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.