It's been one of those weeks...

This is what our week looked like:

Marc came home from Udmurtia to find our van completely dead on Monday.

When he got to the apartment, he said, "I think I might have broken my toe," and then to our utter and complete horror, pulled off his boot to reveal that his pinky toe was at least three times its normal size and completely black and purple. He has been trapped in the apartment since then. (Last trip a dog bite...this trip a broken toe...anyone see a pattern developing here?)

On Friday, Hannah woke up with a high fever, cough and headache. She missed her class sledding party and is still sick today.

This morning, Sarah Beth woke up early to go take the ACT. She didn't feel well, and we discovered that she, too, was running a fever and developing a cough.

We had to cancel plans to have company tonight, because of the illnesses of the girls.

As you can tell, not the best week. So, we are looking forward to starting a new week tomorrow!! Marc and Tim cancelled their planned trip to Bryansk this weekend so that Marc could rest his foot in the hopes that it will be better in time to go to Murmansk on Friday. If you look on a map, you'll see that Murmansk is in the Arctic Circle, so please pray for their safe travel and successful trip when they are there. (Today the temperature was -34 F and -43 windchill, with four hours of daylight.) The great news is that the kids and I have Friday and Monday off school for Winter Break, so we are really excited about that. And we had a great English Club meeting on Thursday night, with a new student. She works for the president of the Economic University here in Moscow, and talked to me about maybe coming to speak at the university. Please pray that this opportunity works out for me--what a great chance to develop new relationships here in Moscow. We pray that your week is full of relaxation, rest, and no broken appendages! Thank you for continuing to pray for us. We love and appreciate you!

Blessings,

Kellye (for all)

A big week!

Good morning! We pray this finds you getting ready for corporate worship in God's house. We are heading to an Engage Russia team prayer meeting, which should be fun. This week, our main prayer request centers around Friday. For 24 hours, we will be isolating ourselves in order to talk and pray through the decision we must make about our future. Would you commit to pray with us on Friday? Please pray that we will have wisdom, clarity and boldness as we make this important decision, and that God would be glorified through our lives. Due to Marc's heavy travel schedule, this will be the last chance we have to be alone before the end of the month. We are grateful for people with whom our children are staying, as you can imagine! Thank you, as always, for praying for us and with us. We could not do this without you! Blessings to you and yours! Kellye (for all)

Happy New Year

	Wow! Can you imagine that it's already 2009? As we enter our second year on the field, let me remind you of how thankful we are for faithful prayer partners. We could not remain on the field without you. We pray that 2009 will be a year of blessing and growth for each of you. My Dad and nephew went home on Tuesday, and we all managed to survive. It was sad for us to see them go, because we enjoyed so much having them here, but we are so grateful for the time they spent with us. What a blessing! We spent New Year's Eve with friends, first at a party, then at Red Square, as you can see in the pics above. (Actually, Red Square was already full by the time we got there, so this is right next to Red Square.) If you haven't seen the video of this experience, you must go to Marc's blog (www.marcirahooks.blogspot.com) and take a look. It is hysterically funny. Marc has promised this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm holding him to it! We have another week off of school this week, so we are taking our time cleaning and packing the Christmas stuff. John John has a sports camp Monday and Tuesday, and we have English Club on Thursday night. We are very much looking forward to seeing our friends. We miss them when we take a break. Please pray for our Russian friends, particularly Ksenya, Marina, and Sergei. We believe each of them is seeking something more in their lives. Pray that we will continue to grow our relationships with them. On Tuesday, Marc and Tim will set their travel schedule for January and February. We know already that it is packed completely full. Please pray for wisdom as they make decisions about where to travel in these very, very cold months of the year here in Russia. They are also praying to have twelve churches adopt the Chuvash people group and hold a campaign on behalf of the Chuvash for one month of the year. Will you please pray that churches will be faithful to heed this call, and that the Chuvash people will be reached with the Good News that Jesus saves? The response to Engage Russia, the campaign Marc and Tim are working on right now, has been overwhelming. We are really excited about what God is doing through their work. Please pray also for our family and the Wickers as Marc and Tim will be gone much of the next two months.  Finally, we are contemplating the different offers on the table for us from various parts of the company. We've been asked to make a decision by the end of January. Please pray that (a) God's direction would be absolutely clear; (b) we would take that direction unquestioningly; and (c) no matter what decision we make, we will continue to be focused on what God would have us do right now in this place. We are excited about the possibilities God has put before us, and we look forward to whatever direction He tells us to turn. It's an exciting time in our lives! Thank you for your prayers. Your faithfulness makes our lives possible. We appreciate and love you, and we pray that you are looking forward to a tremendous day in the house of God. Blessings to you and yours! His, Kellye (for all)

Merry Christmas

We pray this finds you enjoying time with family and friends, which is exactly what we are doing. We have enjoyed a wonderful visit with my Daddy and nephew, and have spent lots of great time with friends, too. As we look forward to the new year, we have two main prayer requests: first, that God would move in a mighty way amongst our Russian friends here in Moscow. We have received so many calls and messages from friends and students in the last few days--so encouraging as proof that God is at work, even when we can't see that He's at work. Second, we ask that you pray with us and for us as we make decisions concerning our future. We will have to make definite decisions about where we are going to serve (here or elsewhere in the European cluster) around mid-February. Thank you, as always, for praying for us. We couldn't do this without you! Love and blessings to all--Kellye (for all)

We're tired, but happy...

Well, our busy, busy week is finally done, and I think it was a pretty big success. The soccer banquet was great (see S.B.'s pic above with her friend, Nadia), and we received a package on Thursday from FBC Allen, Texas (John and Han are enjoying the goodies above). Thursday also was a great meeting of English Club, one in which we got to talk about what we were thankful for and to whom we were thankful. Friday and Saturday were totally consumed by Bella Notte, but I am pretty sure it can only be called a huge success, so it was time well-spent. Even better, we are all home before 11 p.m. and heading to bed. It's a miracle!! 

Please pray this week for Marc and his partner, Tim Wicker, as they leave on Wednesday evening for a week in the Chuvash Republic. The Chuvash people group is at the top of the list of unreached people groups in European Russia, and we have become very close to Sergei, who has been a faithful member of our English Club since the first meeting, and who happens to be Chuvash. So, Sergei is meeting Marc and Tim on Saturday morning in the Chuvash Republic. He will take them around, introduce them to people, and help them find different things. We are also praying that this is a time to continue with Sergei the spiritual discussions in which he has been very interested. We do not believe it is a coincidence that Sergei, who spends time with us nearly every week, is Chuvash. Please pray that important moves forward can be taken with Sergei this week.

We are also preparing for our Thanksgiving celebration with English Club. We are praying that this will be an important time with them, and that spiritual things will naturally be a part of our discussion. Please pray that God guides us as we prepare for this major event in our lives, and hopefully, in theirs.

Well, we love you guys, but I am really, really tired and need to go to bed. Everyone in the house is winding down and heading off to some much-needed sleep, and I definitely want to join them!!! Thank you for the prayers I know were lifted up for us this week, for your faithfulness, encouragement, and love. We couldn't be here without you!

Blessings,

Kellye (for all)

Hooks Family Saturday Prayer Update

Hey, everyone! Like many of you, we are sitting and enjoying a bowl of chili while we watch College Gameday on ESPN and waiting for the Georgia/Florida game to begin. We hope you're enjoying your Saturday like we have.

Since we "talked" last week, our schedule has gotten a little more complicated. Marc leaves on Tuesday to return to Prague for a week to complete a media project for the Regional Leader for CEE. He will be gone a week, return for a week, and then leave again for Chubaksary, a city in European Russia. He'll return on Tuesday before Thanksgiving on Thursday. Whew!! Please pray for him as he's gone and for us as we "hold the line" here in Moscow. This month will be a lot of time apart. That is never easy, even in the States. 

Our English Club was great this week. We are praising God that Alexei, who hasn't been in six months, was able to be here, and that Mila, one of our friends who is a Buddhist, was also here and brought a friend. We are celebrating Thanksgiving with our English Club on the first Saturday in December, and we are praying that this is one more time we can introduce spiritual ideas into our interactions with our friends. Please pray with us that this will be a time we can continue to develop these friendships.

Finally, we are starting to hear more and more about changes in our company, and while we don't totally know what that means for us, we ask that you pray for our entire organization as we transition through this huge reorganization. There are changes ahead, and change is hard for any organization this large. 

We appreciate each of you so much. Thank you for your continued love and support.  We are grateful for each of you.

Blessings!

Kellye (for all)

Hello Everyone!

We pray this finds all of you doing well. John John, Hannah and I are resting and getting some work done today, and Marc and Sarah Beth are in Udmurtia until sometime on Monday. I just got off the phone with Marc--oh, the wonders of the iPhone, which can get a signal anywhere!--and they are really having a great time. Udmurtia is about 14 hours away by train, located in the western Ural mountains. Last year's International Day of Prayer was focused on the Udmurts, an unreached people group who are more shamanistic than orthodox, which is not unusual in that part of the country. Marc is there with a group doing a follow-up on what has happened since the international day of prayer. Sarah Beth is headed into one of the              villages for a women's group meeting tonight, and she'll be staying with another MK who is traveling with her in the village tonight. Marc is headed to a different village, where he will be enjoying the banya with some Russian brothers. I am smiling even as I type that, because the banya is an uniquely Russian experience which involves a sauna (think a hut heated by burning coals), a pool cut into the ice, and a bunch of branches with which they hit you wherever they think you need to lose weight. Somewhere in there, you're supposed to have tea and cookies with your banya-mates. And clothing...well, let's just say it's very optional. (I didn't ask Marc what he was wearing into the banya, because I frankly didn't want to know.) Then he'll go back to their hotel in a nearby city and prepare to preach his first sermon in Russian tomorrow morning. He is very, very excited about the relationships he is making with Russian brothers in the villages, and it's been great to get the chance to not only videotape all of the things that are happening, but also get to participate in ministry. It was good to hear the excitement in his voice, and in Sarah Beth's. They are also enjoying a great time together. We are always aware that in just a little while, S.B. will be in college, so we are eating up every second of our time with her.

Other than that, it's just been an absolutely crazy week. We had last-minute house guests for a few days, Hannah had a big presentation, and there were the usual language lessons on top of everything else. Plus, it is getting dark and cold quickly. In fact, I have struggled this week with sadness and what I can only call "the blues," and a fellow missionary gently reminded me that I often struggle with the weather when it gets gray. So the sun lamp comes out this week! This Florida girl is awfully thankful to work for a company that takes mental health really seriously--seriously enough to provide a sun lamp for those of us for whom the gray can be overwhelming. Would you pray this week that I will recognize what I am struggling with when I see it, and not be discouraged by it? 

We are getting ready for Thanksgiving already, and we're pretty excited about that. We have lots and lots of people coming, and that should be fun. Having lots of people honestly helps us not to feel homesick. Thanksgiving is, across the board, a difficult day for many missionaries, because it is an American holiday, and no one else is celebrating it. So we are thankful for that.

Marc met a potential student for our English club on the train. Please pray that he will be able to make contact when everyone is back in Moscow, and perhaps move this young man (who is from Udmurtia but lives in Moscow) into a discipling role with Marc here in Moscow. 

Well, guys, I think that's it. Please continue to pray for the many people we come into contact with, that we will see everyone through God's eyes and not our own. Our neighbors have been very unfriendly from the start, but slowly are turning the corner on their opinion of us. We are consistently being greeted and smiled at by several families here in the building--a real answer to prayer. We are especially excited because the girl who lives with one of the young men next door to us seems particularly friendly and ready to--maybe--make a relationship of some sort with us. Pray that we will take advantage of any opportunity the Lord provides. We are praying for boldness, a need to see others come to Christ that makes it impossible for us to miss opportunities to share His love. I'm praying that for you, too--may we all have a boldness and a hunger for everyone to know the love of Jesus! I pray that each of you has a wonderful, restful Saturday, and that you know how much we appreciate each of you.

Blessings!

Kellye (for all)