Needing a car

does any one happen to have a vehicle we could borrow while we are in America? We will be home from June 17th to August 25th.

A reminder

We see things here all the time that remind us that we're not at home in the comforts of our own country. Sometimes we come across something that tugs at our heartstrings. This little guy almost brought tears to my eyes. We don't live in a third world culture here in Russia but when I met this boy I felt like I was in a village in Guatemala. We met him and his mother near the market where they were begging for money.

His mother wouldn't let me take her picture but I can say this: I've never seen so much sadness in one person's eyes. I can't even explain it really. It was like I could see her life through her eyes. It was sad and it was rough.

They were not Russian. They were immigrants...from where I'm not sure. They didn't speak Russian or English. She spoke to me briefly and I thought she said something like Kadjik. I'm not sure if that is where they are from or the language they spoke. It might have been the boy's name.

I wanted to sit with them and try to communicate to them but they were so distant. If they were Russian I could have gotten by a little and had a broken conversation with them. I've never felt so helpless to speak the Gospel in my life. I came home and said a prayer for them that God would bring someone to them that could share His love to them in their own language.

Subcultures exist here. There are gypsies and other people groups that are the "vagrants" of society in the eyes of the government...but they still have needs. I think that we have found a comfortable place even here in our home away from home...today I was pulled back out of that comfort zone and reminded that there is a great need for the Father's love in this country. Our heart was tugged on today by a little homeless boy who said nothing. Lord love on them in a way that only You can!!

God's Provision...Again!!

I wanted to share with you about something cool we learned about recently. We have been praying that we would be able to go home and visit this summer. We miss our friends and family and we wanted to do some fund raising while we are home as well. We know that we didn't have the money for this but we felt like the Lord would provide. We then get a call from a family member who said that a friend of ours had a ministry auction and he set a couple lots aside for our ministry and that we should be expecting a check here soon. It's almost half the money we need for tickets home. God is good!

Provision comes from the funniest places. Often times we try to plan out how we will accomplish something...or start making plans as to how we will try to make something happen...God then steps in and does something totally out of the blue. I love when He does things like that. It keeps us in check as to who is actually in control.

God's Provision

Who says God doesn't care about the little things in our lives. Here is proof. As you know we are working on moving into a flat in Lomonosov. God provided one in just the right time. We are wanting to move in by April 1st. The flat needs a bit (ok a lot) of TLC...the owners are paying for most of it though. We just have to pay up front for the supplies and they will reimburse our rent over the next few months. We were hoping to get all the work done before we move in. That means wallpaper, flooring, paint...as well as a touch up in the kitchen.
As you can see it needs a bit of work. This is where things get cool. We were going to take our tithes for the month and finish everything before we moved in so we wouldn't have to be working on it after we live there. Then we were going to just pay double tithes next month. This didn't sit well with us though and we began to think about the reasons for moving in the first place. We want to be a blessing financially in whatever way God calls on us to be. Living in a cheaper place is one of the changes we decided to make to help this happen. So you see it kind of defeated the purpose and we felt like we were trying to take control of the situation. We prayed together and asked God to help us. We stood in agreement that God would take care of everything. We went ahead and gave our tithes as well as an offering for a need that God laid on my heart.

One of the things we are going to do is replace the kitchen sink and put in some cabinets. I get on the internet Monday and guess what I find? A family is moving out of St. Petersburg and they are selling...you guessed it. Cabinets and a sink. Who sells their sink when they move!? I was like, "WHAT?" They are even moving out the same time we were planning on putting the cabinets in our flat. We will save so much money...and it's better than the ones we picked out to install in the first place..LOL!!

This is one more thing that God has done to show us how much He cares. We are still trying to squeeze our pennies so we can get everything done before we move in...pray for deals. We still have a lot of work to do over the next week and a half but I think we can do it. Praise God!!

Jennifer told a story about how hunters catch monkeys...I think the kids liked it.

Our Flat

Have you ever wondered what a Russian flat looks like? Hopefully this will give you a glimpse into our lives and where we live here in the Motherland. This is our home for now...as some of you know we are moving to a suburb of St. Petersburg. This is a blessing to us because we are closer to the church we attend and across the street from friends. we will show you a video of that one too once we get situated.

Found a Flat

I am going to try to keep up our blog on a more regular basis. I got some technical advice on how to edit different things on the blog so it will be a work in progress for a bit. Please bear with us. I'm learning little by little to handle all of our editing and posting. I'm coming to realize I'm not very techically saavy.

We have been looking for a flat for some time now. We are wanting to move out of St. Petersburg to save some money. We felt like the Lord released us to do so and we've been looking in a suburb called Lomonosov. We found one last week and it looks like we'll be moving at the end of March. It's a nice little 2 bedroom. It needs a bit of TLC but the owner has agreed to pay for the supplies to refresh the apartment. It needs it.

This is a huge blessing though because the rent is half of what we pay here in the city. Our prayer is to be a blessing to others here financially with any opportunity that God gives us. It has been really hard to do that when survival is the number one thing. We felt like we were just surviving there for a bit. It got rough but God never let us go hungry and we always had enough.

We are looking forward to the opporrtunity to make a connection at one of the orphanages there. We are still going to visit the one we have a connection with here close to the city. We feel like we are supposed to stay at this one. God knows where we will be the most effective.