Wayfaring Stranger: December 2004

Merry Christmas Russia

Dear Friends and Family,

The English classes were a great success! Thanks to everyone that supported me in prayer and financially. We had 2 students trust in Jesus during the classes! Last year we had to wait for the first fruits to come later during Compas' (sic) follow up Bible studies (Compas is the name of the Russian branch of Campus Crusade for Christ).

We arrived in Russia after about 20 hours of traveling. It was very tiring but I was also excited to see our Compas friends and to see the students who professed faith in Jesus over the past year. Three of the four students in my class who became believers were student language helpers in the English classes this year!

This year, just like last, we saw God provide again and again. Just one week before we were to arrive and start the classes, only 40 students had signed up. That's disappointing since we needed at least 150 students to fill the 5 classes. Darin (the Compas director for Ekaterinburg) sent out a prayer letter requesting urgent prayer for the classes. And on the Wednesday before we were to arrive, 130 additional students signed up ... that's 170 total students and more than enough for the English classes! Seeing God provide day after day is one of the things that drew me back to Russia this year. Each morning and afternoon the team from Northwest Bible Church would have a prayer time. Praying for each other and for our classes. And we saw God answer prayer over and over ... what a blessing those times were.

Several times while in Russia I was able to get to an internet connection and put some of what was going on and some of my thoughts into my onine diary (aka weblog, aka blog) ... this blog. Some of the relevant posts are:

Since the classes ended, I have received news that 11 students have trusted in Jesus! ... 11!

Also, I have finally loaded and commented my 2004 Russia gallery, you can see it here : Russia 2004.

Note: this is hosted on my home PC w/ a DSL connection ... I hope it isnt too slow. Please leave feedback whenever you feel "inspired" to.

Also note: You just got your Christmas card from me ... if you need to, print off a pic, put it in an envelope, drop it in the mailbox, get it from the mailbox, open it, exclaim "We just got a Christmas card from Rodney!" (grin).

Merry Christmas!

Labels: album, Christmas