Unpacking

Hi readers,

It's time to update again. We've been here for...could it be almost three weeks already...? I guess that's right. We've been working our way through all the things that go with moving: moving boxes, unpacking boxes, arranging furniture. Today there is some furniture that needs to be assembled (yuck) and then we'll be done. I'm happy for Kim, who does the bulk of the unpacking and arranging that it is almost done.

I would help but I don't know where anything goes...after 28 years of marriage.

Our days have been busy seeing friends also, though not as busy as things will be when the school year starts up. Our good friend Alexander is the director of foreign languages at the University near us and he was sooooo happy to have us back. He asked us to come for a meeting as soon as we could. When we did he told us that they had special ideas how to use us this school year so that we can maximize the benefit to the students. (He really does have the success of all of his students at the forefront of what the language department does and we are happy to help since we also want to see them, and their country, succeed.)

We continue to pray about other avenues of ministry. We are in the happy position of having too many potential areas to work in and not too few. The question for us now is: "God, what's YOUR plan?" We could really use some help following up these many contacts but for now we are here on our own. We don't know why that is, in the Great Scheme of things, so we trust that this is a part of God's plan that we just aren't all-seeing enough to understand. Go figure.

Everyone else seems good: the sauna guys; Vitya, the former medical student but now a doctor; our neighbors; professors from the U...The list goes on and on. So, God, what's your plan?

Thanks for following along with this and for praying.

Jerry and Kim

Log On

Log On

And…We’re back!

We arrived in Kiev around 36 hours ago. Uneventful flights, (except for really nice seats on the 747 from Detroit to Amsterdam!) Meeting us were Tom, Miriam and the nearly-brand-new Jamie Becker. We appreciated their help getting our apartment open and food in the fridge.

I was happy that it was a little rainy when we pulled up to the apartment. During bad weather Enver doesn’t sit outside and I knew that we’d have to talk for a long time…Anyway, twelve hours later as the Beckers where headed back to Moscow I met Enver at the bottom of the elevator. He gave me a big Georgian kiss on the cheek and asked where Kim was. They were happy to know we are back in our old apartment, one floor below them. We went right to their apartment and talked to Galina. It was a great time and felt like we’d never left. Around 10pm last night Galina called and wanted to bring us food to help us get settled. How do you explain 10-hour jet lag to someone who’s never experienced it? “Uh, how about tomorrow?” was all that I managed to mumble.

It was great to talk to Sasha the Bible study guy yesterday. He’ll be here for lunch and reconnecting today. We’ll find out what happened to everyone from the Bible study and what prospects there are for getting together with everyone.

It’s Monday morning here, which means Sauna Day tomorrow. I don’t want to go, again. The question becomes, “Lord, I’ve told the the Sauna Guys all the important points of the Good News…Do you want me to keep putting time in there or should I look for a different way to invest myself?” Kim and I prayed about it today, trying to start our time here properly…It feels like, right now, that unless I have something actually conflicting with the sauna time that I should go. It may be passive fishing, but it’s still fishing.

And Ilya the professor (who now works for the BBC) has invited us over to meet his wife and daughter next weekend. And Alexander the director of Languages at the university has written, excited for us to get together. We hope he wants to plan for English events at the University for next school year.

Well, that’s it for now. Pray for us, that words may be given us and that when those opportunities come we might proclaim Christ fearlessly, as we should.

Thanks.

a granbaby quilt

a Grandmotherly thing to do

well, yesterday I finally got my act together and began to sew the quilt top for my granddaughter. We went to JoAnne fabrics in late June and picked out the fabric and only now am I beginning it. It has been a busy time since then. I just got back from a tour with Jerry in Montana. We went to visit many of our friends in many different churches, telling them about our lives in Kiev. Each time I looked at pictures of our friends, it made me homesick for our life there and hope things are going well for them. It is funny...when we are in Kiev, I am homesick for our life with our family back in the states, it seems that we are always missing the other life, whichever one we aren't in at the time, get it? Guess that is where trust comes into play.

Anyway, I began sewing the quilt and finished the top yesterday. I like it, it is pretty wild and colorful, our granddaughter loves color and design even at this very young age.

Can't wait to finish it and see my grandbaby sleeping underneath it!

Looking forward to hearing from our friends in Kiev, how they are doing....

the new family pic

here we are all together!

Summer in the states

It's been a while since we have blogged,
where do we begin?
We got back to the States just in time for our first grandchild's birth! Maia Grace Wagner was born a week after we returned...and...she has captured our hearts! We thoroughly enjoy being grandparents and understand that we are truly blessed!

This summer I also realized that we are now the parents of 3 adults. I knew this was happening, but somehow it crept up on me. Three weeks ago, we drove our son to his college about 2 hours away and helped him settle into his dorm room. The end of this month, our younger daughter begins her 2nd year of college...yikes!

We are now visiting with longtime friends and folks that pray for us, sharing what has been going on in our lives, how God has been working in us and through us as we allow Him. We are in Montana one of the most beautiful places in the world! Everywhere we look, we see how creation displays Gods' handiwork...
We have been blessed by all and encouraged in our adventurous life...

Each time we talk about our life in Kiev, we are reminded of all our friends back there...and remember that God's plan continues on, we look forward to returning and being a part of it!

Fishing Season

(some of the sauna guys, Sasha, Yura, Yura and Volodia)


Well, we peaced-out of Kiev a few days ago. After a monstrous travel day we arrived in Kandern for Parker's grad. Grad is tomorrow and we've spent the last day and a half feeling like we needed to be doing SOMETHING, after all the activity of packing and goodbye-ing.

I hate goodbyes. That is, hands down, the worst part of the job- goodbyes to the kids going to boarding school over the years, goodbyes to pastors when we left Russia and now, goodbye to our really good, pre-believer friends from what may be our favorite place to live ever.

Once again I feel the way I've felt often over these years as an international worker: I get PAID to do this! There was a time when we were considering this calling that we wondered if it would be worth it. Now we know- most days it's not only worth it, it's an embarrassment of riches of excitement and fascination mixed with unbelief that this is my life. Ok, not every day, all day, is like this but enough are to make me ask the question, "What if we'd never done this? What if we just stayed in our own little world in that other place we loved so much, Wyoming?" Well, the happy answer is that we don't know but we're thankful that for us the truth stands proven and uncontestable: "He who loses his life will find it".

So, fishing season. I've never enjoyed fishing for fish as much as I've enjoyed fishing for men these past 1 1/2 years. Discouraging, exciting, rewarding, challenging, stretching, compelling. Pick any of these words, they all apply to the job we had the great privilege of doing. We have yet to see any outright conversions though friends like Galina now pray everyday, and Yura has made serious efforts to cut back on vodka drinking. These we take as signs that God is moving them towards final repentance and we keep our prayers up for them.

Sasha, our good friend, made 7 or 8 converts when he came back to the Lord after years of wandering in the gray. We got to work discipling him and this small group met at our apartment for a few months. We ask you to pray for the continued growth and development of Sasha and this group of new believers and most urgently for another place to continue this small group.

All these things are part of what made our time in Kiev so rewarding. Now we're on our way to Oregon for the year. Can't wait. I'm working the internet for info on fishing for finned fish and Kim and I are both trying to think of ways to keep the fish-for-men thing going, so much have we been thrilled by the chase. I see on-line that there are informal groups of anglers that get together for BBQs and fishing trips, maybe that will be a way in...?

Thanks for reading along.