September 2012

Don't you just LOVE the colors of fall?!! It's as if the Creator decides each year that He's tired of the greens of summer and wants to liven things up with brilliant splashes of oranges, yellows and reds! (For the folks in Florida, you don't know what you're missing :) I (Laura) even love the smell of burning leaves and the new crispness in the morning air - strange, I know. But you must admit, it IS a beautiful time of year!

A brief update on our car.....the engine arrived without a problem and was installed within two days of it's arrival! Soooooo...we're back in business serving the fellowship with this wonderful blessing of a car.
                           

     Almost everyday begins with a fair amount of emails. Sometime it's junk, sometimes we receive updates from friends and other works around the world and sometimes we get one that's just amazing! "We have an offer for you….will you perform our ceremony. Will you marry us?” Kevin received this email in July and I (Laura) was glad he was sitting down for fear of seeing him faint. This would be his first wedding and in Russian no less….of course he agreed; the young lady has been a dear friend of our family for almost 15 years! The wedding was beautiful and I haven't seen Kevin this nervous since our wedding day! We have watched this girl grow into a beautiful young lady who truly loves the Lord! Her husband has also grown into a Godly young man and our prayer is they will be used as a shining example of His love! What an honor to have been and continue to be a part of their lives. We know the Lord will use them in a powerful way; we pray they will be open to His calling.                   
                                                     

She loves chocolate and coffee - the white 'borders'
on the floor are coffee beans!

Arriving at the church.....

Kevin addressing the congregation.

Arriving at the banquet.

Beautiful and delicious!! Made by one of the ladies from the
church in Ulan Ude. 

All dressed up...Kevin in a tie!?!

   The other day we sat down with our fellow workers and looked at how things are going here in the village. Are things progressing the way "we" think they should be going, etc. (Notice the emphasis on "we" ?!) The last few months have been difficult at best. We've seen people leave we felt were solid in their walk and little interest when simply talking to folks in everyday conversations. Sound a little discouraged? Yea...we are, but we're also very aware that we need to dig in deeper, encourage one another, and pray without ceasing! Of course the Father is so faithful; he often sends us something to remind us He's still at work....for example:

“If you hadn’t visited me in the hospital, I would have walked away from God.” Tanya stopped by the other day just to chat, have some coffee and look at pictures we’d taken at the Lake. She’s had an incredibly tough year so I try and sit with her at least once a week just to chat. You see Tanya almost lost her arm earlier this year in an accident where she worked. You may remember the story and our request for prayer. Miraculously she did not lose her arm and has movement in all the fingers. Although, her bones have been quite slow to heal, there is great progress. In any case, the best part of our conversation ..... the quote above; if we hadn't taken the time to visit. We all took turns visiting her throughout the entire month she was in the hospital and for weeks afterward as she adjusted to being in different arm casts. It seemed like so little at the time but having her stay the course was worth every minute.
            On another note, her daughter ‘Jean’, will be going to Moscow the middle of Oct. for surgery.  Jean has severe bone problems with her jaws and will have an apparatus literally screwed into her jaws for six months. Please keep them both in your prayers as they travel, for the surgeons, and for complete recovery. Jean is solid in her faith and her mom says that she’s ready to get this done and return home – putting all her trust in the Lord!

 

Tanya - taken two yrs. ago

"Jean" is on the right...remember her in Oct. as she
travels to Moscow and has surgery.

     

Turning 50 isn’t so bad… especially if there’s coffee and grilling meat by Lake Baikal! Yes, it's true, Kevin celebrated his 50^th birthday in August and we wanted to share a couple of pictures. Several folks from the fellowship here in our village drove two hours to the city then another three to the Lake to share in the celebration! We love these folks!!

     

Kevin and Sergei 'grilling' meat or shashleek as it's called.
Shish-ko-bob for all you non-Russians.

Getting ready to eat - watermelon, salads, breads,
fresh veggies from their gardens...and 'shashleek'!!

Everyone knows that Kevin LOVES to cook and grill!!
They bought him a convection oven that can sit on
a counter top - pretty cool and works great!!

Kevin at Lake Baikal for his 50th!

The cold winds are blowing in today, the beautiful leaves are almost gone - winter is around the corner. We pray you are encouraged in some small way and will remember the people here daily! THANK YOU for the continued support as we serve together in Siberia.
     Until next month.....blessings to all!
             Kevin & Laura

August 2012

WOW...July flew by...since our last blog, we have been to  a conference in Germany, celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary, then traveled back to Russia for a 10 day youth camp on Lake Baikal. (That brought up to almost the end of July!)

Let's start with the conference...
When we arrived in Russia back in 1997, we could never have imagined the wonderful people we would have the privilege of working with for many of these 16 years! We had the most amazing conference/reunion in June and in Germany no less! It was a time to re-connect, get a bigger picture of what the Father is doing across Asia and discuss how to improve or continue doing things in our 'neck of the woods'. Instead of trying to decide which pictures to share out of the hundreds taken :), we'd like to share an amazing story about our conference site. More than 25 years ago, many groups of German Christians left Russia and the 'satellite' countries to return to their home country - Germany. The government immediately opened up a 'center' for returning folks to live at until they were able to find work, homes and begin their new lives.Over time, the need for the center ended and the relocated churches felt this property still had a purpose. Fast forward.... today this center is  used for church reunions, conferences, youth camps, etc. The word got out that a group that has been working in Russia over the last 17+ years was looking for a conference site. They immediately opened their doors and not only allowed us to use the facility (for free), they fed us four times a day and again charged us nothing! It was beyond words to meet these folks and receive such huge blessings!

We've all worked together at one time or another over the last 16 years!

Our conference center in northern Germany.

Loved the flowers on both balconies!

Fountain outside castle in Detmold

From inside the castle - a royal family still resides in 100 of the rooms!

Outdoor museum of local history - LOVED the buildings!

Kevin made a new friend while taking pictures - the mule almost ate the camera!

We decided we'd take the house....if the garden came with it.

Farmhouse/barn ....yes, the animals were basically in the same building!

The end of June is our anniversary and this year (our 27th) we thought since we'll already in Germany why not take some time and go somewhere we  haven't been yet! Next stop was Berlin....

Kevin at the Berlin Wall...this is only a portion. Artists from many
countries were asked to come and paint a section of the wall.
This was on of our favorites.

What an amazing city. It hasn't been that long since it became a unified city and the differences between east and west aren't always easy to recognize; that is unless you've lived in a former communist country where all the buildings had the same look. Germany has done an excellent job raising the standards and look of the former East side of Berlin. They've spent a ton of money to modernize the public transportation system and the results are you can travel anywhere in and around the city and out to other regions of the country with incredible ease! Well....we'll let the pictures tell the story.....

Our train from the conference to Berlin.

Inside the double-decker train

View of Berlin from the TV tower that was completed in 1969.

The Bradenburg Gate - they had a huge screen for soccer fans to watch the

One of the larger of the four castles in Berlin.

Berlin Train Station

Inside of the train station.....we've NEVER seen a five level station before!!
Trains were on four of the five levels!! Crazy to see!

When we got back into Russia, we had two days to unpack and re-pack for ten days on Lake Baikal. We had been asked to help out with translating and anything else needed for a team flying in from our home church in Florida. So it was off to the Lake along with four kids from our youth group! (For one, this was their first time ever to Lake Baikal!!) Two churches from Ulan Ude did a tremendous job putting this youth camp together and had 60+ kids in attendance.

Heading to Baikal with four kids from the youth group!

Crab Soccer...with a slightly larger than normal ball!

Three of our wonderful translators for the American team.

Laura with dear friends at our campsite...glad we brought the tent
as there was no room for us in their 'yurts' this year.

Something new this year....a 'slip-n-slide into the lake!!!
What a blast....We're sure this will be a yearly event at youth camps.

The month of July ended with the American team visiting our fellowship in the village! What a special treat for the folks to hear testimonies, share in the Word, see two life-changing skits, and of course....eat! There could never be fellowship without food and tea! THANK YOU  "Team Hawk" for taking the time to drive another three hours and spending your last couple of days in Siberia with us!

We know this is a VERY long update, but hang in there for just a few more minutes! August has started out with major car problems....driving through some huge puddles (looked like small ponds) our car stalled...so we thought. After a long wait and several men checking it out....we towed it to the mechanic and learned we'd broken a timing belt. OK....of course that caused lots of other damage and we're now waiting on a new engine! Never a dull moment!  We should be good within two weeks, as we're waiting for the engine to come from Japan. (That's another story!)
    Thanks to all of you who remember us often and continually support the work! Without you, we wouldn't and couldn't be here. Please remember our folks at the fellowship....many are struggling, a few are making great changes! We give it all to HIM.

                  Serving Together,
                   Kevin & Laura

JUNE 2012

It's Summer!!!!!        +95 degrees...even in Siberia!                                                  

Co-Workers enjoying lunch at our newest cafe.

Amazingly June is over half gone and again we wonder where the time has gone! And where did these temperatures come from??!  Summer plans are in full swing with continued work at our building, a conference at the end of this month, attending a two week camp on Baikal with four kids from our youth group (plus 100 other kids as well), and a visit from our home church in July! There's always plenty to do and we welcome the outdoor work with our friends....we have to get that huge dose of vitamin D from the sun before the winter months set in again!!

Our youth group has officially ended for the summer, but we have plans to go on hikes, picnics and hopefully have opportunities to meet some new kids as well. We decided in May to take the 'gang' to the river for games, food and to our surprise....swimming!! (These are true Siberian kids....if the sun's out and the weather's warm - you go swimming!) There had been ice on this river just one week prior.

 Hopping Caterpillar Game

                 Swimming in early May!!!

     Knot Game...never did get it right...

 Village life can have it surprises...you never know what the day will bring. Because we were going to be gone so much this summer; we had decided not to build a green house. Our dear friend had another plan and we were blessed with his expertise and help in building our own green house! If that's not exciting enough.... how about driving a litter of pigs to a village 45 miles away to sell them?!! The church pig had four piglets left and we needed to sell them before we left for conference....momma and baby pigs were NOT happy with the move!! The trip turned out to be a huge blessing for us as well as for the folks who had bought the piglets. They were very interested in 'why' Americans would live in a village and 'why' Siberia! We had a great conversation and are hoping to return and have tea and more discussions on spiritual matters. They are very open to this possibility!

As we mentioned earlier, we have some kids going to a youth camp on Baikal in July. Because the cost is quite high for the folks here, we decided the kids could work for some of the cost to go to the camp. It's been great fun and they're doing a terrific job!! 

Sanding doors before adding shellac.

Finishing touches...GREAT job!

They really ARE painting the fence and gate!!??

Within the last few days, we finished our first parenting class! (in Russian for the first time as well.) We have some interest to begin another class in September and ask for prayer as we prepare for the course. We are both working closely with a couple of people and are excited to see growth in their marriages, lives, and understanding of the Word.

 

As we write this,we are literally packing and getting ready to run out the door. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel and work alongside old friends, (and many new folks) at the camp in July. May your summer be blessed and filled with family and friends!

     Blessings from Siberia,

       Kevin & Laura

The true calling of a Christian is not to do extraordinary things, but to do ordinary things in an extraordinary way. ~~A. P. Stanley~~

May 2012

   

What started out as an ordinary work day, turned into a day we could never have imagined! We had succeeded in completing the kitchen and kid’s room at the building before Easter, however, we still had cabinets to hang and it was time to clean the territory outside. It was warm and sunny day and many had come to help with the work. The major chores now complete, we were washing all the dishes and shelves that had collected dust from the major remodeling! Then we received the call…..one of the young boys (age 17) had been with his brother collecting bricks to sell at one of the many abandoned buildings. For some reason, he had climbed onto what was left of the roof. Details are fuzzy we only know that the wall gave and the roof fell crushing this boy’s legs. Unable to get the concrete and bricks off his body, the young boy died. He had been coming to our services and he was a HUGE help with the building of the kitchen and kid’s room  ! The men had only just begun building relationships so this has been quite difficult for all. Please keep his younger brother and sister in your prayers. Their parents and grandmother are drunkards and have never been any kind of an example to these children.

On a much lighter note….we have been working on the building so that it would appear to be a ‘house of prayer’ and not just another house on the block. There have been some outside donations over the past year; however, we are amazed at the amount of money this small group has pulled together for use in the upkeep and continued work needed to finish the inside of their building.

Kid's room/Sunday School classroom

Kitchen area before remodeling

Installing insulation!!!

Need a bigger opening??...use the
chainsaw!!!

Decided to keep this wall natural....
it took three days of sanding

Kevin and Sergie...working?!!?

1st wall done...five more to go!!!!

Dry wall almost complete.....new entrance to porch/coat room (left) and kitchen almost complete (on the right)

Kid's room complete...curtains and posters to come!

Where everyone washes their hands....bucket catches water
underneath...running water is next project.

The new kitchen!!  Waiting for a gas/electric stove to
replace the wood burning stove.

THANK YOU for those who sent special funds to help make this possible!!! We'd like to work on the outside of the building. It looks nothing like a house of prayer, just another house on the street. Our goal is to put siding on just the front and one side of the building. Currently we have some funds but are still in need. Please join with us in prayer that this is where our funds should go and it would be His will! You may ask why we feel this is important....without question, every time we're talking with folks in the village and mention where the fellowship meets, they're very surprised that our 'building' is such a place and 'not' just another house. Apparently appearances are important at times. Again, we appreciate your prayers in this matter.

The grass and trees are finally turning green!!! Work in the gardens is underway and folks are out walking or riding their bicycles....finally free of heavy coats and fur hats! We love springtime because it means new beginnings. That's our hope, we'll see new beginnings in someones' life in the coming months. That we'll see a renewed vision in the fellowship to meet new people and to share His mercy, love, and hope!

Blessings from Siberia,
   Kevin & Laura

Our deeds are seeds of fate, sown here on earth, but bringing forth their harvest in eternity.

George Dana Boardman