Visitors and Spring

Girls greeting Tanya

<
Alan celebrated his 43rd birthday this past week!!!
We have had snow flurries again this week. Three days were really bad and then today the sun came out and the temps got above freezing. Our friends Tanya and Olya have been with us the last week. We took them to the Zoological Museum (with Zach) and then to the Hermitage.
This next week we head South to our field's forum where hopefully it will be warm and sunny.

Olya with Zach and Lauren

Flurries

Just about a week ago we had flurries of several different types. First the obvious, we actually had some snow flurries for several days. Secondly we have been in the midst of flurries of busyness. Our co-workers the Friesens left for home assignment just a week ago. Helping them pack and say our goodbyes was a reminder to us how time flies especially when you are concluding a term on the field. Yesterday the church celebrated Women's Day with a dessert time/games. The celebration was held at the girls' school building. Several non Christians were there and a good time was had by all.

Unfortunately there has also been a flurry of illness here. Pastor Dima's wife Valya who is pregnant has had a bad case of the flu. Please pray for their family and especially for Valya and baby. Zach at the moment has the sniffles and so does Amanda.


The kids did a short program at their school for Women's day on March 8th as well.


Excitement
In two weeks we will be having the girls' long time friend, Tanya, from Kropotkin, come for a week. She and our past nanny(Olya) will be coming for a visit. Tanya was the first of our Kropotkin neighbors to befriend our girls, and they have been good friends ever since. Also we we will be leaving to field forum the first week of April! It will hopefully be warm and sunny in Anapa.

Prayer Requests
Please pray for us and for some of our stateside friends. We have a dear friend who is struggling with alot of pain and a chronic illness.
Please pray for our kids as they start again the sometimes fun and yet painful process of transitioning. As Lauren noted, all of her friends, that she remembers are here and this is home for her.

Valentine's Day Bash

Sasha and Ekaterina, Nastia, Trish and Alan


Our girls had a great time with some crowns that Mom Richards sent! Our couples small group hosted a Valentine's Day bash the day after Valentine's Day. Thirteen couples attended including our old next door neighbors. One couple has a sister who attends our church. After the evening they told her that they now understand why she likes to go to church.

Finally some sunshine!!!

The Friesens and us

Trish overlooking the Dead Sea

The Jordan River-where Jesus was baptized Hi here are some pics from our recent trip.
Roman style acoustics

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