September 2010

Fall has officially arrived...the leaves are changing so winter is just around the corner! We have been blessed with beautiful,warm weather and today a little rain :) Since it's raining, we thought we'd take advantage of some 'down time' to add some pictures and let you know what's happening with the Wooster's!

   First the home front.....new windows are in YEA! The workers are actually finishing up (we hope) installing our new windows! No more frozen windows and having to tape up, fill in cracks, and still watch a breeze get through at -40. We can now finish the rest of our remodeling (painting and papering) and relax when we get home. THANK YOU to those who sent extra support to help us out!! We are so humbled and grateful for your love and the funds when things are so financially difficult these days....thank you! 

Taking out the old....

New windows and balcony door....

    We were finally able to find a saw mill that would sell 'us' wood....usually they send it to China....so we can finish the porch and some other smaller projects at the fellowship property. The guys have been busy buying cow hides to clean and dry for the making of saddles. For the moment, this process is done outside ( the smell is a bit strong) and the skins need to soak in water for several days. Of course this will be a bit difficult at below zero temperatures...so we're racing to get as many hides ready as possible before the freeze. Please continue to remember this work...there is a lot of interest from the community and the goal is to begin teaching this craft very soon to some new people. We'd love to give the ability to start a business in saddle making to some folks in this region since unemployment is around the 60% rate. We will also use our saddle shop/wood shop to teach young men/boys to make furniture. We have a man that teaches shop skills at the local school and the hope is that this year he can bring some of his students to our shop and begin working them more closely. Another chance to teach not only work skills but life skills as well. 

   Another window was put in this past week for a local woman...we'll let the pictures tell the story....

August Update

Our class

Block of wood we start with

after many lines and lots of cuts we end up with this

a saddle tree all made from pine

Our saddle tree after we coated it with rawhide...

The saddle seat started...come back to see the final next blog

Giddy-up there cowboys!! There’s a saddle shop in the making in ….Siberia?!?? It’s true, the project to make saddles has begun and the learning process is going very well. We have two local men along with Kevin and our fellow worker Doug learning everything from making the ‘tree’, the wooden portion under the leather, cleaning and drying the cowhide needed, to cutting, fitting, and sewing the leather onto the tree. There is much more to this process and in the future I (Laura) will let Kevin get into the details…for now, check out the pictures……

Even more exciting than saddles …five new family members were added this month! It was a wonderful celebration with many friends and family members attending, over 50 people in all were there. There was one young man who made this decision and asks for prayer as he strives to be the leader of his home and the husband and father that our father would desire of him. Please keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers and they grow in their understanding and love for their Father!

Great day for the event

We’ve been able to get the steps and porch almost completed on the main building where the fellowship meets. We need to place the hand railings on the steps and some benches on the porch…we still have plenty of time before winterJ.

The garden is just fantastic this year! We have been so blessed with rainy days followed by lots of sunny, warm days! Anyone want some zucchini???? How about green beans???? We can’t give them away fast enough….good problem to have though….the potatoes are delicious, but we haven’t dug them all up just yet. We will most definitely have a wonderful harvest this year, food that will get many through those long winter months!

With September just around the corner, our home groups, men and women’s study groups, and our youth will begin meeting again. Remember us as we seek wisdom in what to share and that most of all, it would be understandable in their language! Please keep the fellowship in your thoughts and prayers as well as the projects.

        

      Joyfully Blessed,

        Kevin & Laura

Prayer and Praise

Pray for the boys as they are both very busy….Joshua is in his final semester at Biola University in CA and Corey is in training at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, he finished Army basic training on the 26^th of August. If you would like to write either of them, drop us a note and we will send you their addresses.

Praise him for his continued provision for the work here.

July 2010

Greetings from Kevin and Laura...

It has been a busy month...we have done some remodeling, been to a wedding in the city, worked in the garden, helped get the workshop up and running among other things.

Remodeling, what can be said; we have found out that NONE of our walls are straight. This makes it fun to hang a new door, lay linoleum, plaster...well pretty much anything you want to do. Never the less, we have been able to accomplish a few projects. We have installed a new floor in our kitchen and put up our new kitchen cabinets. In our bedroom we have been able to get the door replaced and curtain rods and curtains hung. We are hoping next week to tackle the bathroom, it would be nice to finally have hot water :).

Weddings... They are always nice to go to but his one was really special. Our friend Peter, age 38, got married for the first time! Peter was the second guy to shake our hands when we got off the train in 1997! He's been a language helper, painter, but most of all a great friend for these past 13 yrs. It was a great time to see two lives come together to form one, with Jesus as the center of their marriage they are starting off for sure on the right foot.

Garden...Yes we have a WONDERFUL garden this year thanks to Laura's parents for sending us lots of seeds from PA. It is amazing to us how fast the weeds can take over...kinda like life. If we do not weed out and hoe around and fertilize (get rid of sin in our life, stay in the word and grow in his knowledge) we too will not "grow" as He intends.

Workshop...We have written much on this topic in the past and we have made real progress this past month in getting the shop up and running. We have tables for all our machinery and workbenches set up. The entire place was rewired and we have hung light bulbs (not enough $ for light fixtures). We have a month long class starting the 2nd of August on how to build saddles. There is an expert saddle maker coming from Oregon to lead this program for us. Should be a GREAT month!

The fellowship is growing in His knowledge and it is great to see the interest in Him increase.

An AWESOME verse and also our verse for the year...Philippians 3:13-14.

Keep looking up!
Blessings
Kevin and Laura

June 22 update

Dear Faithful Family and Friends;
Just a quick update on what’s happening with the Wooster’s this month…..last Wed. we were finally able to acquire our registration to live in the village. (Let me explain a little farther.)

Everyone has to be registered somewhere…even the nationals. So when you move to another city or area you have to move your registration. Normally this isn’t too difficult, but always time consuming! We began our ‘transfer’ on June 10th and we were finally finished on June 16th in the morning. It’s seems we’re the first Americans in the village and the head guy wasn’t sure what to do with us…so he made a few calls with the office here in the city, there was a federal holiday on Mon, and by Wed morning after 5 trips to the local office in the village all was AOK…. we received our stamp in our passports to live in the village.

Upon our return to the city, we then continued packing our apartment. We were also able to start the process to get long term permission to live in the region, similar to a “Green Card” in the States. After several trips (7 or 8) to the head office for immigration control, our papers were accepted yesterday, June.21st. The officials have 6 months to review our request and grant us permission or deny our request.
So as NOT to be a boring week, our car needed some major repairs again. It seems these weekly trips to the village and back are starting to show. This kept us in the city a few days longer than we wanted but also allowed us to get more things done here before the big move.

Please continue to remember us as we transition to “village life”. Thank you for the continued prayers and support…we are so very blessed!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving Dear Family and Friends!

We LOVE this time of year…for us, we have snow already which is even more special. It just seems to make the season complete somehow. Then there’s the baking of pies and cookies, the preparations for a huge meal with friends and family…turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, potatoes, various vegetables, and in our house…countless ‘snack’ items to get us ready for the meal!  It’s just a great time of fellowship and giving thanks for our many blessings over the past year.

And what does God’s Word say about ‘thanksgiving’? There aren’t enough pages or hours to share in depth; however, we’d like to share just a few things we found to remind us of how to give thanks! In Leviticus, we see ‘physical’ offerings given in thanks to God for His countless blessings. The Psalms are filled with numerous exaltations to give thanks with joy, shouts of joy, in song, with all our heart, with praise and glory for Him only….you can picture an endless parade of worshipers giving thanks in ‘all’ things to Him who is so worthy.

What are ‘we’ thankful for? YOU! Each one of you; who so faithfully lifts us in prayer, sends us emails with words of encouragement and love, and financial support for the work we have been given. We are so blessed! THANK YOU

Giving Thanks with Joy,

Kevin & Laura

Hebrews 12:28

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/klwooster?ref=profile