Finally Good News, Just...

 ...not what we expected. We are still in Romania, and we are still waiting for Tabita's immigration documents. We found out last Wednesday that there will be another delay, for how long we don't know. But...

...that pales in comparison to what we found out Thursday. Our family is growing. Come late October, Lord willing, we will have a minature BriTa in our hands. And if he/she is anything like the big versions of BriTa, then we will surely have our hands full. If you want to know how he/she will look, try to combine these two pretty faces .

Impressions of Russia

• Cold, but not much more than expected. Moscow wasn’t bad at all, stayed right around freezing, but Chita was cold. That is where we spent most of our time. I met with Pastor Bendorf and Mike LaDuke to teach a course on Hermeneutics (interpretation of the Bible) to a group of about 35 men. Here I am standing next to a giant cannon in the Kremlin, and a snowy day in Moscow.

• Beautiful: Moscow as a very nice city, nicer than I was expecting I think. They many orthodox churches were really spectacular and the architecture of the buildings was very interesting.

•   Good food. While in Moscow, I ate American food more than Russian food. I think our liaisons take all the American’s who come to the Starlight Diner, which has very American food with a very American atmosphere. But it was good. My first taste of Russia food was the second day on a tour of the city. My guide took me to the Moo Moo Café, and it was delicious. Then at the church in Chita, all our meals were provided for us, and I enjoyed them all, some of them were absolutely delicious.
•  Wonderful people. In Moscow the people did not seem very friendly, but then again, in any big city everyone is going about their business and most of the time don’t take time out for strangers. But I felt very much a foreigner. In Chita, people were a little more relaxe d I think, and at the church everyone was very kind. This is Serghei. He didn't speak much English, but he took care of all our needs during the week. He always had a big smile for everyone.
  

• Thriving church: in Siberia, there are not many evangelical churches, and even less training opportunities for their leaders. Nevertheless, I was very impressed with the willingness of the people at the church we stayed to support itself, even though nearly all the people in the church would be considered below poverty level, and also of their vision and ability to work together amongst themselves. I think we could learn from them.

FAMILY

God be praised for giving us family. I know, it’s true, parents and siblings can drive you crazy (not to mention the husband/wife relationship ), but you know you are blessed when you recognize that it would be far worse without them. This last Sunday, for the first time in months, our whole Romanian family was together again.

Please pray with us that Tabita will receive her visa before Christmas, that we will be able to experience the same joy with our family on the American side of the ocean. We will stay in Romania until then.

O Canada!

Two tries for a visa to the United States failed, but first try for Canada and Tabita got a visa (PTL!!!). Last Monday we spend the day at the Canadian embassy, but it was worth all the time waiting. Canada gave Tabita a 4 month temporary residancy visa, meaning that we both can go together to Langley BC, near Vancouver for the summer.

Why you might ask? Our plans for the summer have undergone some remarkable changes in the past few months. First we were hoping to go to the States where I would work for the summer months. Once the US embassy said no to that option, we had to rethink. A short time after that I found out that a school in Canada would accept my degree for their master's program in linguistics. But one of the prerequisites is a summer linguistics course offered by Canada Institute of Linguistics at the same campus (Trinity Western University, Langly, BC). Originally thinking we would have to wait until next year to start because of our visa situation, our contact there suggested trying for a Canadian visa regardless of whether or not Tabita received a US visa. It turned out to be a good suggestion. I was accepted to the program and am starting June 11th. We left the Canadian Embassy both extremely grateful to God that we do not have to even consider being separated for all the summer months.

We will arrive in Canada on June 1st. That will make it the 5th nation in which we will have traveled during our first year of marriage. Not bad I do say.  (US, Romania, Israel, Italy and now Canada...God is Good)

The Little Brita Girl

Last Wednesday Tabita and I were in Carrefour (our supermarket of choice, within walking distance), when an amazing little event occured. We were in the aisle buing plastic plates and silverware for my birthday party. As we began to leave, a little girl, two years old or less (before the really speaking age, but definitely at the running age), ran into Tabita. Tabita said, "oops, excuse us," and helped her to the side so she wouldn't get run over by me and the cart I was pushing. But then the couple next to us (who we thought were her parents), looked at us and said, "she's not with us. We don't know who she's with." By this time, the little girl had taken off running again, with her little giggle. We noticed she was holding something in her hand.

Tabita decided she should keep her eyes on this little girl. When she caught back up to me, she was holding the little girl in her hands, asking her, "where's mommy." It was obvious the girl did not know. We decided to take her to the service desk, near the enterance. As we were approaching, a very distraught lady approached with a cart and an empty child seat. When she saw us she was overwhelmed with joy, and thanked us without ceasing. We were only so happy to see mother and child united. Oh yeah, and what was the little girl holding in her hand when she bumped into us? Of all the things she had decided to pull of the shelves of the store...a Brita filter