Dusting this guy off!!

OK folks, it's about time to dust this 'ole guy off...never thought I'd turn into a bi-annual updater, sheesh!

Well to summarize the past...6 months or so, we've had a couple fun groups come through here to plug in to some of our work and further it along. One of such groups hung out with us for about 2 months, and I had the distinct honor of coordinating and getting to know this team of 5 fellow New Mexico students. The Lord blessed this time in an incredible way, and it was a real pleasure seeing them boldly share the truth with many. We also got to take a trip together for about a week to a smaller city and help out with student work over there as well. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly deep friendships can develop when we're obedient. So many times I hear people downplay the importance of short term groups going overseas to share the truth, but time and time again I see our Father break through to people's hearts in ways that we could never have thought or imagined, so if you feel that He is leading you to invest in another place for a time...even if it seems like nothing can possibly be accomplished through you in so short a time, then think again and watch Him redeem obedience to His call!

As a result of this summer group, my fellow long-termers and I have many more relationships with which to share the truth of our King. One of such is a 19 year old student named Gor. He was born again this summer through 1 on 1 discipleship meetings with a member of the team, and I've been so blessed to have gotten to continue these meetings with him since the team's departure. My time with Gor has been everything a disciple-maker has hoped for! More specifically, Gor has just dived right into the concept of meeting with another individual one on one at least weekly for the purpose of investing ones life and fulfilling our 2 Timothy 2:2 commission. He has led a number of group discussions and studies on various Biblical themes, the last of which was at a recent camp we organized. The camp centered around some different characteristics of our Father which culminated in His ultimate purpose...His glory (well done Gor!).

Currently, Gor's wrestling with some logistics pertaining to becoming a member of a church I've gotten to work with for about a year-and-a-half. It's been amazing to see Father lead him to this place apart from any intervention on my part except for simply challenging him to discern where the Lord would have him invest. He is also committed to getting baptized there (a much larger step for believers here as it communicates individuals' separation from Orthodoxy, tradition and many times family acceptance)! His parents have been resistant to his decisions, as they think that I've hypnotized him into following some sort of cult that will break their family apart (his father is an unbeliever and his mother was at one time a Pentecostal), so please lift him and his family situation up as he is seeing the validity of the Son's words when He talked about coming to separate mother and daughter, father and son. Many times Gor has encouraged me that he is serious about walking our Father's path, and knows that obedience to Him is often uncomfortable but it's his purpose now regardless of the opposition! I want a faith like that too!!

Much to think about and reflect on, and more to come as I'm now more committed to keeping you all better informed as my time among the former Soviets starts coming to a close. On that note...I've been allowed to extend my term until the end of February so that I can take part in a beloved friend named Mark's wedding. What a fitting way to end my time fighting alongside the one who first cast the vision for discipleship to me 7 years ago.

So whether we're praying, sending, or going...lets together finish these last 3.5 months strong!

Still here, and still fighting the cold!
-Dan


Summer baseball fun with some very dear friends!


One of the camps we put on just outside the big city right after the summer group left.


Well, I thought I was doing an "I'm a little tea pot" pose...at least the background's pretty though

Things I'll remember forever

Hey everyone! Sorry for the procrastination, it's really been a wild ride the last few months and the Lord's been doing some great things!! Among the greatest of all the blessings I've received in my time here came last month (about 4 weeks ago I reckon) when my friend Mourad accepted Christ! As many of you know, Peyton and I have been pretty heavily involved in a university here for the purpose of learning the language and meeting students and for the last year especially there have been four of us together...Peyton, me, Mourad (from Algeria) and Abdurahmaad (from Iran). Since the majority of our time has been spent in class, doing things with the university from participating in excursions to teaching to helping plan events and parties to translating documents and assisting them with many of their technical questions and problems, we've seen our time on campus as the main avenue for which the Lord would have us pour ourselves into the lives of others. Although becoming students for two more years and spending countless hours laboring over a seemingly fruitless cause that is language learning was not our original plan or desire, I'm so thankful that the Lord's plans supercede my own, otherwise I may never have gotten to see His hand at work in the life of one who I can now call not only a close friend but a brother. For a long time, Peyton and I have been lifting up the three people we simply interacted with the most..our teacher, Mourad, and Abdurahmaad. I could go on and on about all the ways Peyton and I have sought to exalt Christ in even everyday classroom conversational language practice like when we've talked about the kinds of movies we watch or the books we read or whether we agree with the latest headlines or directions presidents and kings want for their kingdoms. Often, investment has looked like sharing a simple testimony on one of our 20 minute breaks between sessions of how the Lord's been delighting our hearts and giving us purpose for each day. Many times too it's just been seen in mustering up the strength to simply keep loving each other and the people Christ has placed around us when we just feel like screaming because we're so empty and just..."done" pouring ourselves out over and over for seemingly nothing. There's a song many know that repeats the phrase "It's gonna be worth it" in the chorus. Well, until now I have indeed believed this to be true in my heart and on the days when the Lord's Spirit just delights me in His truth and in knowing His beautiful heart...but now I also believe it when I look into the eyes of one who before had nothing more in common with myself than a rusty navigation of the Russian language, but now has the One who binds us together and makes us family.

I had planned on going into depth about some other things that have happened in the last couple months, but for now I think I'll stop and let the depth of my new brother's second birth sink in in a deeper way even for myself here. Please be lifting him up, that our Father will protect Mourad from the evil one and his schemes, and that Peyton and I will discern how we can continue investing in his life and encourage him to plug in with a local body of believers.

Here are some photos of him in these last couple of years:

Snows-a-fallin'

Hello again my friends! It seems that snowy winter has finally come! Not to misunderstand, snow's covered the ground for a couple months now, but until recently we haven't really had a whole lot of snowfall at one time, which is pretty strange! But better late than never I guess as February finally brought some of the winter I had been hoping for because I'd hate to say that my time in the FSR was only marked by light snows and mild winters!

Along with the snow, however, come a huge number of fender-benders and accidents on the streets even though Russian drivers are as experience as they are in these conditions. Thankfully, I don't have a car here but I still have to use the roads in order to get to class from our apartment in the far north of the city. Needless to say, winter brings new elements to my nearly daily trek to class as I'm faced with a number of choices regarding which public transport to take (buses, trolleybuses, trams) or whether to stay on the metro most of the way and walk a mile or two to avoid the winter traffic. Thankfully, experience (and a number of tardy days) has taught me that an early morning class means avoiding the traffic-jammed, noise-polluted, congested, frustrated mess that is mega-city at all costs because it's just not worth it to leave 2 hours early to get to a 9 am language class! So, many a morning I spend with the metro and a stroll past rush hour madness while I commend myself on once again getting the best of the big city while getting a bit of exercise in at the same time. As I walked to class the other day under a light dusting of snow, I remembered all the times I've heard the older generations talk about how hard life was when they were young..no computers..no internet..no balls or wheels..having to walk 8 miles through the snow uphill both ways to get to school... I don't know why they're complaining, I thought it was a great calf workout myself!!!


Scenic alley at the end of my morning trek to class. Sometimes you've just gotta stop and...admire the snow!


View outside of our classroom window, I love how the snow highlights the tree branches.

Another thing I've learned about this place is that tons of snow and cold weather don't cause the spirit of Valentine's Day to run cold with it. Since December, the students and teachers alike haven't let it escape our notice that Valentine's Day always falls in February, and Russians looove to celebrate Valentine's Day. Needless to say, we got the chance to organize another lingua department party! Although only about 20 students came for this party, it was jam packed with videos, games, skits, a valentine note exchange, dancing, and famous quotes about love from the classics ranging from Les Miserables to Romeo and Juliet to the Bible. Each party participant was given a number written on a heart-shaped piece of paper which they wore for the duration of the party for the purpose of passing valentines to one another. An example valentine might be:From number 2 to number 17 "Have a great Valentine's Day my friend!" At the end of the party, all the valentines were counted, and the five people who received the most valentines were given prizes. Unfortunately I did not get the most valentines, but at least my partner in crime Peyton did...it's hard to compete with such a stage presence, especially when he gets to dancing! It was also great to see our newer partners in crime Chris and Karin getting their hands dirty and joining in on the festivities as well.


Our good friend Mourad from class came to the party too! In this pic he's showing off the sweet poster the students made.


And...drumroll...our main Lingua Dept Valentine's Day Party 2009 winner Peyton!!

So, as late as we were hit with some classic winter-looking weather this year, one might ask when the first day of spring might come. Well, since there's rarely any sun here, I'm sure the groundhog didn't see much at all let alone his shadow, so my guess is as good as yours...only time will tell!