Busyness

I've spoken to Dan a few times since he's been in Russia - things have definitely gotten busy quickly. He made a quick trip to Chelyabinsk, the city where we are buying a new apartment. The old apartment is sold and the new apartment is bought, sort of. Apparently the power of attorney we got for our friend to buy a new apartment for us only covered older apartments; since we are buying a brand new apartment there are different documents to be completed, stamps to be procured, etc. The good news is that Dan successfully jumped through the first set of hoops on Thursday, the bad news is that there are multiple more hoops to jump through! So, in between preaching and teaching in both Ekaterinburg & Chelyabinsk, and spending a week at church camp, we have to fit in long days of going from office to office to get all the paperwork in order. Pray that things go without too many snags and that by the time we leave in August the apartment would be officially ours and move-in ready for Pr. Ilya and his family.

Dan has lined up much of our official ministry for the summer. We're only going to one camp this summer, and Dan will preach the weekend on either side, so that will be a long week (8 days preaching in a row) for him. I will leave for Russia on Wednesday, arriving Friday morning local time (Thursday afternoon here in the states). The following week Dan and I will be in Chelyabinsk and have a list of friends we need to spend one-on-one time with. As usual, there are people struggling in big and small ways and one of the things that feels most important is to spend time just listening and caring for people. Pray that I would get over jet lag quickly and that we would be able to be an encouragement, despite not having as long to spend with people this summer.

I had a chance to meet last week with the woman who leads the IFES work in Eurasia - the former Soviet Union. Christy is a Filipina woman who has been a missionary in Eurasia for many years now. She is in the states fundraising and we sat down for coffee to see how we might help one another. Dan and I love IFES - the umbrella organization that InterVarsity here in the states and CCX in Belarus and Russia belong to - and their mission to see a vibrant indigenous Christian student movement in every country around the world. The work in Russia is struggling right now, low on finances and looking for partners to help them rebuild. We will get a chance to spend time with the leader of the Russian group, CCX, this summer and we are helping him set up a trip to the states in October of this year. Let me know if you would be interested in meeting Alyosha and hearing more about the student work in Russia!

Well, enough for now. When I get to Russia with the camera I hope we'll be able to post more pictures to go along with the news :) Pray for me as I get ready to go - and that I would be managing my fear about flying well.