A Quick Catch Up

Tristyn and Daegan at Golovinsky church

Doyle and Karen with Genady

The many faces of Daegan

Doyle filling out those pesky migration cards on the train

Tristyn and Daegan on the train to Kiev

Tired boys on Kiev subway

Okay, so we did okay for a little while there with staying up to date on our blogs. Maybe if we fill you all in just a little, you will understand why we have been a little out of touch.

First of all, after our week trip to Prague for the conference, we were home two weeks before heading to Kiev, Ukraine for our Visa renewals. It was quite a crazy experience. We had asked for prayer before regarding the Visa situation here in Russia. According to new Visa laws, we must leave the country by February 12th, and be out of country for 90 days. Then, we may return for 90 days, and so on for at least the next year. Currently, we do not know where we will be going, and there are many logistical things to consider. However, the Lord does know exactly how this will all play out, and we have many people praying through this time that affects all of us. Christ will be our strength and our guide. Please pray with us through this situation. Pray for our leadership as they try to make arrangements on our behalf.

Please continue to pray for our friend, Natalya. She has been coming to our home during the day to watch the Gospel of John movie with us, while reading along in the Bible. Please pray that she will see her need for a savior. We plan to continue meeting with her until we must leave. I have also invited her to church this Sunday, and she is considering coming.

Daegan finally had his foot taken care of this past Monday. He has done really well with it, and after being in all week with it, we are hoping to get out for some sledding this weekend. Thank you for praying for him.

Please send us your family Christmas pictures. It is so wonderful to see how everyone has grown and changed. Please keep us updated on your families as well.

Update to Prayer Requests

We are still waiting on Daegan's orthopedic insoles. They should be ready Monday. It has become very uncomfortable for him to walk on his foot now. We have tried SO many things to relieve the pressure there, but nothing seems to be working. Continue to pray for the healing of his foot.


Doyle and Mark went once again to pass out some Bibles from the Bible invitation cards that were returned. One lady who was already a believer invited them in for cheese and crackers and tea. They were able to deliver another one also. Thank you for prayer for these efforts.

Visas and Transitions

Two main areas of prayer concern for us right now are in regards to our Visa situation and this transition period that we are going through.


As we have moved from full time language to part time, we are now doing more ministry. Doyle and I are seeking from the Lord how He wants to use us at this time. Please be in prayer for our roles here, and for discernment for our service.


Please pray for our visa situation. We will be leaving on Nov. 11 to take a train to Kiev, Ukraine once again to renew our visas. However, significant visa changes are being implemented right now in Russia that could affect long term ministry here. Please be in prayer not only for our family, but all those serving in Russia for His name's sake.

Russian Thanksgiving Day

Vasilly showing Tristyn how to make paper airplanes out of the worship service guide.

The Russian believers celebrate a holiday also called Thanksgiving Day. Of course, it has nothing to do with pilgrims and all, and they celebrate it in October. But they do have a special church service for this where they decorate the church like fall with harvest foods. They also serve lots of harvest foods (fruits and veggies). This past Sunday the Timi group celebrated Thanksgiving Day at their monthly worship service that meets at the Good News church. Our family has committed to serving during the Timi worship services (setting up tables and chairs, preparing food, and cleaning afterwards). As I was helping to clean up the food and the dishes afterwards, I was approached by a young Russian lady. She came to me and told me thank you for helping so much and told me that I was a wonderful example for the other believers there. Please understand that I am NOT sharing this to brag. I take no glory for serving the Lord. But sometimes, Satan tries to make me think that I am not being used here. Just trying to do language, run the household, teach the kids, blah blah blah, I feel that I do not do enough to serve. I truly believe that these words were simply God's encouragement to me to show me that the little things do mean so much to Him and what He has planned for me here. Thank you, Lord, that you can use washing dishes to bring you glory!

Baseball

Our summer baseball has come to an end due to the weather. We are still not into full winter, but we're running in the 30's now. Last Saturday our team hosted a baseball celebration where we invited all those who participated with baseball this summer to come. It was held at Good News church, and Genady, one of our church planters, spoke from the Word. We didn't have a huge turnout, but it was still great. We had a slide show of pictures from the summer, ate lots of food, and played some games. At the end, each person was offered Bibles or the Gospel of Luke, given a DVD with the slide show, and a DVD of the Jesus film in Russian. My friend, Natalya and her son came and had a great time. She also asked me about the Jesus film and took one of the DVDs of the film home. Please continue to lift them up in your prayers. Please pray that all those who received the DVDs will watch them and be drawn to Christ. Please also pray that we will be available when God wants to use us in someone's life.

Prague

Prague Castle

Tristyn at the top of the cathedral inside the castle. We had to climb 287 steps up a small spiral staircase to get here. It was tough! But, as Falyn said, "At least we can say we did it!"

View from the top of the cathedral. If you can see the tall tower far in the background, our hotel was near that. We had walked all the way from there that day.

Daegan, Falyn, and Tristyn inside the Prague Castle walls.

Daegan, Falyn, and Tristyn inside the cathedral.

Daegan's cute face (at the Mexican food restaurant).

Doyle and Karen - very happy to have Mexican food!



Falyn and Katie

Daegan getting a chance to practice his dramatic skills.

Tristyn and the ark (at the zoo).

Daegan playing on a wooden turtle at the zoo. Daegan and Tristyn on a wooden lion. They assure us that they really did see animals that day.

Thank you all for praying for our trip to Prague. The city was incredible. We travelled to Prague for an annual conference for missionaries that have been on the field for 6-12 months. Obviously, we were a little late. We missed our conference last year, but we were grateful for the opportunity to go this year. We spent our first day there just browsing in a beautiful mall and eating MEXICAN food! It was wonderful Tex-Mex, just like back at home. On Sunday, after having a worship service in English with the rest of the group, we were able to do some touring, including the Prague castle. Monday through Wednesday, Doyle and I were in sessions while the kids were with some incredible volunteers from the States. Falyn made a new friend with an MK from Greece that she had a blast with. They were able to go to the zoo one day and an aquarium and history museum on another day. With a city population of about 1/30th the size of Moscow, it was a nice break from the crowds. One thing that we were very surprised about was the difference in the people's attitudes. Yes, this country was once communist as well, but they were very western in their friendly attitudes. Whenever we waited on the side of the street for the traffic to clear to cross, cars ALWAYS stopped for us. In Moscow, with a protected cross-light, you could still get run over if you are not cautious. Back home now, we have refreshed minds and hearts to serve.

Huge Praises!

Our first snow!

Daegan, Sasha, and Tristyn on the bumper cars. Funny thing - they are not called bumper cars, and when our kids tried to bump into each other, they got yelled at by the workers. Apparently, you are supposed to just drive them around.

Daegan, Tristyn, and Sasha (yes, Doyle posed them)

Natalya and Karen

Tristyn and Doyle walking back to Metro after church one Sunday

Leaf-faced Daegan

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers! I met with my friend, Natalya, at the baseball park this evening. She told me that she has been reading the book that I gave her. She said that it has helped her to change her attitude and that her relationship with her husband is better. I give God the glory in this small victory. Please continue to pray for Natalya and Valodya. In the pictures above, we were at Gorky Park with Natalya and Sasha. They had a special promotion one Saturday where one part of the park had the rides free for kids. Of course, half of Moscow was there, and it took 1 1/2 hours to wait for a ride, but the kids still had fun. The workers would run a ride for 5 minutes, then take a 15 minute break, then run it again for 5 minutes and so on.


Another exciting moment- we had our first snow on Sunday! It wasn't much to play in, and it is all melted now, but it was still fun to see. We feel pretty confident that we will get some more sometime (just maybe). It is so funny what a difference perspective makes. When we got ready to leave for the baseball park this evening, I checked the temperature to know how to dress. Doyle asked what it was, and I said, "Oh, it's just 42." We started telling the kids they didn't have to wear their gloves or hats but to take them just in case. Of course, by the time we got to the park, we needed them. I just can't imagine ever saying in Houston, "Oh, it's just 42." And, would you believe that at the park, Tristyn begged to take his coat off and just have his shirt on?


One interesting culture thing about the weather here is that babushkas (older ladies) always look out for kids. If your child is not properly dressed for the winter weather (in their opinion), they will let you know. The first day it got cold, I was taking the kids to meet Doyle at a nearby shopping center. We were still in our jackets with no hats or gloves just waiting for a bus. It wasn't too bad. But Daegan (being the little drama actor he has turned out to be) started doing this very exaggerated shivering just to be funny. Of course, that set off the babushka waiting beside us. I thought she would never get quiet. From this point on, they have to have their hats on or handy, or they (and we) will hear about it!


We will be leaving on Saturday for a conference in Prague until next Thursday. Please pray for safe travels, for good fellowship, and for spiritual growth for our whole family. We may be without email access during this time, so please be patient with us if we are slow in responding to any emails.

Thank you also for praying for Daegan. We did see the doctor on Monday, but he did not have the wart removed yet. He apparently has a slight flat-footedness, and they recommend that he have orthopedic insoles put in his shoes for a short period in order for the callous tissue around the wart to soften and to allow the wound to heal properly once they remove it. After he wears the insoles for some time, they will then remove the wart. We will have to wait until after our trip to Prague to get this done, so please continue to pray for his discomfort. We are trying some homemade means of relieving the pressure around the site, but it is still difficult for him with a lot of walking.

Please continue to pray for the distribution of the Bibles. Doyle and Mark have been out a few times, but they are finding a hard time catching people at home.

It looks like we will be having several volunteer teams in the spring and summer. Please pray now for the ministry that these people will be able to help with here and also for the organizing and planning (both here and there) that needs to be done beforehand.

Thank you all for your encouraging emails and comments. We LOVE to hear from you all! Don't forget you can skype us!!!! It's free!!!

Woe Unto Me!!!

I have said that so many times about poor little old me. Here in Moscow, so many times I drift into thoughts about how life is "supposed" to be for our family and the drifting turns into a thoughtful rant that goes something like this:

As the father, I "know" what my family needs and I even "know" what they want! After all, I know what happiness is! I've had the "happiness" as a line in an old Bryan Duncan song states..."a nice home, two cars, three kids and a wife". After all, the Russians aren't really unhappy. I mean these people were born here. They HAVE to live here. They can't miss what they don't even know about...can they?

As a parent, when those pitiful thoughts begin in me they usually immediately go toward the kids. I feel sorry for them because they are missing what they don't even know. For example, when we had boys, I just knew someday they were going to fulfill my dream by becoming professional baseball players. And, of course, I was going to coach them all along the way. This is the way life is supposed to be...right?

Then I am reminded of another great song by one of my favorite groups. Crossway sings a song called, "When I Hear the Thunder". I will tell you about the line in that song in just a minute. But when I am in the midst of my pity, God is seen most clearly by me. I hate that about me, but that's the way it is.

Not long ago, I was riding on the Metro with Daegan. As we get on, someone lets him have their seat because Russians love to cater to young, cute little kids. I always stand. They don't care too much for old, cute big kids. :)

So I am standing on the train and Daegan is sitting nearby as I scan the train. Here we go again. I'm looking at all the gloom. The people's faces just scream this gloomy fact at you. They are just staring straight ahead or looking down at the ground. Looking at nothing. No chance of a smile.

So there is the setting and I am starting to feel it. Pity is a comin' and it's running hard as ever. What am I doing here? This is crazy!!!

Poor Falyn.

Poor Daegan.

Poor Tristyn.

Poor Karen.

Poor ME!!!

At that very moment and with those thoughts, I realized that I looked exactly like them!!! They were seeing in me what I was seeing in them. Since the pity is now really strong, God must be a comin'.

At that moment I looked down the train at Daegan. There he was. Without even knowing it, being used by God to put his dad in his place once again. Daegan was sitting there with what seemed like the biggest smile in the world on his face as he was reading his Bible. What passage he was reading, I don't know. I didn't ask him then, and I didn't ask him later. I just remained still and learned from the "Good Teacher" once again. I didn't even know Daegan had that little Bible in his pocket.

Oh, I had my Bible with me also, but it was tucked nicely away in my bag. I wasn't even thinking about reading it. After all, I was in the middle of my "party".

As I stood there, I thought about that line from the Crossway song that I mentioned above. In the chorus, there is a line of thanks to God that says:

"You've had a thousand chances to change my circumstances. But thank you Lord...for changing me instead."

"Poor" me indeed.

A Few Prayer Requests

Thank you all for praying for Falyn and Tristyn and their retreat. They had a wonderful time! Tristyn even came home hoarse. They got to have Smores (we don't normally have Hershey bars nor marshmallows here) and played Capture the Flag (one of their favorites). They had some great time in the Word as well and even survived on Russian food for the weekend.


I wanted to update you all on praying for my friend, Natalia. She is my friend who brings her son, Sasha, to the baseball park on Wednesday evenings. She has opened up to me and shared that she has a bad marriage. She really wants a divorce, and her husband has told her that he does not want her and Sasha to visit our house (only because we are Americans). She has been studying English for a while and is reading books in English, so I shared with her my book, "Created to be His Help Meet." Though she is not a believer, I am praying that some of the Biblical principals of marriage in the book will speak to her. I am praying that if she can respond to her husband the way God wants wives to regardless of his behavior, that his heart will be changed. Please pray for this family. His name is Valodya. Also, now that the weather is worsening, baseball will soon be coming to an end. So, we will have to find some ways to continue this relationship without dishonoring her husband. Daegan has become very good friends with Sasha as well. They play all sorts of games, and how Daegan and he communicate, I don't know! Hopefully, Daegan is learning a little more Russian this way. This friendship has truly been an answer to prayer.


As I type this, Doyle is gone with Mark (another member of our team) to deliver some Bibles to people who have responded to invitations for free Bibles that we distributed in mailboxes in June. Please pray for those they encounter and share with today and for those times that those people sit and read the Word.


Please also pray for Daegan. It appears that he has a wart on his foot like Tristyn had last spring. I am waiting to get an appointment with the doctor we used before (a plastic surgeoun) who was really good. However, Daegan is very apprehensive about the procedure. We are also scheduled to leave October 20th to go to Prague for a week for a conference. Pray that his foot will heal quickly, so it will not hinder his travel. Right now, it is hurting him to walk on it.


Doyle has been part of a Friday night Bible study here with Mark, but the group is now splitting up. Many of the members are not believers, and the ones who are need more discipling. Mark and Doyle are planning now how to handle this group. They may possibly start some smaller groups raising up the believers to be leaders for those who are still not believers. Please pray for God's guidance in how Mark and Doyle can help this group and work toward a church plant.


Also, please pray for the leadership of Russia. The paper yesterday stated that Moscow is now experiencing a huge inflation of prices for food. Cheese alone is up 50% now. All of the staples, milk, butter, eggs, and bread have huge increases. It is already so difficult for the older population living in Moscow now with an income of maybe $100 a month. This is no doubt making their lives more difficult now. It is so easy for us to think about how this will affect us, but to think about how it will affect the Russians is really sad.

Thank you for continually praying for us!
Karen

What a Month!...or is that 7 weeks?

Tristyn and Daegan at Victory Park

Daegan and Nana inside the Kremlin

Nana and Papa with the kids on Red Square in front of St. Basil's Cathedral

Nana and Papa with the kids at Victory Park

Nana and Papa with Valentina (and Doyle)

Daegan shopping for a souvenir at the zoo

Falyn and Nana at the baseball park

The whole gang at Sparrow Hills (overlook of the city)

I guess this title could be the title of all our posts since that's about how long it is between writing each one. Thank you for being patient and understanding. You are being patient and understanding, aren't you?

Do you read many blogs? Doesn't it seem like that's a problem with a lot of people? They always start with an apology because it has been a while since they have updated. Of course, this wasn't a problem just a few years ago. Everyone would be thrilled to get a letter every month or two from their friends on the other side of the world. But now all we want to know is why someone hasn't posted on their blog in a month?

...or emailed in a week?

...or faxed since yesterday?

...or instant messaged since lunch?

...or text messaged since they went into the bathroom?

My mom will surely love that. I can hear her now: "Those stupid computers. They are just ruining people and making them just fly through life without enjoying it!"

...or something like that.

She will also add something about the seminaries ruining all the good preachers too.

Hi Mama! I love you!

By the way, my sister prints these posts out and carries them over to her, so she can read them. I didn't want you to think my mom pulled our blog up on her iPhone while she was at Starbucks.

Well, I was motivated to put everything (and I do mean everything!) aside for a few minutes to post for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have been asking Karen to do it for a few weeks now and she always acts like she is so busy. She mumbles something about homeschooling the kids, studying Russian, grading the kids papers, feeding all of us, blah, blah, blah...

: )

Secondly, I received an email from Lee Rushing today and his email prompted me to finally post. Thanks Lee!

Lee is a friend of mine. I love saying that. Lee Rushing is a friend of mine. Why? Well, he is an awesome evangelist who also attends our home church in Texas. He has a ministry called "Backpack Evangelism," and he just returned from what sounds like an awesome trip to Peru. When he tells me he spent many nights sleeping in a mosquito net hammock on a cargo boat on the river and he dug a water well by hand in another jungle village of about 100 people, I'm thinking my 5 mile walk to Bible study last night was a piece of cake. It's all relative isn't it?

I met Lee years ago at the homeschool convention, but he didn't remember that meeting. I guess I was behaving pretty well that day. I certainly remembered him. Anyway, several years later, here we are...best friends! Well, maybe not yet. But for now, I am proud to call this author my friend. That's right! I said author! Check out his site: http://www.backpackevangelism.com/ and order his book! I didn't ask Lee if I could say all of that. I hope it's okay?

Anyway, Lee emailed and began by expressing his regret for not having written in a few months. As I read that, I'm thinking to myself...me too bro.! Lee has been unbelievably busy! And when I think about how busy Karen and I are just trying to simply live here, we understand completely how things can be for all of you. Everyone is way too busy it seems! I am searching now to gather myself and check my priorities, and I encourage you to do that as well. We all have 24 hours in a day. No more and no less. What we do with that time is really the issue. Isn't it?

That was time well spent in Peru, Lee!!!

Please know that we talk about church and all of our family and friends everyday. Sincerely we do, and many of you by name. We pray for each of you in different ways as you share your needs and joys with us, and we know you are praying for us. And that is time well spent!

So let's all reprioritize! Are you ready?...

GO!

Okay, now that we got that done. Let's move on!

Anyway, we really do have a good excuse for the long delay in posting this time! -haha- Karen's parents were here for 3 weeks! They came just in time (and left just in time! - just kidding!) Wow, we had fun seeing them! Seeing them was fun for many reasons, but let me just say that Karen's mom made a cherry pie right away, and we ate it all right away! And Karen's dad and I had fun beating Karen and her mom at Dominoes every night. They will deny that, but the Lord knows.

We didn't get to watch a movie with them because if they sat still for 20 seconds, they fell asleep. No kidding! We would sit and watch them. 1, 2, 3, 4, ...18, 19, 20...and out! It was kind of weird! And loud. Jet lag took its toll on them for sure.

We were able to attend our friend Genady's church, the Russian church planter that was featured at the SBC this year, as well as see many of the historical things here in Moscow with them. The Kremlin, Red Square, St. Basil's, some historical museums, Victory Park, and of course their favorite...riding the Moscow Metro!

They also had some time to meet and visit with our language teacher. Valentina loved them! A few times, we would look over and see Karen's parents and Valentina talking to each other. That was funny! Of course, you should know that Valentina doesn't speak English, and Karen's parents do not speak Russian. They would "speak" to each other and then just start laughing and laughing! We didn't want to ruin those moments by actually translating for them.

We are enjoying our new area as we are making friends and inviting them over. We are anxious to see what God will do with our family in this new area. We are also working with a Bible study group, and we are looking to go to the next level with this small group. Pray for that work. We also have opened up our home for a once a month meeting of several different Russian groups to plan and work together as we all work to develop more groups that will prayerfully lead to new churches.

We are also still enjoying playing baseball in the park on Wednesday nights with about 15 - 20 Russian kids. We are particularly excited about one relationship that we have established here. As we continue to develop that relationship, please pray for Sasha and his mother Natalya. We are becoming more aware of how difficult it is here to simply become friends with someone. Natalya opened up to Karen this past week about the status of her marital relationship. We have invited their family over for dinner or at least for Natalya and Sasha to come play with the boys. She called today to say that she asked her husband, and she will not be able to come visit us. Please pray for this family as we seek to know how the Lord can use us in their lives.

Two of our team members, had a 3 person group from their church in New Mexico visit us for a week. It is always so much fun to share our testimonies with new friends and hear about the different churches as well. We always seem to be incessantly thanking each other. They are thanking us for serving, and we are thanking them for supporting us through giving and by coming. This is missions in action!

We also want to let you all know that we have discovered what we think is a new service at the post office. It appears that you can now mail an envelope to anywhere in the world for $11 as long as it doesn't weigh more than 4 pounds. Also, you can mail a box to anywhere in the world that weighs up to 20 pounds for $37. They have special envelopes and boxes at the post office for this and it's called Flat Rate Envelopes or Boxes. I know this is still quite expensive, and please know that we do not "need" anything. We are doing fine. All of our "needs" are really only "wants"...if you know what I mean. Some folks have expressed an interest in mailing us "little pieces of America" occasionally, and so this might be helpful to you. Also, we are now safely and relatively quickly receiving mail at our new physical address. Our new address is in the email we sent out today.

By the way, my mother said she had a sweet little girl run up to her at church and give her a few packages of Kool Aid that she wanted to "send to the missionaries in Russia". My mother sent them to us and, we had another "Christmas." When we received that Kool Aid the kids were laughing and yelling and tripping over each other to get to the kitchen to get it started! Because of that little girl, Daegan had a Kool Aid mustache for 2 weeks! I hope she received our thank you note. To make it seem even more like Christmas, there was also a pair of socks in there for me. Thanks, Mama!

Life is hard for all of us, isn't it? What makes ours enjoyable is that it's a "good tired" at the end of the day. You know what I mean? We didn't just spin our time away on meaningless efforts. Well, sometimes...but we try not to do that. We are truly excited about what God is going to do with our family and we are working toward that end.

Also, the kids are working so hard at homeschooling in less than "ideal" conditions and they have great attitudes about it! You all would be so proud of them. At the end of the day they are "good -n- tired". At the end of your day, do you experience a "good tired"? Or are you just "tired" as you dread the next day's labor?! Think about it and perhaps a reprioritization is due. After all, it's been 5 minutes since the last one!!!

We are so thankful for all of you and your prayers!

As you all know, our home church takes such good care of us in so many ways. When our camera got stolen right out of Karen's purse, they sent us a new one right away. WOW! It is a great camera and we wanted to share a few pictures with you from our visit with Karen's parents.

As soon as we can get the apartment "put together," we will share some pictures of our new home and our homeschool!

Praying Together!

Thank you all for faithfully praying for us. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty hopeless about the kitchen. After sending out our desperate cry for prayer, God has answered in a mighty way. On Monday, our landlord showed up with the long-awaited countertops to finish our kitchen along with two guys to install a satellite dish without us even asking for one. We now get Animal Planet! The kids are thrilled! Our landlord also decided that for our patience she would buy us a new (larger) refrigerator. She bought it and had it delivered also on Monday. Then, today, Tuesday, the men came to finish the kitchen. They left here at 11:00 pm, but praise God, we now have a kitchen! Isn't God amazing?! We love you all and just wanted you to know how much your prayers mean to us and how blessed we are to have prayer partners like you! May God bless you for praying for us!