Easter Sunrise Service

Today, being resurrection day here in Russia, there was an Easter sunrise service this morning. So I forced myself out of bed this morning, after a only few hours sleep, and some serious debating. But I am glad I went. It is a rare day here in St. Petersburg, the sun is bright, the sky is clear and it is just picturesque. It was such a blessing to worship by the water and remember our Lord and what he accomplished for us on another morning over 2000 years ago. I was filled with joy as we withstood the bitter cold wind, and took communion. I am humbled to realize how much I am blessed to minister for such a loving, gracious, giving, and awesome Savior. Also, I am leaving for Finland again tonight to get another visa, please keep the trip in prayer.

Back From Finland

I got back successfully from Finland on Monday. Unfortunately I had to spend a total of 5 days because of the weekend. The fastest that the Embassy is able to process a visa is 3 days and since I wasn't able to file until Thursday, that meant it wouldn't be done till Monday. I say unfortunately, but really it wasn't that bad. Of course it cost me more money, but I was able to really relax and see the nice little city of Helsinki. Next time I plan to leave on Sunday, file Monday and come home on Wednesday, we will see.

Finland is actually a relatively new country, their history has been one domination after another by the Swedish then the Russians. It wasn't till 1917 that they became an independent nation. So there is a lot of cultural influence there. However Finland is coming into itself and maturing into a nice little nation with Helsinki as the cultural, artistic, and actual capital. It is a small city, I would say the city itself probably doesn't spread much farther than where I used to live in Minden-Gardnerville, Nevada. I liked that in the city center, where a lot of the sightseeing in Helsinki is, everything is close enough that you can walk. They also have a great public transportation system, so getting around is really easy. The only negative thing I can say is that everything is expensive. Of course the Euro is a kick in the pants, but from what I heard from my German friend, everything is just more expensive.

I had a great time taking a lot of pictures, there were tons of interesting sights and the weather was pretty beautiful most of the days. My favorite place was the Fortress Island of Soumenlinna. There are some people who live on the Island and I think there is a naval academy of some sort there, but mainly it is just an abandoned fortress. It takes a short ferry ride to get there and then you have all day to check out the cool old artillery guns, even older walls and bunkers, and great ocean views. I got most of my best pictures on the Island. I think next trip I will be back there again, and there is another island that has a zoo on it, I think I will check that out as well. There is supposed to be this cool lookout tower thing I really want to see. Though I would rather not have to make these visa trips, because they cost time and money, I view it as a blessing from the Lord that I have such a cool place to renew my visas.

Things are starting to come together for my permanent residency. I am starting to collect all the papers and documents I will need. I hope to be filing everything in a month or so. I need to get the papers filed for the private visa in time for me to be able to get the letter of invitation back by June so I can get my visa, file and wait for the temporary residency. I am hoping to move to Cherepovets by June as well. I just found out I might have to move my plans up a week or two, because if I want to stay in my apartment into June I will have to pay for the whole rent because my roommate is leaving June 1st. No big deal. I hope to move everything in increments over the month of May. We will see. Once in Cherepovets I hope to be teaching much more again, and to really get involved at the city shelter. Until then I am focusing on getting everything together for me to go, getting as much training as I can, and learning as much Russian as I can. I hope to get to a point in my language skills so that when I move to Cherepovets I will be able pick things up very quickly. I am praying for the Lord's hand to be in all this and that I will be sensitive to his leading. Praise the Lord. I just can't get over what has gone on over the past year or so. I would have never imagined this is what God would have for me, and I am almost clueless as to what is ahead. That is scary at times, but cool most the time, even comforting sometimes to know that the Lord is in control and though it will be quite the ride, He will not fail.

Good Times in The Lord's Service

Looking back at these last two weeks I have to ask, "where has the time gone!?" The visa trip I am going on tomorrow seems to have just snuck up on me. But am a little excited that I get the privilege to experience riding a bus to Finland tomorrow to get a new Russian visa. This should have been a quick easy trip and turned out to be a little more complicated. As I said this trip snuck up on me and I didn't file the proper paperwork in time, making this last week a stressful week of problem solving. There where several ideas in play before I finally found the right one. What I will be doing is going to Finland this time and getting a one month tourist visa. Then when I get the other paperwork back I will have to go back to Finland and switch to the three month business visa. It seems like a lot of wasted effort and time, but it is actually the cheapest and least time-consuming option. Hopefully after all this not only will I not make the same mistake, but I will have to do this only one more time. The next time I will be starting the process towards permanent residency and that should eliminate all visa trips. However I am looking forward to this trip I will be meeting a friend, I get to see a new place and should get to take some cool pictures.

Also I would like to add that the visa excitment has not been the only intersting thing this week. It seemed like a normal week at first, but I had the great privilege of making some new friends on Sunday. The people I have been meeting here are very interesting. They all have different backgrounds, interests, and stories. I have never before been in these kinds of circles. It has been an amazing growing experience, and I am being stretched to do things I would have never done previously. Just this last week I was invited to do Salsa dancing at St. Petersburg Christian University, and had a great time. This group of friends do this every weekend and I think I might start going. This will give me a chance to hang out with more Russians, and possibly a chance to reach out to some nonbelievers.

I have also been very encouraged how the Lord has been providing for me. I still have one student and the money that brings in isn't much, but it something. Also the Lord has blessed me some people who are willing to help me, and I can't thank them enough. But I was blown away when I was talking with one of my friends here. He suddenly asked about my financial situation and how much my Russian lessons cost. Then he offered to pay for my lessons, which is one of my biggest expenses. I was touched, mainly because he is a student and doesn't really have tons of money to through around. It is encouraging to see how the Lord can impress things on peoples heart, with out any effort on my part. We have an amazing God who can not only move mountains, but the hearts of men! And it is encouraging to see Christ's body in action, loving and helping each other.

I just want to thank everyone for there prayers and support. I am grateful and will continue to keep you in prayer as well. If you could keep this visa trip in prayer that would be great, as well as the plans for permanent residency. I will post a blog when I get back from Finland, so keep your eyes pealed.

A Weekend in Cherepovets

Last weekend I was blessed to take another trip to Cherepovets. I did not go to work with the shelter or orphanages this time, but to try to get some things planned and fellowship with the team there. Igor wanted to talk with the pastor of his church to see if we could use his building to do some lessons there. We were able to talk to him a little after church and he said we might be able to do that. Igor wanted to show me the apartment that I would be living in there too, but we didn't have time, however he assures me that there is room there to do lessons if we have to. We are really getting excited about doing this and getting this project started!
The trip wasn't all business of course. There were two girls visiting from a nearby city that have been involved with the shelter project. So of course we all had to hang out. It was great, we all piled into Olga and Igor's little car; I had to sit in the back because I was one too many. It was ok, I didn't mind and I only had to hide from the police once. We all went to lunch at a place that we eat at often on our mission trips, called the Stump. Then we went and took pictures in a park, it was a beautiful day and the sun was out, but man it was wicked cold! We hung out at Igor's place till we all went to Andrey's mom's house where we had fellowship, tea and homemade perogies. I was able to follow some of the conversation, and if asked a direct question I could sort of figure it out, however I did get a little frustrated, for lack of a better word, because I couldn't really communicate. I didn't show it though, I just got real quiet. At the end of the night I was so tired I could hardly talk in English let alone Russian. I can not wait to be able to jump right in and be part of the group, I can tell that the fellowship that they have it close and full of Love!! And the fact that they are so willing to accept me in the group and try to make me a part of everything is very encouraging to me and a huge reason that I a feel such a big desire to live in Cherepovets. I really believe that the Lord is working and moving in this group, and I am blessed to get to be a part of it! Please join me in praying for this group and the work that we will be doing, and that the Lord will provide a way for me to get moved out there and be part of the group. There is so much fruit waiting to be reaped in Russia like in Joh 4:35 - Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!

Exciting Times

It is amazing how fast time flies. These last two weeks have gone by at an incredible rate, and these last two months even faster. I have been real busy lately teaching English, which is good for hours. I have a private student now, his name is Sasha, and so far we are getting along great. I have also been covering Lisa's classes since she had to travel to renew her visa. Most of my time has been spent preparing lessons, teaching, preparing bible studies, and studying Russian. It is encouraging to me to see over all improvement. I am getting the hang of teaching English, and my lessons seem to be going over really well with the students, the are learning a lot, and at the same time having fun. I am figuring that if you just have fun with them they end up just speaking English and not over thinking what they want to say, I am also already seeing benefits from the training that I am doing with Lisa. And on the Russian front I am now able to hold simple conversation, communicate needs, and get around ask questions about bus routes, that sort of thing. I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel, but it is still a long ways away.

Igor and I are working on getting me established in Cherepovets. Igor's sister, Olga, has an apartment in Cherepovets that I can live in, so I already have a place to stay, all I need is work there. I have met with Lisa we are going to see if we can't figure something out. We are going to try to set up a small school with mostly private students, and Igor has an idea to set up training for nonnative English teachers in the Universities. Another thing we are working on is getting me permanent residency, much like the American Green Card, it will allow me to live in Russia and not have to get a visa, I will be able to come and go as I please, work, live and minister in Russia. In the long run it will be cheaper and less of a hassle, but at first it is going to take time, and a lot of paperwork. I will not be able to actually start the project for a little while, and it will take at least a year to go through the process. So we are have a lot of things to think, and pray about. It is all so daunting, but at the same time it is exciting to see God move, and see the opportunities that God is opening up to minister for his his name. I have no doubts that the Lord will reveal himself in all of the up and coming situations. I am excited to see it all play out.

God is Good in Interesting Times

Things have been a little interesting these past couple weeks. Today was going to be my first day at Motorola again, but because of the Financial Crisis that has hit the whole world the company had to cut the amount of English teachers to two, leaving no room for me and the rest of Lisa’s teachers. However in this time of uncertainty the Lord has been answering many of my prayers. For one Lisa is getting together some lessons for me, so I will still have a job. Then she also asked if she could give me more training, which is something I have been praying about for some time and had never said anything to her about. I was planning on paying for some training online, but when the Lord does things it is always better than what you would have done. Another thing is when I told her my desire to move to Cherepovets she was all for it, and we are going to work on a way to get me established teaching there, maybe a small school, or a teacher training program, we will see. In this time of confusion and uncertainty I believe it is a sign from the Lord that I have total peace and rather than a desire to quit I am motivated all the more to move forward with my plans. I have been praying and I am feeling more and more led to stay here long term, or at least for an open ended amount of time. I am excited to see where the Lord leads!

I am developing a deeper relationship with the team in Cherepovets, Andrey was here in St. Pete for a conference and he came to my apartment to fellowship. He spent the night and we had great time. I am encouraged to find that my Russian has gotten to the point that we were able to communicate ok, but I am still not satisfied. There is so much we are still not able to communicate, and I know that our fellowship would be so much richer if I was better with my Russian. I am more motivated than ever to study and feel that with more hard work and practice I will be able to speak passable Russian by the end of the year for sure, though it will take me a long time to truly master the language.

I thank you for the help that I have received and for your prayers. I would ask that you would continue to pray for wisdom, ability to speak Russian, and provision from the Lord. Also keep the orphans and shelter kids in constant prayer, that they would all come to know Jesus personally and be filled with the joy and peace that come only with fellowship with our Lord. Also that the Lord would show us how we can reach the hearts of the Russian people.

Getting to Spending Some More Time in Cherepovets

I was glad to be able to spend some real time at the Shelter in Cherepovets this last week. We had a great time playing uno, simple computer games, and getting used to each other. The kids and I were shy at first, but soon we were communicating in whatever way we could. Some even took it upon themselves to teach me a little Russian, which gave me opportunity to teach them some English. Igor has a pretty good idea to try to teach them English from a children’s bible, but I think it is best to earn their trust and build relationships first. This being the first time I got to really see the kids in their own environment, this was sort of an eye opening experience. What really hit me was how hard these kids really are. I don’t really blame them; I can’t even imagine what they go through at home every day. Oddly this did not discourage me in the least, but impressed on me how much these kids need Jesus and how important the work there really is. I believe the Lord can do great things, if only we are willing to be used by him. I just hope that I am able to help instill a love for Jesus in their hearts. I believe if they can see Jesus working in me and the rest of the team then that is when they will really be affected. I would ask that you keep these kids in prayer and for us that the Lord would do a work in our lives so we can add more to his kingdom. I desire even more to move to Cherepovets and get more involved in the ministry there!

The next four are of them trying to teach me some Russian :)


Andrew teaching them the power and importance of words, and the value of using good edifying words.



Hagning out having a good time.