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.