Last week, we asked that you pray continually this week for clear guidance from God about whether or not we should take over the Bible study/house church our team currently has when the team leaders leave next month for thirteen months of Stateside Assignment. After meetings, discussions with our closest friends around the world, and specific times of prayer and fasting, we are convinced that this is the direction God would have us go. We did not expect to take over something like this so soon into our first term, but we also didn't expect to be missionaries in Russia, so God is full of surprises! We had pretty much settled the matter by Thursday, but we still were asking God for something unusual, something that would help us know He absolutely wanted us to do this. Thursday night at English Club, we only had two students (Russian universities are in their exam period right now), so we played cards. During the discussion, one of the students we are closest to, Ksenia, was lamenting that her new job would make it impossible for her to attend on Thursday nights. (Ksenia is an English teacher, and does not need my help to learn English. She is obviously seeking something beyond that.) She was saying that she could not stand the idea of not being with our family every week. I asked her what days she had free, and she replied, "Only one day off...Sundays are my only free days." Marc looked at me. I looked at him. We both smiled. What a perfect position we are now in to invite Ksenia to the new group that will be meeting in our home. Yes, we are headed in the right direction.
We do have some specific things for you to pray about during this week, things specifically to do with our new work. First, please pray for our acquisition of the Russian language. We were very, very encouraged this week by comments made to us about our Russian by people who have been on the field many, many years. Pray that God will continue to give us ears to hear and tongues that can put all those consonants together in a row! Please pray also for the kids as we work on new Standard Tenable Statements (STS). They have already memorized one STS, and now they will need to memorize something new. Remember that our STS is in place for our safety and security and for the security of the platform on which our team works. Finally, pray that God will make us bold as we invite our English Club students to come study the Bible with us on Sundays. We are praying that God does something supernatural and amazing in this situation. We believe He is about to start something big here, and we are so excited to be a part of it.
Thank you so much for your prayers. Have we told you lately how much we appreciate you? Without faithful prayer warriors, we would have packed the bags and headed home at the first sign of snow, I'm sure. You keep us on the field. You make us more effective. You hold up our arms and stand in the gap when we are too tired to do it ourselves. We love you and praise God daily for your role in our ministry. Thank you for taking this long, arduous, interesting journey with us. мы любим вас! (We love you all!)
Blessings,
Kellye (for all)
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