March 23, 2008

Dear Friends and Family!

Christ is risen! Using the traditional Russian greetings, we congratulate you on the shining holiday of Christ’s resurrection. We wish you spiritual peace, physical health, family happiness and God’s help in all that you do!

Our Russian partners will not celebrate Easter until April 27. We celebrate Easter on the same day as the Russian churches do only about every third year. In the other years, we celebrate either one week apart or five weeks apart.

There is a significant difference in the pace of the church calendar at the beginning of the Lenten season (where our Russian partners are now) and Holy Week. This week, the church we attend in Moscow was busy with Holy Week activities, and I was busy with meetings (all the senior presbyters in Russia have been in Moscow the past two weeks). Coming up to Easter, having little time for Holy Week and realizing that I would not find Easter candy or Easter egg dye for the kids, I set my hopes on Russian Easter.

As many of you know, the past weeks and months have been trying times for us. We have struggled with visa issues since the beginning of the year, and more recently the situation with our landlord has become untenable. Things came to a head Friday night, when Al called the landlord to let him know that we would be looking for a new apartment, but planned to stay through mid-May. The landlord’s response was that we would have to be out by the end of April. On Saturday, we felt wrung out, and again I set my hopes on Russian Easter. But I tell you, even though we woke up to gray skies and snow this morning, we woke up to Easter. We had a wonderful worship this morning and the weight we’ve been carrying lifted, for Christ is risen! We are not alone or forsaken. He is risen, indeed!

After months of preparation, Meg, our middle daughter, departs this next Saturday for Uganda. She, four adults and six other young people from her school, will be spending ten days working at New Hope School near Kampala. She’s very excited.

The weeks ahead will be difficult. I leave for the United States on April 2 to renew my visa. I will return April 22 with a visa that allows me to be in Russia only 90 out of every 180 days. We must move April 29. We have a lot on our plate. We would ask for your prayers: prayers for organization as I try to get things organized for the move before I leave, prayers for my travels to and in the States in April, prayers for Meg and her team as they travel to Uganda, prayers for Al and the girls as they hold down the fort and get things packed up, prayers for a work permit for me. We give thanks for the visas that Al and the girls were able to renew at the end of February. We give thanks for all the friends who have offered to help us with our move. We give thanks for Russian partners who, in the midst of their Lenten journey, remembered to email and call us with Easter greetings. Christos Voskres! Boistinu Voskres!

May your hearts be filled with Easter joy.

Peace and blessings,

Ellen and Al

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