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

"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 19:14 

Warm and Toasty!

In this post I wanted to update you all about the need we had for a newer and updated heating system in the old house we used to live in which we now use for Sunday school classes. We asked you all to pray for the Lord to provide this need.

We are happy to report that the following month our regular support was enough for us to be able to take care of this need! We were very grateful for your prayers as we were able to purchase all of the necessary items to put together the heating system and get it up and running within a week or two.

As the process began, it was quite the mess!

Eventually, we were able to clear out the area where the old stove stood and move the stove we had first purchased to heat our new house into it's place. We plan on painting the bricks to make the are look more finished. But, just getting to this point and removing all the old bricks was a giant step completed!

For those of you who might be curious, we then go to a store like this one pictured below where they sell lots and lots of parts to piece together a radiator system which will carry heated fluid from the stove all throughout the house. 

This system will be similar to the heating system in our new house but, only much less complicated.

A trip to this store with my hubby always makes me proud of my husband as he knows exactly what he needs and is able to express himself to the store clerks. When you are ready to "order" your items, they scan the product numbers and send those numbers on to the warehouse where you pick them up once you have paid for them.

My husband choosing the parts we need to build the heating system.

So, once you have made your purchases, you take it all home and feel like a kid again with a new Lego set.

Finally, you are ready to put the pieces together.

This is the emergency air pressure release tank (red), gauges, and electric pump
to pump the fluid through the pipes (green).

We put in four radiators under four windows at this point. We might add one more at a later time.

(Please forgive the torn wallpaper in the pics which had to be removed in order to remove mold damage after we moved out of the house and before we started using it for our Sunday school ministry.)

This is the main room of the house where we hold SS classes.

As you can see, wallpaper is pretty close to the top of the "to do" list for the old house!

Once the pipes were all connected, the radiators prepared and connected to the pipes, and the system was checked for leaks, we were ready for a Sunday morning!

Thank you for praying! 

All is working well and the kids are very thankful for a warmer place to gather and learn about God's Word!

A Reason to Celebrate

Today, November 2nd, 2014 is a special day for our family as it marks 15 years of serving the Lord on the mission field of Siberia, Russia. It is truly hard to believe we have been here for that long!

I put together this slide show to share with you many of the blessings we have witnessed over the years. 

God is GOOD!

We would like to express our sincere appreciate to those of you who have prayed, given, encouraged, and loved us along the way. 

We truly could not have stayed here this long without you holding the ropes for us!

We look forward to many more years and many more blessings. 

We have so many dreams, hopes, and wishes that we beg God to allow us to see come to fruition here in Siberia. 

Please pray for us as we continue on in His name.

A Ministry Need

Dear praying friends and family,

As many of you may know there is still much work to be done on our new house. One of the biggest blessings of being able to move into it as of December 2011, in regards to our ministry, is that is has freed up the old house to be used as a much needed room for our Sunday school ministry. 

Back-to-School Sunday, 2014

However, we still have not been able to install a heating system into the old house. As of this year, we have a stove ready for installation but there are more items needed to complete this project. It is our prayer that we can complete this project before winter comes to stay in November. We have begun the process and have explained all the details on our building blog.

Would you please pray about the need to complete this project? 

If you have any questions about how you can help with this need, please feel free to contact us by e-mail or in the comments of this post.

God gave the increase!

Quite a few years ago (2007 if I remember correctly), through helping out another Christian man with some building projects in our village, my husband met a family. This family lived in the city during the school year but came out to stay with Grandma and Grandpa who lived in the village, during the summer months. While my husband and Zhenia, the man he worked with, completed these projects at Grandma and Grandpa's house, they often witnessed to the great grandmother who also lived there. It was an unusual situation with four generations under one roof! In all there was great grandma, her daughter and son-in-law (Grandma and Grandpa), and their two daughters who were both married. The oldest daughter, Yuliya, and her husband, Vanya, had two children. The younger sister, Nastya, was married to Oleg and would soon be expecting their daughter, Dasha. Through working on these projects, and the daughters realizing that David was an American; Yuliya, and her sister, Nastya, opened up to let the guys know that they themselves taught English. One taught at a school and the other at the Aerospace University! My husband, David, and his friend, Zhenia, continued to witness and talk with the great grandmother since she would often work alongside them in the garden. It was a great opportunity to get to know this family better!

I, Dee Dee, was also able to meet this family, along with our children. The daughters, Yuliya and Nastya, and I enjoyed visiting together and two of our children were close in age. We invited the children to Sunday school and visited them every Saturday to invite them through giving them coloring sheets to bring to the next day. Through time, Yuliya began bringing her kids to Sunday school and even attended the Bible study herself. They came every chance they could and would even drive in from the city to attend church. We thought for sure that Yuliya would soon see her need for Christ and be saved. 

Pollina and Zhenia, little cuties - August 10, 2008

However, through time she got involved in a business that kept her busy. The kids had recitals and gymnastics to keep them busy and they stopped coming to Sunday school. We tried to keep in touch with them and were amazed that they would reconnect with us during the holidays, often exchanging gifts with our children at Christmas time. But, there were a few years where we heard nothing from them.

Sometimes during the summer months when time allowed them to, the kids would come to church. Once we found out they were in the village for the summer we would again make weekly visits to their grandparent's house to invite them. But, Yuliya herself would not attend services. The family was usually out of town during the VBS programs, which we always wished the children could attend. It was one of those situations when we thought, what was it that caused Yuliya to stop coming to services? And with that thought came a million others, maybe she was convicted? Maybe she was offended? Maybe she was afraid to take the next step and accept Christ?

As we missionaries often do, we ourselves thought there had to be a reason why she stopped coming. 

But, there never seemed to be any real reason. 

The devil sometimes gives them just enough busyness in their lives to distract them and keep them 

from making a decision for Christ.

Fast forward to last year's VBS program 2013. 

Yuliya and her sister, Nastya heard about our VBS and brought their children to most of the week's activities!

Pollina invited a neighbor to come as her guest which has caused this pre-teen girl to start to regularly attend Sunday school!

This year, upon our return to Russia from our furlough, we again reconnected with Yuliya and her family, to invite them to Sunday school. Thankfully, all three children, began faithfully attending this summer and were able to attend every day of this year's VBS program! Just before the week of VBS began, Zhenia expressed an interest in knowing more about salvation. As I was talking to him after service, Pollina came up to listen in and agreed that she too wanted to know more! I promised them that I would talk to their Mom since she and I have had a good relationship so that she knew how the Lord was working in their hearts. After the first day of VBS, I was able to take Yuliya aside and explain to her that her children wanted to accept Christ. She, not completely understanding herself all that repentance meant,  at that point agreed to read the "Done" book during the week of VBS and to come to me with any questions. She and her sister came each day as they could and sat in on every Bible lesson. Pollina and Zhenia even worked hard to earn medals for memorizing the most verses! Pollina beat out her brother for third place by memorizing 52 verses. Zhenia said 50 verses!

The next Sunday after the week of VBS was finished, Yuliya was in services while her children were in Sunday school. As they worked to finish reading "Done" together, we prayed for their understanding and offered to answer any questions. Yuliya herself, asked if she and the kids could come over during the week to visit. Every Sunday after services they have stayed to visit with us just because. This past Sunday, they explained how close they were to finishing the "Done" book and that they would complete it this week. Today, they were faithful to come early to be in their places for Sunday school. Once service was over, and I dealt with several other people and some medical questions, Yuliya waited patiently to visit with me while the kids played together. I asked about the "Done" book and if they were able to finish it this week. She said they read the rest of it in a day. Then she said, "There is a prayer of repentance at the end of it. We all three read it together and Zhenia asked me, 'Mom, does that mean that we just got saved?' I told him, I don't think so, Zhenia. We need to ask Dee Dee but, I think there must be more to it than simply reading this prayer." So, that broke the ice for more questions. I explained again how that in Romans 10:9-10 the Bible says: 

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

 I asked Yuliya if she would like for me to go through verses with her again and she agreed. She immediately called her children in and she, Pollina, and Zhenia listened intently as I explained the plan of salvation to them in detail.

I am happy to say that after our discussion, all in the same room and one at a time, all three of them placed their trust in Jesus Christ and accepted God's free gift of salvation!

Here is a photo of us in our home after we all spent some time together rejoicing over their decision to live for Christ!

Since Yuliya just today expressed an interest in reading the Bible together with her kids, she was excited to take the discipleship workbooks home with her for them to work on together as a family. Please pray for us as we explain baptism to them in detail, disciple them, and for the salvation of Yuliya's husband, Vanya.

GOD IS GOOD!

"Suffer the Little Children..."

This past Thursday evening, Nov. 15th, 2012 as we were holding services at Lena's apartment for her and her family, Yosya, her youngest son, expressed his desire to accept Christ. David, our daughter, Rebekah, and Lena were in their Bible study while I taught our boys, Rita, and Yosya a Bible lesson in the other room. Once our lesson was done, I talked more detailed with Yosya and asked him several questions about salvation. He clearly understood and was more than ready to accept Christ. Once his mother, Lena, was available, I shared this news with her. I also asked Lena about Rita because the week before Rita had told me that she had accepted Christ as her Savior on her own in her bedroom a few weeks prior. I was curious if Rita had mentioned this to her mother and sure enough she had.

Lena and I confirmed with Rita that she understood and she calmly and confidently answered all of our questions and was 100% sure that she would spend eternity in Heaven! At first, Lena was a bit shocked by Rita's confidence but I reminded her that Rita had been attending services for at least a year longer than Lena herself had been! She then smiled and understood that it was totally possible for Rita to know exactly what to do to be saved!

Once we finished talking with Rita, Lena and I took Yosya into his bedroom where we sat him down on the chair to talk more with him. When asked about why he needed to be saved he too was very confident in his answer that Jesus was returning and he needed to be ready to spend eternity with Him. He talked about how strongly he would like to be in Heaven with his whole family. He also quoted me telling him before that, "Now is the day of salvation," as the Scripture says in II Corinthians 6:2 - "behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." As I asked him if he believed that Jesus died to pay for his sins his voice began to break and huge tears fell down his cheeks. 

It was such a precious moment for Lena to see her son's tender heart and understanding of what Jesus did for him on the cross! Lena wanted to remind Yosya that this was a very important decision that changes your whole life. I shared with little Yosya and Lena what a great thing it is to trust Christ as your Savior at such a young age. Momma was in tears as Yosya kept his reassuring her that he was ready to be saved!

I told Lena that I thought it would be a wonderful blessing if she could lead Yosya to Christ and pray with him. She agreed and they knelt together on that same chair where her friend, Marina had accepted Christ a few months ago. 

Listening as Lena led her son in the Sinner's Prayer was one of those moments you never want to forget!

Afterwards, Yosya had a smile on his face that you could not take away! He was thrilled to be a new creature in Christ!

Lena and I with Rita and Yosya just after they shared the news with our family that they had accepted Christ.

(I apologize for the poor quality of this photo. 

It was taken with a phone and therefore the lighting was not the best!)

PLEASE continue to pray for them and especially for Lena's husband who is a Muslim.

 Lena also has an older son, Sasha, and she is praying for her Mom and stepfather to come to Christ as well.

Praise the Lord for the work He is doing in this family's life! 

Russian Mother's Day 2011

Last Sunday, November 27th was Mother's Day here in Russia. To help the children in Sunday school remember this special day for their Mothers, we made Mother's Day cards after the Bible lesson.

My most faithful SS student, Yura, with his little sister, Victoria.

We have had more kids in attendance since they have found out about our class being held in our new house. This Sunday a few of them had to leave quickly but some of the children who love to sit and color taking their time with a craft hung around for quite a while.

Everyone working diligently on their cards.

We used to have a craft one Sunday, then a game the next Sunday. That was our schedule while we were able to meet in the House of Culture. Then, we began meeting outside and enjoyed a whole soccer field to play games every week. 

Now that we are meeting in our house, I have told the kids we will play more quiet games that don't require running and have to wait on crafts for a bit since we don't have any tables, or chairs. But, this Sunday we had to make an exception in order to make some Mother's Day cards for the Mommas. So, we used our laps and our small construction bench that I use every week for the flannel graph story.  We teach the children to obey and respect their parents and help them remember special holidays as an opportunity to show honor to them. One way they children can show their love to their parents is by making them crafts and gifts. It is not easy for some of these children since many of them come from difficult home situations.

On Saturday, as we were out on visitation we noticed two children outside playing in the snow. I asked David to stop the car as I saw it was Rita and her little brother, Yosya. If you remember, they attended Sunday School faithfully during the summer when they were staying with their grandparents on summer break. Saturday we stopped to talk to them and found out they were in the village until Sunday evening for the weekend! On Sunday morning we were happy to see them arrive at our gate ready for the service!

Rita and I after class.

(Yosya) I just love this little face!

I am so thankful for each child who attends our services and for the parents who give them permission to come. I don't ever want to take the privilege it is to teach them for granted. Please pray for me to keep the class interesting and challenging for them and to use every opportunity I have to reach these precious children for Christ.

Sunday Service and Building Update 10-23-11

Winter here in Siberia is well on it's way. We had snow this past week and the temperatures are dropping below freezing at night. Since we have no longer been allowed to meet in the cultural building for services here in the village, the adults have been meeting in our home and the children have been meeting on the soccer field near our house. However, as of this week that will no longer be possible due to the change in weather. Although the plan is for the adults to meet in the new house while the children's ministry and youth activities are held in our current house, there still remains work to be done in the new house in order for our family to be able to move in. Last night David and I prepared the dining room of the new house for Sunday school. Since there are still many tools and supplies stored in the house we closed off part of the foyer and dining room where we would hold the class with large sheets of plastic to hold the heat in from a small heater. 

As we made our weekly visits to invite children to Sunday school, we were not able to talk to every one of them to tell them of our moving our class indoors. We printed the address on the invitations we hand out each week but without talking to them personally we can not be sure they read the invite which explained that we would not be meeting outside. So, today we had a day of low attendance. We pray that when are able to spread the word of our new meeting place, that attendance will increase again.

Today's Sunday school class (minus our daughter who took the picture).

One great blessing of today was that the attendance in our adult service was more than

the Sunday school attendance! Praise the Lord for two first-time visitors today! The visitors were two ladies - one of which you will remember from the post about our neighbor's husband who passed away, Baba Vara. Rebekah went to visit her again on Saturday, as she has done so many times, and invited her to church. Baba Vara promised Rebekah she would come on Sunday and she did. On the way over to our house, she and Rebekah stopped at our next door neighbor Lyba's house to see if she wanted to attend. Rebekah was so excited to bring two visitors to church! 

Lyba and Baba Vara with David after the Sunday service.

Both of these ladies have been witnessed to numerous times and we were so encouraged to have them as well as our three faithful attenders in the Sunday service today!

Please continue to pray for us and the progress on the new house. We are currently working on the heating system and will soon be posting more about that process on our building blog. With winter already upon us we have to have the heating system up and running in order to keep the house warm so that we can continue the drywall and other work that remains before we can move in. We appreciate your prayers for us and have been so encouraged by many of you who have kept up to date on the progress and have given towards this need. We are looking forward to our official first service in the new house and can't wait to share the blessings of that day!

First Youth Meeting in the Village

One of the highlights of this month has been the recent survey trip made by James and Amber Pranger to Krasnoyarsk. James came to Russia as a six year old missionary kid years ago along with his parents, Jim and Laura Pranger, and his four siblings. In the winter months of 2004, James, his parents and younger sister moved to Krasnoyarsk to continue their mission work. James left the field when it was time for him to attend college, returning to Russia a few times during his summer breaks. Now that he is married, he and his wife came to Krasnoyarsk on a survey trip before beginning deputation to return as missionaries.

James and his wife, Amber.

They were able to stay for almost two weeks in Krasnoyarsk. We, having already known James, were very excited to meet his wife and have the opportunity to get to know her. They are a very sweet couple and we very much enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them. One day, we took them around sight-seeing and souvenir shopping. Amber is a photographer so she was able to take some pictures around the city as well. 

Amber and I on the pedestrian bridge - downtown Krasnoyarsk

Another day we were able to spend with them, David and James worked in the new house to get some drywall hung up in the church meeting room. While they were busy, I took Amber to visit some of the teen girls so that we could invite them to the upcoming Sunday services when we planned on having our first young people's meeting with James preaching to the teens. Before moving to prepare for deputation, James and Amber had worked in their church where James was the youth pastor. He will be working in what will be their sending church as well upon their return to the States. I also wanted to take Amber around the village to meet some of the wonderful people who we are trying to reach with the gospel. There is nothing better than visiting them in their homes and seeing how they live with your own eyes. Below are a few of the wonderful moments Amber was able to capture during our visits.

On Saturday David and I spent more time inviting teens to the youth meeting. Sunday morning we woke up to some chilly weather but thankfully our prayers were answered and the Lord gave us a beautiful day with pleasant temperatures for services outside.

James, Amber and the whole group of children present for Sunday School.

Once we opened in prayer, we divided the teens from the younger children. James is fluent in Russian so he can jump right in and work in any area needed.

James taught the teens,

while I taught the younger children.

Most of the younger children's class.

Our neighbor's children coming to Sunday school.

Teen girls in attendance

Our daughter, Rebekah, was excited to be able to have a class with girls her age.

After the lesson, the younger children played a favorite game called, 'Eleven." And the older boys enjoyed wearing James out in a game of soccer!

Love this photo of this little guy running behind tall James.

After the services, we enjoyed lunch and fellowship together. We pray they will be able to raise their support quickly and return to the mission field which God has for them. Thank you James and Amber for your visit!

Back to School Sunday 2011

One of our regular Sunday School activities that the children look forward to is our annual "Back to School" Sunday. We celebrate the return of the children to school - even if most of them are not feeling like celebrating yet! The summer passes too quickly here in Siberia. We try to encourage the children to look forward to a new school year and a new opportunity to get better grades and be a better student all around. So, what better way to celebrate than with presents and sweets!
I look forward to any kind of special day with the kids. We so desire to reach them for Christ and see God use them in mighty ways in the future. Here is a look at our special Sunday celebration.

I was excited to have one first time visitor attend and one boy who had not attended for several years. They both came with a boy who has attended once recently.
Our treat was chocolate cupcakes with sprinkles and I was able to capture some great "chocolate" smiles for the camera!

This little guy came to Sunday school for the first time!

Such a sweet little smile.

Each child received a gift pack of school supplies to use in the coming school year.

Our own chocolate faces!

Posing for the camera.

We were sad on this Sunday to say goodbye to two of our students who have attended faithfully since July. Rita and her brother, Yosya, were able to spend the summer months with their grandparents who live in the village. Since it is time for the school year to begin, they returned to the city with their parents until Christmas break. We will miss them! Both Rita and her brother memorized every verse I gave them and read every tract or booklet I gave them. Rita had questions about salvation and we pray she can possibly return to the village on the weekends to attend Sunday school so we can talk to her more. We are thankful for our daughter, Rebekah, who spent much time herself talking with Rita about salvation.

Dee Dee with Rita and Yosya