8/26

We leave this Thursday evening for Mongolia. Which would be Thursday morning for anyone living in the US. We are taking the train to UlaanBartaar. This will be a 55 hour trip. Please pray for us that we would have patience and our children would also handle it all well. Thank you.

8/20

We want to give a big thank  you to the Ballinger family. This family has helped us tremendously. They are missionaries in Mongolia. As you know, we will be moving there in less than 2 weeks. Chris Ballinger found us a place to live!!!!!! God's grace is flowing abundantly over us. 

Yet again we find ourselves packing. If you have ever moved then you understand what we are experiencing. It's not like we have a lot of stuff so that makes it a bit easier. Now we will adjust to all new things again, but in a different Country. Our visa application is still being worked on. This may become tricky with us leaving the Country and trying to apply for the 3 year visa. Yet, we have to leave for at least 3 months b/c of our visa now. Please continue to pray for us and don't forget to thank the Lord for providing us a place to live in Mongolia.  

8/17

           What do you notice about this home?  .....                                                 

                                                                                 .....Allen noticed the steep roof!!! 

Yes, that's Allen on the roof. We were able to visit this summer home (Docha) and Allen helped with the roof. Allen is an experienced framer, but it's a little different here. It was a new experience for him being on this style of roof and not to mention the home-made ladder.                                                            

8/09

I feel like a real missionary now.I have eaten fish eggs. I (Michelle) was able to participate in a ladies conference for two days. I have to confess that my heart wasn't stirred by the great teaching. I couldn't understand anything! I did enjoy speaking all the Russian that I knew. They let me and another missionary sing for the conference. It was a short song so the Russian wasn't too difficult. The other missionary speaks the language fluently so she was a big help. I thoroughly enjoyed singing and greatly enjoyed the ladies. It was an encouragement to see these ladies serving the Lord. They are not surrounded by Christian influence at all so their faith is strong and true -how beautiful!         

2008-08-06

A real Russian experience: We were able to have dinner with some new Russian friends. We went to their home, spur of the moment, and had dinner with them. The meal tasted great which was a suprise to me. We were able to visit with the husband who spoke good English. He is a pastor in one the local areas. Allen enjoyed visiting with him and asking tons of questions. It was good to talk with him about his ideas of how to start a church in Russia. I enjoyed practicing my Russian on his wife, since she didn't speak any English.

Mongolia plans: We have officially purchased plane tickets to leave for Mongolia August 31st. It is necessary for us to leave the Country for a few months due to our short visa. We plan on enrolling in language school there so we can keep learning Russian. Please continue to pray for us as we again make new adjustments. Thank you.

 8/1/2008 

Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork."

I have literally seen some of that handiwork of God. The SolarEclipse is a sight to behold. The experience was simply amazing.

When the total Eclipse happened (about 2 minutes long) it suddenly became dark. There were stars in the sky and ALL was quite. You could look up at the sun and see the moon covering it. It was a phenomenon. Tears came to my eyes as we watched in awe of God's wonderful creation. When the moon moved, the light appeared instantly. There was still only a sliver of the sun, yet it filled the earth. I thought of when God simply said "let there be light" and there was light. Wow, we can do nothing but fear the Lord's greatness.   

Today, 7-27-08 is a nastalgic day for us. It is our 6th year anniversary and we're spending it here in Russia. We  praise the Lord for our marriage thus far. We look forward to the many years to come. In one way we rejoice for the fact of actually being here and at the same time we realize this is a time of uncertainty. Just because we're here doesn't mean we've achieved it all. Yes, it was a big task to get here, but now we have an even larger task of building relationships (speaking the language) and sharing Christ to ultimately start churches. Whew! It's sure a big task. Please pray for us as we begin this new journey in our life and marriage. Thank you for all your prayers, it's great to know of course that God is with us but also that we are not alone because of you being a part of the ministry here in Russia.

We have now been in language school for 2 weeks. It is very exciting yet at times discouraging too. Please pray for us as we communicate with the people God lets us interact with. So far my (Michelle) main interactions are with the moms from the neighboorhood who take their children to the playground.

Another success is that I am learning that I really can cook here. It has sure been a task to grocery shop but thankfully we are figuring things out.  

 First Look at Siberia- click here for video

Outside our Apartment-Video 

 This week was church camp for the local churches. When I say camp, I truly mean camp. I remember complaining at camp when there wasn't any air conditioning! These children actually camp out and their pool is the lake. Their restrooms are fresh dug holes with a little privacy that we'll call an outhouse. Showers?

The facilities were actually extrememly nice for camping out, I just thought I'd encourage those of you attending camp this summer that well, you have it nice.

We were able to observe five baptisms!! 

God is at work in Siberia.

Last Sunday (our first Sunday here) 2 ladies were saved! This Sunday two more people were saved!!! Obviously, this has nothing to do with our ministry, since we can't even communicate. I just wanted to let you in on the excitement here.

Next week is preparation for camp for some area churches. This is real camp, ya know, camping out and digging your own outhouses. Please pray that the Lord would be honored in these events.