Getting There

After about 22 hours of traveling we made it to Moscow on Saturday at about noon Russia time (2:00 AM Pocatello time). So far, so good. Our connections all had layovers of less than an hour so we were worried about missing flights if there were any delays or missing luggage that wasn't fast enough to make it from plane to plane. Thankfully, everyone and everything made it just fine.

We spent Saturday wandering the streets of Moscow in a sleepy daze. We were all operating on 4 or 5 hours of sleep over the previous two nights combined. We climbed aboard the overnight train at about 9:00 PM. It's now about 7:00 AM on Sunday morning and we are almost to Lipetsk, where the camp will be held. About 80 campers will show up on Monday at 3:00, so we have about a day and a half to work on a ropes course and do some other set up work.

Last year they had about 60 kids and only about 20 of them were Christians. The ratio will probably be about the same this year. Camp is a major outreach opportunity to unsaved kids, many of whom will come from difficult backgrounds. Please pray that we can work with the loving, dedicated Russian staff at camp to display and share the love of Christ to these youth.

Pocatello to Boise: Check

250 miles down. . . 6,000 to go. We made it to Boise today (Thursday) and will be heading to the airport at 4:30 am tomorrow for a 6:30 flight. So far, so good. We met up with Dirk so now we have a fully assembled team. It's funny that we will know each other so much better in 2 1/2 weeks than we do now. Hopefully we'll still like each other, too! I look forward to seeing how the Lord has assembled this team with various strengths, weaknesses, and gifts to serve together.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Pray for endurance tomorrow as we will be traveling for 18 hours, spend 10 hours walking around Moscow, and then we will board an overnight train.

Leaving Tambov

We are packing up our stuff and getting ready to leave Tambov. It has been such an amazing trip!!! Thank you for all of your prayers and support!!! I will try to post again in Moscow, but don’t know for sure. Please check back later to see more pictures and stories from the trip.

Last day of Immanuel's Child

This was the last day of the Immanuel' Child outreach. We went east to Mitchurinsk and and were at two locations. The first location, a school, had some of the oldest kids we have seen so far. Some of the Russians we are ministering with have been doing a skit/puppet show, but not all were able to make it today. So we had a sort of abbreviated version of what we normally did, but things still went well. Please pray for the ministry at the school Raphael is trying to get a weekly program in the school and after our outreach he is going to ask the administration if they would be willing to allow the program. Please pray for favor in the site of the administration. Tomorrow we will be Tambov for a Sunday morning service, some shopping, and then train ride back to Moscow. We cannot believe how quickly our trip has gone. We have loved spending time with these children and ministering with our Russian brothers and sisters. Here are a few more pictures...

 

 

 

Immanuel's Child in a town with a name I can't pronouce or spell.

Today we went to a town and did outreaches in a school and a library. We had some kids who showed up at the school and then walked all the way to the library to see things again. I would like to write more but I am late for another game time with some English speaking Russians. Please pray as we desire to share out testimonies with them. Especially pray for Sveta!! Before I go here are some more pictures of the kids.

Sorry for the delay!

Sorry we haven't posted anything for a little while. We didn't have internet for a while. Yesterday was Christmas and we went to a orphanage just outside of Tambov. There were around 130 kids and a lot of them were special needs. This orphanage is the one where Anya (Translator) and Jenni (Missionary) are able to to the Orphans Reborn program. These kids showed us so much affection when we left. They were hugging us all the way out the door and to the cars. I (Mike) even had one kid open my door while we were driving away. I was very blessed to stars of people that I recognized (even my own). From Twin Falls I had Darren & Mary Ann, Samantha Graff, and Pastor Bear. I was also able to had out a star from Mike Hotrum in Pocatello. It was such an incredible experience to hand out these stars for you!

Debbie with some of orphans.

Pictures from game night

I already posted about game night but didn't post a picture. Here are a couple pictures.