Jouneys

The ladies of our team decided to plan a weekend trip away to fellowship before teammates go on home service and to encourage one another through prayer and Bible study in a village near beautiful Lake Baikal.  The two and a half hour journey provided an analogy of life’s journey—rocky, bumpy, up hill/ downhill, hair pin curves, switchbacks, long stretches of intensity trying to stay on the path and not to hit every pothole, construction, more bumps, and then patches of smooth sections where you realize how tightly your muscles are clenched—arriving to your destiny just beyond that point where you were beginning to think you were lost.

Although the city was experiencing “spring,” Lake Baikal and the village was still frozen and blanketed deeply with snow.  The Lord gave us pleasant weather Saturday so that we could walk out to the lake and even on the lake in between our times of studying about spiritual warfare and practicing the power of prayer.  The ornate woodwork decorating the houses added to the picturesque scenery. The inside of the house where we stayed was comfortable but did not include indoor plumbing.  So, how do you wash? The banya, or sauna, is a wooden bathhouse where rocks are heated by a fire and water is poured on them to produce steam. After breaking into a good sweat, you are supposed to get a beating (massaging) with wet birch branches followed by steaming up then either being doused with cold water or running out into the snow.  A small group of us who had done an exercise workout earlier in the evening participated in the tradition, thinking it would be a great way to boost our health.  It was my first time to experience the Russian birch beating, and I didn’t quite carry out the running into the snow to cool off part.  We returned to the city Sunday, physically and spiritually refreshed.

Art and I officially celebrated the end of the third school year on Friday, April 19, with all seven of our students and their families.  Our oldest 3 students leave this week for the U.S.A.  We will go part-time with the other four students another 2 weeks before they also fly to their home cultures. It has been a challenging last week of school as our students have been fighting a tough virus and out sick.  We are praying for their physical health and for their emotional health as they process leaving what they consider home and familiar.  I had the children write to themselves this week about going to their home countries.  What are they looking forward to and why are those places special? These “home” cultures may not really be “home” for them especially since they may stay in several different places.  Is it the fun activities they are looking forward to, the different foods, or seeing people like grandparents, hearing English, being able to talk in English and not being considered different? Is it the fancy houses, cars, toys?  Yes, there was the excitement of adventuring to a “new” place, but often it was to be with people they knew and missed.  Please pray for these kids and their parents as they journey to their home culture different from whom they were when they last left; especially since kids grow and change so much, but also pray for them as they, 5 months later, make a “switchback” to Russia, after their new experiences over the summer.  When they return, we will reread those letters and answer the questions they wrote themselves and write again. Why was going there special? Why was returning to Russia special?  Pray for Art and I to have the wisdom and understanding to help these unique third culture kids handle the numerous transitions they face.

We may never really know what affect we have on others’ lives.  God created us as relational creatures especially with a void that only He could fill.  Today, at church a lady reminded me of the impact that even just a brief encounter can have on the life of someone specifically a child.  She is a nurse and was at one of the tuberculosis sanitariums where she ran into a young girl Nastia who had been at the children’s home we had helped with last year.  When we returned last fall, we learned that the home had a new administrator and our church was not currently being allowed to continue doing Bible study programs on Sunday afternoons.  The little girl specifically remembered the lady who “couldn’t speak very good Russian, but came to help do the Bible lessons.” She sent her greetings to me and asked when could our church come back to tell them more about the Bible; they missed us.

Thank you for the impact you have had on our lives and for allowing us to be an extension of you to reach into the lives of the dear people here in Russia.

Spare oom

The “far land of Spare Oom” in the bright city of Ward Robe” (Chronicles of Narnia-C.S. Lewis)    Our apartment, a spacious 500 sq.ft., has been such a blessing to us.  We have not always known what to expect each year when it comes time to renew our lease with our Buryat landlady. She has reassured us that we can stay as long as we need and has become quite friendly.   The apartment really is spacious by Russian standards because we have two bedrooms something we considered essential when we first moved here with Olivia and Anna.  Now, the Lord is showing us another way to use the room for serving others.  Earlier this year we hosted a mother and her two young children who came with a choir to join our church’s choir for a special service.  We were a bit nervous about how to meet their needs, be culturally appropriate, and carry on conversations in Russian.  It was a huge success.  We can’t take all the credit, though, as our dog Ebony helped ease the tension for the children. Since then, we have hosted another family from our church that live in a village over an hours drive away.   Last week we were asked to host two Russian ladies from Chita, a city to the east of Ulan-Ude—12 hour train ride away.  Sveta and Olya came to do a weekend conference instructing those interested from the churches on how to do Sunday school ministry. They were burdened by the Lord to begin a work first in their church 7 years ago and had no resources, but the Lord guided them and they have felt led to share what they have learned.  Sveta is a mom of seven children something considered strange by Russian standards.  Olya has 2 children and speaks excellent English.  Both ladies shared that they are first generation Christians and how their church in Chita is filled with first generation Christians mostly young people.  They have older folk but they are not believers. They are seeking to teach the generations coming behind them of Jesus Christ.  We visited mostly in the evening over supper after they finished their sessions.  The first night we introduced them to the Indiana classic of homemade chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, and vegetables.  The next night was tacos with all the toppings.  They had to have the recipes!   “Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love; the fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.” (Blest Be the Tie That Binds-John Fawcett)They told us as they left Sunday in the wee hours of the morning that they felt like they were on a holiday.  We exchanged e-mail information and invitations to have them visit again whenever they return to Ulan-Ude.  Please pray for these ladies and their ministry and for those who attended the conference.  Pray for the numerous children here in Russia who need a chance to hear about the hope of salvation and life Jesus Christ offers, often so different from the one exemplified to them by their elders.  Pray that our “Spare Oom” will continue to be used as a way to encourage —in our land where it seems to always be winter.

In the past few days, two of our students came to spend the night while their parents had some time together.  All of our students consider it a special treat to spend time with their teachers at their home and usually can’t wait to play with Ebony as well.  Right now our students need that connection and the stability of a routine that the mk school provides.     As we mentioned in our last blog, we are ending this school early not because of our return to North America, but because the majority of our students are leaving for home service with their families. It is stressful enough for adults who have to plan meetings and arrange a myriad of details, but the children are also seriously affected by the emotional transitions.

Please pray for these boys.  Saying good-bye is never easy, and they have to do it over and over.  We are trying to hold them together enough to finish this last month of school but also need prayer for wisdom and grace—yes patience, too.

Spring fever comes early in Russia.

In the States we formally declare spring at the vernal equinox; this year March 20. But here with ice sculptures still in place on the square and three inches of hard packed snow on the sidewalks, Russians declare it is SPRING. March first is the first day of spring, and although not Indiana, springtime weather, it does feel warmer here.  One of our teammates started counting the number of people on the street without hats.  The number grows daily. Transitions are fun such as figuring out when it is a good day to put the long underwear away and change from the 40 below coat to a spring jacket.   Spring fosters thoughts of the renewal of nature and a fresh start along with prospects of enjoying the outdoors.

We had a scheduled day off the week before to honor the men of the country, and this past Friday was International Women’s Day to celebrate all the ladies.  During the first day off from school Art (I) went out to help on a church remodeling project with one of our teammates.  We worked on insulating under the floor of the newly enlarged sanctuary.  The leadership is hoping to be in the room by Easter in May.   It was a good chance to practice Russian and build relationships with Russian believers.

Friday evenings, Lisa and I continue to practice with the choir at church, also enjoying fellowship on a smaller scale.   The choir members put up with our lack of skill in the language.   It helps that the words don’t change. Once we have the song memorized, we can sing along.  Art spices things up by singing all four parts at different points.

Spring also brings us close to the end of our school year. It will be a little sooner than we originally planned as the two main families we serve will be going on home service. We will have no students left after the first week in May.   We push on to cover as much as possible and still keep the students plugged in here.    Even with the snow on the ground, they seem to have spring fever with a trip home not far away.

We are also very happy that we recently turned in our 5 year residency paperwork.   Praise the Lord we only had to make two trips into the office to do it.   The process isn’t that easy.  It has taken about two months of gathering documents and medical testing to be ready.  We are thankful for teammates who helped lead us through the process and for folks who prayed for us during the effort.   This is the equivalent of a green card in the States, so we should have a few more privileges in September.

We are looking forward to summer opportunities to work on building relationships. Since this will be our first summer in Ulan-Ude, we hope to have time to enjoy the people with whom we have started friendships.  Art is planning to work alongside local church planters to train his ear and work on being more than just a bump on a pew.  There are still work projects around that can use two good hands, two ears and, for now, a little less than his talkative mouth.  Lisa will have time to change gears and work on things to make our life here a new home away from home.  Please pray that we use the summer wisely and that God would direct our energies and conversations.

We pray that you are beginning to feel the renewal of spring and blessings of the Lord’s mercies

Being HERE Praying for THERE

Last blog post we explained about our block-note countdown and requested your prayer requests to write on them so that we could pray for each of you. Thank you for replying and allowing us to intercede for you.

View from our kitchen window hang on as we zoom in.

Sometimes it is hard to verbalize prayer requests, at least for us personally, or we imagine that it seems so trifle and people are busy and don’t need our cares. However, the Lord teaches quite the opposite through his many examples in Scripture and has repeatedly impressed on our hearts the crucial need for intercessory prayer. In fact, “if we do not, we certainly cannot claim to be followers of Christ” (p. 87, Principles and Practices of Prayer by Ivan H. French). Christ “Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” Romans 8:34. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” Hebrews 7:25.

My daily reminder to pray for Buddhists One of around a dozen temples in our city.

Christ continues to make intercession for us and we are exhorted in I Timothy 2 to make supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks for each other. We know that we cannot do the work here alone but need the Body of Christ. Even Jesus asked his disciples to watch and pray with him as he fought the spiritual foe.

Through Professor French’s book on prayer, we were introduced to a special intercessory “missionary” who does not change their residency but goes before the spiritual realm distinctly for missionary work in definite fields. He elaborates from one of the “missionary passages”—Luke 10:2 “Then He said to them, ‘The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Noting the intentional difference between the term “missionaries”—one who is sent and “laborers”— a varied group of people such as a harvest hand who may be sent until no longer needed, or a native worker who carries on the work, or an intercessor who petitions God of behalf of others, French declares that the “intercessor is most important, because he is working at the very root and foundation of all harvest success.” The mission field will be more effectively harvested because intercessory missionaries prepared the ground and fought in the spiritual battle against the “Prince of this World” for the souls of men (Ephesians 6:10-20).

How God has answered prayers: PRAISES
This month, White Month, is the Buryat holiday celebrating the “Old Year.” The Buddhist/Shamanist practices are even more active. Our choir director, Sveta, requested pray for her Russian school and the believers there since a Lama from the Dokson was to do a special service this week. The man could not come the first day and the second was very late so only gave a short word from what we understood.
The Lord also provided an opportunity for Sveta’s son who received a great academic honor and had to do a presentation to be allowed to sing a Christian song with clear testimony.
Some unbelievers have been attending the English Club, one Buryat young lady in particular is asking deep questions and wanting to read the Bible.
Just recently God provided a vehicle for one of the fathers of our students to help him with his archery ministry in villages outside of Ulan-Ude.
Another teammate has been asked to help organize a hiking trip in April. Many Buryat unbelievers are planning to participate.

Praying for the field: PRAYER REQUESTS
Pray for wisdom and direction for our team leadership as to the continuing of present ministries and in expanding into new unreached Muslim and Buddhist people groups.
Pray for more unbelievers to attend the English Club.
Pray for emotional, physical and spiritual health where it seems to be “always winter.”
Pray for preparations of supplies and spiritual openness to those planning to go on the hiking trip.
PERSONAL:
Our school year would be productive both academically and in character building.
Wisdom as we already begin plans for next school year.
Grace and favor with officials as we submit our paperwork for 5 yr. residency visas since our temporary visas expire this year.
Wisdom for Anna as her internship comes to an end and what the next step may be.

Again, we ask that you send us your requests, for we are Here praying for you There as well.

The Snowball Effect

No, this is not talking about the weather conditions in Ulan-Ude. It is my thought as I come to this blog post since I haven’t written since our end of the year. January is blowing past with a blizzard of happenings in family and ministry events. Here are just a few of the recent things:

We had friends over for the New Year to watch fireworks out our window. We have a great panorama of the city and with literally thousands of explosions and cascades of color lighting the sky it was quite a show. It was great to have two little guys with us to enjoy the fascination of the moment.

Part of the fun of living here is the extreme cold, this week falling to -41 C (-43F). Sometimes you have to take extra ordinary steps to be sure your vehicle will start in the morning. Along with coats, boots and all that winter gear, our friends brought their battery in for the night. Next morning the car started slowly but it still started.

January has taken loved ones home to glory for both Lisa and myself. My Uncle Ivan Davis, who helped me understand my worth as a young man, went to his Lord after several years on oxygen with health concerns. His surrender to Jesus later in life gives me comfort that I will see him with the many who have gone before. Lisa also lost a dear grandfatherly great uncle, Clyde Collier. Uncle Clyde faithfully served the Lord with his hands and was one of the influences that brought Lisa to a life of service. By his example and encouragement many were touched for the Lord. He will be missed until we meet again.
Our efforts with the missionary children have been rewarding yet challenging. We have needed to put a couple of policies in place to help keep things working smoothly. It is amazing to me how difficult it can be to say something clearly in writing without spelling out every little thing. We have had good help in finding that balance and believe the time spent thinking through possible problems will be worth the effort.

Between the highs and lows, the everyday things that must be done fill our lives. Sundays have English Club, above we are playing upset the fruit basket with English words and pictures. Saturdays, we stay in touch with our girls and already look forward to spending next Christmas with them; it may be early, but we have started to count the days. We praise the Lord for all of our children’s growth while we are apart, but the distance is hard and the time away is difficult especially when they face challenges.
Before this snowball becomes a mushball, let me say thanks for staying in touch and all the amazing notes and gifts and emails that came our way at the end of the year. Each one was special to us. If you think about it, send us a note, pictures are great too, to help us know how to pray for you and your families also. We have a cube of note papers numbered with the days of 2013 and would like to write specific prayer requests for you on them to pray our way through the New Year and keep us from getting snowed under with the day-to-day.

Last chance to celebrate for 100 years

Today is 12-12-2012 and at 12:12 p.m. Ulan-Ude time we celebrated.  When the past two weeks have had temperatures hovering around -33 C (-28 F)  we needed a reason to celebrate.  We also decided to combine our Christmas-at-school party with this time and themed it on the Twelve days of Christmas song.  We told the story of the symbolism in the song, which you can find. Then had either a food item or activity for each.  We had pears, dove chocolate, french fries, sang carols, had five layered meat and cheese treats, hard boiled eggs, hot chocolate with swimming mini marshmallows (which you cannot buy here), milk with flavor filled straws, cupcakes as drums, jumped rope together and had little ladies dancing around to keep from being hit by a foam frisbe.

It was a good afternoon time in our little world.

So take a little time in the busyness of your 12 12 12 day to remember that partridge in a pear tree,(Jesus on the cross) oops told you one. Celebrate the day!  Hope you have as much fun as we did!!

Pride come before. . . oops.

Well I am not sure what I was proud about, but this has been a week for falling.  The latest was on the way home today with bags of groceries in each hand.   It is part of life here; it usually isn’t an issue of if you will fall, but when.  With most of the walkways covered with hard, packed snow and with cars driving in places you think are only for pedestrians, surfaces get very slick.   As I fell, a very special pen I received from friends for being part of their wedding fell out of my pocket.   A couple of hours later I discovered it was missing.  A little doubtful and a bit downcast, I put on my winter gear and went down with a flashlight and in just a few minutes found the pen. It had been run over but still works.  God is good and doesn’t give us more than we can bear. Although I will feel the bumps tomorrow, nothing serious came from the fall.

We have had a great but hard couple of weeks.  School is going well, but as expected there have been a few hard lessons to teach and learn. Missionary children are people, too, with even a few additional complications.   We also have much to learn about relating and balancing ministry in this culture.   We would love to say we do it well, but most days it is only by God’s grace we do anything of worth.

We have enjoyed all the things we are part of: choir, English club, and helping others.   Right after Thanksgiving day, we made another trip to help work on the home of a local pastor trying to start a new church.  It was cold, but we did make good progress with Lisa, I and several teamates coming and going over two days.   It was a good time of fellowship as well.

Pray for us as we walk.  Not just physically by spiritually also.  A good friend was talking with me about Solomon and how one issue caused even the wisest man to turn from God.   So let he who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.   We live in a dark, spiritual place. Pray we are always circumspect in our walk.

Ministry inside and out

We have a wonderful chance to interact with Russians in an environment that doesn’t demand proficiency in the language.  What is it?  Well if you don’t have their language mastered, help them learn yours.  We have been helping in an English club every other Sunday evening.  It gives us opportunity to speak some Russian but the time is designed to help those who would like to learn English.  The time is used as an evangelistic outreach; church members are encouraged to bring a friend.  It is not a hard sell gospel presentation but as we use themes like Thanksgiving and talk about who we are it give a platform for talking about Christ.  Since we meet in a church building it doesn’t surprise the newcomers that we are religious although they don’t really understand what Christians are, only that we are different.  The time is a blessing to us and helps us feel a part of spreading the gospel in a way other than supporting the rest of the team.

We have also had the opportunity to help our friend Valerie work on his house in a nearby village.  He is a church planter along with one of our teammates.   The house will be for his family but also will serve as a meeting place as they gain enough interest and critical mass of believers to start services in the little town.  Since it is already below zero (both Celsius and Fahrenheit) the time was cold.  Adding to the fun, we were working on the second story without the floor in place; those of you who know me (Art) know that walking on rafter above the ground is not his strong point.   However, there was a time during the day that two people were needed, so humbling myself(this is Art writing) I crawled like a little girl, no offense to little girls, on my hands and knees, heart pounding, adrenaline surging, across to the place I was needed and forced myself to stand long enough to get the job done.

Fear often keeps us paralyzed. Whether fear to speak in a different language, or fear of falling.  But we must conquer the fear if we will accomplish anything worthwhile.  I have my excuses, and I am sure you have yours, our neighbors are scary, our friends intimidate us.  How can we share Jesus?  If we stay on the ladder afraid to move the house doesn’t get built, if we don’t share Christ the price is higher, we miss the blessing and our friend waits for God to provide someone else to share.  So pray for me and I will pray for you.  Pray my Russian improves with use.  Oh yeah, since we plan to go back a little climbing prayer wouldn’t hurt either.

Holidays, Specials days, and Unusual days

In English one day while studying the days of the week and months of the year, Darin and I read that no American holiday occurs in August.  He informed me that his birthday is in August and he is an American, therefore—an American holiday.

We have also decided to include some new American holidays for the month of October.  Mr. Blaker celebrated the blessings of another year of wisdom and experience.  Mr. and Mrs. Blaker celebrated 25 years of a blessed life together.

Yes, it still fits.

Eric, our oldest student, reached the milestone of thirteen and promised it would be his moment of maturity.

The Homeless Man

For those curious about the man without a home, he stayed in the stairwell 3 days the first week and then left.  We still had not come to an understanding of what we could do and had not had any chance to actually speak with him due to his condition.  We continued to pray for him after he left. The next week he returned late one night. On our way to school the next morning, we saw him sleeping, sitting up, on the stairs and in worse condition than the week before.  A Russian friend, Alex, from church was meeting Art after work that day and Art took the opportunity to ask him how to minister to folks in the homeless man’s situation.  Our friend came over for dinner that night, but sadly, the homeless man was not in the stairwell. Our church has a ministry to help alcoholics and drug addicts as well as homeless people.  We don’t know how the whole program works, but this situation has increased our awareness and Alex is going to show us more about the ministry.  He also gave us small information cards with directions to our church that we can hand to folks that are curious or ask us questions about church—something else we had no idea existed. Ultimately this man’s life is in the Lord’s hands and we continue to pray that he read the Russian tract or somehow will seek the Savior.

Over the weekend we were given a different opportunity to actually host guests, part of a choir, from a city near Irkutsk.

Art and I felt it a privilege to be asked to house a mother, her son and daughter Saturday and Sunday.  It speaks volumes of how our choir group has accepted us and calls on us to be part of its ministry.  Although we may not have understood everything in detail that was conversed among us, we managed to have a wonderful time and even introduced the family that stayed with us to Skip-Bo.

Ebony did her best to make the children feel welcomed by playing ball with them.  Since they arrived on the Saturday morning train, Olga, the mother, was able to meet our girls, Olivia and Anna during our usual weekend skype call.  The girls were easily able to bring back their Russian language skills.  The Irkutsk choir and ours practiced and fellowshipped Saturday afternoon/evening so Art and I had plenty of Russian language practice as well.  Sunday the choirs led the worship service to encourage the body of believers.

After church Sunday we said good-bye to our guests transferring them over to others so that we could be part of yet another ministry, English Club that our teammates have started in another church.

A story without a picture—a man without a home—opportunity “knocks”

What would you do if a man, smelling pungently of alcohol and body fluids, was lying right outside your door using your filthy, sandy doormat as a pallet to provide some comfort on the cement steps that served as his bed?  This was the scene and smell that assailed Art as he took Ebony, our dog, down the five flights of steps for her before-bed break.  Ebony, her usual timid self (scaredy-cat), cautiously sidled past him as best she could and Art thoughtfully locked me in the apartment. We figure he came to the 5^th floor to avoid being seen and thrown out, not to mention to avoid the freezing temperatures and snow flurries outside. Back to my question: what would you do—what should we do?   This was not the first time we had seen the homeless and drunken people who stumble onto and off of buses, wander the streets day and night or crawl in and out of the manholes. But it was the first time one chose to “come to our door.”  Early the next morning he was still in the stairwell slumbering when I took Ebony out for a run.  So what do we do? Do we just ignore him? Is it just a cultural situation, normal for life here or do they call the police? Should we try to help him somehow?  Would we be able to explain clearly in Russian?  Maybe we could call our Russian friend who helps homeless people? It seemed complex, but then, was it?  Christ discussed feeding the hungry, taking in strangers, and caring for the sick in Matthew 25: 35-40 “inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” While we were home He had led me to order some Russian gospel booklets.  I had just baked a batch of apple muffins.  Putting them together, we left them by the stranger before leaving for our school day. He never roused. After school, I saw him trying to stay near our building. He had replaced our mat, and the track and muffins were not in sight. Did he eat the muffins and read the booklet?  Will he come again? What will we do if he does? Pray with us that the Lord will give us the wisdom, grace and language ability to use the opportunity for His honor and glory.

Thanks to each of you who prayed and gave to make it possible for us to return to Russia, we have been able to get the MK school successfully started.  October 1^st was opening day for our third year in existence.  Only each year has been so different that it is hard to believe.  One of the things that have remained consistent is Mr. Blaker’s guideline talk using the acrostic SCHOOL.  Review is especially helpful after a long summer break and with the addition of two new younger students.  Our student body of 6 represents 6 grades from 7^th through kindergarten.  Now into our third week of school the students are still eagerly coming to classes and diligently doing their work.  One parent relayed today that their child, who was going to miss one day of school this week in order to attend the special birthday celebration of his friend and classmate at her Russian school, tearfully asked why he had to always be the one to miss going to school!