Six Weeks of Blessings

August 17, 2009

Dear Partners,

Time has flown this summer. Since we wrote last we have been to our Annual Conference in Yekaterinburg and have had our daughter and her family come and share ministry with us for the month of July. We are now back in the US for our furlough year and living in Anderson, CA. We plan to begin our trip around the country a little after mid-September to visit churches. As a matter of fact, today we start plotting our schedule for that trip. We would dearly love to meet with as many of you as possible while we are on the road so if you would like us to stop by and visit you or your church, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can complete our schedule. We really are looking forward to some personal time with you.

We chose to travel to Yekaterinburg, Russia on the train as plane options were not only more expensive but connections were insane. We traveled 30 hours in each direction! About 15 minutes before the border crossing I thought I should go to the bathroom but decided to wait until we were through the border. WRONG. It took us 1 ½ hours to exit the Kazakhstan border then in about 2 kilometers we crossed the Russian border which took another 1 ½ hours. They even brought dogs on board to check for drugs, etc. and used screwdrivers to take off metal paneling that people or drugs could hide behind!! Thorough check. At least four people looked at our passports and visas at each border. I did finally make it to the bathroom but with a BIG lesson relearned – never miss an opportunity to use the facilities!! Steve had his own bathroom adventure as the lock was difficult to turn but he got it locked and then could not get out!! He was stuck in there for 15 minutes while pounding on the door and yelling "Help me!" in Russian. One woman stopped by and told him in Russian how to unlock the door!! Which of course he knew, but she apparently did not tell the conductor of his problem. Finally the conductor came, broke the lock and got the door open and Steve was freed from captivity! The lock was never repaired during the rest of our journey which made for some challenging door holding experiences.

At the conference we met up with many of the wonderful pastors and lay people that we have worked and spent the most time with in Khabarovsk and throughout the Russian Far East. It was a joyous reunion with precious people of God. We were very proud to see two of our pastors be ordained as elders! We felt like proud parents. We also met several new pastors and group leaders from Kazakhstan and surrounding countries which I will not specifically mention here. It was such a joy to meet these young people so on fire for God and excited to share the word in these most difficult places. The Bishop has reappointed Steve to Church Development this year and we will be staying in contact with everyone and discerning where we are to work next year. Kazakhstan appears to have the greatest needs for mentoring young pastors and leaders. However, we must find a way to get the proper visa as our agency cannot sponsor us for this one. We will be working on it during this year as well as some other possibilities. Please pray that God clearly shows us the way of His desire. There are also still pastors in Ukraine who need mentoring and other possibilities that God has been introducing us to. We would very much like to find God's clear leading.

July 1st our daughter, Melissa, her husband, Mark and granddaughters Hannah (14) and Naomi (9) came to Kazakhstan to share ministry with us. They adapted quickly and graciously to every new situation, they each learned some Russian words and each one touched other people and children in remarkable ways during the month. They brought toys, balls and games for children at the Appletree feeding program, the orphanage and the school for handicapped children. They spent time at each one with one-on-one encouragement and sharing of God's love. The kids were very good at reaching out to other children, especially Naomi who "never met a stranger!" Mark brought and shared materials and testimony for the new Celebrate Recovery groups. They were thrilled and he was blessed to be able to share. At the orphanage, Mark led a young boy to Christ! I saw Mark with tears in his eyes. He said this young boy knew Mark was a Christian – well, Mark told everyone!!! - and told Mark that he had too much sin in his life and that Christ would not want him. Just as God had intended, through Mark he is now with Christ! Please pray that this young boy will lead others as well. Pray also for someone to follow up with him and help him grow as a child of God.

Honestly, there were so many instances of lives being touched that it was clear that God was very busy using this young family. The second half of the time we all went up to the village of Sergeyevka on the train with four others from our team in Karaganda. The purpose was to put on an English Summer Camp for a week for 40 students ages 10 to 14 who are part of a year-round English Club there. Mansfield's brought games, balls, stuff to make S'Mores, "Worms and Dirt" and trail mix that could not be purchased in Kazakhstan. They brought God's love, laughter and caring, open spirits and showered them on all in the village. A group of church leaders meet every morning for prayer and Mark and Melissa joined them as well - praying for the village, the people and the camp. Everyone worked on a team and I helped Joyce cook the American lunches each day for 60 people. We had 40 students, 10 Americans and a team of national women and college age students who helped run teams and acted as interpreters. The camp was a huge success. A lot of English was practiced by the students as they all wanted to be able to talk to the Americans.

The last Sunday we were there we had a bus, a big van and a Toyota SUV (Joyce's) full of church leaders and their families as well as the Americans and we traveled 3 hours north to another village where we shared worship with another church and some wonderful people who run a Chritian alcohol rehab program. We all shared an afternoon picnic in the beautiful birch tree woods. It was a huge encouragement to both churches as about 80 to 90 people shared food, prayer, laughter and the concrete reality of being "the body of Christ" together. In preparation for the picnic, Joyce bought a pig and Mark helped the men kill and butcher it. He had some priceless "male bonding" time across language barriers. I heard a lot of laughter and saw a lot of respect. Mark also spent some precious time with a few of the teenage boys outside camp time which blessed them immensely. Joyce said how important it was for the boys to see and interact with Christian male role models and what precious time and modeling Mark shared with them. Melissa and the women had some very precious time as well during the whole time we were there.

What an awesome treat it was to share ministry with our family and to see them touching lives. Steve says that the Bible states that blessed is the man who lives to see his children's children. But, to be able to minister together with your children's children is to be the most blessed of men! It was so clear to us that each person has gifts that allow them to minister uniquely to others in ways that we never could. They each touched lives that we would or could not have. God clearly uses those who are truly open and sincerely desirous of being used. We will never forget this precious month of July that God used to show Himself to others though our family. And we were blessed to be a part of it all.

Thank all of you for being our support system. It is always such a blessing to be used by God for His purposes but this past month to not only do our own ministry but to be able to share it with our family has been beyond our wildest dreams. We pray that God is honored and delighted at what happened in Kazakhstan.

Once again, if you would like us to visit, please drop us a note. For those of you who have already indicated you are interested in seeing us, we will be contacting you soon to set up specific dates.

Grace and Peace, Blessings and hugs,

Pastor Steve and Carol