Greetings from (HOT) Florida!
Well maybe it’s
not really ‘hot’ but it certainly feels like summer to us! Siberian
temperatures are in the -30’s right now! J January will be even colder -40’s!
On a more
serious note; we have been silent for many months and for that we apologize.
This past year has been a difficult ‘season’ for our family. We were originally
going to return to Russia in May, which we did, but for only a few weeks. Our
last trip to Russia was in Oct/Nov, again for only a few weeks. We’ve been able
to work through the issue with the help of family and friends and receiving God’s
peace. Many thanks for the prayers and support – we are truly blessed!
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| Kevin on our trip in November |
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| Laura on our trip in November, this was a new coat that her mom got for her, it kept her VERY warm and she looked great in it! |
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| Sveta helping Laura prepare for the ladies study |
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| Some of the ladies that were are one of the studies Laura did in the village |
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| Laura and Sveta at sunrise...ok so it was 9:30am... The village we live in is pretty far north.
Sweet sixteen….the
youngest daughter of the pastor from the church turned 16
in November. She has been with our youth
group for four years and in the past year has been a vital part in playing the
piano for Sunday services. She has only one more year of school in the village,
and then she will move to the city to continue her education. Our prayers are
that she be a witness of the love of Christ to young girls at school and
continue to be a light when she begins to attend university.
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| Budtid's 16th Birthday celebration, we had a wonderful time with them, we made homemade pozi...a traditional Buryat dish. |
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| Pozi a Buryat traditional dish ready to steam.
A new arrival…. In
August of 2012, Kevin had the privilege of performing the wedding ceremony for
a dear friend of ours. In November of this year, a son was welcomed into their
family. It’s a tradition/suspicion in our part of Russia that the newborn can’t
be seen or held by anyone other than grandparents for 40 days after their born. We’re certain there may once have been a good
reason, although we’ve yet to find someone that actually knows. J
We were blessed to hold and spend a couple of days with the family and their
new arrival; it was an honor to be a part of those first days at home. Another
generation will now be raised to love the Lord and serve others with love!
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| Good friends Oyuna and Sasha with their son Mark (1 week old)....he is so cute! |
In closing we want to share with you a huge answer to
prayer. Our youngest
son was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in 2011 when he was injured during
pre-deployment exercises. For reasons we still don’t quite understand; he was
eventually released from the Army in 2012 and came back to Florida to what he
believed would be therapy or surgery to repair his damaged knee. On December 6th
of this year, he was finally able to get surgery at the Veterans Hospital in Bay Pines, Florida (St. Petersburg) to repair his knee and will have his back
checked as well to see what damage has been done due to walking
incorrectly for almost 3 years. The answer to prayer is that the VA stepped in
and quickly did their job. We have met so many other soldiers who have waited for several
years just to be seen by a doctor or receive approval to get into the VA
system. We stand on His promises and know His ways are not our ways, and his timing is not our timing.
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| Corey 2 days after his surgery... |
Merry Christmas
Kevin & Laura
