Our Journey of Obedience

A Quick Catch Up

2007-12-14T00:29:00.000+03:00

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

2007-10-30T23:41:00.000+03:00

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

2007-10-30T23:33:00.001+03:00

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

2007-10-30T23:22:00.000+03:00

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

2007-10-30T23:15:00.000+03:00

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

2007-10-29T23:34:00.000+03:00

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!

2007-10-17T23:46:00.000+04:00

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!!!

2007-10-11T14:23:00.000+04:00

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

2007-10-11T11:37:00.000+04:00

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?

2007-09-21T14:13:00.000+04:00

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!

2007-07-31T23:56:00.000+04:00

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!

The Missing Kitchen Mystery

2007-07-28T22:20:00.000+04:00

We have now gone one month without a kitchen. It is getting REALLY frustrating. We are awaiting the delivery of the countertops and we have been promised many delivery dates now, but they still have not shown up. My parents are arriving on August 7th, and we really want to have a kitchen. Are we being selfish?

Please pray that things will work out and we will get a kitchen soon.

Thank you all for diligently praying! Recently, it seems like everyday there is a new challenge for our family.

Moving, Volunteers, and Injured Foot

2007-07-20T23:28:00.000+04:00

Okay, so we slipped a little in keeping up with our posts. We have been extraordinarily busy the last 5 weeks. Many things are spinning around in our lives, and so here is a brief update on a few things.

At the end of June, we found an apartment and moved. We actually saw the apartment on a Friday, and moved the next Thursday. It was a little crazy, but our team and the Focus students that we've had here were a huge help! Thank you all for praying consistently for our move. The apartment is wonderful and location is wonderful! We are so thankful for what God has blessed us with, but we are still not completely settled in. Our previous apartment was partially furnished by the owner, and this one was completely empty. In Russia, they don't build closets. You have to buy shkoffs to store things in and put your clothes in. We have a long way to go to get rid of all these boxes, but we are trying to be patient.

Also, the kitchen is not completed. We have lived here 3 weeks now with no kitchen! We have been told that all the materials are in now, and it will be completed next week. Praise God! We have been getting by with a hot plate, crockpot, and toaster oven. For now, the good news is that we have a HUGE "sink" to wash dishes in...it's called a bathtub - haha. We are so thankful for all we have been blessed with. Please pray with us for all to go well with the completion of the kitchen.

God answered our prayers by placing us in one of the regions in our district that had not previously been reached at all. We are very excited about the possibilities of ministry that await us here.

Just after moving in, Doyle was assembling a small desk when he dropped a sliding shelf (with metal slides on the sides) perpendicular directly on top of his foot. He blacked out when it happened, and we are pretty sure that he has at least a small fracture, but he didn't go to the doctor. He has been homebound for two weeks now with his foot, but it is getting better. The swelling is almost gone, but all of his toes are still purple. Trying to put a shoe on is just too painful still. Please pray for his continued recovery.

We were also excited to be part of the Reach Moscow With Prayer volunteer team that was here at the beginning of July. Though Doyle wasn't able to participate as much as he would have liked, the kids and I were part of a team to prayerwalk our new region where we live, named Hovrena. It was the first time to our knowledge that this region has been prayed for. We are so thankful for those who give up part of their summer to come help us in our ministry here.

The kids are all doing great. Most of their friends have gone away for the summer, but they have helped us so much at home and with the ministry this summer. The boys also enjoy playing right outside our building. We are only on the 5th floor now (as opposed to the 18th), so we can even hear them, and they can hear us holler (yes, I said "holler", we're from Texas afterall, and some things don't change no matter how long you're away). Please continue to pray for Russian friends for them.

Thank you so much for your prayers for our grocery shopping. We are now right across the street from a pretty nice store, though it is very expensive. However, we just learned a very nice new thing that is happening here. It was funny as we discovered it all during a Russian moment. It is directly across the street from us, and we almost walked right by it. Doyle said in Russian to our teacher to look over there, the sign says Gippermarket. (like a Supermarket). Doyle said maybe we can go in and check it out later. Our teacher said, let's check it out now. So we went in and although it was new, it was very small. Doyle told our teacher that this is not "super". She agreed. They had 8 or 10 computer terminals along the wall. So we began to speak with the lady working there asking her why it was called "super". We soon found out that it was a type of "storefront". The best way to describe it is you can go into that location, or even from your computer at home, you can order anything that you can purchase at Ashawn. (Ashawn is kind of like a Russian Walmart, but not really). You can order what you want online, and they deliver it either to that store location or straight to your door the next day! (And that is our actual apartment door on the 5th floor). No matter what you order, the delivery charge is about $3. The prices are so much cheaper there also. We have done it once so far. It was odd to look on our computer, click on bread, milk, chicken, juice, and toothpaste and have it all show up at our apartment door the next morning at 10:30. Weird! Maybe this is going on in the States now, but we thought this was awesome!

We are anxiously awaiting my parents arrival on August 7th. The kids keep adding things daily to the list of "Tell Nana and Papa to bring _______". Seriously, we are very excited about seeing them! They have now received their VISAS to come over, and everything is good to go.

Please also continue to pray for Natalia. She is the mom that I met at our Wednesday night baseball in the park. She is not a believer, but she shows so much interest. Her family is now gone out of the city for almost the rest of the summer, but just before they left, she came to the park one night just to talk with me when her son didn't come to play. She wants to get back in touch when she returns. And, get this, she lives just around the corner from where our apartment is now!

We love you all, and we can't wait to hear from you all. Please let us know how you all are doing!

Fletcher Family Forest Day

2007-06-18T22:18:00.000+04:00

Falyn and Tristyn peacefully watching the water flow.

Daegan doing what he does best...peacefully ruling over the bugs!

Daegan peacefully throwing a centipede on Tristyn!

We recently took a stroll out behind our apartment building to what our family calls "the forest". It is peaceful out there and we had a good time together.

The Former Soviet Union at the SBC

2007-06-18T21:44:00.000+04:00

WOW! That headline looks strange doesn't it? Can you imagine seeing that only a few years ago? It still seems strange that we are living and working here when I stop long enough to think about it.

As you may know, at this years SBC meeting the former Soviet Union was given some extra attention and our team leader actually got to address the convention. Brad Stamey did a great job representing the region, the city of Moscow, and our team - The Co-Laborers.

Please click on the link below and then scroll down and click on "The International Mission Board Presentation" link to see the video. In the video, you will see a very good presentation featuring many of the Russians we are working with and also a story about our friend, Genady. He is leading one of the church plants now and his story will touch your heart and perhaps give you a glimpse into what God has already done and what He is going to do here in Moscow Russia.

Enjoy!

http://viewers.316networks.com/viewer/odcroundup.aspx?MsoID=3000005&NetworkID=3001187&CategoryID=1001258&action=DISPLAYODC

If the above link does not work:
1. Go to www.sbc.net
2. Click on the link to "view the video archives of the Annual Meeting"
3. Click on the link to "View 2007 Annual Meeting"
4. Click on the "Archived Programs" link
5. Click on "Tuesday Evening"
6. Scroll down and click on "International Mission Board Presentation"

The Focus Team

2007-06-18T20:39:00.000+04:00

Pictured from L to R: Dan, Ed, David,
Neil (seated), Kameron, Peyton, Mark

The above picture is three of our team members (Dan, Peyton, and Mark) with the four guys from New Mexico State University and Focus International that are here for the summer to work with our team. Neil is playing the guitar, David and Kameron are in the middle directly behind Neil, and Ed is at the back left. These seven guys sang two songs during the first ever combined worship service between two of the regions that our team is engaged in the Northern District. It was a first step in what may be a new strategy for our team as we enjoyed a time of worship and encouragement together.

Pray for these four guys. While many of their friends are no doubt doing a variety of things of their choosing this summer, these guys have made a decision to spend their summer (after a long year of studying) living in a very tough place and working with Russian students.

Southern Baptist Have Really Done It This Time

2007-06-15T19:42:00.001+04:00

Here we go again! It's always discussed in Baptist circles. Sometimes the matter is debated in many church business meetings. Sometimes that debate would become heated as many different people would have many different ideas about the matter.

But at the end of the day, it would always be settled with grace toward all and Southern Baptist just keep coming through...and this year you all did it at a record pace!

Of course, you know I'm talking about the 2006 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to support missionaries around the world.

Do you know what you all gave in the 2006 LMCO? Do you have any idea? Go ahead, guess!

Did you guess? No?

Then stop and guess!

You got it?

We asked our kids what they thought. One quickly said 50,000 dollars! Another one corrected what he called a "silly" guess by stating matter of factly that is was probably over 100,000 dollars! Another one corrected both of them by proudly stating they didn't know what they were talking about and that it was probably closer to a million dollars!

And then we told them...

$150,178,098.06

Can you read that number? It's difficult isn't it? Let me help you...

150 MILLION
178 THOUSAND
98 DOLLARS
and
6 CENTS

That is a RECORD!!!

So many people are distracted with all the many political manueverings within the SBC. Sometimes I fear that some things will be left undone...or even forgotten. However, I am once again reminded that while many people will always "major in the minors", the real work continues and is supported faithfully by all of you in the trenches with us. You are all AWESOME!!!

When we told our children the actual figure, they couldn't believe that our family required that much to live here!

-haha-

Thank you all and please pass this on to your church members.

The Fletcher Family in Moscow Russia

At Work this Week

2007-06-09T01:31:00.000+04:00

Thank you all for your faithful prayers for our ministry this week with the volunteer team from New Orleans Seminary. I think we wore them out! Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, we believe we distributed around 9,000 invitations into mailboxes for free Bibles. We divided up into smaller groups and hit different parts of the region. Falyn and another MK enjoyed being hooked up with a younger girl from the seminary. They had a lot of fun with her. On Wednesday, Tristyn was with another MK boy, a translator, one of our new journeymen, Dan, and one of the volunteers. They tried to take a bus to their assigned area, but only the translator, Tristyn, and the other MK were able to get on the bus. After being separated, Dan learned that the bus they got on goes out of the city quite a distance without stopping. Thankfully, Tristyn called us from his cell phone, and we were able to get the translator to talk the driver into stopping and letting them off. They got hooked back up with their team and got to work. We are so thankful that they were on with the Russian translator! Daegan enjoyed doing his part as well. We had to wait outside apartment entrances for someone to go in or come out in order to get in where the mailboxes were. Daegan was quick to catch the doors so we could get in. He also enjoyed putting the cards in the bottom rows of mailboxes.

On Wednesday evening after the distribution, we took the volunteers to play baseball in the park with the Russian kids. We had some kids show up, and we hope to have more next week. Doyle enjoyed interacting with these guys, and he especially liked getting to throw the ball around again. I met a lady and her son near the field and invited them to join us. They left and came back about 30 minutes later with her friend and her mother. Her son, who is 9, had never played baseball before. He had only seen it on TV. He jumped right in and had a great time. Meanwhile, I had a wonderful conversation with the ladies. They are not believers, but they are very open to hearing about our ministry. The mom gave me her phone number and took mine. She even called me tonight to invite me to an English conversation group. They said they will be back next Wednesday. Every week when we do the baseball in the park, we will present the Gospel, but we did not openly share this first time. Please pray for Natalia and her son Sasha, Galena, and Tamara Vladimirnova. I hope to continue to develop a relationship with these ladies.

Please continue to pray for our apartment hunting. There have been no leads for quite some time, but we know that God knows the perfect place and time.

Thank you, once again, for faithfully praying for our family and our ministry.

Endings and Beginnings

2007-06-04T23:56:00.000+04:00

Our New Team - Doyle, Karen, Daegan, Falyn, Tristyn, Peyton, Dan, Drew, Mark Sprinkle (in back), Brad, Lori, Mark, and Ben

Wow! The past two weeks have been unbelievably full for our family. We have had some wonderful family moments, emotional school moments, and blessed ministry opportunities.

I was able to share my testimony in Russian at church a few weeks ago. It was about 8 minutes memorized. It was quite a challenge, but the biggest challenge was just getting up in front of the people to speak in Russian. The Lord helped me through it, and I made it through without freezing up! Another praise that Sunday came when a women who had been coming to our church services came before the church during fellowship time and repented. Please pray for Olga as she begins her walk with the Lord.

The language prayers have been answered. Doyle and I have both passed our language levels to complete full time language study. We are continuing to study part time, but we are also looking forward to more ministry opportunites. We still have so far to go! Please continue to pray for our language to develop so that we may be able to share with the people the message of salvation.

The kids have finished school. Yeah! It was busy last week. The boys started out the week with field day, while Falyn had exams all week. They had awards chapels also. Among their awards, Daegan received one award for the character trait of flexibility. I guess that makes sense since he has adjusted to the move to Russia better than anyone. Tristyn received one award for being a special helper behind the scenes. Falyn received one for her hard studies in Russian language. Daegan also celebrated his birthday with his classmates. I can't believe my baby is nine years old now! Tristyn had fifth grade promotion, which was a really nice service. His teacher called each student forward and honored them with a special nickname and legacy. The kids all had their class parties on the last day of school, and it was a little bittersweet. Almost all of their friends will be away for the summer, and some of their friends are leaving permanently. It is tough for MKs to always be making new friends and always saying goodbye. Please pray for special relationships for Falyn, Tristyn, and Daegan to develop over the summer. We pray for Russian friends for them as well.

Our four summer students have arrived to work with our team for the next 7 weeks. We worked all afternoon yesterday after church with them stuffing envelopes for Bible distributions. They seem like a wonderful group of guys, and the kids are excited to have them here. Dan and Peyton, our newest members to the team, have settled in. They add a lot of fun and energy to our team, and the kids are having a great time with them also. We have said goodbye to the Stamey family for now. They are now in America and being reunited with their families after serving their second four year term in Moscow. I don't know how we would have made it this far without Brad and Lori. Lori picked us up from the airport when it was 40 degrees below zero, and they have mentored us all along the way. Please pray for their transition and for Brad as he prepares to do seminary work. Also, Brad will be attending the SBC conference in San Antonio. If any of you will be there, Brad will be featured in some of the media clips along with one of our national church planters, Genady, from the Golovinsky Church. Central and Eastern Europe will be highlighted at the conference, so if you are able to be there, you will hear a lot about the work going on in Russia now.

We have a small team of volunteers that arrived today from New Orleans seminary. We will be meeting up with this group tomorrow to distribute invitations for free Bibles in apartment mailboxes. We will continue this on Wednesday as well in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow. We hope to distribute around 10,000 of these invitations. They are designed so that whoever receives them can return the card for a free Bible. The Bible is then hand-delivered to the person to share with him. The kids are excited to be involved in the ministry, and they worked hard stuffing, sealing, and stamping the envelopes. Please pray for those receiving these invitations on Tuesday and Wednesday. We will also be using this team to play some baseball in one of the big parks Wednesday evening with the Russian children. Please pray for God to send the kids and their parents to play with us and hear the message that is presented.

We still have no apartment to move to for now. Please continue to pray that God will show us undoubtedly where He wants us to be, and He will open the right doors at the right time.

Thank you all once again for your continual prayers! We know and feel all the prayers covering us! Have a blessed week!

A Reminder

2007-05-21T22:17:00.000+04:00

The apartment hunting seems to be at a standstill for now. There simply have been no apartments the size we need in the region we need available for viewing. God knows just the right apartment and timing, though. Thank you for your prayers. We know that because you are praying, we have been able to rely on God for his timing and have not worried over it. Please keep praying.

Thank you for praying for our language teacher, Valentina. I occasionally send home some extra leftovers for her to have for dinner. A few days ago, she shared with me that because she didn't have to prepare anything, she simply heated the food I gave her, and sat and read her Bible while she ate. Please continue to pray for her understanding and repentance.

Continue to pray for Igor. We have received word that he is closer to repentance, but there is still a spiritual battle going on.

Dan and Peyton arrived safely this evening in Moscow. We look forward to meeting with them and our entire team together on Wednesday. Thank you for praying for their safe travel.

Falyn had an orthodontist appointment today and heard great news. First of all, she will get her top braces on next month (which she is very excited about). And, after further x-rays and watching how well her teeth have moved from the headgear (a certain answer to all the prayers on her behalf), the orthodontist is not going to recommend her wisdom teeth extractions until AFTER she gets her braces off. She was REALLY excited about that news.

Last Friday I experienced an important reminder of why God sent us to Russia. Doyle and I attended Tristyn's class field trip to the planetarium and afterwards took the class to McDonald's. Although I am always cautious, I apparently let my guard down for a second when ordering food for the kids, and my camera was stolen from inside my purse. This was the camera that Doyle and I bought for each other for Christmas before we left the States, and it was so disappointing. However, our motto is "It could always be worse." They didn't get my wallet nor passport. So we won't be posting any pictures anytime soon. Tonight, Tristyn was very bothered by this. He couldn't understand why someone would do such an aweful thing. I had to remind him that there is a difference between the lost and the saved, and the lost just think and act differently than we do. And that is why we were sent here -- for those lost in Russia. We are praying that the person will be curious enough to see who he stole from and will view all the pictures of the kids and other activities stored on it. (They had a Russian chapel program that morning at school where I took pictures, and I took many of the group on the field trip.) Doyle said it would be awesome if they were convicted by the pictures...and then they looked us up and returned the camera.

I will be sharing my testimony in Russian at our church service this Sunday. I have memorized about 1/3 of it now. It will also be recorded for my language evaluation to complete my full-time term of study. Please pray that I will get it down and not be nervous when presenting it. Pray that God will work through me to touch someone who attends that day.

Doyle is also studying very hard and he has his next evaluation in a week. Please pray for his studying as well.

Nine days of school left! Falyn will have exams next week (Tuesday-Thursday). Please pray for her to be prepared, rested, and healthy.

Don't forget -- Daegan turns 9 on June 1st!

Apartment Hunting

2007-05-09T01:33:00.000+04:00

We are finding the apartment hunting scene quite interesting here in Moscow. Last Friday we were able to see our first apartment. We had to make a decision by the next morning, and after much prayer and discussion, we decided to take it. If you know how Doyle is with shopping for things and how he analyzes everything, it was a long night of discussion. Doyle and I left right after seeing the apartment to go to a church-planting conference (in Russian) outside the city. When we returned home Sunday night, we found out that we lost the apartment to another family that had looked at it before us. Our agent, however, had another apartment for us to see. By the next evening, that apartment fell through, but we had another one to see. On Tuesday, we went to see this apartment. Though it was quite a long walk from the Metro, when we reached the building, we were encouraged that it was a new building. However, the apartment turned out to be really weird! It actually had no kitchen (just a little corridor kitchen with two burners - no oven- and a dorm-style fridge). Even more interesting was that one of the bedrooms had a shower stall in the corner. Needless to say, it was easy to say no to this one. However, we are being told that there just aren't any apartments available for us in the area we need right now. Please keep praying for our apartment searching.

Also, please pray for our language teacher, Valentina. Her mother-in-law passed away last Wednesday. Her husband died 11 years ago, and she has solely cared for her mother-in-law for the past 3 years. Pray that we can be a spiritual encouragement for her and that God will use us to speak to Valentina right now.

Also, please pray for the Stamey family (our team leaders). Brad lost his grandmother (last grandparent) on Friday. They are returning to the States in 4 weeks and hoped to make it back before she passed away. She was a believer, but please pray for Brad and his father for their loss.

A few praises... the church-planting conference went well. We understood most of what was presented and are excited about growing in our ministry here. We found out on Thursday that a man and his wife repented on Thursday at the Bible study at the social center that one of our Russian partners leads. The man was 78 years old! Also, Dan and Peyton (our new team members) have their paperwork and will arrive here on May 21st.

If you are keeping up with us with the 90 days of prayer, Tuesday is prayer for the people of Chelyabinsk and Wednesday is prayer for Chita.

Catching Up

2007-04-29T23:20:00.000+04:00

Falyn with the AGM youth (she's 4th from the right on the bottom row)

Daegan at AGM with a Twinkie!

Tristyn with some buddies at AGM

Our White Easter

Our chubby-cheeked girl as a toddler

Our beautiful teenager!

We have talked for quite some time now of updating our blog, but it has just been so hard to find the time. Then Doyle looked at it one night and said the last post began with "Winter is Here" with a picture of our Christmas tree. We got a good laugh and decided we HAD to update. So this may be a lengthy post with a lot of catching up to do.

First of all, a few quick PRAISES:

Falyn's dental work is going well. They will check x-rays again in May to see how the wisdom teeth are doing and decide when to extract them. She is still wearing her head gear at night and doing well with that, and she will likely get her top braces on in June.
I mentioned before the Golovinsky Church that our team helped start. They are now expanding with 3 new home groups. One lady, Natasha, at one of the new home groups recently repented in spite of her husband telling her he would beat her if she did. He has not caused her any problems and is coming to the group and asking questions himself. Please pray for this man, Igor, to also come to repentance.
Grocery shopping has been better. We have decided to go periodically to Ashan (a huge grocery store, similar in some ways to WalMart, but SUPER crowded and busy) and stock up on basic things and just use a taxi to transport it all home. It has helped cut down on the number of local trips and the load of those local trips to the nearby stores.

Now to sum up the past few months...

The mother church that our team works through is called, in English, Good News Church. In March they had their annual mission service. The whole service is focused on missions and encouraging their congregation to reach out and help spread the Gospel. The two church plants, Golovinsky and Timi groups, were recognized and shared a little of their progress. They also recognized the American missionaries during the service as well. There were several people who responded with offers of helping with new groups, prayer groups, and possibly opening their apartments for studies. Having a place to meet has been a huge obstacle for home groups here. Please pray for more people to open their homes and be willing to invite unbelievers that they know to attend.

At the beginning of April, we were blessed once again to attend our region's Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Poland. Though it was a little cooler than the summer trip last year, the scenery was still much more natural and beautiful than the big city of Moscow. I cannot with words reveal to you how moving it is to meet everyday for a week in a conference room with other English-speaking believers and worship the Father in English once again together. It was so moving and so refreshing. Scott Patty from Grace Community Church in Nashville (yes, that's the same name as our home church in Magnolia, Texas) was once again incredible at leading us through God's Word, this time through Colossians, as we studied the meaning of being rooted in Christ. Every year at AGM we have a Lottie Moon auction with items brought over from the States by volunteers. It is amazing to see what some people will pay for a Dr. Pepper (I'm not saying who!). The auction this year for our half of the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region brought in $38,000! Praise God! The kids all had a wonderful time at AGM. The boys were able to participate in VBS there with volunteers and had a wonderful experience. At the end of the week each year, the kids put on a musical. I don't know how that music teacher, Miss Cindy, pulls it off in one week, but it is incredible. To some of your surprise, Daegan has become a bit of ham lately (can't imagine where that comes from). During one song of the program, he broke loose in quite a dance. Let's just say he was grooving! He loved the laughter it produced. Tristyn made a few new friends there also. They especially enjoyed time at the indoor waterpark. Falyn was able to be part of the youth this year. We were skeptical a little of the separation from us, but we had full confidence in the leaders. Bruce and Connie Northam have volunteered as youth leaders at AGM for many years, and Doyle and his family have grown up knowing the Northams (also from Houston) from singing. We had also heard incredible things about the other leaders, Kenny and Teri Pope, from Georgia. As it turned out, Falyn's room was just down the hall from ours, and we made contact often. She had a great time and really enjoyed her worship time as well. They all also enjoyed some American snacks brought in by the volunteers.

Have you ever heard of a White Easter? Well, all of our snow had been gone for quite some time, and everyone had been saying spring was here. But when we returned from Poland, it snowed that night and covered everything white once more. It quickly melted off, and we still get some flurries from time to time, but winter's gone. We are running temperatures in the 40's now. We celebrated Easter with the Timi group who met for corporate worship that day. It was a small group, but it was special nonetheless.

We have been struck by quite a few illnesses over the past few months, but God has sustained us. Falyn has struggled for quite some time with strep throat. They are documenting her cases now to keep track of the frequency. So far, they have documented 5 cases since last August. We are due to go back to follow up with her regular doctor in another week and see what she thinks about the frequency. We don't necessarily want her tonsils out, but we also don't want her to be on antibiotics half the year. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and for us as we make decisions about her health.

Falyn was recently surprised to receive a very special gift in the mail. When we lived in the States, Falyn was part of a group called Keepers of the Faith. This was a group of homeschool girls and their moms who met together. Each of the girls in the group created a quilted square with a Bible verse for Falyn, and then they quilted it all together to create a beautiful quilt that Falyn will always cherish. It was so special for her to see her friends supporting her commitment to mission service and letting her know that they haven't forgotten her. Thank you to all of you precious girls and Godly mothers that helped create this, and thank you, Susan, for heading up that incredible group!

Last week, Falyn had her 13th birthday party. She turned 13 years old on April 26th. I can't believe I have a teenager! Where did my little chubby faced, chubby thighed little girl go? Falyn decided to combine her party with her friend, Nadia from Australia. They planned a "Spa Nite" theme. They did manicures in one room, hair and make-up in another, facials in the bathroom, and dressed up in another. They really had a lot of fun! It was an overall success, with the exception of the small fire that started when some sponge rollers were set next the candle on Falyn's desk. The fire was put out, and the party continued. No matter how old they get, I am still exhausted when it's all over!

My parents are coming! Yes, in August my parents are planning to come visit for a few weeks. We are all so excited! They have completed their paperwork now. Please pray that it all gets processed smoothly with no problems. It is so hard to believe that it has been almost a year and a half since we have seen any of our friends or family. (Feel free to start planning your own trip over here anytime!) We miss you all so much!

We are still awaiting the arrival of Dan and Peyton, our two journeymen that are joining our team. They have had some delays in paperwork (as usual), so we hope to see them sometime in May. They will be concentrating on student ministries with our team. Please pray for their safe travel and smooth departures.

Also, the Stamey family is making preparations to return home for a year of stateside time. They will be leaving us in June. Please pray for their preparations as well.

We will also be working with a few volunteer teams coming this summer. In May, we will have the summer students from New Mexico again (the Focus team) here. This summer we will only have 4 guys, but we are excited to have them. We plan on playing baseball one night a week in the park with the Russians. Another group is coming from New Orleans from the seminary in June for a week. We will be doing some Bible invitation distribution, some prayer walking, and probably some evangelical dinners with unbelievers with them. And in July, we will have Reach Moscow With Prayer once again. We will be working with part of that group doing some distribution and prayerwalking as well. Please be praying for each of these ministry opportunities and for those volunteering their time, money, and energy to come labor with us.

Please continue to pray for our language studies. We are pressing on. Just to give you an example of how difficult this language is, I think there are something like 23 or so ways to say "go." Yes, in English, it is simply go (with a just a few variations). But in Russian, it changes depending on if you are coming, going, you go like this often, everyday, never, or just once, you stopped along the way while you were going, if you are male, female, more than one person, etc., whether you are going up to a place, into a place, through a place, by a place, across a place, etc. Get the point? We need prayer! Doyle has recently expressed a huge frustration that even though he can speak and manage in public and have a somewhat normal conversation, he can't share Christ in words just yet. That kind of language is so much deeper than our knowledge base right now. He has such a passion for evangelism, and it has been so long since he has been able to share that passion with an unbeliever. Please pray for divine intervention and wisdom if God presents a situation. We know that it is not our words or our ability that brings someone to Christ, but we want to walk in obedience (as our blog title suggests). We know that God can use our inability to bring about what He wants. Please pray that He will increase our understanding of this incredibly difficult language in a supernatural way, so that we can begin further work and ministry here.

Please also pray that despite all the distractions we encounter, that we will all (including our kids) spend time with Him in His Word daily. If anyone has any suggestions for independent daily devotions for kids and teens, please let me know. I am searching for some new material to help guide them during their quiet times.

Please also continue praying for our new apartment and move. We have submitted a general region that we have requested to move to, and we are just waiting for our contact person to find something. We pray that God will provide neighbors with children so that our children can make Russian friends and increase their language, and we pray for neighbors that we can share with. We pray for an area that is appealing for the kids, with a park or playground nearby, and for convenience to grocery shopping areas. We pray that He gives us an owner that is easy to work with, as we have had here.

Please pray for the kids as they finish up their last few weeks of school. We are so looking forward to homeschooling next year. We feel very blessed that while we were not able to homeschool, the kids did have a Christian school to attend with incredible teachers! Praise God for those teachers who devote their time in service by coming here to teach our MKs. The kids have projects and tests all coming upon us. Please pray that these last few weeks would not get stressful, but they can enjoy their final times there. Also, pray for the goodbyes that they will once again have to say to friends returning home either for short term or permanently. Our lives now are a time of constantly saying goodbye, and it is especially hard for the kids. Please pray that God will bring a special close friend into Falyn's life that can be a steady close friend for her.

As you may or may not know, the Central and Eastern Europe region (which we are in) has been given extra focus by the IMB for the year 2007. We have a website for the CEE region specifically which is www.hope4cee.org. We also have a new website specifically for Russia which is www.hope4russia.org. Please take time to see what work is going on here and what work is still needed to be done and how you may be able to better pray for the people of the CEE region. Also, in our Russia Field, we are focusing on a revolving 90 days of prayer, in which each day is focused on a specific region and unreached people group. Our team has committed to beginning this 90 days of prayer on May 1st. If you would like to join us in this committment, feel free to comment or email to let us know you are participating and praying with us during these 90 days. You may go to the hope4russia site and click on the link for 90 Days of Prayer to see the information for each people group and which day to pray for them. There are other links with some media clips there as well.

Thank you all once again for faithfully praying for our family and ministry. Please stay in touch with us as well. We love receiving updates and pictures of your families as well! Please share with us your prayer needs also. We thank you all for partnering with us in Russia! Please check back with us soon. We hope to be much better at more frequent posts now (and shorter ones!).

Winter is Here!

2007-01-29T11:15:00.000+03:00

Tristyn's snow angel

Isn't she tall?
Daegan's tunnel
The attack on Dad Tristyn is armed!

Okay, after much waiting for snow, we finally have winter in Moscow. The temperatures are running in single digits with it getting down to about 5 below zero at night. We have had a lot of snow over the past week, and it is now here to stay. The kids are excited to finally play in the snow, and by play, I mean bury themselves. We haven't been able to go sledding yet, but hopefully we will before too long.

This has been an exciting week for us. It started out with Christmas packages from our church family. We knew they were coming and we have enjoyed everything so much. See our tree above. We are especially excited that we received some new family games to play, since we love playing games with the kids. The treats from you all like the Velveeta and candy just make everyone full of joy and laughter around here. Thank you all for those wonderful blessings.

We also celebrated Tristyn's 11th birthday this week. He had 3 boys spend the night and go bowling. They ate a lot, played a lot, and had a great time. Tristyn is such a blessing. He is always thinking and analyzing (who does that remind you of?). He has recently shared with us that he is searching for what God wants him to do with his life. We tried to assure him that God is okay with him playing and learning right now. He has a long time to figure out those things.

Language study is coming along. I have completed my fifth language exam, with one more next month to finish full-time language. I will then study 3 days a week. Doyle has his fifth exam this month and should finish full-time in May. Little by little, we are making progress. We are actually able to follow along during church services a little more. We can make it through the first two hours, but after that, the third hour is still a blur. It is encouraging to understand at least some of the service now. And the kids are trying to follow along with the songs, even if they don't understand completely what they are singing.

The church that we are currently going to is the Golovinsky church that our team started. They are a small group of believers (averaging 25 or so on Sundays) who have now moved forward with renting a small hall on Sunday mornings for worship. The funny thing is that at the back of this hall is another door leading to a veterinarian clinic. You have to come into one door of the hall and walk all the way through to get to the clinic. So, during worship services, frequently people are walking through with dogs on leashes or cats meowing. A few weeks ago, there was a man waiting at the back of the room for his turn to go in with an Irish Setter, whom he had removed the leash. During the Bible lesson, the dog simply strolled up the center aisle. But the most interesting part that Sunday was when 4 adults carried a big black furry dog (about 5 feet long) out. Whether the dog was drugged, dead, or what we don't know, but it was a little distracting to say the least. Oh well, as we now say...Eta zsheezen! (That's life!)

We are still praying about our move this summer. Another family here had a little trouble finding an apartment. It seems the prices have grown incredibly and much over our budgeted amount. We know that as we are praying now for an apartment this summer, God is working out the details.

Falyn did come through her first mouth procedure, the frenectomy, well. Although she lost a lot of sleep anticipating her wisdom teeth extractions on Friday, and much to our frustration, she still has them. We are getting conflicting information from the dentist, so we will wait until the middle of February when the orthodontist is back in the country and the two of them can confer. Thank you so much for your prayers for her during this frustrating time. Doyle's elbow has been a struggle. He did get the cortizone shot, but he did not respond as he had done before. He had a bad bruise this time and stinging for over a week. Now, after several weeks, it is almost hurting just like before the shot. We really aren't sure what to do about it. He needs to have physical therapy, but he will not be able to do that until at least May.

Though it may seem strange to mention this as a prayer request, buying groceries has been much more difficult lately. Our grocery store near our apartment closed, which means we have been having to travel by Metro two or three stops away to buy groceries, then carry them all the way home. Imagine after buying your groceries, carrying all those bags (hoping none of them bust) downstairs, onto a crowded subway, back upstairs (don't forget the glass doors you have to manage to open), and then walk only a short distance home (but it's 5 degrees!). Actually, the cold is the best part because you are pretty much sweating at that point!

Prayer Needs:

Falyn's dental issues
Doyle's elbow
Apartment and moving
Grocery shopping
Language study
Doyle and Daegan illness this week

Prayer Requests

2007-01-13T11:10:00.000+03:00

This week has been a good week. Thankfully, the kids went back to school with no problem. The homework load hasn't been too bad this week either. Our language lessons have gone well also. Thank you all for your continued prayers!

We would like to share a few prayer needs for this week:

As you may know, Falyn has begun some orthodontic work. Last month she had an expander put in which we had to turn every night for a month and caused her some pain. Our next step is this week. She will be going Thursday to have her 6 wisdom teeth (yes, 6!) cut out. She will also at the same time have a procedure done where they cut the skin above the two front top teeth. They will only use local anesthetic for these procedures. Please pray for the procedure and for her recovery. She will be going in next month for the top braces and head gear after this heals.
As we've mentioned before, we have two new journeymen, Dan and Payton, who will be joining our team in April. They are preparing now to leave for their seven week orientation in Virginia as we did. Please pray for these two men as they make preparations to leave home and begin their journeys of obedience in Moscow with us.
We are beginning to look at areas in the northern district for our move. We are praying now for the Lord's guidance in moving to an area where there is no church plant and possibly beginning something new there or moving into an area near a current church plant and working with that group for now. Please help us pray for the Lord to lead us where He wants us to be and begin the work He wants us to do.
I completed my language exam this week. Doyle and I will both have one next month. Then I will drop to part time language while Doyle will continue full time until May. We are working hard to memorize Scripture in Russian. Doyle led a small part of the Thursday night Bible study in English (with translation) with some Russian thrown in. He feels very frustrated that he cannot share the Bible and his heart because of the language barrier. He desperately wants to learn so that he can share without any hindrances. Please pray that we can understand new language concepts, remember our grammar, remember new words, and speak with correct pronunciation as we continue this part of our journey.
Doyle needs prayer for his elbow. It is really getting bad. He truly needs some physical therapy after the shot for the correct healing to begin. It is so hard to sacrifice that much time with full time language, ministry, and family needs. Please pray that God will make a way for Doyle to properly care for his elbow so that it can heal. Also, the cortisone shot that he gets is very painful, and he experiences a great deal of pain for several days afterwards. ***Update: This morning (Sunday) he could not attend church due to the pain and we now have moved up the doctor visit for tomorrow (Monday) per Doyle's request. If you know Doyle and doctors, this should tell you how severe the pain is.
Daegan is having some problems with some relationships at school. Please pray that he will develop good relationships with some of the boys there.
Continue to pray for the work of the co-laborers team.
Continue to pray for a meeting place for the Timi group.
Continue to pray for those who recently watched the Jesus film with the Golovinsky group.

Thank you all for the emails and comments that help to know that you are there faithfully praying for us and the work here. Every word we receive is encouraging and makes the journey easier. And, thank you for all of you who send us your requests as well. We are praying for you all as well. We pray God's blessings for all of you!

What a Blessed New Year

2007-01-08T21:30:00.000+03:00

MK Beauties

Candelight Nativity

Daegan on the train to Kiev

Fletchers in Kiev

Making Christmas cookies

Kids' shuttle bus to school

Tristyn playing hand chimes

Daegan as Sargent Sam Star

What a truly blessed new year this has been already for our family. A few days ago, Daegan prayed to receive Christ! We rejoice in this as we know you will also. He has been showing such a hunger for God’s Word now reading every day and asking many great questions. We are thankful that God has worked in Daegan’s heart and that He has brought him from death to life!!! What a wonderful beginning to a new year and a new life for Daegan!

Before the holidays, the kids all had Christmas programs at school. Falyn’s choir sang some Christmas songs, Tristyn’s class played hand chimes, and Daegan had a lead part in a program where the kids were all stars. They all did GREAT!

We have so enjoyed having our kids home for their three-week long winter break. Though we did not have enough snow for sledding, we had some wonderful family times just playing games together and fellowshipping together (with no homework!).

Our Christmas was quite different this year, but we are learning to start some new traditions here. For those of you who know us well and know our infamous tradition of Christmas cookie-making, yes, we did continue that tradition. There is no way Falyn (and Doyle) would let that one slip by. Thanks to my mom and our wonderful GCC family, we had colored frosting and sprinkles galore to decorate them. It was a little more challenging finding room to lay out all the cookies in this kitchen, but we made do, and they were just like home!

We missed having a real Christmas tree, but we are so thankful that the family that lived in our apartment before us left us an artificial one (thank you, VanKirks!). Falyn was a little skeptical (she is so headstrong about family traditions), but once we got it all together, she said that it didn’t look as fake as she thought it would. We had to buy ornaments and decorations, so we went shopping altogether. I let the kids (and Doyle) pick out whatever they wanted. Doyle said, “You mean, it doesn’t have to be all color-coordinated?” And I said no (he was shocked). We didn’t realize how much we would miss all the same decorations we put out every year (especially our nativity), but we will add a little more every year.

We had an absolutely wonderful Christmas! Thanks to our GCC family, our kids had what they called “the best Christmas ever!” We had our traditional family Christmas on Christmas morning, then in the afternoon we went to the Stameys with another missionary family for dinner and games. We did a white elephant gift exchange, and the kids thought that was so much fun. Tristyn treasured a coffee mug with a few packets of hot chocolate in it, and no one could dare take it from him. We also came home with the highly treasured package of candy canes. The kids did a nativity candlelight drama. As the Christmas story was read with singing throughout, different kids lit different shaped candles to represent the parts of the story (angels, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, Jesus, etc.). With the lights out, it was a very moving drama. Daegan and Tristyn especially enjoyed getting to actually light a match. When we arrived home, we were able to talk to all of our families back home on skype. We so wished we were there, but we made it through. The day after Christmas, we visited with another missionary family and had a great time as well. The rest of our holidays, the kids just wanted to stay home and play. So play we did (with a little bit of language lessons thrown in as well).

New Year’s Eve was very interesting. New Year’s is a huge holiday and celebration for the Russians. We knew this but not to the degree that it actually is until now. They began setting off fireworks around 12:30. Since they were firing them right outside our building and we are on the 18th floor, we had a perfect view of them bursting, and we didn’t even have to stand out in the cold. Out every window and on every side of our building as far as you could see, there were non-stop fireworks going off all over the city. It was so amazing. Then, by around 3am, we weren’t so fascinated anymore. They actually did them until daylight! Next year, we will know that we need a nap that day! The other interesting thing that we have found is that Russians pretty much take off until around the 9th or so of January. This means that except for a few of the grocery stores, they just don’t get anymore trucks in stock. From New Year’s Eve until the 9th, our grocery store has been slowly dwindling...and it doesn't start with a whole lot anyway. They have no butter, milk, bread, etc. So, Doyle has been making runs to other Metro stops searching for bread and other such items. Next year, we will know to stock up before the New Year.

The kids went back to school today (Monday), and it was so sad having them gone all day again and coming home with all that homework. They are enjoying it, but they are looking forward to homeschooling once again.

The Russian home group that we meet with on Thursday nights has lost their place to meet. This is the Timi group. This Thursday we will be hosting them in our home (our first time to host a group of Russians in our home). The Golovinsky group showed the Jesus film on Saturday and Sunday, and it is estimated that 20 or so non-believers did attend. Many filled out a simple contact form (which is very unusual here in Russia) and we are praying that God will do what only He can do.

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and emails of encouragement.

Current prayer needs:
· Falyn having pain from her mouth expander
· Doyle is experiencing a very bad left elbow pain
· Kids adjusting to going back to school
· Kids’ homework loads
· Our language learning
· The Stamey family and Mark Sprinkle
· A place to meet for the Timi group
· Non-believers who attended Jesus film this weekend

Change Can Be Good

2006-12-10T00:20:00.000+03:00

We want to thank you all for faithfully praying for our family and our ministry here. You pray for us when you do not even know what we need prayer for. And God faithfully answers those prayers. We have been going through some really difficult times over the past few months that many of you have not known about, but you have prayed for us nonetheless. We could not understand at the time what God had planned through the difficult times, but we understand now. Our ministry here is now changing, and we feel that God has brought us where He wants us to be. Our previous assignment here was to study the language and then move outside the city to begin a new team. Our position has now changed, and we will be staying in Moscow. For now, we are no longer going on the path of the previous position of Strategy Coordinator, though God may lead us in the future to a team leader position. We have now joined the Stamey team (officially called the Co-Laborers, though Doyle suggested changing it to the Fletcher Project - haha!), and we will now serve as team members working in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow (NADM). The team is called Co-Laborers because this team works together with the Russian Baptist Union and its members to plant new churches in Moscow, concentrating on the NADM. We have mentioned Brad and Lori Stamey before. They have 3 boys, and they have been mentoring us since we arrived here. They have been awesome! Also on the Co-Laborer team is Mark Sprinkle, a single career missionary who focuses on student ministries. We will also be adding two new Journeymen (short-term IMB missionaries), Dan and Peyton, in April. Presently, the team is working with two home groups that they have begun. We will be updating on these periodically. In the pictures, you can see one of the home groups that meets in another church's building once a month. This is the Timi church. We will be moving this summer from the southern part of Moscow to another apartment in the NADM region. We still plan on homeschooling next year, but we are praying about some options of involvement for the kids at the Christian school next year as well. They do have Russian language classes and enrichment classes as well as spiritual retreats available to homeschoolers. We know that there will always be changes here, whether it be location, ministry, or whatever. This change we are certain is a good one for the ministry here as well as for our family.

We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving in Moscow. The kids had class parties at school with some wonderful activities. In the pictures, you can see Daegan making butter and Tristyn preparing notes of thanksgiving. We had dinner at the Stameys with a few other missionary families. Lori cooked a huge turkey, and I made my mom's dressing for the first time. I also recently celebrated my birthday. I was lovingly showered with gifts from our home church. I don't think I have ever received so many birthday presents. Doyle surprised me with a dinner out with a friend. Don't forget Doyle's birthday is December 20th. Though we had previously had snow, it has since all melted away. We are having pretty steady temperatures around 40. We hear it is colder in Houston than here! We are told this is the warmest winter so far in a long time. I guess that's because we suffered the coldest winter in 40 years when we arrived here! Although the kids long for snow, and the mud is no fun, we haven't complained because we know it is on the way, and it will be here for a really long time.

When we get a call that we have a package in the office, it feels like Christmas has come. We recently watched some of our home movies that we brought with us. We were not able to copy all of our tapes over to dvds before leaving, so we are limited to the past year in home movies. We were watching last year's Christmas and gained a whole new perspective. We used to try to disguise gifts for the kids, such as wrapping a small item in Pop Tart boxes or Little Debbie boxes. As we watched the kids open their gifts on the video, we realized that it would truly be a cherished Christmas present to actually get what the box showed. We all sighed, "Ahh... Little Debbie chocolate donuts and white powdered donuts!" And, "Ah... Trix cereal!" Perspective is everything, isn't it? We so appreciate everything that comes our way. It truly blesses us to know we are not forgotten! We do wish we could be with you all for Christmas. Please please please stay in touch with us as well. Please don't ever hesitate to email or even skype us. We LOVE hearing from everyone! We want to keep updated on your lives, too.

Current prayer requests for us:

kids' school/homework load
our language study

decisions about kids' education next year

preparation for moving apartments

unbelievers: Pasha, Victor, Sergey, Olem

Tristyn with Mr. Hays

2006-11-05T15:30:00.000+03:00

This is Tristyn with his teacher, Mr. Hays. As you can see, he appeals to the humorist side of the students. This day Mr. Hays stayed after school until 5:00 to play a chess game with Tristyn. Unfortunately for Tristyn, Mr. Hays won, but it was a special time for Tristyn regardless. Please pray for Luke Hays as he ministers to these 5th grade MKs here in Moscow and touches their lives in a remarkable way. You can follow his journey at www.lukehays.blogspot.com.

Tristyn's Chapel

2006-11-05T15:27:00.000+03:00

Once a year each class at the school gets to host the chapel, which is held each Friday. A few weeks ago, Tristyn's class was able to host. The students organized the entire program. Tristyn even wrote and narrated a skit that the class performed. They led the worship time also, as you can see Tristyn is on the far left playing his recorder. He was AWESOME!!!

Our First Snow

2006-11-05T15:13:00.000+03:00

Last Sunday night we had our first snow. When we were getting ready to go to bed, we realized everything was white outside. We woke the kids up (they didn't have school on Monday) to show them. They were all excited. Falyn looked out her window marvelling at how beautiful it was. She couldn't stop saying, "It's just so beautiful!" The next morning, she came busting out of her room yelling, "It snowed!" She didn't remember at all waking up and looking out during the night. They couldn't wait to play in it the next day.

During the week it got up in the 30's so most of it melted off. Last night it got colder (in the 20's), and it is snowing again now. It looks like it will be snowing from now on and not getting above freezing for a LONG time.

We are starting to think about the holidays approaching and missing out on those special family moments. We have been invited to share Thanksgiving dinner with Brad and Lori (our mentors). We are looking forward to that.

2006-10-18T21:46:00.000+04:00

Studying, Studying, and More Studying

2006-10-10T23:35:00.000+04:00

Our last month has been rather difficult for us. We have undergone some changes in our language studies that have taken some adjusting. Things are not completely settled there, so please keep our language studies in your prayers. Due to the changes, we have been much more limited on our ministry opportunties until we finish full time language studies. We had already developed some good Russian relationships, so this has been hard. We have also had several illnesses this past month. Please pray for our physical and spiritual health.

The kids have been back in school for over a month now. Falyn is enjoying her classes and all her girlfriends. She is having a pretty heavy load of homework, so please keep her studies in your prayers. Tristyn has a new young male teacher at school this year that he really likes. He seems to fit in just right with that "boy" sense of humor. Tristyn is still having some emotional days, so please pray for his sense of security and for peace. Daegan is still a bundle of energy. By the end of the school day, he is spent. He enjoys school (especially recess), but he says he can't wait to homeschool again. Doyle's greatest need is to continue learning the language, but also to keep up with the extra load of preparing for the training in Prague next February. He has an assignment to do weekly for this so please pray for him. Karen is struggling with getting everything done in the day. Language, homework, and dinner preparation is extremely time-consuming and energy-exhausting.

We realize how much we took for granted with all the conveniences of living in the States. No dishwasher and one tiny sink adds a great deal to kitchen time. As far as conducting any business, it may take an hour to go to the bank and stand in line to pay a 43 cent phone bill. Or you may have to travel by Metro 3 stops and then walk another 20 minutes to get to the internet company to pay your bill. Of course, grocery shopping is another matter. You can't stock up on items because you can only buy what you can physically carry back to your apartment and up 18 floors. By the way, one day last week, our elevator (lift) did not work, so we had to take the stairs. Thank goodness we were heading downstairs!

Funny Russian moment... one night we were out together as a family and stopped in a new bookstore. Doyle was looking for a new Russian language book. We were all browsing books in the language section, and Falyn said, "We never say this, '....'." I won't fill in the blanks. She had picked up an English slang book and read aloud from it. She didn't know what slang was nor did she recognize the very common English slang phrase. It was one of those moments when you feel good as a parent that your twelve year old daughter did not even know she was saying something bad. Of course, we had a quick course with the kids on that particular phrase.

There is a forest near our apartment that is covered with snow in the winter and great for sledding. It was all green this summer, and now the leaves are falling. It has been around 50 degrees during the day. It won't be long till the snow starts. We went for a walk recently in the forest for Falyn to collect bugs for a bug collection project at school. Lucky for her, she had Daegan to help identify them. Her friends were asking for Daegan's help in identifying theirs as well.

Last week the kids had a day out of school, but we still had lessons. So Karen's language teacher took us to a dolphin show for our lesson. They had two dolphins, a beluga whale, a walrus, and a seal. We learned some new Russian words and phrases and the kids enjoyed the show. Sadly, they used an old swimming pool (not too deep). They could never get away with that in the States. But on the upside, you can get your picture taken with them here. They will let you do almost anything for money.

Please keep us updated on your prayer needs. We miss you all!

At the Dacha

2006-09-10T23:18:00.000+04:00

In August were spent three days at a dacha about 5 hours outside the city. The trip there was very interesting. We first travelled by Metro for one hour, then we took a marshrutka (a van taxi that holds about 18 people). We knew we were in trouble when the driver had the hood raised before leaving the parking lot. After about 6 hours and a few push starts by the passengers, we finally arrived in Ivanovo. We spent our time there with the Stameys (our mentors). The dacha had no running water and an outhouse. Twice a day Doyle and Brad had to draw water from the well while fighting off bees (quite a funny scene, too bad we don't have pictures of that one). We all enjoyed getting out in the nature for a bit. The kids enjoyed sleeping in a tent at night (their first time), and Daegan especially enjoyed finding many, many bugs. We took the kids to the creek (which was VERY cold), and they enjoyed running in and out screaming and rolling in the sand. After our 4 hour marshrutka ride home (a little better this time) and 1 hour Metro ride, we were so excited to find that our hot water was turned on (after being off for 4 weeks)! We each took what Doyle called "hour showers"!

Baseball Camp

2006-09-10T23:10:00.000+04:00

In July we were able to participate in a baseball camp. One of our missionaries here specializing in sports ministry organized a volunteer group from the States who came and spent every afternoon at the park with Russian kids teaching them baseball. Doyle enjoyed playing ball again, though he was a little more sore now than when he was younger. Falyn enjoyed hanging out with a friend.

Saying Goodbye to the Focus Team

2006-09-10T23:05:00.000+04:00

The Focus Team was a group of student volunteers that spent the summer here in Moscow. They spent a great deal of time with our kids and other MK's here. Our kids were so sad to see them leave. Please pray for these students now that they have returned to the States. A few of them are in the process of returning to Moscow as IMB personnel. Others have decisions to make regarding future ministries. We already miss them!

Introducing Trixie

2006-09-10T22:48:00.000+04:00

As promised when we had to leave Nala and Pixie (our two dogs) behind in the States, we finally got a new family dog, Trixie. She is a Russian Toy Terrier. So tiny and so sweet. As you can see, Falyn is in love! We all still miss Nala and Pixie, but Trixie helps a little.

AGM in Poland

2006-09-10T22:38:00.000+04:00

In June, we were able to attend the Annual General Meeting for the Central and Eastern Europe region in Poland. It was so refreshing to worship in English and to hear some wonderful speakers. We also enjoyed seeing some old friends from our training in Virginia. The kids were able to participate in VBS with volunteers from the States with other MK's. The scenery was beautiful, and we enjoyed some wonderful outdoor time as well.

What Did I Say?

2006-08-14T18:44:00.000+04:00

Karen and I are discussing ideas for posting here to help you share in our journey as much as possible. I read many blogs and there are a lot of good ideas out there. One of my favorites is a blog that has a "Friday Is For Photos" post. This is a weekly post of a very interesting or beautiful photo from that particular bloggers world with perhaps a little story attaching some detail to it. I love that idea...but I have a problem. In Moscow there aren't any, for example, colorful and interesting little frogs sitting ever so gently on a beautiful dew stained delicate flower that is swaying amidst a spacious green yard. I do have a photo of a smashed frog stuck in between metro doors on the subway, but I'm not sure you want to see that. I'll keep thinking.

Today, let's laugh a little. A little background is in order for you to enjoy this story. The sun shines bright through our family room window and being on the 18th floor, we are very close to the sun as well. Since we don't have an AC, hanging a blanket to cover the window helps keep it a little less hot in that room. It is so heavy though, it takes 15 clothes pins to support it. Not attractive, but it works. We are learning what's important. Now, as you may know we were blessed with our landlord agreeing to purchase a new oven and refrigerator for us. They were both very, very old which would have been okay...if they had worked. They didn't and we are glad he agreed. Anyway, the downside is that in true Russian style, he still wants the old ones...but he said he can't retrieve them from our apartment, in his words, "maybe in a few weeks or a few months." In an apartment with 5 people, you really don't want a second oven and refrigerator...even if they worked! So Karen sleeps next to the old fridge and the oven keeps me warm on my side of the bed. A little exaggeration there, but not too much.

So there is the picture. Now, one day we are coming up the elevator and we receive a call that our friend Anya is dropping by to say hello. She is an awesome young Russian lady that lives about 3 hours away and is passing through Moscow for the evening. Now Karen keeps a great apartment. Everything is in order as usual and ready for our company...but then there is "the blanket" with those 15 clothes pins. It is evening and we think we can do without it. I'm thinking...let's take it down for company. Now, as most of you know, I like to joke around a little and occasionally I may say something actually funny. However, the funnier times with me are usually unplanned, spur of the moment kind of thing. This was unplanned for sure. In my most sincere, determined, matter-of-fact tone, here is exactly what I said to Falyn on the way up the elevator just as we reached our apartment...

"Falyn, Anya is coming over in a little while. When we get inside please take the blanket down from the window. Just roll all the clothes pins up inside of it and put it on top of the oven next to the refrigerator in our bedroom."

We all five looked at each other for a second in silence and then filled the entrance to our blessed home with laughter...just as it should be. Thank you Lord for reaching into Russia and giving us the blessings of laughter.

Sola Gratia~
Doyle

We Finally Made It!!!

2006-08-11T23:25:00.000+04:00

Doyle, Karen, Falyn, Tristyn, and Daegan

Thank you all for being patient with us as we finally get our blog off the ground. We are excited about being able to share with you more often and with pictures! We hope you enjoy walking with us.

We have decided to title our blog “Our Journey of Obedience”. I like that title because, amidst all the dramatic changes in our family the last year and a half, and with all the diverting we have done away from what many might consider a “normal” life, all we are really doing is simply being obedient. Like most folks, I sometimes give myself too much credit in certain situations. I have to remind myself that God doesn’t need me. I do know that if God did need me, the Russian people would be in trouble! But instead, for reasons unknown to me, He has given us the unspeakable privilege of sharing the good news of the gospel to those who haven’t heard. Have you ever wondered why He uses the “foolishness” of preaching by a fallen man as the means by which He will prick the heart of another fallen man? I don’t know why He does. I do know that only He could do that…and I’m glad He does.

Since we plan on keeping these posts as a kind of journal of our service, we must not let the first post go by without saying how much we love our home church back in Texas. Our church family (and I do mean family) at Grace Community Church in Magnolia has supported us in so many ways that I truly wouldn’t know where to start. The love the GCC children have shown Falyn, Tristyn, and Daegan with emails, cards, and birthday surprises is right at the top of the list...and there is so much more. We are so blessed to be a part of that family (and I do mean family). We love you all! Thank you Pastor Ted and church family (and I do mean family) for taking us in and then sending us out to the people of Russia...all the while propping us up in prayer while we are on this journey. You are AWESOME!!! (and I do mean AWESOME!!!)

Well, it's already been 6 months, but perhaps over the course of the next few months (or even years) we will get a chance to go back in time and replay some of the highlights for you that may have been missed. Let me just start this journey by sharing a more recent highlight...and this one is really high. It is certainly worthy to be a part of post number one on “Our Journey of Obedience”.

I was able to attend my first “Russian” baptism service a few Saturdays ago. Although, as I write this note, I am reminded that every baptism I have ever attended in the states seemed to be “rushin”…if you know what I mean. Anyway, there were 43 people to be baptized this day and it was a great experience. A few things I noticed as I looked, listened, and learned. One was the overall "eventfulness" of the service. There was scripture reading and preaching, singing, music, testimony, prayers, and reflection. I have always understood the symbolic importance of baptism, but I was just overwhelmed with the fact that this just wasn’t a "folks who walked an aisle, signed a card, and get baptized quickly the next Sunday morning between the 2nd and 3rd praise and worship songs and if you go get a drink of water you missed it" kind of baptism. No…this was different. I kept thinking to myself, this really means something to them. This thought was really made manifest as I observed one particular lady. She was standing about 10 feet from me and we were both standing behind the crowd as they watched the baptisms from the bank of the water. She was standing next to a tent that was to be used for the folks to dry off and change clothes after being baptized. After the first one was baptized and began the climb up the bank, passing through the crowd with their white gown and very muddy white socks, the crowd continued to watch as the next one was baptized, then the next one, then the next. I felt drawn to this lady as we were both well behind the crowd and I wondered why she was just waiting for them at the entrance to the tent. Why wasn't she watching the baptisms with everyone else? As I stepped closer, it was then I realized that her "job" was to strip the muddy socks from the feet of them that were baptized and wash their feet before they entered the tent. You might be thinking as I was that she must have drawn the short straw to get this assignment. Well, as I got even closer to her, and was just beginning to feel sorry for her, I realized that this was no "job" to her. She had clearly volunteered for this work as the tears streamed down her face as she continued her task of stripping off their socks and washing their feet, one after the other, then the next, then the next. It was hard to fight the tears as this missionary prayed "Lord, continue to mold a servant’s heart in me."

Sola Gratia~

Doyle