy in DC. I am paying for three day processing, but with them closed on Wednesdays and weekends, I won't receive it back until next Tuesday or Wednesday. I am scheduled to fly out next Friday, July 31st, and would appreciate your prayers that all will go well and that the visa will be granted in time.

Camp!

Today was the last day of a great VBS program, put on by a visiting group.  Praise the Lord for how well it went!

Now we have a week to rest and finish preparations, and then the church here will be doing our own day camp.  Please pray especially for unity among the youth during this next week as they get everything ready.

Vasya and Maksim

I asked for prayer for Vasya, the man who leads the church here, when he was sick before.  He's been very sick again lately, so much that he is taking a break from church work, as much as he can.  Please pray for him and his doctors.  They still haven't figured out what is wrong with him.

Also, his son, Maksim, who was an active member of the church and youth group, went away to university and is now going through a real crisis of faith.

"The Council of Brothers"

Will has just become an official member of the "Council of Brothers" at church.  (I don't know exactly how that translates.  Elders?  Board of deacons?  Whatever you want to call it, it's the group of men who lead the church.)  He has attended their meetings since we arrived here, but not officially.  He asks that you pray specifically for wisdom and grace for him in this new role.

Praying for various people

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've written anything here!  We've had some wonderful visits with friends and other good, busy times.

I've asked for prayer for a girl I called O. before.  She's back from an extended absence, so once again I need love and wisdom for spending time with her.

Today on the way home from church we bumped into a man that Will had met on a hospital visit: Aleksandr.  Please pray for him!  He's having a hard time physically (just got seriously beaten up and is almost starving, too), mentally, emotionally, spiritually.  He has tried praying and has visited a church, but doesn't think God is listening.  He's also facing a possible jail sentence.

Registration

We got our passports back, and now we're registered for another year!  Please thank the Lord for that with us.  You can also be praying that the laws don't change any more.

Picnic answers

Thank you for praying!  The picnic went well.  You can read about it here.

Weather for picnic

We're planning a picnic at our dacha for the youth tomorrow.  Please pray for good weather!  We're really enjoying some rain, after a dry spell, but it would be really nice if the rain stopped for a while tomorrow. 

News from Kovrov

I just talked to Pavel and Tanya.  They're working on selling the church apartment and buying a house or other bigger place to meet.  Pavel asked us to pray for wisdom and for everything to go well, if this is what they should be doing.

Visiting

On Sunday afternoons Will and several others from church have been visiting sick babushki at home and/or anyone who is interested at the hospital. Please pray for those visits!

Re-registration

It's almost time for us to re-register our visas. Will is (or all of us are?) going to Zaporozhye on Thursday to at least get started. Please pray for us to be able to do this right and without any problems. No one is very sure about what the law actually says about this.

Easter

Easter is coming! (April 19 here.) It's the biggest religious holiday of the year, so please pray for all that will be happening at church. Also, pray for our family as we prepare for Easter and then celebrate the Resurrection at home.

Colds

After a long time of good health (praise for that!), we've succumbed to colds and they seem to be dragging on. It's nothing serious; we're just tired and want to be well again!

Prayer for E.

The church here is right next to the hospital, and one of the ladies from church works there.  Tonight she sent one of her patients over for Bible study, since he's so interested.  He asked for prayer, since he's having an operation tomorrow or the next day, but also because he's really searching for God.

Also, please pray for Lyuba, who works in the hospital and is constantly witnessing, and for Will and others who visit there.

G. and Y.

A few nights ago Leetra babysat, and Will and I went to visit G. and Y..  I was so happy to see their new baby!  I thought we would probably sit around talking about him, but instead they jumped right in with all kinds of questions about the Bible and church.  It was really good to get to talk to them!

O. is gone

Please keep praying for the girl I asked for prayer for before.  She is gone, so I'm not spending time with her anymore for a while, but I don't think she's in a very good situation now.

Answered prayer

I should have asked you all to pray for Leetra sooner!  She felt better almost right away after I posted that.  Thank you, Lord, and thank you for praying!

Now she'll be heading back on Tuesday, so you can pray for safe travels in that direction.

Leetra's stomach

We're having a great visit with my sister, but she hasn't felt well this whole time.  Please pray for her stomach!

Another person

Please be praying for another girl (O.), who I'm spending a whole lot of time with. She's very needy, so pray for strength for me. There are also a whole lot of things I'm praying about for her that I can't really share. Just pray!

Leetra is coming!

My sister is coming soon! Please pray for her travels and a good visit. We always like to "use" guests as a good excuse to get together with people, too, so please pray that we would be able to introduce her to lots of people here.

Youth conference

Will and some of the youth will be going to a youth conference in Kiev Feb. 23. Please pray for safe travels and a really good time there.

New people

We have been encouraged to see new faces in the group of young people that come to the church. I don't think there have been more since I last wrote, but I'd like to update on the ones I mentioned before.

(I'm going back and adding initials to the last post, if you want to look back there.) N. is a regular at youth meetings now; she can't come on Sunday mornings, because of her work schedule, but she would like to. I haven't seen Z. around for a while. G. and Y. are adjusting to life with a new baby. We gave them The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus, and they're reading it. Please keep praying for these new believers/seekers!

It's been too long

I'm sorry that it's been so long since I've updated here.  Thank you for praying for us anyway.  We survived the holidays, and thoroughly enjoyed them, too!  We're also finally feeling settled back into normal life now.

Please be praying for some new people who have been coming to youth meetings and Bible studies.  There's a girl (N.) who's been quite faithful and interested in the evenings, a guy (Z.) who really wants to get his life together, and a young couple (G. and Y.) trying to read and understand the Bible on their own.  The couple are expecting a baby soon and also need prayers for health!

"All I want for Christmas. . ."

She's back!  We have our happy Asya again!  Her tooth finally broke through yesterday, but even before that she was obviously feeling much better.  Thank you, Lord!

Vasya is feeling better

Thank you for praying! Vasya is back on his feet. He says that his blood pressure is still causing him problems, but he feels much better. He was able to lead the church service again this Sunday.

Disaster recovery

Our neighbors have taken care of their plumbing disaster, and Will got everything cleaned up down here.  Now he's working on hermetically sealing off all the holes to the place where the pipes are, so that if anything like this ever happens again, it won't come through to us.  Thank you for praying!

Vasya

Please be praying for Vasya, the man who leads the church here. He is mysteriously sick and very tired. The church really needs him!

Plumbing disaster

We're having one of those good opportunities to get to know our neighbors today. We woke up to find what looked like our neighbors' toilet had exploded above us. It's not quite that, but it's a mess! The neighbors below us have been coming up to see what's happening, and Will had to go find the man who lives above us where he works. Pray that they can get this fixed soon!

By the way, had I mentioned that since I asked for prayer about water before, it's been on almost all day every day? Praise the Lord!

(I did just say how much I love having neighbors all around, didn't I? )

Tooth and toe again

The opposite tooth is coming through now, the injured toenail fell off, and she has a cold.  We are back to this:



Pray for our usual sweet, happy Asya to come back soon!

Doing better

Thank you so much for your prayers!  This toe injury was pretty traumatic for a few days, even though it was minor.  Asya is doing much better now. She's walking well again, and her tooth is through, too.

Tooth and toe

Asya has a tooth coming through, and it's just tormenting her. Then, yesterday morning she smashed one of her toes. She is not a happy baby right now! Actually, she's doing a little better today, but please pray for her. Neither problem is serious, but added together they're just making her miserable. Plus, it's sad to see such a little one limping around.

Water!

It's already back on! At least, for a few hours.

Funny: Will went in to pay our water bill this afternoon. They really were working without electricity! He couldn't pay, because it was too dark for them to figure out what we owe. They were only taking money from people who already knew how much they needed to pay.

Water

The water situation here has been annoying for a while. We've gotten used to the fact that it's turned off at night. That's no big deal. However, it's been off quite a bit during the days now, too.

Then yesterday it went off and didn't come back on for the evening hours like usual. And today there are notices up from the water people, saying something like "Please excuse us for the inconvenience of no water, but the electric company turned off our electricity, so we cannot provide water. If you owe any money on your water bill, please pay it right away." Please pray that it will come back on soon!

(Yes, Mom, we can buy drinking water, and we have quite a bit saved up too, because the water goes off so often.)

The outreach

Thank you for praying! Everything went smoothly. I haven't really heard many details yet, but I know your prayers were answered.

Youth outreach night

The youth here are hosting an outreach night on Saturday.  Youth from another city and a music group will also be participating.  Please pray especially for the preparations.  This is a first for the youth here. There has been a lot of disagreement about how things should go.  Pray for unity!  Please also pray for the people who will be coming and all the other details.

Julie's off!

Julie's visa did come in yesterday, and she got on a train back to Moscow. She should be getting in there pretty soon now. Thank you so much for all your prayers! I'm sure you can keep praying as she figures out how to be able to stay there for a year now and catches up with all the work waiting for her.

Julie's visa

We were expecting that Julie's visa would arrive in Zaporozhye tomorrow, but the UPS tracking site keeps saying that it's in Kiev, and its status is "Exception," and the only explanation is that an unforeseen event occurred. Please pray that whatever that is will be worked out soon! We love having Julie here, but her work in Moscow is piling up, and she does need to get back.

Computer

Sigh. Computers are nice when they work. And Macs are wonderful...in America.

Our computer died yesterday. Really, I am mostly praising God about this, though. Just the day before I had finally backed up all our pictures and documents, after a week of trying to do that. (Do you know how amazing that is?!?!?) And we have this older laptop, so we're still in touch.

Please pray that we'll figure out a way to get our main computer fixed, that it will have a safe trip to America and back, etc.

It's all here!

Thank you so much for all your prayers! We now have everything that we had left in Russia. I don't know that it was a cheap border crossing, but it was fast and without problems.

Now can we pray away the musty smell?

Anatolii

Anatolii (the driver we hired to bring our things from Russia) made it to Kovrov, and he's heading straight back. It's a more than 24 hour trip, but I guess he could be at customs sometime tomorrow. Please pray for an easy and cheap border crossing! (The Ukrainian side of the border is notoriously corrupt.)

Stuff

Anatolii (the driver we hired) has been sick, but he's well now. He might be able to go next weekend.

Please pray for a safe and uneventful trip for Anatolii and for us to be able to fit everything into this already crowded apartment when he gets back.

Thank you for praying!

Julie was able to get her test done, results translated and sent in, all in one day. Please pray that this last document catches up with others quickly, so that her visa application can be processed.

Julie

Please pray for our friend Julie tomorrow. She found out that she does have to have an HIV test for her Russian visa application. She's going to try to get that done in Zaporozhye tomorrow. Please pray specifically that she'll be able to get results the same day and send them off. Thank you!

And praise the Lord that we can spend time with Julie!

Neighbor

Please pray for the neighbor below us. He's very grumpy about any noise that we make. We don't want to bother him, but it's impossible for little children to be as quiet as he wants.

Another step forward

Will now has all the documents ready! Now we just need to pray for timing and logistics. I'll let you know when there's a time set for Anatolii's trip.

Another week

Anatolii probably won't be going in the next few days. Will pretty much got power of attorney for him to represent us in bringing our things into Ukraine, but now that needs to be translated and amended to be valid in Russia, too. So, tomorrow Will is headed back to the notary to start on that. One step at a time. . . .

Got the number!

Will got his tax number yesterday. He was hoping to meet with the truck driver (Anatoli) to get the papers they need here, right when he got back, but couldn't get in touch with him. This morning they started those documents, though.

Please pray! This is the last step to getting our things from Russia. Anatoli wants to be at the border on Monday, because he has a friend working then. Border crossings into Ukraine by car are really, really corrupt still. (Somehow customs in the airports and on trains is easy and streamlined. They just leave all the trouble for the roads.) We need you to pray our things right across.

And praise the Lord that the tax number came through. No problems, even with different translations of NC.

Progress

Yesterday Will got his notarized passport copy in Zaporozhya! He went back today to turn it in for a tax number.

Did you know that Will was born in North California? Or even that such a state exists? That's what they put as his birthplace (NC) on the copy! You can laugh about that and pray that no one notices. (There can be problems with documents don't match up.)

Paperwork progress

Will is slowly wading through getting our things from Russia. Just an example of the frustration: we need a document from a notary. The notary can't work with anyone who doesn't have a tax number. Will calls to find out how to get a tax number: "Just bring us a notarized copy of your passport." Simple. Except that the notary won't work with him at all!

Please pray for progress! Will's in Zaporozhya today trying to figure out the next step.