39 year anniversary celebration with friends

9/21/2013

T and J had a whole day training (10-4) at the university, but promised to be back around 4. They were planning to take someone out for dinner, but we told them if they wanted to join us for our celebration (it is our anniversary), they were most welcomed. We usually do not celebrate any birthday or anniversary because we just don’t remember such dates. But since we both remembered and John mentioned it to our team, we decided to celebrate with the team and our dear brothers and sisters. Even though we missed our family’s presence, but we are grateful with God’s own provision.

We spent a great deal of time knowing S better – her family, her past experiences and her future direction. We have a great deal of admiration for her especially knowing she has been on missions for 23 years out in places that are not so civilized. She has gone through bad car accidents and serious illnesses but nothing seemed to be to change her passion for God nor for people. We pray that she will be our partner in many ways.

We also had the opportunity to know Judith better and knowing she has many gifts that can be used by God. However, she is exploring for the first time in this part of the world and may she find God’s plan for her for this stage of her life and start this wonderful journey with God.

9/22/2013

It is Lord ’s Day and we stayed in Tokmok worshiping with our old friends. Our Russian language is still almost non-existing, so we could not really communicate much to our members without the help of a translator. Still, our warm hugs for each other offset most of the language issues. We were most joyful to see each other  and God indeed was among us during the service. Igor preached a very good sermon about the Kingdom of God and how we can be good citizens of His kingdom.

In the afternoon, we had to say good-bye to J and Judith who were going off to Naryn and to S who left for Kara-Kol. However, they will all return by Wednesday evening for we have team training on Thursday and Friday. May God grant us the wisdom from above that we really understand the significance of team work and really become great team workers in His kingdom.