Off to a good start!

Sorry for the delay in posting to our blog, but travel plans have not allowed me to acces a computer until now. Nancy and Ben are safely in Murmansk after a visit in Petrosadask with a local church and missinary friends. They survived two overnight train rides, and Ben has had a quick immersion into Russian culture and travel! Tim and Linda met in Moscow on Friday evening, met Rob at the airport on Saturday, and arrived to bright sunny skies around midnight on Saturday. It is a little hard to get to sleep at night with a the light coming in the window, but other than that we have all adjusted.

Sunday morning we went to worship at Golgatha Baptist Church, and had a wonderful time. It is always good to see our friends that help us so much with our English classes. The worship experience was great, reminding us of how we will be in heaven worshiping our God in every language. The service was a mix of traditional Russian hymns and some contemporary songs which were sung by some of the younger members of the congregation. We had a time of tea and fellowship after the service.

The Lord is continuing to bring our team together and blessing us. Ben was ready for some guy time and Linda and Nancy were ready for some female companionship, so our first day together as a team has been a time of bonding.

Last night we had registration for our English classes. We had 57 come, but expect more to come to our first class on Monday night. Many of those who attended told us they had friends who will come, and many who have come before chose to skip the registration.

Please pray for the Lord to send those He desires to hear His Word to our classes. Pray for us as we teach to show the love of Christ, and to build new friendships and renew old ones. Pray for stamina as our bodies adjust to the time difference and different schedules. Pray for us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit guiding us.

Today we start out at the university in the English department, working with first year students. This afternoon we will prepare for class tonight and also meet with a local pastor. Then we will teach from 7 until 10pm.

The first picutre is the outside of Golgotha Church in Murmansk. The others are of graduation ceremonies at the Moscow Evangelical Christian Seminary. My Nashville friends may recognize two of the ladies that spent the summer in Murmansk and worked with us in the summer of 2007, Evgenia and Maria. They are so happy to have completed their degrees. Evgenia will also marry Artum this next Saturday. Pray for a wonderful day for them.