Olga and I have been very blessed by the great relationships God has given us here in Russia.  This was recently illustrated well.

We host a church home group at our apartment on Sunday evenings.  On Sunday afternoons, Olga teaches English to several people from our church.  In between is time for a meal and fellowship.  It’s great fun to have so much life in our house. The picture above is of the Sunday home group.

The next day, we hosted a pot-luck dinner for the workers at MIR.  Not everyone was able to attend, but we still had a good crowd. MIR continues to grow and do well.  Masha Oshkina (seated at right, below) is doing a great job as Executive Director.

MIR is now interviewing for the summer hosting program as well as preparing for other summer work.  We’ve added a new staff member, Tanya, seated second from left.

You may notice that Oksana, the orphan who lived with us, was visiting.  She’s going through a tough time, and we’ve been very glad to have her around.

On Friday, Olga and I depart for a ministry road trip. We’ll first drive to Minsk, Belarus to visit Spring of Revival there. I’m especially looking forward to visiting the Minsk Family Home.  From there, we drive to Budapest, Hungary for a few days to visit with friends and explore opportunities for ministry.

Then, we go to Baska Petrovac, Serbia where we’ll visit friends and talk about partnership in ministry.

After this, we drive to Podgorica, Montenegro, where we get to see our newest family member, Andrej, and spend time with the church. Then we return with another stop in Budapest before leading up a Stoneworks retreat in Tallinn, Estonia.

It’s going to be a full few weeks, and we have gratitude for the great relationships we have in so many parts of the world.

Jesus promised that His followers would have abundant life, and we are thankful for it.