Happy and Sad

The last week or so has been a mixture of events.

A person got very offended, "You're just slandering me," was the accusation when we were actually trying to be kind and help.

We went to pick up a child to come for children's services and were told, "she's not here any more. Her father died and she has been sent to an orphanage." When we investigated, we found out that she is actually living with her sister. What her sister's plans are, no one knows. Her sister does not have a good reputation.

Two of our teenaged girls are appearing less and less in services.

But their good friend called us up in the middle of a busy day and asked us to pray for him right then and there.

Olya went to the offices to get the last steps done, to have her gas/heat turned on. The people in the office assured her that they would be there the very next day. A few days later they showed up and now her gas is on!!! Thank the Lord!


The forester where we went for youth camp last summer came to our house one day. "Is it all right if my children come to your children's services? We'd like them to have more Bible training as they grow up." The mother and the two oldest children walked two to three kilometers the first Sunday trying to find us. Since then we've been picking them up with the others. Meet Olya, Petya, and little Andrei. They're gathered around Allona for this picture. They missed one Sunday when we had to hurry and they weren't outside their home waiting. We've heard ever since about how much these children cried when they missed the service. All of them, even Petya and Andrei make a strong effort to learn every memory verse. Their grandmother said, "Olya likes this even more than she likes school." Thank God for outreach into the lives of precious children.


We made use of the ice cream freezer that was a Christmas present from last year. We found a recipe that we liked the ice cream disappeared as quickly as the small powderings of snow that we have had.

Bits of home in unexpected places are always especially pleasant. A phone call. A can of Dr. Pepper that a person sees only two or three times a year. Here's the picture. Katrina tells about it on her blogspot.