December 10, 2007

Dear Friends,

I know that it is well past Thanksgiving, but we did want to begin this letter by saying thank you. Thank you for your extraordinary support in response to our letter in July. Through you, God has provided bountifully, and we continue to be amazed by His faithfulness and your love.

Let’s bring you up to date on the ministry. We have two fully running soup kitchens now. The second one opened last September with 50 clients. This kitchen serves mainly mothers and children and we hope to increase the number fed to 100 beginning in January. God has faithfully provided for the needs of our growing social ministry through the generous and faithful giving of the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy (MPC) members.

We continue to look for a new location for the Parish Center. We were told definitively that we would have to move out of the present Parish Center by February 1. This center is absolutely crucial to our ministry. It is really the hub of all that we do. In these past weeks we have been in touch with the Lutheran Church of Finnish origins. We are in negotiations over a potential space for this ministry. Please keep this at the top of your prayer list for our ministry. We are so excited about this possibility, and we hope that it will come to fruition. It is located right in the middle of a cemetery. How about that for a little Christian symbolism? As the early Christians took refuge in the catacombs, which were the burial grounds for the Romans, so we are seeking refuge from a culture that does not accept us. I also love the symbolism of death having no power over us (I Corinthians 15:54-58). Please keep us in your hearts as we look to transform this place, abandoned almost since revolutionary times, into a place of refuge and prayer. The more I think about the work of MPC the more I see God using this ministry as an agent of transformation in this culture. We transformed a notorious nightclub into a soup kitchen (see the MPC Web site for the article).

Another area of concern is the recent change in laws affecting foreigners seeking a visa to live and work in Russia.  Presently those here on religious visas must leave the country every three months and can only be in the country 180 days a year. Because we renewed our visas in June we are not affected by the new law until next summer, when we return to the States and try to renew our visas again. We hope to have everything in place for the establishment of our non-profit organization, which would allow us to apply for working visas and to return again for a year at a time. It is all very complicated and becomes even more muddled during election season. It is a serious concern, and we ask for your prayers.

So how is the family doing? A month after Stacy's grandmother passed away, Bob flew back to the States to be the liturgist for his grandmother, Alice Dunning Cobble Henry, who passed away in October. The girls stayed home and took care of Rosy, our growing lab puppy who has been an absolute delight for the entire family.

The girls continue to plug away at school. Rachel has become interested in running after she ran a very fast mile in gym one day. She is also a budding photographer who loves to go out with her dad on Saturdays to places in Moscow just to take pictures. She has quite an extensive folder of pictures on the computer. Rachel finally got her own room, as Bethany was happy to move her things out to the living room and claim it as “her own room.” She is very proud to have a cabinet with a key and a piano in her room. Each night she pulls out the couch and makes her big bed. She is convinced that this year there is no way Santa is going to come into her living room to fill her stocking without waking her up. A semblance of peace has fallen upon the Bronkema house as a result of this move.

Naomi is becoming quite the chess player. She beat her dad the other day, and he promises that he was playing his best. She is learning to play the guitar in a classical manner. It drives her crazy, but she really is quite good at it. We didn't know that such beautiful music could come from a guitar played by one of our daughters. She still enjoys playing soccer with the boys at recess and even saved a crucial goal the other day. Bethany is extremely excited about her parts in the many Christmas plays at school and church. Each time one is performed she crosses it off her list. She absolutely loved seeing Swan Lake at the Bolshoi when grandma was in town.

As we look forward to Christmas, we wish you all joy and peace as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Your Servants in Christ,

The Bronkema Family

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 158