To Finland and Beyond

Hi! We just got back last evening from a weekend out to Finland. We needed to leave Russia for our 180 day out so we decided to make it into a long weekend. We stayed at a wonderful cabin in Lapeenranta. It took us about 5 hours to go approximately 200 kilometers. The weather was quite snowy (not that we are complaining)but we managed to play in the snow, go sledding , go skating and eat at the girls' favorite restaraunt in Finland. Looking out the windows of the cabin all we could see was snow and trees...nice. We even had a fire in the fireplace there. Unfortunately the flue did not work so well so there was more smoke in our cabin then outside:)

Tommorrow Alan and I head out to Jordan so please pray for us and for the kids while we are gone!

Boxes of Love

Two days ago Alan came home late from picking up the kids from School. Trish called him and he said he was in line at the post office. Well when he and the girls arrived home they were carrying six packages and lots of letters. An hour or so of glee followed as we opened boxes from Pineview Alliance , Masons, the Fites, Mom Richards and the Friedens. Thanks to all of you for the wonderful surprises!!!!!! Attached are some pics.
We received snow last night and it is not so quite overcast today. We have found out that TWO count them TWO couples in our church are expecting. Please pray for them as well as a young single gal who also is pregnant and in a bit of debt. She just recently came to church for the first time after praying with Pastor Dima.
Next weekend we head to the border and will be in Finland for the weekend. Please pray for safe travel.

Christmas/New Year and More

DOUBLE DRIBBLE
Hi! We have lots of news. We again celebrated two Christmas days and two New Years. During the school holidays we had quite a few guests over and the girls just plain relaxed. We went ice skating indoors on New Year's Day at a local mall since there was no snow and the temps were above freezing. We stayed up late on New Years (til 330 am) and saw another great fireworks show as well as having tons of fireworks going off all around us. On New Year's Day when we pulled into the parking garage of the mall and got out of our car two ladies looked at us and exclaimed "Look..there are other people that are awake and sober! Above is a picture we took at the girls' Christmas concert. Trish attended Wheaton as did one or both of the parents of the Gerig and OByrne families.

BUMPER CARS
Speaking of drunks just before New Years a drunk drove through our parking area and collided with a parked car and then bounced off of the bumper of that car and just lightly bumped our van. He tried to run(drunkenly) from the scene but the owner of the vehicle he hit called down from his window and two men nearby grabbed the drunk so he could not leave. Well to make a long day short-they let the guy go(after they took his keys) with the understanding he would have to come back and pay about 1,000 dollars. He never came back and only later they called the police. Our neighbor waited outside for hours and hours. We were glad that no damage happened to our van. Turns out the car was stolen. Drunk driving here is a pretty serious offense. You lose your licence immediately and then may be sent to jail. The stolen car blocked the side street for most of the day. AUGH!!



FEAR NOT
Our church invited a professional mime group to perform on Russian Christmas Eve (January 6th) and we distributed a bunch of invitations. We were not sure what the turn out would be but over one hundred people filled up the hall we rented. Even better news was that Vika, one of the kids in the youth group prayed with her neighbors the Friesens, to accept Christ. This was a great moment in her life as she has lived in great fear of death. Four or five of our neighbors came as well. We pray that they will see a change in their lives. The group was excellent.
We were so glad that this Russian Christmas we made NO EMERGENCY trips to the hospital. Last year Lauren had an emergency appendectomy.
Russian Christmas Eve with the mimes

Putting on our traveling shoes
In two weeks our family will head to Finland for the weekend. Please pray that we will have a good time of rest and refreshment as we are somewhat tired and sun deprived. In early February we(Alan and I0 will be taking a trip to a nearby country to visit a community center there. We are thinking and praying about creating such a center here in Saint Petersburg. Pray for safety for us and our kids. This is the first time we have been away from all four of our children in years!!!


Manda with a friend

Clip of tambourine dance

6 Days and Counting

Hi! We just celebrated Amanda's 12th birthday on Saturday. She had all of her classmates over for several hours(nine girls in all.) They had fun playing animal tag and just being together. Earlier in the day we made a trip to the clinic where Trish volunteers. They had a small Christmas Party for kids there. Lauren at that time was at a birthday party. On Sunday we as a church celebrated our second week of advent. It really is enjoyable to slow down and think about the Holiday. In the last few weeks four people had prayed with Pastor Dima, repenting of their sins and deciding to answer Jesus' call to to each of them to "come follow me."
Trish wound up her semester cpr class this week. Hopefully the students, if need be, will have the skills to save some one's life in an emergency. The highlight of the class was last week when Med-Em sent the ambulance to the school and Misha, a felsher (physician's assistant) came and spoke to the students. He had some great stories.

Zach and Lauren are both excitedly counting down the days to Christmas!! Below is a clip from zach's bday.

4th Birthdays

Zach celebrated his 4th birthday on Nov 27th. He was so excited he was jumping up and down with joy for the full week before his birthday. We don't remember our kids being quite so excited before. On his actual day we had cake and then on the weekend we had a few children his own age come over to play.

Our church also celebrated its 4th birthday yesterday amid lots of laughter, joy and some tears. Over 50 people gathered to celebrate with about ten first time visitors. Attached is a clip of Rachel and Amanda doing a tambourine dance with the youth group. We had a group of Jewish folk dancers come and particpate as well. One special guest who attended was Katya. She and her mom are from Volgograd and they are here to have medical treatment. Over a year ago Katya was brutally attacked by her ex husband and as a result has lost most of her sight. She is only in her early 20s. Her mom Irina became a Christian several months ago and they are praying that Katya would be healed. Yesterday was the first time, from what we understand, that Katya has been to church. Several gals in our church have done an excellent job reaching out to Katya, visiting her in the hospital and encouraging her. Please pray for her. She should have an operation free of charge.. but here money greases the wheels if you know what I mean.

We had a pretty busy week. Rach and Manda went to a Christmas Dance at the American Consulate. (see attached picture) After school a bunch of their classmates came to hang out until it was time to go. They are a great group of kids! When they came home they were still dancing!!! >
Alan fell on the ice the other day and is still hurting a bit. Please pray that he will feel better. We got some snow yesterday and the temperature has dropped a bit.

4th birthday of The Great Commission Church

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Hi ! Hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We celebrated with two families, our teammates the Friesens and another American couple, the Bogotts. In the second picture is our kids with Perry. We had a fun and busy weekend. On Friday the girls had a choir practice and then in the evening we had our couple's small group followed by our church's half night of prayer. We had ten people pray for about four hours. It was great! On Saturday morning we got up and put up our Christmas tree and then got to celebrate Thanksgiving a second time with our friends the Gerigs! On Sunday our whole family went to the center of town for a Christmas bazaar put on by the International Women's Club. Their profits all go to help area orphanages.
It was interesting being in the city center yesterday. The main square was totally blocked off by police and riot police. Buses and dump trucks lined the road effectively blocking off the square. The political opposition party here wanted to hold a protest which the city did not allow (from what I understand.) I thought to myself; boy I do not know if I would want to be a protester surrounded by all of those police. So this Thanksgiving day appreciate your freedoms and do not take them for granted.

Zach turns four tomorrow! We are looking forward to his big day. By the way the picture at the top was taken at 9 this morning. Not quite bright out is it?