Dear friends, I
hope this finds you well! It has been a
chilly week with lots of glittering snow, with which I am excited to finally
have enough on the ground to make a snowman.
Some days it just looks like a blizzard, but really it is only because
the windy speed is high. The city has a
fitting nickname: “The Windy City” of Central Asia.
Last weekend the
whole northern team gathered for a retreat in the countryside. It was a time of much needed rest and
relaxation along with some great fellowship, and above all a time for gathering
all together to worpish our King. The
country club was a winterland oasis and it looked almost like we all just flew
on a plane and were retreating in Estes Park Colorado. (I’ll add a picture of our cabin below!) The icing on the cake was sleeping in a
fluffy bed with no box springs poking me and taking a real shower. Oh the simple joys in life… Some brothers from Atlanta* came to
facilitate and man, did they bring the Word!
We also talked with Papa for hours and hours one evening and it all was
so encouraging for me.
With much joy I
would like to tell you that my dear friend Mulan has become a Sister! She told
me Sat. night while at a student event and I just screamed for joy. (I think the only other time I have shrieked
was in August when my sister-in-law told me she was pregnant :)) Mulan is so happy she almost cannot contain
her joy. She loves I$a and she is all
smiles! She said that she had many
conversations with Father and the other day while she was all alone on her
balcony, she accepted the Son into her heart.
Wow! Father had been revealing
Himself to her for a long time and we had been lifting her up daily throughout
the semester. It is a great blessing to
see Papa work and move in her life. It
really is a privilege to be a part of His process of redeeming the broken. Please be asking Papa to encourage and
strengthen her new faith as she learns about all of His goodness. Ask specifically that He would provide a
spiritual big sister for her to continue growing.
Her story has
been an encouragement to me and a reminder that just as much as a non-believing
person needs the Good News, so do I. I
need the GN daily because it isn’t something I heard once and moved on, but it
is a process and foundation on which everything is supported from. In Paul’s letters I see his anxiousness to
tell the GN to not only the non-believers, but the believers (Rom 1:15). An author named Milton Vincent put it like
this:
“The go<pel is
so foolish (according to my natural wisdom), so scandalous (according to my
conscience), and so incredible (according to my timid heart), that it is a
daily battle to believe the full scope of it as I should. There is simply no other way to compete with
the forebodings of my conscience, the condemnings of my heart, and the lies of
the world and the [Enemy] than to overwhelm such thigs with daily rehearsings
of the go<pel.” – A Go<pel Primer
Another big area
you can still be lifting up is our language class. I sent out an email last week about the
university’s announcement to discontinue the institute I study in. As of today I have not heard any more
news. We have done all we can, but the
program is officially closed after May.
My HO sisters and I will continue going to class until they actually
decide we should not be there. I really appreciate all of your thoughts and
prayers about this situation. This
really throws a big wrench in the work going on here, especially looking at
future people joining the team, but Father will provide. Everyone in the department is being relocated
and our teachers have not gotten paid in 2 months, so please keep remembering
them.
Language is
slowly getting better for me. It has
been a frustrating process through this whole journey. I feel like a two-year-old and some days it
amazes me how much I do not remember in-between class times, but it is
improving. This past week with all of
the excitement of the department closing, I realized how much I was taking our
time with our teacher for granted. I
began to appreciate the time spent in class and many hours outside of class
more and more. I really do love learning
Russian, I do.
We have been
having some great English clubs and extra events. We have hosted movie nights and a Halloween
party. I am continuing to meet new
people through clubs as well as get to know girls I have already met. It has been a great way to build
relationships and have salty conversations.
We are starting to plan a Thanksgiving English club celebration for the
two different clubs we help with. I am
getting pretty excited about making lots of pumpkin pie!
I met a girl
several weeks ago who I have really enjoyed getting to know. I met her at a movie night organized by some
friends and we instantly clicked. We
started talking about where we were from and to my amazement; she knew exactly
where my hometown was! I found out that
she had been an exchange student her senior year of high school in Lebanon,
Mo. She ended up attending a university
in Indiana after graduating. She loves
American culture but also loves the traditions of her native land. Recently she had also gone through some reverse
culture shock, so I’ll say it was a divine appointment that we met! I have had some great conversations with her,
but I’d like you to lift her up for me. Her name is Nara. Ask that her heart would be softened to
accepting the Son.
There is a new project
that we are considering being involved in during our last few weeks in country. I am not quite sure what it would look like,
so we ask that you all be lifting it up.
Thank you all for reading and being such great warriors for me and my
friends!! I really appreciate your
continual love and support!
Blessings to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment