July 1, 2004

Dear Friends in Christ,

Our warmest greetings to each of you in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. At last, we write you again from Russia. We know it’s been a long time since our last letter. Please excuse us if this is just an update on our busyness.

After much negotiating with airlines, we found two seats on a flight the same day, so that Meg and Emma could return to Russia with us. Originally, we had planned to leave them behind with friends for two weeks while we were busy with a group. Over six months time, lots of changes can take place and about a month before our departure, we realized that we needed the girls to return with us. Unfortunately, at that point, there were no seats remaining for our flight. We got on every waiting list and I called the airlines almost every day. Finally, about a week before our departure, someone at the airlines listened to the situation we were in and, with her supervisor, searched out two seats for the girls, but on a partner airline. Fortunately, it was a flight only an hour later than ours. They tried also to switch names so that Al and I could each fly with one child, but their many efforts failed, so we showed up at O’Hare ready to send the girls unaccompanied. When the airlines found out our situation, they asked why we hadn’t made the name change. Fortunately, we had a three-hour layover in O’Hare, because it took every minute of that time to make the change. Emma and I ended up running for the first plane, with the airline agent and the cat. After another hour and more work Al and Meg ran for their plane. Adventures make life more interesting. In all the haste to make the change, Al handed me the cat, but he didn’t hand me the cat’s documents, so Emma and I waited in baggage claim area for Al and Meg’s flight and we all exited customs together. The customs people were very nice to us. Maybe we looked a little tired.

Since our arrival on June 2, we have had the privilege of hosting Rob and Terry Weingartner of the Outreach Foundation. They arrived early Sunday morning, in time for worship at one of the partner churches here in Moscow. On Monday, we visited with the seminary and the Baptist Union before leaving for Smolensk and then Minsk, so that Rob could see firsthand some of the work going on in Russia and Belarus. It was an extraordinary week and we were so glad to connect people that had heard about each other’s work from afar.

I returned to Moscow on Sunday. On Tuesday, a college student from our home church, Amy Nagle, arrived. She has been coming every year since her first visit, sometimes twice a year, and will be spending much of her summer with us. We love having her and we frankly don’t know how we’d have managed these first weeks without her. She has learned so much about what we do and how we do it, that she is a huge help.

Two days after Amy’s arrival, we welcomed a new partner group. Jim and Lois Caldwell of the World Mission Initiative brought members of three churches in Pennsylvania and Michigan, as well as a seminarian from Pittsburgh Theological, Rebecca Mihm. We spent a day and half getting to know the group and seeing something of Moscow, then sent eight of them off to visit the Russian congregations while we spent the weekend with Jim and Lois and Rebecca (Amy and Meg seized the opportunity to show Rebecca their Moscow). Those that we sent out had such different journeys—one group set out to connect with Central Baptist in Moscow (very much a big city church), one group went to connect with a church in a small, very new city in the Ryazan region, and the third went to connect with a village church in the Ryazan region. When they returned on Sunday night there was so much to share. For some, a night’s rest was essential before they could begin to process it. It was a joy to work with these people and to hear them as they sorted through their experiences. There had been bumps along the way in their journey, but they were all focusing on the positive. We don’t know what the next steps will before these groups, but we look forward to hearing from them.

The new partner group departed last Tuesday. Our daughter Allison arrived on Wednesday. On Thursday, a large group from North Carolina began to arrive, the majority flying in on Friday. It is a group of 18, the largest we have ever had. The logistics of moving such a group in Russia can be mindboggling, and there have certainly been bumps at the start of their journey. Currently, they are in the city of Ryazan, with the rest of my family and Amy. Today they begin some extraordinary outreach projects with the churches in Ryazan—some members will be working on repairs to the church building, others will be visiting poor families to deliver some humanitarian aid and share the love of Christ, others will be helping in a children’s camp. An extraordinary amount of planning has gone into this visit. Sometimes, Russia challenges the very idea of a plan, but the group has already figured this out and is adjusting and moving forward. God bless them. We would ask you to hold everyone involved in your prayers.

I spent the weekend in Ryazan, but had to return last night so that I could meet the next group arriving today from Nashville, Tennessee. It is the first of three to pass through Moscow this week. On Wednesday, the Nashville group heads to Tula. Also on Wednesday, a group from Richmond returns from their partner church for a couple of days here before departing on Friday. On Thursday, a group will arrive from our home church and will head out to Oryol on Saturday. For about 24 hours, we will have four groups in Russia at once. It’s a first. Frankly, we will try not to let this happen again. The logistics have been very interesting. The large group in Ryazan returns on Saturday, and Al will remain with them until they depart the middle of next week.

The adventure continues. Please keep us all in prayer—that we can find the joy and the humor in the midst of little challenges, that we can remember that Christ’s love is enough, and that He is always with us to lift us up and carry us forward.

May the peace and blessings of our Lord be with each of you.

With love in Christ,

Ellen

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 182