Numbers

Greetings from Tbilisi, the beautiful capital of Georgia!

Aaron is currently learning the basics of accounting. Pray for him as he balances many numbers! Aaron also tutors Audrey, Greg and Tammy Jenkins' fifteen year old daughter, in algebra. 

(Beth prefers tutoring in English. Gia, the Bible college's director, and his wife Angela are excellent students). 

There are other numbers we often think about: the exchange rate (Russians use rubles and Georgians Lari), the time difference, and the tenth. On Wednesday a Georgian doctor told us to expect our first child the tenth of October.       

Pictures to come...

 

Light Part 2

Gathering wood
Light
Fire

Khabarovsk's first Royal Ranger Outpost has grown from four to nine Royal Rangers.

The children recently built their first A-frame fires.

The fires were immediately put out and we ran inside to warm our hands. (From what we have observed there is not a temperature cold enough for Russians to cancel outdoor activities: burrrrrr!).

Deanna

Deanna
What's a birthday party without balloons?
Cecil, dressed as the (intimidating) buffalo, chasing Vera
Hiding from the buffalo

There is a new addition to the Eshelman family. Cecil and Tonya (Cecil is American and Tonya Russian) adopted Deanna from an orphanage. Deanna joins 9 year old Timothy Eshelman and 8 year old Vera Eshlman.

Above are pictures of Deanna's 7th birthday party. The party had a Western theme. Deanna, Timothy and the other children dressed as Indians, Cecil dressed as a buffalo, and Vera dressed as a clown.

Congratulations Cecil and Tonya! The two of you are officially outnumbered by children!

And Deanna, this is our prayer for you:

"The Lord bless you and keep you;

The Lord make his face shine upon you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,

And give you peace."

Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)

Welcome home Deanna!

Below Zero

Oh the weather outside is frightful (and very much below zero) and beautiful ice sculptures decorate Lenin Square in downtown Khabarovsk.

Have you seen the I Love Lucy episode in which she is locked in a freezer? We too have (seriously) experienced eyelashes that freeze!

Aaron, a native Floridian, is throughly enjoying his first winter and can only laugh when hit by a cold gust of wind.

Light

Pastor David, an American missionary, and Olga, our translator, praying over a Royal Ranger

Olga

Pastor David

A Royal Ranger lighting her sparkler

A Royal Ranger

Above are photos from the Opening Ceremony of the first Royal Ranger Outpost in Khabarovsk. (It is not snow but sand surrounding the fire).

That night four children, two boys and two girls, were awarded their first patches. Each child's mother attended the ceremony that was followed by refreshments and a (hysterical) thigh slapping Russian game. (Please note: Aaron was the first one out of the game).

Please pray for Andre and Elena Kondrashova, the Royal Ranger Commanders of Khabarovsk's first outpost.

"Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven."
Matthew 5:16

The Amplified Bible

Chocolate Bar Dreams

Olga, our translator, is involved with the Saturday orphanage ministry of her church. She teaches the Bible lesson each week and often invites us.

The first time we accompanied her, Olga tied chocolate bars to tree branches. She told the children that the candy represented their dreams. She explained that we must ask for Jesus‘ help to reach our dreams. One by one the children approached Aaron, who was playing the part of Jesus, and asked for his help. Aaron then lifted each child to a chocolate bar.

After the Bible lesson there is a time to play with the children. How do we communicate with them? Through faces, smiles, hugs, and laughter.

The First Two Weeks

Greetings family and friends!

Our Russian adventure has begun. We arrived in Khabarovsk on Wednesday, September 5th.

The weather has been warm and pleasant. We keep telling the Russians that this weather feels like winter in Florida. The Russians keep telling us just to wait and see what a real winter is like. Aaron is excited because he has lived in Florida his entire life and has never really experienced a true winter! (Note: In January or February, please ask Aaron if he is still excited).

Our apartment here is beautiful. We are on the ninth and top floor. From our living room open balcony we can look out over the city. At night the view is amazing. And from our second enclosed balcony we can see mountains.

Entering our apartment if like entering a vault. We have two front doors made of solid metal. We must use large skeleton-like keys to open both doors and this takes time. We have not been to a Russian apartment without two front doors. Two front doors are a deterrent to burglars. We, however, would probably not be able to get out in a fire

We have spent several hours exploring. Olga, our translator, has helped us tremendously. She lives within walking distance of our apartment so she knows the area well. From our apartment we can walk to the central market, the Amur River that separates Russia and China, and several bus stops.

The first time we went to the central market we bought a kilogram of ground beef. After taking the package, Beth quickly examined it and found no expiration date. She asked our missionary Cecil Eshelman where the date was. He simply stated, “If you’re worried about how fresh it is just turn around and look!“ We turned to see carcasses of animals just butchered. Therefore, it was safe to assume that we had fresh meat!

At the Amur River Cecil introduced us to one of his favorite Russian foods, a very tasty pork shish kabob.

Now that we’ve had time to adjust to our new surroundings we have been going to the central market to shop and Amur River to order pork shish kabob by ourselves. This has made Olga very nervous. She worries constantly about us knowing that we don’t speak Russian. We are like her children. In fact, one morning when we rode the bus with Olga she made sure that we boarded the bus before her. She then explained that Russian mothers always put their children on the bus before getting on themselves!

We recently got in touch with an Assemblies of God missionary who is involved with Russian Royal Rangers about 1,000 miles from here. From her we learned that twelve churches in Khabarovsk have already sent people to Royal Ranger leadership training!
Please pray that we will be able to help these churches effectively start programs and that children and their families will come to know Christ through Russian Royal Rangers.