Visit From Santa

We took this picture at Andrew's preschool. He had a special visitor, and Andrew was actually pretty excited to see him - we weren't sure how he'd react to sitting in Santa's lap, but as you can see, he had the time of his life (although I don't think Santa quite measures up to Thomas the Tank Engine)!

Thank you for your prayers for our travel to Butler, PA - we had a great trip there, and Andrew did well on the 6-hour drive. The weather was beautiful - no snow to make travel difficult! We were also able to encourage Whitestown Rd. Baptist Church, and pray that God will use our words to draw people there closer to Him.

This week we'll be speaking at Fellowship Baptist, Randy's home church before moving to Texas. We have several strong prayer supporters in this church. Pray as we talk with them about future partnerships with us in Vladivostok.

As we said last week, Christmas is fast approaching, and we would be remiss if we did not express our sincere gratitude for your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. In tough economic times like these, giving often means sacrifice. Take the example set by Lottie Moon herself:

For 37 years this pioneering missionary endured hardship and danger in a land oppressed by famine, disease and war. In the end, she loved the Chinese people more than life itself, giving her own food to starving neighbors, eventually dying of starvation herself. During her career, Moon wrote numerous letters home urging Southern Baptists to greater missions involvement and support. One of those letters, excerpted below, triggered Southern Baptists’ first offering for missions in 1888 — enough to send three new missionaries to China.

“How many there are … who imagine that because Jesus paid it all, they need pay nothing, forgetting that the prime object of their salvation was that they should follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in bringing back a lost world to God.”




This is a picture of Andrew "reading" his beginner's Bible. We've started the practice of a daily quiet time with him. We read a short devotional passage together and then Daddy reads his Bible while Andrew reads his, or watches a "God video." We're praying that he will develop a hunger for God at an early age. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a lady in the front room of Mission Arlington while we were there last month. She was talking about how God had blessed her, and I just felt impressed to ask her, "And what have you been doing lately to bless God?" She immediately began talking about how she needed to give at a church somewhere. I told her that what really blesses God is when we give Him our heart - all of it. May God bless you as you bless Him this Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Lately, Andrew's new phrase is, "Christmas is getting close...!" He's getting excited about seeing the presents under the tree of course, meanwhile, we work on teaching him the true meaning of the season. We've had a little bit of snow, but nothing stayed on the ground - a big contrast between our last three Christmases in Khabarovsk!



This week, we'll be heading to Whitestown Road Baptist Church in Butler, PA. Pray for us as we speak there, and for safety in travel. Snow is forecasted for this weekend up there!

Hope you enjoy these photos of our tree decoration time! Have a great week!

Day Out With Thomas!

We went to Strasburg, PA today for a Day Out With Thomas, and we all got to ride on a life-size replica of Thomas the Tank Engine! There was also a visit with Sir Toppam Hatt, Christmas songs, train tables, the whole works! Needless to say, Andrew was very excited, and we all had a great time. The weather was cool, but very nice, so thank you for your prayers.

Tomorrow, we drive to Romney, West Virginia for a speaking engagement Sunday morning at Covenant Baptist Church. Pray for safety in travel and for God to speak through us as we speak in the morning worship and at Sunday School.

Thank you for your prayers for Randy's time in Florida. It was a great time of connecting with Scott and his family. We reminisced about the college ministry at Temple, and were able to visit with some folks who had come to a fall festival at his church in Lake Wales. Pray for God to raise up partners from FBC Lake Wales.

Keep praying for the visa situation in Russia. We are still looking into avenues to stay in country long term. Other colleagues are in the same situation as we are. Please pray for wisdom as we seek the best option for our continued presence there.

Happy Birthday, Randy!

With all of the travel last week, I forgot to mention that Thursday was not just Thanksgiving, but also Randy's birthday! We had a great time of visiting with family - about 34 people together for Thanksgiving dinner - and everyone sang Happy Birthday! Praise God for this time of reconnecting with family.

Thanks for praying for safety in travel - everyone made it back safely from Texas. Tomorrow, Randy leaves for Florida to speak at First Baptist Lake Wales, where his college pastor, Scott Markley is pastor. Pray for him as he speaks there, for God to bless his speaking, and for prayer partners to be raised up in this church.

This week on Friday, we'll be going to Strasburg, PA for A Day Out With Thomas. This is a life-size replica of Thomas the Tank Engine that Andrew will get to ride on! Please pray for good weather for this special time for Andrew!

Hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving...anyone have a special Thanksgiving story to share? Post a comment and share it with us and the rest of our prayer partners, we'd love to hear from you!

On The Road Again, Again...

Well, we've once again had to say goodbye to a number of dear friends in Texas, but we have had a great visit here. God has really shown us some neat blessings! For one, we were blessed with a car! For our times in PA, my mom has been very generous in renting a car so that we could have her car to get around in, and that's been great, but we felt bad about putting a financial strain on her, especially since we'll be coming back to PA to stay until March! Well, as we mentioned this to some friends we were staying with, they just "happened" to have a car that they were wondering what to do with, and they are going to let us use that car until we leave for Vladivostok! We thank God for these special friends (you know who you are!), and we pray His blessings upon them and their family.

We also had a good time of re-connecting with our "extended family" at Mission Arlington. They truly are co-laborers in the Gospel. We visited with Eugenio and Deyanira, who are pastoring our old apartment church at Sawyer's Mill Apartments, and living in our old apartment there. God is really using them - we attended a Wednesday night Bible study, which was packed, standing room only. Please pray for them as they seek to develop leaders from within this faithful group of attenders.

I'm writing this from somewhere in Tennessee, as I drive the car back to PA. Angela and Andrew are in Houston, and will be flying back tomorrow as I drive the rest of the way. Pray for safety for us as we travel, and for God's peace for all of us.

**Just a clarification, I'm not actually driving while I write this...I'm in a hotel. Just to eliminate any confusion. :)

Live Armadillo Sighted!

Yes, I know it seems somewhat random, but this is the first time I've actually seen a live armadillo in the wild! We saw not just one, but three at the Armand Bayou Nature Center in Houston this week. Andrew enjoyed it, and he also got go on a hayride, do a cakewalk, and sit in a stagecoach. Lots of fun!

Right now, the Stodas are all sick with some kind of bug. We're a family that believes in sharing! Pray for healing, and that our time speaking will not be adversely affected by our health.

We'll be speaking this week at First Baptist Teague. They have had a tragedy in the church recently, the pastor's daughter was killed in a traffic accident. Pray for healing for this family, and for the church

We'll also be heading up to visit our friends at Mission Arlington this week. For those of you who don't know, Mission Arlington is a multi-housing ministry in Arlington, TX where both Angela and Randy served (check them out at www.missionarlington.org). We thank God for them, and ask that you continue to pray for them as they reach Arlington and the nations for Christ!

Deep In The Heart of Texas

Well, we've been enjoying our time in Texas - I had forgotten how warm a Texas November can be! Thank you for praying for our time at Clear Lake Baptist and FBC La Place. We have added over 15 new prayer partners to the list, so for those of you who are receiving this update for the first time, welcome!

This week, we'll be traveling up to the Waco area. Randy will be attending a church planting conference there. Pray that he will be challenged and learn some fresh ideas that can be applied in Vladivostok.

We'll be staying with the Lamb family, some of Angela's college friends. Pray that she'll have a good time meeting with friends, and that Andrew will enjoy the time with their kids.

Also, continue to pray for Vladivostok. As we're thinking about heading back, we will need to come up with a way to stay in country long-term. Right now, the best way seems to be seeking a temporary residency permit. We've asked a couple of Russian friends in the area to help us find out what documents we will need to get this permit, so we can start the process now. Pray that we will get the right information, and pray for us to develop contacts in Vladivostok, even before we get there!

Let it snow!

We just thought we were escaping Russia weather! This week, we had our first snowfall in Hatboro. But, it only snowed one day and quickly melted away. Now we're in Texas in 80 degree weather. What a change! Thank you for praying for our safety in travel, everything went very smoothly.

This Sunday, we'll be speaking at Clear Lake Baptist, the church that Angela attended growing up. We're pretty excited about this church - they've actually been to Vladivostok on a couple of mission trips. We're planning on partnering with them. Please pray for our speaking there, that God would call out partners in praying, giving, and going!

Pray for Randy's aunt Susan. The doctors have discovered cancer on her breast & spine. Pray for wisdom for the doctors and family as they pursue a course of treatment.

Pray for our travel again, as we take a trip to First Baptist La Place, Louisiana on Tuesday through Thursday of this week - speaking there on Wednesday night. This is a church of one of Angela's friends who has been a strong prayer supporter. Again, pray that God would call out partners from this church.

Almost Heaven...

...West Virginia! Tomorrow, Randy leaves for a missions conference in Clarksburg, WV. We've heard lots of good things about this association, and we're looking forward to seeing what God is going to do there. Pray for safety for Randy as he travels, and pray that he would make some good contacts there.

Before our next update, we'll be traveling again, so we'll go ahead and ask for prayer for those travels. Next Thursday, we all fly to Texas! We're looking forward to connecting with friends and family in Houston, Waco, Arlington, and several other places that I've forgotten. Pray for safety as we fly to Texas next week.

Fall in Pennsylvania is really beautiful, and we got a chance to get into the "harvest spirit" this week, by taking a hayride with Andrew's preschool class! Here is a picture. Thanks again for praying for his class, he really is enjoying going there twice a week.

Back to PA! (again)

Thank you for all of our prayers for safe travel – we made it back from Virginia with no problems! We also want to thank you for your prayers for wisdom in choosing a program for Andrew. This week, he attended his first time at his new “school,” Lehman Christian Academy. He’ll be going there 2 days a week in the afternoon – yes that’s right – right during naptime. He came home last night just completely tuckered out. In the middle of dinner he just laid down on his chair and said, “I want to go to bed.” But he did have a great time there, and we think it will be a positive thing for him to get to hang around some kids on a regular basis.

Continue to pray for our speaking in churches. This week, we’ll be at The Foundry in Wallingford. Pray for God to be glorified as we speak, and that He would call out workers into His mission field. Pray also as Randy prepares for another conference next weekend in West Virginia.

We’ve been talking a lot about our life on stateside assignment, but telling our stories in churches continues to remind us of our folks back in Russia. Pray for spiritual awakening in Russia. Pray for the seeds we’ve sown over the last 3 years to continue to grow.

Return to ILC

For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, ILC stands for International Learning Center. This was the place inRichmond, VA where we did our initial 8-week training time way back in 2005. We have been spending the week here for our stateside conference. We've had a good time of training and refreshment, as well as just hanging out with some of our colleagues that we haven't seen for a while. Andrew's routine has been a little disturbed, so he's been having some adjustment issues. Pray for him, and for us, as we try to give him the stability he needs as we do so much traveling.

Pray also for us as we continue our speaking engagements. Next Sunday we will be speaking at The Foundry church in Wallingford, PA. They're doing some really interesting things there, especially with the arts - music and drama and such. Pray for us as we speak that God would call out new partners from this church.

Again, as a reminder, keep praying for us as we seek to develop a strategy to reach Vladivostok. We also want to ask that you would pray for our future team. We'll be going there on our own, but we pray that God will quickly form a team of Russian believers, as well as colleagues from the States to come and be a part, not only long-term IMB personnel (International Mission Board, for those lost in the acronyms), but also those who come on a short term basis. Perhaps even some of you will come join us! Pray for God to build up our team just as He desires, and that those who hear His call would respond without reservation.

On The Road Again

Greetings all! We're settling into our housing in Hatboro, PA. The folks at Bux-Mont have been very friendly and welcoming, and it's nice to be able to unpack. However...we'll be traveling again this week! We have our stateside conference - kind of a debriefing and training time - in Richmond, VA this week. Pray for safety in travel, as well as a good time of training and renewal.

We've gotten some good news from Angela's parents. Her dad's employers found another job for him, so he will not be laid off! Praise God for this provision, and thank you for praying!

As we are staying in Hatboro, we really want to find something for Andrew to be involved in. We're currently investigating some preschool programs in the area that he could attend a couple times a week, for him to be with other kids. Pray for wisdom for us, as we seek just the right place for him to go.

We also praise God for 9 years of marriage! On Thursday, we celebrated our 9th anniversary! The picture above is us enjoying a special dinner at the Lone Star Steakhouse (yes, they have them in PA). Praise God for His faithfulness to us, and pray that he would continually draw us closer to one another as we draw closer to Him.

Back to PA! (for now)

Well, we had a wonderful trip to Tennessee this week, we had the privilege of speaking at two more prayer partner churches - Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, and First Baptist Church Dover. Angela also had some good time to catch up with aunts and uncles, and they had a great time loving on Andrew. He even got a chance to meet great-grandmama Winnie! She just turned 89! Praise God for this time connecting with family!


We're traveling back to Philadelphia today, and then to our mission housing in Hatboro. We're looking forward to finally settling into our new home for the next 6 months or so (although we'll be traveling to Virginia for a conference next week)! Pray for safety as we travel.

We also received some bad news. The company Angela's dad is working for is downsizing, and he's been notified that he will be laid off as of Friday. Please pray for encouragement for him, and that he would be able to find another job quickly.

The picture doesn't have anything to do with prayer requests - just a reminder of our time in Atlanta. We didn't get to the space center, but we did get to the welcome center, and Andrew's favorite item there was the Saturn 5 replica in the lobby. His daddy was so proud! :)

Happy Birthday, Angela!

Today is Angela's birthday! Birthdays are always such special days, because we know that so many people are praying for us. Pray for special blessings for Angela on her special day!

Last week we traveled to Mississippi to speak at Ingomar Baptist Church, and we really felt welcomed there. Thank you to our special prayer partners there, especially to the Joy Sunday School class, who are such faithful prayer warriors for us - and to Ann Krusec - Randy's friend from the Northeast Philadelphia Baptist Church days! Continue to pray that God will raise up not only prayer supporters for us, but that He would call out workers into His harvest from this church.

Pray for us as we travel to Tennessee this week to speak at 2 different churches there. Pray for safety in travel, and that God would speak through us there.

We would also ask your prayer for a little bump we've experienced...to our car! We received a car from Macedonian Call, a wonderful organization that provides cars to folks like us when we're on stateside assignment - and we were literally bumped by a lady as we were pulling into a parking lot. Everyone is fine, but the driver's side door on our car was dented, and we're having a hard time getting calls returned from the other lady's insurance company. She was very sweet and apologetic - she admitted that she was completely at fault - but we really need to try to resolve this before we have to return the car next week. Pray that all will be resolved quickly. **Update** We have also recently discovered that the insurance information the lady gave us was for a cancelled policy! Please pray for wisdom as we figure out what to do.



Just in case you were wondering, here is Vladivostok on a map of Russia! As a bonus, you can see where Khabarovsk is located, to the north. We'll be an overnight train ride from Khabarovsk, so hopefully we'll still get up there every now and then to visit. Please begin to pray for us as we seek the Lord's guidance in developing a strategy to reach Vladivostok.

Welcome to Pray for Vlad!

Thanks for signing up for our prayer blog! We are trying a new format here, and this is relatively new to me, so please bear with us as we work through this process. It's been a while since we gave you an update, so I'll catch you up on what's been happening since we came to the states.

First, we should let you know about the title of this blog - yes, it is official, we are moving to Vladivostok! When we return to Russia, we'll be moving to a new city, Vladivostok. Please pray for us as we seek the Lord's leadership in developing a strategy to reach this important city. You are a part of that strategy, and we thank you for co-laboring with us.

Well, to update, we spent a little time with Randy's family in PA. Andrew had his 3rd birthday party this year! He pretty much thinks that every place we go, he gets toys.







We also spent some time in Wisconsin with the Stoda side of the family. Andrew got to spend some time with great-grandpa and -grandma (and cousin Kyler - on his right). And of course, another birthday party! He also enjoyed the animals - especially Rosie the cow, and Bam-Bam the goat!


Now, we're in Alabama with Angela's parents. Randy's already attended his first missions conference, and things went pretty well - some of your contact information came from that conference in Columbiana, and we're glad to have you aboard! The next major event is this weekend at Ingomar Baptist in New Albany, MS.

Pray for Randy and Angela as we travel to Mississippi, for safety in travel, and that God will speak through us there. Also, continue to pray for Randy's grandfather, Valdo. For those of you who don't know, he has been diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm in his abdomen which the doctors are monitoring. We praise God that he is completely at peace, regardless of the outcome of these tests.