Photo of the Week - 3/13/2016

This week I am sharing two photos of two missionary families who have been serving here in Krasnoyarsk for a time while preparing ultimately to move their families further north to serve in the village of Vanavara. We are grateful that late last evening the husbands, along with a Russian man who is a friend to all of us here in Krasnoyarsk, arrived safely by vehicle. During the winter months a "winter road" is passable. Over the coarse of the winter months, the men have made several trips on this winter road,  followed closely by a heavy duty truck carrying building supplies, food, and their belongings. 

Tomorrow morning, the wives along with their children (five total) will fly up to join their husbands. Please pray for their safe flight and arrival. Also for their adjustment in this new ministry.

The Matt Northcutt family

The James Dean family

Photo of the Week - December 20, 2015

I just love this photo which we took last Sunday afternoon as we gathered to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday. This is most of our youth group when rarely photographed together. I say that because with the six day school schedule here in Russia, Sunday is the only day the kids have free to sleep in. This also means that often sports competitions are scheduled on Sundays. As a result, it is difficult for teens especially to be faithful to come to church on Sundays, much less special meetings. 

In the midst of all the activities and schedules, we have one young man (pictured on the far left) who has been attending Sunday school faithfully since he was four years old. He is now fifteen. 

Please pray with us for these teens. Not all of them have accepted Christ. But, thankfully, that number is down to four of the ones pictured here. Secondly, please pray for those who are saved to understand the importance of faithfulness to God's house and fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. The potential in this group is incredible! What God could do with a group of young people like these who are committed to Christ!

Photo of the Week

Today, November 29th, we celebrated Mother's Day in Russia. It is odd for us as Americans to celebrate Mother's Day on the last Sunday in November. 

We bought the kids in Sunday school each a pair of pretty wool socks to make into the shape of cupcakes to present to their Moms. They also made these "cupcake" cards. It was a fun day!  The kids were thrilled to make a craft for their Moms. We pray that through our Sunday School ministry we can reach the parents and other siblings for Christ.

Photo of the Week - 11/15/15

This week's photo is a recent photo I took one afternoon as our days have become shorter here in Siberia. Snowy skies are upon us and, unusually for this time of the year, the cold temperatures are also upon us. -30 Celsius is in the forecast this week. Today, Sunday, we had -20 C. The weather man had said that we could expect-30 by the first of November so, we are thankful that he was wrong and that we were able to enjoy a few more weeks of "warmer" temps. 

As you can imagine, these temperatures make life and ministry more challenging. We covet your prayers as winter time is a perfect opportunity for the devil to fight God's work here even more. Please pray for our safety and for God's people to be faithful during these cold months ahead.

Photo of the Week - 11/8/2015

I really love this photo. It was taken several years ago when myself and another missionary who so kindly offered to help me plan a Ladies' Tea for the 8th of March, Woman's Day, here in Russia. The goal was to invite mothers of our Sunday school children, as well as, ladies in our village in order to introduce myself to them and help them feel more comfortable with what we are trying to do here in the ministry. 

I won't go into the details of the party but, I share this photo to ask for your prayers for us as we head into the holiday season. Christmas is such a wonderful opportunity to invite our neighbors into our home and get to know them better. Building relationships is very important here. We must gain their trust before ever being able to share Christ with them. 

Now that our house is a little more done, we are looking forward to opening our home in the coming weeks to precious friends and families. Join us in praying that we may reach them for Christ.

Sixteen years...

...years ago today, November 2, 1999, we stepped off the plane in Siberia with our almost two year old daughter and less suitcases than I wanted to bring to start our lives as missionaries. Russia has changed so much in the time we have been here that we can hardly believe we are serving in the same country after all these years. 

We thank the Lord for showing Himself faithful to our family time after time. 

We thank Him for safety and protection through the years. 

We thank Him for the many souls saved and lives changed.

We thank Him that He is not finished with us. 

It is our prayer that we would continue to see much fruit here in the field where He has us. 

Please pray with us, in this coming year of our ministry,  that the Lord would provide a piece of land or building to be used as a meeting place for our church.

To our supporting friends and churches, thank YOU for your faithful prayers and support of our ministry. 

We count it a privilege to represent you in Siberia, Russia.

She's Home!

I am still working without my laptop since it has been in the shop now for a month, therefore, I have very limited amounts of photos to share right now on Sundays for our Photo of the Week post.

We are reposting this stock photo of a Ssang Yong truck as our Photo of the Week to let everyone know that our truck is home! The new engine was installed with an added blessing of labor costs being less than we expected. We are so thankful for those of you who prayed for God to provide for this need. As we mentioned in the last update, a gift was sent to our family and we were able to use that money to pay for the service and purchase of an engine for our truck. The giver had no idea ofour need. :) This past week we were able to get a new windshield installed as well.  Roads which are often dirty with pebbles and debris and the lack of mud flaps on trucks make for seriously abused windshields!

We are so thankful to have our truck running again. The weather changed the next week after we were able to pick it up. We now have snow on the ground and strong winds as winter is blowing in. It is a tremendous blessing to have a strong engine in the car that actually allows us to accelerate uphill!

Update Regarding Our Vehicle

Please forgive us for not posting an update sooner regarding our vehicle. We wanted to wait until we had news to report first. We initially were truly praying for God to show us what to do next since we lost the usage of our truck. We had talked about repairing it and we had talked about selling it. But, when it came down to it, we would have had to repair the truck enough to get it running in order to be able to sell it. We had no funds available for the needed repairs of our truck, much less to consider purchasing a "new" (to us) vehicle. 
We found out at the end of August that an individual sent us a monetary gift. It was enough to even allow us to purchase an engine for our truck! Thank you, Lord! We found out later that the individual who sent us the gift had no idea of our need. God answered our prayers!

Preparing the truck to be towed in to the garage.

So, after praying and doing some research on where the best garage would be to take it in to be "diagnosed", the Lord allowed us to find a garage through a fellow missionary here in Krasnoyarsk who was also using this particular garage for repairs on his vehicle.
Long story short, the workers agreed with David that the truck definitely needed an engine replacement. They also said that the truck had one cylinder which had not been working for quite some time. So, that was encouraging to us to know that there was a reason it was so "sick" even before we finally broke down on the side of the road.
The next step was to find an engine. Within a few days, the garage was able to contact a company they regularly work with and secure an engine. David and another missionary went to check out the engine for themselves to give their approval before we purchased it. We were able to purchase it and agreed with garage and company that the engine would be delivered this week for installation. Our truck should be ready by the end of next week in running condition.
Please pray for all the details to fall into place and for the work to be done with no complications. We will update again when we have more news. Thank you for your prayers.

Photo of the Week (a photo with a story behind it)

This photo of the week is going to have a bit of a story along with it. I remember years ago when I was a teenager and was praying about what the Lord would have me to do with my life, I was confident He wanted me to become a Nurse. I had expressed an interest in becoming a missionary and as soon as I began telling people that I believed God wanted me to to to college to study to be a nurse, several began to panic. The first thought that came to their minds was, money. Not money to pay for my education, but the money I would begin making once I completed my education and was given an opportunity to work as an Registered Nurse. I was quite disappointed to hear such a response from people who were important to me. But, as I continued to pray, God continued to lead in that direction and I completed my Nursing degree in 1994. While home from college during a summer break between my Sophomore and Junior years of college, I went forward in my home church and made it public that God wanted me to be a missionary. Of course, everyone was happy to hear of my willingness to go where ever the Lord would lead me.

I could bore you with all the details between then and when I met my husband, a missionary on deputation to Siberia, Russia, but the main thing is, I never forgot the "main thing" of becoming a missionary. That cautious advice given to me years before, was filed in my mind, and actually did stay with me. I was always cautious and slightly fearful of falling into working as a Nurse and never becoming a missionary. I never worked a glorious Nursing job making millions. :) Instead, I followed the advice of my pastor and went back to college to take some Missions courses. For that, I am also very thankful. It was there at that college I met my husband. 

The outstanding memory for me now, as I share my testimony with young people regarding finding the will of God for their lives, is just thankfulness for God's PERFECT leading and will. As much as I desired becoming a Nurse to help people any where I might have found myself on the globe, I would have never dreamed the Lord would use my Nursing education as He has. 

This photo is of one such opportunity. 

To the left of me in the black shirt is my friend who is a professor at the Medical University here in Krasnoyarsk. She teaches English medical terms to Russian speaking medical students. To the right of me in the white shirt is a friend of my friend, who also is a professor in the Medical University. I don't remember when I first met my friend but our friendship grew out of our common bond - a love for the medical field.

She has been a blessing to our family and others in helping us find proper medical care. She has even made phone calls to help locate doctors who will treat our friends and church members.

Several years ago now, she contacted me about a need the medical professors had for a textbook in order to make their jobs easier and assist them in teaching medical terminology in English to their Russian speaking medical students. She wanted to know if I would be willing to help her talk through terminology in Russian to properly translate it into English. I agreed and we spent hours completing the translation of the textbook. The professors of the University were so grateful that on the day this photo was taken the ladies asked me to meet them in the city so they could present me with a gift as a thank you for the work we did.

Again, how amazing it is to be in God's will and to see first hand how He can use us in ways we would have never dreamed imaginable. As we approach fifteen years in Russia, I can say that now I use my Nursing education every day. It has allowed me to meet and witness to people I may not have ever met had I not become a Nurse. Every day I am grateful that I followed His will. Can you say that young person? Are you fully surrendered to do His will and be whatever HE wants you to be?

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1

"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." I Thes. 5:24

Photo of the Week - 8/16/2015

This week's photo of the week is one very near and dear to our heart. Many people who have never met this family probably can probably easily tell you their names after this week. This is a photo of the Josh Wesson family, missionaries to the Dominican Republic. My husband and I knew both Josh and his wife, Joy, in Bible college. Josh passed away on August 7th, 2015, while saving three teens from drowning. He was able to save two and then the third drowned along with Josh despite Josh's efforts to save the young man. 

A funeral service was held in the Dominican Republic where approximately 450 people were in attendance. Josh's body was returned to the States where his funeral and final resting place took place in Louisiana, in the same church where 19 years ago, Josh and Joy were married.

Our hearts hurt for Joy and the children, for the families.We have grieved deeply this week and shed many tears. We were able to spend time with the Wesson family in January of 2014 during our last furlough. We are now so thankful for that time with these precious friends. 

Josh was a great example in life, as well as, in his death. It is difficult to explain the emotions, the feelings, the thoughts that we have felt this week. I, as a missionary wife, hope to share some of those thoughts in upcoming posts on my personal blog, http://www.whitherthougoest.blogspot.com 

We simply can't understand God's ways, but we know He makes no mistakes. Please pray with us for Joy and her children. We understand there will be dark days ahead for them but we know God will be near to them and hold them in His hand. 

Photo of the week

This photo of the week reflects our hearts this week as we learned of the home going of one of our college friends who was a missionary in the Dominican Republic, Josh Wesson. It has been a rough couple of days as we just can't believe another friend is in heaven. A wife and kids that we visited with and laughed with just a year ago are now left to pick up and leave the field without their husband and father. All the other fellow missionaries who worked with them in the Dominican and those brothers and sisters in Christ won to the Lord by Josh and his precious wife, Joy are also hurting.

This photo is of my husband teaching the Bible story this year during our annual VBS. This guy is my other half, my partner in life, my dearest friend. I am so thankful for our family and the life and ministry we share. I don't want to take a moment for granted. Thank you, Lord, for the days you have allowed us to serve you. May we make them count for Christ!

Prayer request regarding our vehicle

Just today as we were returning from evangelization, and were about a 1/4 of a mile from our house, the engine of our truck blew. We already knew it needed a new transmission and other major work but with other important items on the priority list we have had to put that off for the time being. It would have been the second time our truck has needed a "new" transmission". We purchased it back in January of 2011. We had taken it in a few months ago to have some other work done on it and the mechanics talked David through the possible variants to repair it completely. We had decided it was more economical to repair the truck than to try to replace it with another vehicle. We wanted to get it painted as well. We just didn't expect the engine to blow before we got to the other repairs. 

This is a stock photo. This is not our actual car. :)

The timing was good for us to be near our house and not out with all the family, but, not so good in that tomorrow we are holding services early here in Elita so that we can then go into the city to attend services at Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church as the church celebrates their 20th anniversary. We really wanted to be able to attend since we worked in that ministry almost seven years upon our arrival in Russia in 1999. We also have our church family here in Elita who would like to be a part of the day. The others were planning on going in other vehicles since our vehicle could only our family.  We now will be calling a taxi to get our family into the city and back. 
We would like to ask you to please pray for us in this new need. It is very challenging here to exist without a vehicle.  Praise the Lord this did not happen two weeks ago during our Vacation Bible School preparation and program. 
We would have loved to have already purchased a newer vehicle but with the cost we felt it was best to repair this one. Now, the cost of the repairs has grown and well into the amount of money we would need for a new vehicle. Please pray for wisdom for our family and for the Lord to work in this situation to meet our need as He sees best.

Photo of the Week

Okay, so this week there are two photos of the week. I had to show both. :) We have had a good week although we barely remember it. It was the first week after VBS so we were all striving to get back into the "usual busy" and try to rest off the exhaustion of the previous week as well. Before we knew it, it was Friday and none of our family could really tell you what we did on Monday. :) One day this week, our daughter and I were invited to a Tajiki (from Tajikistan) friend's house where they were preparing for a big feast the next day where they would have over 100 men in their home. This young lady in the green loves our daughter and the Momma loves to visit with me. So, they often beg us to come over for tea and to chat. They asked me to bake their favorite chocolate cake and come over, so we did. We never go home empty-handed and were given some of these "lepyoshky" and other sweets to take home to my husband and the boys. They are a sweet family and we are grateful for the relationship we can have with them. We pray they come to know the forgiveness and freedom only Christ can give. 

"Lepyoshky" in the process.

"Lepyoshky" ready to eat. :)

Photo of the Week

We just finished up our ninth annual VBS program yesterday. Here is a pic from one of the two days we almost got rained out but there were still a good group of kids (not all in this photo) who came out in spite of the rain and huddled under a tent to participate.

Update 2 on prayer request shared...

I apologize for the delay in updating about our young boy here in the village who was electrocuted. I have only received three updates from the family but the second one I found out just before our VBS started so I was not able to update right away.
The little guy had to have two toes from one foot amputated in addition to the surgeries when they amputated his arms. At that point, they told the Mom there would be no more surgeries. The doctors had decided to not operate on his stomach. I was also told that he kept asking his Mom where his arms were until she finally told him to ask the doctor. When the doctors told him that his arms had to be amputated the boy started crying, got angry, and refused to eat. That is when the doctor called in a psychologist and a psychotherapist to talk to him. They told the mother to treat him just as she did before the accident and not to make a handicapped person out of him, meaning not to baby him or treat him differently now that he has lost his arms. So, at that point I was told he was still in ICU but was stable.

Fast forward to yesterday, Saturday, June 11th. Our week of VBS had just ended and we made a quick stop at our house to unload all the tables and equipment from the day's activities. then quickly jumped back into the car to make visits to the kids who come to Sunday school but were not at VBS that day. We stopped by this little boy's cousin's house as we do every Saturday to see if he had returned from visiting his Dad in the city yet. While there I thought I would ask the SS boy's Mom (the victim of the accident's Mom) if there were any changes in his condition. She told me the doctors ended up amputating yet a third toe from the one foot, as well as, more of his one arm that was initially amputated to the elbow. Now, he has completely lost both arms and they even had to remove more tissue above the shoulder joint from what the aunt said. She said that the skin cells are dying and the damage is more than it was previously. This just broke my heart. I can not be sure I was getting completely clear information from the aunt but still, the fact remains that now he has no arms at all. It seems to me that he is not as stable if they are saying the tissue is still dying and they had to remove more.
The aunt said she wanted to wait until they put him into a regular room and then she asked if we could go to the hospital together so that we could take him some healthy food and snacks. I wanted to visit him as well, but, we all have been waiting to avoid having to go into the ICU one at a time so that we can visit with him and his mother. We will be sure to update if we hear more news or are able to visit him.

Update (1) on prayer request shared...

First of all, we want to thank you for your prayers for the little ten year old boy who was electrocuted here in our village. We are grateful that yesterday (Sunday) we were able to talk some more with his aunt (the mother of the little boy's cousin. Saturday evening she was able to go to the hospital to at least talk directly with the mother of the little boy. She told her that the doctors said that, as far as internal organs, it is his liver that suffered the most damage. His stomach was also damaged but not as badly. They also decided that on Monday they were going to have to do another surgery to amputate his other arm. One arm was damaged all the way up to the shoulder and the second one up to the elbow we believe. He is awake, able to talk, and is asking for food. As of Saturday he did not understand that his arm had been amputated. He was asking his Mom why he could move his one arm but not the other. The mother is staying in the hallway at the hospital. We pray we can go and see her but we are not sure if they will let us in at this point.
Dee was able to again witness to the aunt as she picked up her son (the patient's cousin) for Sunday school. She agreed that it is a miracle that the little guy lived through this tragedy. She agreed that they will talk further about her salvation. She told Dee that she was walking around in a fog right now and though she understands what Dee said to her about her need of a Savior not only to help her through such dark days but every day, she said she was only able to think about what is happening in their family right now. We pray the Lord is truly working in her heart and that God will use this in others' hearts to turn them to Him.
The family found out that it was 10,000 volts going through those lines. Evidently the shock did throw him off which when we are dealing with 10,00 volts it should not have happened that way. He shouldn't have been able to pull away. But, the electricians said that the roof of the station must have been wet or his feet must have been wet. We had just had strong rains and therefore he would have walked through damp grass just before this incident happened. They told the family that one of these variants caused it to throw him off and not hold him to the contacts. Therefore, he suffered injury and was not killed.

Thank you for your continued prayers for this family. We have shared with them that people around the world are praying. We will continue to provide you with updates as we learn of them.

Please pray...

Sunday school children during craft time

Praying friends we have an important prayer request that we were just made aware of today. We are not going to use names here on the blog, but please be in prayer for this family.
While we were out on visitation, we made a stop by one of Dee's Sunday school student's houses as we do every Saturday. As Dee was leaving the house, the mother stopped her and shared that they "had news". She then started to tremble as she shared with Dee that yesterday (Friday) while her son, his cousin, and another friend were out playing that the cousin climbed up onto a electrical "station" located in our village and grabbed two of the "connectors" and was electrocuted. She said that she was out working in the garden when her son and the friend came running to her with tears in their eyes explaining that he was "shocked to death". The mother (the victim's aunt) and a neighbor took off running to the place and found his body still clinging to the "connections". The mother called for an ambulance and, thankfully, a police car drove by about that time and the mother was able to flag them down. Amazingly, the men who tend that station were not too far away and they were able to turn off the power to the station fairly quickly. The mother of the boy who attends Sunday school mentioned that her nephew was moving as they turned off the power. The men argued with her that it was not possible. Once again she noticed that he moved. Once the power was turned off she started calling out his name to him and he answered! Amazingly he even answered a question for her.
He is currently at the burn center hospital here in the city. Doctors performed a surgery on him yesterday evening and today they had to amputate one of his arms. The aunt told Dee that they have checked his internal organs and told the family that for sure his liver was severely burned. Most of the time, the doctors don't give the family much information so we are not sure as to what degree of damage his body and organs suffered at this point. They have allowed the mother to see him off and on. She is sitting out in the hallway trying to get more information out of the doctors each chance she sees them.
Sadly, this little ten year old boy was never allowed to come to Sunday school. His sister was allowed to attend some years ago. His mother, even though she is related to the aunt, has heard too many rumors about Baptists from the "older days" and therefore, stopped the daughter from coming and never allowed the son to attend. He has wanted to attend so badly. Today, as we have prayed for him, we remembered all those times and it just breaks our hearts. The whole family is not saved. Dee has witnessed to the aunt (the mother of the boy who attends SS) for years. We would like to ask you to please pray for this boy and all of his family that the Lord would be glorified in this tragedy. Pray God could use this to further His kingdom and for us to be a testimony and a help to the family. We so want to use this opportunity to clearly show them Christ's love.

Photo of the Week

I am so thankful for every opportunity we have to love on people. Like this family whose children were saved this past summer along with their mother just after our summer VBS program ended. They invited us to their daughter's birthday and I offered to make her cake. I am so glad I did as the entire day was spent with them treating our kids to bowling, games, and tons of fun. The father has yet to accept Christ but we pray he will real soon. Oh the potential in this one family! In the mean time, we pray he sees Christ in us and will strive to use every opportunity we have to show him God's love.

Photo of the Week

This photo of our daughter and one of our little girls who attends SS in the younger class. All of the little girls absolutely adore our daughter. But today, this little one jumped up in Beka's lap and snuggled in saying how warm Beka was. It was so sweet. They are sure going to miss our Beka-boo when she goes off to college! Thankfully, we have one more year with her!

Photo of the Week

Remembering our very first VBS program held in the village back in 2007. We had a handful of helpers, including a few American missionary ladies, a few teen girls from the Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church in the city, and the two guys you see seated on the left side who didn't speak a word of Russian. What a great year it was! The kids loved the program and were so excited they didn't want the week to end. This year's VBS program begins July 6th. Please be in prayer as we prepare for another great VBS!