A Successful Day

One of the biggest changes I have had to adjust to here in Ufa (besides the language!) is the difference in how I shop. In America I had grown quite happy with my routine of one big weekly trip to the shopping store plus one or two smaller trips to get things we ran out of and a trip to Wal Mart at least twice a month. This got me pretty much everything I needed. The difference now: there are no Wal Marts and I don’t have a car. This means I or Clarke can only shop for what we can carry home, so we shop almost every day. Most stores are small, specialty stores, and some can be quite tricky to find.

I found one of the best children’s stores in our area by seeing a banner on the side of a building and walking around to the side and near the back of a building to finally find a door with no sign, but which I saw others also going through. It felt like I was sneaking into the building, but it turned out this was the main door. We have found a lot of good places this way. You just have to keep your eyes open!

I write about this because so many of my friends ask about the differences in living here and back home. There are a lot! I have had some hard days, but it is always temporary. God allows me to struggle through my doubting and self-centeredness but then faithfully reminds me of who I am in Christ and why I am here and that He is always with me. The hard days are always good for me. Learning a new way to live day to day has given me a bigger perspective. Today I had 8 things on my list to buy for a gathering we are having in our home next week. I got 5 of them after being out for 2.5 hours. This was a successful trip for me!

1st few days of Spring...

We wanted to share this picture of our family taken on the third day of spring, yes, I said spring. We have not taken a picture together in quite awhile, yeah! everyone is being still enough. We have been becoming less and less busy with being busy and really starting to settle in. Praise God that we have been able to develop some really good relationships here. I must say one thing... the importance the Russians — at least the ones I have met — place on relationships, the fact that they are taken so very seriously. You do not just remain on a surface level with someone here, they want to go deep and this has taken time and will continue to do so. It has only been five months since we have been here but, we are starting to have these types of friendships. The last two months is when these friendships have been forming. We were told to "be patient with making friends, they want to know they can trust you". I now know why they take much longer to develop friendships than most in the States... it's quite simple, because they desire to go deep. This is not to say folks in the states don't go deep, I have several friends who are very much the same way... and I miss them dearly. My dear friends in the states have triggered these thoughts since I just got done praying for them this evening. I am so grateful to God for those of you who have impacted my life and remained on with me during hard times... praise God for you! We continue to trust the Lord to provide exactly what we need... and He always does! But please continue to pray for our marriage, parenting, language learning/practice and new formed friendships, that they all would honor and glorify God above all else!

Thank you all who have been praying and contacting us... we are very grateful to God for you! Please send us an e-mail to let us know how we can be praying for you.

ctre

It's beginning to feel a lot like Russia...

...at least, like we thought Russia would feel. Most days it does not get above freezing now, and the snow that fell last week is still seen in patches under trees and in other shady places. (Actually, since I first started writing this, it has snowed again.) The days are getting shorter quickly now, too, with the sun not rising until around 8:30 am and coming up about 3-4 minutes later each day. We have been warned that we could be S.A.D. during the winter. For those of you who don't know about this, S.A.D. refers to the depressing effect that having so little daylight (eventually only about 6 hours per day) has on many people. When I think about this, I am reminded of the spiritual darkness and oppression that fills the hearts of people who have never heard the one true gospel message. Please pray with us that God will lift the veil that covers so many hearts and reveal the true glory of Christ, that His death and resurrection are a completed work that does not need to be "supplemented" by our own good deeds. Pray that the Spirit will move on hearts and that people will repent and turn in faith to the One who has already earned the right for us to be completely forgiven.

Prayer highlights:

• Today we found out that our visas have been officially extended until the end of June- praise God! We are excited to have at least 9 more months here.
• We are taking a short break from language classes since our wonderful friend and language tutor had to leave to go to the U.S., and we are now waiting for our new tutor to come from Moscow. Although the extra room in our schedule is nice, we pray that we will be disciplined to continue our studies during this time. We resume at the end of November.
• We move to apartment #3 next Friday. This will be another nice home, but we would love prayers for energy to learn a new neighborhood and transportation routes.
• Pray that even as cold and darker days settle over the land, God will bring light and joy into the hearts of His people in Ufa.

Thank you always for your prayers and words of encouragement. We all continue to do well and feel mostly prepared for the winter to come. We miss our family and friends but are so excited that God has brought us here. We are enjoying meeting wonderful people and seeing how God has already been working in Ufa.

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