God Ordained...

So, yesterday (Tuesday) was a crazy day filled with LOTS... I feel like I've said that about every day... but oh well :)

We started out by going to get registered..... the process is the most ridiculous thing filled with minute details to make it miserable and take up travelers time lol.... First, you must make copies of all of your documents, then you must go to the bank and pay 2 rubles per person per day for the amount of time you will be in Russia.... for each of us it ended up being 18 rubles.... which is not even a dollars worth... so its kind of silly! Then we go to the registration office where they tell us that we need 2 bank documents instead of just 1 receipt of payment.... oy! anyway- finally we get done and are ready to start the day!

Viktor met us after he got done with his university classes, and we headed to the church to go with one of the local pastors to a new orphanage. It took about an hour and 20 minutes to get there, and once we got there, we only had a short time to stay because we had to have Viktor back in Ryazan for his driving class.... BUT we definitely were supposed to be there... The director was on her 'rest time' but she came back just to meet with us. She was so inviting and welcoming. The pastor even told her that we are Christians and that we love to work with orphanages... she said that the kids love to have visitors.... and even invited us to come back next time! So many more details, but not enough room to write them all! :) We then go to go meet some of the kids.... the people from this church come and work with the kids once a week... they had 3 different bible classes (OPENLY) and they were doing studies and things with the kids that we have only dreamed of doing!!!!! AMAZING! We were so excited to make this connection and so excited to see what the Lord has in store for the future.

After that, we headed back to Ryazan and headed to the Ministry Center. We had called some graduates, and the ministry center had tried to get in contact with some as well, but we weren't even sure who would show up.... on the way, Erin called Lonya (a boy she'd become close to the first few years) and he said that he couldn't come because he didn't' have the money for transportation. He said he may hitchhike from his village, but didn't know... so - Erin just started to pray.... pray that somehow he could come and that she would get to talk to him.... we called him back in about 45 minutes, and he said he'd be there! Praise the Lord! He answered her prayer! When we got to the ministry center, there weren't many kids there, but soon enough the place was jumping with familiar faces! Slava and Keith Doyle (our friend from Boston who decided Sunday to come to Russia and arrived yesterday!!!!!!!!) picked up 'german hamburgers' for all the kids! We were able to hang out and talk with lots of our fav Russians... and then some of them left because they have to get back to their dorms before they close. After that, we were sitting with some of the boys, and crazyness started an amazing God-ordained conversation..... I can't even explain the depth of it, but they were so involved, and they were so interactive -- One thing I remember is asking them, "So, who is Jesus to you?" and Zhenya (that went to the army) said "Savior" ... man, what sweet words. Also, a few said that they knew Jesus died for them, but "what do we do now?"... AMAZING! Erin was able to share her testimony and Sergei (Viktor's brother) said that it was actually a lot like his... By the end of the conversation, you could see the difference in his and Zhenya's countenance.... it was as if a burden had been lifted... they looked encouraged and joyful -- what a great conversation! Man, I can't even explain.... God is so good. That's all I can say.

The cool thing is that Viktor was translating for us this whole time... he was doing such a great job... I cannot imagine how stressful and tiring it is to translate such crazy conversations, but we are SO proud of him. He has been our 'tour guide' thus far on our trip, and we are so thankful for him. God has huge plans for him.

We are seeing the results of your prayers, we are seeing God move, and we are SO thankful for all of your support!!!!!!

Prayer Requests:
- we are leading a bible study tonight... pray that the Lord would direct our words
- today is our last day with Viktor... pray that the Lord would use this time to continue to encourage him
- pray that we would be able to go back to our orphanage tomorrow
- Erin is feeling a little sick... pray that the Lord would guard her from illness
- that we would have some more time with Nastya P.