Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Russian Christmas
We celebrated Russian Christmas yesterday with the Goluvinski Church. The service was very special. There were about 36 in attendance - 8 guests - 4 from the invitations given out.
Genady shared the Gospel in a very clear way and then he read the Christmas story and lighted candles to represent the different characters in the story. Then he put out all of the candles except for the Jesus candle and we all had individuals candles to light from the Jesus candle. It was really special. An elderly lady named Ludmilla, who was a guest, would not put out her candle. Even after the service, when we were getting ready for the fellowship time, she sat there with her candle burning. I pray that Christ's light will be in her life - that she will really understand what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.
Another younger lady named Sveta also came. She seemed to really enjoy the worship and fellowship time. The young Russian ladies in the church did a great job of reaching out to her. One of them even french braided her hair for her after the fellowship time. Pray with us that Sveta will also come to know Christ as Savior and Lord.
Pray for all of the guests who came. Pray for God to use what they heard and experienced to draw them into a personal relationship with himself.
It's pretty neat that we get to celebrate Christmas twice each year. That's one of the really special benefits of living in Russia. Now let's all worship and praise Him every day throughout this new year of 2009!
Monday, January 05, 2009
They're Headed Home
We took the team to the airport this morning. We saw them all get through passport control about 11:45. Their flight was at 1:10. As far as we know, their plane left on time and they should arrive as planned this evening. We were incredibly blessed by their time here. Thank you Crestview for sending them!
Our oldest son, Drew, was able to go with the team to a small town outside of Moscow called Rzhev over the weekend. This was his first mission trip. He had a wonderful time and gave testimony last night about many things God taught him there. He loved going to the orphanages and playing with the children. He loved seeing their smiles when they were given little gifts. He took tons of photos. Hope you enjoy them.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Happy New Year!
Wow! 2008 has been a great year for our family. We are so thankful for God's guidance and provision this past year. Our God is great and He is faithful!
We were blessed to spend the last day of 2008 and the first day of 2009 with 7 awesome people from NC. The team was here to ring in the New Year with us. We rang it in singing "Shine Jesus Shine" and "May Our Hearts Be So Consumed By You That We Never Cease To Praise".
May God be honored in the ways we spend our days in 2009. This is our hearts' desire.
I'll post a few photos of our New Years celebrations - Home group with Russians, New Year's Eve party at Stamey's - New Year's Day party at Stamey's. By the way, the guy in the speedo is not a team member. He is a Russian man who swims in the freezing pond water for his health. The team really had fun seeing this part of Russian culture.
And then the photo of Ben shows is bandage. He brought in the new year by sliding down a slide and hitting his head on a cement curb. He is proud to have 4 stitches in his forehead. God really helped him during the trip to the Dr. and the time of getting the stitches. After the initial shock, he was very calm and did not scream or cry.
Enjoy the photos. Happy 2009!
