December 3, 2007

Dear Friends,

Privet, dorogoi sestri yi broti! (“How are you dear brothers and sisters?”) Warm seasonal greetings from snow-covered St. Petersburg!

Hannah and I hope that this letter finds you in good health, peace, and many blessings from our Creator and Sustainer!

The weather in this part of the planet has been very unusual this year. We have had the first snow fall only in November. Usually we have snow during October. The temperature has also been hovering between 1 degree above freezing and five degrees below. It seems that the global warming is becoming very real.

Installation of seminary’s new rector, Anton Tikhomirov.

Since our return to Russia in early September, Joe has been busy teaching four biblical subjects: theology of the Old Testament and theology of the New Testament for third-year students, and the Pentateuch and text of the New Testament to the first- and second-year students. In addition to the heavy load of teaching, he has also been supervising diploma work (a kind of thesis) for four graduating students. Only when students pass the diploma work do they become eligible to take oral and written graduation exams next February. As one German lecturer left the seminary at the end of his term in August, and the German partner church hasn’t found his successor yet, there are now only three theological lecturers. Among the three is one Russian, Anton Tikhomirov, who has been appointed the new rector of the seminary by the theological board of ELCROS, and he has to travel frequently. You may imagine how two of us are filling the teaching gaps. We are also revising the curriculum in order to put more emphasis on practical theology, which has been requested by the Bishops Council of ELCROS.

The appointment of Anton Tikhomirov as rector is a giant step forward both for the seminary and ELCROS, where German leadership has been predominant. Anton is only 37, one of the first graduates of the seminary, and he definitely needs experience in leading a theological institute. He has many challenging issues to work out, such as financial self-support, improving relationships with the broadly scattered ELCROS parishes, seeking cooperation with other theological educational institutions, forming a stable faculty, and inputting and outputting of students in his church. He was installed by Archbishop Ratz in the seminary chapel on Friday, November 30, as you see in the picture. Please hold him in your prayers.

Joe celebrating Communion at Lutheran church in Bitebsk, Belarus.

During the third weekend of November, Hannah and Joe made a special trip to Vitebsk, a city in northeastern Belarus. One of Joe’s third-year students, Vladimir Tatarnikov, and his parents invited us to visit their family and church there. Vladimir's father, an ex-cop in Belarus, came personally to St. Petersburg with the visa support invitation letter two weeks earlier so we could obtain a three-day entry visa to the country from the Belarusian consulate in St. Petersburg. It was a ten-hour train ride from St. Petersburg to Vitebsk. Four of us, including Lena Bondarenko, Joe’s interpreter, and Vladimir traveled together, and were warmly welcomed by Vladimir’s parents. Joe was invited to celebrate Holy Communion at their Sunday morning worship service. The congregation is small but eager to hear the Word of God since they don’t have a minister. We were told that we were the first American visitors to the congregation, and that they hadn’t had Holy Communion for a long time.

We had a chance to do some sightseeing of this city (300,000 population) on Saturday, where the world-famous artist Mark Chagal was born. The Russian Orthodox Church is predominant, and several registered Protestant churches are trying to rebuild their faith. Vladimir is praying and hoping that he would be able to rebuild this congregation upon his graduation from the seminary. He is going to do an internship at the Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy next year because his English is pretty good after his three-month stay in the States this last summer. Vladimir's family has kept their Christian faith throughout Communist rule. His mother showed us their family Bible (it looked at least 150 years old) inherited from Vladimir’s great great grandmother. The grandmother who passed the Bible to Vladimir’s parents passed away this year, but the family has opened her house as a prayer house. Whenever Vladimir comes home, he conducts prayer meetings there every week.

Back in the States, our children’s families are growing in stability and doing well. John and Agnes are expecting their third child (another son) in March. Their daughter Rachel just celebrated her seventh birthday, and their son Brandon, 5, is a jolly boy and fun to be with. John’s law firm has been doing quite well and has a good reputation among its clients.

Ruth and Mike continue home schooling their three kids, Peter, 10, Sara, 8, and Samantha, 6, while they keep their jobs. We simply admire their energy and devotion to their children's education. Mike still works as a computer programmer, and Ruth’s small business is doing quite well.

In this Advent season each of you is in our thoughts and prayers with deep thanksgiving and fond memories. Please accept our gratitude, Bolshoi spasiva (Russian) for your continuous support and prayers for our ministry. We wish you all a joyful and blessed Christmas and a happy New Year!

Dosvidanya!

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 186