Change Can Be Good

We want to thank you all for faithfully praying for our family and our ministry here. You pray for us when you do not even know what we need prayer for. And God faithfully answers those prayers. We have been going through some really difficult times over the past few months that many of you have not known about, but you have prayed for us nonetheless. We could not understand at the time what God had planned through the difficult times, but we understand now. Our ministry here is now changing, and we feel that God has brought us where He wants us to be. Our previous assignment here was to study the language and then move outside the city to begin a new team. Our position has now changed, and we will be staying in Moscow. For now, we are no longer going on the path of the previous position of Strategy Coordinator, though God may lead us in the future to a team leader position. We have now joined the Stamey team (officially called the Co-Laborers, though Doyle suggested changing it to the Fletcher Project - haha!), and we will now serve as team members working in the Northern Administrative District of Moscow (NADM). The team is called Co-Laborers because this team works together with the Russian Baptist Union and its members to plant new churches in Moscow, concentrating on the NADM. We have mentioned Brad and Lori Stamey before. They have 3 boys, and they have been mentoring us since we arrived here. They have been awesome! Also on the Co-Laborer team is Mark Sprinkle, a single career missionary who focuses on student ministries. We will also be adding two new Journeymen (short-term IMB missionaries), Dan and Peyton, in April. Presently, the team is working with two home groups that they have begun. We will be updating on these periodically. In the pictures, you can see one of the home groups that meets in another church's building once a month. This is the Timi church. We will be moving this summer from the southern part of Moscow to another apartment in the NADM region. We still plan on homeschooling next year, but we are praying about some options of involvement for the kids at the Christian school next year as well. They do have Russian language classes and enrichment classes as well as spiritual retreats available to homeschoolers. We know that there will always be changes here, whether it be location, ministry, or whatever. This change we are certain is a good one for the ministry here as well as for our family.

We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving in Moscow. The kids had class parties at school with some wonderful activities. In the pictures, you can see Daegan making butter and Tristyn preparing notes of thanksgiving. We had dinner at the Stameys with a few other missionary families. Lori cooked a huge turkey, and I made my mom's dressing for the first time. I also recently celebrated my birthday. I was lovingly showered with gifts from our home church. I don't think I have ever received so many birthday presents. Doyle surprised me with a dinner out with a friend. Don't forget Doyle's birthday is December 20th. Though we had previously had snow, it has since all melted away. We are having pretty steady temperatures around 40. We hear it is colder in Houston than here! We are told this is the warmest winter so far in a long time. I guess that's because we suffered the coldest winter in 40 years when we arrived here! Although the kids long for snow, and the mud is no fun, we haven't complained because we know it is on the way, and it will be here for a really long time.

When we get a call that we have a package in the office, it feels like Christmas has come. We recently watched some of our home movies that we brought with us. We were not able to copy all of our tapes over to dvds before leaving, so we are limited to the past year in home movies. We were watching last year's Christmas and gained a whole new perspective. We used to try to disguise gifts for the kids, such as wrapping a small item in Pop Tart boxes or Little Debbie boxes. As we watched the kids open their gifts on the video, we realized that it would truly be a cherished Christmas present to actually get what the box showed. We all sighed, "Ahh... Little Debbie chocolate donuts and white powdered donuts!" And, "Ah... Trix cereal!" Perspective is everything, isn't it? We so appreciate everything that comes our way. It truly blesses us to know we are not forgotten! We do wish we could be with you all for Christmas. Please please please stay in touch with us as well. Please don't ever hesitate to email or even skype us. We LOVE hearing from everyone! We want to keep updated on your lives, too.

Current prayer requests for us:

• kids' school/homework load
  
• our language study


• decisions about kids' education next year


• preparation for moving apartments


• unbelievers: Pasha, Victor, Sergey, Olem