WHEW...Where did the last month go??? It's just not possible that this is the end of August already! That means only one thing here....it's time to bring in hay for the animals and buy wood to heat homes for the winter, AND just beginning to harvest some of the vegetables everyone has worked so hard to grow during our short summer months! This past month was also filled with unexpected guests; five different times to be exact, however, several of these visits turned into huge blessings for the community. During this past month, the fellowship also received an awesome gift that we pray will be used wisely in the coming years. Lastly, this past month saw our fellowship grow in numbers. There are LOTS of pictures this month, so find a comfortable seat, relax and enjoy...
This was the 9th of July in our small greenhouse....
 |
This was the beginning of August...tomatoes on the left,
peppers on the right, and cucumbers in the back! |
 |
| Potatoes...hopefully another month before harvest! |
 |
| The rest of our garden. |
As we mentioned above, there were some unexpected guests over the last month. Apparently, there was a huge push to send groups from S. Korean churches this summer to areas around the world. Our area was on their list and to our surprise, groups would just show up at our door looking for a place to rest before heading out into surrounding villages. However, there were two larger groups that stayed for several days and blessed the community with some great programs. One such group was 16 ladies that wanted to give free haircuts, manicures, massages, and mini- portraits to anyone they met on the street. There was a good turnout and folks stayed around to just talk and hear the Good News from some very enthusiastic ladies! (Did we mention they didn't have a translator, spoke very little Russian and no English? They had things written down and used a lot of pointing and 'sign language'.)
 |
| Facials with masks and massages :) |
 |
| Manicures and hearing the Good News |
 |
| The ladies sang "Jesus Loves Me" in Korean and Russian. |
The next large group, 17 students, showed up with a tremendous children's program. Unfortunately for them, we didn't know they were coming until a few hours before their arrival - we could have advertised in the local paper and done some great advance preparations...however, this group was amazing and went door to door with balloons and lots of enthusiasm. An hour later, there were over 30 kids ready to hear songs, skits, play games and do crafts for the next two days! What a blessing for these kids, our neighborhood, and our fellowship as well - they saw firsthand how to meet and work with local children. We hope this will open doors to meet the parents as well!
 |
| Children's program on the final day. |
 |
| One of many puppet presentations... |
 |
| Games where everyone could get at least one prize! |
 |
| New songs with lots of motions to make it interesting! |
 |
Craft time...making crowns.
When we wrote our last update, we were in the process of purchasing a van specifically to be used for the fellowship. A gentleman in the US felt the need should be met and donated enough cash for us to purchase a used van from Korea. Even though it had been used here in Russia for quite a few years, it was well cared for and should give us many more miles and years of service. The person will remain nameless so many THANKS from the folks here! |
