a few rambles...

We wanted to bring you up-to-date with what is going on in our lives. Well... five weeks and an additional home later... living with multiple cats (liking that... kind-of... maybe not as much as the cats are loving us being here, but nonetheless we are thankful), we have shown up on three Television shows aired in Russia and internationally, Russia Today affiliated with CNN and twice on a local Bashkir station. Rebekah's hair is growing out from her cutting her own hair last month, oh and also... cutting Ezra's hair. We have picked up three more classes as ESL teachers, have had much Chai and fellowship, we are developing friendships here, which take alot of time and patience. Tara and I both are enjoying getting to know the city, I grew up in Houston and I kind of miss the big city life, so now that aspect is fulfilled, however I do miss GR. If I would to sum up language training in one word it would be "hard", with no exceptions, Tara may use another word, by the way she is doing great! Praise God! When we are on public transportation or in the Market we are able to pick out words or even sometimes phrases from folks talking on the street, and that talk is very fast and slangish. When our children were introduced in a church, the pastor said "and their son Ezra", and most people went awwww, oohh... I guess he has quite a name to live up to, well at least in their eyes. We now take daily trips to the market since you can only buy what you can carry, and we kind of like this...daily bread and daily drink. Please pray with us that the people here would eat and drink unto eternal life and would be satisfied in Christ alone!

Praise God that our children have adjusted very well, thank you for pr'n. Praise God that He gave opportunity for the Gospel message to be delivered to two men this last week. As for pr' needs:

Please lift us up as we seek God's face to nurture our marriage in a different and sometimes hard to live in culture. Continue to pray for our language study. Pray that we will be bold and wise as we are given opportunities to share the message of eternal hope with the people we encounter.

Our First Two Weeks

Wow! It has been a very eventful two weeks since we left Texas to head to Russia. We are so excited to be here and so thankful for your prayers and God’s faithfulness. These first two weeks have been about getting settled in (and we are about to make a planned move to our second location this Friday the 2^nd), getting acquainted with our English teaching responsibilities and schedules, getting to know our team, and learning how to get around the city (Rebekah loves riding the “trams, ” or railcars). We have had opportunities to dialogue with quite a few English-speaking Russians through the school where we teach, existing English discussion groups, and a couple of other gatherings. We begin language learning this week with a personal tutor, so please pray for our perseverance as we seek to learn the language of the people with whom we long to share the light and hope of Christ. Until we learn the language, we will be very limited in the ways that we can be used in the lives of Russian people.

We attended our first Russian worship service this morning and were very blessed, although the experience was quite different than we are used to. Rebekah attended a children's service. She became a little stressed by so many new people speaking a different language and was a little withdrawn by the end of the service time, although she did great during the first hour or so.

Prayer Highlights:

-That we would focus on a close, personal walk with the Lord

-Continued adjustment to urban Russian life for the whole family

-Wisdom to take life at the pace God would have for us

-Language learning!

our first few days

At Home in Russia

Well, after a long airplane ride we are finally in Ufa, Russia, at our new apartment. Everyone is well, although a little jetlagged and glad for the rest we've had the last two days.

Our flights went well, and the kids did great. Ezra got the most sleep of any of us and has had the easiest time adjusting. The Moscow airport was quite an experience- trying to figure out where we were supposed to be and trying to make sure our bags were going to the right place, etc. We have heard from one of our teammates here that people often sense the spiritual darkness of Russia immediately upon arrival at the airport. We can definitely say that we felt that as well. Even Germany didn't seem quite as dark as Russia.

Please pray as you read this that God would be lifting the veil of darkness from the hearts of His people here and that He would be guiding us to the people whose hearts He has already prepared.