Blessed by many activities

Well, it's Saturday night, and like many mothers across the world, I am watching college football and waiting for my teenager to get home. So while I wait for the domophone to ring to tell me Sarah Beth is home, I thought I'd send you a quick update.

It has been an unbelievably busy week. I have worked full days this week subbing for another teacher. Put that together with a visiting team, preparations for friends who are returning to Moscow tomorrow, and not one but two teas to help with/attend, and it all adds up to quite a week. Of course, we never lose sight of what our lives were like this time last year, when we were not even in Moscow but waiting anxiously to arrive. As we think over the last year and the struggles that have come with our transition here, we are so grateful for a busy life full of activity and ministry and friends. What an answer to prayer that life is!

On Sunday, Sergei did come to our house for Bible study. It was such an exciting time for us. When Sergei was leaving English club on Thursday, Marc asked him if he was coming on Sunday again. He said he was, and that he thought he would bring Artur, his brother who has just moved to Moscow to study at the State University here. Then Liliana called to say that she would like to come tomorrow, because she is feeling better. What a great day of Bible study we are looking forward to tomorrow! Please continue to pray that we will be able to move people from English Club to Bible Study. And pray that God would move in the heart of our Russian friends in a way that is beyond logical explanation. 

This week is full of soccer, piano, cub scouts, school projects, and all the other things that fill our lives. That doesn't, of course, even include the wonderful ministry opportunities we have. Please pray that we would be able to juggle and focus on the things that are God's priorities, and not just what we want to do. We always want to choose His best rather than just the good things we can come up with on our own. 

Marc met with Ed Tarleton on Monday, and together they came up with a really exciting schedule of travel for Marc, one that balances ministry needs with family needs successfully. Marc is still hammering out the details, but he is very excited about the places he is going to get to go in the next year. Please start to pray now for his safety, for his language ability during these trips, and that everything he produces honors God's call on his life and the work God is doing in these areas where there is no evangelical presence. 

Well, my 16-year-old is home from her soccer party (where they tie-dyed their socks for some reason), so that's my cue to hit the pillow. Everyone in the house, except for John-John (who may just be too active for the germs to catch up with him), has a cold/cough thing going on...and I have yet another ear infection. The weather turned nasty this week--cold and rainy and gross--and we're battling the same stuff that plagued us last fall. Please pray that we will build up our immunity and be able to fight against the continual cold. This is a miserable place to not feel well. Trust me that little is worse than riding the metro with an ear infection. Just take my word on it. :o)

We love each of you, treasure your friendship and support, and pray that you are safe and dry (for my friends in Texas) and sound as you read this. Thank you for loving us and holding us constantly before the throne. 

Blessings!

Kellye (for all)

Eleven Months and Counting!

It's hard for us to imagine that we have now been here for eleven months. How big is our God?!?! If you'd have told me ten months ago we'd still be here, I'd have laughed. And yet, here we are, settled into the school year and enjoying life. It is late on Saturday night after a full Saturday, and we are watching Ohio/Ohio State as we wait for the Sooners of Oklahoma to take the field.  Marc and John-John spent the day with some of our Russian friends at a picnic outside the city. Though it was really the last thing he wanted to do after a really busy week, our friends were so excited that he came, and he had the chance to teach them a little about American football. It ended up being a wonderful time, and as they went back to the bus station, one of our friends, Sergei, talked to Marc about maybe joining us in Bible study tomorrow. We are so grateful to the team from FBC Allen, Texas, who laid the groundwork for the movement we are starting to see toward moving some of our friends into a Bible study. We would not have a single one of these contacts without the sacrifices of that team to come here to Moscow, and their faithfulness to continue to pray for those relationships to flourish and grow. God rewards faithfulness, and we believe their faithfulness is being rewarded in the growth we are seeing. This coming week is going to be very busy. Besides the normal things--cub scouts, piano lessons, and soccer practices--I will be working full days each day due to the absence of the other English teacher, and we have a team visiting from the States with whom we'll be doing some work. We also have a farewell tea on Friday night for a friend who is moving to Siberia to work and a tea on Saturday for the visiting team. Tomorrow we will have company for most of the day as the parents of some friends in Siberia have a 12-hour layover in Moscow and will be joining us for the day. Oh, my goodness! I'm tired just looking at all of that. Please pray that we will stay focused and peaceful in what looks to be a pretty chaotic week. Also pray that the visiting team, who will be working with several teams here in Moscow, will have a fruitful experience that will challenge them and give them a lasting connection to Russia. On Monday, Marc will be meeting with Ed Tarleton to determine projects and travel for the next year. This is an important meeting for us, so we would ask that you would pray that Marc and Ed would have wisdom as they schedule projects and travel for 2009. Marc is very excited about several trips that have been proposed, and he's even more excited to be digging into the work he loves so much. Our prayer is that we can find a healthy balance between the traveling necessary for Marc to do his job and the time his children (and wife) need him to be home. That can be a delicate balance, as many of you know. We appreciate your prayers. Finally, cold and flu season has started arriving in Moscow, and Hannah is the first to start sniffling. We are praying to head this off at the pass. As silly as it may sound, would you please pray that we have a healthier winter this year than last? We have discovered something called Zicam, and it does seem to make a huge difference, so we've pretty much made Hannah bathe in the stuff tonight.  Well, it's just about time for the Sooners to start playing, so I'll draw to a close. We are so grateful that you take the time to read this, to pray for us, to share our situation and needs and prayers with those you know. We just couldn't do this without you. We hope your week is wonderful, and a little more relaxed than ours! Blessings, Kellye (for all) p.s. The pics are from Sarah Beth, who is taking photography this year. These are a few of her experiments with different lenses, etc. She's a pretty talented girl!

What A Great Week

We hope you are having a great Saturday like we are--watching college football. I must admit, though, that it's made us a bit homesick as we watch the images of home. We are currently watching Virginia Tech play Eastern Carolina and enjoying our Saturday night.

School continues to be such a blessing to us. We had a great week. Sarah Beth is playing soccer, Hannah is singing in the choir, and John-John starts Cub Scouts this week. We are diving in to everything the school has to offer. We are also praising God that the school received its education license this week. Thank you for praying for that.

Our friends, the Tarletons, also returned home this week, an event we have very much been anticipating. Of course, the days ahead without our beloved friend, Teri, will be hard, but we are so grateful for the time God allowed us to spend with them this summer, and we are thrilled to have Ed, Rachel and Rebecca home. Thank you for continuing to pray for them.

We will have been here eleven months this week. Unbelievable! So much has happened during our time in Moscow, and we are so grateful for the ways God has stretched us and grown us, and for the time of peace and contentment we now find ourselves in. Thank you for the many, many prayers you have said on our behalf these eleven months.

We are also grateful that Marc successfully navigated the world of the car accident in Moscow. Another driver was passing on the left (on a two-lane street, of course), and ran into Marc's side of the car. The car wasn't hurt, and neither was Marc, but he had to deal with both the other driver and the police when they came. He did so successfully--no small feat! Marc has decided he's going to add a whole new section of vocabulary to the lexicon--what to say to the militsia!

Please continue to pray that God will move in a big way in our English Club. We had two new people Thursday night. We are really, really excited about how well the club is going, and by the relationships we are developing. We have not successfully made the move from English club to house church, yet, but we pray that is coming soon.

We have just had a great, normal, every day week here. What a blessing. In the worries of visa issues, language issues, and family issues, we have come to appreciate the week in which nothing big happens and life runs smoothly. I do think you would have enjoyed my trip today to buy Sarah Beth soccer socks at the sporting goods store. It turns out that somewhere in my language study, I missed the word for socks. So I grabbed a pair, hunted someone down, and then made a complete idiot of myself asking where the socks for girls who play soccer might be. I even managed to pick up a soccer ball and make what I imagine to be some soccer moves to illustrate my point. Nothing, my friends, is as humbling as the trip to the mall when you must buy something specific. Nothing. By the way--I got the socks. :o)  I hope during your week, you will have at least one opportunity to try to explain yourself in a language you know but don't know. And I hope if that happens, you'll say a little prayer for us and smile. We love you all so much! Have a great week!

His,

Kellye (for all)

p.s. The pics are of Marc because I hardly ever remember to put up pics of my good-looking man. The two on the left are from AGM (yes, he has on a fish-cap), and the one on the right was taken at the zoo in Kiev, Ukraine.

It's been quite a week...

Here are some of the things that made this a BIG week in the Hooks' household:

--we said goodbye to our friends, the Roberts, who headed back to the other side of Russia

--we received an email on Monday telling us that a friend of the family was paying for four months of the kids' tuition at school. That leaves us with only a little over $1500 left to pay for this year

--the kids and I (Kellye) started school at Hinkson Christian Academy on Wednesday (John-John passed out on the couch and slept for 12 hours after school!)

--we received our documents from the Russian government, which means we will be allowed to stay in the country (Hallelujah!)

--we resumed English club after a three-week break and had a FULL HOUSE!

--with our documents, we can once again drive the car, allowing us to pick up more than just a day's worth of groceries--another hallelujah, because my kids were starving!

--we received THREE packages, including one from a VBS class at our home church in Florida, full of goodies for us to enjoy (and enough vanilla extract for an army)

As you can see, this was a tremendous week for us. I can't tell you the relief we feel to have our very important documents back in our hands and know that we are going to be able to stay in the country. HUGE for us. We are so full of praise, we might just explode. Here are some things we would ask you to pray about this week:

--tomorrow is our last Sunday with Dima before he heads to France and Italy for a two-year study program. I will be presenting my testimony in Russian for the first time to the group, so please pray that I can spit out all those syllables in a way that is understandable and meaningful, especially to Dima. We believe Dima is VERY CLOSE to making a decision for Christ--would you pray that tomorrow would be the day?

--our friend, Ed Tarleton, and his daughters, Rachel and Rebecca, are heading back to Moscow this week following the death of their beloved Teri. Would you please pray that this transition would go as smoothly as possible, and that there would be peace and comfort in being home? 

--the decisions regarding our school, Hinkson Christian Academy, are scheduled to be made this week. There is a round-the-clock prayer vigil at the school Monday thru Wednesday. Would you pray that God would show Himself in a mighty way in the licensing process of this place that is so important for the missionary community of Moscow?

--finally--would you pray that our hearts continue to be consumed with a passion for this place and these people, but above all, for our God? We know that faithfulness is what He requires, and we want to be found faithful. Would you just pray that we would continue to be 100% faithful to His call on our lives?

What would we do without you? Well, we'd probably be back in Florida! Never do I want a week to go by without telling you how much we appreciate and need your prayers. We love you, and we're so thankful for you. We pray that God is blessing you in your faithfulness just as He has rained down blessings on us this week. We love you and are praying for you! 

His,

Kellye (for all)

We Need Your Prayers!

You should have received an email telling you we were home from AGM and well. We have enjoyed our time with our friends, the Roberts, as they have been with us in Moscow before and after AGM. They return to Petropavlask-Komchakty tomorrow...ten time zones away. Please pray for their safe travel to the other end of the country.

A situation has come up with our documents. Because email is public, I want to be really careful with what I say. There has been a snag in our registration here in the city. The lawyer has assured the company that it will be taken care of, but we need to be registered quickly.  If the situation cannot be resolved there are hefty penalties, both for us and for the company. Please pray that this situation will correct itself immediately.

Our kids (and Kellye) start school this week at Hinkson Christian Academy. We continue to pray about how we will come up with the rest of the kids' tuition. We basically need $500 a month. So far, we know that two months are paid for by supporters in our partner churches. We are so thankful that God has laid that need on someone's heart and that they responded in obedience. Please continue to pray that there will be no problem with the tuition payments.

We all came home from AGM feeling pretty rotten, especially Kellye and Sarah Beth. Please pray for quick healing--we don't want to start the school year with summer colds!!

Thank you for praying for us during AGM. What we anticipated could have been a depressing, sad time for us turned out to be a really fun time that renewed our spirits and gave us the chance to meet new friends and spend time with our old friends, too. God has been so faithful to us...and we are so thankful and grateful to Him for His continuing mercy and grace. And we are thankful for each of you, too. We say it all the time, but it bears repeating--we could not stay on the field without our faithful prayer warriors, who lift our arms when we are too tired to do it for ourselves. Thank you for continuing to stand in the gap for us. We love you and are so thankful for you.

Blessings!

Kellye (for all)

A Full House

Good morning, everyone! No pictures this morning--I have not had a spare second to load anything new into my computer. It has been a busy, busy week. We started with unexpected guests all day Sunday (a volunteer team stuck in Moscow), IMB summer interns on Monday, a night off on Tuesday, our regular card game guests on Wednesday, a great group for English Club on Thursday (15!), and an MK from another part of Russia who stayed with us on Friday! That is a lot of people in and out of this apartment this week. (That's a praise, by the way!) Yesterday, the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) MKs left for Hungary for MKR (Missionary Kid Retreat), and Sarah Beth was pretty excited to be going. Last night, our friends Rhenn and Terri kept John-John and Hannah for the night so that we could celebrate our 18th anniversary (which is officially on Monday). We had an unbelievable evening...dinner at TGIFriday's, a stroll down Arbat Street (a famous street in Moscow with lots of street musicians and fun shops). We ended our evening at a new Starbucks, drinking delicious coffee and just thoroughly enjoying our time together. We arrived home well after midnight, having had a wonderful, wonderful evening. We are so grateful for a night out without the kids! And we're even more thankful for friends who are willing to have not one, but two kids sleep over so we could have that night together! The coming week will also be a busy one. Sarah Beth arrives home Wednesday afternoon, and Wednesday evening we board a train for Kiev, Ukraine, for our long-awaited visa trip. We are absolutely trusting that everything with our visa is going to go perfectly. We will arrive Thursday morning, and the kids and I will stay in Kiev while Marc goes on to Odessa, about 6 hours away. The kids and I will be staying with our friends, the Bobo's, whom we dearly love. We are looking forward to a time of just strolling around the beautiful city of Kiev, enjoying some "down" time together. We should be back by the next Wednesday. Then we leave the next Saturday for a retreat center outside of Moscow, where we will be attending the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Russia field. This will include everyone who serves with the IMB in Russia and who is not on stateside.  Some specific things to pray about this week: --Sarah Beth and the rest of the MKs at MKR. This is an unbelievably important time for them. It's like the best youth camp ever, but with your friends you only see once a year. Pray that she will be spiritually renewed as she prepares to head into her junior year of high school. --our Kiev trip. Pray that everything will work smoothly, and we will enjoy some rest! --our friend, Teri, whose husband, Ed, is in charge of the IMB's work in Russia. She will have an angiogram and possible angioplasty at a local hospital on Wednesday. --the kids' tuition for Hinkson Christian Academy. Pray that God will not only show Himself mighty in this area, but that He will do so in a way that is only attributable to Him. --Sarah Beth's trip to Uganda in March. She is currently raising the funds for her trip. Pray that she will have no problem raising the money necessary to go to Uganda during her spring break.  --our friends in house church and English Club. We will be gone the next two Sundays and the next three Thursdays. We will miss our friends. Pray that God will be working in their hearts while we are gone.  Thank you so much for your constant prayers for us. It is easy to think that we are forgotten sometimes--a tool the enemy uses to discourage us. But when I write this every week, I picture each of you as you share this with various groups in your churches, and I know that we are not forgotten, we are not alone, and that God is using you in a mighty way in our lives. We are so grateful for each of you! We pray you have a wonderful week, full of great things that only God can do. Blessings to you and yours! His, Kellye (for all)

A Week of Changes

It has been a bittersweet week for us. On the one hand, we had a great trip to the zoo and Marc officially transitioned to the job he came here to do. On the other, our dear friends and team leaders, Jeff and Karla, left with their family to return to the States for a year. We already miss them. Marc and I have been very blessed to have a chance to serve on a church-planting team with such great leadership. 

We also got the keys to the team's van this week, which will make a great difference to us here in Moscow. On the first day we had the van, we managed to get ourselves pulled over by the police, which was an interesting adventure. We were very thankful for two things: language acquisition and contingency training! Not that we were in any danger, because we weren't, but it was a little scary to be pulled over by the notoriously corrupt police. We managed to get through it with a good story and nothing else. 

Here are some things we'd like for you to pray for this week:

--the continuing issues with obtaining a visa for Russia

--our last days of language, at least for a while

--growing friendships with other missionaries

--the house church that meets here--that we would see continued growth and new churches started out of this group

--our English club, which meets every Thursday night

--Kellye's ear infection, which is pretty awful

--Some fun time as a family

We are really excited about some time off from language study, which will allow us to do some fun things with our kids. We had a wonderful trip to the zoo this week, a place we fully intend to visit again soon. There is also a possibility of a trip to the dacha, or summer house, an hour or so outside the city. Sarah Beth will be going to Budapest in three weeks, and then we have Annual General Meeting in August and a trip somewhere(?) for visa renewal. Then in October, we'll be headed to Prague for a conference and a little vacation with friends. So we have a whole lot of fun coming up. We are thankful for a week in which we saw a little light at the end of the tunnel.

Thank you so much for partnering with us. We could not remain on the field without your faithful prayer support. It would be impossible. We love you and pray your week is productive and ear infection-free!

Blessings,

Kellye (for all)